Knash, PV and fake Gatorade.

My family got Knash, a German Shephard mix, over 10 years ago, when she was about 4 months old, from the animal shelter. I love that dog to death. And we were watching her while my dad was in Florida, graduating with his master's degree. But when I got home yesterday, after work to get Knash ready for my dad, I couldn't find her. We looked outside in the backyard, all in the closets in the house, the bathtub, under the bed, we checked with the neighbours...nothing. Our dog, the Pepper, was still here, but no Knash. I feel really bad. I mean, crushed. We were supposed to give her back Monday, originally, but Tannah had family in town, and so we pushed it off till Tuesday. Then Tuesday came so I had school (photovoltaics 1) and so it got pushed off till Wednesday. Come home Wednesday, and she's gone. My dad is absolutely devastated. While I was at class tonight, he and my sister Kelsrin and Tannah put up signs around the neighbourhood. It made me sad to look at them.

PV (photovoltaics) is an awesome class. I'm getting really interested in solar energy and other alternative forms of power. I'm learning about efficiency of irradiance and all, how that ties in to create voltage and amperage, and it's stupid easy to install...designing them, however, is totally different. Alot of variables, and we'll go into that in PV 2, in August. I talked to Tannah about making our home more "green" and he's for it. I think we'll start with straw bale insulation, maybe, if it's feasible, a solar water heater, and a power factor regulator. I mean, it's a start. Then we can move into reflective windows, sealants, the like. Maybe full-solar power can work out, then.

Other news: the shit-water at work. We were filling our water today and as far as water goes, it's not gourmet. But after I had placed ours on the 17th floor, I get a call saying to check it, some of the apprentices' water is green-tinted, like lemon-lime Gatorade. Mine looked okay, but I was paranoid, because about a month ago, the water was brown and no one seemed to care. (I care, I have to drink it.) So anyway, I decided to dump the water, and at about that time, the general foreman calls my foreman (who told me it's fine, get back to work) to take all the water off the job, it's contaminated. When I got to the lay-down yard where our water tap is, there's the safety guys, the water department guy testing it, and a shitload of apprentices, cursing about the foul stench coming from the water most of us had been drinking all morning. Well to make a really long story short, some foremen got together and filled our contaminated jugs with clean Sparkletts water, which really defeats the purpose, and entire crews walked off the job. It was pretty interesting.