To the Infinite and Beyond

Generativity

2009-03-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

As I recall from high school psych (the class, not the thing people do where they're about to throw things at you), "generativity" is the phenomenon that occurs when a member of an older generation, in the pangs of losing their youth and wishing to do SOMETHING with the wisdom they've gleaned over the eons, attempts to take the youngsters under his wing, showing them his mistakes and giving them lots of advice that they will most likely ignore. The freshman class of MIT is in a similar situation: we have talked with potential applicants, who will know for sure this Saturday (Pi Day, of all ironies), we have given them our stories, and we have squeed in remembrance of a time when we were in their shoes. Unbeknowst to those pre-frosh hopefuls, we are also undergoing our own sort of maturation: the pressure is on to select majors. MIT requires students to declare a major at the end of their freshman year, so that one can get to their personally-opined "good major stuff" within the following year. This means big decisions, lots-o-pressure, general life angst, acute anxiety, more crap to do in the evening.... In other words, nothing new.
All in, mighty winds are blowing this spring.
Things I'm looking forward to:

Spring Break--gawin a stay round herr and get my sand together. Is it sad that whereas most people think bikinis and sunshine y mucha cerveza,. I get excited about an opportunity to build things and start making course Bibles?
Building a boat-- 4th WAR has decided that the blue plastic, SEARS shopping cart we stole from the basement would make a wonderful boat. How do we make it river-worthy? Wrap it in bubble wrap... It should work, according to Bernouli's equation, and we can get really fancy and even add a wee motor on the bottom.
Publsihing Slander-- As secretary of Senior House, it is my primary duty to collect, organize, and publish SLANDER, a little booklet that comes out and brightens days during Finals Week by taking embarrassing quotes entirely out of context (My roommate: "It feels nice when I rub against it!"). Getting people to contribute a sufficient amount of material is the key.
CPW-- The Senior House Zombie Defense Initiative is holding some workshops (boffer weapons, anyone?). Also, I might get a prefrosh, which helps with the whole generativity thing.
Steer Roast-- Massive happy fun tyme.
Covering realtivity in 8.022-- Okay, so I'm not in the class, but the lectures are flippin' brilliant, and worth the time. I've always wanted to learn about it, and what better context than a Fizix course?
Building an underwater robot-- For an Intro to Engineering Design class. Our design is SCHWEEEET.
Bouldering-- I'm registered for a PE class for indoor rock climbing. Learn to belay, climb every week, good stuffs.
Helping in getting a tarantula-- Wilheim's parents said yes! He's planning to name it Morty.
Free time to play more with SolidWorks-- Wait, what's free time? Oh, yes, Spring Break... (Happy thoughts... My version of palm trees and sarongs...)

That's all for now: Physics reading awaits. Ciao and Good Luck!

The Madness Resumes

2009-02-17T19:28:00.000-08:00

It is 2230 on a Tuesday that spent all its time pretending to be Monday, and I just got out of class and my hands smell like solder. I must be at MIT.
I'm rather happy with my arrangement for the Spring: mostly excellent classes, AKA ones that involve hands-on building rather than sitting in a lecture hall talking about building.
See my schedule...
As you can see, Mondays are even more hellacious than they are normally wont to be due to their unfortunate timing in the workweek. Due to MIT holidays and calendar recalculations, however, we got to have this Monday off. But nay, should we miss those dear, dear classes (*cough*18.02 Recitation *Clutch stomach and groan*), we got to pretend Tuesday was Monday and run around with no viable excuse of a crazy weekend to explain away how miserable we were. Y ahora, es diez y media, y se termina. Ay.
What is new? Then again, what is old? What is time, and who are we to say...?
http://www.y outube.com/watch?v=Yheo2AgNywU&feature=related
IAP passed like happiness in the form of a warm gun, leaving fond memories but even more unfinished business. I've still got lots-o-SolidWorking to do, and still have to finish that mill cover. I've also, at the coniving peer pressure of my friend Wilheim, become addicted to the cancelled TV show "Firefly," which holds its own in the inexorably unique genre of "Space Western." Made by the same folk who made Dr. Horrible, the thing I enjoy abou it the most is that its universe is so complete and so well-drawn that I can look at Nathan Fillion (also of Dr. Horrible fame) and NOT think "This is not the hammer." Now to rid someone's mind of that classic buffoon moment is sheer acting ability.
Unfortunately, only the good die young, and the show was pulled off-air after only 10 episodes because of silly Producer Primadonnery. It only reached such cult status after it came out on DVD and has been hailed as the one of the best cancelled TV shows in Sci-Fi history. Here's to you, Serenity...
In other news, things here on campus are all affrighted and a-fightin', both on the dorm and school-wide level.
Senior Haus is having a hell of a time planning for Steer Roast this year because of some of the raccuous celebrations of some random wankers who gate-crashed last year. Steer Roast, for those not yet converted to the Ways of the Haus, is the largest alumni event at MIT, where not only Senior Haus alumni but East Campus and overall interesting crusty ole alums pack the SH courtyard for a 3-day long picnic, music fest, and relaxation to the nth degree. However, some humorless dean types seem to think that the glory that is Steer Roast should not happen this year, for aforementioned reasons. The Haus officers have been working since November to draw up documents and references and policies and tracts (and preserve the SH way of maintaining no constitution, a feeble means of self-governance that other dorms cling to) to show that we are Nice Boys and Girls, but the battle continues on, and planning must begin months in advance for such a huge event. It must happen, or certain Senior folk will be most upset. Upset enough to not contribute when they're big and rich and famous.

(By the way, I think I might become secretary of Senior Haus. Hey, looks good on a resume...)
Outside of the Haus (there's an outside?), there has been a big debate--well, more of a scandal--involving campus dining options. It all began when the Blue Ribbon Committee, a pretentious wank-worthy little club made of faculty and a few students from out of the woodwork somewhere, spent dwindling MIT funds to get an outside consultant to evaluate the MIT dining situation. (Currently, there are some dorms, mainly West Campus, that have dining halls, but most are never open. Mainly students eat at the Student Center, or cook themselves. These are all figgin' expensive...but that's Boston.) This was fine and good, except the consultant, rather than being wholly scientific about the process, allowed MIT administrators to edit the report without the BRC even knowing it was finished. A student spotted a copy on an admin's desk, the Committee was mad, and after someone leaked the results to the entire school through dorm emails, the entire place went to hell. Emergency meetings were called, Beuraucratic crapola ensued, and students were left marvelling how their opinions--mainly echoing the entirely subtle and polite utterance YOUR MOM, MANDATORY DINING!--were so totally misconstrued. I breify attended a protest between classes today, which has at least prompted some "reassuring" emails from admin types, but we shall see...
I hope they don't make us waste money on disgusting dinners 3 times a week. I lurve me cooking...
Well, I best be goin and a-doin me Spanish. Still gotta find a textbook. Es nesecario....para manana...
Gracias y hasta luego!
Y entonces, una gaciosa...

Finals, Christmas, Mystery Hunt, Inaguration, and T-slotted Aluminum: the fun ends WHERE?

2009-01-20T16:48:00.001-08:00

Greetings, all, and welcome back from a break from the Bruhaha, a chasm in the craziness, a hiatus from Hell. I hope break was fabulous: mine was completely lacking in productivity and abounding in far too much sleep. After an entire semester of sleeping a maximum of five hours a night, I've been pulling easy 12-hour blocks of sleep, both during break and at present, during IAP. Neither is healthy; both must change for next semester.

