Engineering Math

These didnt come from me.

Really.

The Invisible Hand Strikes Again

Beer, BBQ, boardgames and...uh...skiing. Is there a word for skiing that starts with B? Too bad I’m not a snowboarder. Anyway, beer, bbq, boardgames and skiing, that pretty much sums up my weekend. I was out with a friends house Saturday for a winter bbq and after nearly having to run to Zurich to bail a colleague out of jail (I’ll get to that in a minute) we decided to stay in and play some boardgames rather than head out to the bar. After a few rousing rounds of that old classic Connect 4 later we got out the mother of all boardgames, Monopoly. This version just happened to be the 1961 German version so all the street names were from Germany and ended in Strasse, the currency was Deutschmarks, the cards were nearly unreadable etc etc., but its still essentially the same game. The main difference was that instead of Jail, they had concentration camps and instead of building hotels on your own property you invade the neighboring property and build military bases. Ok, I made that last part up.

Despite the language barrier I managed to rather easily dominate the whole board and in the end I bankrupted my 3 (now former) friends. Good thing I drove myself. After the game they were discussing why they lost, why I won etc etc but I just listened quietly because the reason is simple-the invisible hand of capitalism always wins in the end!

If you ever find yourself playing monopoly with 3 Germans, a few words of advice.

1-Germans are train crazy so they will always buy the railways for far much more than their really worth. Try to get all 4, it’s a good bargaining chip.

2-Don’t go straight for the hotels, just cover the board with houses.

3-German jail must suck because the get out of jail free cards commanded quite a price. Try to collect a few.

And now to the, perhaps, more interesting story of the evening. Mid bbq I get a phone call from a colleague who was coming in from Spain and flying out to the states the next day. After approaching the customs people to enter Switzerland he was politely informed that he had an unpaid speeding ticket from Feb. and he could either pay 700 Francs on the spot or spend 16 days in Jail.

And welcome to Switzerland.

Did I mention that they don’t take credit cards and had no ATM. Well they don’t, and they didn’t so he called me to see if I could bring some francs up to the airport to keep is ass out of the klink. It was already about 9:00 and the airport is two hrs away so I did what any good friend would do…I told him I was down 3 on a Connect 4 tournament and he would have to wait a few hours. The sacrifices I make..i tell ya.

Luckily I knew yet another colleague who was already in Zurich and leaving the following day for America so phone calls were made, ATM’s visited and jail was narrowly avoided. It does make me wonder though, how bad could Swiss jail really be? Its probably all fondue, chocolate and goofy felt hats. Work detail probably finds you milking cows or churning butter. The exercise yard, yeah, its a ski mtn. Maybe i'll stop paying my speeding tickets, i mean if i ever get one of course.

But there is a lesson in all this…and what’s the lesson kids? Always pay your speeding tickets.

Some of you might’ve thought I would’ve said that the lesson is not to speed, but that’s just crazy talk.

Crazy YouTube Video

Youtube is really one of the coolest websites out there. Sure, 90% of the stuff on there is crap, but every once in a while you find a video thats really different. Something you know you'd never see anywhere else. i stumbled across once such video series the other day. Granted, the premise is a bit unuasual. Find and film the sole metal band in Iraq..but watch the video's (4 of 5 are done). These video's are much more and present a much less polished and clean view of iraq than we normally seem to see in the 10 second CNN clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK9ZkW0HabQ

Eurotrippin'

Yes, yes loyal reader(s?), i am still alive. Things have just been extremely busy over the last weeks. First I was in the states for a bit where i got caught in the storm of the century. At least, that's what 12 inches of snow feels like when the town only has 2 snowplows. Thank god i grew up in the northeast otherwise that might have stopped me from getting around. Upon returning to Europe i had 2 more weeks of work before my America visitors arrived. My (not so) little bro (Mike), cousin (Krissy) and a family friend (Matt) came over for a week long visit last Friday. In true Corrigan family fashion, Ma Corrigan did an excellent job of organizing the trip for everyone else and hardly a minute was left to chance. Well, more accurately everyone came prepared with Eurail passes, money and a list of things to do..but that was sufficient. We hit the slopes one day, hit the town a few nights, spent some time in Venice, almost got mugged in Milan, rode allot of trains and pretty much saw everything one could hope to see in one week.

