James Mack's Weblog

I ended up staying a bit late at work tonight while reviewing some drawings of the CIPS platform. During the summer, this would not have been a terribly interesting phenomenon. Being winter, however, the days are shorter, and the ground is frequently covered with snow and ice. Which brings me to my abstract reasoning of the day.

I headed out into the black night at 6pm, guiding my bike over sporadic patches of ice and snow along the streets and bike paths on my trek home. At first, I was slightly bitter. Bitter with the cold soaking into my fingers, and eventually, my arms. Bitter with the fact that I had to be riding in the darkness in the first place, cursing both my captors and the dreary short days which keep me sunshine deprived for nearly half the year. Bitter with the snowplows which neglect bicycles completely, plowing barriers of snow in inconvenient places and leaving a pool of slushy filth in my path.

Then I realized something. At one point, I actually enjoyed myself. I found that, in the dark, I could occasionally go faster than I could when it was light. The roads were slippery and uneven, something that would have upset my sense of balance and induced caution had it been light enough to focus on the imperfections. But it was dark, and I could focus only on the small patch of road weakly illuminated by my small headlamp. And even that small area was hardly important to my safe arrival at my destination; I knew where I wanted to go, and I knew the path to take there. So I put aside the sense which typically guides me on a ride, my eyesight. I trusted the sense that I seldom allowed control, my instinctual feel of the bike and the road. I stopped worrying about how every rut and bump could be the cause of a crash, and instead focused on the destination, knowing that with enough speed and a bit of balance, no rut in my path was big enough to take me to the ground. It allowed me to go more quickly and pleasurably than if I had my eyesight to distract me with all the obstacles along the way.

So you want some abstract reasoning? We come to rely on some senses in our observation of this world, which occasionally put obstacles in our way unnecessarily. Occasionally, we need to use our other senses to guide us through the darkness over those bumpy, uneven roads. Today's exercise: try applying meaning from my lesson to *your* life.

Despite my best intentions, blog entries have been waning lately. This is probably because I've gotten a bit lazy, having settled into a slight routine after shaking myself up for a few weeks. Of course, knowing me, this trend will endlessly oscillate back and forth, so I'm sure there will be an ebb in the opposite direction in the near future.

One experience of note recently was the movie "Sideways". It follows a pair of middle aged men determined for one last hurrah before the wedding of one. Things don't go quite as planned, with stumbles and baubles along the way, but eventually at least of of them digs themselves out of their rut and finds that happiness can be attained somewhere they had not expected to find it.

The movie is well done, with an intentionally grainy film quality and excellent setting and character development. The story, although not terribly powerful, is charming and relatable. It also doesn't have the contrived feel of typical mainstream fare, which is always an appeal to me. I walked out of the theater satisfied.

Most weekends, I strive to say I have accomplished something extraordinary or challenged myself. Well, this weekend, I was perfectly content to do a whole lot of jack squat.

On Saturday, I managed to deliver the TSK to its new owner (it recently sold on eBay to a local flier). I then proceeded to buy some clothing at insanely marked-down prices, begging the question of how marked up the prices normally are when they can be sold for 80% off.

On Sunday, I had plans of either playing paintball or doing this weekend's 'cross race. Neither happened. Paintball was cancelled due to acclement weather, and I was in bed until almost noon, too late to prepare for the race. I can't say I missed it, however.

Sunday afternoon, I bought the new Grand Theft Auto game, this time title "San Andreas". It was a terribly successful way to pass away a good 4 hours of my evening; robbing, maiming, and destroying.

That's basically it. There were various errands and home activities peppered therein, but that's the crux of my weekend. I didn't accomplish any huge feats, I didn't challenge my view of the world, and I didn't really even do anything new. And it was great.

I just finished watching the Elephant DVD, a film by Gus Van Sant.

Its a chilling portrayal of a normal suburban high school and a day therein. The scenes fold upon themselves, alternately following the characters of interest, skipping about in time, but painting a full picture that breeds familiarity with the environment. My first impression was that the silence was too heavy, the camerawork too biased upon the character's backs, and that the mood was too forced. It was an independent film, and it seemed that it was trying too hard to be different and "deep". But, oddly enough, it worked. Suspense built along with the intimacy, and the ending took on an eerie surrealism. It may have tried too hard to be artsy, but it was enjoyable.

I won't say I bought it, though. The motivation just wasn't there. The characters were too familiar, with too many positive outlets, to justify such an ending. See it for yourself, and send me a note to agree or disagree.

