Memorial Day 2010

God Bless our troops and thank you to all that have served our country. Our freedoms are indebted to your service and sacrifice. For all of you currently serving, may you come home soon and safely.

In Memory of: 

• Patrick O'Day
• Timothy M. Shea
• Jesse Williams

Leave a memory of a servicemember, and/or to the loved ones that have served.

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On this day in 1944, allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=51795

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Check out who's following WorkingGrads on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/WorkingGrads

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System dynamics is a methodology for studying and managing complex feedback systems, such as one finds in business and other social systems. In fact it has been used to address practically every sort of feedback system. While the word system has been applied to all sorts of situations, feedback is the differentiating descriptor here. Feedback refers to the situation of X affecting Y and Y in turn affecting X perhaps through a chain of causes and effects. One cannot study the link between X and Y and, independently, the link between Y and X and predict how the system will behave. Only the study of the whole system as a feedback system will lead to correct results.

The methodology:

• identifies a problem,
• develops a dynamic hypothesis explaining the cause of the problem,
• builds a computer simulation model of the system at the root of the problem,
• tests the model to be certain that it reproduces the behavior seen in the real world,
• devises and tests in the model alternative policies that alleviate the problem, and
• implements this solution.

Rarely is one able to proceed through these steps without reviewing and refining an earlier step. For instance, the first problem identified may be only a symptom of a still greater problem.

The field developed initially from the work of Jay W. Forrester. His seminal book Industrial Dynamics (Forrester 1961) is still a significant statement of philosophy and methodology in the field. Since its publication, the span of applications has grown extensively and now encompasses work in

• corporate planning and policy design
• public management and policy
• biological and medical modeling
• energy and the environment
• theory development in the natural and social sciences
• dynamic decision making
• complex nonlinear dynamics

Source: System Dynamics Society (www.systemdynamics.org)

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Happy New Year!!!

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I wanted to thank Ken Zetterquist, the owner of Z MAN MACHINING, for contributing $100 to ChicoGraduate.com's goal to raise $1 million for the Wounded Warrior Project. Last night Ken came into Woody's Bar & Grill and handed me his card and $100 cash to help the injured soldiers. I was shocked because I just met  Ken a month ago and I've only told him about ChicoGraduate.com once or twice. Although I was shocked I was thankful and I bet the injured soldiers will be too. 100% will be sent this month to the Wounded Warrior Project to help the injured soldiers.

Z Man MACHININGZ MAN MACHINING
(Harley Engine Work: Pan-Shovel-Evo)
2117 Fair St.
Chico, CA 95928
Phone: (530) 891-1374
Fax: (530) 891-6208
 

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ChicoGraduate.com is now Twittering/Twirling with the username "ChicoGraduate." I'll continue full blogs and news on ChicoGraduate.com since Twitter only gives brief updates.The link to the page is: http://www.twitter.com/chicograduate

Have a good day,

Andrew

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today's a day to give thanks for something small or large. I hope you have a joyful day with your family, friends, and/or pets.

Today on my family's dinner menu we're having:

1. Turkey w/gravy
2. Grandma's salad w/crab from Spuds Point in Bodega Bay
3. Jello (family recipe!)
4. Mash potatoes
5. Yams w/marshmellows on top
6. String Beans
7. Carrots
8. Turkey Dressing
9. Cranberry sauce
10. Pumpkin Pies
11. Mincemeat Pie
12. And more!

My top three choices include:

1. String beans
2. Grandma's salad
3. Turkey & gravy combo

Actually it's all good. What are you having for Thanksgiving? And what's your favorite course? How many people will you be celebrating Thanksgiving with this evening? We're having 9 at my parents house.

Once again happy Thanksgiving, have a good day and safe travels. That's all folks!

-Andrew

P.S.

Don't forget to stock up on extra groceries. Stores offer some great deals during the holidays!

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To my amazement this worked on my first try! Now you can fold your shirts quickly and work on more important issues like painting your house or balancing your checkbook.

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It’s Monday again and everyone is either happy or not enthused to go to work. Either way I hope it’s a good Monday for you all. Today’s blog reflects my weekend at my dad and mom’s ranch. It all started when I left Chico at 11:00 a.m. on Friday and returned for a presentation to Alpha Phi (thanks for the pizza), at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday.

The following is a timeline of my weekend.
10/3/08
• Left Chico at 11:00 a.m. for the family Fall round up. Dad got all the cows in by himself to the upper hill pen but needed help bringing them down to the lower pen. I arrived at 3:15 p.m. and we started right away. After being dropped off at the upper hill pen with Molly and Bo (dad’s ranch dogs) we waited 5 minutes for dad to open the gates down the hill and then we brought the final group of cows and calves down the hill. Unfortunately one cow was a professional escape artist and she escaped through a patch job in the fence. Actually the cow was not an escape artist but a quality control administrator that likes to test whether the fences are good or bad. Except the one escapee we were able to get the rest of the cows and calves into the lower pen.
• 6:00 pm ate a delicious meal fixed by my mom.
• Later mom and I went to the phone store to get cell phone plane updated and get a new phone.

10/4/08
• Got up at 6:00 a.m.
• Arrived at the ranch at 7:00 a.m. and it was raining.
• Dad, myself and a family friend separated the cows from the calves. Not to mention a little help from Molly. Bo supervised on the side. Bo is considered a pet while Molly, a Blue Healer, is considered a working dog and she's pretty good. She’s still young and hasn’t perfected her skills but I have to admit it’s quite a site to see her work. She was wired with adrenaline from the moment we started to the moment we ended.
• Our vet showed up at 8:50 a.m. and we were ready to preg-test the cows. It took 1.5 hours because of some chute malfunctions and we had a lot of cows.
• Once we were done with the cows we broke for lunch. Mom cooked up some cheeseburgers and they were delicious.
• After lunch we went back to work caring for the calves. This took 1-2 hours since we had more chute malfunctions and other tasks.
• Once we were all done we separated some of the cows and then we fed all the animals.
• For dinner we had another delicious meal, this time the main course was meat loaf.
• After dinner dad went to bed. Mom and I decided to watch the movie John Adams with Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. What a GREAT movie. I suggest everyone rent or buy this movie and watch it. Especially during this time of year with the presidential election around the corner.
• Finally went to bed around 10:00 p.m.

10/5/08
• Got up at 6:00 a.m. and spent an hour looking for my wallet that was knocked into a crack between the washer and hot water heater. The story of how it got there is too long and no big deal.
• When I arrived at the ranch chaos had begun. The cows and bull were OUT, not good at all! Somebody, maybe me, left a gate open and half the heard found the hole. Luckily after some quick actions we were able to get most of the lost heard back. After some more separating we finally loaded some cows in the trailer to haul to the auction.
• I followed Dad most of the way as he drove to the auction and then separated to go help my Grandma with some yard work. At her house I probably ate more then worked. She fixed up some good BLT’s.
• After working at Grandma's house, I packed up my stuff, said bye to my mom and started back to Chico. On my way back I stopped by a cousin’s house and he gave me some tomatoes!
• Luckily I made it back in time for a presentation to Alpha Phi.

It’s now Monday, October 6, 2008 and it’s time to return to the website. Stay tuned and have a good week.

Like Porky Pig said from Looney Tunes, “That’s all folks!”

-Andrew

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It's currently 4:08 a.m. on October 1, 2008. After some hours trying this out and simplifying the directory I think it's coming together. I still need to fill the following menues: Advertise, Making History, and Terms of Service...there is probably more. Time to get some sleep but need to get this done...we'll see.

-AFR

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