Excel as a Scientific Calculator

there are many things excel can do and it does a pretty good job at even though it is designed around being a financial piece of software. for instance it has some decent column picking capabilities and does regression (can even get it to spit out some sheet calculations on many types of functions by modifing the x column(s) you choose for it). so people use it for scientific data analysis. myself included.

but it has some definate shortfalls that a good piece of scientific software would fix. for instance the ability to pick peaks out of a spectrum would be nice. also nice would be if you could enter data in min.sec and have it convert to seconds for analysis purposes. you can get excel to do these things but it takes some fanangling.

there is probably a better program out there to do scientific analysis but tradition, familiarity, and the fact that many people already have excel because they buy ms office means that excel will probably stay in the scientific toolbox for a long time to come.

Speeding

i dislike that people don't understand how to judiciously speed. there are times when traffic conditions warrent going over the speed limit by 10 mph. but then there are those crazies that weave in and out of traffic so they can go by at 20 mph faster than the middle speed people. there are of course the dilusional people that believe they should be able to go at any speed they want on a road and that they are perfectly capable of determining an appropriate speed for a road they may not have ever driven before. what really gets to me is when police run red lights and it isn't clear that there is an emergency anywhere. in southern nevada a highway patrol officer wanted to get home for dinner so he zoomed along in his patrol car at 110 mph. unfortunately speed is dangerous and he killed 4 people. fortunately he is no longer a highway patrol officer and has the potential of serving jail time.

we must always remember when driving in a car that driving at high speed is dangerous and what is more dangerous is driving at a speed that is relatively higher than those around us. the speed limit isn't always convenient, but most of the time people do try to put some thought into how fast they think we should travel under normal conditions on the road. and after all a cold dinner or a late meeting is just fine relative to the lives of four people.

Lo-Fi Faith Meme

sarah tagged me with this.
for those who, like me, didn't know what a meme is
meme n (mëm): A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. From the Greek mimëma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate.

1: List three (3) words that describe your faith.

foundation, flexible, inquiring

2: Describe a belief you are certain about and one with which you struggle.

certain: those that believe in God, by whatever name, and his power to transform will be saved.

struggle: how much sin we can discard in this life. people are asked to live Godly lives but there are some things we excuse as something out of our control, i.e. someone with a birth defect is clearly not how God intended them to be but there's nothing we can do about that. where do we draw the line at things that God will fix later in heaven (everyone's body is not perfect) and things that we should work with God to fix while on earth?

3: What is your mission in life?

benefit others. earth isn't perfect but we contribute to making it livable and enjoyable through helping others in a variety of ways--emotional support, friendship, conversations of faith, improvement of products, laughter, comfortable living, humanitarian aid...

4: Describe one thing that interferes with authentically living out your faith.

being an introvert. i do not make friends easily or have casual conversations with people and so my ability to help others directly is limited. Jesus was in constant contact with others and although i believe that we don't have to be exactly like Jesus to be who Jesus intends us to be, i do believe that we are designed to be socially dependant on each other and should offer social support.

5: What is your favorite story from the Hebrew Scriptures? Why?

Ruth. loyalty pays off, that makes me feel good about myself.

6: What is your favorite New Testament story? Why?

peter and the sheet of unclean animals. it reveals the complexity of issues that believers are faced with. God could have written down a new leviticus but he didn't. instead He gave peter an metaphor for how we are to behave toward others. why not just say something? because stories communicate more than rules.

7: Describe a meaningful action you took because of your faith.

meaningful action. that could be anything. i suppose the vagueness allows for better personal expression of the responder. i helped someone i didn't know pack up and move in the snow because God wants us to help others. i took my soon-to-be job because i think God opened doors for it rather than a more lucritive job in a place i love living.

8: Does your faith differ from that of your parents? If so, how?

It is difficult to distinguish, for me, the differnce between faith and how personality affects faith. I am definately more libral than my dad and more conservative than my mom in terms of behavior. But if the interpretation of behavioral expressions of faith is due to true differences in faith or personality interpreting faith (proper interpretation does take into account the personality and circumsatances of the reader) i do not know. fundamentally we all believe in righteousness by faith in Jesus balanced by faith without works is dead and a strong belief in the truth of the Bible.

9: Who or what was most important in the development of your faith?

books, the Bible, religious books, non-fiction, fiction, all of them. without question the ability to read other people's opinions, thoughts, and lives without having to talk to them is an amazing impact on my life.

10: Pass it on! Tag at least two other religious/faith bloggers.

because the job i am going to take is from my church i choose two people employed by my church: my mom and alodia.

