SheSue Experience

The movie Milk may have been about a famous gay rights leader, but for me, it gave me motivation. In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into public office in America. But his win was not just about gay rights, it was about how he operated.

It doesn’t matter if you’re gay or not, this is a must see movie for all. Milk is an inspiration to us all. He was not afraid to stand up for what he believed, something most people today are afraid to do or just don’t want to take the time to do. Milk has remained a hero to many. For me, the movie gave me inspiration.

Do you have a Bank of America credit or debit card? If so, you have a pass to some free culture. Over 100 museums nationwide will give you free admission on the first full weekend of every month.

So go get cultured!

I discovered letterboxing some years ago on a Boy Scout outing. We were always looking for ways to making hiking more fun for the boys. One of the moms suggested letterboxing and we found ourselves at Silver Creek Falls State Park on a treasure hunt.

There are thousands of these letterboxes all around the world. At Silver Creek Falls there are 11, though some have been lost. The website will let you know if the box is active or not and when the last sighting was. Letterboxing is a great way to introduce someone to the wonderful world of hiking or it can be a fabulous hobby. Check out the website and see what treasure you can find!

Imagine a dark room, filmy curtains, lamps with shades in red and pink. The room is filled with poles, erotic music is playing in the background. But instead of being in some swarmy bar or nightclub, this is a fitness studio.

I went to check it out at the Diva Den in Beaverton, OR. The music is catchy and it’s definitely a girls class. The moves are pretty much like any other aerobics class, but they make it sexy. You do a lot of hip action moves like California rolls. Then you get to “be arrested”. This move entails you doing a spread eagle against the mirrored wall. Then you do squats. At the end, you do the “naughty kitty”. This one is done on the floor, flipping your hair and scooting around to stretch out.

All in all, the class is a good workout aerobically. It is on the spendy side, but it sure was a lot of fun. You do use muscles you never knew existed, but it felt good. Here is a video of how it’s supposed to look.

For those of you who are “over the hill”, here are some great little bits to make being old a little funnier (and easier).

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An older couple is lying in bed one morning. They had just awakened from a good night’s sleep. He takes her hand and she responds, “Don’t touch me.”
“Why not?” he asked.
She answered, “Because I’m dead.”
The husband asked, “What are you talking about? We’re both lying here in bed together and talking to one another.”
She said, “No, I’m definitely dead.”
He insisted, “You are not dead. What in the world makes you think you’re dead?”
“Because,” she responded. “I woke up this morning and nothing hurts.”

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Remember…
Once you get over the hill, you’ll begin to pick up speed.
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I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put some in the food.
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If it weren’t for STRESS I’d have no energy at all.
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Whatever hits the fan…
Will not be evenly distributed.
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Everyone has a photographic memory.
Some, like me, just don’t have any film.

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Dogs have owners – Cats have staff.
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If the shoe fits… buy a pair in every color.
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Never be too open minded, your brains may fall out.
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Bills travel through the mail.
At twice the speed of checks.
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If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
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Some days are a total waste of makeup.
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A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
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Middle age is when broadness of the mind
and narrowness of the waist change places.
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Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
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Junk is something you’ve kept for years
and throw away three weeks before you need it.
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Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
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By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
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Learn from the mistakes of others. Trust me, you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself. I’ve tried!

Hope you at least get a good chuckle out of some of these.

My Son and the OSE Formula One Race Car

The Race Car Engine

My son is in the mechanical engineering program at Oregon State University.  His current dream is to be involved in the design of race cars.  It seemed fitting for him to get involved in the Formula One Student Team at OSU.

Formula Student is a design competition for university students held annually at multiple locations around the world.  This year my son and the team will compete in Los Angeles,  Germany and Austria.   He heads for LA in a couple of weeks, then on to Germany and Austria in August.  He has been on the team for a couple of years, but this year his responsibilities have really ramped up.

Each year, hundreds of college teams design and build formula style race cars.  These cars are designed as prototypes to be evaluated for production by a hypothetical manufacturing firm.  The cars are evaluated on a number of qualities including their design, performance, and cost.  The competitions provide an opportunity for students to apply their knowledge, develop creativity and work as a team on a complex engineering project.

The teams are broken down into different aspects of the car:  electrical, engine, design, machine work, etc.  Senior students use one aspect of the car as their senior project.  They not only are responsible for this part of the car to be completed, but they must submit a written report based on their work.  The team leader is also a senior student, using his leadership skills as his senior project.  The leader must make sure everything gets done, his team mates work together as well as  come up with sponsors and funding for the project.

These teams  spend hours and hours of time building this car. They get no class credit. But they do get the glory of a completed car and watching it race. Saturday was the grand unveiling of the car for 2009. There were a lot of last minute details that needed to be taken care of, but the kids pulled it off. My son hadn’t slept much in the previous week. Now he has to get ready for finals while doing all the fine tuning on the car.

The Race Car Shifter

There is one faculty member who acts as an adviser for the team. Students are expected to only seek advice after they have exhausted all their attempts at working through a problem. According to the adviser, this usually involves money.

Mechanically the car is mostly ready. My son says a lot of tuning and testing still needs to be done, then the car will be ready for decoration. All sponsors get a sticker put on the car plus the team envisions a beaver on the nose of the car. They hope the beaver will take them to the top ten in their competitions.

My son will eventually use formula one as his senior project. This year he developed the shifter for the car shown here. He is in line to be the project leader as a senior. This mom will be proud no matter what he does.