Nobrainer’s Think Tank

This morning, I received notice of acceptance by the Department of MAE at UVA. I will paste the text of the message below:

“Dear [Nobrainer],

You will shortly receive (by mail) an offer of acceptance and financial
support from the University of Virginia. The financial support offer
will be a combination of teaching assistantship and fellowship monies
for a total support of $1,300/month stipend plus full tuition. In
addition, you will be nominated for both Dean’s and Chair’s fellowships:
based on your very strong academic credentials, you are very likely to
be selected. These fellowships can total up to $3000 per year.

Our assumption is that you will identify an advisor who will provide you
with a graduate research assistantship starting June 2005, although it
would be possible to convert to a graduate research assistantship sooner
if funding is available. Based on your wide interests including
vibration and automobile safety, we are very confident that you will
quickly find the right connection.

I hope that you will consider this offer very strongly. If I can
provide you with additional information to help you in making your
decision, please don’t hesitated to call on me.

Sincerely,
Eric H. Maslen
Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of Virginia”

So I decided to put new seat covers on my 79 Camaro. I backed the car into the driveway in order to enjoy the day’s beautiful weather. I quickly found that my expectations were true. The “easy to install” seat covers are in fact not “easy to install” in a Camaro. For the sake of installing the seat covers, as well as for exploration, I decided to remove the front seats in order to put on the covers. I found about $0.16 in the process. In addition, I found an ultra windproof lighter I had bought in Paris that I thought I had lost at a high school basketball game in very early 1999. While doing all this, I was listening to the radio. About 3/4 of the way through the battery died. 4 1/2 years of top quality engineering education didn’t seem to rub off on me. I knew the car had a weak battery. I am an idiot.

I pushed the car, newly clad seats and all, back into the garage. I will jump start it some other time.

- Nobrainer - Super Genius

I was just channel surfing in search of golf. I found far too much media coverage of Condoleeza Rice. I will accept this as valid television. However, I am entirely sickened by the number of televised births. I don’t know how many times in a day I hit a channel to see a woman in “full push mode”… At least some of the filming is done with some amount of taste. But when I see a baby popping right out of some ugly woman I am sickened. Where is the FCC to block this trash from my eyes?

OK… I’ve added comments. Titles are coming soon. I’m trying to keep up with the Joneses (sp?), or who I will now refer to as the Brads.

I got out and went golfing yesterday. I played 18 in the morning and shot 94, a good round by all my standards. I had a bad hole when I caught up to a foursome and they let me play through. That hole was my first and only triple bogey of the day. I hit one drive out of bounds and nearly decapitated one of the men in the foursome.

Later that day, I played 10 with Dad. On 6 I hit a house. The homeowner was not pleased. It was the only ball I lost that day, another victory.

Unfortunately, my score on each 9 got worse than the 9 before.