Recap of events upon resettlement in Cambridge:

Guy on hall and I decide that a tarantula would be an awesome pet. After locating a boutique at which such arachnids are retailed, we embark into Boston at 6:00 for the Pet Shop that closes at 8:00. Go the wrong way off of the T, end up 2 miles away. The freezing rain is rather a deterrent from walking there, so we wait for the bus due to come in 10 minutes. Time=t=7:20. After 50 minutes of waiting in the freezing rain, we figure the Pet Shop is probably closed, free food is being distributed at Senior Haus, and those spiders are escaping nowhere. We go home, but should go back sometime soon... They also sell hedgehogs...
After harassing my roommate by waking her up with a Red Snapper (frozen and deceased, obviously, and obtained thusly from Haymarket) in her face, we decide we need to do something nice for her. The same guy and I go the next morning to Burrick's chocolate in Harvard Square, the best chocolate place in Boston, and buy her a large dark chocolate hot cocoa, reheat it at the dorm, and give it to her when she wakes up. Somewhat nicer than a fish. It's sometimes fun to be decent.
Went to a Celtic music festival in Harvard Square. Had jigs and reels on the brain for the rest of the weekend.
Played in a Guild game, Athens, written by my friend and an MIT blogger, where I was cast as a feministic, orphaned, double-dealing, pyromaniac Ithacan diplomat. I set half the city on fire, made Sparta and Athens go to war, and resurrected the avatar of Athena. I then went home for some soup. I heart Assassin's Guild.
Been working with a Mech E. lab, where I basically get to use cool tools and learn about crazy devices. Just finishing a safety cover for a mill, about to help another UROP with stress gauges, and still looking forward to using the 3-D printer...
This last weekend was MYSTERY HUNT, a three-day long puzzle-solving marathon where sleep and hygeine runs low and adrenaline (cough) runs high. My longest stretch was from noon to 0930. I enjoyed it when it was fast-paced and invigorating, which was most of the time because I signed on with Project Electric Mayhem, a team full of alums and cruft and competent folk from tEp and 4th WAR. There were also points where the insanity of the puzzles was simply and utterly depressing. Don't believe me? http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/hunthistory.htm Look at the solutions, and brace your mind.
Coming soon: a 10-day long Guild game! I'm not playing, since I'll be out of town for the last three days (the equivalent of sitting through the entire Lord of the Rings film series, then leaving right before the battle of Pelenorr Fields. Or learning basic Calculus, but dropping the class before integration. Or learning woodworking, without picking up a power tool. Or... I'm out of examples), but I agreed to help in an NPC (non-player character) capacity. This basically means that I'll be the monster the players must fight, or the random town person who is slaughtered at the meeting, or a general informant. The plot of this game is Thebes, so it takes place in Ancient Egypt, where the pharoh has just kicked the bucket and left no apparent heir. Battles and treachery and overarching selfishness ensues!
Along those same lines, I shaln't be in town at the end of the month. Why, you ask? SNOWBOARDING, I say! SUNDAY RIVER! SNOW! GLORIOUS! ESG, my study group is having a three-day trip up to Maine, staying in a house close by, and egaging in maximum redonk-o-liciousness (Ashley Nash's word, upon seeing the trail map).
Also, LSC, a organization that began by wooing famous venerable heads to come and lecture but now shows popular movies because it's more profittable, is doing a SCI-FI marathon, including Jurassic Park, Dr. Who, and Planet of the Apes. Can we say, "WIN!"

That concludes my tirade and wankery. Thanks for listening, and stay in touch!

Words, Not Numbers

2008-12-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

I still maintain that, if in the tender, carefree days of kindergarten when naps were frequent and (toy) dinosaurs ruled the land, you had told me that the most complicated math I would ever see would only involve numbers below ten and a whole bunch of letters, I would call you the most graphic explicative my 5-year-old mind could compute: probably something along the lines of "Poopy Pants." Yes, I have been staring at math in the form of letters, upper- and lowercase, Greek and Roman, symbols and syntax, for the past 2 weeks in preparation for finals, so I thought I would take a brief repose and play with some actual words again-- and NOT just numbers in disguise. One doesn't realize how much one misses the Written Word until a dorm mate asks one to read and edit a paper, and one finds oneself having far more fun thinking of five different words for "influence" than calculating one's net income in the present game of "Illuminati." OR, until one realizes one's poetry analysis papers are shit, because one knows not how to write anymore. Writing was my BS ticket in here (thank you, admissions essays!), and I'm not giving it up until I have a BS ticket out. (We get Bachelor of Science degrees here, even if you're a lit major. SCIENCE!!!)

A poem for the Festive Season:

"The Interdenominational Winter Solstice Break is coming,
The myriad chances for free food is making freshmen fat.
Please drop 80,000.00 dollars in the
Collective college student's financial planning hat.

"Our retirements are fading, our dividends shrinking, economy's in the hole,
At least until we need breadlines, we've got nightly pizza in our cereal bowls."

"For the GRT's are caring, and offer lasagnas, Chinese-- Finals dinners for free,
But only a few offer the consequential open heart surgery

To unclog our aortas, our blood vessels, our brains,
It's course 9 meets course 15: These're Economic Pains!"

What's meter? What's diction? Enjambments for EVERYBODY!!!
By this time tomorrow night, the semester will be OVER. CAPUT. NO MORE. CEASED TO BE. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it'd be pushing up the daisys, THIS is an EX-
Sorry. And now for something completely different. Winter break.
I'm looking forward to seeing my dog.
I'm looking forward to seeing people.
I'm not looking forward to the fact that my smelly glider in the basement is gone.
I'm not looking forward to feeling like I'm visiting Hotel Rosser after (this is exact, I counted) 6 MONTHS and 1 WEEK away from home.
I'm not looking forward to not being able to cook what I want, in whatever atrocious amount of butter I want it in.
I'm not looking forward to being griped at for not wearing a coat.
I am looking forward to snow--Boston is astounding us with 60 degree (F) days!
I am looking forward to woods and frolicking in them.
I am looking forward to not having to wear shower shoes to avoid the FUNgus monsters.
I am not looking forward to going to a place with no murals and no Sport Death hoodies (although THAT could change....).
I am looking forward to getting blank stares in exchange to the first internet meme, calculus, or bad Chem joke.
I will have to adjust to not having everyone burst into peals of laughter with any "That's what she said" moment...
I will have to stop referring to things by number, as EVERYTHING is here. (Ex: I'm sitting typing on Athena in level 0 of building 14, getting ready for a 18.01 final at 0900 in 24-620, important for course 2, but a GIR so it's hella-important. And feeling 1337...)

And we come full circle (that's a^2 = x^2 + y^2 for those parametric semantics out there) to the primary topic, "Words, Not Numbers", and why I still need to blog.
QED.
The End.

The Exams are Coming II ! In 3-D! (Forget the Holy Water-- Where's the Gasoline?)

2008-12-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

So, the culmination of all things thus far doth approacheth. The studying must begineth. People paniceth. There are 8 days of actual class left before the end of all things-AKA: Finals. Shudder and gag. I think things will be fine: I've got a plan laid out for studying time, creating bibles, going to review sessions. Sticking to that plan will prove the difficult part: time is constrained now that I have a UROP. Oh yeah, by the way, I have a UROP- Undergraduate Research Opportunity. I'm working in a Mech. E. lab, helping with the literal dozen projects they've got going, running data on soldering connections in the near future, and becoming a guru with the 3-D printer. It's a big, shiny toy capable of big (or small), shiny things. They've become widespread only recently, since they've become much cheaper, and they're nifty things to have about a Mech E. lab, especially, because they can fabricate anything you can draw on a computer. The process is verbatim as follows: Hey, I need a part shaped like this. Click click, drag drag. Print! 3 minutes and some time for the lowly UROP (your's truly) to scrape off the resin, and you have the part in the polymer material of your choice, ready to use in the crazy device you're scheming up. As we're fond of proclaiming in the East Campus dorms, "SCIENCE!" This, by the way, is an excerpt from xkcd, a nerdy webcomic that's great for procrastinating--I mean, it's time management website feature...
Thanksgiving, that American holiday of...wait, it's the only one...has come and gone, only decidedly more corporate. Lots of people went home, Sarah Palin didn't pardon the turkeys, a guy got trampled at a Wal-Mart--a great year, overall. I had a metric butt-tonne of work to do and no inclination to pay an arm and leg for a plane ticket, so I stayed up here, going over to a friend's house in Watertown for dinner. And getting more dinner from Aunt Marcy the Too Kind of Weston later. And learning lots of SolidWorks for the UROP. Life is good.
Life is good for this kid! We, as a people, should kick things more often. Come on, everyone, turn to your neighbor and fire away! You'll feel better, promise...
Life is very good. I like life.
I have also not yet had a final...
Until then, ciao. Always keep on the Bright Side of Life...

