Any Restaurant?

Went to a great brunch today with the family of one of my UpStreet kids. Great food and company, really enjoyed it. During brunch a funny travel story came up. A couple of years ago I did a crazy day trip to LA for work. I was only supposed to be there for 3 hours for a lunch meeting. I think I left at 6am and got home at midnight. I told the people I was meeting that lunch was my treat and we could go anywhere. I figured we'd go to a restaurant with some LA character, maybe Pink's hotdogs or something. Instead they asked for the Sizzler down the street. At first I thought they were kidding, but we really did go to Sizzler. Oh well, from a business perspective the meeting was so-so, but the Sizzler part makes for a good story now.

My new book chapter!

I wrote a chapter in the recently published book, “Ultrasound Technologies for Food and Bioprocessing”, part of the Food Engineering Series published by Springer Media. The my company, Hydro Dynamics, Inc. (www.hydrodynamics.com) is featured in Chapter 8 entitled, “Controlled Cavitation for Scale-Free Heating, Gum Hydration and Emulsification in Food and Consumer Products.” Not what I'd term pleasure reading for my friends, but a nice personal accomplishment. More detail about the book can be found at http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-1-4419-7471-6/.

E15 in NASCAR

So I saw a great article about NASCAR running on E15 next year that made me smile for two reasons:

http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/business/10/16/nascar-ethanol-fuel-in-2011/index.html

First, it brought back memories of me going around the track as a passenger in a NASCAR at the Atlanta Motor Speedway at 180 mph in a ride-along after the race. I'm not the biggest NASCAR fan in the world, the tickets and ride-along were actually a gift for my sister who is a NASCAR freak, but I have to admit it was a rush of a lifetime.

The second reason is because my company, Hydro Dynamics, Inc., has a huge initiative going right now to increase ethanol yield from corn using cavitation. I know there's some debate on the merits of corn ethanol (and I have some opinions on that), but this is a real win-win in that we allow higher ethanol production from the same amount of corn for already existing plants. Well if you're curious you can read more at http://hydrodynamics.com/markets/alternative-energy/ It's funny how things sometimes come full circle, years ago NASCAR started as a sport among guys who used to run moonshine, but next year they'll be running it in their engines. Ironic. Maybe some NASCAR fuel will be processed on a ShockWave Power Reactor in 2011!

My 15 Minutes of Fame

So I was featured on the Buckhead Church Blog:

http://blog.buckheadchurch.org/2010/09/13/the-1st-ever-%E2%80%9Cbring-your-boss-to

-church%E2%80%9D-sunday/

Never imagined it would be for this, but still pretty cool!

I Will Not Let You Down

Was blown away by Bill Curry's speech to his team before Georgia State's first ever football game. He let ESPN tape it and it was played on Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio that I listen to almost every morning.

Coach Curry asks his players what they’re going to say to their teammates in the fourth quarter when they’re tired and feel like quitting. The young men respond in unison “I will not let you down!” He asks what they’re going to say when their teammates wanna give up, “I will not let you down!” and are hurt, “I will not let you down!” can’t carry their own weight, “I will not let you down!” etc. ... “I will not let you down!”

It was so moving in general and also brought me back to my days playing high school football. I also love him because he played for the Packers under Lombardi and coached Georgia Tech, so lots of connections there. It also made me wonder what the world would look like off the field if we looked at each other more often and said, “I will not let you down!”

Well not sure what speech he'll give before playing #1 Alabama later this year, but I'll be cheering for him!

IMAX Hubble 3D

Saw this last week and it was amazing! A shuttle launch in 3D on an IMAX screen with a surround sound system was awesome. Great story of one of the best science projects ever! This has a special place for me as I've always loved space, it was even my little boy dream to be an astronaut. If you want to see it you can go to the official site and see where it's playing near you.

http://www.imax.com/hubble/

Rock Bottom Plunge!

So I have to admit I was a little frightened before riding this ride, but eventually did and it was a lot of fun. A little girl assured me in line it wasn't as intense as it looked. The picture is of the first hill. You climb straight up, slowly crest the 67 foot hill and drop straight down! A couple of loops and a few turns at 40 mph after that and it's all over. Well if you're at Mall of America ride the SpongeBob Rock Bottom Plunge!