A fine howdy-doo

Welcome all to a brief glimpse at the Allen family. Our purpose in setting this up is to keep in touch with our friends and acquaintances as well as provide everyone a look into our world.

I'll let Julia handle most of the family-related posts as I'm up to my ears with school. For those of you that do not know, I am finishing up my Masters degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering, with an emphasis on applied hydraulics and water resources management. With any luck, I'll graduate at the beginning of May.

I say that because I am very behind on my thesis. I have been doing a lot of research and testing regarding the use of commercially available residential water meters in secondary water applications. In other words, I'm taking the meter that tells the city how much water you use every month in your house and putting a similar one in your yard to find out how much water you use to water the lawn, wash the car, etc. As many of you are aware, the world is in a bit of a water crisis currently and conservation is a big push. My results should provide utilities a way to help with that conservation.

Sadly, some of the equipment that is necessary for testing just barely showed up at my office. It was supposed to be here two weeks ago (it's been on order for three months!). My thesis must be turned in no later than April 7 in order to graduate on time, so here's to hoping I can get everything taken care of!