MrsDrPoe: Happy Birthday, Papa Wolgemuth!

For this Foto Friday, I've got some pictures from last weekend's birthday festivities for Papa Wolgemuth- he turned the big 5-0.  Mama and Papa Wolgemuth and the Lukes came down to Atlanta to celebrate.


Saturday night, we all went out for dinner at Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles because every time Mama Wolgemuth made waffles when we were growing up, Papa Wolgemuth would request chicken and waffles.
 

The lighting made it difficult to get a decent picture of the food, but it was very tasty- between the six of us, we tried three varieties of waffles, the chicken, corn muffins, sweet potatoes, and mac and cheese.  Here's my half-eaten buckwheat waffle and chicken breast:

After dinner, we went back home for some low-carb chocolate cake (I used canned beets and Splenda...it may sound gross, but everyone said it tasted great and was surprised when I listed the ingredients):

Sunday before everyone split ways, we went to lunch at the Varsity (at Norcross) for some yummy chili dogs and onion rings:

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend with great food and company.  Happy birthday, Papa Wolgemuth!!

MrsDrPoe: "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

For this Theology Thursday, I invite you to once again open up your Bibles as we briefly examine a portion of God's word.  

Today's thoughts stem from a study Tuesday night on John 12 presented by Mr. M. Broadwell III.  In verse 20 of the passage, "certain Greeks" came to Philip saying, "'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.'"  Mr. Broadwell made the point that at this time, most people were literally just wanting to "see" Jesus and His miracles- He was a celebrity of sorts and had just raised Lazarus from the dead.


The way that John refers to the miracles of Jesus as "signs" is definitely thought provoking.  As Mr. Holley says, "signs point to something."  If we see a McDonalds sign from the interstate, we wouldn't pull off to go look at the sign and marvel at its design or placement...we would pull off to go to what the sign was pointing to in order to eat, go to the bathroom, etc.  In the same way, the correct response to news of Jesus' presence in Jerusalem should have been, "Sir, we wish to hear Jesus," expressing desire to 'go to' what the signs/miracles were pointing to- Jesus' teaching with authority- as Mr. Broadwell pointed out.

Another aspect of the Greeks' request that should be considered is the frequency of the word "see."  If we happen to notice our favorite actor, singer, etc. on the street, we would want to go up to him in order to say "hi" or get an autograph, but we wouldn't expect to see him again or have any sort of long-term relationship with him.  Similarly, the Greeks probably desired and expected only to see a miracle and maybe say "hi" to Jesus.  But in His response to their request in verses 23-36, Jesus emphasizes to His disciples the fact that we can't just expect to come to see Him once- if we come to Him we must follow Him, and consistent with the verbiage Jesus frequently uses in His teachings, this command to "follow" is not just a one-time action but a continual one.


These two facets of this passage should encourage us to examine our own motives for coming before Jesus.  Are we expecting to just "see" and not "hear" by seeking teachers on the basis of entertainment-value instead of Bible knowledge or by seeking a congregation that gives us 'creature-comforts' instead of one that strives to follow the Biblical pattern?  Are we expecting to "see" Him once to ask for something or do we desire to continually serve and follow after Him? 


I hope these thoughts have been helpful for you today, and until next week, happy reading and studying!

MrsDrPoe: Chicken Casserole

It's another What's for Dinner Wednesday here at the blog, and I am hungry for some down-home cooking!  Tonight I present to you chicken casserole for two.

Ingredients: 1/2 chicken breast (cooked and shredded), 1 can of cream of mushroom (or chicken) soup, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4+ shredded cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup croutons*.

Combine chicken, soup, lemon juice, sour cream, and 1/4 cup of the cheese in a small casserole dish with salt and pepper to taste.  Top with a handful of cheese and the croutons:

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until bubbly around the edges (about 15 minutes) and then enjoy!  This dish goes well with Mrs. Holley's cabbage salad and my special green beans:

It's fantastic for company or pot-lucks...in larger batches of course!

