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Ember Watching TV

Here's video that we took of Ember watching home videos of herself. The video was taken this spring so if she looks a bit younger to you that's because she is a bit younger.

Fear

Fear.
It's the worst. It's like nothing else I know... the cold sweet... that chocking sensation that you can't pry away because it comes from within... makes you want to tear off your skin. It motivates insanity; makes a trapped animal gnaw of his own foot.I'm ready to gnaw my own foot off. I am not a logical beast.
Chewing my foot will not set me free. Succeeding will set me free or accepting failure or some perfect recipe where one leads to the other or dynamic waltz where the success and failure spin round the floor like lovers.
Conclusion: do not gnaw off foot. Do something else.

HD Taylor Treatment Plant Maps and Pump Performance Analysis

HD Taylor Water Treatment Plant

Settling lagoon

You can see the settling lagoons from the bike path. This water has puzzled me. It often looks dirtier than the river. I thought maybe they were using some sort of biologically treatment. They are not. 

This is water that has been used to clean the filters. They can't immediately return it to the river because it now contains Alum and Chlorine. The alum settles out into these ponds and the Chlorine evaporates. Then the water is returned to the Willamette.

We were not allowed to take pictures of the great big intake screens in the river or the pumps that bring the water up about 27ft to the level of the treatment plant. I'm sure one would see them if one happened to be rafting on the Willamette. I suspect that this level of "secrecy" simply makes the tours more exciting.

After the water is pumped up out of the Willamette, the giant pipe carrying the water meets with smaller pipe that pumps in Chlorine and Alum against the flow of the water. The two streams hitting each other causes a lot of turbulence, which results in nice thuroughly mixed chemicals. This is the first of two time Chlorine is added to the water.

After the chemicals are added the water goes through sensor which measure the quality of the incoming water including chlorine concentrations, turbidity. 

This station monitors the quality of the incoming water after the chemicals are added.

A closer view of the sensors

The plant was off for maintenance during the first half of the tour. So these values are not characteristic of the plan when it's up and running.

Settling basins.

 The water flows through these basins starting where I was standing when I took this pictures and moving away from me. Each basing does progressively slower mixing. The idea is to create phloc. That is particles that are big enough to settle out. The first basin is like speed dating. The idea is to get the chemicals in contact with as many other chemicals a possible. After the initial mixing, the subsequent basics do succesively slower mixing in order to continue to build the phloc without breaking until it finally settles out. 

Vertical Paddle Wheel in the Basin.

After the water has been through the basins, it's forced up though these screens.

The screens provide surface area that the phloc sticks to and then sloughs off. These screens are self cleaning.

A different kind of paddle wheel

Water leaves the basins though this big red pipe

After the settling basins the water goes through porous media consisting of activated carbon silica and sand. Next, it travels into the chlorine contact basin, which i covered to keep debris from falling in the clean water. The Chlorine contact basin is serpentine to allow the water to have the necessary contact time with this final dose of chlorine. After the Chlorine contact basin the water goes into an undergound storage known as the clear well.

This is one of the pumps that move water from the clearwell to the reservoir

Here's a little perspective on that pump

The pressure gauge on the pump. The pump isn't running so the pressure is neutral.

This measures the turbidity of the treated water.  

Turbidity is a measure of amount of light that is blocked by the particulate in the water. For example muddy water in a muddle has a high turbidity. Your tap water should have a low turbidity (at least if your pipes are in good shape.)

A view down into the clearwell.This looks like a big black hole because the limitations of the camera. However if you look closely, you can see that it's tube going down into a pool of very clear water. There is a lighted up logo for the city of Corvallis at the bottom to show you how clear this water is.

This drinking fountain pulls water directly out of the clearwell below us.

Uh Oh!

Matt died, but don't worry. We revived him for the presentation.

If I Could - A Poem of Sorts

If I could tonight, I would become water
I would pound on the roof and beet my fists on the window
I would make puddles in the street that stop traffic
I would apologize for nothing 
I would flow down, down, into the ground with the splashing rain
I would caress rotting leaves and kiss the memory of summer goodbye
I would laugh at all of you and your dreams and your tears
Everything dies in the end

Kearney Hall, OSU

How old is this building?

Here is a photo I found of what it used to look like

I have walked past these pillars a hundred times. I don't know if I've ever taken the time to look at them. The building is newly remodeled, but parts of it are old. How old? I don't know. Well I didn't know.
Apparently Kearney Hall was Apperson Hall from 1906 to 2005. It was built in 1900. I assume that means they started construction in 1900. A third story was added in 1920. Then in 2005 they remodeled it and made is "seismically safe." I think that being the home of the civil and construction engineering department it might have reflected badly on the school if their buidling had fallen down in an earthquake. Anyway, during the remodel they very carefully preserved the beautiful old stone work.

Here's the link where I found a bunch of this information:

http://www.pmapdx.com/projects/oregon_state_university_apperson_hall/

Less Ouch Breathing

My ribs are 90% better. Dr. Young at  Body of Health Chiropractic is one of the best possibly the best chiropractor I know. He's a bit of a genius and kind of my hero for the week. It's pretty awesome to breath again without so much pain. I may have to go in for another visit in a week or so because my whole body was so messed up. I have something going on with my left leg where it doesn't want to hold me up when I first stand on it. That's a common symptom of an upset sciatic nerve. It kind of amusing. 

