I've been published!

I got my two cents into the Chicago Tribune! :)

"Jonathan Erber of Harvard, who in August converted his 1993 Chevrolet diesel pickup to also run on vegetable oil, prefers Chinese restaurants. "I get higher performance from their peanut oil. I barely touch the pedal and it gets up to 60 [m.p.h.]," he said. "When I see a Chinese restaurant now, I go there."

If you'd like to read the whole article, click HERE.

LAST CONCERT!

Hey everyone! This Thursday, May 22nd at 7pm the RVC Chamber Singers and Women's choir are giving a concert at Zion Lutheran Church in Rockford. This is the last concert that we are giving this semester, and possibly my last concert with them ever!

Hopefully you can make it! If you have any questions please let me know! I believe there is no charge. I think it's a benefit concert for something in Rockford.

WVO Progress... Settling Tank

Hey everyone! Now that I'm out of school I'm getting back to rebuilding my Waste Vegetable Oil system (that for many reasons has sat dormant during this past semester). Today I worked on building a much higher tech version of the settling tank than what I had before. Here are some shots of today's work:

Here is the settling tank. As you can see, I have wrapped the lower half of this tank with heating wire. This heating wire is designed to warm up the vegetable oil, consequently lowering the viscosity of the oil and accelerating the settling process. During the settling process large contaminants and some moisture separate from the oil. As you can see, the spout that I have coming out of the side of the tank is some distance from the bottom. This allows the large contaminants (French fries, peanuts, cabbage, etc...) to collect at the bottom of the tank without clogging the filters during the filtration stage.

Here is some heating wire set into groves that I have cut into a piece of 3/4" foam board insulation. This is what the tank sits on, consequently heating and insulating the bottom of the tank.

Here is where I finished up today. As you can see I have insulated the outside of the barrel, as well as built the mounting plate for the pump which is also in the picture.

The next step will be mounting the filters and connecting all the PVC. Then this setup will be ready to roll! :)

I am going to try and continue updating this blog with my progress as I completely rebuild my WVO setup. Also, stay tuned and hopefully when I re-install the conversion on my truck, I will be able to put up a step by step video! :D We'll see.

I'm FREE!

Well, almost :) My finals are all done, and it's just the fun stuff that's left! Like a Chamber Singers tour, final concert, and two papers. Hahaha....

5 down, 3 to go

Today I wrapped up two more finals! :) I now have five down and only three more to go!
Also, today I think I realized I'm really going to miss certain parts of school. :/

SCHOOL IS OUT! :D

Yes indeed, today was the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! Now it's just on to finals...

Gotta go study! Bye!

Rock Valley College Choirs Concert!

Hey everyone! Tomorrow evening at Court Street United Methodist Church, three choirs from Rock Valley will be performing! These choirs are the Chamber Singers, Women's Choir, and Concert Choir. I am a member of both the Chamber Singers and the Concert Choir. If you've got the evening open, we'd love to see you there! It starts at 7:30 and I think it costs $5 per person. One of the highlights of the evening will be excerpts from Carmina Burana (almost the whole thing).

If you have any questions, let me know! Hope to see you there!

It's SPRING!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG! It was 73 degrees out today! :)

Here's some pictures from yesterday when it was almost as warm!

I am so excited! After having my right shoulder dis-located for two months last fall, it's finally starting to get back into shape! Although everything I'm throwing is pretty wimpy still :/

This is Ben, a friend and fellow pianist from school. Ben plays some seriously mean Jazz piano!

Fortunately the ball didn't go in the water too many times :D haha...

Truck for sale!

Hey if anyone is looking for a really sweet Diesel truck, check out the one below! It's in great shape with Only 172,000 miles on it. Asking $6500 O.B.O.

*tires not included, but a set of stock rims with brand new tires is included.

A mighty machine, with a 3" Suspension Lift!

Chrome bull bars, bug guard, wind deflectors, and lighted visor.
*note minor paint peeling and very light surface rust below doors.

Chrome bed rail guards, and tie downs.

Bed liner, and some really sweet sounding exhaust! :)

This truck runs, drives, and sounds GREAT!

Oh, and if you want it converted to vegetable oil, that is always an option :)

Why Friday was Wierd, Part 1

Thought ya'll might enjoy this... It's just one part of why that Friday was so wierd :)

I'm wierded out

Today is officially a weird day

A 1st for my truck!

Today I found the limit...

Was it the soupy mud?

Was it too much weight?