Brain Dump: Proceed at your own Risk

2008-11-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

Haven't time for a full-blown entry (sorry, but there's a reason time is the x-factor in ANY plot encountered in life), but I need a brain-dump before I embark on profound analysis of Wordsworth.

So here goes, in the self-centered mien of "The Prologue":

-I don't read enough any more. I recognize, and have for some time, that reading and the excess of it that I did got me here, and I need to pay tribute to the muses of my scholarship. Sacrificing a kitten, although it would be fun, is generally frowned upon in contemporary society as means of placating muses: perhaps my roommate will work instead... Or I could just get this time managment monkey off my back and grit my teeth and read a book. A good book. Still haven't finished "Hitchhikers'."

- I wonder what a human finger would look like after being deep-fried? Would the tendons all contract and turn it into a curled, shriveled thing, like a jumbo shrimp? Or would it stay extended, more like a bony hot dog? Would the fingernail fall off? Hmmmm...

- I helped put out a grease fire this weekend. I'm sorry, did I say one? I meant THREE. This weekend was Deli Haus, an event Senior Haus throws every year to pay homage to the Deli Haus that went defunct on Newbury Street, where punk music blared and waitresses bitched at the customers. So, we flood the basement with red light, dress as skanky, mean waitresses, and

cook up greasy, heart-stoppin' goodness--some of which catches on fire. THREE times. It happens every year, according to Eric Fogg, verteran of no less than seven Deli Hauses, but we actually had the fire alarm go off this year, summonning the friendly firemen and cheery campus police officers, who responded to the stovetop smothered with fry grease and singed baking soda by graciously pulling it from the wall and affixing a scrawled note, on official "Cambridge Police" watermaked stationary, that asked us kindly to "DO NOT USE." Good times. We unwound that night by playing "I can drink more lemon juice than you" in the 4th WAR lounge.

- I despise Chemistry. And it despises me.

- Rice wine, I have discovered, makes a stir fry.

- Never understimate the meal-type versatility of cereal.

- Parachute cord= not just for parachutes!

- I will use either blank or graph-ruled notebooks next semester-- lined paper is beginning to hurt my eyes...

- The internet is tubes.

- Why do fools fall in love?

-Does alphabet soup have the same thrill for illiterate folk?

- YouTube has its practical uses.

- British Parliment is much more fun than American Congress.

- FESTIVUS is coming! Run and hide!

And now for soemthing completely different:

The Stata Center

An Architectural Brain-Dump

It Has Come At Last: A Two-Fold Title

2008-10-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

Firstly, The Who this Friday! Day begins at 0630 with a ROTC Joint-service Field Day, then a Chem Test, then an assignment due, then THE WHO!!! Huzzah and what what and "I saw yer!"

Secondly, the other it has happened at last: I'm an official geek, according to my Fizix teacher. She was talking about Spring Force as an integral and Work function, and she looked around for a spring. She checked the whole shelf of crazy refuge accumulated over the years in ESG, including but not limited to: a giant electromagnet, a motorcycle helmet, countless defunct ampometers, and a book from the '60's on "Nomadic Furniture." She still couldn't find a spring, so I said, "I have one in my backpack." I had, for I had seen it, abandoned and cold, on the floor of the Infinite and thought it might be handy later on. She said I was a true geek. I thanked her.
Hellweek Part I over, II and III looming on the blood-streaked horizon...

Hellweek Begins: Part I, II, and III

2008-10-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

To the right: Feel the Overload...
So I'm gearing up for three solid weeks of what we call HELLWEEKS--times where exams on top of p-sets on top of reading on top of studying on top of sleep on top of whatever extracurriculars one has take precedence. In case you're not a course 18 major, that's a lot of precedence. In order to describe my life in brevity, I'm dubbing it the collective HELLWEEK PENDING, all rolled into one giant mass of Awful with the vector Suicide pointing in direction Me. This will most likely be the only post, therefore, for quite some time, hence the Parts I, II, and III.
Let's get at 'em, then...
This past weekend has served somewhat as a calm before a storm, in that we had a Monday off for Columbus Day/Suicide Prevention Day. It was also coincidentally Thanksgiving in Canada, so we decided to have a Thanksgiving Hall Feed for the one Canadian who lives on our hall. I wish somethin' fierce that I had pictures, but alas, I have no picture-taking device, so my glorious narrative will have to suffice! (Crowd of children: Hooray!) The cast: 4th Ware residents fulfilling various roles, as we first held a Canadian Thanksgiving Pageant, then eating, as we secondly held forks to our mouths.
The Pageant begins--AKA we storm into the room where people are playing board games and the Canadian is working on homework. She had no clue of any of this, by the way...:

Xiao Xiao (as Narrator)- The year is 1872 in a magical land called "Canada."
Audience- OOOHHH, Canada! (It's cold...)
Xiao Xiao- The prince of Wales has fallen awfully sick. With....Liz.
Justin (as prince of Wales, bedecked in top hat adorned with pink ribbon) and Liz (as the Sickness) enter. Justin groans. Liz sort of leeches on him and dances about. (Whoops, excuse my dialect. Aboot.)
X_X- The people of Canada are worried...
Audience (catching on)- Oh, no!
X_X- and Parliament is very sad.
Parliament (Scott, Jesse, and Me)- *Tear!*
X_X- But then... (Points finger/gun) BANG! BANG! (Sickness falls dead, Justin straightens up) The Prince got better!
Everyone- YAY!!!
X_X- Then Parliament decided that because the prince was better...
Me- We'll have a national day of Thanksgiving! EVERYBODY CELEBRATE!
X_X- And ever since, each year the Parliament tells Canadians what to be thankful for! The End!
Everyone- LET'S EAT!!!

And so ended the saga of Canadian Thanksgiving. I had a merry trek to Shaw's, the nearest grocery store, beforehand, and we had turkey burgers on bread (we're on a college budget/timetable, give us a break), gravy, some miraculous mashed potatoes with fresh parsley and cheese, maple cornbread, and some fabulous apple pie afterwards, supplied by Liz and chosen solely to be ironic... Our floor is that much fatter and closer because of it.
In other news, the election draws closer! With the intent of not spending my night on here griping about one well-learned politesse or another (if you get that song reference, you rock. And need a life), I will remain undeclared, but if you want one flamer of a politics blog, my friend and hall-mate Erik Fogg runs a great one:
www.foggofwar.com
He loves readers, and not just on toast with jam.
Have yourselves merry little autumns, and talk to you when Hellweek's over!
Viva la Senior Haus!

Hubris: the Ride

2008-09-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

Only brushed upon in past entries, I feel I must further elaborate on that "East Campus wooden roller coaster" that I mentioned in passing. It happened during Rush, and it happened in East Campus.

BEHOLD THE GLORY.

It was called Hubris: the Ride, meant to incur the wrath of Gods. It came complete with mural depicting EC set on fire as punishment for building such a shine to the Physics Gods.

I am proud to say I helped construct it, at least in its later stages (read as: closer to the date where the housing administration said to have that junk heap out of sight). The explanation behind the overwhelming appearance of Red Bull cans is that the East Campus kids, industrious blighters that they are, approached RB and asked them for a sponsorship. Red Bull said, hell no, we're not putting our name on your elaborate death machine, but here's 5 free cases of Red Bull instead. So their contribution WAS integral, just non-transferrable. So in order to prove that it was NOT a death machine, they sent the one and only guy to try it down with a can in hand. Yay, irony!
More explanation: I know the guy quaterstaff fighting the green-haired girl with a 2x2. He's got a hat. He's a neat guy.
More MORE explanation: The fireball at the end is when they decided a randomly-selected teddy bear might enjoy a ride... But the friction! We need some material as a heat-sink. Let's try LIGHTER FLUID! (Which led to, "Whoops, I spilled some on the cart! Whoops, I'm dousing some on the cart!) *

After that run, it was dismantled via crowbars, recip saws, drills, sledgehammers, and body parts that though they were much harder than they actually were, and put in a big pile by the volleyball courts. Its Dark materials live on, since many people scavenged this lumber and made sleeping lofts and tables.

