I've finished!

  

I have a diploma that verifies the fact that I've earned my MISE degree.  It was a great graduation weekend with my wonderful family and many of my new and old friends sharing the excitement with me.

It has been an amazing year and I'm so lucky to have had support and encouragement from everyone to live my dream.  Thank you!!!

Now I'm back in New Orleans trying to figure out what to do with all of the stuff (mainly books) that I accumulated.  My La-z-boy chair will go to good use--my son Brandon claimed it quickly.  I have an office attached to my sewing room downstairs, but I'm afraid I'll be too distracted there so I'm trying to arrange the third floor to be my PhD office where I'll go for my work day.  Next milestone...PhD...

Coma

I think I fell in love with her at first sight.  Brandon was playing in a soccer game at the Butterfly and Coma was sitting with her owner near the sidelines.  She was 5 months old and had so much extra skin.  I knelt down and petted her.  She sort of melted into my lap.  Her owner was moving out of town and in a week Coma was living at our house.  She ran 3 miles with me every morning until one summer when I awakened her and asked if she were ready.  She raised her head, looked at me and put her head back down on the bed as if to say, "no thanks."  She never ran in the park with me again.  Running with her was exciting.  A squirrel or rabbit in the park caused her to tear out after the animal with me holding her leash and running at break neck speed.  In Opine she ran through the woods--down a path and back to be sure I was following.  She was beautiful when she ran.  She never did catch a squirrel or a rabbit.

Coma was the epitome of a dog--couldn't resist food within reach--and all food on a counter was within her reach; the kitchen garbage was fair game if she were left alone; she chewed everything that smelled like a human--stuffed toys, shoes, purses, wallets, my binoculars; she tried desperately to break through the front door whenever anyone outside came near it; and she loved to be petted on the head and scratched under her neck.   One of my favorite memories is the day she took the bag of marshmallows from the kitchen counter.  She must have really liked them because she "saved" them.  We found marshmallows buried between sofa cushions and behind pillows on chairs throughout the living room.

A bloodhound, she was big--95 pounds, with lots of loose skin; her howling bark was a beautiful sound; she shed; she slobbered; and she slept like a log.  She was a good dog--our family dog for 14 years and I miss her.

Almost finished...

If I could spend my days in Auburn and my nights and all but Fall weekends in New Orleans, I'd be so happy.  Learning new things and talking to people about mathematics, modeling and creative ideas is thrilling to me and I expect to miss that in New Orleans.  But, I miss my family and friends in the early mornings, evenings and most weekends and that actually trumps my intellectual pursuits.  I'm ready to run/walk with Susan in the early morning and spend evenings and weekends with Allan, all of our friends and my children.  I'll be finished on Monday...

Callaway Gardens

Yesterday evening, my friend Peggy's 87 year old mother treated us and one of her friends to the Fantasy of Light show at Callaway Gardens.  The four of us took an incredible 45-60 minute driving tour through the resort with light and sound exhibits along the way.  The Nutcracker Suite played and nutcrackers danced, toy soldiers marched, a rocking horse rocked and there were other toys and children; Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf played and squirrels ran up and down trees, rabbits played, birds flew across the road and there were raccoons and wolves; there was an exhibit of the 12 Days of Christmas with animation in each of the twelve days; an owl flew along the road and hooted; a ribiting frog jumped into the water with a splash of light; fairies grew flowers and gnomes frosted them with snowflakes; children had a snowball fight across the road in front of us; there was a butterfly exhibit and an amazing ride through a winter wonderland of blinking lights; and lots more!!!  How anyone could design such a beautiful fantasy is beyond me and then just implementing the design with the millions of lights, animation and music was a feat in itself.  Go see it if you are ever near Stone Mountain, Georgia in December!!

Snow Prediction

They're predicting snow Sunday evening into Monday morning with the possibility of some accumulation.  Wonder what that means for graduation?  I'm so glad so many of my family members will be here--I can't wait.  I've almost gotten everything packed into my tables (AKA boxes), my office on campus is cleared out, I've made arrangements for all of the utilities to be turned off and I will pick up a small U-Haul trailer on Sunday.  I have a final meeting with Dr. Smith and the Chinese visiting professor tomorrow afternoon and pick up my cap and gown on Friday.  I'm almost finished...

It's Great to be an Auburn Tiger

Peggy and I watched Auburn win the SEC Championship at the Arena yesterday afternoon with 1000+ Auburn fans.  It was great!  Individuals led cheers from the stands and the entire population followed.  How fun to watch the game with only Auburn fans--not a USC fan to be seen!  Following the game we walked to Toomer's Corner which was already covered in toilet paper when we arrived.  Fans with rolls of toilet paper under their arms converged on foot from all parts of Auburn and the Auburn Public Safety trucks blocked vehicular entry to the center of town from both College and Magnolia streets.  It was quite an afternoon in this town and for all Auburn fans.  Now, it's on to the National Championship game at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona.  Wouldn't it be fun to be there!

Last Class

Today was the last day of the DC Design and Operations (I've been calling it Warehousing) class and I presented my group's project to the class and two managers from the Aflac Distribution Center.  I became less nervous as the presentation went on, but I still managed to forget some important things I was supposed to say.  Our presentation was good; we used simple slides with little or no words on them.  We followed the recommendations from Edward Tufte's books about giving presentations that are interesting to your audience.  I think it worked well and from now on, I'll be using the techniques he suggests.  Our group will be celebrating Monday night (grades will be posted on Monday sometime) regardless of the grade we get, but it will be much more fun it we get an "A". 

Bittersweet feelings this evening since this could be my last college class.  My thirty Master's Degree hours count toward my PhD so the rest of my hours for that final degree could be only research hours.  I LOVE school and learning new things, but I really do have a problem with timed tests.  I'm looking forward to learning new things by researching, modeling, simulating and writing. 

Samford Hall

Today when walking to Shelby Hall, I heard the Samford Hall bells play War Eagle.  It thought it was only on Saturdays at 12 Noon, but apparently it is every day at 12 Noon.  It's great to be in a place like Auburn where we celebrate just being who we are.

Tuesday

Today was a busy day!  I was at school by 7:15 and studying for my Warehousing class test.  The test was at 11:00 and I had a typical test day.  I knew the answer to the first question (6 points) and it took me almost 20 minutes to answer it.  I answered a few more questions and realized that I had transposed two columns on the first question so my answer was completely incorrect.  I finished the rest of the test as best I could and started over again on the first question.  My redo was not quite finished when time was up. I was exhausted.

Lunch with Wes was fun; he's so smart and I'll miss the kind of conversations we can have.  That is probably what I'll miss most about my "year off"... conversations about mathematics and modeling.  Where else can you do that except on a university campus?

I spent the rest of the afternoon (I left campus at 5:30) with "group 2" trying to get our presentation ready.  We've done a good job and just need a few more slides that give good comparative analysis of the current design with our proposed design.  We're meeting again around lunchtime tomorrow.  I'll be making the presentation on Thursday morning; I hope we're ready.

Peggy and I had nachos and margaritas for dinner.

Flag Football

The War Damn IEagle football team won our 3rd game, 34-0 last night.  We are now 3 and 0 and have beaten our opponents a total of about 100-0.  Each of our games has ended soon after halftime by the "mercy rule."  The rules for this league favor the inclusion of the female participants.  If a girl scores a touchdown the team gets 7 points instead of 6 and the extra point is worth 2 instead of 1.  After positive yardage by a guy, the play is "closed" and only a girl can advance the ball.  The 8-person team must have 4 girls on the field at all times.  The rules really make the game more fun for everyone since it cannot be dominated by the guy players.  Our final regular season game is next Wednesday and then the week after Thanksgiving the season ends with a single elimination playoff.  We will be in the playoff for the "6:30 on Wednesdays" group.  It has been such fun to get to know a group of IE graduate students in a different setting. They are all smart, athletic and fun to be with.  I'll miss this!

