The other day I was doing some routine testing on one of the pediatric portable x-ray units (a Siemens Mobilette Hybrid XP). When I looked at the kV and radiation output wave form, I saw this odd stepping behaviour (radiation output wave form is the green line).
Normally I expect to see a pretty flat curve, maybe a little bit of a decline depending on the type of generator. While I don’t know the particulars about the Mobilette’s generator, I’m thinking at least part of it is a capacitive discharge type generator, which would explain the drops. I’m going to have to investigate this a little more to see if it’s normal.
When does winter get here?
4 days before Christmas and it reached 23°C today.
Forecast calls for rain through the weekend but it’s still going to be in the 20s for Christmas. While the warm weather is nice, it’s just so un-Christmas-y. It’s weird and unnatural. Unnatural I say!
Five little known things
Heather hit me with this. I’m not sure I know 5 people that read this blog to tag though. I’m not even sure there are 5 little known things about me. I’m sure there are, but I already know them. I just don’t know if other people know them. I guess I’ll just pick out a few random things that I think people might not know.
- I volunteer at the SC Aquarium about every other weekend. I work with the birds: preparing diets, cleaning out their cages, setting them out on display. It’s a lot different from what I normally do which is probably why I enjoy it.
- I played viola for about 8 years between grades 4-11. I was pretty good at it too and probably would have been better had I practiced a little more.
- I used to be an avid road cyclist back home in Edmonton. With all the bike trails criss-crossing the city and the river valley, it’s a great place to ride. It started with a high school bike trip through the Rockies around the Jasper National Park area. I haven’t ridden since I moved to the US though.
- I didn’t own my first car until I was 26, when I moved to Detroit. Before that I either rode my bike where ever I needed to go or took the bus. I knew my way around town better on a bike than I did in a car.
- I started my undergrad career with the plan of getting into theoretical astrophysics. Stellar and galactic evolution was something I found very interesting. But like most undergrads, I ended up changing my mind and deciding that medical physics would be a much more interesting field.
I think I’ll try tagging (if any of them are reading…):
A dog and his bone
<img src=”/images/Simba/PC180010.jpg” height=”377 width=”400″ />
Holiday LED cheer