Adeiu, Hubris.**

*(Note to Red Bull Corp.: Fully specialized and trained firefighting technicians, AKA, some juniors from EC, were standing by at all times with fire exsanguinators. Worry not. Please send free stuff.)

**This is an oxymoron. Don't get excited, I spotted it.

To Punt, to Tool, or Otherwise...

2008-09-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

MIT is a place of balance. For example, ART vs. FUNCTION. There was once some sort of Massachusetts ordinance that required 1% of all funds for major building projects to be dedicated to art. Because of this, our campus is dotted with arcane hunks of "modern art" scrap metal around the place, some displaying somewhat cool feats of design and engineering ("The Giant Sail"), some being just plain Ugly ("Transparent Horizons") (see this article). Sometimes these two qualities merge and make something swell (the Stata Center, Simmons Hall Dormitory), but there is a big divide between engineer's functionality and the insensibly artistic. Simmons, for example, was designed by an architect who had wanted giant concrete, free-form shafts to go up the length of the building and serve as lounges. Mr. Fire Marshal took one look at the plans and said "Flues!" Mr. Architect said "Fudge!" and consequentially divided the shafts up. He still insisted on installing bookcases full of holes, however...
Another instance where MIT totters on the brink of partiality: COLLEGE vs. INSTITVTE. Let it be known that we are here to work hard, and hard work we do. Additionally there are not many places where to plan one's Friday night itinerary, one must choose between hearing a presentation of ground-breaking research, seeing a play by a European Shakespeare troupe, or attending a lecture by the President of Rwanda. On the other hand, there exists the fourth option that not many people would believe prevalent at MIT: typical college behavior. The thing about getting inventive kids together is that they will throw increasingly more inventive parties. So far this year there has been an "Anything but Clothes" Party (my Canadian and Cuban friends were planning on wrapping themselves in their respective flags), a "Food Orgy" Party (lots of food, but you can't feed yourself!), and just this weekend, the yearly Reawakening Party (where the residents of 5th East Floor on East Campus reawaken their resident god Krotus, He Who Feeds on Suffering, by sacrificing a virgin). So yes, by day, MIT students are good little students. By night, the Big Bad College Mentality tends to shine through...
Last but not least, the most pressing, most deadly, and most precarious balance lies in the age-old battle of PUNT vs. TOOL. Immortalized on the Brass Rats of many subsequent classes, this is the balance that can make or break a student, and make or break it does. For clarification, PUNTING is MIT-ese for putting off work, studying, and any generally unpleasant thing, applicable in the sense of "I'm totally punting that P-set due in 36 hours--who wants ice cream?" or "I don't like the dentist...I think I might punt..." TOOLING, on the other hand, is defined as working diligently for extended periods of time, sometimes without regard to social, nutritional, hygienic, and sleep well-being. Tooling is very necessary in many cases, but getting into the mindset can be a difficult thing, especially when your entire floor is loudly proposing a trip to IHOP in the lounge outside. Right now, finding time to tool is where my difficulties lie. I must be a tool, but MIT is too fun a place to waste on studying...

Time Flies When... Yeah, Time Flies.

2008-09-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

WHEW! Still alive. Are you still alive? Are you sure? Got a pulse? Good to check now and again.
It has been a month, but oh, what a month it has been. Shortly after my last entry came Pre-Orientation Programs, then Orientation, then Dorm Rush, then Frat Rush, then Sorority Recruitment, and now classes. They all included too many adventures to count, too many conquests won, too many enemies slain and tasks completed and health level drops to zero--enough to put Link to shame.
It's a unique feeling--both comforting and terrifying at the same time--to know that you're assimilating. When you used to marvel at how someone could ever utilize the 9-hour time limit on the public Athena computers, then learn about the people who essentially live at the workstation so their own server space isn't obliterated by the numbers they are crunching. That explains the wrappers and piles of clothing (no exaggeration). When the jargon of Senior House sneaks into your vocab so much that you need to explain the word "cruft" to a sophomore from McGregor. ["Cruft": n. 1) random obsolete CRT monitors, half-complete keyboards, ancient printers, etc. that dot the halls of the Infinite, awaiting trash pickup or rescue by industrious passerby. 2) Alumni who never left. adj. "crufty": 1) being in the nature of "cruft." 2) Being old(er) and wise and so awesome that one is made of Bears.] When someone says a building number, and your mind immediately jumps to that location, along with handy mental thumbnail. When "All Hail, Pass/Fail" becomes a rallying cry to appreciate on the deepest level of experience. Like I said, cause for rejoice and worry at the same time.
What's happened in the world since...since. The Republicans have fetched themselves a clown act to follow the Diving Plunge of the last eight years. I shan't delve into the political here; remaining unbiased is ironically the easier way to operate when a reader base is involved. I will say, however, that my hall mate from Lancaster, PA, keeps a stellar blog on all things political and important: www.foggofwar.com
Major tribulations at the moment: those tempters collectively dubbed "extracurriculars" have a habit of hovering around, waiting to consume free time like blue sharks want to consume a dead whale. So far, I've only agreed to one--helping with costuming and odd and ends with "Kiss Me, Kate," the Musical Theater Guild's fall production--but I'd really like to look into learning kickboxing, learning more about the MIT Energy Initiative, and finding a research post, a UROP, for the winter. I also really need to get in shape--it becomes increasingly harder to do so when it's cold and one is tanked from a monster p-set flood-- and check out the free bouldering wall in the basement of Walker Memorial (the one "Ballroom" at MIT).
Any news from the section of the world known as Garrett County? Is the new school year desolate and cold and confusing without the winning personalities of the class of 2008 warming the halls with irrepressible candor and charisma and charm? The correct answer: If that statement = f(x), the truth is most likely 1 / f(x). In other words, the opposite function. Hurray, math jokes!
Keep me posted with news of GC, and enjoy the sweet corn! You'll never know how good GC corn is until you choke down an ear of any other...

I like last one best. What are YOUR favorites?

