There's an app for that :]

I really want to give a shout out to CSE today.  I think that I (along with millions of other people) really take technology for granted.  It is because of these awesome people that we have those really addicting iPhone apps.

Lately, I have been spending so much time with school that I am having trouble keeping up with my reality shows.  As of today, I am two weeks behind on The Bachelor and one week behind on Jersey Shore.  I would love love love to have a DVR at my apartment, but because I am a starving student, it's just not in the budget. 

This week has been a major turning point for me.  I got an iPod touch.   

Rather than waking up at 4:00 AM just to catch up on who Brad is giving a rose to, and whatRonnie and Sammy are fighting about, I can watch the episodes on my iPod!  I was literally walking from class to class (not IN class) with my headphones in watching the episodes!  It was fabulous. 

Then I discovered games.  Instead of waiting in the doctors office twiddling my thumbs, I can play Scrabble with someone in North Carolina at the same time I play Life with someone in Montana. 

After that, I entered the calories I ate/burned off in the diet app!

Meanwhile, I was listening to John Mayer on the Pandora app.

I realize that apps and iPods have been around for years, but for someone who is terrified to spend money, it's like the whole world  has changed. 

So, I say thank you, CSE people, for making my life accessible on a 4.3" x 2.4" screen

Random Fact:  A healthy person can drink about three gallons (48 cups) of water per day.

Engineering Video

This week will be very exciting at UNT's Discovery Park.  A professional videographer is coming for the first of two sessions to film each of the engineering departments: Mechanical and Energy, Electrical, Materials Science, Computer Science and Engineering, and Engineering Technology.  The video will even feature some of the labs, classrooms, and undergraduate research projects.

Guess who will be narrating / sitting in class / being interviewed?

Yours truly :-)

Since I will be talking about my undergraduate research project in the video, I figured I should  tell my blog-readers, too!

My project is called the North Texas Ambient Energy Monitoring Station, or NT-AEMS.  A couple years ago, we put a weather station at Discovery Park with a bunch of equipment on it.  Each piece of equipment measures something important, such as: wind speed, wind direction, soil moisture, the intensity of the sun, and rainfall.

The equipment is hooked up to a program on the tower that can be accessed wirelessly from the campus (it's a pretty long walk out there).  All of the data that we collect over a period of 5 years will be analyzed to determine if Discovery Park would be a good location for solar panels or wind turbines.

Actually, because of NT-AEMS, UNT has received 3 large wind turbines to power our new football stadium!

It's great to be a part of a project that can have a huge impact on our future.

Random Fact: 8 million pounds of guacamole are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday

Snow Day!

UNT is closed today due to inclimite weather.  Normally, I would be jumping for joy.  Today, however, I have a cold and sinusitis. 

I went to the doctor yesterday to get a prescription for a Z-pack and some strong cough medicine.  I had the doctor fax my prescriptions to WalMart so they could get started on it before I  got there.  Well, 2 hours later, I went to WalMart to get my meds, and they said they hadn't received the fax.  I called my doctor, and they said they hadn't sent the fax, but they'd be happy to.  I asked them to fax it to CVS since WalMart was SIX HOURS behind. 

I wanted to call CVS right away to ensure they got the fax.  I called, and was on hold for almost an hour.  By the time I finally hung up out of frustration, I had driven to the store.  When I got inside, the line to the pick-up window was half a mile long!  It moved fairly quickly, though.  I got up to the counter only to find they had yet to look at my prescription.  Ugh. 

I told them, "I'm feeling horrible, and it would be really nice if I could just have my medicine."

"It should be ready in an hour and a half."

"OK, so if I come back at 10:00, it will be ready?" 

"We can't promise anything, but you can call at 10 to confirm." 

"I would love to do that, but the last time I called, you guys didn't answer the phone!" 

"Oh, really?  I'm sorry about that." 

Well, I went home and called back at 10, waited for only 30 minutes this time, only to hear the following:

"We're sorry, CVS is not a participating pharmacy with your insurance." 

"What?!  Why didn't you guys call and tell me this?"

"Oh, we're just now getting to look at your prescription."

Crimany.  I called my doctor back to see if they could fax my prescription back over to WalMart so that I could pick it up in the morning.  They said they couldn't fax a second prescription without calling the pharmacist to void the first one, and, since it's closing time, the call has to wait until tomorrow.

Well, today is tomorrow.  There's snow on the ground, I can't drive anywhere in my scaredy-cat car. 

Just call me Murphy.

Random Fact:   Hot air balloon pilots need a commercial pilot's license (fixed-wing). They must have at least 35 hours of flight instruction, attend ground school for basic aviation training, pass a written test for hot-air balloons and have a flight check from a Federal Aviation Administration official.