tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87962833516548202532024-02-08T14:22:57.182-05:00Senior BaconDavid Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-50409156061710576082008-08-28T19:44:00.004-04:002008-08-28T19:59:37.844-04:00Lunch time!<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&s=AARTsJrzDtdPDfJu2OaA4qectnYE7UL7lg&msa=0&msid=110599909277550370812.0004558dc0dc353d7271d&ll=32.439126,-103.160162&spn=0.012677,0.018239&z=15&output=embed" scrolling="no" width="425" frameborder="0" height="350"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&msa=0&msid=110599909277550370812.0004558dc0dc353d7271d&ll=32.439126,-103.160162&spn=0.012677,0.018239&z=15&source=embed" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >This is a map of all the places we have to choose from for lunch at work every day.</span><br /></small>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-41834126832508940122008-08-24T22:33:00.002-04:002008-08-28T19:40:02.767-04:00Eunice can be fun too *snicker*<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/Bacon1986/SLIa85O7ukI/AAAAAAAAAa0/TRhhIHMQs5M/0819080627.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 364px; height: 272px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/Bacon1986/SLIa85O7ukI/AAAAAAAAAa0/TRhhIHMQs5M/0819080627.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Above is another sunrise picture. It is great when we can see these beautiful sunrises on our way to work. The horizon is so far away; much farther than I have ever seen it.<br /><br />Well, I celebrated my birthday on the 18th. We decided to try a new place to eat for my birthday, not that we haven't eaten at a new place every night. Some co-workers told us to try out a place called The Saxony. We found out where that was and traveled down there. It was on the Eastern side of Hobbs, near the high school. When we got there, we found it to be a very small restaurant in an inn and it had no room for us. So, we went to another restaurant that Paul Sr., the owner of PKMJ, had told us about, called Pacific Rim. When we got there, it was closed. So, we went to Applebee's instead. I have been to so many birthday dinners at Applebee's while at college, so it seemed rather fitting that we went to the one in Hobbs for mine. We wanted to get some drinks afterwards since Pete Berry, the man we report to at the NEF plant, had given me $20 to buy a round of drinks. Since it was so late though, we decided to wait for another night.<br /><br />So, my birthday wasn't too exciting. A few more coworkers came in to town, and one of them, Emily, joined us for dinner. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Work has been pretty good and kept some of us busy. The sad thing is that not all of us have been given tasks or jobs to do yet. And it's not because there isn't work to do. It's because that the people that know what work needs to be done and how to do it are too busy to train our coworkers who are not busy. I not only currently have a good amount of work to do, but also will be doing more starting tomorrow.<br /><br />Saturday, we enjoyed a picnic at the park and pool in Eunice. None of us actually went into the pool, but it looked really nice. It had a couple of really neat slides. The food for the picnic was ok. The cool part was the prizes they gave at the end of the picnic, and the reason that is cool is because I won a Sony portable DVD player. It's one of those things that I probably would not have bought on my own, but I am kind of glad to have now. I'll be able to watch movies on the airplane trips that I will be going on.<br /><br />Finally, there are the events of Sunday. Allison and I went to a rather charismatic church. I am pretty reformed, so this was quite outside my comfort zone. But, I still try to be open minded when at a church I am not familiar with. This church was not one that I would continue to go to however. They sang about 7 worship songs at the beginning of the service, all of which I had never heard before. At one point they talked about the construction they would be starting soon. They needed to raise 50 thousand dollars, and twenty thousand were going to be used for a large digital sign that would be placed at the entrance. Not only did this seem way too extravagant for a church, the reason the pastor used for buying this was that it adds a "wow factor" to the church. I would hope a pastor would be more concerned about advancing the Gospel than about "wowing" people that pass the church on the road.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/Bacon1986/SLIYhYUdC0I/AAAAAAAAAaU/y3gyoRCcKB0/0824081506.jpg?imgmax=800"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/Bacon1986/SLIYhYUdC0I/AAAAAAAAAaU/y3gyoRCcKB0/0824081506.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />That afternoon, we went to a neat public pool that had a number of water toys for kids. The most impressive of these was a big water slide. I was the first to go down, but, because the sign at the top said to go down in a seated position, I went down really slow. This made my friends laugh quite a bit. I explained that I was testing the slide in a safe and slow manner. You can't see the slide in this picture, but it was about twice as high as the little red one in the background.<br /><br />After that, we had dinner at Quizno's and then turned in for the night to get ready for another week of work.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-72511345660279351512008-08-17T17:00:00.011-04:002008-09-18T10:05:01.068-04:00Hobbs (not to be confused with Hobbits)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/Bacon1986/SKiYkApVLsI/AAAAAAAAAC4/zq_YhBgckRI/Week%201%20005.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/Bacon1986/SKiYkApVLsI/AAAAAAAAAC4/zq_YhBgckRI/Week%201%20005.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a>It is Sunday afternoon and I have been living in Hobbs, New Mexico for about a week now.<br />Work down at the plant is interesting. For the most part, I am in a very large trailer which on the inside looks very much like a large office. The trailer is known as a ten-wide because it is the length of ten trailer widths. I have been working in document management. The days are pretty long -- we work 7-6 -- but, while we're out here, there's not much else to do. It's been very interesting meeting people from all different states and even some European countries. Everyone has been really friendly and quick to help us out.