Mike Nicholson

I was going to write about some old enlightening experience I had years ago, but funny things happened today so they will have to wait. Besides, my finger is sore from video Mah Johng (I'm practicing for the tournament).

I was finishing up the install on my muffler today. It was neat for the car to be so loud for a little while, but it was time to put a muffler on.

I moved the car to my carport because rain appeared on the way. I jacked it up and removed the last bolt right as the rain began. It was then apparent that I had to remove a crossbar in the bottom of my car to fit the muffler out. This is when the rain decided to flood my carport. I was working under the car in one inch of water. I kept trying, determined to finish there and then. I did not have the tools to remove the crossbar, since it was a strange sized bolt, so I attempted to jack the car up yet higher and contort the stiff muffler out. I worked it 1/2 way out when it became apparent that it was impossible to remove it completely. By then I was soaked to the underwear and as dirty as I've ever been. I was very sad.

Giving in to defeat, I slowly pushed the muffler back in and spent a half hour lowering the car from its dangerously high perch (16") on the jack stands. I went up to my apartment and showered off.

Later that night Steve dropped by with the mysterious socket needed to remove the cossbar. The rain had dried up and the muffler installed very quickly. It was worth the horrible pain... and I got a cool story to boot.

Posted by at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Well it's April 26th now... wow does time fly. My last undergraduate quarter is almost over. I am still very stressed, but confident that I will graduate with a good GPA and all.

I just got back form Yosemite. Thanks Galen for letting us use your cabin (yeah that's right he has a cabin inside the frigging park... crazy). It was a great fun trip. We spent about 18 hours there, and 12 hours driving. We'd have been there more time, and driving less, but highway 152 was shut down for four hours on the way there... yuck.

Anyway, the trip, and the single 8 mile hike we made, were great fun. It's been so long since I've been there. Hopefully I will get to spend some time there this summer.

Now that I'm back from a fun road trip, the senior design project hits me. I have to work on it from sun up to sun down tomorrow. Lets hope I make some project.

That's all for now...

Posted by at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I think I've had another one of those great ideas that happens every once in awhile... well ok this would be my second one ever.

As hybrid-electric and full blown electric cars increase in popularity, even though hydrogen is being pushed as the future fuel, new technology for energy management and energy storage are in high demand. Also, because these are new fields of research, many techniques are still out there to be discovered or invented. I believe I have just thought of one.

Up until now, hybrid electric and some electric vehicles have been scavenging energy off of the car during deceleration using a fixed flux generator connected to the drive line at the crankshaft, often by a drive belt pulley. This is a simple idea, and it relates well to the contemporary air conditioner and power steering technologies, however this is not an optimal case.

There is still plenty of energy that is burnt away by the vehicle's brakes as it slows down. This energy is converted into heat, and sometimes sound. With a fixed flux generator, not very much of this energy can be captured since it cannot generate too much force, or it will make the vehicle go out of control once it is engaged, no to mention the unpleasant ride. Also, since it only is connected to the crank pulley, it cannot scavenge any energy from the potential rear wheel stopping power.

I propose, that in addition to normal brakes, a variable flux generator is connected, in some way, to each wheel. When the brake pedal is pressed, the flux will increase and with it the torque that the generator will push against each wheel. As the brake pedal is pushed further, the generator will scavenge more and more energy as the vehicle stops faster and faster. If the brakes are slammed on, conventional brakes would then be used instead of generators since they would provide more stopping force. This design could greatly increase efficiency of city driving in electric vehicles.

Before i put more time into and actually figure out how big the generators will have to be, where they could be located, how they could be controlled, etc. does anyone think this is a great idea? how bout a terrible on?

Posted by at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I found this one in my to post pile... I must have written it on the plane and forgotten about it

Boo y’all.

Well Easter, and my shortest trip home ever, is over. The weekend was not too bad. It was nice to see my parents more than twice this year. The new swimming pool that they put in was open and I got to swim in it for the first time. Home wasn’t too bad.

I visited my cousin Saturday night to hang out with some of his friends. We haven’t really been very close in many years. He always came off as kinda’ an insecure jerk before. His friends were not too bad. They were also dosed up to the eyeballs on dextrin, a stimulant, ‘shrooms, a hallucinogenic, pot, and alcohol all at once. My cousin even shared the addition of hydrocodine, and opiate that he was taking as a pain killer at the time. I’ve never really been freaked out that much by drugs, but I suppose just being in a situation where everyone was doing drugs, and a situation in which there were only five of us, was a bit strange. I keep clean. I was the responsible one this time.

