a new semester

today begins a new semester of grad school. it started out by me sleeping in, which was very nice, and ended with me at school until almost 9pm and coming home during a thunderstorm to an apartment with no power. awesome. that about sums up the day.
it really seems to me like school never ended, so it's really kind of weird to even think about a new semester starting up. I worked all through the summer and the work is just continuing throughout this fall, hopefully culminating in me finishing my masters thesis (cross your fingers). I am only taking one actual class this semester, which only meets once a week (wednesday evenings for 3 hours) and the rest of my credits are tied up in my research and writing my thesis. so that's kind of nice. I am expanding my research stuff this semester to include some stuff on science & society, so hopefully that will go well.
along with that, all the new incoming grad students have kicked me out of my old TA office in the h-wing. but of course, even though I lost an office, I gained another one, with my new research group. so I still have three offices on campus. lol. I really shouldn't advertise that fact, because I know some people who barely have one office. hehe. oh well. I am just lucky to be working on well-funded projects right now. anyway, here's to a new semester full of new and interesting things (let's hope).

this movie looks interesting: Man of the Year

12 hours of fun

so today was one of those really long days at work. like almost 12 hours. which is really hilarious for a number of reasons. first, the meeting I was supposed to have at 9am to start off the day was pushed back to 9:30 after I had already gotten up and ready for school. then, the person running the meeting was half an hour late. so that was awesome. there goes an hour of sleep. anyway, the kicker to the whole thing is that since today officially starts the fall semester in terms of our RA hours and everything, I am only supposed to be spending about 10 hours total PER WEEK on this project. and I have meetings later in the week I have to go and I spent part of yesterday working on it already. so that's exciting. whatever. at least everything went well today. that makes it all worth it.

anyway, here's an awesome clip on YouTube that Angel sent me today. it's really amazing.

that's no moon...

nerdy link of the day: Star Wars Asciimation

I'm having one of those weeks. I can't believe it's only Tuesday. work is crazy. just crazy. and mostly in a bad way. ugh.

what a week

so the end of last week was crazy. the conference was so so tiring, but really good. I got back late on Friday and was exhausted. I spent most of Saturday sleeping, and was recharged enough to play some soccer on Sunday (it wasn't too hot - I think only like 105 or something - but it still felt like we were playing in a sauna).
I cooked dinner on Monday night. it was sort of a cooking experiment actually because I hadn't tried making eggplant parmigiana before. but I think it turned out really well (and Jody said he liked it, so there you go). then, some people came over and we watched Match Point which was really good.
the rest of the week has been a bit of a blur. lots of stuff going on at work, getting ready to start the semester and everything. and just lots of stuff going on in general. I'm glad tomorrow's Friday.

AAPT

so I'm in Syracuse, NY for a conference (AAPT = American Association of Physics Teachers) this week. I left the insane heat in Phoenix (it was 117 on Friday) to the relative cool of central New York on Sunday morning. the day of travel was not so exciting, especially since I had only gotten about three and a half hours of sleep the previous night, and then the airline lost my luggage, so that just added to the headache of the day. luckily my bag showed up the next morning and so I wouldn't have to go buy clothes for the conference. anyway, yesterday was the first full day of the conference, 8am to 10pm, and it was exhausting. I ran into some people I hadn't seen since the conference last year, so that was nice. this morning I gave my talk (on STEM behaviors of high school math and science teachers, in case you care) and I think it went really well, so that is good. I wasn't able to show the video clip I wanted to, but I think it's for the best, because otherwise my talk would've run over the eight minute (!) time limit. so it all worked out for the best. now I'm just taking a break before lunch and more sessions. today we will end at 10pm again, and the same tomorrow, but Thursday (the last day of the conference) won't go as late. I'll be back in the heat on Friday.

little miss sunshine

so Angel and I just got back from an advanced screening of the new movie Little Miss Sunshine. I saw a thing online on imdb to get a ticket for this free screening a few weeks ago, so we were super excited to go. we showed up about an hour ahead of time and had to wait in the heat for a bit before they finally let us, searched my bags (for recording devices), and then finally let us to the theatre. the wait was definitely worth it, though. the movie was really good. it was more serious in parts than I was expecting, but overall was really hilarious (especially the last part of the movie). I would definitely recommend it when it finally comes out.

schork

just thought I needed to post something. can't sleep (again). I'm having one of those weeks. crappiness interspersed with periods of happiness. which isn't so bad, when you look at it all at once. school/work (or, schork, if you prefer) has been crazy this week. I am leaving for a conference this weekend and I have all of this stuff I have to get done before that. oh, and I have to prepare my talk for the conference as well. somehow, that got to the bottom of my to-do list so I only actually starting writing the slides this afternoon. but no worries, it'll be fine. also, I'm just so happy that I saved our project from near-death last week, I almost don't mind working on the stuff this week.