<br /><br />Today I went to the First Presbyterian Church in Hobbs with Allison. It was a smaller church with mostly elderly people, but they were all friendly and made sure that they introduced themselves to us. One family there were from Holland (the country) and were also living in Hobbs because of the LES plant.<br /><br />Today I also found a place to live after the hotel reservation is over. It<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/SKiZCJod6dI/AAAAAAAAADA/tyXeA2eF84Q/s1600-h/0817081310.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/SKiZCJod6dI/AAAAAAAAADA/tyXeA2eF84Q/s200/0817081310.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235602829042641362" border="0" /></a> is a small house in Hobbs with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. It comes completely furnished with pots, pans, linens, appliances, and even a TV. All the utilities and internet access are included in the $1300/mo rent. The reason I am looking at living in something other than a hotel is that I can earn even more money by switching to per diem. By doing that I will earn $100/day, tax free to use on my expenses. I plan on bringing my car down here since that will be a good deal cheaper than renting a car. I will be renting the place with my coworker, Dave Morris. Funny how again I will be rooming with another David. After four years of it in college, you would think I'd be done.<br /><br />The scenery is a bit lacking out here. Every morning we drive by a<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/Bacon1986/SKid-8zrj7I/AAAAAAAAADI/L5b1DNHspww/0817081310a.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/Bacon1986/SKid-8zrj7I/AAAAAAAAADI/L5b1DNHspww/0817081310a.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a>bout 50 oil pumps in the field. One pump is actually located just about 10 yards away from the house I'm going to rent, as seen in the picture to the right. We can also smell the oil in a few stretches of the road. However, as seen in the picture at top, we get a great view of the sunrise.<br /><br />It has been pretty wet this weekend, which is really abnormal for New Mexico. We should be getting a lot more sun later on. When we first arrived, it was in the high 90s. We have heard stories of temperatures in the 100s. That should be quite the experience. I also have yet to see any tarantulas or scorpions, but I hear they are common.<br /><br />It's time for me to go out to dinner with Allison and Dave. The nice thing about being on expenses is that we can eat out all the time. Tonight we plan on going to the Chinese buffet, which we hear is pretty good. I will try to write again soon.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-44303310884004706922008-08-12T21:18:00.003-04:002008-08-12T22:16:24.216-04:00New MexicoHey friends,<br /><br />This is Debbie again, updating you on the life of David Bacon.<br /><br />For those of you who are not "in the know," David is currently on a business trip in New Mexico for two to five months. His team is helping to build the <a href="http://www.urenco.com/sectionFrontPage.aspx?m=1705">National Enrichment Facility </a>down there. I keep telling him to work fast so he can come back soon.<br /><br />I just moved from my parent's home in New York to an apartment in Pittsburgh, five minutes from the apartment David is renting. Though David was not able to help me move in yesterday, he did help me move a lot of my stuff last week, and my parents came with me to help this week.<br /><br />Let me share with you what I know about David's journey thus far.<br /><br />Yesterday David left Pittsburgh. His adventures began as he traveled safely to Eunice, New Mexico. He arrived in his hotel exhausted and ready to get a good night's sleep.<br /><br />Today he got a tour of the job site and started working. He said the workers at the site keep confusing his team for interns. They keep having to tell people they work for PKMJ and are not interns. I am hoping to talk to David more tonight, but he isn't back from dinner yet.<br /><br />Please thank God that David made it to New Mexico safely. Pray for God to bless his work and attitude as he spends lots of time with his co-workers. Hopefully he can be a witness and encouragement to those he works with. Also, pray that he finds a solid and supportive church to attend while he is there. We couldn't find any reformed churches within an hour and a half of his location when we searched the internet. I am praying for David to come back sooner rather than later, but God is in control and His plans are way better than my plans.<br /><br />Thanks for your prayers! I will keep this updated and perhaps get David to do the same.<br /><br />Love,<br />DebbieDavid Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-63697409984336880172008-07-27T21:19:00.002-04:002008-07-27T21:24:45.578-04:00Wow, David has not updated this for awhile... I'm taking advantage of this chance to do it for him. This weekend, David:<br />1) got a visit from his girlfriend, aka, me<br />2) went with me to sign my lease<br />3) got a PA drivers license<br />4) bought a 2005 Honda Civic!!!<br />5) made up a phrase to remember the 3 letters of his new license plate (GZY- Green Zaps Yellow)<br />6) went to Katie and Tom's wedding with me<br />7) rented some movies with me and watched them<br />8) saw The Dark Knight again<br /><br />plus some other stuff!<br /><br />Thanks for reading!