Cement is a part of concrete, mmmkay?

[smeddley]

So, as some of you know, I spent Wednesday and part of Thursday at a concrete seminar. Oh joy. I mean, yes, there's a lot to concrete, and a lot of things to talk about... just not that much. And engineers do not, as a general rule, make the best speakers. To keep myself from embarrassing myself by nodding off (like a few of the people around me) I brought my knitting and got 2/3 of a scarf done! Stupid Boa yarn was a pain in the butt to work with, but I can cross off one 'to do' project and two skeins of yarn (I did have to buy a third to make the scarf a decent length, but it's already used and it was for something specific, so that shouldn't count against me, unlike the four I bought to try out the loom at lunch... because I just couldn't wait until I got home...)

To sum up the seminar:

1. Driving downtown sucks, I'd work at the grocery store down the street before I'd take a job with an engineering firm downtown.
2. Parking garages are creepy, even during the day.
3. 'Basically' and 'actually' were used an average of once every 12 seconds by one speaker - my boss counted and timed it after I pointed out that it was getting annoying.
4. Concrete is, like, good and stuff.

On to the interesting bit, the scarf! Just to let you know, the model in the picture is, uh, nude. The scarf covers up any naughty bits, though...

Comments

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

Ooooh lovely scarf! Very nice!

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It only took... oh, about 10 hours. Man, I wish it was faster...

[mmmontserrat.livejournal.com]

Ohhh sparkly~~shiny!! Nice.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That yarn was a pain to work with, but I have to admit it turned out pretty nice after all!

[triskellion.livejournal.com]

I must be an engineer given I have the urge to ask what exactly about concrete the seminar was on.

Pretty scarf. The colors are fun.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Ha! Yeah, it was concrete paving. The only vaguely interesting bit was the dowel bar optimization (where they discussed alternate spacings to the old standard) but I'd seen that exact presentation before. So the only good thing was a re-run! :(

Thanks, I like bright colors! :D

[triskellion.livejournal.com]

As long as they weren't suggesting woven wire mesh. I don't understand why that junk is so popular in slab on grade foundations in California.

Don't mind me. I just spent the day at the 2008 Earth and Space Conference and am feeling seriously geeky. Wanna talk about Lunar Regolith Simulants?

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Too much reaction with the soil around here - we have tons of trouble with metal reinforcements as it is, the mesh is just about useless!

Is there a time in my life when knowledge of Lunar Regolith Simulants will come in handy? ;)

[triskellion.livejournal.com]

Ah, soil interaction is brutal. I did some inspections where sulfates attacking the foundations were a problem.

Depends on if you're planning to try and do something on the moon. Since at present we have about 800 pounds of lunar rock and regolith all told, we have to simulate the stuff to some degree in order to do any tests on how equipment deals with it. This is important to know for future missions to the moon and the plan to inhabit it for longer than three days at a time.

Therefore, if you decided to someday join the moon colony design commission you might find knowledge of lunar regolith simulants quite useful since shipping tons of the real stuff back will probably be cost prohibitive even after we start visiting. (can you tell I'm having way too much fun with this?)

If not, then likely you will never find the stuff useful at all.

[tjstein.livejournal.com]

The nudity made me click. Damn you!

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

And see, I thought you, of all people, would be lured in by the scarf itself! O.o I didn't know that side of you... ;)