MrsDrPoe: These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things (This Week)

It's Foto Friday here at the blog!  It's been full of sniffles, but the congestion (like the week) is coming to an end.  Today I'd like to share with you a few of our favorite things.

Sasha found a new favorite spot this week when I put her bed under the end-table by the living room window- she gets sun and a comfy spot while avoiding Monster feet:

And I received some of the best freebees I've ever gotten in the mail this week- a large sample of coffee and a beauty bag filled with coupons and samples from Target:

What are your favorite things from the week?

MrsDrPoe: A Lesson from the Blue Route

Today marks another Theology Thursday here on the blog.  As always, I invite you to open up your Bibles with me as we look at some portions of God's word.

When I was in Starkville last month, I was super frustrated about the duration of my trip- I wanted to come home every day of the second week I was there (as you know).  The last Friday I was there, I was headed to work on the Blue Route.  Ms. Hopkins and I were the only two folks on the shuttle, and I was telling her about the trip's discouragement.  She told me, "you don't know why you've been here so long.  God could be trying to strengthen you, help you grow, or keep you from harm."  My mind immediately went to Mr. Bethea's lesson the week before... 

 James 1:2-6 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind."


We discussed how, while no one particularly enjoys trials in and of themselves, we are to take joy in the fact that they should be causing us to grow in the fruit of the Spirit: "...love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law." (Gal 5:22-23)  The point was also made that when we ask God to help us be more patient or to have more wisdom or whatever, He doesn't give it to us miraculously.  Instead, He gives us the opportunity to gain patience/wisdom/etc. by putting us in situations that force a response- we must either grow or shrink in the trait.


...two things that I struggle with constantly are anger and patience, and I was definitely tested in both of these aspects as my second week of fruit-less labor drug on.  Instead of looking at my situation as an opportunity to grow in these areas, my response was more anger and impatience.  The Bible shows us that sometimes anger (at putting tradition over the Word of God - Mark 3:5) and what some might call impatience (the demand of a response to the person of Christ) are appropriate.  However, these attitudes could not be justified as being the correct ones to have in my situation.

As I thought about all this, I regretted my failure to grow in the Spirit through my "trial".  I thanked God for Ms. Hopkins, and I prayed that the next time I am faced with difficulty that I will focus on how it can help me to be more like Christ instead of on how much I want it to be over.

"Let my cry come before You, O LORD; give me understanding according to Your word.  

Let my supplication come before You; deliver me according to Your word.  

My lips shall utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes. 

My tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness.  

Let Your hand become my help, for I have chosen Your precepts.  

I long for Your salvation, O LORD, and Your law is my delight.  

Let my soul live, and it shall praise You; and let Your judgements help me.  

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments." 

(Ps 119:169-176) 

MrsDrPoe: Quesadillas

It's another Whats for Dinner Wednesday here at the blog.  Tonight, I'll be sharing with you another recipe that does double duty as one of Mr. Poe's favorite dishes and as something quick and easy for a Wednesday night meal.

Ingredients: burrito-size flour tortillas, cheese, cooked and shredded chicken, jalapenos (optional), and tomatoes (not pictured, optional).

On one half of the open tortilla layer cheese, chicken, and veggies:

Fold the tortilla in half, and carefully place it in a George Foreman type grill, closing the lid OR on a hot skillet or grill pan on the stove-top.  After the cheese starts to ooze out just a bit, put the quesadilla on a plate, and cut it into four wedges with a pizza cutter or knife:

Serve with a huge dollop of sour cream and plenty of salsa.  Enjoy!

MrsDrPoe: Ms. Hopkins

For the next Poe's Pals segment, I'd like to introduce you to Ms. Hopkins:

Mr. Poe and I have known Ms. Hopkins for several years, and we enjoy visiting with her when we return to Starkville.  She is a driver for the MSU transit system, and one of the most friendly people you will ever meet.

Ms. Hopkins loves her job and the people it puts her in contact with every single day.  If you ride with her just once, she'll remember your name forever.  She'll talk with you about your day and your life with a genuine concern for you...she'll talk with you about Jesus with a genuine concern for your soul.

Over the summer, she also started driving students without cars to the store or wherever they needed to go on her own dime.  When questioned about it, she gives all the credit to God for the blessings He's given her to help others in the ways that she does.  She truly loves the Lord and cares about everyone; she is a very special person.  If you're ever on campus, you should take a ride on the blue route- tell her the Poes sent you.  

