Yay! Blog! v1.0
Category: What's On [blank]?

It's not a very good picture because I had to use my webcam:

• McCormick 1Step Chicken Seasoning (Stir Fry)
• Dill Weed
• McCormick Spice Blends (Key West)
• Betty Crocker Decor Green Sugars
• Imitation Vanilla Extract
• Minced Garlic
• Garlic Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Two kinds of Chili Powder
• Italian Seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper
• Brown Sugar

There was a bonus question this week. What's on your Thanksgiving Menu?

I'm not sure because I'm going to see my family, but I know it's going to be low carb friendly.

I don't have a dresser, so I'll tell you what's on the chest of drawers in my closet.

• coin jar
• some folded sheets

The shelves on a piece of furniture in my bedroom has:

• 7 Angus Wells books (4 unread)
• 6 Terry Goodkind books (all unread)
• An Elizabeth Taylor biography
• Kim Novak: Goddess of Love
• Thesaurus, English Dictionary and German Dictionary
• George Rodrigue - Blue Dog Man
• One junior high and four high school yearbooks
• Dr. Suess - Oh The Places You'll Go
• Physicians Desk Reference
• Travel guides for Seattle/Vancouver, San Antonio/Austin, and San Diego

I'm not sure, but I know I'm going out. Woo-Hoo!! I'll report back where I went in the comments afterward!

Brita water pitcher with water, a carton of heavy cream, a baggie with some slices of beef, cream cheese, leftover sauteed mushrooms, leftover chicken, two pats of butter from Threadgills, and a jar of creamy ranch dressing.

I've paused the movie "Shadows and Fog." I was laying on the couch watching it, and I got sleepy, so I paused it. That was about 4 hours ago, I think.

This is pretty basic...

• health
• happiness

• how the tech industry uses the word "solution" to mean a program or set of programs.
• when I'm on the elevator and we've waited what seems like minutes for the doors to close. Then when they finally start to, someone sticks their arm in and makes them open again so they can get on.
• how the tech industry uses the word "integrated." I could care less if it's "integrated." What the hell does the program (oh... I mean SOLUTION) do?
• when I'm talking to someone and someone else walks up and interrupts. even worse, when they start by saying, "I hate to interrupt, but...."
• how the tech industry and scholars uses the word "robust." *[see discussion below]
• when a cashier gives me my change by putting the bills flat on my palm, and the coins on top of the bills. The only way to get the coins in my coin purse are to aim them at my coin purse and slide them off the bills. About half the time a coin or two falls to the ground.
• when the cable modem service goes down or gets slow!
• when I tell someone something and they say something dismissive.
• when I have to repeat my order at the drive through because the person didn't pay attention after they said "May I help you?"
• women who either put their makeup on in the car or in the bathroom at work.
• tailgaters

*I did a search for "what does robust mean?" I know what the dictionary says, but I wanted to see what people say they mean when they use the term. I got some great answers. I still don't know what it means. Here's what I found:

What does it mean to have a “robust” review process for contracts?
Authorities should make sure that the programme for reviewing contracts is in line with ODPM guidance on interim contracts, issued on 13 December 2002. This sets out that all contracts should be transparent and applied equally to all services. It should focus first on strategic relevance – we are aware that many services have sprung up recently which may not be in line with the priorities of the Supporting People strategy and other related strategies such as those on crime reduction and health improvement. Equally, however, there are services which have been established for some time, and are equally in need of strategic focus. And many services have costs associated with them which require a more in depth analysis than has been previously possible.[link (MSWord Doc)]

What does "Robustness" mean? Is a stable system always robust?
Zhipu Jin, 02-09-30
When discussing a feedback control system, we must aware that no mathematical model can exactly model a physical system. We concern about how modelling errors might adversely affect the performance of a control system. Suppose there is a model p belonging to a set P, any other model in set P can be viewed as the model p plus a kind of modelling error. A feedback control system is called robust with respect to stability if this feedback can make every model in P stable. Obviously, the notion of robustness is only valid for a certain model set. If a feedback control system is stable, we cannot say that this feedback is always robust for any kinds of modelling uncertainty. [link no long active]

So, just what does “robust” mean? “The concept of robustness is not well defined,” [editor's note: HAHAHAHAHAHA!] said Dewey. “I suppose in simple terms robustness could be defined as ‘small world theories of social interaction’ well known to high school students. Imagine a small, tight, quite unique clique of individuals with each member of the clique knowing someone in another, equally unique clique. Each member of each clique retains their so-called cliqueishness but yet engages in active global – or outside the clique - interactions. This allows for robust interactions and communications across an entire network. But small worlds are very simple compared to biological networks,” said Dewey. [link]

I didn't think I would have much, but it turns out I do. I'm not counting furniture...

• water bowl for my dog
• 2 chew bones
• an empty box (there's an empty box epidemic at my house!)
• foot massager (the kind you put your foot on and roll)
• video holder with a bunch of videos
• pair of shoes and socks
• bin with greeting cards, stickers, wrapping paper, and other fun stuff (under the bed)
• box of instruction manuals for just about everything I own (under the bed)
• several stuffed toys (under the bed)
• 4 poles that go to some shelves (under the bed)
• stack of books (under the bed) to hold up the futon frame

I took a picture again this week because I am so proud of this. It's a Mola made by the Kuna Indians in Panama. Molas are pictures made out of layers of cloth... textile folk art. A professor I worked for in college brought it back from a trip.



Here are some more

Four bottles of hair styling products, Ibuprofen, Dry Idea gel deodorant, Rhinocort allergy squirt, Pepto Bismol tablets, Mentadent toothpaste, Reach toothbrush, Flonase allergy squirt, Softsoap, blue cup, radio alarm clock, blue container full of hair clips, Ponds facial cream.