I can't believe July is more than half over. where did it all go?

happy birthday Jody. "we're sonic fucking death monkey!"

4th o' July pics

I put up some of my favorite photos from my crazy 4th of July adventure in Washington, DC on Flickr. they have an upload limit, so that's all that will be up there for a while. I will put some others on this blog also and I will also be putting together a movie of all the fun we had (surviving the storm, watching the fireworks, etc.).
here's the link: my Flickr 4th of July photos

the truth is out there

I just got back from seeing An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's movie on global warming, with Jeremy David Cogan (for some reason, he wanted me to use his whole name). it was a surprisingly good and entertaining movie, and of course, very informative and educational. EVERYONE needs to go see it. as soon as possible. and bring a friend. and then see what you can do to be part of the solution. check out the website for ideas.

welcome Stephen!

Jen and Lynn had their baby last night! he's so big! and lots of hair. (and very very tired.) Jody and I went to go see them in the hospital today and little Stephen looked great (and Jen looked good too, especially considering she was in labor for like 30 something hours). so, we have a new member to our soccer team (well, in a few years anyway).

hot hot hot

I went home to LA for the weekend for my dad's birthday. it was actually kind of nice there compared to here, even though everyone in my family said it was awful. I was like, look it's 112 in phoenix, 94 and a bit muggy isn't bad at all. they didn't get it. anyway, after driving back last night, I was hoping to come home and just crash. but, of course, it's never that easy. the air conditioning in our apartment seemed to be non-functioning. the fan works and is blowing air, but it's not cold. it is currently 89 degrees inside my apartment! ick. it is a bit cooler in my room with the fan running, but it's still not great. ugh. they are going to try to fix it tonight. let's hope they can get it to work. I guess the only good news is that it's a little bit cooler outside today since it looks like the start of monsoon season. a bit of rain sounds good to me (even if accompanied by dust and wind). it's hot!

update: it is now fixed. hooray!

the I hate Bruce Arena fan club

um yeah. so I am going to blame two people for the outcome today: Bruce Arena for many many bad decisions and Landon Donovan for being a wanker and playing horribly (and then again Bruce Arena for letting him play horribly). so there.
considering all that, we played ok. there were a lot of good opportunities in the second half. but that penalty at the end of the first half really pissed me off. such a bad call. and I hate blaming refs for game outcomes (although, see my post on the last game). whatever. I am disappointed. we should have done better. but I am happy for Ghana. I think it's great that they advanced and proved everyone wrong about them. (and what happened to the Czech Republic? craziness.) anyway, the US is done with the world cup, but I am not. there are still many great games left to watch. and I will continue to watch my favorite sport throughout the tournament.

if only...

um yeah. so why is that no one else seems to care that the U.S. National Team tied Italy while playing a man down for half the game? (I had to convince people at work today that this was good news, after reminding them that we played a game over the weekend.) le sigh for sure. anyway, here's a hilarious article about our loss to the Czech Republic from The Onion, imagining quite a different world.

Devastated By U.S. World Cup Team's First-Round Loss, Nation Grinds To Halt

Taliesin West

so yesterday morning, Hwi, Angel, Angel's sister (who is visiting from Puerto Rico) and I went to see Taliesin West, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs. it houses his school of architecture among other things. it was really cool. we went on one of the 90 minute tours and saw pretty much everything there. our tour guide was very knowledgeable and explained all sorts of things. it was very interesting and I got lots of great pictures. here are my favorites.

aaargghh!

wow. what a game. that ref was ridiculous. I just still can't believe what happened. that last red card was totally insane. we should have been playing 10 men each, which would have made it a better game. but, still, I must say, I think it is great that we were able to pull off that tie against Italy playing a man down most of the game and having that ref hate us for some reason. he better hope he stays in Uruguay and never comes to the U.S. because there are some really upset people here. the good news is that a) we played well (when the ref let us) and b) there is a chance of making it to the next round IF we beat Ghan AND if Italy beats Czech Republic. now, considering the what happened in the Ghana/Czech game this morning, I have no clue how Thursday will play out. but needless to say, there will be two really interesting games to watch. go USA!!

