I thought that it would be interesting to post blogs that are more inline with my current life. What I mean by that is I am still working on my PhD dissertation, and I have been making a lot of graphs lately. So without further adieu, here is my life in graphs, installation #1.

Figure 1 (click on the image for greater detail) shows the recorded air temperature in Andover, MN, on January 2, 2010 (red) along with my personal displeasure index (green). The data was collected at the weather station located nearest my residence. Minnesota has been experiencing lower than normal temperatures and this Saturday morning was no exception. The lack of insulating cloud cover is the most important temperature factor. The temperature curve shows a decrease until around 7:00AM corresponding to dawn where the minimum temperature reached -18F. The temperature rose throughout the day until dusk at 4:30PM started the ensuing decline. An independent reference point (blue) corresponding to a local bank marquis temperature reading of -22F at 8:08AM, implying a significant local temperature variation.

The reason the bank temperature is reported is because at the time I was driving with my friend Brad past the financial institution. As you may know from recent blog posts and Facebook status updates, Brad's drivers's side window was broken during a theft on New Years Day while visiting in Minnesota. We were taking the minivan on a forty-five minute drive to have the window replaced at the nearest automotive glass replacement facility on a Saturday after a holiday. My personal displeasure index is also plotted in Figure 1. This index was created by me to gauge perceived levels of human experience traditionally defined as being negative: physical discomfort, rage, emotional distress, etc. The displeasure metric is scaled where a value of one (termed neutral displeasure) for a typically level-headed person corresponds to equal desire to punch someone in the face as to spend a night in jail or watch a movie starring Robin Williams. The index is a subjective metric.

The displeasure index for me remained neutral until I awoke and realized that the glass replacement was the first item on my agenda for the day. The peak index value of 25 occurred simultaneously with the event of me reading the local bank temperature and realizing that Brad and I were embarking on a long, mostly-highway venture in sub-zero temperature in a vehicle with the window down. The index plummets shortly thereafter when the window was fixed and remained neutral throughout the remainder of the day. A dip below one is seen between 6:00PM and 9:00PM when the Ludwigs, Karen, and I treated ourselves to a lovely Texas Roadhouse dinner (minus the children) to aid in the emotional recovery of recent theft and destruction of personal articles.