Tragedy

Dr. Marie Wooten was the Dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics at Auburn.  While jogging at 5:45 on Friday morning she was hit by a car and she died of her injuries.  I spent one-on-one time with her at the COSAM tailgate before the Arkansas game and again at the Tiger Talk dinner at Arricia before the LSU game.  She was a lovely woman; a bright and intelligent educator with a passion for advancing opportunities for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  It is a sad time for everyone at Auburn; we will miss her.

Project Progress

Our project for the Aflac distribution center is coming together.  We've compared all of the data given to us and found discrepancies among the files, but we've made some assumptions to make up for the errors. 

We've analyzed the current situation and found that they are assigning their items to locations based on equal amounts of space for each item.  While this is probably the easiest method for the warehouse personnel, it is not the best way when it comes to minimizing the cost of restocking.  The optimal methodology for assigning items to locations is to use available volume in the warehouse space, and have each item "bid" on the space.  Items are assigned locations based on a formula that uses the number of picks per year and the size of the item (12"x9.5"x11.6" box) to determine the cubic inches moved in a year.  It can be proven mathematically that this formula is the most cost effective method for "slotting" items in a warehouse, but few companies use it.  They do things like they've always done them!

We've found the optimal slotting for each item that has been requested in the five months of data we were given and produced a "Birds Eye View" of the activity in the warehouse as we found it and in our proposed item assignment model.  For this part of the project we need to create some graphs that pictorially represent the cost savings to Aflac.

The two students who are taking the course from off campus are working on the latest possible cut-off time for priority orders.  Since Aflac is a national company the current cutoff time of 10 AM Eastern Time is not very fair to California agents, since that translates to 7 AM Pacific Time.  They are confident that they'll have a solution by tomorrow.

The final area we need to explore is a problem for our team.  The current item slotting causes congestion among the pickers and we need to be able to show that our design does not cause congestion.  We've unsuccessfully worked on a program to simulate the picking process and have abandoned that strategy.  I think we're going to have to mathematically prove it.  We have a paper that our professor wrote about this issue that I think can be applied to our situation.  I hope so since we have our second test a week from Tuesday and our preliminary presentation is due a week from Thursday.

Syrup Soppin'

Highway 14 looked like a 4-lane highway on Saturday morning.  Cars were parked on either side of the road and traffic was bumper to bumper in both directions for miles.  The Syrup Soppin' Festival made Loachapoka, Alabama the destination of choice all day on Saturday.  I arrived at about 7:45 and had to walk 1/2 mile to reach the festivities.  Hardee's biscuits and cane syrup were the breakfast of choice with fried peach pies taking a close second.

Cane syrup is made from sugar cane and in the early years the juice was extracted from the cane by squishing it between two metal drums.  The drums were connected to one end of a pole and a mule walking in a circle was connected to the other end of the pole.  The canes were manually fed through the drums; the cane juice collected in an iron cask and periodically emptied into a larger cask.  To turn the cane juice into cane syrup it was heated in a shallow pan over a wood fire.  Periodically, the syrup was tasted until it reached the "right" consistency and flavor.  On Saturday children (with big grins on their faces) rode the mule around the circle.

There was wonderful blue grass music, crafts and "fair" food--funnel cakes, kettlecorn, cotton candy and lemonade.  Hands-on exhibits let children use a wooden pestle to pound corn into a stone mortar and turn the handle to grind apples into cider.  I toured a blacksmith's shop, a doctor's office and pharmacy, a barn with old farm tools and an herb garden.

It was a glorious fall day and my two hours in Loachapoka were well-spent.

Unicycling

 HOORAY!  I rode all the way across the gym tonight!

Auburn 24 Lsu 17

What a game!  Allan and I sat on the 2nd row in the upper deck on the 25 yard line.  Except for the sun in our faces all afternoon, our seats were perfect--thank you College of Engineering!  We arrived about half an hour early because I love the pregame at Jordan Hare Stadium.  The band played "God Bless America" bringing a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes and then moved on to "The Star Spangled Banner."  The eagle took off from just above and to the right of us so we had a great view of him soaring while the crowd yelled Waaar Eagle, Hey!  An F18 flyover event was loud.  The team came into the stadium through a tunnel of cheerleaders and band members with artificial smoke leading the way followed closely by the coaches and Cam Newton.  Cam leads the players by at least 5 yards, running, leaping and waving his arms.  And, we cheered and hi-fived and sang, "War Eagle" and "Glory, Glory to Old Auburn" and "All we do is win, win,win!" for four hours.  The game was exciting; Cam broke Auburn and SEC records; and we won.  The final chant of the game, " It's great to be an Auburn Tiger!" is my favorite and the last song played through the system was "It's gonna be a good night; it's gonna be a good good night" and it was.  Toomer's Corner looked like it did when it snowed in February--covered in toilet paper.

My favorite "event" of game day was at 12:00 Noon when the bells from Samford Hall played War Eagle.  It is great to be an Auburn Tiger.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I put three "Busys" because I'm busy in several ways...

The War Damn IEagle flag football team won our first game last night, 31-0.  It was really fun and we had a beer (or two) to celebrate at Quixote's afterwards.  College is such fun!

Our project for the warehousing class is finally coming together.  We worked feverishly on Monday and Tuesday trying to learn a new animated simulation program called Simio.  On Wednesday afternoon we decided to minimize our use of Simio.  We'll use existing (free) software from the website where our textbook is posted (also free) to solve our SKU slotting into the correct locations problem and to optimize our pick paths and only use Simio to deal with congestion--pickers getting stuck behind each other in the aisles.  And our outreach group members will be working on the cut-off time problem.  I feel so much better about this project now.  We'll be able to write up a methodology that the client can implement using available software and I think that is our ultimate goal.

My research on using Ant Colony Optimization to solve the Double Row Layout Problem has gotten complicated...again.  We now have two different versions of our program in Matlab--Ant System is very basic, Any Colony System is more complicated with additional parameters to tweak so it is more likely to work as we add more machines.  Now we need to add some continuous processing to both programs and we'll try using the Linear Programming functionality of Matlab to do that.  Our benchmarking program (used in the paper that got this research started) is an exact process using CPLEX and we've been running it through AMPL.  On my old, slow office computer for 6 machines it reaches optimum in about 3 minutes; for 10 machines it took about 45 minutes and when I tried 15 machines it crashed with a memory error after about 4 hours.  So, naturally, I'm now learning a new programming language, OPL (Optimization Programming Language) to run CPLEX on a Linux server.

I'm still trying to understand EndNote.  It is one of several workable solutions for bibliography management, but since I've already paid for it I should probably stick with it.  At my meeting last Friday with my research professor I just brought the printed PDFs with me to show him what I had found.  I'm on the right track and we're expecting to narrow down to a dissertation topic before I leave here in December.

Tonight I'm going to Tiger Talk at the conference center downtown for dinner and to hear Coach Chizik talk.  I'll be with COSAM (College of Science and Math) people and I think it will be really fun.  And, finally Allan and Brandon are coming up this weekend for the LSU game and I'm still looking for tickets.

Research

First things, first...it is 49 degrees outside!  I'm sitting in my La-Z-Boy with a heater at my feet and struggling with EndNote--a program to capture information for research paper bibliographies.  A program like this is imperative when doing research and publishing papers, but it is hard to get started.  Here's a very simple overview of how the research paper process is supposed to work...After finding a topic to research (that is another story, altogether!), Step 1 is to do a literature search--find out what has already been done and when it was done.  Obviously, I only want to do these searches one time, so EndNote is supposed to capture the PDF and all of the information needed to cite the reference.  Step 2 is to read all of the related research and take notes.  Step 3 is an iterative process of writing, re-writing, submitting to journals and being rejected.  And, Step 4 is finally being accepted by a journal and seeing your work in published form.