They don't run!

so I couldn't really sleep last night. after reading a couple chapters of "How Soccer Explains the World: an (unlikely) theory of globalization" (which is very interesting) I decided to play with my new MacBook a bit; namely: iMovie. I remembered that I had this hilarious video clip from my trip to Puerto Rico last spring break with Katie and Angel and Adam. Katie wanted to chase some birds near this old church in San Juan, but something was not just right with the birds. anyway, here's the video (make sure your speakers are on). hope you enjoy it. :)

world cup

so, due to the magic of my dvr, I have been able to watch almost every single world cup game so far while only missing a small amount of work (luckily I can reschedule things to the afternoon. :) ). I must say, though, I was very disappointed by the US's appearance yesterday against the Czech Republic. although I figured we would lose this game (the Czechs are ranked 2nd right now), I really didn't think we would have such a poor showing. it was like they weren't even trying or something. I don't know. I just hope that they get their act together for the game against Italy on Saturday. we really need to win that game. and the one against Ghana after that. we'll see what happens. I can only hope.

soccer and physics

so, today while I was eating my lunch and reading my Physics Today magazine, I came across a short article that combined two of my favorite things: physics and soccer. if you have a subscription to PT, you can look at the article here: http://www.physicstoday.org/vol-59/iss-6/p26b.shtml

for those of you non-physics people, here is what it basically was about. it was titled, "Soccer obeys Bessel-function statistics", so right away I knew it was going to be good.
Metin Tolan, an experimental physicist at the University of Dortmund, did a study of about 34,000 professional soccer games and looked at number of goals scored and probability of winning based on this. "We approximated a soccer team by a radioactive source. A soccer team emits goals according to Poisson statistics." as it turns out, for soccer, a Bessel-function (a modified Bessel function results from summing over products of probabilities expressed as Poisson distributions) is a good fit for all the data. therefore, based on this and looking at simulations and past performance of teams, he says that Brazil has a 15% chance of winning this year's World Cup, and Germany a 10.5% chance. however, when factoring in home field advantage (which usually gives you 0.6 to 1 extra goal), Germany is moved up to a 33% chance.
we'll see what happens. the first game is this friday!

ursprache

the national spelling bee is so exciting. this is the first year it was on network primetime (normally I have to watch it on espn during the day). the top three finishers were all girls, including one canadian, and it was quite exciting. the winning word was ursprache (which she knew). some of the other interesting-sounding words from the final round were: tmesis, weltschmerz, tutoyer, izzat, and koine.

a new start

so the last few days have been absolutely crap. I spent all day sunday, and most of the day monday, tuesday, and today moving my stuff out of my old apartment into my new one. I had some friends helping me on sunday, when I had the u-haul truck and moved the heavy stuff and the furniture. the only good thing was that it was only 95 degrees this weekend, instead of the 110 it will be this coming weekend. ugh. anyway, it was pretty painful, but I managed through it. I finally finished cleaning and moving the last of it out today and am now trying to settle into the new place.

the spectacularly good news which is luckily overshadowing the crappiness of the past four days is that today, almost a week earlier than expected, my new MacBook showed up! it's soo beautiful! I love love love it. I also set up a wireless network in the new apartment so Hwi and I can use our laptops wherever. and it finally works. things are looking up.

so, I have a new apartment (and a new roommate!) and a new computer for a brand new start to the summer.

I hate moving. end of story.

