Self Check-Out

Quick story...I was at Smith's yesterday and saw something that made me laugh. You know when you go to the store they have those "self check-out" lines that you can go to? The one's that look like this...



No, that is not me in the picture.

Well, after I had finished shopping I made my way over to one of them and started checking out. This old man then walks up to the one next to me and scans the only item he has in his hands, a newspaper. Maybe this was wrong of me, but I had to stop and glance for a bit at how he would handle the seemingly "new" technology. He pushes the pay now button and then says aloud, "Now what do I do?" The cashier attendant comes over and explains very confusingly how to pay for the item, and then walks away without making sure he understands.

By then I had gone back to scanning my own items and as I did so, heard a few mumbles and grumbles from the old man and then watched as he walked out of the store with the newspaper in hand. I glanced over at the screen of the check-out stand that he was at and noticed that he had still not payed for the paper. Two other young guys came over thinking it was their turn to check out, and also noticed that he had not payed. We looked at each other, wondering if we should say something, but noticed that the man had tossed 50 cents into the change collector (where you usually get change back) out of frustration because he didn't know where else to insert the money. We had a good laugh and the cashier took care of the money, and I had to appreciate the moment. I wonder what kind of technologies will be out when I get that old, and how many times a day I will be the source of a good laugh because of the change of times and new technologies available. Maybe by then stores will be teleporting food to your homes...who knows?

Anna's Bridge

I would like to introduce you to my friend Anna...

Mysterious isn't she? Well, Anna is a very good person. She is kind, beautiful, funny and absolutely refuses to date anyone in her ward or in her major (which happens to be the same as my major), here at BYU. Doesn't leave too many people to date, does it? Well, the last week of school we were in one of our classes together building bridges out of balsa wood (click here for an example).

She turned to all of us in our class and jokingly flaunted that her bridge would be able to hold more weight than anyone else in the class. I of course fired back with haste, declaring that my bridge would beat hers, no doubt. The whole class was now dead silent and awaited a response from Anna. She sat there for a second with a smirk on her face and then boldly pronounced, "Well lets put a wager on it!" Without much time to think, I said the first thing that came to my mind..."Ok, if I win, you go on a date with me." She looked like she was about to fall out of her seat for a second, but ended up standing her ground and said with her nose in the air, "Fine. But if you lose, you never ask me out, ever." Really with nothing to lose, we both agreed and got to work on our bridges.

With one week to design and build a bridge, I knew that I had to be extra careful and manage my time wisely. One bad glue joint could mean social disaster for either one of us. Throughout the week, members of the class joined sides with either "Team Brock" or "Team Anna" and even the professors got into it. Of course our professors were rooting for me (they loved it when people in the major got together), and one of them even offered to dress up as a catholic priest and bring a wedding cake! I even had some of the guys offer to sabotage her bridge the day of the competition. As tempting as it was, I wanted to win this fair and square, and declined the multiple offers.

So, the week passed by (faster than I had hoped), and the day of the competition arrived. Just so you can imagine what the bridges looked like, here are some of the requirements we had to follow...

• The bridge must be no longer than 10 inches long, 3 inches wide, and about 1.5 inches high.
• The bridge must not weigh more than 25 grams (about the weight of one kitchen butter knife)
• The bridge must hold at least 80 pounds of weight before breaking, in order to get an A on the assignment.

At first, the thought of a bridge the weight of a butter knife holding 80 pounds seemed impossible; but after Anna went, I thought I was doomed. She offered to go first, connected her bridge to the weight system and off she went adding weight little by little. 40 lbs, 50 lbs, 60 lbs, and then 80 lbs! She got an A! (congratulations Anna!). But it didn't stop there. She kept adding more...90 lbs, 100 lbs, 105 lbs...all the way to 110 lbs! And then it happened, we all heard a faint crack and then, KABOOM!!!!! Her bridge exploded into pieces.

The class cheered, and I sulked for a bit, knowing that my bridge would probably fail before the 110 lb mark, but none the less I hooked up my bridge and started adding weight to it. The suspense really was terrible!! My professors had all come to support me and I really didn't want to fail them, or anyone else in the class who wanted to see Anna go on a date with someone in the major (which was pretty much everyone). So there I was...50 lbs, 60, 70, 80 lbs! I had gotten an A! But that wasn't good enough...I had to destroy her. I kept my composure, but deep inside I was shaking in my boots. The weight kept coming...90 lbs, 100, 105, 110 lbs! It was an official tie! All I needed was to add one more weight without the bridge breaking, and I would be the winner. The entire room was silent, everyone listening for the slightest cracking noise in the wood. I took a 2.5 lb weight in my hand and shaking, placed it onto the bridge...

Success! The bridge did not break, and I had won the bet. Everyone cheered and I let out a big sigh of relief. My professor congratulated me, but also reminded me that the bridge had not yet broken, which meant I still needed to add weight until it did. After we all calmed down, I started adding more weight...115 lbs, 120, 130, 140, 150 lbs! and then BOOM! it explodes!

I was pretty shocked that it held that much weight. The funny thing is that I could have stood on my bridge and it would have held me. Engineering is pretty cool sometimes.

Well this is all that is left of my bridge...

I am pretty happy with the results of my bridge. I actually got 1st place in the class with the efficiency rating...unfortunately, Anna went to Jerusalem to study abroad until next April, but we agreed to go out when she gets back. Not a bad way to end a semester...