My research assignment that is due today is to begin the literature search for a potential topic--Demand Response and its Effects on Customers and Utilities.  I've really done a lot, but I have nothing to show for it since I haven't figured out how to use EndNote yet.  I'll spend the next couple of hours working to have something to hand to my professor.

Flag Football

Yesterday afternoon was the first (and probably only) practice for our IE Grad School football team.  I remember playing intramural flag football when I was an undergraduate so I organized our team, War Damn IEagle.  The league is co-rec, which means that for each team of 8 there must always be at least 4 women on the field; after positive yardage is made by a male team member, a woman must touch the ball; and if a woman scores the team gets 9 points instead of 7 points.  We play 5 regular season games starting next week.  It's going to be fun and build camaraderie; I'm excited!

What a treat!

This morning on our walk Coma and I saw a fawn gamboling in the beautiful native backyard of my neighbor across the street.  The young deer froze when he saw us and then ran, white tail held high.  On our return we saw a long-legged statuesque doe, presumably his mother.  She stood completely still and watched us walk by.  What a treat!

Chewalca

Another beautiful day!  I had a pot-luck lunch with the Dawson family's reunion yesterday at the Lower Pavilion at Chewalca State park and it was all good southern food and company.  Some of Paula's aunts, uncles and cousins remembered me from my childhood here; all of them made me feel at home and welcome.  I'm ready for Thanksgiving and our family's annual reunion.

Before and after lunch I worked on the warehousing project.  We're missing some data so we have to figure out how best to estimate what we're missing and simulate the warehouse operation.  Our group has a meeting Monday night to put together a plan of action.  I hope everyone has done their homework.

War Eagle!

Markov Chains and Queuing Theory

Hurray!  I passed my oral discussion test about Markov Chains and Queuing theory today.  I had a list of four topics:  Markov Processes in general--both discrete and continuous; Poisson Processes; Exponential Distribution; and the M/M/1 Queue.  Sometimes it took some probing for him to get from me the answer he was looking for, but I did re-establish my understanding of the topics.

On the other hand, I did not do well on my test in warehousing.  After answering the questions I knew, I had about half of the test remaining and about 15 minutes left to work.  I had what can only be described as a panic attack.  I may as well have turned in my test and left the room.   It is such a frustrating problem.  I used to be such a good test taker and now I just can't handle the pressure.  Hopefully, our group will do well on our project and I'll manage to pass the course.  Graduation is in two months!

50 degrees!

Okay, the temperature is low enough now, 50 degrees this morning.  I may need a sweater at the beginning of my tennis match this morning.  Yesterday it never got above 75 and was beautiful.  Coma and I took a walk about 9:00 last night and we came close to an owl.  He was right above us in the trees in my neighbor's yard with all of the native plants.  We heard him clearly, but never saw him--they are so camouflaged and elusive.

I spent most of the weekend with our friends from Birmingham.  We went to the 11:00 am game and stayed through half time.  The half time show was high school cheerleaders, flag and baton twirlers and band members performing with Auburn and it was great fun to watch.   How much fun for those young people to perform in front of so many fans!  A great recruitment event for Auburn.

Unfortunately, I have another week before I have my oral discussion on Markov Processes and Queueing Theory.  The professor had a deadline Thursday for a paper and still hadn't finished it at 3:30 when we were supposed to meet.  Our appointment is now at 1pm on Friday.  And, I have a warehousing test on Thursday.  It's going to be a big study week.

Fall

It's 59 degrees outside.  Hurray!  The birds and animals are very active...I have chickadees, titmice, cardinals, a brown thrasher, hummingbirds, chipmunks and squirrels at my feeders.  We had rain all day on Sunday, steady soaking rain.  It was just what we needed and made for a good day to study.  I'm still studying queueing theory and Markov chains for my Thursday meeting with Dr. Gue.  I certainly know a lot more now than I did six weeks ago; I hope I know enough.

I've been watching "Education Nation" and listening to Alma and Colin Powell--they are passionate supporters of education.  They haven't mentioned New Orleans or any city or state in the South though and I'm a little disappointed in that.  You'd think that the only problems are in New York and also that the only good things happening in education are happening in New York.  One of the PhD students in our department is passionate about education.  He will be teaching mathematics at West Point when he finishes his degree and he's writing his dissertation about education reform and the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education in our country.  He's an impressive young man and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to talk with and get to know him.

One more item of interest!  I'm feeling more confident on the unicycle, but still not completely comfortable.  There are three youngish (in their late 20's or early 30's) men in my class this quarter.  One of them is the father of a 2nd grader in the class and the other two are his friends.  They are having so much fun and have each other to practice with when we're not in class.  I need to ride every day.  I wish I had someone to walk beside me when I ride; I've done something to my right knee and I'm afraid of making it worse.  Getting old is the pits!

A day in my life

I had a VERY busy day yesterday.  I left here at 7:15 to get gas, pick up two of my classmates and drive to Columbus, GA to tour the AFLAC warehouse.  We got back to campus about 11:30 and I had to finish a 2-page paper before a meeting at 2:00.  I finished it, but it wasn't my best writing.  That really didn't matter much since it was really for my own benefit, not for a grade.  My meeting lasted until 3:45.  I went from the meeting to discuss a computer program with the Chinese visiting professor I'm working with.  We had a programming problem and I spent the next hour trying to resolve the problem.  I left the problem unsolved to go home and walk Coma, but as soon as she was settled, I worked on the problem again.  I managed to find the error about 8:30 and sent an email to the professor.  After the problem was solved I started some research about "smart meters" and it turns out I have one on my house.  Pretty cool technology.  If your electricity usage is metered by a smart meter the power company doesn't have to come to your house to read your meter.  The reading is "magically" transmitted to the utility company via cell tower or satellite.  I've emailed Alabama Power Company to see if I can see my electricity usage via the Internet.  I think smart meters can do that, but I'm not sure if they have the features implemented here.  By the end of 2011 all homes in Alabama will have smart meters installed.  In New Orleans, NOPSI is putting 11,500 smart meters on homes of low income families to help them manage their electricity usage.

Off to campus to mingle with the 100,000 football fans here for the AU vs South Carolina game.  War Eagle!

Disney World?

The following is an excerpt from an email I received this morning.  The video is a good overview of what industrial engineers do.  Every company could use a good industrial engineer.  


Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is currently looking for Industrial
Engineers (both full time and co-op/intern levels) with a wide range of
experience and immediate availability.

The Industrial Engineering teams at Disneyland(r) Resort and Walt
Disney World(r) Resort provide analytical decision-making support to
executive management and operations.   They handle multiple project
assignments on an ongoing basis that contribute to improvements in Guest
Satisfaction, Cast Excellence and/or operational/financial results.  To
learn more about what Industrial Engineers do for the Disney Parks
around the world, we invite you to view a video
(http://www.iienet2.org/media/disney/flowplayer.htm) created to
provide a glimpse at the exciting work Industrial Engineers do every
day.

We are looking for strong candidates who have a passion for Industrial
Engineering and Disney. We need candidates who are versed in all areas
of Industrial Engineering...from capacity/demand analysis to
simulation/OR to process improvement. They must also have strong
interpersonal skills since we are internal consultants at Disney and
must be able to interact with all levels of the organization.

Currently recruiting for the following positions:

*   Senior Industrial Engineer - 5-7 yrs of Industrial Engineering
experience.
*   Industrial Engineer - 2-5 yrs of Industrial Engineering
experience.
*   Associate Industrial Engineer - BS or MS in Industrial Engineering
or related program.
*   Industrial Engineer/Operations Research - MS or Ph.D in Industrial
Engineering/Operations Research or 1-3 yrs of Operations Research
experience.
*   Co-op/Internship - must be currently enrolled in an Industrial
Engineering or related program with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher. 
Note that Disneyland (r) Resort and Walt Disney World(r) Resort have
available intern/co-op positions year round (Summer, Fall/Winter,
Spring).