<br /><br />Love,<br />DebbieDavid Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-21568715463007917382008-02-21T13:46:00.002-05:002008-02-21T14:09:58.754-05:00The night the house was fullLast night, a small Christian School in State College called Grace Prep, brought 55 students to Geneva to spend the night. This was a massive undertaking and took all of the Bed and Breakfast staff to house them all. I personally was in charge of two of these students. Three other guys from Patterson also had their own prospectives amounting to 12 prospectives for our house total. After we all had dinner, we took the kids to our house to drop off their stuff. We decided to then go to the fieldhouse to play Basketball. However, one of the kids, Tyler, was not interested in braving the cold again if he didn't have to. So, I stayed behind with him and just watched TV with him. He turned out to have a mental disability, and talked about some very interesting things (such as the Pokemon story he was currently writing, and how his amazing Summoner in Final Fantasy X was better than a Dark Mage). Later on the rest of the guys came back, and they proceeded to watch the TV as one guy played all the way through Super Mario Bros. 3. This didn't end til about 1:30 and the kids finally went to sleep after that. This morning we took them down to Alex's for breakfast and they had other things planned with the school for the rest of the morning. Apparently they were going to the Symphony after that.<br /><br />It seemed kind of strange that this overnight took place. First of all, none of the kids had applied to Geneva, and most of the seniors were already accepted to Penn State. Secondly, the school they came from has only about 55 kids in it. So, basically this whole trip was for the whole school. third of all, they had gone to the Carnegie Science Center before coming to Geneva, and were headed to the Symphony tonight. This all sums up to what looks like a field trip for a whole school where the housing was paid for by Geneva's admission dept. Now, I am not gonna complain because I did get paid $40 just to have a bunch of kids sleep in the lounge and for me to basically babysit one for a couple hours, but what the school did seems very much like usury. They came to Geneva under the guise of having kids who were interested in the school and wanting to learn more about it. What it turned out to be was a school of kids going on a field trip and wanting to save money on hotel rooms by staying at a small Christian college that already has its own problems with housing. I and some of the other guys from my house believe that our admissions dept should have been a little more hesitant in allowing this trip to occur as it did.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-60221209398988805812008-02-18T10:35:00.004-05:002008-12-11T09:22:41.027-05:008 BellsThis past Friday was the 8 Bells concert as part of the Mars Alliance Church's Valentine's Day dinner. We had a great time. We sang for about half an hour, which is the longest I have sung with the 8 Bells aside from the reunion concert last semester. The funniest part was when we asked for audience participation and chose Ben Buchmann and his fiance, Heather. We then proceeded to sing Sunshine to Heather while Ben sat in a chair at the other end of the stage. Ben is a senior Electrical Engineer at Geneva so I know him pretty well. I thanked him after the concert for being such a good sport while we serenaded his fiance. It was so funny. We got a lot of laughs for that. After the concert we went to the Chick Fil A I work at and sang to the three girls that were closing the store that night. For our performance one of my managers, Kris, gave us three free milkshakes which was really nice of her. We then came back to campus. We hope to use the money we received from the church to buy ourselves some t-shirts and we will also take orders for our fans to buy some if they wish. Should be pretty sweet. The design I came up with that the guys seem to like is the one below. That's the profiles of all eight of from L-R Brendon, Tyler, Brian W., Me, Brian F., Steve, Thom, and Jon.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/R7mxvbThmzI/AAAAAAAAABU/DrUS1iOOVW8/s1600-h/8+Bells.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 218px; height: 100px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/R7mxvbThmzI/AAAAAAAAABU/DrUS1iOOVW8/s200/8+Bells.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168357475725974322" border="0" /></a>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-43810164966176595222008-02-12T00:08:00.000-05:002008-02-12T11:50:48.838-05:00Baby it's coooooold outsideBuuuurrrr. It has been extremely cold for the past few days here in western PA. On Saturday at work, I had a bunch of cardboard fly out of the trash cart when I went to do a trash run at work. Sunday morning, I had to hold my car steady as I drove my friends to church down the highway. I also had the washer fluid freeze into snow when I washed my windows at the gas station. And this morning I had to wear a scarf and gloves and hat as well as my winter jacket to keep from freezing. Thankfully it did begin to get warmer today and the rest of the week should be warmer and in the 30s instead of below 10 F like it has been these few days.<br /><br />I am pretty sure that the rumor of a tablet PC in my Thermal Systems class is no longer true. That's kinda disappointing, but I'm not gonna worry about it. My computer still works fine. I'll probably get a laptop soon after I graduate this summer.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v184/2/104/151101451/n151101451_30391789_732.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 323px; height: 240px;" src="http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v184/2/104/151101451/n151101451_30391789_732.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Friday night I got to enjoy a visit from my friend Kristin Butterworth who is a graduate student at the University of Buffalo. I first went to swing dance night at the local church that the swing club rents each week. Then a bunch of us went to Richardson and we played telephone pictionary. After that we went to Eat N' Park for a midnight snack. It was a lot of fun, but when I had to wake up at 8:45 to go to work I regretted staying up so late.<br /><br />Church was excellent on Sunday and Tes did an excellent job of teaching our Sunday school class on Fair Trade issues.hard to believe that by simply buying coffee that has the fair trade logo on it, we can help out villages of fair trade employees in distant countries. It's definitely an idea that I want to look into further, especially the topic of fair trade clothing.