Kopaka's Ice Engineering

196 lb, 22.7% body fat There are times when I get upset about not being able to blog what's on my mind, simply because I don't have time at work. But today is not one of those days. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, today is a national holiday. So, I give you, all 15 of you (give or take), the full form of my weekend today. Friday, my parents donated the old TV in the living room to me. It's not that old, but I have no cable TV service, so all I get to watch is white snow, and not the Team White Snow from IGPX. Not only that, but GN's Bounty Hunter (as seen at Brickfest 2006) was returned him, along with an admonishment that he and his brother help "free the band." Saturday, my little brother and I went out to play disc golf at Highland Road park. We played match play, and although I had a considerable distance advantage on him (by throwing sidearm, something I can't do with a normal frisbee), he was 2 up through 11. I won 12 & 13, and then we halved the next four holes. 18th tee, I went for the win: I threw the orange, throwaway, Valkyrie sidearmed (which gives it a left to right, instead of right to left when throwing backhanded). The same creek that claimed my pearl blue Valk the time before last couldn't catch the orange one going directly across, instead of running along. Michael, who won't throw a disc any way but backhand, was forced to layup. I won 1up. We also went hunting for furniture. Bought a chest of drawers to replace the one I lost to Katrina. $350 +$105 taxes & delivery. Sadly, I'm not going to find another dresser as skinny as the one I had before. (Now, to figure out how to afford that much money immediately after Brickfest.) Sunday was uneventful, except getting to go to church for the first time in a couple of weeks. Monday has been, well, lazy. I do like the fact I've been able to have the day off to go jogging and then come back to cook breakfast. What did I have? See, that's something I've learned about trying to lose weight. Half of the battle is eating the right foods. But, even if you eat too much of the right foods, you're not going to lose weight. Portion size is something to be paid heed. Okay, time to waste the rest of the day, and crunch tomorrow at work. -KIE

No...you were there in cardboard cutout. Doesn't count. -KIE

Pshaw. Class of '97 represent. -KIE

Okay, if it's bloody short, that means the stylist cut your scalp more than once or twice. I recommend not sitting in that stylist's chair again. *authoritative nod* -KIE

Cher, that was the first place to open back up after Katrina. Of course I've eaten there. (second was Rally's burgers.) -KIE

...currently reached Category V status.... ...projected to cut a path from Grand Isle through Covington.... ...Katrina will drop an estimated 20" of rainfall.... ...the rain has stopped, but the water keeps rising, AND NO ONE CAN FIGURE OUT WHY.... ...people are cutting through their own rooves amid 20 foot flooding.... ...all power and gas has failed.... ...estimated 10,000 dead or missing.... You guys had to realize this post was coming. A year ago today was a very, very dark day for my new home. And not just because it was raining sheets all day and the wind was blowing well over 100 mph (160 km/h). 365 days ago, "normal" life for 600,000+ people began to permanently unravel. Many lost homes. Some lost loved ones. Several others have since lost the will to go on. Even those that remain, the lens through which we see the world can never have the same focus it had at the end of July 2005. Katrina brought out the best and worst showed in a lot of people last year. Some places are bustling as all get out, and some just have the very rudimentary services available to abandoned structures. Just last week, the Redwood Park apartments, 2/3 of the way closer to the office than my apartment (and which I had considered moving to) had finally commenced the full demolition of every structure. Today I got to see Waveland, Mississippi, for the first time since February 2005. I saw fireplaces. I saw slabs with stairs. I saw empty pools. I saw some new homes that had obviously been built after the storm. There is a long, long road ahead. It has an end, certainly, but those that make it to the finish line may not ever look back on the route in complete peace. Katrina was one of those that, even at the age of 7, you'll still tell your grandkids about, as a cautionary tale. I close with a line from Job 1, a line that has made it into a few songs I've heard on the radio: And Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb Naked I shall return The LORD gives and the LORD takes away Blessed be the name of the LORD" Sometimes, that's all you can do. One of those times was August 29, 2005. -KIE

Schizo and I are making plans for crashing the 2009 party. Wanna join in? -KIE, who may yet go before then.