Was it because 4x4 wasn't engaged yet?

I don't know... But I still love my truck!

Even if it doesn't have silly off-road tires like Luke ;)

My new WVO kit...

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this blog! But I trust that if you want a general idea of what I've been up to, you've been able to find some stuff on my family's blog about that. Anything not on that blog about me would be, school, work, and maybe a few other insignificant things that I may or may not have blogged about anyway. :) Actually, I would be blogging a decent amount if I had the time, but I don't have the time, so I basically won't be posting a decent amount. Haha...

Here's a few pictures of my latest project, which is rebuilding my Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) system on my truck. The only reason I'm rebuilding it now (instead of during the summer when it's warm and I have more time) is because a mechanic that I took my truck to completely removed my original system! He said it needed to be rebuilt anyway. lol! I said I knew it did, but not NOW! Oh well... So now I'm back at it, and I'm REALLY excited about the new setup! It's going to be so professional, so compact, and SO overkill! :D Right now I'm working on designing/building a prototype mounting bracket, which consequently requires the building of certain components. Here's a picture of me working on the new system...

This is one of the assemblies I worked on tonight. This includes the fuel filter, one of the fuel pumps, the extra glow-plug fuel temp booster, and my fuel thermometer.

Josh and Abbey... MARRIED!

I know there's LOTS I could be blogging about right now, but I haven't been able to get pictures to successfully upload for quite a while, and to be honest I've been quite busy! Anyway, for pictures of Joshua's wedding check out my family's blog! It was a such a beautiful day! The wedding was wonderful, and I am excited beyond words for Josh and Abbey! :) Right now they're out of town on their honeymoon, and we're eagerly anticipating their return.

Congratulations Josh and Abbey!

IMEA trip

Last weekend I took a trip down to Peoria, IL with the Rock Valley College (RVC) Chamber Singers. While in Peoria we attended the annual IMEA state conference, which was Outstanding! I loved it! However the main reason that we all went down was because we were performing two concerts over the weekend. One was at the IMEA conf', as we were a featured choir, and the other concert was held at a Lutheran Church. Both concerts went fairly well, esp considering the circumstances. :)

We left RVC at 6:00am on Thursday morning and returned Saturday around 4:30pm. It was a great trip with a great group of people! I had a lot of fun and learned a lot!

Here are a few pictures from the trip, and a video clip of the men of the Chamber Singers singing a piece.

Enjoy!

Here we are performing at the Thursday night concert.

The composer of one of our pieces (Thou Art the Sky) was there! Ladies and Gentlemen, Paul Carey!

Is that our cab? No, due to the cab that never showed up we stood in the cold for well over an hour... It never came.

Boarding the bus for dinner and karaoke, on Friday night.

I hope you enjoy this video of the men singing 'Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now'

Please forgive the distorted audio quality in this video.

SNOW!

It's been snowing for about 24 hours! WOW! It's beautiful outside!

The RVC Chamber Singers in concert!

Hello all! This coming weekend the Rock Valley College Chamber Singers will be taking a trip to Peoria, IL, where we are going to be featured at the annual IMEA State Convention! We are (I'm pretty sure of this) the first two year college to ever have one of it's choirs featured at this convention! We are all excited, and busy preparing.

We will be giving two concerts while in Peoria. One will be at the IMEA Convention and is only open to IMEA members and conference attendees. The other concert that we'll be giving will be held in Washington, IL, and is open to the public. Details on this concert are as follows:

January 31st, 2008
St. Marks Lutheran Church
200 S. Main St
Washington, IL
7:00 pm - no tickets required, freewill offering will be taken
Call (309) 744-2553 for more information!

I'd appreciate your prayers for the trip, and esp that everyone would be in good health. There has been a nasty flu bug going around the area, and the last thing we need is to all be sick!

I will try to post pictures and a recap of the trip next week! So stay tuned!

During this year's presidential race there seems to be a lot of attention put on the religious beliefs of the candidates, as though somehow that alone determines whether or not they're going to be a good leader. While I'll agree that the religious beliefs of our future president are important, I think we should focus on what they stand for, not only what they say they believe.

As you may already know, I support Ron Paul for president in 2008 because of what he stands for, not just because of what he says he believes. For articles by Ron Paul, and information on his views, visit Ron Paul 2008 > Issues.

And, in case you're wondering what his religious convictions are, here's what he has to say on that...

