Ramblings of a 20 something on the verge of panic

Well I abandoned this for quite some time. Oops, guess life happened.

The following blog post contains the ramblings of a confused 21 year old.

Now it's 2012 and I have to graduate college and become an adult. Yes, I still don't consider myself an adult. This seems to weird people out all the time, but I don't care. I will define myself how I see fit. I am a child who is really good at pretending to be an adult.

Today is the last day of winter break and I have just realized that I now only have one real vacation left before I start work. This is the last time I will be able to spend an extended period of time with my mother. For some reason that thought had yet to occur to me. I just always assumed after college I would get a job somewhat close to home, but not so close that I could live at home. Not accurate. I will be moving 3,056.4 miles away. This is terrifying to me. Whenever I tell people I'm moving to Seattle they usually also like to point out how terrifying of a move it is or inform me that "Oh wow, That's on the other side of the country." Really? I had no idea. I thought Seattle was right outside of Boston. Thank you for the clarification.

And another thing, if one more person informs me that it rains in Seattle, I will punch them in the throat. I won't even feel bad.

Oh and then there all the people with their incessant questioning on why I would ever choose to leave the wonderful Massachusetts. I've lived in Mass for 21 years, I think another state deserves a try for at least 1-3 years. I know one day I'll be back, but I'd rather not pick right now.

The great thing about rambling is that it does make me feel better. I've been rambling about all this crap in my head for months, but actually writing it down makes it seem not so scary.

One Year Later

Its funny to think that around this time last summer I was bored out of mind and had the time to update this blog daily. This summer is a completly different story. I have been preoccupied since spring semester ended mid May.

After moving back home I started preparing to move to Connecticut. This summer I was lucky enough to be hired by Sikorsky Aircraft. I've been here for several weeks already and I'm enjoying my job and the people at the company. I'm learning a lot and getting a lot out of the internship.

Working has made me start thinking about my future and whether or not I want to go straight to graduate school after finishing up my undergrad degree. At this point I'm thinking about flipping a coin and having it decide for me.

Energy Crisis

Our world is currently in the midst of an energy crisis. We have been relying on oil as our primary source of energy since the late 1800’s and we are about to hit the limit. Before we started consuming oil, the world had a reserve of around 2 trillion barrels of recoverable oil. Currently we are consuming over 32 billion barrels of oil per year and that number continues to rise. At this rate, if oil production remains consistent, we will run out of oil in about forty years. There have been efforts to find new sources of crude oil, but very little headway has been made in the past thirty years. Right now a majority of the oil producers have reached their peak in oil production and it is only a matter of time before we find ourselves with no more available oil.

Researchers have been informing world leaders for years that we need to start relying on different energy sources because of our depleting oil reserves. Government officials have been provided with data predicting the depletion of oil for some time now, but strong action has not yet been taken. There are now more talks of alternative energy sources, but not many countries have taken a strong stance in reducing their dependency on oil. With estimates saying that we have only forty years of oil left, more countries need to follow Sweden’s example. They have been working since 2005 on becoming the first country to phase out oil consumption and start investing in renewable energy. Currently almost 40% of Sweden’s energy comes from multiple renewable sources (Kangasmäki).

The reason that other countries are avoiding alternative options to oil is that they see switching over as being too expensive. Overhauling our energy needs will have a large start up cost, but that is to be expected with a change of this magnitude. By reducing our dependency on oil we would be saving the environment and slowing down the effect of global warming, which was in part caused by our oil usage. There are multiple alternatives that we can pursue in working to lessen our need for oil. For example, solar energy would provide us with clean energy that we do not need to fear depleting.

Action needs to be taken in investing in alternative energy sources or our situation will continue to worsen. We would be better served by using oil only as a manufacturing material. The leaders of the world need to take firm action in ensuring that we will have the energy we need in the years to come. It is up to them to start moving forward to reduce our reliance on oil.



Works Cited
Kohl, Keith. "World Energy Crisis." Energy and Capital. 19 Feb 2008. 30 Jul 2009 .

"The Implications of Peak Oil." Planet For Life. Aug 2008. 30 Jul 2009 .

Howden, Daniel. "World oil supplies are set to run out faster than expected, warn scientists." The Independent. 14 June 2007. 30 Jul 2009 .

Kangasmäki, Päivi. "Finnish And Swedish Strongholds In Renewable Energy." Arctic Startup. 24 June 2009. 30 Jul 2009

Over the Moon

For the three people that read this blog you may have noticed that it completely died over the past three months. I didn't have a minute to spare to update it. My semester consisted of stage managing Sweeney Todd ( which was phenomenal ), becoming the UMTG secretary near the end of the semester, switching majors, and studying for all of my ridiculous classes. It was really all of the studying that killed me. I'm hoping that next semester won't be as difficult. At the moment I'm only taking 15 credits. I signed up for Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability and Statistics for Engineers, Strength of Materials, and Marketing. Can't be that hard... wishful thinking.

Next semester should be fun though besides the whole learning thing. I'm looking forward to being involved with the guild again. The guild provides me with a break from homework and the world of engineering. This spring the guild is producing RENT and Rock 'n' Roll. I really want to apply to stage manage RENT but I don't have any time. I thought I didn't have time last semester for Sweeney, but I really don't have any time this spring semester. On the bright side as secretary I'll get to be involved on some level with both productions.

...

All in all I think that this is going to be a much more successful semester.

Riddle me this

I was on stumble today and stumbled upon this riddle. It took me a little while to figure it out but I eventually got it. I'll post the solution in the comments section if anyone wants to see if they got it right.

8809 = 6
7111 = 0
2172 = 0
6666 = 4
1111 = 0
3213 = 0
7662 = 2
9312 = 1
0000 = 4
2222 = 0
3333 = 0
5555 = 0
8193 = 3
8096 = 5
7777 = 0
9999 = 4
7756 = 1
6855 = 3
9881 = 5
5531 = 0

2581 = ?