You know time is long, and life is short, begin to live while you still can

Believe in nothing, believe me, those who can be trusted can change their mind

The anxious is the present, unwrap your gifts, take your time

Everything you imagined, needn't be stuck in your mind

Bee Girl, be a girl

A few months ago, I decided I wanted to volunteer at the Children's Hospital Denver in an attempt to help out teens and young adults who are going through cancer treatment similar to my own. I had finally (four years later) come to terms with the experience myself, and felt that I had a lot of perspective to offer.

Well, the process is liable to stop this whole thing in its tracks. There is a background check, forms, training, interview, health test, among other things which I'm sure I've missed. Its been over 2 months since I originally expressed itnerest in helping, and its likely to be another 2 months before I actually see anybody that I can help.

I had an interview today with the volunteer coordinator, which lasted 15 minutes before she informed me she could do nothing because she did not have a "description" of what I was supposed to do. She would need this description written by the program coordinator before she could move the process further.

I'm a bit frustrated by the process, even though I understand that its probably unavoidable. I guess I was just hoping that someone offering a helping hand would be welcomed, not tested. Oh well.

So, the music on the drive home was louder and angrier than the music playing on the way there. Hopefully things will happen eventually.

For the past few days I have been doing a simulation of the deployment of the CIPS door. This simulation is largely an academic exercise in its current form, because the system is simple enough to be broken into components and analyzed piecewise instead of as a system. But, I have a desire to gain familiarity with ANSYS's dynamic modelling capabilities, and the results are likely to be more accurate (and impressive) with a system model.

For those who are not familiar with the CIPS project (which I'm sure includes most of you), it is a panoramic UV camera which is part of the instrument suite aboard the AIM mission. This mission serves to characterize the noctilucent clouds which form in the upper atmosphere, and are believed to be indicators of global climate change. The CIPS instrument takes photos of these clouds to characterize their structure, while other instruments, SOFIE and CDE, characterize the cloud composition and dust flux, respectively.

The dust covers serve to protect the front lenses of the cameras during launch and fairing separation. Most who have used a camera know the negative effect that dust can have on an image, scattering the incoming light and adding artifacts. There just happens to be a lot of dust generated when the fairing separates from a Pegasus payload, and we intend to keep this dust off the lenses. Hence, we have a cover which is deployed after the satellite is in orbit and the cameras are relatively safe from additional dust.

Some photos of the dust covers and their location on the CIPS instrument can be found in the following links:

Dust covers and lens baffles in top level CIPS assembly.
Dust cover in latched position.
Dust cover after deployment.

The crux of my analysis has centered around the deployment kinematics and the dynamic structural response of the door when it meets the end of travel stop. I have been trying to avoid using plastics or rubbers in the end of travel stop, and keep it a purely metallic system, desirable for cleanliness and ease of assembly.

The simulation uses the ANSYS environment for finite element analysis. This software tool solves the several thousand simultaneous equations which characterize the structure of interest and its associated boundary conditions. This solution is in turn performed a few hundred times at small steps in the travel of the door. When all is done, I am left with a 14 gigabyte file of what amounts to snapshots of the door as it travels its path of deployment. This file contains snapshots of almost any item of interest, including positions of the door, its deflections, stresses in the materials, and more. This simulation takes roughly 24 hours to run on a 2.6GHz Pentium 4.

The software can then make pretty plots of the results, which impress the layman regardless of their accuracy or validity. Some of these plots are shown in the following links:

Door and hinge stress contour plot.
Stress contour plot of door alone.

I was particularly interested in the stresses in the door and stop, and was able to compare these stresses to the failure stresses of their materials. Indeed, there was a failure in my first iteration, and I adjusted some profiles and dimensions, and ran it again. Things are looking much better now, although it looks like some adjustment may be necessary, and (gasp) I may have to add some elastomeric damping material to quell some high stresses.

So, that's a taste of what I do on any given day. This exercise was actually fairly simple, and consisted more of getting acquainted with the quirks and intricacies of ANSYS than it did with doing complex simulation. But, I'm taking steps towards some more exciting analysis. And I'm having fun in the process.

Today's activity centered around a spontaneous decision to go with Chris Jiles to see Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins. We were looking for something to do, and found out about this matinee showing through a listing in the Coloradan.

I'll admit to being pretty critical of Shakespeare in high school. Much like classical music, I took issue more with the way people presented the material, inflating its value beyond its true worth under the pretense of it being "refined". I've always been a skeptic of elitists, and Shakespeare was no exception.

But, much like classical music, I have found that there is some merit to these arts. I don't believe them to be the unequivocal best humankind has ever created, but they do have some distinct appeal in their own rights. Shakespeare, in particular has a distinct appeal due to the universal message he addresses. The stories always seem to be fairly simple, commenting on basic tenets of our culture and human nature, but not offering deep hidden meanings or challenging views of the world. And the prose serves an added appeal to speakers of American English, because of the challenge it presents and the color it offers to the story.