The Effects of Random Standard Time

2008-08-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

Happiness is...
A. Knowing you won't get this kind of sleep again for at least 4 months.
B. Finally getting "the cross" on the first layer of a Rubik's Cube.
C. MIT ID's TOMORROW!!! WOOT WOOT and all that, what what...
D. Being able to look back on Interphase and see it for the good, not for the extra 20 kilos of notes it added to the load I had to drag from Next House to Senior House yesterday...
The answer: X. ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Last night was the final banquet for Project Interphase 2008. I had spent the day waking up from the last totally refreshing and rejuvenating sleep to be had in Next House, packing up last-minute paraphernalia, keeping textbooks separate in order to turn them in to the TSR Office in time, waiting two hours for the carts that were never brought back, agonizing over the amazing amount of junk I had accumulated over the last three months, helping Alex G. move into Simmons and thus securing a Simmons cart, realizing I had five minutes left to turn in textbooks before I was charged for them, loaded the cart using the laws of physics ("The coefficient of friction between the trash bags is too small!" "The momentum will cause them to slip!" "What will we do?" "Got any duct tape?" Two voices: "I DO!!!"), and finally made the long, sweaty trek from the Easternmost dorm on campus (Next) to the Westernmost dorm on campus (Senior) with a LOT of help from our friends. After a quick stop at Quizno's in Technology Square, we returned the cart to Simmons, where I nonchalantly checked my email. The stern message about how unreturned textbooks will be billed to YOU reminded me: I hadn't turned my books in. It was 1.5 hrs. past the designated interval. Holey pocketbook, Batman! (Get the pun? No? Darn...)
In the end, I was able to drop them off at the OME and not pay, which meant I had four hours before the Interphase Final Banquet. I killed time by reading Hitchhiker's, which turned into a nap, which turned into rushing to the banquet five minutes late. The food was lovely, and Dr. Karl Reid, the main man of Interphase, said some stirring words. Looking back on the summer, it was hard work, it was intense, and it certainly drove one out of one's comfort zone, but I can't express how much I'm glad I did it; whatever adjusting was done during these past seven weeks, were grades don't count, has now vanished from the upcoming semester, where grades DO matter. Quite massively. The friends, too, will prove invaluable in the fall. Heck, Fun has been Had already with them thus far... Last night's post-banquet adventures included an ice cream sojourn to Tuscanini's, home of the Cocoa Pudding cone that will renew your faith in the good of man, followed by a massive screening of "A Fish Called Wanda" at Random Hall, where Bethany and Jesse are staying. When at Random... Fun ensues. I won't say until when, since Random Standard Time is hardly "Standard" and quite complicated to explain, so rest assured that the non-RST time of when we all returned to our dorms was...atrocious. It was awesome.
It's quite a different atmosphere, now that Interphase is over and we're all scattered to the winds. Lots of people went home, while the rest of us are temped in literally a combination of every dorm on campus. It adds a new dimension, since the question of "meet at my dorm or your's" never came up when we were conglomerated at Next. New excitements, indeed...
And speaking of excitements, Orientation doth quickly apporacheth! We're looking forward to the insane amount of fun that Orientation entails, but not so much to being told "This is where we eat lunch! This is how to use Athena!" Sorry to break up the tour, but we've been living this way for SEVEN WEEKS. The mundane will undoubtedly be overridden by the gloriously insane fun that awaits, however.
Well, cheers, hope things are fun at home! Enjoy the fair, as I'm sure folks are doing as the ALWAYS do without fail, and be thankful for sweet corn. I miss sweet corn...
And now for something completely (not so) different: More funnies!

And last but not least...

FREEDOM, Sweet Freedom!

2008-08-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

FREEDOM! says Aretha Franklin.
Oh, sweet day! Oh, Glorious day! Oh joyous, wondrous, blessed day!
That was Saturday afternoon.
It is now Monday evening, and we have only recently been left free from the grasp of "training." Or, as we like to call it, "innodation."
Let me begin at the beginning (a very good place to start):
Last week was finals, and let that serve as excuse enough for why I haven't posted in eons. An in-class essay in Humanities, then Calc (auuch), Chem (ONLY one I really concentrated on), and Physics (Hail to the Gods of Partial Credit!). So, naturally, since finals marked the end of all things and the last one was over at noon on Saturday, the exhaultation was tremendous. Big plans were made, excursions into Boston were taken, Shaymus and Bethany and I went on an ice cream quest, and Fun was Had overall. I even got a chance to visit my Aunt and Uncle who live in nearby Weston, since the time was nonexistant before (thanks again for the couscous and goodies!), and the miraculous day was topped off by a jovial game of Patrol. Sunday, being sort of rainy and Bostonian, saw everyone mooching around the dorm, watching the Olympics, delving into the new books and hobbies they promised themselves for the Freedom Time (I've got a compilation of Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy and a Rubik's Cube--two experiences NO student should be without). The Olympics, by the way, have been quite popular here, since we all have nothing else to do and everyone is from some country or another, so we all cheer for everyone. Except the French. The foundations of Next House shook when Michael Phelps and The Americans won the 4x100 Relay and showed just who was "smashing" whom. We spent the night reencating the "Phelps Roar." The Chinese Students' Club at MIT has been getting into it, even providing food at a screening of the opening ceremonies and singing along with their national anthem. I went; it was fun, and I got some tortelini from the Chinese club. Go figure.
Anyway, I digress, point being that the weekend was the first real bit of summer vacation we'd had thus far. We did the obvious thing and enjoyed ourselves and were lulled into a false sense of carefree-ity, thinking there was nothing malevolent hovering on the horizon. Oh, how wrong we were.
On the overall schedule, an event was cryptically listed from the beginning only as "training" to follow finals. Earlier in the week we had been given surveys that were, to be blunt, bizarre. There were no questions, simply an order to "rank" certain phrases. The phrases ranged from "I like to be challenged" to "It's okay to torture a person to death." Macabre, right? But the kicker is this: we arrive bright and early today for this "training," and it turns out they had hired some motivational speaker who had interpretted our ranked feelings on torture, studying, bombing buildings, time management and the like (is there even a "like"?) to show whether we had enough self-esteem and practical thinking. The guy was an ex-NFL player, someone undoubtedly near and dear to the hearts of the football enthusiasts of MIT Interphase (*cough*). Not only did he offer NO scientific explanation for how ranking crop failure as worse than natural disasters realted to my work abilities, but he jumped into his whole speal about how YOU can be proactive and change YOUR lifestyle for SUCCESS, based on what the paper told you about the way you think. I called it as B.S. early on, but some people adopted the same mentality as circusgoers at the fortune-teller's booth: "Ooh, look! It says I don't empathize well with people. That's so true! I threw a rock at my brother once!" He then proceeded, this Dr. Phil of a football player, to pick students out of the audience and dissect their "profile," identifying them as perfectionists, hard workers, or self-driven people in turn. WELL, DUH. This might be news at a community college somewhere, but...YEAH! This chicanery lasted from NINE to THREE, with a break for lunch which we were begrudingly allowed. Innodation, I tell you.
So the end of my tirade is this: no matter how high you score, how well you perform, or how far you run, motivational speakers will follow you. Might as well give up now. I know we have to troop back out to play "physical team games" tomorrow, same time, same duration, and I'm sure same crock of nonsense. The only strength the motivationees have lies in the "feedback form." If I had written mine any hotter, it would need asbestos paper to convey the sentiment. Most people, however, are lazy, and in order to fend off the self-righteous motivation speaker, will glibly write, "Sure, yeah, changed my life, thank you much." Come on, people! Complaining is just as much fun on paper, you know!
Humph. Thanks for the vent through which I expunge the Bad Thoughts. Your patient virtual ears are not unappreciated...
In other news, well, yes, the Olypmics are exciting. I'm in love with a guy named Douglas Adams. Unfortunately, he's dead, but not before they compiled a big volume of Hitchiker's. So long, and thanks for all the fish! Oh, I also have accompished a major goal in life: I'm going to see a band of rock gods before they all die! Although the glory that is Jethro Tull slipped by when they were in Boston during finals week, I have secured another: THE WHO! Well, the Who and Ringo Starr's son on drums! GASP! SHUTTER! DIE! I figured since I had some extra funds (the ones I've been living on had I not been in this program all summer), I could even go for the quasi-cheap seats, so I'm at the front of the balcony senction. Not close enough to catch a guitar shard, but still, THERE! And getting the ticket was half the fun; because they went on sale at 1000 sharp and I was quite anxious about them selling out (the tickets, not the Who. They've long since sold out...), I faked a coughing fit, ducked out of the "training," snuck up to the Athena Cluster, and logged on just as the clock hit 1000. Snuck back, and no one was the wiser. It was a rush. THE WHO!
Well, now that this post is insanely lone, I still have dinner to get, errand to run, series to read, and Cubes to solve, and I'm sure you have supper to fetch, beavers to skin, tattos to select, iron to send through the Bessemer process, the meaning of life to discover, Python skits to memorize, Parapeligics to date, and tobacco to weed, I'll let you go. (50 points if you find the link of relevance between any two of those items. A fabulous vacation to the luxurious Loony Bin Resort if you followed it all.) Pip pip!
Last but not least, a funny:
Tee hee...

BREAKTHROUGH BY MIT! Read for your own good...

2008-07-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

Whether you knew it or not, your life was affected by this day.
Today was the day that Professor Daniel Nocera and Postdoc student Matthew Kanan unveiled to the world the device that will revolutionize the way we think about obtaining energy. Here's the situation: for years we have had the technology to harness the power of nature in clean, Carbon emission-free ways such as wind power, solar, tidal, etc. The problem with these sources is their reliability--no one will use a system where a cloudy Sunday afternoon means they can't watch the big game--and their cost. The sources are abundant, indeed, since Prof. Nocera himself says that in one day the earth receives enough energy through sunlight to meet the needs of its inhabitants for a whole year. If only we could run off these sources when they're available, but also store energy for times when they're not. If only...

