MrsDrPoe: The Weary Travelers' Pit Stop in Atlanta

On their way home last week, Mama and Papa Wolgemuth, Mr. Wolgemuth, and Ms. Veit (my cousin) stopped by our place for a brief visit. We relaxed for a bit watching Monk:


After a nice dinner, we watched "the owl movie" and played a rousing game of Mad Gab. The guys beat the girls, but we were pretty close. The next morning, the Poe Barber Shop opened up because Papa Wolgemuth was getting a bit shaggy:


Mama Poe wanted to take Sascha home with her, so she tried to get a little sneaky while packing:


On their way out of town, we stopped for lunch at Fabiano's Pizzeria. The restaurant was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives for their Jamaican Jerk chili- I got some to try. It was pretty good, but I preferred the pizza:


We enjoyed the visit, and, although it was short, it was a lot of fun!

MrsDrPoe: Pardon Our Progress

Good morning all! A "normal" Foto Friday post will be up this afternoon, but I wanted to take a few minutes to address some changes that you may have noticed.

In attempts to make the blog more accessible to you, the reader, I have been conceptualizing the latest design iteration for this site with the best graphic designer I know (more on her later). In the past day or so, our work has been put online. Some of the changes are:

-New header and background design for a cleaner look

-Blog history and labels moved to the bottom of the blog for less side-bar clutter

-Addition of pages provide better organization and easier access to old posts


Please feel free to comment on the new look and/or to suggest further improvements!

MrsDrPoe: "If It Makes You Happy, It Can't Be That Bad"...or Can It?

Good morning all! I hope you'll all open up your Bibles with me as we look at some passages on this Theology Thursday.

Today's topic stems from the lyrics to a Sheryl Crow song that I heard in the car a few days ago. This song was popular when I was in grade school, so at some point I knew most of the lyrics; however, as I listened to the song this last time, I actually focused on the words*. The first half of the chorus is "if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad." And I thought, "Wait...what? Says who?" Then I answered my own question: "Says the world." If I had a dollar for every time I heard, "As long as you're happy..." or "If it makes you happy..." or "I just want you to be happy...", then Mr. Poe and I could buy a mansion today. The world is focused on happiness.

Happiness in itself isn't a bad thing- variations of the word are used approximately 25 times in the scriptures (NKJV); the word "joy" is used 158 times (NKJV). But the question we need to ask ourselves is: why are people in the Bible happy?

"...Happy are the people whose God is Jehovah!" (Ps 144:15)

"Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God..." (Ps 146:5)

"Happy is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity." (Pro 28:14)

"For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" (1 Thess 2:19)

"My bretherren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowning that the testing of your faith produced patience." (Jas 1:2-3)

How does the happiness/joy in these verses compare to what makes our friends happy, what makes our neighbors happy, and even what makes us happy? Our joy should be in the Lord, and if it's not, we probably have some soul searching to do.

Obviously some degree of carnal "happiness" can be found in whatever sin(s) we struggle with (drinking, promiscuity, lying, gossiping, etc) or we would not be tempted to commit them. But Ms. Crow's lyrics are totally erroneous- the fact that something yields pleasure does NOT mean that that something is inherently good. Pro 14:12 and 16:25 state, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." This verse reiterates that just because we think something is good doesn't mean GOD thinks it's good!

Gal 5:16-26 discusses the lusts/works of the flesh vs the fruit of the Spirit. Verses 24 and 25 say, "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Again, if we belong to the body of Christ, we are to find happiness in Him and those things which the Bible says should bring us happiness (God, Christ, our brethren, serving, etc.).

I have been blessed far beyond anything I deserve, and reminders like this help me to reexamine where I my trust and happiness lies. I hope these thoughts have been encouraging to you, as they have been to me. Until next week, happy studying!


*Mr. Poe and I have been paying a lot more attention to the junk we put into our heads through songs, movies, etc. lately. For the record, I don't think this song will be one that I'll listen to again...but that's a topic for another day.

MrsDrPoe: Caesar Salad

How about a salad for dinner tonight? I highly recommend this recipe- it was developed years ago by my grandfather, Grandpapa Wolgemuth.