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-5079632757677065512008-01-31T12:00:00.000-05:002008-01-31T22:56:34.631-05:00Last day of the first month of my last semester of collegeToday is Thursday. It's one of my busiest days of the week because I have two classes, two meetings, and Band practice. This Thursday was even busier because I also gave blood this afternoon and had 8 Bells practice tonight. Whew, no rest for the weary.<br /><br />On the day after Valentine's Day, 8 Bells have a gig at the Mars Alliance Church in Mars, PA. The church is having a Valentine's dinner with a guest speaker, good food, and us, 8 Bells, singing for about 20-30 minutes. The contact at the church said that we were allowed to join the guests for the dinner and lecture with a "date" and they also promised a monetary payment. We thought that with the money we get we could all get t-shirts. I printed up a draft of an idea t<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.visitbgky.com/images/restaurants/ChickFilA.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 124px; height: 126px;" src="http://www.visitbgky.com/images/restaurants/ChickFilA.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>hat they all liked, and so I'll be sprucing that up for a final design for the t-shirts. I also invited my good friend, Kelly, to come with me to the dinner as my "date." She's an Elementary/Special Education double major at Geneva and is also Lauren's roommate and a fellow sax player in the band. The church this dinner takes place at is on the same street as the Chick Fil A I work at, which is pretty sweet. Maybe we can all grab some food on our way back to school. Mmmm I love Chick Fil A food.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-90588522569330166472008-01-31T11:09:00.000-05:002008-01-31T11:59:45.285-05:00Mystery Bus TripLast Friday, I and about 95 other Geneva students went on the Mystery Bus Trip. Each year this event is highly sought after. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I slept overnight at the student center to get a ticket. And the tickets were sold out 7 minutes after the doors opened. So, Friday, at 4:30, we boarded two buses. Dave Abt (my roomie), Lauren Shaw (his gf), and Dave Lusk (just some random Dave we know) got on board together in the back of the second bus. I brought along ALF just for kicks, and he turned out to be a good pillow later on. During the first leg of our trip we were given Mad Libs to do. Ours were pretty funny, but I don't think they'd be appropriate to repeat.<br /><br />So, our first destination, since we had not eaten dinner yet, was a Slovenian restaurant in Cleveland, OH. We had a load of good food, including three different meat dishes, potatoes, soup, bread, and dessert. It was a lot of food and filled us up very well. Unfortunately, the water pitchers never seemed to be filled often enough and we were often thirsty during the meal. But, we still had a great time. Lauren even snuck some of the breaded veal (Weinerschnitzel) out to the bus because she liked it so much.<br /><br />After dinner, we boarded the buses again and drove to our second destination. Now, remember we don't know where we're going because it's a <span style="font-style: italic;">mystery.</span> We arrived at a small plaza in the southern part of Cleveland and entered a place called All Fired Up. At this small shop, we were given a choice of pottery that we could then paint and leave behind to be baked in the kiln. The choices for pottery was either a huge bowl, a large mug, or a square plate. Dave (my roomie) and I chose to paint bowls, and Lauren chose a mug. They looked pretty sweet when we were done painting. Unfortunately we were only allowed an hour there, so I felt like my artistic skills were impeded by the short amount of time. While we were painting, we had cups of water used to clean brushes and sponges, but nothing to drink. I felt quite thirsty when we left the shop. We turned our pottery in to be baked, and I assume Student Activities Staff will be picking them up and distributing them soon.<br /><br />Finally, on this mysterious trip, we went to a small ski resort outside of Cleveland and were taken to the tubing slopes. We spent the next two hours tubing. The slopes were fairly shallow, so it wasn't too exciting, but we did have a good time. While we were exerting all this energy going up and down the slopes, we started to get thirsty. Due to the lack of water at dinner, and at the pottery place, I and my friends were getting really thirsty. They had a small pavilion outside the slopes with a tiny snack bar and a vending machine. I was so thirsty by this time that I spent $2 to buy a Sprite from the machine. It was about the best drink of my life because I was so parched. We left the slopes and moved over to the ski lodge where we finished our trip with pizza and thankfully free drinks of water.<br /><br />We boarded the buses and left for school. They showed National treasure during the trip, but because we so tired (it was 2 o'clock at this point) not many of us actually watched the movie. We arrived back at school around 4:15 and all went to bed.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-12099359987284357272008-01-20T23:12:00.000-05:002008-01-20T23:34:38.343-05:00One week down, fourteen more to go.I have completed my first week of this semester. It went well, but I still have a ways to go. Wednesday night I gave my progress presentation for my Senior design. I think it went really well, aside from the time I took ten seconds staring at E in a formula I had trying to remember what it symbolized (which everyone knew was the Elastic Modulus). Also, Egan frustrated me by being the only person to comment after my presentation to say that some of the numbers HE GAVE ME were incorrect in the calculations. I have no idea why he felt it was necessary to do this in front of the whole class, but no one understands that man.<br /><br />Thursday was a normal day of classes and not much else. Until that night. Dave, Lauren, and I went to Sky Lounge after midnight and slept over there along with about 40 other students to be the first ones in line Friday morning to buy our Mystery Bus Trip tickets. The tickets went on sale at 7 am on Friday, and we were woken up by more students who had slept in their own beds but woken up early at 5:45. Considering we did not get to sleep until after 2, I was pretty tired Friday. BUT, I was fifth in line for the tickets, so it was worth it.