MrsDrPoe: The First Law of Thermodynamics, Part II

Happy Thesis Tuesday to you!  Last week, we started talking about the integral form of the first law of thermodynamics.  Today we'll look at a simple example of how this equation is applied.

Problem: Suppose water is flowing through a 0.4 m*m pipe (1) with a velocity of 25 m/s and a static pressure of 940 kPa.  The pipe splits into two branches, one that is 0.18 m*m (3) and one that is 0.28 m*m (2).  At section (3), the static pressure is measured to be 570 kPa, and the velocity is 30 m/s; at section (2), the static pressure is 1140 kPa, and the velocity is unknown.  Determine the amount of available power lost in this horizontal y-connection.

Given: we know the areas and pressures at each location, the velocity at two locations, and the fluid properties.
Find: amount of available power lost
Assumptions: steady, incompressible, uniform properties and pressure across the pipe cross-section, horizontal pipe, no pumps/turbines, constant average velocity

Solution: 

After making our assumptions and drawing our control volume, we must apply the continuity equation:

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

For steady, incompressible flow with three surfaces where flow is crossing the CS:

rho*int(V1.n1)dA1 + rho*int(V2.n2)dA2 + rho*int(V3.n3)dA3 = 0

Since (1) is an inlet, (2) and (3) are outlets, and the velocities are constant averages, and dividing out density:

-|V1|*A1 + |V2|*A2 + |V3|*A3 = 0 (I)

|V2| = (|V1|*A1 - |V3|*A3)/A2 = 16.429 m/s

Now that we have determined the velocity at (2), we can apply the first law:

d/dt(int(e*rho)dV) + int((u + (p/rho) + 0.5*|V|*|V| + g*z)*rho*(V.n))dA = Qdot,net_in + Wdot,shaft_in

For steady, incompressible flow with no pumps or turbines, and three surfaces where flow crosses the CS:

int((u1 + (p1/rho) + 0.5*|V1|*|V1| + g*z1)*rho*(V1.n1))dA1 + int((u2 + (p2/rho) + 0.5*|V2|*|V2| + g*z2)*rho*(V2.n2))dA2 + int((u3 + (p3/rho) + 0.5*|V3|*|V3| + g*z3)*rho*(V3.n3))dA3= Qdot,net_in

Since (1) is an inlet, (2) and (3) are exits, and we have uniform properties and constant average velocities:

-rho*(u1 + (p1/rho) + 0.5*|V1|*|V1| + g*z1)*|V1|*A1 + rho*(u2 + (p2/rho) + 0.5*|V2|*|V2| + g*z2)*|V2|*A2 + rho*(u3 + (p3/rho) + 0.5*|V3|*|V3| + g*z3)*|V3|*A3 = Qdot,net_in

Consider the terms:

-rho*g*z1*|V1|*A1 + rho*g*z2*|V2|*A2 + rho*g*z3*|V3|*A3

Since the y is horizontal, there is no difference in z1, z2 or z3:

rho*g*z*(|V2|*A2 + |V3|*A3 - |V1|*A1) (II)

The terms in the parentheses above is the same as those in expression (I), which we know is equal to zero; therefore, (II) is equal to zero.

Our losses for this problem are defined by:

-Qdot,net_in - rho*u1*|V1|*A1 + rho*u2*|V2|*A2 + rho*u3*|V3|*A3 

So we end up with:

losses = rho*((p1/rho) + 0.5*|V1|*|V1|)*|V1|*A1 -rho*((p2/rho) + 0.5*|V2|*|V2|)*|V2|*A2 -rho*((p3/rho) + 0.5*|V3|*|V3|)*|V3|*A3

losses = 1.152 x 10^6 W 

And there ya go.  Next week we'll look at the head form of the first law, but until then, happy studying!

MrsDrPoe: Columbus Day Deals

Happy Monday Money to you all!  There were some fantastic deals this weekend to celebrate Columbus Day...here are some from:


CVS


American Greetings select Halloween cards $0.99 - $3 back in ECB when you buy any 3
Dial 3 pack $1.88 - get $1 back in ECB
Foam stickers - $0.09/pack
Tiny containers - $0.29/pack of 8

Total Regular Price: $11.59
Total Sale: $6.04
ECBs Used: $5.00
Total OOP: $0.55
ECBs Back: $4.00


JCPenny

Liz Claborne top ($28.00) - $5.57
Total Girl top ($14.99) - $1.97
Arizona flip flops ($18.00) - $1.97
2 Flirtitude bras ($20.00 ea) - $3.97 ea

Used: 20% off JCP reward text code, $10 JCP reward


Total OOP: $4.26
Total Saved: $97.01

On top of that, this purchase earned me at least 150 JCP reward points for this month (I'm hoping for more since I should earn double points...I'll let you know what happens)...well on my way to another $10 in JCP rewards!