I've already said that if we can find a way for your protégé, Commander Than, to get him to Brickfest, I would make an effort that year. 2009 you say? Certainly then. -KIE

I'd wanted to post during Brickfest, but I couldn't handle the felt-like-fragile keys of Omi's laptop, and I never really had time to think it out. It was busy, and it was a blast. Friday, I was picked up at the airport by a family I'd met through BZP, but not on BZP. We went out for Vietnamese food for dinner, well, late lunch, as I hadn't eaten since my last blog post. Vietnamese cuisine produces the ABSOLUTE BEST spring rolls in the the world. Just enough butter/fat in the frying, just the right size, just enough salt to make it tasty, and then the oil & rooster sauce to dip in. I mean, I actually ate them. That's an accomplishment for me, since I never eat egg rolls. Although, the bubble drink was an experience: jack fruit was certainly nothing I'd tasted before (not good not bad just different), but I'm not a tapioca person. I was belching tapicoa pretty much until we (the staff in attendance) visited the LEGO store after opening ceremonies. After the LEGO store, we went to California Pizza Kitchen. Never ate there before. Upset that IBC was served in bottles rather than Barq's or Mug or A&W or whatever from tap, that I couldn't get free refills. Mushroom pizza was good, but Black Six's garlic chicken was better. 'Twas a shame we missed Cajun leaving the Sheraton, as he actually wanted to go with us. Friday night was spent taking in the exhibits downstairs and finishing up the setup of the upstairs BIONICLE room. Saturday morning (Friday late-late night) was spent watching Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Omi....nah, I'm not gonna say it. Saturday was a trip. Met several BZPers who, despite the light grey Kanohi Rau that's been my avatar for roughly 4 years, had no clue who I was until I mentioned the Nuparu review I did. Sadly, no one told me my softball team went 4-9, so no one got a free canister of Tony Chachere's (something spicy) or jar of mayhaw jelly (something sweet). Oh well, at least I'm not a nobody anymore. Anyway, the jelly I brought went to: the family that took me out to eat Friday BR Omi Smeag Thomas Halphen, a friend I shall mention shortly. the mother of a BZPer who I talked through "tell me my softball team's record" Sunday during BrickParty. The Tony Chachere's I brought went to: Kaiapu and his fiancée B6 Rayg Cajun Joe Meno, the guy in charge of Brickfest. Saturday evening, I met up with Thomas Halphen, a friend with whom I graduated from high school (in southwest Louisiana) that now works in northern Virginia. We went out for barbecue at Red Hot & Blue, and that was some of the best brisket I'd had in a long time. Ribs were good too, though I'm told I should've gotten the wet ribs if I weren't wearing so much white. We then went for coffee and chat atop the Hotel Washington, and I got to see some scenery I'd not seen in almost 20 years. Didn't take any pictures with a camera, but I certainly did with my mind. Saturday late-late night wasn't as late as Friday, but I still didn't get to bed until 1 AM. Sunday was mildly uneventful, except that I am now "charged" with helping to free the band. GN can blog next weekend with what his Bounty Hunter picked up on the way back to the Bayou State, I'll not spoil his surprise. The flight home was rather eventful: the plane had to make an emergency landing in Birmingham, Alabama after some lady in first class started having some severe chest pain. She was given 3 nitroglycerin pills (yes, they do keep those on planes) and some baby aspirin before we landed, and was much better on the ground than she was at 30,000+ feet (10 km) in the air. Still was taken via ambulance to the hospital in Birmingham, and we were about 2 hours late arriving at MSY. I think she's going to be okay, though. Anyway, the lack of sleep over what was supposed to be a vacation weekend is catching up to me, and I'm already back at work. -KIE