<br /><br />Now, you may ask, what is a Mystery Bus Trip. It is an event that our Student Activities department comes up with every year, where two buses full of students go to a number of places, overnight, and without letting any of the passengers know where the destinations are. My freshman year we went from the bus to a train station and rode on a train and then got back on the buses and went to Starbucks, and then to Cleveland's Science Museum to see an IMAX movie, and finally to a Steak n' Shake Restaurant. It was a lot of fun, and I imagine this year it will be even more fun. I was unable to go my Sophomore and Junior years because of work and such, but I WILL be going this year!!<br /><br />Saturday I was able to go to work in the morning/afternoon, and then I went to PEPBOYS to pick up a new hose for my car. I installed and am happy to say that it is no longer leaking anti-freeze all over beaver County. I drove it to church today and it drove just fine.<br /><br />Tonight after dinner, me and a bunch of friends (Samantha, Kelly, and Nick included) went to see Juno. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/uploaded_images/juno3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 184px; height: 277px;" src="http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/uploaded_images/juno3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>This is a movie about a 16 year old girl named Juno who gets pregnant from her best friend Paulie (who she refers to by his last name, Bleeker). the picture to the left is of those two. At first she considers having an abortion, but then she changes her mind and looks for a family to adopt the baby. Through a series of events (and some of the craziest dialogue I have heard in a while) she starts to question what love is and how any two people can stay married without giving up. She realizes that Bleeker was a good friend to her and that she loves him. And the best part is that her baby is adopted and given a loving mother to raise her. Unfortunately, this new mother goes through a divorce in the movie. I think the best way to describe this movie is a mix of Napoleon Dynamite and Knocked Up. I liked it and would recommend it.<br /><br />Well, it's late here and I have to work from 11:30-10:30 tomorrow. since I don't have classes I told my boss I could work whatever, and that's what I'm doing. It'll be a crazy long day, but I can do it.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-16036861128223532008-01-15T10:53:00.000-05:002008-01-15T11:32:35.458-05:002nd dayYesterday I had a good first day of classes. I had Design of Thermal Systems at 8 AM. We went over what the course would cover and how it would be a combination of Thermodynamics and Transport Processes, two classes I took in my junior year. My second class was Digital Systems, and that class also went well. We discussed binary numbers and how to convert from decimal to binary. I had gone over that in high school at one point but had since forgotten.<br /><br />After those two classes, I had free time (sounds like I'm talking about summer camp) til Genevans practice at 4. Practice went well, and it was good to see everyone again. I had dinner with some Patterson guys. After playing some Burnout, Jon and I went to the gym to go play racquetball, but unfortunately both courts were being used by some non-Geneva groups. So, I went to Chick Fil A with Dave and Bill. I got my W-2 form and picked up Kayla's so I could mail it to her dad (which I did this morning). After getting back, Jon and I again attacked the racquetball courts. We had a good time and played for about 40 minutes. After that I got to hang out with Dave and Bill and we watched some Arrested Development, then I went to sleep :-)<br /><br />Today I heard rumors about the resignation of Professor Egan after this semester. To all Mechanical Engineers at Geneva College this is good news. Ever since he arrived here during my Sophomore year he has not been received well because he is terrible at teaching. He's tried to change the format of his grading each semester, but since he can't teach that doesn't make a big difference. So, I will have to see if there is truth to these rumors. If there is I will be happy for all the underclassmen who don't have to take anymore classes from him.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-9207534688492435122008-01-14T00:58:00.000-05:002008-01-14T01:09:50.600-05:00Final Semester TimeI am now back at Geneva College for one final Semester. Two things I plan on accomplishing. 1. Work out a lot more especially in playing racquetball. 2. Blog more often so that not only can others know what's going on, but also I can look back later at what went on during my last semester of college<br /><br />I drove back from my friend Karie's place tonight. Soon after I started driving, I entered a snow shower. For most of the drive I was driving through either moderate or heavy snow. I followed one tractor trailer the whole time I was on 80. At times he seemed to decide to just speed up for a couple minutes and I would grip the wheel and speed up with him so I didn't lose the protection his large vehicle offered me. Thankfully in Beaver County it was only lightly raining, so the last leg of the trip was easier.<br /><br />When I did get back and after Jon had gotten his stuff, Kelly and I went to Wal-Mart so I could get a couple notebooks for class tomorrow. When I parked though I had an insane amount of steam pouring out of my hood. I opened it up and found I had a small leak in a hose connected to the engine. Also my temp gage showed it had overheated and then I noticed that I was completely out of coolant. When this happened, I have no clue, but I filled up the coolant tank and took some duct tape to the hose and it drove home without going above the halfway point on the temp gage. I'll have to get the hose replaced, but hopefully I don't have a major leak in the cooling system. I know what a pain that was to deal with on the Cavalier this past summer.<br /><br />Well, classes start tomorrow. I hope they are interesting. I should get my laptop too!! I am looking forward to that very much.