At home

For the second morning in a row I didn't have Internet access, so I called Charter at about 8:45 and spent about an hour on the phone--first with their automated system and then with a person in the call center.  The automated system had me unplug power to the modem, wait a few minutes, shut down my computer, plug in the modem, identify which lights were blinking, which lights were on and which lights were off before transferring me to a live technician.  The technician had me unplug all of the cords coming into the modem, wait a few minutes and plug them all back in.  Again, I reported the status of all of the lights.  He could not "ping" the modem and finally, since the "online" light was not on, he agreed that I had a problem and scheduled a repair visit for this afternoon between 1:00 and 3:00.   At about 12:30, the "online" light came on and when I started my computer, I had Internet access.  I cancelled the appointment, but I'm not convinced that I won't continue to experience intermittent problems.  A situation I can deal with for three more months.

I didn't have any classes today and since I thought I had to be here at 1:00 I spent the day at home--first time in awhile that I didn't go to campus at all.  I vacuumed and cleaned all of the surfaces of the little house then spent the rest of the day studying Queueing Theory and Markov Chains.  I have a meeting on 9/30 with one of my professors for him to judge whether my current understanding of these subjects is sufficient to allow the courses I took in them in 1975 to count toward my degree.  It's my last hurdle (assuming I pass the warehousing course) to graduation.  In a nutshell, queueing theory is the study of lines and Markov chains are discrete processes where future behavior, given the past and the present, only depends on the present--not the past.  They are related since a common model for queueing systems is M/M/1.  A Markov arrival process...a Markov service process...1 Server.  I'll continue to study the articles and reference books each morning before I go to campus, but I think I'm ready for my meeting!

Game Day

War Eagle!  A nail-biting game, but Auburn prevailed in the end and as Brandon says, "A win's a win!"  Game Day in Auburn is such a wonderful experience--the campus is transformed from about 30,000 students and faculty in pursuit of education to close to 100,000 fans in pursuit of victory.  Students, faculty, alumni, parents and future Auburn Tigers intermingle under canopies and party tents furnished with bar-b-que grills and ice chests, portable satellite dishes and flat screen TVs, foldable pic-nic tables and camping chairs--all you need on a beautiful almost fall day in Auburn.  On a walk up Magnolia Street past Toomer's Corner I heard "War Eagle" hollered by someone every few minutes.  It is an atmosphere charged with joy and excitement and one more thing to love about Auburn.

Jo Ann Fabrics

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Jo Ann Fabric distribution center in Opelika.  It is a 700,000 square foot building that distributes merchandise to stores in 17 states.  They store over 34,000 different items.  The workers in the receiving area (sorters) empty the trailers and sort the boxes for stowing.  The sorters wear headphones and the Warehouse Management System (WMS) software tells the worker on which pallet to stack which box.  Then workers on lift trucks take the sorted and stacked boxes and stow them in huge pallet racks.  That space is reserve storage where some of the racks are almost 50 feet high.   It is near smaller flow racks in the "picking area".  The flow racks are replenished from the reserve storage area as needed.   Workers called pickers receive orders and move up and down the picking area gathering the merchandise into totes that are labeled and placed on conveyors.  At the other end of the warehouse is the shipping area.  It is VERY automated.  Totes and boxes from all of the pickers flow into the sortation area where the labels are scanned and a special type of conveyor with "shoes" pushes the correct box or tote onto the conveyor that leads to the trailer on which it is to be shipped.  We were there for a "wave" when all of the orders are released to the sortation device and it was amazing.

They employ an industrial engineer to make this entire warehouse process run smoother, safer and faster.  He's done things like raise the stacking tables to about waist height (better on the back), lower the picking racks, and re-slot some of the items to be closer to the conveyors.  Having a dedicated industrial engineer in the warehouse has improved operations by 20% in the five years he's been there.  I don't think I'd want to work in a warehouse, but it would be fun to design the sortation devices!  And, I think Allan would love driving the fork lift trucks.

First Group 2 meeting

Our group's meeting last night went very well (except that we didn't connect well with our members who are not in Auburn--I'm working on this issue).  The group is diverse in home country, but everyone is intelligent and interested in our project.  We have a big job ahead of us in resolving three defined issues in the warehouse:

1. picking congestion--When an order is received, pickers (people who fill the orders) move from inventory location to inventory location gathering the items in an order.  At the same time, restockers (people who move product from a bulk storage part of the warehouse to the picking part of the warehouse) are moving from inventory location to inventory location replenishing product.  In this warehouse order shipment is being delayed because there is congestion in some of the warehouse aisles.  We have not been told what is causing the congestion.   There are many ways to resolve this problem and we have to figure out the best combination of all of them.  We'll likely develop several mathematical models of the process and run simulations to help us choose the best solution.
2. putting each product in the best location--This issue goes hand in hand with #1.  "Best" location is different depending on the particular use of the location.  The best locations for stocking are different from the best locations for re-stocking and these are different from the best locations for picking cartons which are different from the best locations for picking pallets or for picking "eaches".  Again, we'll develop mathematical models and some graphical representations of products and locations and run simulations to help us solve the problem.
3. changing the "cut off time" for shipment--Currently the warehouse has a policy that if an order is received by 10 am, it will ship out before 8 pm that same day.  This would work fine if everyone were in the time zone, but for orders coming from California (the warehouse is in Columbus--eastern) 10 am is like 7 am.  Management thinks that the cut off time can be moved later in the day.  Our job is to determine the latest possible cut off time that will guarantee that all orders received by that time are shipped by 8 pm that same day. 

We spent about 1 1/2 hours discussing the project, strategies for solving the problems, skills we all have and how best to organize ourselves.  We'll meet again on Monday afternoon.  At that time we'll begin talking about some mathematical models.  Between now and then, we'll all be studying our text as well as the data that we've been given by AFLAC.  We're still in the definition stage of our project--if we do this right, the rest will fall into place.

Work...work...work!

I'm so glad I dropped the Systems Engineering course--I'm stressed enough without it!  Here's what I'm working on:

• My research with Dr. Smith--I am now working with a visiting professor from China on the Double Row Layout Problem (DRLP).  I've described this before, the goal of the problem is to optimize a layout of machines on two sides of an aisle where an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) travels back and forth between the machines.  The layout is optimized when the flow cost between the machines is minimized.  I've spent lots of time this week trying to work out version control on my program so that we can both work on it, make progress and not interfere with each other.  Last week I worked with the professor to help him get my program and Matlab set up on his computer.  He has a Dell laptop, but everything is in Chinese!  I think this relationship will be very interesting!
• My project in the Distribution Center Management course--I've been assigned the role of group leader for one of the 5 groups.  There are ten of us in my group--four of us are American, one is from Taiwan, three are from Turkey and two are from India.  At least in this project everyone speaks pretty good English.  Two members of our group are not on campus--one is in California and one is in Birmingham.  We have our first meeting on Monday evening (I have to miss unicycling class!!!) and our out of town members will be meeting with us using a Virtual Classroom program.  It'll be interesting.  The group is actually quite talented and we should do well on the project.  Our project is to work for AFLAC and help them to improve their warehouse management.  They have a 34,000 square foot warehouse where they store forms and merchandise--mostly ducks.  Interesting fact...since they adopted the duck as a marketing ploy in 2000 their market penetration has risen from 44% to 95%.
• In addition to the project in the Distribution Center Management course I also have to keep up with the reading and be prepared for a test at the end of September.  
• New work on the power industry which I will research as a PhD student (assuming I'm accepted)-- I can do the PhD work from New Orleans thanks to the Internet and email.  My first step is to decide if I want to study transmission, generation or distribution so I'm reading lots of papers.  Working for Entergy in the late 70s and early 80s gave me a good overall understanding of the industry, but much has changed due to the restructuring of utility regulation.  Now transmission, generation and distribution are separate entities.  I'd really like to figure out a way to work with industry and not simply do academic research that may never be applied to the real world.  What a shame that so much intellectual energy is expended studying problems and developing solutions that industry seldom uses.  
• I still have a hurdle to overcome before I can finish the MISE.  I will be meeting with a professor on September 30 to discuss queueing theory and Markov processes.  I have to convince the professor that I remember the information sufficiently to justify the use of courses I took in the 70s so I'm reading and trying to refresh my memory of the topics.  I've already "passed" the test for advanced statistics and for simulation.
• Finally, the work that is funding my education--department accreditation through ABET.  The accreditation team visits October 31-November 2 so all documentation has to be complete and polished by then.  I'm creating at least one book for every course the department teaches to document how the department accomplishes its educational objectives.  We've already written a comprehensive self-study that is the central piece of information for the team.  This work would better serve the department if it were managed as a continuous improvement process rather than a once every 5 years document-generation process right before the team arrives.  The ABET coordinator from our department has proposed that my position be funded annually and that I be assigned the position while I finish my PhD.  No word yet from the department chair--I hope that pans out.