Every group needs one. I told them when it was time to leave because the police were about to arrive. This however didn’t mix all that well with Yacco’s ‘shroom induced paranoia. Although I was worried all night that one of my cousins friends would become violent, as volatile as he seemed, the night was not too bad. I enjoy seeing people do stupid things every once in awhile. It makes me feel better about myself and the path I’ve chosen in my life.

Posted by at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Yay long weekend over and school beings again... I mean crap.

Anyway, over the weekend I went home to visit family for easter. I spent 48 hours at home and a total of 24 hours either on an airplane or in an airport. It was nice to visit home for a little while though.

Now that I'm back I'm surprisingly not that stressed out even though I really should be. My senior design project is going absolutely terribly, and I'm starting to fall behind in my other classes as a result. I really don't care though. I suppose it's senior slide starting to kick in. I figure no matter how badly I do, I will not fail and as a result I will graduate. I mean, even if I get Ds, my GPA won't drop all that much because I already have so many units and I'm only actually taking 6 undergraduate units.

I see stress on the horizon though. My stupid senior design project has cost me valuable time. This time would be VERY useful for more important things than that project including finding a job and a new roommate (or cheaper place to live... or both).

Anyway, I just got back from a 14 mile Rollerblade so I better shower off before my senior design meeting so I don't offend anyone.

Posted by at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well I've had my first real drink in a long time so i figured it was time to write something profound and interesting (and full of spelling errors). anyway the content will still be the same... it will just sound better to me ;) (yeah I've had one drink... its been awhile... now i can drink w/ the CSA and fit in hehe)

anyway....

Way back at the beginning of this year I joined. CSA. I joined for a few reasons. One was that i wanted to snowboard and hadn't found a ride to Tahoe yet that season. Another was that Liv had stolen my car club clique over summer break, and i was lonely. I wanted a new club to fill the hole that they left. So I bit the bullet as I entered the MCC all blond and gleaming bright white.

The ski trip ended up being really fun. I witnessed the start of a lot of club culture and met a bunch of people that I liked a lot. It was cool... instant friends who didn't judge my past, or the fact that I complained about it too much. (i hope that's different now?).

Anyway, I hadn't planned to stick around much longer, but i met fun ppl so I did. I found myself in an interesting situation. I was the oddball for once. I was the white guy in the group of Asian Americans. It made me uncomfortable when I realized it. It wasn't the first time it had happened... since I used to go to the import street races, it happened often, but never in the context of an Asian American focused club.

Around that time there was some discussion at TSC. An article had been written about the MCC being bad, and a counter letter. The gist of the article was that MCC is bad because it focus on what makes different ethnicities different. Anyway, someone said something that made an impression on me. Maybe it's good for the majority person to feel like the odd one out some times. That's one of the main reasons I stuck with the club.

I found shortly later that stereotypes do exist for eh new class i was a member of. There were even some stereotypes. I cant count on three hands the number of people who have asked me if I have 'yellow fever' since I remained active in the club. I've actually been called an egg and yellow washed too.

All in all though it's been fun so far. I'm sorry I didn't meet this group earlier. It's a good change from my old group, who have a problem with drinking (and smoking pot) and driving these days (not my scene).

Before I offend (thats for next post) anyone, I'm not trying to say 'I know what it's like' but rather that I have experienced something similar and that it was (is) an interesting experience to say the least...

Ok that's all... ;)

Posted by at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Hey everyone. I thought I posted before but I guess it didn't go through.

Today I had my last class. Finals are only days away, yet things seem to be getting better. My classes seem to be lightening up and my rib is finally healed so I have begun to exercise again. The construction on the trail is over and there turns out to be about 2 miles of good, smooth, flatish trail beyond the old construction. It's all downhill too so its great for warming up (although strenuous on the way back). My body is already starting to tone up. Also of note, I found a pull-up bar near Campbell park so I can do those after roller blading too.

Other than exercise the only thing really on my mind is work. I need a job starting this summer. The market is terrible. It will be difficult to find a job. I wonder what all the other graduates plan to do. I have a pretty good resume (with 1.5 years work experience) and yet I'm having a lot of trouble finding work. Every job I find either gets retracted, or the company gets bought out and the job vanishes. I will find a job though... It might just take a few months.

My computer got a virus so I already lost the new exercise tally. As a result, I'm going to start keeping track of them here:

• Miles to date: 16
• Sit ups to date: 61
• Push ups to date: 61
• Pull ups to date: 4

Posted by at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Hey everyone.

I just worked for about 20-25 hours in one weekend on one assignment for Coen256. We had a group nearly 3x the maximum size and we still did not come near finishing. We wasted almost a day and will still get a 0. this class is evil. The worst part was that I had set aside the weekend to Senior Design, which I still have almost no project on. It's going to be a long spring break.

Posted by at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)