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html
www.mit.edu Pretty picture...

The crazy thing is, hardly three weeks ago, a faculty member at the OME was kind enough to arrange a lunch for those interested where we could meet with Prof. Nocera, discuss energy policy, and even hear in a sort of "sneak preview" the project he had up his sleeve: this ingenious device. He's really confident in its potential, having already made an arrangement with a company in the Middle East that's developing an entirely green city. Think of the possibilities: no need to be hooked up to the power grid, houses could generate enough electricity from their own rooftops to heat and power the house and charge up the electric car before the next morning. The innovation of clean energy devices like photo-voltaic cells and wind turbines are finally made practical! All with a low-cost, low-tech system whose only waste product would be reusable, purified water.
Now I know this all sounds quite idealistic, and it would be naive to think there won't be snags along the path to mass implementation (the pocketbooks of the oil moguls, for one). But the admirable thing about what Prof. Nocera and his MIT crew have done is that they have released it, on this day, to engineers the world over, inviting them to jump on the challenge of making the device efficient, fully adaptable to today's P-V cells, and commercially available. The actual device might be a long way off, but the world is racing to work on it...
So, MIT births yet another good one... This is such a crazy environment, where the guys you eat lunch with one day are the ones who change the world the next... That settles it: I wanna be an environmental engineer!

Sport Death, Rock On, Break a Leg, and Integrate

2008-07-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

The many roles of the student... The last few days have been pretty outrageous, as the policy here is to be extreme in all things, including the Having of Fun. It takes precision, balance, and too much energy for the molecules of the normal human body system to realistically hold. Give supporting evidence, the Writing teacher says; And I shall! says I. This Tuesday was the eve of the due date for a Calc problem set. Since I had spent the previous night and weekend writing essays and finishing Physics (see last post), I was faced with a one-night time parameter for the entire Calc assignment. So I got in at five o'clock, fully intending to start my p-set right away, feeling perky and awake and up to the job, just let me sit on the bed for one moment to check my email-ZONK. I was awoken at ten o'clock--yes, TEN--by my friend rapping on my chamber door to make sure I hadn't died. What ensued was a frantic rush to Office Hours that I shall hope will never be repeated. Sleep debt is a very real, very stealthy thing.
But come the weekends, one feels one can let down the defenses and commence in the Having of Fun. Consequentially, a Rock Band video game system graciously provided by a guy named Tim--thanks, Tim!--was dragged out of its hiding place and put into full gear. The game is like guitar hero but equipped with drums and a mike in addition to a guitar, resulting in high-capacity crowd pleasing. I haven't spent as much time on it as other folks, but it is quite the addictive machine...
I also went last night to see a play by the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble. It was loosely--VERY loosely--based on Macbeth, but it was still pretty good. One guy in it, a Theater and Electrical Engineering major (yeah, find THAT someplace else), was the villain, and he had long brown hair streaked with pink. That means he's from East Campus.
Segue to...I'm going to be living in East Campus. Well, not technically, since Senior Haus is directly across the street from the physical East Campus, but the two intermeld in location and mindset. I found this out the other day and have been excited ever since: while Senior Haus has not the foam weapons that are Random, nor the plywood amusement park rides that are East Campus, it has the tire swing, yearly steer roast, basement mosh pit area, and annual bouncy ball drop that IS Senior Haus. It's the oldest dorm on campus, and it's right next to the Institute President's House, so it's got some history. Its motto is "SPORT DEATH, FOR ONLY LIFE WILL KILL YOU." Good stuff...
And about the pink hair... I've been told that dying hair is specifically an East Campus/Random/Senior Haus thing, with Randomers tending to be green and blue and the others gravitating more towards pink and red and orange. I've already been warned not to buy hair dye because they have a dorm-wide stock. I was thinking, though, of sort of trying to unite the dorms and dye my hair every color I can find... Just kidding, Mom. I'll stick to green...
Well, I've got to go exercise, for tonight is Patrol (see last week), and I have no other time to do so.
Hope everyone is enjoying the last throes of summer back home. Send me some sweet corn and green beans! Just throw it in a box, it'll be fine... Cheers and whatnot...

Of Boring Essays and Assassins- That's What I Call a Dipole Moment.

2008-07-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

So here I sit, broken hearted, trying to sleep but only f......finished my Humanities essay, that's what! (What were YOU thinking?) Down with humanities. I'm seriously tired of humans. If one comes near me on my long, lonely trek back to the dorm, I think I'll whip out the moves I saw in Batman the other night... Stupid humans. Them with their NINE PAGE essays. Humph.
Anyway, Batman was the best superhero movie I've EVER seen. I didn't like it for the fact that it was a superhero movie (those are usually quite daft), but for thematic stuff. There was way cool cinemetography, and the symbolism, and THIS GUY. See above. He may be dead, but he can sure wear his mascara. One of our Physics TA's is a little nutty^infinity about Batman (today's quiz: "If Batman jumps down from an h height onto a moving van with mass M in order to thwart the Scarecrow, with wind resistance Fr=bx..." you get the idea.) Tonight marks the third time he's seen the thing, and he's got IMAX tickets coming up. He's on a crusade (without a cape, incidentally) to get as many people to see it in its first week (ending Thurs.) as possible so it can beat out "Titanic" for highest-grossing first week. I sort of agree with him. Do you realize "Titanic" has had its ungodly reign of cheesy lines and historical inaccuracies for 10 years now!?!?! Something needs to be done to stop this injustice. This looks like a job for... (You say "Underdog," I keel you.) Dadadadadada, BATMAN! So yeah, go see "The Dark Knight," becasue it's worth it and "Titanic's" not.
So upcoming happy things include a Chem exam, Calc Homework, which if I don't start tonight I will have to do in its entirity tomorrow, despite the fact that it was given to us TODAY. Yeah, riddle me that...
Oh, yes, and I've discovered what is officially the best club ever. With the coolest name, too: The Assassin's Guild. What it is is a bunch of students, mostly from Random, who join up every Saturday night in the building where we have our classes. There they play "Patrol," a game that involves headbands and rubber dart guns and running and hiding and avenging and killing Shaymus five times. Shaymus and Bethany and I all skipped out of the Interphase social event we were supposed to be "enjoying" and went and joined the game of "Patrol." Devilry ensued. They have other games, too, some with plots like video games and some that have actual objectives. Those sounds sweets, preciousesese....
http://web.mit.edu/assassin/www/
Well, as might be quite evident, I am tired, and doth wish to retireth promptly. After my hike back to Next House. I am very tired becasue I am initaiting the time inwhich large superfluous lugubrious and cantankerous workds are bandied about like so many angry ocelots thrust together in a rudabegger sachel. Buenas Noches, esteemed ones...

The Exams are Coming! Get the Chainsaw and Holy Water!

