I didn't get a single trick-or-treater this evening--guess that means I get to eat all the candy I was going to give them.  Spent most of the evening preparing a study guide for an exam on Wednesday with scary movies in the background.
   Just for the heck of it, I decided to give myself a typing speed test.  I did two tests, and both placed me over 60 words/min.  I can live with that.

   October in late October!

   Maggie, Amber, October and I went on our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch and Edward's Apple Orchard.  It is a trip I look forward to all month, and it was a lot of fun.  We had origionly planned to do this trip last weekend, but had to cancel.  With rain forecast for tomorrow, I knew we had to do the trip today.  It was chilly, but the skies were sunny and the fall colors still in full effect.
   This year's trip was also made by little October.  She likely won't remember this trip (or the next couple), but she seemed content sleeping through most the day.

   Show tonight at the Disaster House in Rockford.  The DH crew has a fine punk house, and they often put on good shows.  Pictured is myself, Chelsea (whom is playing with my hair), and Luca (in the bottom right corner) all squished onto a couch in the basement.  Picture by Crystal.

   Pictured is a wind turbine in the Blue Sky Green Field wind farm.  There were two wind farms on the way to Manitowoc, and this one was very close to us.  As we approached, Amber asked if we get closer to one of the turbines—something I had very much wanted to do. Although I have stopped at two wind farms in the past, I've never been next to a turbine while it was running, and had always wondered how it sounds.  With a steady breeze, all the turbines were turning steadily.  Doing a simple second count, I estimated they were turning about 15 RPM.  After reading about the field, I found I was fairly close—they turn at 14.4 RPM.
   After a fuel stop, we found our way to the pictured turbine.  Standing about 100 feet from the tower, I could hear a slight "swoop" sound as the blades went by, but it was more faint than the sound of the wind in the corn field we were surrounded.  After taking a couple pictures, Amber and I discovered something that turned out to be a lot of fun.  Looking directly up at the spinning turbine, you could see a massive 134 foot (40 meter) blade coming directly down at you, then turn up and out of the way.  We both laid down on the ground to stair up at this phenomena—it  was like being on a carnival ride.
   This tower stands 162 feet (50 meters), and can generate 1,650,000 watts.  Under the tower you couldn't hear the passing of the blades, nor the 60 Hz hum of the transformer over the sound of the wind.  I was already a fan of wind power, but this experience has made me even more so.  What a great way to make electricity.

   Amber and I went to Manitowoc for the day and visited the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.  Despite a strong wind and a touch of rain, we also walked out to the Manitowoc Breakwater Lighthouse.

   Student orientation today at UW-Madison, and I was required to go.  My last required meeting was extremely productive, and resulted in me signing up for classes.  Orientation, not so much.  Despite being a transfer student, we sat through several people talking about how one makes it as a student at UW.  I folded my napkin into a paper crane, and a postcard on academic requirements into a fancy airplane.
   The second part of orientation moved us around to several group were we could find information about joining research projects, studying abroad, ext.  While more useful, I found I had learned most of this information in the sign-up for classes.
   Once done with orientation it was time for something I had to do: finding my classes.  The campus, to say the least, is much larger than UW-Rock County.  I had printed out my class scheduled, and a map (which printing quite poorly) of where each of the buildings were.  So I biked around to each of them, found a good bike rack (all the buildings had good racks) and searched for the class rooms I would be using.
   Some of the buildings are fantastic.  One of the buildings had a physics museum with a bunch of demos I had to play with.  By far the oddest building was the Humanities building, which I think was designed to be a hybrid labyrinth, and 1950ies sci-fi set.  It took me awhile to find my class rooms, but it was an interesting tour.
   After that, it was off to the bookstore.  I had put this off probably too long, but it needed to be done.  Naturally they were out of one of the books I needed.
   So once all this traveling was complete, it was time to head back home.  Madison is an easy city to bicycle.  Many of the one-way roads, and closed areas to motorists are still accessible by bike, and I found it makes biking easier than driving.  All day there was a huge quantity of foot traffic—people everywhere.  Yet was an easy coexistence between cyclists and pedestrians.
   The weather was awful with temperatures in the 90ies, and I returned home a sweat monster, but it was a good endurance test.  I will not be required to bike this long with my backpack for classes, and the heat is probably as bad as I am ever going to encounter.  And tomorrow, the first day of class...