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-8018353767821343302007-10-27T22:08:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:22:41.379-05:00Superband!Well, tonight was exciting. I played my sax at the football game as usual. Tonight was cold and had some on and off drizzling. The band was not able to perform a half time show because we have had bad weather for our practices and some of our field equipment was vandalized and stolen. This includes tape measures, ladders, spray paint and such. So, instead of marching on the field, we just went out into concert formation and played six songs in place.<br /><br />During the game, our Superfans were nowhere to be seen. No one knew where they were and they never showed up. So Thom, Dustin and I decided to take their place. Thom got a Sharpie and wrote a G on his chest, an O on my chest, and a ! on Dustin's chest. Then we stood behind the percussion and started some cheers. This was around the end of the first quarter. We had fun, but it was a bit chilly. When the Tornadoes scored their next touchdown, making the score 29-0, we along with some other band members, and Turbo, our mascot, did 29 push-ups in front of the crowd. The coolest part was that a reporter for the Beaver County Times came up to us and asked for our names and what we played. So, tomorrow, in the paper, I expect to see a picture of us three with our names and information underneath. That will be pretty cool.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/RyPws4xApiI/AAAAAAAAABM/m2nrEzWiYkY/s1600-h/IMG_6259.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/RyPws4xApiI/AAAAAAAAABM/m2nrEzWiYkY/s320/IMG_6259.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126205454820615714" border="0" /></a>Oh by the way, we won 56-27.David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-45524533263502100102007-10-27T01:06:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:22:41.538-05:00Mommy, mommy, guess what I learned today!!I love it when I learn something in class that explains an everyday thing that I have never known how it works before. On Thursday, my Mechanics class (which is usually the most boring class ever) went to the Engineering garage and got to witness a 5 speed manual transmission first hand. It was really cool to see what exactly happens whenever I shift my Swedish Fish in and out of reverse and other gears. I didn't realize how much went into a transmission case.<br />Here is a picture of the case we looked at.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/RyLJFIxAphI/AAAAAAAAABE/3puw5xvv-4g/s1600-h/1026071001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/RyLJFIxAphI/AAAAAAAAABE/3puw5xvv-4g/s200/1026071001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125880415990621714" border="0" /></a><br />The gears that have slanted teeth are called helical gears, and the one gear, second from the left, is the reverse gear, and it is a spur gear because it's teeth are straight. There are also two rings used to change which gear is engaged. It was very cool and something I think everyone interested in mechanical things should see.<br /><br />Another thing I love is when something that most people believe is true, I learn is not from class. Today in Physical Chemistry, P. Chem for short, I learned that those little pumps you buy and put on your soda bottle (yes I do call it soda, not pop!) don't help keep the fizz in. The only way to keep the CO2 dissolved in the soda is to increase the <span style="font-style: italic;">partial </span><span>pressure of the CO2. The pump increases the total pressure and adds regular air, which has a very little amount of CO2 in it. Now, if you pumped CO2 into the bottle, this would increase the pressure and the amount of CO2 in the bottle, which would then increase the partial pressure of the CO2. This would keep the CO2 dissolved in the soda, thereby keeping it fizzy. But of course this would be inefficient, and my professor finished this explanation by saying that the best thing to do is keep the cap on the bottle as often as possible.<br /></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-15335536615374296102007-10-08T18:27:00.000-04:002007-10-08T19:06:10.544-04:00Lacking motivation<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I don't know why, but I am awful at getting school work done in the morning/afternoon. I am always so much more productive at night when things are quiet and I am winding down getting ready for bed. Today, I only had one class before Genevans. This would have been an excellent opportunity to get a lot of work done. All I managed to get done was a couple Fluids problems and find out that ANSYS, the program I need to use for my senior design project, is still not installed on any lab computers. So, I barely got anything done today. I even wasted a trip to Wal-Mart. I wanted to get my oil changed in my car, but Wal-Mart had a 2 hr wait. So I decided it wasn't worth it. On my way back home I realized I could have saved myself the trouble by just calling ahead. Oh well. I can get it changed during break.<br /><br />Well, good news for New England sports fans. The Bo Sox swept the Angels, and the Pats are now 5-0. I have not been able to watch any of these games, but I will make it a priority to watch the ALCS this weekend. I am kinda hoping we get to play the Yankees. I think it would be pretty sweet to have the Sox win the World Series twice during my college career. I can still remember how excited I was my freshman year when they won. So, here's to the Red Sox winning another World Series!<br /></span></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-21623273935760386972007-10-07T23:51:00.000-04:002007-10-08T09:23:37.583-04:00What if I stumble, what if I fall?<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">How many times can one person make the same mistake before they learn from it and not repeat it? I'm betting it's a lot of times. Peter came up to Jesus in Matthew 18 asking, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus replied saying, <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven." <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Now, was Peter asking Jesus if he only had to forgive one person a maximum of seven times for different sins? Perhaps. But maybe Peter was being even more specific and asking Jesus how many times he must forgive a brother for one sin he commits over and over again. Either way, we know that Jesus basically sets no limit on how many times you are to forgive your brother. So, even Jesus knew that many people would commit the same sin over and over again and even against the same person.