*You can also top with crushed Ritz crackers tossed in melted butter instead of croutons. 

MrsDrPoe: All About Mortgages

Recently I finished the book I'll be presenting for the next Reading Review, "All About Mortgages: Insider Tips to Finance or Refinance Your Home" by Julie Garton-Good.

 

While finance isn't my cup of tea, I enjoyed reading this book.  It was well written and in a question and answer format that (paired with the index) made finding specific topics easy.  Throughout the text, Ms. Garton-Good inserts a multitude of websites where more information about policies and procedures can be found as well as charts, tables, and worksheets for quick personal application of the material discussed.  The book contains detailed information on a multitude of mortgage topics, including VA loan programs and tips for mortgage holders who find themselves falling behind on payments.

I definitely learned a good bit about mortgages from this book; however, I think I may have been better off beginning with something a bit less technical (like "Mortgages for Dummies"...which unfortunately is only available at my local library in audiobook).  Another thing to keep in mind about this book is that, since the copyright date of the third edition is 2004, some of the advice/tips presented may be a bit risky considering the current state of the housing market.

I would recommend this book to people with mid-level knowledge of real estate and mortgages who also understand their financial situation well enough to apply or avoid the appropriate "insider tips."

Do you have any mortgage book recommendations?

MrsDrPoe: The First Law of Thermodynamics, Part 3

Once again Thesis Tuesday is upon us, and today we'll continue our discussion of the First Law of Thermodynamics.

If we examine the integral form of the first law that we derived at the beginning of our discussion and make the assumptions of steady, laminar, and incompressible flow with uniform properties, pressure and constant average velocity at our inlets and outlets, our equation transforms as follows:

rho*int((u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)*|V|)dAout - rho*int((u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)*|V|)dAin = Qdot,net_in + Wdot,shaft_in

rho*(u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)*|V|int(1)dAout - rho*(u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)*|V|int(1)dAin = Qdot,net_in + Wdot,shaft_in

rho*(u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)*|V|*Aout - rho*(u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)*|V|*Ain = Qdot,net_in + Wdot,shaft_in 

mdot*(u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)out - mdot*(u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)in = Qdot,net_in + Wdot,shaft_in  

Furthermore, if we consider this equation per unit mass:

((p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)out - ((p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)in = qdot,net_in + wdot,shaft_in

Since the flow is steady, we can combine uout - uin - qnet,in into a losses term so that:

((p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)out = ((p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)in + wdot,shaft_in - losses

This form of the equation is known as the mechanical energy equation or the extended Bernoulli equation.  Each of the terms in this equation are of the form energy per unit mass.


If we divide the mechanical energy equation by the gravitational constant, g, we obtain:

((p/gamma) + 0.5*|V|*|V|/g + z)out = ((p/gamma) + 0.5*|V|*|V|/g + z)in + wdot,shaft_in/g - losses/g

The term wdot,shaft_in/g has the dimensions of energy per unit weight, which simplifies to the unit of height or length and can thus be expressed as hs (shaft head).  This term becomes hT (turbine head) if a turbine is present in the system or hP (pump head) if a pump is present in the system.  The term losses/g has the same units and can be written as hL.  So our final equation is:

((p/gamma) + 0.5*|V|*|V|/g + z)out = ((p/gamma) + 0.5*|V|*|V|/g + z)in + hs - hL

which is the head form of the energy equation.  Each term has units of head (length).  This particular form is used extensively in pipe flow applications, which we'll look at briefly next week.  Until then, happy studying!

MrsDrPoe: Wags Deals 10/17

It's Money Monday once again here at the blog.  It's a rather slow week for deals, but here are some things going on at Walgreens:

Wags Ultra Thin Maxis, 18 ct: $2.00, get $2.00 back in RR, $0.50/1 Wags coupon (printed in stores last month)
Reach Toothbrush: $2.99, get $2.00 back in RR, $1/1 SS 4/17

And don't forget to use your free Advil coupon from last month's Sunday paper- it expires on the 23rd.