New U of M Business School Building

So, they just finished the new Ross Business School building at the University of Michigan.
In fact, this is the first semester Curt has had classes there.

The outside is very contemporary.
I think that its pretty cool on its own, but nestled in with the University's other {beautiful} classic buildings it comes off as abrupt and ugly.


While the exterior design gets mixed reviews from me, the design on the inside is just neat.
While Curt was meeting with one of his groups for classwork, I wandered around and took some pictures.

(Sorry some of these pics are grainy, it was dark and to alter them so you can see anything you lose some of the details)

There is a bunch of art in this building, and a lot of it is more abstract than I like, but I love this one. It is two stories tall and adds a touch of whimsy.

So, while I like the interior design...I think some of their material choices are retarded.
All of the main floors are cork, and unless they have come up with a significantly more durable version of cork floors than I am familiar with, it's going to look dingy and need many repairs relatively soon.
The building has won all sorts of "green building" awards, and I think that might have played a role in their choices...but I really think that it is unwise to disregard the longevity of the material you are going to use (thus having to replace it frequently) just to "green" items.
Is it really green to have to rip it up and replace it a million times?

They did use a harder wood than cork on the stairs..but look at how scratched they are already.
It hasn't even been one full semester...midterms just happened.

Cool ceilings though.

And cool/weird 3D art.

I love the lighting in the whole building.

And, as non linear or regular as this carpet is, I really really like it too.
Its kind of organic looking, and I think it would hide stains really well.

The furniture is awesome looking.
Too bad it is really uncomfortable.

My favorite art is this wall of industrial looking frames that hold black and white photos of workers as they were constructing this building.

Overall it is fun to explore.
*Oh, and as a shout out to Curt's undergrad program, BusinessWeek ranked BYU's Marriott School #5 in the nation. Pretty impressive.*

This month has been very, very regular.
Mondays: Work, Class (Accounting for Curt)
Tuesdays: Work, Gym
Wednesdays: Work, Class (Finance Curt, Institute Carmen)
Thursdays: Work, Gym
Fridays: Work, Gym
Saturday: Help the house recover from the week.
Laundry, Cleaning, Installing Window Coverings, Etc.
Sunday: Church, Callings Stuff, Naps.

Not what I would call my most blog inspiring moments.
But I love my life and my routine.
I have lots of crafts I could be doing, but I need a little bit more time + next months household budget to hit.
I want Spring so I can have pretty pictures from outside.

So I guess all I have to report at the moment is that we are getting really buff.
(thus the cool picture at the top of this post)

*Plus we paid off our car as a Valentines gift to ourselves*

Privacy

So, we've slowly been working on getting up window coverings on the first floor.
Yesterday we finished it off to the point that at least no one can look in and see us.

I covered the sliding glass door and the kitchen window with the same IKEA curtains that I put in the living room. I love the look of these.

And then I put up plain white faux wood blinds in the front of the house (the stair landing and the piano room). Eventually they will have drapes also, but the immediate privacy was the priority.

Happy Valentines Day!

Well, I have a couple pictures of the house I would like to take...but there are several small disaster areas in the way. So for now I'll show you what we have been up to this weekend that can be included without the mess.

The young women's group in our ward had a valentines dinner dance last night as a fundraiser for camp. I made these cheesecake brownies for the auction.
Yeah, it was tough not to eat them.
I had to make cookies to make sure I didn't eat the brownies.

This past week we have had several warm-ish days that melted all the snow.
We woke up to this.

Which makes my fingers do this.

*PS, today is Curt's and my 6th Valentine's Day spent in each others presence.

Power Plant Boiler

So. I may take after my dad just a little bit.
You see, I work in an administrative capacity at the power plant.
But I really, really want to know what all that equipment I walk past does, and how it does it.

Luckily my boss' get a kick out of it and indulge me.

This is me inside a boiler.
A boiler is basically a huge room lined with metal tubes.

A huge room that they blow natural gas or fuel oil in and set on fire to produce heat greater than 2000 degrees that is.

Looking up at the ceiling, also lined with tubes.

This is the superheater.
Basically when the water in the tubes lining the room turns into steam it is fed into these pipes coiled inside the room for another four passes inside the inferno to superheat the steam.

This is what the superheater pipes should look like.

This is why I could walk inside the boiler without being burnt to a crisp.
For you see, these tubes can only get up to about 800 degrees before they burn.

But Carmen, you say, I thought that you said it gets upwards of 2000 degrees in there?

True, true, but usually the steam inside of the tubes takes the excess heat thus keeping the tubes at a chill below 800 degrees.

They are sending a sample of the tube out for analysis, but they think that a buildup occurred on these first pass tubes making it so that the heat didn't transfer correctly to the steam.
Pretty, huh?

This is the little door you get to climb through to get in.

That circle is how big the door used to be.
If you saw how footballplayerish our Maintenance Supervisor is you would be hysterically rolling on the floor with laughter right about now.

The steam drum.
This is at the top of the boiler.
This is where they separate the steam from any water that is left before it is sent to the superheater and then out to all of the campus buildings for heating and cooling purposes.

Mud drum.
This is at the bottom of the boiler.
This is where the water drains to and is sent out from into the tubes.
See all those circles? Those are the ends of the tubes.

This is my boss Pepper who gave me this lovely tour.
And whose coveralls I got to borrow (he is little like me).

Eventually the fumes make their way through the economizer and into the stack.

Pretty cool, huh?

Wow...this weekend was a doozie.

So I totally have several projects and thus posts to do...but starting Friday night I could do nothing but hug the toilet and lay on the floor. How's that for a lovely weekend?
The last time I remember having the flu was when I was nine. So hey, once every 15 years isn't bad.
Things are looking up though, because I have been able to hold down a quarter of a banana eaten over the last hour. Yes!!!