I did take some time this week to watch the Auburn game and the Saints game and a little bit of tennis on television.  I'm busy, sometimes feel overwhelmed, but happy with the decision to continue my education.  My brain is energized and I really love learning new things.  

Katrina

Wow!  This is my 101st post.

I've been watching all of the national reports about Katrina's 5-year anniversary and that has been difficult for me.  I remember sitting on my sister's sofa in Pensacola, worrying about my husband who was still in our house and watching New Orleans drown and civil society fall apart.  I won't give you my personal Katrina experience here, but there is more than what the reports show.

In addition to the heartbreaking scenes at the Superdome and Convention Center that Brian Williams documented, entire neighborhoods of $500,000+ homes were destroyed and many of the city's doctors, lawyers and business owners left the city and have never returned.  Others of us returned to a New Orleans where everything green had died and turned brown; cars were strewn on medians, streets, and lawns with windows fogged from weeks of stagnant water;  orange Xs were painted on every home to document what was found within; and a brown line adorned trees, fences and houses marking the dirty, oily water's reach.  We struggled or are still struggling to rebuild our homes and personal lives.

The world reached out to us.  Schools all over the US educated our children for months; communities sheltered our newly homeless families; animal shelters rescued our pets and kept them safe; relatives opened their homes to us; wherever we were "riding out the storm" we were hugged and helped.  When we finally were allowed to return to New Orleans, religious groups, school groups, and individuals from everywhere joined together to help clean out and ultimately rebuild our ruined homes; animal shelters reunited us with our pets; Levees.Org gathered grass roots support and pushed our government to build better levees; Women of the Storm hounded the federal government to come to New Orleans and see the destruction first hand; Habitat for Humanity, Brad Pitt, Harry Connick, Jr. and others raised money and built homes; we celebrated and supported every business that returned.  We re-found our community and Katrina reminded us to appreciate our home.

Coma

It's 7:41 and Coma is still sleeping.  I woke up early (as usual) and turned on Morning Joe for my morning dose of the latest happenings in the world.  I've already eaten my breakfast and am on my second cup of coffee.  I've read two articles, checked my email, fed the birds and made a grocery list.  It looks like I'll have to wake Coma to take her out for her walk.  She's sleeping more and more now, but I guess at 14 (old for a bloodhound) that's normal.  The tumor on her side is still growing--she's gained 15 pounds since May and her veterinarian thinks the weight gain is all tumor.  Consequently, she is beginning to stumble a bit and occasionally falls.  She's eating a special food to help her kidneys and it seems to be working.  She's still her sweet self and greets me every morning (usually early) and every evening (when I get home) with a wagging tail and slobbery head shake.  She's my best friend.

June 2011 Conference

Beautiful morning!  I can see out of the window since the humidity has decreased so much and it it is only 72 degrees outside this morning.  It's supposed to be relatively cool and dry all week--a precursor to fall.  Last night there was a beautiful full moon and I had every intention of "walking when the moon was full" but I had a headache that I couldn't shake--sinus I think because of the weather change or maybe too much thinking yesterday.  This morning I'm fine and I'll try again to "walk when the moon is full" next month.

Remember my agreement to help with the evolutionary computation convention that'll be in New Orleans in June 2011?  Well, it's time to start helping.  The convention attendees are 90% male and a large percentage of the attendees are from Europe.  Those two facts inform decisions about the event.  The main social event is going to be a reception and dinner on a riverboat and we're trying to decide between the Natchez and the Creole Queen. She has comparable prices from both with these differences--the menu for the Creole Queen is more robust and their proposal includes both a dixieland band and a jazz bank; the Natchez has better reviews on the Internet.  Anyone have any experience with one or the other?  I'm being asked about the comfort-level of both--Is one bigger?  Does one feel more spacious?  Is one more comfortable?  Does one look better?  Do they both leave from the foot of Canal Street?  Let me know if you have any answers...I'll save my other assignments for a different post.

Distribution Center Design and Operations

My second class for the fall semester is Distribution Center Design and Operations.  For the purpose of the class, Distribution Center and Warehouse are the same thing.  We're learning all about warehouses.  Did you now there are over 500,000 warehouses in the USA?

We spent yesterday's class learning about each other and talking about administrative things.  Here's the breakdown by home country of the 39 students in the class:

• India     12
• Turkey    9
• USA       8
• Taiwan   4
• Korea     2
• Iran        2
• Jordan    1
• Nepal     1

There are 5 women in the class.  The professor is also from the USA and he is a well-respected teacher and researcher.  His style is interactive so he expects discussion in his class.  We'll be doing a project with AFLAC--they have a warehouse full of forms that needs to be better managed. 

Maybe that new distribution center for Rooms-2-Go near I-59 on the way to Poplarville needs someone to manage it!

Beginnings

Walking to campus today felt so good.  There was an excitement in the air that exudes from excited young people.  There were plenty of young people and being part of their world made me smile all day long!  I guess everybody felt the same way, because I didn't see anyone who wasn't smiling.  Freshmen were excited about their new life and their new-found freedom; seniors were excited about finishing things and everyone else was just excited because it is fall semester at Auburn.  At dinner tonight, a table of three young women was next to me.  They talked and giggled and enjoyed each other so much that I wanted to peek through the curtain separating us and tell them I remembered being 20 and giggling with my girlfriends.

I had my first Systems Engineering class today and it was great!  The class is taught by the chairs of the Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE)  and Computer Science and Software Engineering (CSSE)  departments and a well-respected  CSSE professor.  It'll be a lot of hard work, but worth it since I think I've found my next career step.  Systems engineers know a little about a lot of things and use that knowledge to solve problems by understanding the big picture and pulling a variety of people together to design and implement successful solutions.  The government is funding (read: scrutinizing) this class because they don't think there are enough systems engineers and want reputable universities to develop them.  One of the people involved in making the class happen is getting her Industrial and Systems Engineering PhD through government funding and I need to take her to lunch to learn more about the feasibility of my working in this area.

Tomorrow is my first class in Distribution Center (warehouse) design and management.  It should be an interesting class too.  The professor expects a lot of his students and is, by reputation, a great teacher.  The course fulfills one of my requirements, but I'm looking forward to learning from and getting to know the teacher.  I love having time to read both the required and supplemental material--oh to always be at the beginning!

Old Friends

Today I drove to Newnan, Georgia to take a sorority sister to lunch.  Her husband of 37 years died in May and I had a final at the same time as his funeral.  I sent her a note, and made an agreement with myself to visit her before the summer ended.  We hadn't seen each other since we giggled so many nights away in Dorm C at Auburn, but it felt like we'd hardly been apart.  She is so much the Carol I remember--the same person she was 37 years ago--kind and thoughtful, with a ready smile and a contagious laugh.  I met one of her lovely daughters and her sister-in-law and brother-in-law.  We spent most of the afternoon reminiscing and catching up.  We promised to do it again before I leave Auburn.