2008-07-14T09:25:00.001-07:00

A really nice thing about being in a technology school is that they seldom have problems with computers. Mind you, when they DO have problems, they are consequentially and exponentially bigger, but the overall system is still pretty darn brilliant. Take for example the main system, Project Athena, a terminal of which I type this to you right now and have been doing for the past three weeks. Athena is comprised of "clusters" around the campus, and you can log on to the system anytime, anywhere, and access settings, documents, ect., that you have already saved on another computer. Athena also has its own network of shareware, like drafting programs, word processing, spreadsheets, math programs...anything you'd normally have to pay big bucks for to get it on your own computer. Printing is also free from Athena (they come after you after about 5 reams a month, through an office named, no joke, "Tree-eater"), and since such copious quantities of white copy paper lies about, packs have been known to fall into backpacks and end up as P-set scratch paper. Our Calculus teacher, Sammy, has unabashedly proclaimed paper theft a wise use of resources and uses the prevalence of "free" paper to say we have no excuse to not show our work. You can print to any printer in Athena from any cluster, so theoretically one could send a job to a printer en route to class, then breeze by and find it completed. Theoretically. I've known some printers to be quite bitchy about their toner...
Printers are almost the goddesses of the MIT community: supplicate to them, cajole them, and don't ask too much, and thou shalt be provided for. Rush them, curse at them, and tempt them with the tantalizingly too last-minute-need-this-five-minutes-ago requests, and they are the ultimate bitches. As if the wise Course 6 (computer science and EE) lords of Project Athena knew this, they entitled them accordingly: our Laser-jet Olympus includes a Ceres, Echo, Electra, Pandora, and Celine. We enjoy clever things here.
The exams have arrived: Chem last Thursday, Physics this AM, and a big honkin' Calculus Midterm this Wednesday. Glory Hallelujah. I was up until three last night studying Physics, having only gotten back from the review session at 11:30. I walked with my instructor some of the way back, during which I remarked to him, "I can already see that sleep is the x-factor in the great equation of MIT." I expected him to allay some fears, bolster some confidence, give some reassurance. Instead he laughed and said, "Yeah..."
So every Saturday from now on we have some element of "Mandatory Fun," a phrase so coined because it is the Swedish term for proposed "Fun" that is "Mandatory." Not complaining, because I know I'll rarely have the chance nor the impetus to go to Martha's Vineyard, Six Flags, or see the Boston Pops fireworks show every summer, but when they come on a Saturday at a strategic point in studying (AKA- I goofed off for the past two nights), it can make Sunday, the "day of rest," quite the opposite. Martha's Vineyard was the destination for this weekend, and it was a very nice little island--as touristy as any given holiday on the Lake, but not bad. No, we didn't see the big ole shark, for which I was most disappointed. I told the groups I was with all we had to do was go to the butcher, get some scraps, and send someone out with a bucket and a pair of Floaties, but no, let's never listen to MY ideas. It would have been quite cool, though cooler if we had had a video camera... and Jaws XXI-whatever hadn't already been made...
This weekend is a "friendly" competition (defined as one pint of blood loss each) between Interphase, us, and the MITES Program, them. The MITES are juniors who are doing the same sort of program as us, although I've heard it's harder, just to scare them off and keep class size down. I think Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball are the areas of war. Underwater Lawn Darts wasn't included, so I think I might have to sit this one out...
The "WHAT!!?!?!" Moment of the Day: Walking over to this cluster in the Student Center, before I even round the tennis courts I head the "clang-clang-OUCH!" that can mean only one thing: Broadsword training. The. Coolest. Thing. Ever. D&D geeks beware: those things were big, and fast, and unwieldy. Only at MIT. Now about inventing the Light Saber...

MIT: Mental Health Capital of the World

2008-07-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

After a particularly dismal Physics quiz the other day, a guy resolutely got up during recitation, grabbed a piece of chalk and scrawled "Physics is Depressing" on the board, then stomped out. the TA got up and added a "...ly Awesome!" to the end. So is the general sentiment--powerful and permeating, and irrefutably installed. Just try to think otherwise, the 'Tvte seems to say, speaking through the thirteen ionic columns like so many jagged teeth. It yawns at you, the stench of so much sweat and so many devoured social lives roiling forth from its bowls. Leave me alone! you shout, trying to cover your head with your calculus book before you realize it's too heavy to lift. Why are you talking to buildings? the Dome asks back. You started it, Weirdo! you wail in reply. Your shoe's untied, the Dome says. Huh? says you. Made you look! the Dome chortles. Why must you always win? you sob. The Dome just smiles.
In other words, it's a little difficult. After a few late nights and early (enough) mornings, I'm beginning sense that I'm being beaten into submission. But alas, now that the mental abuse has become regular, I'm beginning to like it. And if that isn't Stockholm Syndrome, I don't know what is.
Enjoy your summers--Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, and worthless-writing-skills free.

Cambridge, Week 2

2008-07-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

It's Deja Vu straight out of Garrett County in the summertime: Everywhere one goes on campus, there are tourists of all shapes and sizes, snapping pictures, getting in the way, ignoring the flashing red lights and "DO NOT ENTER OR THE LASERS WILL EAT YOU" signs on the lab doors, driving badly (though that's mainly the local Bostonians), wearing outfits complete with fanny packs that look they belong to Grandmas in Bermuda, and whining about the weather.Partly, it's a nuisance. Every time I've passed 77Mass Ave, the main entrance, I've seen at least one family doing the token "Smile in front of your future school, Douglas!" The poor disgruntled high school kid leers for the camera while trying to get a look at the building that, at the request of his parents, he is forced to face his back to. You can be understanding enough when you obligingly pause so as to not walk in front of a family getting the obligatory "Dome Shot" on Killian Court (see banner above, and imagine in day time). However, I was on my way to class one day, stopping for breakfast at LaVerde's, the mini-mart/grocery/drugstore/lifeblood of the campus, and the girl in front of me was obviously a tourist. She was handing over her cash when we heard a shout: "WAIT! Let me get this!" A short Asian man, sporting the most lugubrious of fanny packs, jumped in front of me with his camera. The well-trained daughter paused, mid-taking change, and grinned as she was photographed buying lunch. I believe the phrase is "Oy Vey!"
The non-nuisance part, though, is that you get to see where you were a year ago. Less than a year ago, for us summer pre-frosh, anyway. Spooky and relieving at the same time.
Classes are getting more and more difficult, to the point where every waking moment is spent nose-in-a-book, pen-in-hand. I'm enjoying things, especially Calculus and Chem (taught by Sammy and Nia, respectively--very fun people), though some are a bit of a challenge. Like Physics: I'd never have thought that I'd be solving Mechanics problems with calculus and NO ACTUAL NUMBERS. Just letters. And half of them Greek.

There's an interesting balance between the insanely hardcore classes and the..."fluffy" stuff here. For example, Humanities, the class where we learn about humans. Today I went straight from Chem, where we learned about atomic structure and Other Difficult Things, to Humanities recitation, where we discussed identity, writing fuzzy little personal essays and having a meaningful little chat. It's not really the subjects, juts the juxtaposition.
It takes an extreme environment, I found, to really make you examine the basics: eating right, sleeping (what's sleep?), and most importantly exercising. Everyone has a mandatory swimming or sailing class (it's a graduation requirement to pass the swim test), and an optional tennis class. You get P.E. credits for them, too. I've been taking tennis lessons and really enjoying it--honestly, where else can you get those for free? Our instructor is the Assistant Coach for the Men's team, a soft-spoken Australian guy named Spritely Roche. How much more awesome of a name can you get? He's a funny dude: today while he was taking a girl dropped her racket, and he stopped, saying, "Now THAT'S the kind of loose grip we like to see!"
This weekend offers a bit of a respite, being that we have no classes on the Fourth. Viva la Fin de Semana de Tres Dias! I've promised myself that if I don't waste time and work hard this week, I can do absolutely nothing on Friday. And what does "absolutely nothing" entail? Going into Boston! Already, they've got the barge out in the Charles from which they shoot off the fireworks behind the Boston Pops! stage. We can see it from main campus. Supposedly they put speakers all along the river on the Boston side, so all of Cambridge can listen in and see the fireworks. Some folks and I are going to stake out places on the Harvard Bridge so we can be about 500ft. from the barge. What can we say: we be nerdy pyros here...
Well, Chemistry awaits, Physics demands a look-over, an Humanities needs my opinion on an essay. When did I get so popular? Keep it real, peace out, and have yourself a happy little Fourth! Get lots of candy! Eat lots of chicken! Watch the annual "Indy-pendence Day" Indiana Jones marathon on AMC! Ciao!

