Servant Engineering

Servant Engineering is a class at George Fox University.  The class is setup in teams of about four students who are given projects to work on to better human life.  Our group has been assigned the project of an upright system or machine for the Providence Center for Medically Fragile Children.  The children in this hospital are severely disabled.  Our team will design an apparatus to help the nurses get the children in and out of bed into wheel chairs and back.

A second project has the goal of making it possible for the children to be upright during a part of the day.  Currently they spend most of their days laying down or in wheel chairs.  With use of a hoist system the children will be able to be put into a harness, which we will design, so they can be upright for some part of the day.  The doctors and nurses believe that this will gain brain activity for the children while they act in the environment around them.

This should be an exciting project that aims to help many in the Portland area.

Please visit the George Fox University Engineering Departments website on Servant Engineering:

www.engr.georgefox.edu/ServantEngineering/

Donut Land

An American dream come true.  There are two donut (or doughnut) shops across the street from each other in Tualatin, Oregon.  The two shop names are the Donut King and Donut Land.  Judging by the name it would seem like the Donut King would have pastry making supremcy, however, I decided to meet my brother at Donut Land on Friday morning for some coffee and donuts.  Sitting in the first booth next to the window I could look across the street at Donut King as I ate my Donut Land maple bar. 

 

Seeing two donut shops so close together was funny to me until I began to think about how many Starbucks there are.  In Clackamas, Oregon there is a Safeway with a Starbucks and a Starbucks outside the Safeway in the same connecting strip mall. It seems to me that two coffee shops owned by the same company might have trouble staying in business in such close proximity; but I am very wrong.  They have been open for years and don't seem to be slowing.  In Seattle I think I saw three Starbucks on one corner downtown.

I was glad to spend time with my brother over coffee and dounts.  We joked about how Donut King wasn't getting as much business as Donut Land, but I hope they both shops stay in business.

I would greatly recommend this place.  I am going to have a hard time eating any other donut.  $1.80 for a coffee and a great maple bar isn't too bad either.  

Google Maps to Donut Land