Let me begin by apologizing for not 'blogging for a while...oh wait, I'm not sorry because this is my own damn 'blog and I can post whenever I want!

Anyways, it's been a busy weekend. Kelly had a couple field trips, and I was her support this weekend (dropping her off, picking her up, making her lunch and breakfast). Plus I had to get my usual load of work completed. I didn't get everything done, but I'm in good shape for this week. It just seems that I never have time to do anything. I'm definitely going to rethink my classload for next semester, and I probably won't audit another semester of French. Truth be told, the language really isn't all that interesting, and unlike German, it makes no sense at all. There are grammar rules in French only for the sake of pronunciation! How can I condone the creation of an "exception to the rule" just to make it easier to say? Maybe if they would just pronounce every syllable in a word things would be easier!

I'm always thinking about putting in aftermarket parts in my car, even though I don't have to money to do it. Lately, I've been considering the idea of putting in lightweight underdrive pulleys. Everybody knows that there are a set of belts and pulleys that use the engine to run things like the a/c compresser, the alternator, the fan, and other things. The auto manufacturer makes these pulleys as cheaply as they can, which means they are usually made out of steel. However, steel is pretty heavy, so it has a lot of rotational inertia. Aluminum, on the other hand, is quite light, and spins at the same rate with less energy consumption. This means the replacement of steel pulleys with aluminum pulleys frees up energy to turn the car wheels. Also, aftermarket pulleys are usually slightly smaller (at least the one connected to the engine) so that each revolution uses slightly less energy that if they were stock diameter (even though slightly more revolutions are needed). Unorthodox Racing makes a set of pulleys for my car that apparently frees up to 12 horsepower (about 5HP for normal driving). This is pretty good compared to HP gains from intake or exhaust modifications. Unfortunately, the set costs $480, although I know where to get it for $410. This is just stuff I think about.