If ye be lookin' fer mates who keep th' Quarters fav'rited, need look nae further than roit 'ere. -KIE

You can drop the periods and just call me "KIE". Pleasure meeting you, Rikmeister, and all the staff who I now have voices and faces to go with names. -KIE, who was never told his softball team went 4-9 on Saturday, but did pick up 4 misprint Matatu (red, blue, green, black)

!! T now works at BW3?!? DUDE! Find out what they did to the Caribbean Yerk sauce last year, and make 'em undo it! What was a sweet peppery is now a sneezy peppery bleh! BW3 = KIE's favorite place for wings -KIE Edit: since spelling it with a "J" gets pounded out, even though that's the name of the sauce...

T- minus 8 hours until the opening ceremonies of Brickfest. 198.4 lb., 24.7% body fat My cab to the airport is here. Amazingly, I'm not going to have to check any luggage. THANK YOU MOM for the luggage for Christmas last year! The BIONICLE tables will be all that and a bag of chips this year, I just know it. Gotta go. Next time I post here, I'll be on the ground in D.C. -KIE, who will throw a fit if there are snakes on his plane

And then there was the 'hush hush'ing the 'hush hush' thing... But what would I know about that? -KIE

Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! -KIE, who is curious about this "really big project"

A similar remodeling took place in 1995, while I was a sophomore in high school, at my parents' house. I know your dad will hate to hear this, but 11 years later, it's still being tweaked. -KIE

Yes, the wonderful spreadsheet it is, Microsoft Excel.

Y'all don't worry: I'm going to post Rayg's side of Wednesday on my own blog tomorrow evening. Equal time, I say. -KIE

Eh, you have the right idea, but the execution failed ya. d/dx e^garbage = e^garbage* d/dx (garbage). Never split off between variable or constant, just pass the derivative through. If it's a constant, the derivative will be zero and you'll get your nothing. The above was a favorite quote of my statistics professer in grad school. Man, I did not look forward to that class. -KIE

Eh, not had much calculus since leaving college, Windy. Engineering is much more of an applied mathematics/science. Although, I did get a minor in mathematics, so I do know my way around the closed integrals like the one you posted on your blog a while back. What that particular one said, in essence, was mass = mass. Anyway, can you tell me what the derivative of e^garbage is, where e is Euler's Number (2.7128....)? -KIE

For anyone interested: I'm finally finishing up here.....*whistling* AT 9:30 AT NIGHT! *ugh* -KIE

Chemicals What? I'm a spelling nazi or something! Unless it's names of spiked Kanohi...then I have problems... -KIE

It's dihydrogen monoxide. If you don't specify, it might could be misinterpreted as another oxide of hydrogen: Hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, which actually will mess ya up if taken internally. Get it right if you're gonna tell the joke -KIE

Only because I'm here will I respond. After this, I'm closing BZP until I'm almost done with work. I'm a civil engineer, right now working on a watershed for a subdivision in Slidell, LA. While I would like a command in ArcToolbox to calculate the areas of my watershed polygons enclosed by contour polylines, I can't get it to work. Instead, I'm drawing polygons (attempting to trace the contours & watershed boundaries) in ArcGIS 3.2 and noting the area of the polygon I just drew, then calculating in Excel. But, like I said, I got more work than I have time to do it; if I'm going to take tomorrow off. And boy, do I need to take tomorrow off. -KIE

Well, I alluded to it earlier, and I even told GN when I picked up his Bounty Hunter over the weekend, but thar she be: my first set review, first time in the public spotlight on BZP. Pity I don't have time to bask in it. Not if I'm going to finish this watershed deal so I can take tomorrow off to pack for Brickfest. It's 1:40 PM. Office closes in 4 hours, and I have at least 6 hours of work left to do on this, and that's assuming it goes smoothly. Curse you, ArcMap 9, and your inability to do automatically what I'm having to do manually in ArcGIS 3.2! *shakes fist* -KIE