July 1 Update
Now that the year is more or less halfway over, I thought this would be a good time to post an update. I’ve divided this post into three sections to symbolize the tripartite nature of man.
On the work front: Work continues to be, on the whole, fantastic. That big criminal trial I wrote about earlier ended last week with a guilty verdict. Read all about it here (part 1) and here (part 2). I’ve been analyzing motions for attorneys’ fees and for remand to state court. Sometimes it seems that the lawyers who write these briefs just aren’t trying - they miss really important parts of the law, which is both frustrating (makes my job harder) and helpful (forces me to practice researching!). I don’t claim that my work is brilliant, but I’m impressed by how much I learned last year.
On the home front: The nice thing about this job is that the work doesn’t follow me home like it did during the school year. Unfortunately Becky usually works until around 8 or 10pm on most days, including Saturday, so that limits our chill times. We’ve been watching a lot of movies (Blockbuster Total Access is pretty awesome), and re-reading the Harry Potter books in preparation for July 21. Last Sunday I went to the Raging Waters waterpark with Dan and Eugene, which was appropriately infuriating (i.e., fun). Yesterday, because Becky was off, we went down to the San Diego Zoo. I’m not really a pet or animal guy, but this was pretty awesome (pics here). We have a few more things/places we’d like to do/visit this summer - a visit to San Francisco chief among them.
On the idea front: It seems to me that escalators run all day long, but a lot of the time there is nobody on them. Isn’t this a huge waste of energy? I’m curious to see if it would be possible to put motion sensors near the entrance area so that they only start running once somebody approaches. I don’t know if a) there are many escalators that are under-utilized (the ones in the courthouse are, which inspired this idea), or b) whether repeatedly starting and stopping the motor uses less energy than just running it non-stop. Somebody shoud look into this.
July 25th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Hi Marc,
Found your site through facebook, and stopped by for a look. Good work! Glad that things are working out for you in CA/PA. About the escalator idea - from what I’ve seen, motion sensors are employed on escalators throughout Scandinavia (in department stores, malls, and public buildings). Damn cool experience to have stairs start moving as you approach. Maybe just one more area where Northern Europe is becoming more efficient as we keep burning energy.
-Aaron Angert (IST 100, PSU)