Today was a beautiful day. Absolutely perfect.... for some WIND TURBINE TESTING! The Weather Channel said by 1PM the winds would be a steady 20 MPH, which is pretty darn fast (according to my earlier research, that's about DOUBLE average wind speed). We had a group meeting at 11AM (so the winds were still a tad less than 15 or so) and went out to Ross Ade parking lot to see how fast she spins w/o a gearbox at ground level.


I know it's a still photo - so it's hard to see how fast it's spinning. But trust me, it's fast:
A) Look at Kevin's face (the guy in blue) - he's scared shitless he's going to get a mouthful of propeller.
B) I tried to take Quicktime videos of it in action, but the blade was spinning so fast that the video frames were aliasing. Which, I guess is also partly due to the fact that my poor little Nikon is a few years old...
C) The DMM Wes (guy in black) used to measure the generator output said 11-12 volts, which (from experimental data on the generator) means it was spinning 300 to 400 RPM. Wow.

We were all anxious to let it go full speed, but right now the only thing holding the propeller blades on is an auto hose clamp...not exactly a bulletproof temporary solution (in fact, Kevin made an AMAZING catch when the thing flew off and almost hit the ground. whew.). So, I guess we'll have to wait until more of the superstructure is finished in the machine shop for more complete testing.

Anyway, that was cool. That's all, I guess. Just wanted to share. The cookout last night was a success, I have a ton of tasty leftover food, and plenty of cold beer for later. No complaints, here.

The worms are out. At least they were yesterday. That's how you know it's been raining like hell, when the worms come out that is. When it really rains, the ground gets so saturated with water that those poor little air-breathers from below, the lowly earthworms, come up for some air. I walked to class on Friday 'cuz it was supposed to rain even more (and when you ride your bike in the rain - you get even wetter than if you'd walked w/o an umbrella), and the whole way all I could see was the huge outpouring of earthworms into the gutters. It was erie, really.

(from right in front of my house!)

Otherwise, Friday was a pretty good day. I aced my Naval History Exam, which included bonus points for knowledge about Chuck "Carlos Ray" Norris. woot. I spent about 5 hours in the machine shop working on parts for the Wind Turbine. It's been a while since I've spent such time on my feet, so it was a real bummer that I had to walk home in addition, so I was prettymuch only in the mood to sit since I was on my feet for about 7 hours total. I think I'll take some pictures today during the group meeting to show the progress, they'll probably think I'm crazy - but whatever.

I have a huge to-do list. I always do. If I were a smart bear, I'd spend all day tomorrow getting some of it done.... we'll see how that works out. Hopefully we'll be cooking out w/ James and the gang tonight. The grill has been getting a workout lately, and that excites me!