I ordered my MacBook! I'm so excited. it probably won't be here for another week and a half though, so that kind of sucks. I went to the Apple store, but because I wanted to upgrade the hard drive (as well as the ram), they said I had to order it online. sadness. oh well. it will be here soon. hopefully by then, everything will be settled into my new apartment. I'm moving this weekend into a 2-bedroom with Hwi. hooray! it will be lots cheaper, closer to school, and more fun. hopefully the move goes smoothly. I gave myself lots of time, like almost five days, so there shouldn't be any stressing out or anything. I hate the process of moving (packing and all that stuff), but I think this time it will actually be alright.

the world cup starts in two weeks!!!! soooo excited!!

state of the thesis

today's PhD comic seems especially appropriate to me this summer.



although I don't actually have an outline, I do have an impressive amount of data (some of which has been partially analyzed). go me! hehe.


oh, and travelogue update: I couldn't sleep the other night, so I finally posted the rest of the pictures for my europe trip. the link is on the left column. enjoy!

let's see...what's new?

the season finale of Grey's Anatomy was soo good. I have gotten at least three other people addicted to the show in the last few weeks, so I feel really good about that. and, coincidentally, as it turns out (because I have season one on dvd and I am so smart), the actual hospital where they film the show is only a few blocks away from my dad's house in LA. it is an outpatient VA hospital and I used to drive by it all the time. no wonder it looked familiar! how cool is that?

I am moving in a little over a week to a 2-bedroom apartment - no more one bedroom for me. Hwi, one of the other grad students, is moving in with me, so that will be nice. it will be a lot cheaper, slightly closer to school, and not as quiet and lonely. so hooray for all that. it has been nice living in this apartment; it has been almost two years, which is the longest I've been living in only one place since 8th grade. crazy.

"school" is going well. I am deeply embedded in my summer research now, so that has been keeping me busy and interested.

yesterday was the final champions league game (european club soccer) of fc barcelona versus arsenal fc. and what a game it was. I only caught the last half, but it was probably the better half to see. first of all, it was pouring rain, and arsenal got a red card sometime in the first half so they were playing down a man the rest of the game. still, they managed to score and it was 1-0 when I turned it on. barcelona fought back hard and it was pretty even for most of the half. however, with about 15 minutes left, arsenal was getting tired and they let in two crazy goals in about four minutes. it was all downhill from there. the dynamic of the game totally changed and barcelona held the upper hand the rest of the way. it was such an exciting game to watch and it just made me sooo excited for the World Cup that is starting in a few weeks! the first US game is on June 12 (it's a Monday and the game is live at 9am, so you can be sure I'll be going into school late that day). hopefully we'll make it out of the group of death and into the round of 16. that would be awesome.

in other news, I'm going to buy a new computer once the move is finished. apple announced the new iBooks this week (it is now called the MacBook) and I can't wait! it looks so nice and I really need a new computer at home. my current dell laptop is almost four years old and is literally falling apart: one of the two hinges that connects the screen to the rest of the computer is no longer connected. I'm amazed it still works properly (although it did angrily beep at me yesterday. maybe it knows I'm replacing it). its hard drive is full and it is too slow for everything I want, so I am upgrading. I am going to get the 2.0 GHz white MacBook, but I'm going to upgrade the ram (to 1gb) and the hard drive memory (to 80gb) so it will be perfect. :)

zoom a little zoom

there is only one thing to say before I start this post. and that is to apologize to all my readers who do not share my nerdy tendencies. this post will lay bare all of my "science is awesome!", and "gee, that's neat" sort-of inclincations. so, sorry if you don't have these inclinations as well.

it all started yesterday morning as I was driving to one of the schools I was doing teachers observations at for my research project. I have been listening compulsively to NPR lately (maybe like the last six months), so I was tuned in as usual. Morning Edition was on, and there was this segment on a particular video blog (or vlog) called Rocket Boom. now, first of all, I was struck first because the vlog sounded hilarious and cool (in a real low-tech way). secondly, I was struck by the theme song of the vlog. it was stuck in my head the rest of the day.
when I got home last night, I looked up the vlog and watched a few webisodes which were quite good. however, I was still hung up on this song and I needed to find a way to get the mp3.

this afternoon, I did some more searching on the RocketBoom pages and found a link they had to the song {called "zoom a little zoom") and where (and who) it came from. it turns out that it is from some folk singer and it is part of a larger series of songs from the late 50's/early 60's called Singing Science. "Zoom a little zoom" is from the "space songs" album. so, I was super excited to be able to listen to (and download!) the song (it is now in the public domain). but, after looking at the rest of the songs on the album and the series I got even more excited. not only were there other songs like "The Ballad of Sir Isaac Newton", "It's a Scientific Fact", and "What is a Shooting Star?", but there is "Why does the Sun Shine?" which turns out is the original version that They Might Be Giants covered (and which I and the other astro grad students here have taken on as our theme song). needless to say, this was a majorly exciting find and after listening to the songs, I was crying I was laughing so hard. what a great afternoon!