The Things You See in the City

2008-06-27T16:22:00.001-07:00

Question: What has four sets of wheels, poles, a helmet, knee pain and a way-too-tight spandex unitard?
Why, that's correct!
Urban Cross Country Skiing. In June.
I do not lie:

I met one of these (urban) outdoor enthusiasts while coming out of class today. He was rollin' along, down Vassar Street, right next to campus, and havin' a grand ole time. I couldn't help but stare.
But then again, oddities abound here at MIT. For example, I heard a warbled version of Queen's "Somebody to Love" blasting along the hallway of the dorm this evening while I was trying to do my Calc P-set, and upon investigating the source, I discovered no less than a dozen college students (T.A.'s, mind you, not us baby prefrosh) watching Happy Feet. Yes, that's the Disney movie about the penguins. Today I also learned why one shouldn't respond when some person asks for for the time on a random Boston street, thanks to a demonstration from a nice visiting police officer. I also met a guy with an awesome Chicago accent--on a mission from Gad, no less. I ate tofu without realizing it, I bought Chex Mix from the student center solely because it was free on the OME's bill, I learned the way to look at the buildings in the Infinite so their numbering actually makes sense, and I got annoyed with a gaggle of tourists blocking the walkway. I think I'm adjusting. Now about that essay that's due on Monday...
I've talked to other members of the class of '08 from Northern Garrett via our collective friends "the Internets," and it seems like they're all in or nearly in the throes of Orientation, summer work, etc. Best of luck to y'alls, and keep me posted! Kollege is phun. We lern good their.
Well, I really must dash--or trudge, more like--in order to read some required essays, get some sleep, and get up at the bright, shining hour of 10 to go into Boston for a tour of the Science Center. One of the OME's "Mandatory Fun" activities. Glad to know they have our best interests at heart.
Cheers!
"Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life." ~Rachel Carson
Well worth the bandwidth.

Classes begin...

2008-06-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

Greetings again, Carbon-based life forms. Looking back on my entry two days ago, I realize how utterly frivolous it must have seemed. I'll try to step up the intellectual quality, but take it easy: a man riding a weiner dog seems pretty nifty after a whole day of physics.
The diagnostics are over, praise be, and now the REAL fun decides to grace us in the form of CLASSES. Today was the first day of Calc and Physics lecture, along with a lab safety training session. I did better than expected on the diagnostics, ending up in the highest section of Physics, the middle section of Chem, and the lowest section of Calc. Eh. So it goes. As we've all been trying to reassure ourselves over the past few days, it's better to be placed where one is comfortable than to grumble about not being placed higher. We all get homework, however, which is problem-sets, or P-sets, at MIT. P-sets come once a week, but they are exhaustive enough that they require at least the average amount of time you'd give to nightly homework. The best strategy is to crack down on them the first night they are given, diligently tooling away at them each night and asking a classmate or older student if one encounters a problem. Needless to say, that's quite ideal, and it rarely happens that way. I'll be the first to testify that procrastination does NOT go away in college; in fact, it seems to increase exponentially as the number of surrounding distractions subsequently rise. I'm doing my best to battle the Procrastination Monster, and hopefully he'll be kept away for at least this summer...
The most pressing exciting development on hand is the pre-UROP oppertunties available for Interphasers. MIT is really unique in that all students, even freshmen, can work on research projects side-by-side with some of the world's top scientists. It's a great way to make connections, explore new fields, and get raw lab experience. Anyway, even prefrosh are allowed to participate over the summer, so we were asked to submit our interests and field preferences so we could be placed in one. I listed environmental science and Mech E. as my top two, but we'll see where they had space. We'll find out our assignments by Monday, and we'll get to eat lunch with our PI's ("Primary Investigators," or "Research Big-Wig Bosses") on Wednesday. Some people didn't get a match for their fields, they said (it IS summer, and even researchers must have lives, too, I suppose...), so that's a little worrisome... We shall see.
A note on Boston weather: it's wicked crazy. Yesterday dawned balmy and bright; by the time classes were over, a few harmless clouds had drifted over campus, and the wind had begun to shift a little. Half and hour later, ironically coinciding with our time to go to dinner, we were at the epicenter of a full-fledged tempest. I had reached the front door of the dorm before it began in earnest, when the trees were only whipping back and forth at a somewhat alarming rate. What's a little rain and wind? I reasoned, and embarked out on my way to the McCormick dining hall. Withing 30 feet, I was drenched, the wind had escalated to supersonic mode, and the rain was pounding in an impossibly perfect parallel path. So, overall, it was a nice sprint to McCormick, hurdling some downed branches and the glass from some shattered globe lights on the way. In conclusion, don't trust the weather in Boston any more than you should trust the drivers. That is, not at all.
But look out, Accident: according to our pals at the Weather Channel, you're in for it next. Enjoy!
In a week and a day is the Fourth of July. It'll be the first time in...12 years I haven't gone to the parade in Accident. That is a beast of a parade. I'm planning on the Boston Pops! and lots-o-fireworks up here, but nothing--I repeat NOTHING--beats that Accident parade. And the fireworks at the Wisp. Enough gunpowder to make Al Gore cry, but a thrilling show nonetheless. Enjoy the Fourth, and get some candy for me!
Take care and peace out, one and all!
And now for something completely different... an exclusive look at the not-so-elusive Procrastination Monster:

Greetings from Interphase!

2008-06-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

Hello, World! Reporting here from Cambridge, MA, writing from an Athena Cluster in the lobby of Next House, on Dorm Row, in the West Campus of MIT. It is exactly the second day of Project Interphase, and we've already had a Calculus test. More like a diagnostic, but still, you've got to love it. OR ELSE. Yesterday was chaos, as any college moving day is wont to be, with everyone receiving their room keys and ID's, finding their rooms, cleaning up whatever presents those hasty former residents left behind, toting stuff up five flights of stairs, and fending off parents. I'm the happy resident of a single (SCORE!) on the fifth floor, right next to a handy little lounge with an even handier microwave. Great for morning tea, that...
Anyway, after giving the parents a brief tour of the campus and sending them toddling off back home, time has flown by. It's hard to comprehend that it's night number two already. Already I have (not necessarily in this order): received enough textbooks to make Mr. Schwarzenegger strain a bicep; gotten lost in the Infinite Corridor; sheepishly returned to La Verde's (the convenience store in the Student Center) twice within three hours; gone through the cafeteria line the wrong way; accompanied AJ the flutist on the ukulele to a Bon Jovi tune; discovered multiple uses in a dorm room for duct tape; lost at pool while "playing" with a bedraggled set of pool balls (including but not limited to two fives, two elevens, three nines, one cue, and no cue ball); and met people from all corners of the US, including Hawaii, plus a guy from Ghana. We also took a Calculus diagnostic test today, soon to be followed by Physics and Chem tomorrow. Joy Unbounded, indeed. I just got back from taking the T train to Hahvahd Sqaire, as they say in Bostonian. I learned that Harvard is a big, scary, brick-laden place with much bigger bookstores and much fancier T-shirts and *cough* polos than MIT. AND SO IT SHOULD BE.
So, I'm looking to look over some Physics equations, exercise a bit on those cool little bikes that go nowhere, and go sleep. Hope everything's much saner than things are up here! According to our infallible friend The Internet, weather's nice at home! Look out for thunderstorms this weekend, though... Just letting you know...
Take care, and check back soon!
And now, for your viewing pleasure, the Daily Smile:
"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ..."- Louis Hector Berlioz

Ahh, Photoshop...

So it begins...

2008-05-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

In two days, my high school experience will be over (I said OVER, not complete), I will have graduated from Northern Garrett High School, and I will have approximately 20 days before I leave for a summer program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hence the title: the main component of the 'Tvte's campus is the Infinite Corridor, which, needless to extemporize upon, is very long. And scary.
Join me on my quest to destroy the One Ring, if that One Ring was the ringing silence of bored ignorance, and the corresponding quest was a crazy journey of four years' worth of p-sets, labs, and other standard college anomalies. We'll have some fun, post some pretty pictures, crack the occasional lame nerd joke (Why did the Arctic bear dissolve in water? Because it was Polar...), and be sarcastic and cynical throughout the process.
Enjoy, and "Live, from Accident, Maryland, let the fun begin!"