I'm at a time in my life where I'm remembering those "gold" friends and wondering why I've let so much time go by without being with them.  The girls in the AOpi pledge class of 1969 were the most important people in my life for several years and they helped me adjust to being away from home at college.  We celebrated together when good things happened and we cried together when one of us thought the world was coming to an end;  then we graduated or got married or left Auburn for some other reason and lost touch.  I'm ready to get back in touch.

Homework Program

The homework program is finished(check it out in the link on the right).  We present it to our class between 2 and 4 today.  This was a good project; I learned a lot about the Python programming language, HTML and using a CSS.   We didn't finish programming until close to 10 pm last night (our deadline).  We ran into a problem trying to keep all of our various copies of the program straight.  We had about 20 modules in our project and all three of us made updates to all of the modules and then we tried to email the changes to each other.  No wonder we couldn't keep the updates straight!  Auburn has a program called Subversion that we could have learned as part of this class.  The program is designed for collaboration.  It manages checking out copies of modules and keeping track of all of the changes made by everyone.  That will be a suggestion in my review of the class.

The program was designed with non-profit auctions in mind.  Maybe next year the community fundraiser can use it for their auction.  It won't take too much work to make it production ready!

Pressure

I got this email on Monday:  "In order for Dr. Flowers to count the expired courses, you will need to take an exam to verify that you are "current" in the material.  I would propose a section on advanced statistics, a section on simulation, and a section on queueing.  I assume that you are Ok with this, right? the alternative would be for you to take the classes again.  Just let me know and I will arrange." 

So, I have a little more pressure added to my plate.  Dr. Maghsoodloo will do advanced statistics and I've spoken with him.  He'll give me some topics to study and a short take home test.  I can do that.  Dr. Smith will do simulation and he'll also give me a take home test of some sort.  I can do that.  I think Dr. Gue will do the queuing section and I'm a little bit concerned about that.  I haven't spoken with him yet so I don't know what to expect from him.  Hopefully, he'll also let me do something take home, but Dr. Smith suggested that Dr. Gue likes oral exams...that would really be hard for me.  And, they never teach Queuing Theory anymore except in the math department.

Fire

I awoke around 2 am to cracks and pops and when I opened my eyes I could see changing light.  Looking out the window I saw huge flames on the other side of the trees and bushes.  I grabbed my phone, went to the parking lot, and called 911 to report a fire at the house next door.  I woke up Coma and we walked two houses down where the residents were in their yard.  The small house abutting their fence was in flames and the fire was threatening the trees all around it.  Police came and blocked North College about half a mile on either side of the fire and four fire engines, an investigating truck and an ambulance arrived.  It took awhile to get water hooked up and flowing and the fire was quite stubborn.  Coma and I went back after about an hour when I was convinced the fire wouldn't spread to my house.  The couple I spoke with were pretty confident that no one was living in the house this summer--thank goodness.  I read for awhile and listened to the water continuing to drown the fire.  I don't know when the firetrucks left, but at 4:15 they were still pouring water on the house.

This morning there were two investigative trucks and the property owner's truck there, but I didn't go any closer.  I wonder if I'll ever find out what caused the fire?

Mississippi Kite

On my way home this afternoon, I watched a Mississippi Kite soaring.  The bird was just a few feet above the trees and his swoops and glides were so beautiful and graceful; it made me wish I could fly.  I understand why people have tried to imitate birds (one of the things I love about Leonardo da Vinci).  I've seen Mississippi Kites soaring  and sitting in the trees in Audubon Park in New Orleans.  They are in the same family as hawks, but they have thinner wings (like a falcon) and are sometimes seen in small groups VERY high in the sky.  I heard a bird whistling while running at 5:30 one morning and searched until I found it--it was a Mississippi kite sitting in a very tall tree and it didn't sound like any hawk I'd ever heard.

A good day

Productivity is a such a great feeling.  I accomplished things all day long and as hot as it was, I felt like skipping home!

This morning I was able to ride the unicycle about 15 feet before losing my balance.  I didn't try again because I wanted to be sure to end on a high note!  I'm hopeful that tomorrow I'll  ride even further.

I was close to tears in Reliability class because I came to class confident in my homework answers, but his answers were much different from mine.  After class I found a few small opportunities for repair (It is important to only miss the things I don't know) and realized that his Excel columns were in a different order from mine.  My homework is ready to be turned in and it isn't even due until Thursday!

At our 1:00 meeting one of my project partners was able to install the imaging library on her laptop so we can now upload images to our auction program.  I'm pretty sure that the problem I had Saturday morning was permission related.  I've still not installed it on my Mac and I think I'm going to leave well enough alone.  I can build the project and test everything except uploading images without the library then transfer the program to her laptop for the image upload test.

After Cloud class I worked on my Double Row Layout Problem and was able to duplicate the objective function results from the AMPL program.  I've been working on re-writing the objective function code in my program all summer so this is huge!  Now I get to move to the Ant Colony part of the program.  I'm experimenting with the variations in the algorithm and the values of all of the parameters to figure out which combinations will lead to optimality in the least amount of run time.

I look forward to another good day tomorrow.

Michael Graeme

My friend Paula has a new grandchild!  He was born Saturday at midnight and weighs 8.5 lbs.  Mother and son came home today to be with Dad and his two sisters.   When I spoke to Paula this afternoon Michael was sleeping and Mom was playing CandyLand with Michael's sisters.  I remember those days, faintly.  AND, I miss my children tonight.  I look forward to the beginning of August when I'll be home and Brett will be home and we'll be together as a family!

I've been practicing on the unicycle.  Every morning I put on blue jeans, my wrist guards and my biking helmet, and carried the unicycle out to my car.  I put a brick behind the wheel and holding on to the car, mounted the unicycle and got my balance.  Each day, I could go a little farther.  And, tonight, I was MUCH better.  I'll be practicing each day this week as well.  Next week is my last summer semester class.

Auburn's Bass Sports Club

I've written about this group before--they gave over $40,000 to AU from their winnings.   And now, two Auburn students were selected for the first FLW College Fishing All-America Team.  Here's the article about them.

University student Shaye Baker and recent graduate Dennis Parker were selected for the FLW Outdoors Magazine’s first FLW College Fishing All-America Team. Baker and Parker, both members of Auburn University’s Bass Sports Club, were among the 20 members selected as the “Best of the Best” of the nation’s collegiate anglers. This selection was based on individual efforts and team contribution during the 2009 FLW College Fishing Series. The All-America team is featured in the August/September issue of FLW Outdoors magazine, which is currently available on newsstands. The list also can be viewed at the FLW website ( http://FLWOutdoors.com ) or this link ( http://www.auburn.edu/bass ).

Python Imaging Library

I spent 4+ hours yesterday trying to get the PIL (Python Imaging Library) installed on either my Mac or a computer in the lab.  It was so frustrating.  This is the first time I've not been able to easily make something work on my Mac.  There's more to installing the library than just clicking and I don't have quite enough technical knowledge to understand the directions.  I think the problem in the lab has as much to do with permissions on those computers as it does with technical knowledge.  I'll try to find help on Monday.  The PIL is necessary for our project because we can't put a picture of the auction items up without it.

I had a quiet dinner at Provino's with my Kindle last night...eggplant vegetale, a glass of cabernet, and The Fourth Paradigm--essays about the profusion of scientific data available today.

Capped!

I just got home from campus and was thrilled to see that the oil well has been capped!  How exciting for the Gulf.  Perhaps if we focus all of our combined energy on cleanup, the Gulf will survive.

Our project team in Cloud Computing is making good progress on the Auction site for the JCC, referenced on the right as Homework program.  We will be presenting it to the class on July 29, I think, so by then it will have at least some bells and whistles.  I've enjoyed working with the young women in my class.  They are much more skilled at object oriented programming than I and I'm learning a lot from them.