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">My point is that God's grace still abounds. I am so very thankful for that. Jesus came and died for our sins. He knew that we would continue to make mistakes and even commit the same sins over and over again. But does that mean we should be complacent with continuing in that sin. For the answer to that I would refer you to Romans 6. Paul clearly explains that we should not live in sin, since we are dead to it. We are united in Christ and our lives should show that.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So, I need to heed my own words. I know that I need to repent of my sins, and not be complacent. That is so hard even for those who have been Christians for years. But it is necessary, and I will continue to pray that God helps me and gives me the strength I need to truly repent.</span><br /></span></span></span></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-8174294586362579042007-10-01T18:37:00.001-04:002007-10-01T19:09:58.717-04:00Won't we look purty in the ballroom<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">For Genevans today we sang </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Goin to Boston</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">. The first phrase the Tenors sing (since I am a Tenor that includes me) is, "Won't we look purty in the ballroom." I'm not sure why, but it's not my place to ask questions. I just sing it. It's a fun song, but today we added clapping and snapping. This is hard to do while you are still not comfortable with the music, but I tried real hard.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">So, other than class and some singing I haven't done much today. I did go online and find The Number 23 for only $7 on eBay so I bought it because I liked it so much. If anyone at school wants to borrow this interesting movie, let me know.</span><br /></span></span></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-37993468946767770712007-09-30T18:47:00.000-04:002007-09-30T19:04:38.274-04:00Nasty Evil Dead Dog<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-weight: bold;">To find out what that title refers to, go watch the movie, The Number 23. I just watched that today and thought it was very well done. It is a suspenseful movie that has one of the best endings ever. It is rated R, but the graphic and obscene stuff is kept to a minimum.<br /><br />Tonight for dinner, Dave made us hot dogs and hamburgers on the new grill we have at Patterson. That was so much better than hot pockets or turkey sandwiches at Alex's.<br /></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-21552747867653606772007-09-29T23:31:00.000-04:002008-12-11T09:22:42.174-05:00Goodbye My Coney Island Babe<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oh today was a blast!! And for homecoming, it was the most gorgeous for weather that I have been to. Finally, my senior year we have a sunny and bright homecoming.<br /><br />Today I had lunch with some former members of 8 Bells. We were all given baseball hats</span></span><a style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/RwF9C75tNvI/AAAAAAAAAAM/JBbZtOALsYA/s1600-h/8+bells+anthem.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/RwF9C75tNvI/AAAAAAAAAAM/JBbZtOALsYA/s200/8+bells+anthem.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116508141062534898" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"> with Geneva College written on</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"> the front, and Eight Bells written on the back. That was</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"> pretty sweet! At the football game we sang the national anthem. That's me in the yellow on the right. I was of course wearing my band uniform.<br /></span></span><a style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/RwF9mr5tNxI/AAAAAAAAAAc/e8gTWpZzFqs/s1600-h/8+bells+ball+game.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7Fdu-QAV6_I/RwF9mr5tNxI/AAAAAAAAAAc/e8gTWpZzFqs/s200/8+bells+ball+game.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116508755242858258" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">After th</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">e game, we had the ridiculously fun concert in Old Main. It was so much fun, and there was a lot of laughing. </span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The best was when the older 8 Bells sang their version of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. It was amazing! That's me laughing so hard while they are singing Ball Game. Directly behind me is Dr. Calvin Troup. He's a funny guy and one of my favorite 8 Bell alumnus.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Oh by the way. There was a Chick Fil A cow costume at the game and it shot little stuffed cows into the audience and I caught one. Go figure. An employee of Chick Fil A caught it.</span><br /></span></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-10481688812373727002007-09-28T23:01:00.000-04:002007-09-28T23:32:02.209-04:00I am too busy for my own good<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ok. It is Friday night and I finally have enough time to sit down and update this. Yesterday was the busiest day of the semester thus far. I had to go to an internship meeting, Poli Sci class, and then for the next like 6 hours I worked on homework for my night class. I went to band but only passed out sweatshirts before I went back to homework. I finished all but one of the seven problems, then found out in class that the one I didn't get to was one of the two that would be graded. I did check my grade on the quiz and homework last night and I did do well so that is nothing to worry about. After class, I stuck myself in my room and just did everything. I had five Fluids problems, 1 P Chem test redo, 1 p Chem homework problem, and 4 pages of a Poli Sci paper to write. I stayed up til 4 am getting all of that done. I left just a bit of the paper to finish in the morning.