Ingredients: 1 clove garlic (crushed), 4-6 anchovy fillets, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 egg yolk, 1/8-1/4 cup olive oil, 5 drops of Tabasco, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp red wine vinegar, juice of 1/2 small lemon, 1/2 head of Romain lettuce torn, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, and 1/2 cup garlic or Caesar croutons.


In a large salad bowl, mush the anchovy fillets with two forks:


Mix in the ground pepper, garlic cloves, mustard, and egg yolk together to form a paste:


Add the olive oil gradually, beating in quickly with two forks. Pour in the remaining liquid ingredients, and stir well:


Put the lettuce, cheese, and croutons in the dressing, and toss to coat. Rub individual bowls with the squeezed lemon, add salad, and serve (4 side salads, 2 dinner salads):


Note: For Mr. Poe and my first (dating) anniversary, I made this salad topped with steak. A few bites in, Mr. Poe looked at me and said, "I can't eat the rest of this." Of course I wound up in tears, but the lesson was learned- this dressing has a very strong garlic and anchovy taste. It's excellent, but not for everyone.

MrsDrPoe: The Wolgemuths

For this week's edition of Poes' Pals, I'm cheating again. Meet my grandparents...the Wolgemuths.

The Wolgemuths are amazing people. Grandpapa (or Dr.) Wolgemuth is a fantastic engineer and professor; he has a list of accolades as long as I am tall. I have a great deal of respect for my grandfather; he is my inspiration for my chosen degree and profession, and he has always been there to help me better understand any articles or subject matter if I have issues. Grandmama Wolgemuth is a wonderful wife and mother. She made clothes for her kids when they were young; she volunteers, knits, cooks, cleans, gardens, cans...and the list goes on and on. I have a so much respect for her as well; she is a great role model.

Just about every time I visit Grandpapa and Grandmama Wolgemuth I learn something new. Their current projects include the summer gardening and "grooming" their forest; when they have time, my grandfather turns wood while my grandmother creates beautiful watercolor masterpieces:


I am so happy that I have been able to be around and learn from the Wolgemuths, and I hope that I can be for my grandkids what they were to me and my siblings!

MrsDrPoe: Conservation of Mass, Part I

Welcome to Thesis Tuesday on the blog! Today we'll be introducing one of the physical conservation laws- conservation of mass.

For those of you unfamiliar with this law, when you hear the word "conservation," what does it make you think of? An activist yelling "save the trees" or a family trying to use as little electricity as possible to save money? These ideas are similar but not exactly what is conveyed in the law of conservation of mass. This law states that mass can not be created or destroyed; it can only be transformed (unless you're the One True and Living God who can do whatever He wants). If we think about our life experiences, this concept makes sense...

Let's look at an example: suppose I wanted to make some brownies. The box says I'll need to combine water, oil, eggs, and the brownie mix in a bowl. When I put each of these ingredients in and stir, each ingredient is still present; the mass has "become" something else, but every bit that I put in the bowl remains. Although many of us would like it, there isn't some black hole in the bowl that takes the fat/oil out while I stir.

If we examine this concept mathematically, the law of conservation of mass tells us that the total mass in a control system is always the same, or there is no change in the mass in a control system. But as fluid folks we don't want to know what happens in a control system...we'd much rather know about the control volume (CV). To see what this law means for CVs, we employ the handy-dandy Reynolds Transport Theorem (RTT) to get:

Dm/Dt = d/dt(int(rho)dV) + int(rho*(V.n))dA

Here m is the mass; rho is the density; V is the velocity vector; and n is the unit outward normal vector. The left side of our equation is the change of mass in a control system. The first term on the right side of the equation represents how the mass in the control volume changes with respect to time; the second term on the right side represents the net rate of mass flowing across the control surface (into/out of the control volume). Since we just said that the change of mass in a control system is zero because of the conservation of mass, the equation becomes:

0 = d/dt(int(rho)dV) + int(rho*(V.n))dA

This is known as the integral from of the conservation of mass or the continuity equation (int(...)dV means we are integrating over a volume; int(...)dA means we are integrating over a surface or area). In differential form, the equation is:

0 = d(rho)/dt + d(rho*u)/dx + d(rho*v)/dy + d(rho*w)/dz

Again rho is the density of the fluid, and u, v, and w are the scalar x-,y- and z-velocities.

