Fluid Mechanics

Deposition and erosion. Everything is deposition and erosion. Mountains climbing higher and higher, being scraped of their skin by water and ice. Sediments are carried for miles and miles, leaving only the strongest bits.

Everything is stress and strain. Even deposition and erosion. Life piles on more and more layers and sheets of paper with lists of things to do. What is the failing point? Like caramel stretches farther and farther until it breaks. Like an abused rock cracks after being squeezed so much. Deformation is caused by stress and strain. The heart beats. Extension and compression.

A pebble becomes entrained and makes a great journey downstream. Fluid mechanics.Weaving through a crowd of students. Mist crawls over the mountains signaling that it's a good day to sit and drink a cup of coffee.

Heat flow controls everything. Stress and strain. Deposition and Erosion. The transformation of a cake from goo to deliciousness. Mmm...remember infinite cake?

Dispersion and propagation can describe anything. Heat flow is dispersion. Light propagates. Waves of sea water crash onto the rock face. Erosion.

Yet timing is everything.

I realize this more so than ever. There is an hour glass of pitch and an hour glass of very fine sand that were turned over at the same time. Time crawls but is escaping way too quickly.

2014 Was Weird

But weird in a cool way. As I begin my last semester, I can't imagine what 2015 might hold. Funny though: even when you think you know the storyline there are unexpected things that happen. Here are 2014 things that happened in my year:

Went to four time zones*
Helped build an android app
Commuted across state lines every day
Celebrated Tesla's birthday
Gave a talk at one of the biggest geoscience conference in the world
Spent more on coffee than food...probably
Helped start a club on campus
Gained more elevation than a popular 14'er in four hours*
Spent more money on Red Sox tickets than Rockies tickets*
Got chosen by the Grav Lyfe*...multiple times
Decided what I want to do with the next part of my life
Traveled out of the country for the first time
Applied to grad school
Became able to run for ten straight minutes
Started a band that has fans
Drove a vibroseis truck
Started learning Dutch
Drove 85 in a 55
Drove 100 in  a 75
Traveled to eight states*
Had six flights
Learned about magnetotellurics, exponential filters, total electron content, and the method of Frobenius, and many other things
Watched two lunar eclipses...well, one. Does working in Eclipse count?
Fell in love with Maine black bear ice cream, poutine, and london fogs
Saw fireflies for the first time


*:

- I had a layover in Chicago. So that counts. But not as a state visited.
- Mount Yamnuska in Alberta has more elevation gain (base to peak) than Mount Bierstadt.
- I payed ~$35 for a Red Sox vs. Cubs ticket at Fenway Park. I went to two Rockies games all season, both in April, which cost me $20.
- Remember: we don't choose the Grav Lyfe, the Grav Lyfe chooses us.
- My layover in Chicago doesn't count.