<br /><br />So after three and a half hours of sleep I woke up and went to my 8 am P Chem class. After that I booked it to the comp lab and quickly typed up the rest of my paper. Even with single spacing I had to decrease the margins to .8" to get it into 4 pages. I rushed to Fern Cliffe and slipped my completed paper under Dr. Neikirk's door just in time. Then I had to go to Fluids lab, which was a bore.<br /><br />After lab, lunch, a nap, and a shower, I went to my Engineering class. Apparently we all did so horrible on the test that we have extra credit worth 9% of our final grade. this extra credit is 60 problems and three quizzes associated with those problems. It's all ridiculous.<br /><br />We had band practice, and I went tonight to practice with the 8 Bells reunion group. I was the only current bell to join, but we will all be practicing tomorrow afternoon for our concert tomorrow night. Please come if you are able. John White Chapel at 7:30 pm.<br /></span></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-30918885610128977652007-09-26T15:30:00.000-04:002007-09-26T15:46:24.705-04:00Tales of Egan and Smith<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">So, I just got out of another painful Egan test. I don't understand what he wants from us. About 60% of the test comprised of what he called "focus problems." These were problems almost identical to ones that we had done for homework. When we did them for homework he refused to grade them saying that it would be the same as giving away the answers for the test. Not only did he do this, but he made each focus problem credit/no credit. So there was no chance of partial credit. AND HE MADE US ANSWER THEM USING BUBBLE SHEETS. So we had these answers that we had to convert into scientific notation and then fill into a bubble sheet. This was beyond over kill.<br /><br />Today in chapel, Dr. Dean Smith talked about praying to God as our Father. He first dispelled some myths about what type of figure God is. The one that hit me the hardest is how God is not a vending machine. We aren't supposed to ask Him for things and expect to have all our pleasures fulfilled. Dr. Smith mentioned how we shouldn't pray that our life would be easy. I thought to myself, all too often I want to serve God so that things will go better for me. I want to please Him so that when I am a manager of a design team, or I am a husband and father, or all three, I am better able to fill those roles and enjoy the fruit from them. But that way of thinking is completely backwards. I need to want to serve God because I bring glory to Him when I do. Only after I have that mindset will God bless me in other areas of life.<br /></span></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-85132790508112097672007-09-25T22:26:00.000-04:002007-09-25T22:30:08.814-04:00It's So Hot Gonna Have a Heat Strokeah<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Five Iron fans would understand that title. But seriously, it was hot today! The worst was tonight when I walked into the practice room in the music building. It felt like I was walking into a clothes dryer it was so hot. The difference between the hallway and the practice room was at least ten degrees. How come it was so hot today? Must be global warming. (That last sentence was meant to be sarcastic. I don't really believe in global warming.)</span><br /></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-20444399789314304162007-09-25T08:18:00.000-04:002007-09-25T08:24:20.945-04:00WHAT?! No Water?!<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;">I woke up this morning at 8 am hoping to get a nice early start on the day. As usual I went downstairs to take my rejuvenating shower. Patrick Mulligan was down there and informed me that the water pressure at just become non-existent. I turned on the shower and found that he was right. We had no water pressure for any of the three showers in the basement. I went up to second floor and that too had no water pressure. Then I looked out our front window and noticed that the fire hydrant near our house was being emptied by a construction worker. I went outside to ask him what the dealio was. He said that they were doing something with the water main and that the water could be back on shortly, or in a couple hours. So now I will have to go unshowered to Poli Sci today. And I need to get my laundry done, so it will be a while til I can do that too. Thank you PennDot. You are one of the many reasons I am glad I reside in New Hampshire.</span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796283351654820253.post-55649608175996898212007-09-24T12:40:00.000-04:002007-09-24T09:38:24.120-04:00It's Monday folks<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-weight: bold;">I am a college senior.<br />I go to Geneva College.<br />I suffer from the affects of Senioritis and Poliscitosis.<br />What more needs to be said?<br /><br />Well, yesterday was interesting. I got to talk with my dad. He said that he and the rest of my family plans on visiting me for the final football game of the season which is also senior recognition. That's pretty sweet. It will be the only time my family gets to see me march in the band. I also got to watch the hilarious Family Guy season premiere where they spoofed Star Wars Episode IV. My favorite line was, "Hold your fire, there are no life forms aboard," "What are we getting charged by the laser now?!" HAHAHA good times!<br /><br />Also, on a more serious note, Kayla and I have completely broken up. We decided not to communicate directly with each other for at least a month. This will give us time to detach our hearts, let her get settled down in South Korea, let me get into the rhythm of school, and allow us both to draw closer to God. I have NO CLUE what God's plans are for me in the future, but I don't want to assume that my way is best. God's plan is perfect and I want so desperately to trust Him.<br /></span>David Baconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473307567588004771noreply@blogger.com0