My Crane Game Dream

Just as a note, I hardly ever remember my dreams, which is why I think that remembering this dream was so funny. I dreamt that I was in some type of building where there were tons of crane games. You know the ones that you pay to try and get a flimsy little claw to pick up some toy or stuffed animal. I used to like them as a kid and I have one a couple of memorable little stuffed animals from it, like a little Frankenstein, an ape and once I got a teddy bear. Anyways in this dream there were tons of crane games lining the walls. Some were really old fashion but some of them had computer screens with grids that told you the exact location of your crane. Some of the cranes were enormous and some very tiny. I was doing amazing. I remember in the dream that I won a Bullseye and Jessie from Toy Story, a catholic rosary, a mannequin hand, a baseball cap with LED lights in it and a cookie sheet. In the dream I kept putting a piece of paper over the items I had won so that nobody would try and steal them. At one point I had to go get more change so I talked to a man with a large reddish handlebar mustache and got more change. Then I found out that there was a machine that would give little green beads that you could use to pay to play and that it was cheaper than paying for the game with quarters. Then I woke up. I just can't figure out what the dream means . . . . .

I am an Engineer, also my Graduate School stuff

Yep, that's right. After 4 and a half years of hard work I am finally an engineer. I finished up all my bachelor's degree last Friday. I'll be receiving my diploma here shortly. Unfortunately I didn't walk with the rest of the seniors that graduated. I didn't want the trouble. It's expensive and it would have been difficult for my family to get up here to see it, especially me Dad. Plus I am continuing on to get my Master's degree, so I'll walk when I get that. I am happy that I was able to do that, To be the first person in my family to get a college degree. Myles, Cole, Ryan and I made a good senior design team. Our algae project didn't exactly do what we wanted it to but we had fun and learned a lot and got experience in growing algae. I think that I will be hanging out with them a lot during the summer.

The other big piece of news is that i was accepted into the Biological Engineering Graduate Program here at USU. It is an amazing opportunity for me. The best part is that they have lined up a thesis project for me to work on. I am really excited for it, it is going to give me a lot of experience. Here is the project in lame man's terms. The wastewater system here in Cache Valley is a Lagoon based system. It is an open air system that uses microbes to remove the Carbon from the water before it is released into Cutler Reservoir. The issue with this system is that it's not removing other nutrients from the water, most importantly phosphorous. This causes eutrophication, which is nutrient pollution. The plants and algae get into the water system and use up all of the oxygen in the water, which suffocates the animal life, killing them. It is a big issue. Our team is researching the possibility of using algae to treat this system. It is going to happen, it works. It will cost the taxpayers one third of what a chemical treatment plant would cost. The other really cool thing is that the products of this method are bio fuels, such as methane gas or biodiesel and fertilizer. So not only are we taking care of a major problem but we are also making useful byproducts as well, making the city money, which relieves tax payers of some of the cost to treat their wastewater.

So my project deals specifically with pharmaceuticals. I will be testing the water to find out what pharmaceuticals are present in the wastewater and where it goes throughout the process. Ideally we want to see if the algae absorb the pharmaceuticals, therefore removing them from the wastewater. The second part of my project will be to see what affect algae containing pharmaceuticals has on the methanagenesis of the algae biomass. It is really an exciting project. The other great part of it is that I am getting paid to do the research. I'll be making between 17 and 18 thousand dollars a year. That will pay for grad school and for my rent and give me plenty to live on. It is such a blessing for me.