I could weeks ago I picked up a new heater I thought I'd try for heating under my desk.  I saw a flat panel device and saw it was designed so that it could be mounted on a wall.  I was so impressed with it's heat output, I decided I'd try it in the box.  It worked fantastic.  The wall mounts old it about 1" away from the wall, directly over the ventilation fan.  It provides radiant heat and doesn't get very hot itself.  And none of the surfaces in the box get hot as well, although noticeable warmer.  The heater takes just a few minutes to warm the box up.  It is a better setup then the oil filled heater--warms up faster and small profile.
   A few days latter, installed a thermostat in the box.  The device I bought was the cheapest thermostat I could find that would switch 120 volts--furnace thermostats switch 12 VDC and a relay in the furnace switches the AC.  This thermostat was designed for base-board heaters.  I followed the directions and had it wired in no time.  But I found the heater never shut off.  The switch on/off worked, but the temperature settings left the thermostat always on.  This model thermostat had two independent switches because it can switch both 120 and 240 loads--and for 240, one uses both switches.  Since I was switching 120, I decided to try the other set.  Sure enough, that worked. 
   I found that setting the temperature to 60 F (15.5 C) creates a perfect sleeping environment.  I think the actual temperature in the box is a little warmer, but maybe 60 really is a good sleeping temperature.  The only down side is that I have to get out in the morning, and it sure isn't 60 F outside that box!
   In the picture, you can see the flat panel heater in the center right, and the thermostat in the center, far left.

   Tazz is explaining logarithms to Noah.  Shall I give you an example? 

In a nut shell: What power do I have to raise 2 in order to get 64?  Or, 2^x = 64, solve for x.  In this question is the basis of a logarithms.  The 2^x = 64 can also be expressed, x = log₂( 64 ) = 6, because 2⁶ = 64.

Which is bigger: 2⁶⁴ or 10⁴⁰ Classic pre-calc problem, and the problem Tazz is explaining to Noah.
To solve, we will use the identity ln( a^x ) = x ln( a )
Therefore, 2⁶⁴ < 10⁴⁰
Computing 2⁶⁴ isn't enough to overflow a calculator with 20 digits.  But if you wanted to see if 3¹⁰⁰⁰ is larger then 4⁷⁰⁰ then using a logarithm is a better option. 

How many digits are in 3¹⁰⁰⁰?  Again... let's use a logarithm.  Log in base 10, or log₁₀, will tell us how many digits are in a number.  Why?  Think about this.  10³ = 10 * 10 * 10 = 1000--4 digits.  10⁸= 100,000,000--9 digits.  So digits = %u230Alog₁₀( n )%u230B + 1. 
So 3¹⁰⁰⁰ has 478 digits.  A more general formula is for the digits in a^x is d = %u230Aa * log₁₀(  x  )%u230B + 1

One last problem, which I've had to do: what is 3.14^2.71?  .
If you are clever, you may have asked "That's great, but how do you calculate ln and e?".  Turns out that this isn't all that hard, but that's for an other article.

   I invested in more heating equipment in an attempt to keep warm in the basement.  Among the items was a heater you place your feet on.  It doesn't draw much power--less then 100 watts--but it pretty nice.  For me, as with many people, if my feet get cold, I feel cold.  So this is a big help.

   It is quite cold outside, and my basement is a bit on the drafty side.  I covered the windows with plastic--all but one was boarded up anyway, but that didn't seem to help much.  I noticed when walking up the stairs that the stairwell was the coldest place in the basement.  One day I noticed I felt a steady breeze.  Somehow, there is a connection to the outside world in the stairwell.  When the wind blows outside, it blows down here too.  Time to get a can of expanding foam and knock this problem out :)

   This is Squeak.  Sadly, Squeek wasn't alive much longer after this picture.  We knew we had mice shortly after moving in, and made some preparations.  Among them were adhesive traps and poison pellets.  While talking in the kiction with my roommate, Squeak started walking across the floor.  I tossed down some bread crumbs, but she wasn't too interested.  But she also didn't run away.  In fact, she seemed completely oblivious to our presents, even when I scooped her up in a jar.  Squeak was twitching and would often roll when trying to walk.  My guess is that she has eaten the poison pellets, and we were seeing the effects of nerve damage.  It seemed a terrible death, so Squeak was euthanized shortly after this picture was taken to spare her any more suffering.

   The aloe plant has moved from my work to the basement.  I don't have a light in my cube, so I'm going to have to get one if I want to talk my aloe back to work.  It needed a bigger pot anyway.  So it moved in with the chive.  The chive was doing really bad because of the move.  It was sitting upstairs, but not getting enough light at all.  It is coming back pretty good though.  Several new sprouts that are standing straight up.  So that's a good sign.  Nice thing about that which is alive--it likes to stay that way.  Good things when you have no gardening skills :)

   Someone doesn't know how to drive in the snow.  The last couple days have been a bit of a challenge.  My tires are all in need of replacement, and Eve isn't very heavy.  So there are some places were I need a running start so I don't get stuck.  So far she's done really well.  Takes a while to get up to speed, but I'm never in a hurry when the roads are like this.  The only problem I do have is one I can't really control--people love to pull in front of me.  Perhaps they are linked to that terrorist deer that took out my truck (*ponders*).