In short, I had fun. It was a bit out of character for me, but sometimes I need that challenge. Next time, though, I think I'll read the play before seeing it on stage. I might then be able to understand more than 1/3 of what's said.

I went to the International Film Series screening of Secret Things tonight. The movie itself was an engaging commentary on the power, both good and evil, that love can have over us. Twisted and overtly sexual, it was a bit more intense than typical fare of American cinema, which is probably why I enjoyed it. The film was well done, clear in its message, but not so blatant as to offend. Engaging through and through. Reminiscent of Stanley Kubrich's "Eyes Wide Shut", but with a more concise and meaningful message.

And now, it has me thinking a bit. About what, in particular, I'm not quite sure. Perhaps of my own weakness, perhaps of the human condition, perhaps of nothing more than the ample usage of sexual imagery and its novelty. It showed me things that I loved, and things that I hated. I'm sure I'll unravel it more eventually. I would recommend the film if you get the opportunity to see it.

First, a little background. I have been having intermittent radio glitches on the Falcon for a while now, which occur when the engine is running at speeds above idle. Given past helicopter experience and a bit of direction from some online acquaintances, I suspect that the radio interference is due to something spinning or rattling.

The only things spinning at low engine speeds are the clutch bearings and the engine bearings. I had already replaced the clutch bearings and made sure nothing was rattling, which did not solve the problem, so I decided that the rear engine bearing might be the culprit.

In the process of the engine/helicopter overhaul to get at the rear bearing, I managed to break the piston ring. So, in addition to a new rear bearing, I now have to purchase a $20 piston ring, nearly doubling the price of this escapade. The price of this thin metal part set me aback, but as usual, I simply accepted it as part of this esoteric hobby.

Right now, the helicopter sits in a state of disarray on my kitchen table, awaiting the parts which should hopefully come by the end of the week. Its kind of cool to see the mess right now, but I'm sure that as time wears on, I'll be wishing I had my table back.

Can somebody bribe the US Mail for me? I could use some speedy service.

Yesterday, I participated in my first organized bicycle race. I had decided a few days ago to try one of the Boulder cyclocross series races after reading about them in the Daily Camera.

I felt that I did well. I intentionally let myself fall to the aft end of the pack at the start, not knowing how well I stacked up, and preferring not to hold anyone up by getting too far up on the first lap. I spent most of the race recovering this lost time, and did not get passed by anyone who I did not later pass in return.

Near the end of the race, I felt that I was following someone who was basically running the same speed as myself. I would have had a little extra juice had it not been for chasing the rest of the race, but I wouldn't have grabbed more than an extra position or two. In short, I put forth my best effort, and I was happy with it.

A few things can be done better next time (yes, NEXT TIME!). I did very well on the barriers because of my platform pedals, and I could take advantage of that next time and capture some places each lap when running them. This would be especially true if the barriers are not in a turn like both sets were this race. Also, the obvious, start the race with a strong sprint. I have good sprinting speed, and could save myself a lot of energy later in the race if I gave a good hard push there. Other than that, its just physical training. I wasn't in my best shape this time, for sure, although I was adequate.

The day after, and I'm really sore. My shoulders and arms are sore, and my legs are sore. It feels good. If nothing else, it offered me a good 45 minute workout.

I'm looking forward to the next race in the series. I'll be that much better prepared.

Well, that didn't take too long after all.

I implemented a format unique to the weblog. My idea was a typewriter journal entry taped to the wall. Whatever. Its a bit plain, but I think I like it.

And now, hopefully some real content will bubble up from the stew of my thoughts. Enough time has been spent on logistics already.

So, the weblog was launched today, and I kludged it together using the format of the spec sheet for my R/C planes. I hope to have a dedicated widget applied to it eventually, but it is currently functional on a bare bones level.

The weblog itself uses the Nucleus CMS engine, which I call from one of my own website classes, which inserts the text as necessary. This allows the advantage of having an entire weblog engine available at my fingertips, for maintaienance and display, without much work of my own.

I'm not sure how much of the engine I will implement, notably archives and comments. We'll see. Please bear with me as I develop this to a point where I'm satisfied.

I have been maintaining a personal journal in the form of a weblog for some time now, and have found that I enjoy the outlet. Some things, I have realized, are of a more general interest, and might benefit from being published in a more public setting. This is a new experience for me, because I seldom express opinions on most subjects. The content of my webpage has been primarily that of facts and experiences, nothing which could be debated or disproven. So, this becomes a bit of an experiment, to see if I am really an expressive person, or if my life is best lived with my opinions kept private. Time will tell.