I'm off to play trivia at The Oyster House with some friends...

Life as an academic

Dr. J. Temple Black, professor emeritus in the ISE Department, spoke to our seminar today about "life as an academic."  He was quite inspiring!  I'm disappointed that I won't be taking a class from him.  He loves teaching; he writes prolifically; he plays tennis regularly; and he loves Auburn.  His presentation was informative, appropriately humorous, touching and motivating.  I'm willing to bet that he teaches his courses in the same style.

He began his academic career teaching while a master's candidate and knew from that early experience that academia was where he wanted to be.  I had a similar experience when I was a master's candidate at Auburn.  Teaching Fortran and Cobol computer languages when I was 21 was one of the most fun jobs I've had.  And, teaching Lego Mindstorms last fall was  a close second!  He told us that one of the best things about working in academia is being your own boss.  That has become quite important to me over the years and I'm not sure I want to work in an environment where I'm not my own boss.  If I can figure out funding, I'm probably going to pursue (from New Orleans) my PhD.

I just heard that someone in England has answered the age old question, "What came first...the chicken or the egg?  They've found a protein that is necessary to create an egg that only comes from a chicken so they say that proves the chicken came first.  This is the sort of things people in academia work on...

Aging and unicycing

One of the problems of aging is that we learn how vulnerable our bodies are and lose that inhibition and fearlessness that we have as children.  I would be riding the unicycle by now if I weren't afraid of falling.  I bought wrist guards (Allan wasn't sure how he was going to explain that I'd broken my wrist unicycling) and I'm using them in class.  But, I'm still relying on my teacher to keep me from falling.  I've brought a unicycle home with me, but I've been afraid to try it by myself.  I hereby set a personal goal this week is to try the unicycle in the parking lot outside of my house every morning.  Even if I only sit on it and balance, it's a start. 

Research

My research this summer is follow-up on the project I did last semester--Optimization of the Double Row Layout Program using an ant colony algorithm.  It is based on a published paper where the author used an exact algorithm to solve the problem.  He could actually only "solve" the simplest of problems--that's why I'm proposing the ant colony algorithm to approximate a solution when the problem is more complicated.  I've had trouble verifying that my calculations are correct since the data used in the other paper is not available to me.  The author randomly generated several matrices from a uniform distribution of numbers between 0 and 50.  Obviously if the random numbers are all closer to 0 that will create a very different solution than if the random numbers are all closer to 50.  So, for the past two weeks I've been working to learn yet another new computer program--AMPL.  Successfully running AMPL on the simple 6-machine problem will duplicate the author's research so that I can verify my calculations.  The program is a mathematical modeling language that is supposed to be intuitive.  I've spent hours trying to learn the language; I'm going back to campus this morning to work on my intuition.

Doodle Jump

I downloaded a game onto my iPhone tonight--mistake!  It is called doodle jump and it is such a simple concept; a cute little thing called a doodle jumps up the screen.  Slightly moving the phone side to side and up and down makes the doodle move to ledges which he jumps on and travels up.  If he misses a ledge, he falls down and ends the game.   Sometimes there are springs on the ledges; sometimes there is a trampoline on the ledge; sometimes there is a helicopter hat that flies the doodle up; sometimes there are rockets that shoot the doodle up; sometimes there are monsters that conk him on the head and he falls down, ending the game.  Of course you accumulate a score as you move up.  I'm at 12,378 as of 16 minutes ago.

The really amazing thing is that 5 million people have downloaded this app for $.99 per download.  The brothers who created the game get 70% of the profit so they have made $3.5 million.  And, I took Reliability Engineering instead of iPhone App Programming.

Google will win the War of the Clouds...eventually

The paper I submitted tonight for my Cloud Computing class follows; hope it's not too long for you:

There is thunder in the clouds today.  Certainly many companies are forging ahead and trying to make an impact in cloud computing, but of the three major companies (Google, Microsoft and Amazon) at the center of the cloud war, Google and Microsoft are battling head to head in the area of software development.  The big philosophical difference between these two companies is that Google embraces an innovative open-source architecture while Microsoft continues to develop proprietary software.  Simon Wardley reports in his blog that “cloud is fundamentally about enabling and increasing rates of user innovation.”  Using the collective knowledge of the world to improve and expand its products, Google has an intellectual advantage over Microsoft in the long run.

With Google’s recent announcement of Chrome OS, built on the Linux kernel and based on the new Chrome browser, the company is moving beyond the physical computer-based world of today to an entirely new environment where everything will be handled from the cloud.  Purportedly, a netbook with Chrome OS installed will reach the internet almost immediately.  Among the other innovations in Chrome OS is Google Cloud Print.  Google’s vision is that using the APIs for its print service, developers will build applications capable of printing to ANY “cloud-aware” printer from ANY device connected to the internet without the use of drivers and other printer-specific software.  The folks at Google hope that printer manufacturers will work with them to create printers that are “cloud-aware” and compatible with Google Cloud Print. In the meantime, Google is working on a method to allow communication with legacy printers through proxy.

While Google thinks out of the box and works to build an entire ecosystem in the cloud, Microsoft continues to “improve” its Windows environment.  Microsoft Azure is Windows in the cloud.  It has been adapted to work with cloud resources while still maintaining its earthly applications.  David Chappell in his article “Introducing Window’s Azure” explains that the “Windows Azure platform provides a bridge for Windows developers moving into this new world” and describes cloud platforms as “slightly exotic options” for most organizations.

Arguably, the familiarity of the Microsoft’s Windows product means that the millions of current Windows users and developers will continue to support the program, for now. Migrating to the cloud on the Windows Azure platform will be easier for existing Windows Enterprise users since most people shy away from change.  Users and developers in the current generation have grown up with the internet and all of the applications that have sprung up around it.  They enjoy and embrace the democracy of open source software.  They will choose to use and develop under the Google umbrella.

Data is one of the world’s most important resources and optimized cloud architecture makes data available in a way we can hardly imagine. While most corporate data is stored in relational database form today and will likely migrate to the Windows-based cloud in the same format, Google’s BigTable(and Microsoft’s DataStore) is designed for the cloud environment.  Entity objects with attributes are scalable and optimally web-accessible while relational data is meant to be accessed with structured queries. 

Microsoft Windows was designed for use on PC-based computers and servers.  Modifying the program and calling it Windows Azure to run in the Cloud will likely provide service along the same lines that Windows provides today.  Google’s Cloud system on the other hand is data-centered and Google’s development has focused on handling all aspects of computing through the internet.  Interface to Google’s Cloud is expected to be through very thin clients--hand held devices and netbooks for access, sensors for input and cloud-ready printers and other devices for output. 

In the future, users will be looking to access information quickly, with devices we can’t imagine today and from anywhere. Applications developed with the cloud architecture in mind will serve the needs of the earthly world as it advances into the “internet of things” where people have their hand on their iphone and their information in the cloud.  Enterprise systems may cling to Windows for now, but eventually they will realize that data is their most important corporate resource and they need it now!

Mathematics

My tweet for the day from the Math people comes from Thomas Mann who said, "  Occupy yourselves with the study of mathematics.  It is the best remedy against the lusts of the flesh."  Allan should be happy to know that I'm diligently studying mathematics; I'm going to campus today to spread out and finish my reliability midterm.  I've saved the most challenging question to finish last..."Prove that the exponential probability distribution function is the only underlying distribution in the universe that has a constant failure rate."  After finishing the midterm I have to update my Matlab computer program to reflect changes for my Ant Colony algorithm, write a short paper about the Cloud and read the reliability chapter about the renewal process and availability.  My weekend is filled with mathematics.