I couldn't get the whole week off work, but i did tag along down to Venice. You may be asking, Corrigan, what did you think of Venice? Well for anyone who hasn't visited it is what i envisioned the quintessential Italian city: tiny coffee's, lots of Italians, wine, pasta, old, artsy...zou get the drift. Its also one of the few cities in the world whose streets are actually waterways. I say one of the few because even though i don't know of any more at the moment, there's got to be at least one more out there. Water taxi's, water buses, water mail delivery, water garbage pickup...everything and everything that would normally be accomplished on land must be accomplished via water. It makes for some interesting sites and pics. I wont bore you with too much commentary except to say it was a great visit and break from the norm.

Here's a few pics from the trip. Krissy got a bunch too, but due to some cable compatibility issues i wasn't able to copy them before they left. Its too bad too because Krissy got some great shots including at least 2 videos that are Youtube worthy. As soon as i get a copy, I'll post'em though. Without further adue, the Corrigan's/Smith spring break, two double-o seven.

Oh, one more thing. I must have got this link from 4 or 5 different people, but i thought I'd share it for anyone who didn't see it. Here i am thinking i live in a neutral peace loving country, then this happens. F'in swiss. Guess I'll have to start locking my doors.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17425047/

Day Two

Skiin in the alps. No big deal.

Matt, enjoying some local cuisine

The crew, enjoying the ambiance.

Your faithful tourguide

Early, or late pics. Depending on your coming from

Killin time at 1AM in the train station.

Killin more time...

Still killin time....

After a while, we ran out of ideas to amuse ourselves.

Morning in Venice

Venice in the mornin.

Chillin on the night train.

Embarassed that we were pissing off the two other people in the car.

Not embarrassed at all.

Random pics

A little Vino.

Ferrari. Very nice!

umm...i got nothing.

Nice shot! and behind the heiniken beer barge is some more cool stuff.

Random Pics

If this doesnt work...

The devil in the middle of the door will scare away salesman.

Shadow on a churh.

Whatever she's selling, i'm buyin.

Random pics

Reflections in an alley

A big old building. Probably famous for something.

Even the taxi drivers had nice boats.

Italian nightlife

Matt gettin down with some gypsies. They played the same horrible song over and over, but with the addition of a slightly(?) anebriated american, well, it was hilarous. Krissy got a video of this, its definitely youtube worthy. As soon as i get a copy, its getting loaded up.

Some Vino anyone?

Some more vino?

Krissy and Mike tried to get into it but clearly matt had this gig all to his own.

Congrats! on a Job (nearly) Well Done

If you had to guess how long it takes to restore a car, how long would you guess...1 month? 1 year? 2 years? 5 Years? 10 Years? Well, there's no right answer because everyone has a different definition of “restore”. After a quick search on ebay for example you might conclude that a restoration is nothing more than a couple pounds of bondo and some new paint. My Healey would be a good example of this. A little more in depth searching and you would find a second tier of “restorations” that may include an engine rebuild, some token interior work and of course the obligatory bondo, new wheels and paint. My camaro might be a good example of this. And then to a select few a restoration means a soup to nuts stripping of the entire car leaving no nut, bolt, gage, surface, seat, brake line etc. un-restored. My old man falls somewhere in this category and its with this in mind that i want to congratulate him on an awesome job (almost) well done. Its been about 5 years in the making but luckily, it was well worth the wait. I probably should've waited till he was 100% done but to be honest, you're never really done with something like this and besides, patience has never been my strong suit (again..the healey). Besides, i'm heading to the states for business on wed and didn't feel like waiting to post some pics.

So without further adue...the all new '66 Vette. Congrats Pop! You finally had a proper project to break-in the garagemahal.

Disclaimer: yes this is a shameless attempt to suck up so that when you tire of the car you will keep your long lost middle son in mind as the next caretaker.

Lots more pis at http://community.webshots.com/user/djcpe

And it begins.

I think this was 2002..ish.

undue 8 bolts and this is what you get. well, that might be a bit of a simplification.

the stripped frame.

the completed engine..patiently waiting.

Body work

1 body, plus a few hours with a sawzall and you get...

This!

i wasnt around much, but when i was i contributed by sitting in the car and making engine noises

frame repairs begin.