MrsDrPoe: My Hubby the Athlete

Last weekend some of the English-speaking brethren played the Spanish-speaking brethren in a rousing game of soccer.  Mr. Poe joined in the fun, and did very well even though he only started playing in college:

The English-speaking folk won for the first time in three years, which was quite exciting.  Although it was a lot of fun, he still prefers football to futbol:

MrsDrPoe: Blind Faith?

Once again Theology Thursday has arrived, and as always, I invite you to open your Bibles with me as we look at some portions of God's word.

Most of us have heard said at some point that Christianity is based on "blind" faith and that this faith is used by Christians as a simple and clean way to explain away things that otherwise cannot be explained by their worldview.  It is true that there are several topics in the Bible that we are not given all the answers to all the questions we may have about them, and so we must accept some Biblical truths with the faith that God has given us what we need to know.  However, it is important to realize that: 1) no matter what each of us believes, faith in something/someone is required due to the fact that no human who has ever lived (save One) is omniscient and 2) the Christianity preached by Jesus is based on obedient faith obtained from careful consideration of evidence.  It is this second point that we'll briefly examine today.

When we think of Jesus' time spent on this earth, we typically think about His perfect life, His teaching, His miracles, His death, and His resurrection.  Without His death and resurrection, our "faith is futile" (1 Cor 15:17), but without His teaching and miracles, our faith would be unfounded.  In Mark 1:38, Jesus said, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth."  In Mark 2:10-11, Jesus said to a paralytic, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  In these two passages, we are given the insight that Jesus came to teach, and His miracles were affirmation of His power and authority.  

Later, in Luke 14:26-33, Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship, saying that we must leave all to follow Him.  But we must note that He doesn't ask us to give up everything on a whim; this is a serious decision that requires serious deliberation.  Verses 28-32 provide examples of a man intending to build a tower and a king intending to go to war against another king- each man considers the costs of his endeavor before he engages in it!  Sometimes we forget because of the immediacy with which they left everything (Mark 1:16-20), but even the apostles followed Jesus based on evidence that He was the Messiah (Luke 5:1-11, John 1:35-42).

Throughout the New Testament, the writers indicate that their recorded teachings of Jesus are eye-witness accounts, witnesses could still be found to attest to their writings, and even the prophets of the Old Testament assert that Jesus is the Christ, the Holy One of God.  Those in Berea were commended as being "more fair-minded (noble) than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." (Acts 17:11) 

Furthermore, in 1 Thess 5:21 we are told, "Test all things; hold fast what is good;" similarly in 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world."  Thus we should be "finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." (Eph 5:10).

From this multitude of passages, we should be able to see that Jesus does not expect our faith in Him to be based on a whim.  He expects us to look at the evidence for the truth of His teachings, miracles, life, and resurrection and to consider what He asks of His disciples before we become His followers.  And even after we believe in Him, we are to grow in our faith, obedience, and love through testing the teachings we hear and read against what is taught in the Bible.  If instead we're content to simply believe what a preacher, teacher, friend, or even Charles Darwin says without further investigation our faith in whatever we believe in is indeed blind.

MrsDrPoe: Tiramisu

What's for Dinner Wednesday is all about what's after dinner this week.  During my trip to Starkville, Mr. S. Holley was kind enough to make me some of his favorite dessert- tiramisu.  

Ingredients: 2 cups espresso or strong coffee (he uses instant), 2 8 oz packages of Marscarpone cheese (softened), 5 large eggs (separated), 1.5 cups sugar (divided), 2-3 packages of lady fingers, 1/4 cup cocoa powder.

First make the coffee in a small bowl and allow it to cool.  Beat egg whites on med-high speed with an electric mixer till soft peaks form, then add 3/4 cups of sugar.  Continue to beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks, cheese, and the remaining sugar until thoroughly combined and smooth:



Gently fold the whites into the egg and cheese mixture.  Dip the lady fingers by twos quickly into the cooled coffee and place in a single layer in the bottom of a 9x13 pan (Note: the lady fingers are like sponges, and if they soak up too much coffee, they'll fall apart):




Spoon half of the cheese mixture onto the lady fingers, spreading it evenly.  Top that with another layer of coffee-dipped lady fingers and then the remaining cheese mixture.  Cover the top completely with dusting of cocoa powder, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.  Then cut, serve, and enjoy!