Auction Admin in the Cloud

I've deployed my first application to Google's cloud.  It was homework for class so it doesn't do much right now, but it has potential.  My daughter wants to do an online auction at the JCC and this could be the beginning of that application.  It is called Auction Administration.  Just click on that link.  You'll have to create a login to do more than list items and if you're the first one, there are no items.  Have fun.

I wrote it in Python--an object-oriented language and I'm still learning what that means, but I know a lot more about it now than I did last week.  Google's App Engine stores data in BigTable, which is NOT a relational database like I'm used to.  The data is formatted to facilitate scalability.  There is an algorithm for designing 3rd normal relational databases--it is almost a scientific process!  I have no idea how to design data models for BigTable, but I've ordered a book to help me learn how.

The class is moving on to Microsoft Azure next; I'll let you know how that goes...

Summer solstice

Today is the summer solstice so it's the day of the year with the most daylight.  I could actually use a few more hours; I don't need more or less daylight.  I'm writing a computer program for the Cloud class--I've (almost) learned Google App Engine, Python, and a little bit of Django and I've refreshed my understanding of HTML.  My application can add users, add items and list items.  I need it to also update and delete the items and be able to query the database, but I'm having trouble with those tasks.  This program is due at 10pm tomorrow night, regardless of the amount of daylight.

For reliability engineering, we've been given our take-home midterm that's due a week from tomorrow.  I need to get started on it since we can only ask questions in class on Thursday, then we're on our own.

For my research I am expanding on the DRLP Ant Colony problem I worked on in the adaptive optimization class last semester.    I've documented the model I'll be using and laid the groundwork for the experimental design.    By Monday afternoon I'll have the objective function module coded and tested.  The objective function is the equation that the project is minimizing.  In this case, it is the sum of the flow cost between machines along the double row layout multiplied by the distance between the machines.

My brain will be working overtime for the next week.

Summer Night

Summer Night...Auburn's White Linen Night...I had such a wonderful evening.  They closed the two main streets in downtown Auburn, College from Glenn Street to Thach--that's two long blocks--and Magnolia from just before McDonald's to Gay Street--that's two long blocks too.  Local artists sold their paintings, jewelry, ceramics, all sorts of art; the Auburn Roller Girls skated; a new health food store gave away hula hoops to children and provided colored electrical tape to decorate them; Magnolia Street was covered with children's drawing from sidewalk chalk; children made hats from crepe paper and walked in the Children's parade; someone gave free rides in a blue and orange bicycle-like carriage; Little Italy sold pizza and taught children to toss the dough; Auburn Arts Council (the organizer) sold cotton candy; local restaurants gave away food samples; bands played at 3 of the street closures and children bounced in a big inflatable thing at the other closure.  I walked around for an hour and ate dinner, but even though I'd seen everything I wasn't ready to go home so I sat on the curb and listened to MUSE, a local 3 man band, until the streets opened up again at 9:30.  MUSE is playing at Fred's in Loachapoka next Friday night and I think I'll go see them.  Fred's is a feed and seed store that turns into a bar at night...

Mouse in the house

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that I have a mouse in my house.  He visits my spare bedroom each night to eat a handful of sunflower seeds from the small hole he chewed in the 50 lb bag I keep there.  Before he gets too comfortable and brings his family I'll (unfortunately) have to get a mousetrap and a mouse-proof container for the sunflower seeds.

I bought a small bird bath which I put near the feeders and yesterday I watched a red-bellied woodpecker and a cardinal drink from it.  It's working!

Summer seminars

Our seminars this summer seem to be tailored to me.  The INSY faculty is taking turns giving an hour lecture on a topic that they think will be useful to graduate students, but is not explicitly taught in a course.  The first one was "How to Give a GOOD talk" and it was a good talk.  The take-away from that program was a top ten list of things to do or not to do in any talk.  The next one was on writing proposals.  I haven't done that yet, but, hopefully, that will be helpful to my future.  Last week the program was "Collaboration using Technology."  After a disclaimer that he was not specifically endorsing a particular software, he demonstrated some technology that he has found useful over the years.  Today I downloaded Evernote, a free application that collects documents, pictures, notes, web references, voice memos and other items in folders.  I can tag each item and search for it among the folders.  The program synchronizes everything to the web, my laptop and my iphone.  I can enter items from any of those sources.  It is not for collaboration, but it is certainly useful technology for a graduate student.   The other application cited that I need is a version manager.  I'm writing software in my Cloud Computing class as well as in my research and trying to keep track of versions and changes is mind-boggling.  This app will help in any writing effort (like a dissertation or journal submission).  I don't have a list of the topics for the rest of the summer, but I look forward to the next topic and to exposure to the department's faculty.

I heard this morning on The New York Times, that there's a town in Nigeria that has been experiencing oil spills and leaks on a regular basis for the last 50 years and can't understand why the world is so focused on the Gulf Coast.  We (the world, not just the USA) really need to figure out how to get out of our dependence on oil.

The wind makes the sailboat go.

This weekend in New Orleans we discussed the 16 year old girl trying to sail around the world and moved on to my lack of sailing skills.  In a nutshell, I wasn't bad at sailing the Sunfish with the wind--I could always leave the shore, but returning from whence I came was seldom accomplished.  Most of the time, Dad had to rescue me with the powerboat.  Dad gave me a simple book about sailing and the book began with a question/answer--Q "What makes the sailboat go?"/  A "The wind makes the sailboat go."  We've been reminiscing about that since I was a teenager.  When I read Wordsmith's word-of-the-day, aeolian, I smiled.  Aeolian means "relating to or caused by the wind." The word's origin is from "Aeolus, god of the winds in Greek mythology.  As keeper of the winds, he gave a bag containing winds to help with Odysseus's sailing."  according to Wordsmith.  It turns out I'm in good company.

The Smell of the South

It smells like the South on my walk to/from campus.  Magnolias and gardenias are blooming and their very sweet smell is absolutely the smell of the South.  Mimosas are also blooming everywhere, but they are considered invasive non-native trees so I don't count them even though they are pretty and smell nice.

I've seen a gray catbird several times this week.  Usually we hear them before we see them--they are named catbird because they sound like a cat's mew.  They're in the same family as the mockingbird and in some ways resemble them.

WHOA!  A raccoon just dumped out my bird feeder!  I saw the feeder being held from below and knew that a squirrel couldn't be reaching that high.  When I stood up there was a raccoon reaching up from the ground and dumping out the feeder.  He ran away when he saw me at the window.

Twenty-six claps

Twenty-six claps in unicycling tonight!  I'm pretty sure I'll be riding alone by the end of the summer.  Next week I need to remember my wrist guards just in case my instructor thinks I'm ready to take off entirely on my own.  Tonight began a new set of classes and I have three new classmates--Allison is in the fifth grade and both Dean and Cole are second graders.  They'll probably all be riding before me...it's much easier when you're young and fearless.

Lightning bugs

As a child, my sister and I caught them and put them in jars to light up our night, now I smile when I come home in the dark and see lightning bugs (fireflies) outside my door.  Of course, that means I also have mosquitos, but it's worth the occasional mosquito bite to enjoy the lightning bugs.  Tonight I had dinner at Provino's, my favorite Italian restaurant in Auburn.  My waiter was very patient and let me eat my vegetable lasagna, drink a glass of wine and read my book until I was ready to go.  I needed a break from my La-Z-Boy.

Nicholas Carr's book about Cloud Computing is certainly thought-provoking.  I can't help but think that non-profits can use The Cloud to their benefit.  I'm hoping I can learn enough this summer to save the JCC some money.  Why should they buy another server?  It may be too early in the utility computing world for conservative non-profits to move in that direction, but I think I'd rather spend my time learning how to migrate to the Cloud than learning how to set up a Windows network.

I'm watching an older episode of Treme and I just saw my friend's son in a scene at the airport.  How fun! Speaking of Treme, I like Davis, the politician.  Who is he?  And, next time I'm home, I need to go to Lil Dizzy's for lunch.  Who wants to go with me?