"I have never been one who is comfortable talking about my faith in the political arena. In fact, the pandering that typically occurs in the election season I find to be distasteful. But for those who have asked, I freely confess that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior, and that I seek His guidance in all that I do. I know, as you do, that our freedoms come not from man, but from God. My record of public service reflects my reverence for the Natural Rights with which we have been endowed by a loving Creator."
~Ron Paul

Ron Paul on "Christmas in Secular America"

I've been reading a lot of writings by Ron Paul lately. I am continually blown away by how precisely his arguments match what I believe the Bible has set out as a pattern for proper government. His distinctly Christian and biblically based views are something I hope others will catch onto.

Here's an article of his that I read on Christmas in secular America. He makes a number of good points beyond just the topic of Christmas. I hope you enjoy it!

________________________________

by Ron Paul, Dr. January 5, 2008

As we celebrate another Yuletide season, it’s hard not to notice that Christmas in America simply doesn’t feel the same anymore. Although an overwhelming majority of Americans celebrate Christmas, and those who don’t celebrate it overwhelmingly accept and respect our nation’s Christmas traditions, a certain shared public sentiment slowly has disappeared. The Christmas spirit, marked by a wonderful feeling of goodwill among men, is in danger of being lost in the ongoing war against religion.

Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view. The justification is always that someone, somewhere, might possibly be offended or feel uncomfortable living in the midst of a largely Christian society, so all must yield to the fragile sensibilities of the few. The ultimate goal of the anti-religious elites is to transform America into a completely secular nation, a nation that is legally and culturally biased against Christianity.

This growing bias explains why many of our wonderful Christmas traditions have been lost. Christmas pageants and plays, including Handel’s Messiah, have been banned from schools and community halls. Nativity scenes have been ordered removed from town squares, and even criticized as offensive when placed on private church lawns. Office Christmas parties have become taboo, replaced by colorless seasonal parties to ensure no employees feel threatened by a “hostile environment.” Even wholly non-religious decorations featuring Santa Claus, snowmen, and the like have been called into question as Christmas symbols that might cause discomfort. Earlier this month, firemen near Chicago reluctantly removed Christmas decorations from their firehouse after a complaint by some embittered busybody. Most noticeably, however, the once commonplace refrain of “Merry Christmas” has been replaced by the vague, ubiquitous “Happy Holidays.” But what holiday? Is Christmas some kind of secret, a word that cannot be uttered in public? Why have we allowed the secularists to intimidate us into downplaying our most cherished and meaningful Christian celebration?

The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs. Certainly the drafters of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, both replete with references to God, would be aghast at the federal government’s hostility to religion. The establishment clause of the First Amendment was simply intended to forbid the creation of an official state church like the Church of England, not to drive religion out of public life.

The Founding Fathers envisioned a robustly Christian yet religiously tolerant America, with churches serving as vital institutions that would eclipse the state in importance. Throughout our nation’s history, churches have done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility. Moral and civil individuals are largely governed by their own sense of right and wrong, and hence have little need for external government. This is the real reason the collectivist Left hates religion: Churches as institutions compete with the state for the people’s allegiance, and many devout people put their faith in God before their faith in the state. Knowing this, the secularists wage an ongoing war against religion, chipping away bit by bit at our nation’s Christian heritage. Christmas itself may soon be a casualty of that war.

________________________________

For more articles by Ron Paul, and information on his views, visit Ron Paul 2008 > Issues

I highly recommend that you do, if it were practical I think I would post all of the articles! :) It is indeed good to know that there is Hope For America!

Back to school with a new job!

A couple weeks ago josh was at DeCrane's Service Center in Harvard, and noticed a 'help wanted' sign. The position that they were looking to have filled was for a receptionist in a shift that EXACTLY matches my school schedule! I applied for the job and got it! So needless to say, I am now working at DeCrane's Service Center doing that which I very much enjoy (talking about cars, talking to people, etc...). This was my first week working there, and it is definitely right up my alley. It takes a bit getting used to how all the paperwork is done, but I thank the Lord for providing the job! I have about five-ten minutes of free time between school and work (all depending on traffic), so I'm running a very tight schedule. I'm leaving for school in the early morning and not getting home till after dinner! Then I get my couple hours of study before bed.
Right now I feel like I could go sit in a corner and sleep! I am SO TIRED!

Well my first week of school and work is almost done! I just have a concert that the Chamber Singers are singing at this evenning, and then I'm off for a nice long four day weekend! :) Thank God for 'holidays'!