MrsDrPoe: The Gospel According to Mark

For this week's Reading Review, I present to you part of The Pillar New Testament Commentary, "The Gospel According to Mark" by James R. Edwards:

As I mentioned several weeks ago, Mr. Poe adopted the book of Mark; this commentary was given to him indirectly by our friend Mr. Ellis to start his Mark library.  Since we have recently found ourselves in several studies on this gospel, I thought it would be in my best interest to read this commentary as well.  (If you're considering adopting Mark, this is definitely a reference book you should add to your library.)

Although you could probably guess from the length of this commentary, it is very detailed and contains a plethora of information from a wide variety of sources.  Mr. Edwards has done quite a bit of research and provides essentially a very comprehensive verse-by-verse investigation of this gospel.  Also to his credit, the book is very well organized, and the footnotes contain a wealth of additional information related to the commentary.

Mr. Edwards draws the reader's attention to the themes and unique literary devices Mark employed in his gospel, such as the "sandwich" where a story is placed in a story to help draw connections between them.  One of my favorite topics discussed in the commentary is the way Mark contrasts faith and fear and shows us what true faith in God should look like.

While I have not extensively researched the available material on the topic of Mark's gospel, there are a few comments made in the book that appear to be contrary to scripture, such as those on repentance in reference to Mark 2.  While commentaries are often helpful in increasing our understanding of the scriptures, they should never replace the Bible itself; thus, as always, I would advise you to read this book with an open Bible, testing every comment made against the whole Word of God.

MrsDrPoe: The First Law of Thermodynamics, Part I

It's another Thesis Tuesday here at the blog, and today we begin discussion of the third governing equation of fluid mechanics- the first law of thermodynamics.  (In case you've forgotten, the other governing equations are the conservation of mass equation and the conservation of momentum equation.)

The first law of thermodynamics (also called the first law and the conservation of energy equation) simply tracks the energy in a system- just like mass and momentum, energy is conserved and every bit of it in every system/process can be accounted for at any instant in time.  In mathematical speak, the first law states that, "the time rate of increase of the total stored energy of the system is equal to the sum of the net time rate of energy addition by heat transfer into the system, and the net time rate of energy addition by work transfer into the system" or:

D/Dt(int(E*rho)dVsys) = (sum(Qdot)in - sum(Qdot)out)sys + (sum(Wdot)in - sum(Wdot)out)sys

This form of the equation is useful for Lagrangian viewpoints; recall that in order to transform it into a form useful for Eulerian viewpoints, we must employ the Reynolds Transport Theorem to the term on the left side:

D/Dt(int(E*rho)dVsys) = d/dt(int(e*rho)dV) + int(e*rho*(V.n))dA

meaning, "the time rate of increase of the total stored energy of the system is equal to the sum of the time rate of increase of the total stored energy of the contents of the control volume and the net rate of flow of the total stored energy out of the control volume across the control surface.  Our first law equation then becomes:

d/dt(int(e*rho)dV) + int(e*rho*(V.n))dA = Qdot,net in + Wdot, net in

In general, we will denote both work and heat coming into a system as positive and going out of a system as negative.

In the equations above, e is the sum of the potential, kinetic, and internal energies in the fluid (e = u + (|V|*|V|)/2 + g*z).  The heat transfer rate, Qdot, denotes all the ways energy is exchanged between the control volume and its surroundings due to a temperature difference.  You may recall from other classes that making the adiabatic assumption means that there is no heat transfer to or from the system.  This net rate of heat transfer is also zero if the heat transfer into the control volume is equal to the heat transfer out of the control volume.  

The work rate (or power), Wdot, denotes the work done on the control volume by the surroundings (when positive).  This work can be done by a shaft at the control surface, such as in a piston/cylinder arrangement, which calculated by multiplying the torque of the shaft by the shaft's angular velocity.  The work also occurs due to the normal stresses present on the surfaces of the control volume due to pressure and tangential stresses due to shearing.  Typically, the control volume is chosen in such a way that the tangential stress work is zero; the normal stress work is calculated by:

Wdot, norm = int(-p*(V.n))dA

If we put our expanded work terms into the energy equation derived earlier, we are left with:

d/dt(int((u + (|V|*|V|)/2 + g*z)*rho)dV) + int((u + (|V|*|V|)/2 + g*z)*rho*(V.n))dA = Qdot,net in + Wdot, net in - int(p*(V.n))dA

or:

d/dt(int((u + (|V|*|V|)/2 + g*z)*rho)dV) + int((u + (|V|*|V|)/2 + g*z)*rho*(V.n))dA = Qdot,net in + Wdot, shaft in

And that's the integral form of the first law.  Next week we'll look at a brief example of its use, but until then, happy studying!