Ouch Breathing

Category: Personal Blablah
My recent activities have offended a rib on the left side of my body. Upset ribs hurt like a mother... What did I do to mess it up? I have no idea. Sadly, I most likely just hunched over a book or a computer for too long without stretching. Now I hurt. I visited my chiropractor. That helped a lot but I still hurt. If the angry muscles don't settle down with heat. I think I will be visiting again.
Breathing hurts, which gives one the dim impression that one is being chocked.
I took a tour of one of the two drinking water treatment plants for the city of  Corvallis. It was pretty neat. I am thinking to myself that it would be a good, productive, learning experience thing for me to share in detail. I should write about it, but I probably won't. 

Bread-the rising

The second run of the bread experiment was a greater success. The same experimental standards were applied as in trial one. However, the unintentional omission of half the desired quantity of water was avoided. The bread rose. The bread was tasty. The bread was eaten.
The chickens ate bread experiment one... better described as "the brick". They found it somewhat difficult but they were up to the challenge.

Metal Complex Poetry

Words to The Wise
When it comes to metals ligand are like brigands.
They reduce the activity of the metal is solution (which makes it more soluble.)

Chemicals are lazy. They like to have lower activity.
If their activity is high. Their reactivity is high and they tend to precipitate out of solution...
like students failing out of college.

Ligands also (in general) make metals less toxic.
So ligands are like robin hood. They are good brigands.

Bread Experiment Results

It would appear that I added about 1/2 the water that was called for. This unintentional recipe alteration did not render favorable results. In defense of experimenter, she was very tired.
I will try again once the pan is cooled.

Bread Experiments

I decided today that I would make use the bread maker again. I don't think we've used it since our wedding so it's been a couple of months. Today, I followed a basic recipe for white bread but i added more sugar and less yeast. The sugar was also brown sugar instead of white. In addition I added some cinnamon. We shall see how it goes.
My next bread experiment involves adding strong cup of tea instead of water; Earl Gray bread. Worst case, the chickens will eat it.

A Team

It is nearly two in the morning. I am listening to the rain and Andrew's breathing. I think he might want me to wake him if he knew that I was still up but i am not going to. We are a team. That's what he said earlier when he was hugging me and I was apologizing for my irrational sadness. I agree with him. We are a team so I'd rather not sink both of us. I'm going to have a shit time getting stuff done tomorrow. I know his stuff isn't easy either.
By sadness, I mean depression. I would  say that it's passed now but I think that depression is why I'm still awake. Did you know that depression is a symptom of mercury poisoning? (no I haven't been exposed to high levels of mercury in case you were worried.)
Anyway, the strange, terrifying, sadness has passed. I'm just awake... and blogging... Andrew is talking in his sleep. He just twitched and said "I don't know." I wonder what he is dreaming about.

My sciatic nerve was freaking out am making my leg hurt like a mother. I stole that phrase from my friend Tera in high school. She would say "hurts like a mother" and leave it at that. I found it very apt phrasing. As far as I know I've never met any Edipis types but I have met lots of mothers and let me tell you... Don't piss off a mother.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah sciatic nerve was making my whole leg ache and go numb, so Andrew gave me a back/leg message which helped a lot. He also helped me get nice and by piling the heater blanket and a bunch of normal blanket on me. My leg still hurts but at least no yammering in pain. Sciatica is weird. According to wikipedia, it's not a condition. It's a set of symptoms. That makes sense to me. As far as I know most people get sciatica at some point. It's a compressed or irritated nerve. The rain is nice to listen to.

Andrew covered the top of the chickens coup with plastic when it started raining in earnest a month ago.  The chickens were walking around looking soggy and myserable. They could of course have gone in their house to get out of the rain, but they didn't. I guess they didn't want to. The plastic keeps them nice and dry. It also makes nice sounds when the rain hits it. It magnifies the rain sound the same way that the gutters do.

I think I could sleep now but I feel at peace with the world. I don't want to lose that feeling. It's funny. Two in the morning is usually the time when mind demons are the strongest.

I just had a very long text chat with a friend/ acquaintance from middle school named Holly. It was a lovely chat and gave me something new to think about. I think I owe at least some of this peaceful feeling to her.  I should thank her. She seems to have troubles and uncertainties of her own. I bet she doesn't know what a difference she made to me.

learning about mercury

Toxnet and the EPA may have more reliable and accurate information, but when researching, it's best to start with Wikipedia. Get a general idea of what's going on then double check it with peer reviewed literature. It just took me two hours fishing through overly specific peer reviewed literature to rember this. Maybe this time the lesson will stick.
START with Wikipedia

Cats At A Tea Party

A tea party for one

An uninvited guest.

Ember- "am I not invited?"

Ember- "I like having tea with you."

The guests have fallen asleep.

Alex sees a bug on the ceiling

Alex looking regal.

I don't think he knows how dorky he looks when he smells the air.

Leaves

Pain for Beauty

School is really hard for me this year. It's not so bad as last year, but last year was like rush hour traffic in Seattle. Don't even bother you're just wasting gas. I'm being reclusive and hiding in books. I've started writing as story, which gives me somewhere else to hide even when I don't have a book.
It explains why so many writers and artists are depressed people. They were compelled to write or paint because it gave them an escape from being themselves. It's not the talent that made them sad. It's the sadness that gave them talent.
All of what I've just said is only partially true of course. There are other drives to creativity. There is, after all, more that one way to start a fire and carbon isn't the only thing that burns. 

Alex- fluid mechanics are so easy I read about them upside down.