To recap:
Mass is conserved ALWAYS- it cannot be created nor destroyed.
We can use this fact and the RTT to come up with the continuity equation.
There are two main forms of the continuity equation.

Let these concepts brew for a week, and we'll come back to them next Thesis Tuesday. Have a great day!

MrsDrPoe: Kroger and Target Deals, 7/18

I'd like to conclude Money Monday with some deals I came across today while picking up dog food and groceries.

Kroger:
The mega event from last week is still going on at your neighborhood Kroger. You can see all the deals here; I was particularly excited about 28 oz cans of Kroger tomatoes for $0.59 cents. They make great salsa!


Target:
I went here to pick up some food for Monster because it was on sale. While walking down an aisle, I saw a lady with a cart FULL of water guns; I thought to myself, "There's a clearance aisle with some good deals on it!" So I found the aisle where summer items were 80% off- water guns ($0.79), sidewalk chalk ($0.59), red plastic bowls ($0.79), aluminum water bottles ($0.99), and plastic drink dispensers ($1.19). Aside from the clearance aisle, I also found a good deal on Ziploc containers with a printable coupon on Target's website...and there's even more deals here.

MrsDrPoe: Drug Store Deals, 7/17

I hope you all enjoyed Mr. Poe's savings post earlier. I'm so thankful to have a husband who strives to spend money wisely! Now, we'll continue this Money Monday with some decent drug store deals:

CVS:
This week we finally got the chance to take advantage of the free gas deal CVS has been offering all summer! If you purchase $30 in qualifying sale items, you receive a $10 gas card...there were some decent sales on FiberOne bars and cereal and spices. We picked up some Velveeta shells and cheese and canned corn as well:


Total Regular Price: $54.11
Total Coupons/Sale Discounts*: $30.77
ECBs Used: $12.68
Total OOP: $10.66
Got Back: $1.00 ECB (from Green Bag Tag), $10 gas card

*Be sure to scan your card at the kiosk! I got a $4 off $20 grocery purchase coupon yesterday, which was quite helpful.

Wags:
There are some pretty good deals on school supplies and Dove "man soap" this week, but I was mostly interested in spending some RRs that would soon expire. The Hamburger Helper and Bowl Appetit are $0.99 each:


Total Regular Price: $14.49
Total Coupons/Sale Discounts: $8.85
RRs Used: $5
Total OOP: $0.64

Mr2Poe: Manly Money Monday

Today's Money Monday is of manly sorts. This past weekend, I needed to do some work on my car... a red 1993 Toyota Mr2 Turbo...and before I took it down off of the jack stands, I decided to do a quick oil change. I know that most people think that I am crazy for doing this myself since you can get it done at any old quick lube place for as little as $30. Well maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment, but it only takes me about 15 minutes to do, and it does save me a decent amount of money, particularly this week.

I went to Autozone to get my usual supplies because I knew that they had a deal on Valvoline oil where if you buy a 5 liter jug of oil and a Fram extra guard filter, it only costs you $18.99. That is all you need to change your own oil if you already own a set of tools and an oil pan+funnel. Since we left Mississippi though, I have not owned an oil pan or funnel for my own use. I'm sure Mrs. Poe wouldn't be too happy with me if I took her cooking funnel to use with a little 10w-30 motor oil. While I was in Autozone, I was going to get a pan and a funnel (cheapest ones they had) which was another $3 and $1.29, respectively. When I got to the counter, the very helpful cashier directed me towards a deal where I could get an oil pan, funnel, hand cleaner, and shop towels for a total of $5.00. So for a $0.70 more, I got the hand cleaner and shop towels (towels which make Mr. Brawny look like Mr. Wimpy):


Success!! What should have cost me $35.54 ended up costing $25.67, for a savings of around 28%. Now I am set up to save about $8 - $11 every time I change my own oil. Not much, but at least I know that I am getting quality work done, and with three cars, it starts to add up ;).

What is probably the worst thing about changing your own oil, is the used oil itself. You have to dispose of it in a proper way, but I have a system that I believe is the least bothersome option. I always put the used oil in the 5 liter jug that I just used to put new oil in the car with. After that, you can just take it to your local auto parts store the next time you need to buy supplies, and they will dispose of it for you. Maybe one Foto Friday I will do a video of a quick oil change at home so you can see how easy it really is. Until next time, happy motoring!