MrsDrPoe: Back in the Saddle Again

Happy Money Monday to all!  Sorry about the late post today...I had an unusually long errand list to go through after being gone for two weeks.  Here are some good deals I was glad to come back to this week:

PetSmart

Iams Dog food 35-40 lb bags $34.99 (regularly $38.99) plus certain bags have additional coupons inside

Wags

Cepacol 16ct cherry lozenges $2.99 get $2.99 back in RR
Fun-sized candy 2/$4 with store coupon in Wags October booklet

CVS

Bengay 2-4 oz $5.49 get $5/1 in SS 9/11 and $2 back in ECBs (you make $1.50)
$5 in ECBs back wyb $15 in selected Pepsi Co. products coupons in 10/2 insert

What's on your shopping list this week?

MrsDrPoe: I Promise I'm Leaving This Time...

Many days have come and gone, and once again Foto Friday has arrived.  Last week, I posted about my home away from home, Starkville, Mississippi...this week I'll share some more pictures from my trip because I'm still here (oh the joys of research).

My simulations and I have had a love-hate relationship this week, as in they've loved to hate me:

Every time I thought some progress has been made, the results look terrible- I've planned to leave town every day this week (literally).  But thankfully I've had good company despite my difficulties.  My good friend Ms. K. Davis was kind enough to come to the HPC2 so I wouldn't be working alone at night:

One day I saw this car on campus, and it reminded me of Mr. Poe:

I wanted to run home immediately, but I couldn't.  One day soon I'll make it back to my home, my husband, and my dogs...but until then, you can just call me...Brett Favre.

MrsDrPoe: The Second Law of Thermodynamics as It Applies to Christianity

This Theology Thursday, I invite you to open up your Bibles with me as we take a look at a portion of God's word.  Today we'll be taking a bit of a different approach to some passages, examining how the second law of thermodynamics applies to Christianity.

The second law essentially states that the total amount of entropy in the universe is always increasing or every existing process is irreversible.  This wording may not mean much to you if you're not in some type of science or engineering field, but it definitely effects you.  This law in layman's terms tells us that no process is 100% efficient i.e. you put in more energy than you get out in useful energy or work.  

For instance: A tank of gasoline has x amount of chemical energy.  Engines use the gas to power your vehicle, but they only 'see' y amount of the energy available- the rest (x-y = z) is 'lost' to friction, heat dissipation, etc.  The fact that there is a lot of chemical energy that does not go directly into running your car means that the process is much less than 100% efficient.  

While we know that energy can never be created or destroyed (the first law), we should now also know that not all of the energy we put into something produces useful results.  They key in much of engineering is to design processes which eliminate as much of this 'wasted energy' as we can, ensuring that these processes use energy as efficiently as possible.


So what in the WORLD does this have to do with Christianity?  Look at these verses from the new testament:

"And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph 5:18)

"For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles- when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.  In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you." (1 Pet 4:3-4)

The word dissipation in these verses is actually the Greek word asotia, which means prodigality.  In Luke 15, we read of Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, so most of us are probably familiar with the word 'prodigal'...but do we truly know what it means?  Prodigal is defined most frequently as 'excessive wastefulness.'  Thus in the above passages, these sinful acts are called wasteful, which means that in committing them we are being tremendously inefficient with the energy given to us by God.

But if we say to ourselves, "well this doesn't apply to me, because I don't do any of these things," we need to realize that "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Rom 3:23).  Like the car engine, much of the energy and things we have are wasted in that they do not serve a useful purpose to the Lord by glorifying His name.  While we can never be perfect as Christ was, His model of life on this earth should be what we're striving to match every day- we should all be 'engineers' trying through the grace of God to make our lives as 'efficient' as possible by ridding them of sin.

MrsDrPoe: Mrs. Holley's Cabbage Salad

It's What's for Dinner Wednesday tonight on the blog!  In honor of the Holleys, I'd like to share with you an easy, tasty salad introduced to us by Mrs. Holley.

Ingredients: cabbage, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper (not pictured).

Slice the cabbage thinly using a knife or food processor (about 1/5 of the cabbage*).  Put the cabbage in a bowl, pour on olive oil (about 1 tablespoon*), lemon juice (about 1 1/2 tablespoons*), and salt and pepper to taste, and toss to coat:

We particularly enjoy eating it alongside my special green beans and chicken casserole:

What are you having for dinner tonight?


*for two people