Less Cheese Lasagna

a loose recipe for lasagna that i adapted from a friend. she makes her own veggie filled tomato sauce, but i am lazy so i just use two premade jars.

1 box no boil noodles
2 jars spaghetti sauce
1-2 packages frozen spinach, thawed
2 packages tofu
16 oz cream cheese
parmesan cheese for top

put cream cheese in microwave for 30 seconds or until easily stirred into drained tofu. use tofu mixture instead of ricotta mixture usually called for in lasagna. layer lasagna, spinach, and tofu mix in layers until pan is full. sprinkle with parmesan if desired. bake 50-60 foil covered at 375, then 5 min uncovered. let sit for 15 min out of oven before serving.

Short Stories

upon my my motorcycle I peered into the small red, 80's car that drove beside me. clinging to the furry black seat cover as it transitioned to the head rest on the passenger side was a striped kitten. It openeded its mouth and i saw the teeth and tongue arch into a plaintive meow. off i zoomed to visit my own cat at home; i'm sure she also was crying right now as she wanted her wet food.

our bank of mailboxes is backward. first off it is on the left side of the street when i am coming home. it should be on the right so i can stop to get the mail. sometimes i go home and walk back to get the mail. other times i pull to the wrong side of the street and get out to get the mail. rarely i'll park on the proper side of the street and walk across. the walking path doesn't actually go to the mailboxes, it just runs behind them so that when they decide to actually put in landscaping there it will be trampled by the few of us that walk to get our mail and use the walking path instead of the street. the key hole is very close to the left side of the door of our box and the key turns to the left, toward the short side of the door.

two trucks that owners projected identies onto using the liscence plates cruised in front of me in the morning cool. one claimed 'oldgold' the other 'bkbeuty'. i wondered what the english black beauty would think of a western truck being named after him. old gold could be ginger from the book as the two pulled away as a team and i remembered something about a movie of black beauty coming out soon, or something. could a movie convey that book? i don't think so.

lumps of paper stack my desk. i should clean them. but they lend some air of importance to what i do. someone with a clean desk either is efficient or has nothing to do. i can't be either of those. their bulk reminds me of how much i should be doing instead of typing here.

When it Rains....

today has been an affirming day. on the plus side.
on the minus side, i can't believe that things happen all on one day.

a month or more back i submitted a cold resume to a company near reno that produces biofuel. which i think is a way cool product and where i think our petroleum industry will move eventually. today i just got an e-mail asking for me to submit an application for a research chemist position there. when i submitted my resume there wasn't a chemist on staff (that i knew about, there were only a handful of people employed there but it is part of a bigger family of companies). the owner of the company is highly intelligent in research in business and highly ethical. it would have been great to work under this old dude.

earlier in the morning i talked with the chair of the department of chemistry & biochemistry where i have an offer to teach next year. we finished discussing the offer they sent me and tidied up some loose ends on that and so i anticipate signing that offer next week.

i really felt like God was holding off on all possible job opportunities for me up here so that i would be available to teach at this college. i didn't recieve a single interview before that one. in fact when i went to the job fair i talked with a couple of companies that sounded interested. one of them pretty much said they would bring me out for an interview the next day. the next day he called up and said when he pitched me to the president of the company the president was totally not interested. the other company didn't follow up until last week and then it was only asking for an electronic copy of my resume.

i must say it is tempting, but i really feel like God is asking me to teach. i know that it won't be as easy a job as the one with the biofuel place. i won't get compensated as highly and my hours during the school year won't be always that great. today the chair of the aforementioned department wanted to make sure we were sure about moving and me taking the job. i said we knew what we were leaving and what we were going to and felt it was what God was asking. God sure likes to keep opportunities open to make sure i know what i am doing.

now if God will just make the way super clear by getting keith a good job. i feel like i am being quite selfish right now by persuing this without keith having a job yet.

Taxes

i hope everyone reading this already filed taxes and even better recieved their refund. i dislike doing the taxes, mostly because i know it shouldn't be as hard as it is sometimes. to be truthful the irs does do its best to make things workable, they have some very nice faqs and worksheets that help out. i was trying to determine if we'd have to pay capital gains next year if we sold our house this year and found a worksheet and publication to help me determine what would be excluded. it was pretty good.

what is broken and annoying is the tax system. we have continually added and subtracted things from the fed income tax and deductions so that now it is unclear what really the base is. i hope someday congress starts over. we can't realistically go on forever with something based in an age where silicon was still found only in sand and glass.