James got married!

I spent about 16 hours in a car this weekend, but it was worth it. five of us drove to Socorro, New Mexico for our friend James's wedding. we made a couple stops on the way there, most notably in Pie Town (to have some lunch and, of course, some pie). we also drove by the VLA (Very Large Array) - a bunch of telescopes to you non-astro folks (they were in the movie Contact if that helps). the wedding itself was really pretty and nice. they had it in the background of a house that belonged to a friend of the family. the girl he married, Mirka, is from Slovakia and so they did the ceremony in both languages so her mother who was visiting would know what was happening. they also did a couple Slovakian rituals after the ceremony. one of them was really hilarious. Mirka smashed her champagne glass on a cement tile and then James had to clean it up. but he had to do it three times because each time she said it wasn't a good enough job and he had to do it again. we were cracking up. maybe you had to be there. the reception afterwards was lots of fun. there was some great food and plenty of wine and we all had a good time.
the drive back on sunday was fairly uneventful. I guess the important things to mention from the car rides was that I taught Katie how to knit on the way there and Hwi and Angel how to on the return trip. it definitely made the trip go by faster and it was fun too. they are hooked! (well, maybe not Angel - but he just needs to practice some more.) for some reason, Mike didn't feel like learning how to knit. hehe. I also got to use my brand new used polaroid camera that I picked up at the goodwill store last week for $4. what a deal!


in Pie Town, NM (notice Angel's new license plate)


the VLA telescopes


the happy couple


James cleaning up the mess Mirka made. hehe.


the five of us that made the trip: Mike, Hwi, me, Katie, and Angel


the girls and James


ah, look how pretty! hehe.


James and Angel being silly


Katie and Hwi being silly

science teachers and space aliens

so, now that things have calmed down a bit, I can catch you all up on the last two weeks. after the conference in san francisco, I headed down to Anaheim for another conference, NSTA. there were a crazy amount of people there, we were guessing like at least 5,000 teachers. massive. the conference was held in the convention center and three nearby hotels. seriously. I got to see a few good talks. Jean-Michel Cousteau was there and K.C. Cole, a science writer who used to write for the LA Times. there were a few other interesting things, but mostly I remember the exhibition hall, otherwise known as science nerd heaven. basically, there were all these booths set up by different organizations and companies, most of them giving away lots of free stuff. I got bags full of NASA posters and hurricane stuff from NOAA and free waterbottles and stickers and computer software and things like that. it was cool. the Sea World booth had two little penguins visit one day (sooo cute) and there were some weird bugs at another. all in all, the conference wasn't all that bad and the weather was definitely an improvement over san fran.

the best part was probably Friday afternoon, though, because I snuck off to Disneyland for the evening. they have these twilight tickets that are good after 4pm, so it was actually a pretty good deal. I hadn't been there in a while and I really really wanted to go on the new and improved space mountain (my all-time favorite ride). I had to wait in line for about 45 minutes when I first got there, but it was definitely worth it. it was much faster, darker (they took out that orange star in the middle), and had a cool soundtrack. and I even managed to go again right before they closed. I did the Disneyland sprint and got myself on all the major rides except for pirates of the caribbean (closed for renovation) and splash mountain (too cold) in about six hours. yes, I went by myself, but it was ok for two reasons: 1. this way I could do exactly what I wanted to when I wanted to and not worry about dragging someone else along. this allowed me to get on all the rides and see the fireworks and everything. and 2. I wasn't really by myself. I have been there so many times with so many different people, that I had all those wonderful memories with me as I walked along main street and waited in line for star tours and bought a churro in front of the magic castle. it was really nice.
oh, and there was a new ride involving buzz lightyear and the little martian dudes. it was pretty fun, you get to be a space ranger and shoot a "laser gun" at targets to take down the evil emperor zurg. the best part, though, was at the end. they took your picture just like a bunch of the other rides, but this time instead of charging you $8 for it, they let you email it to yourself for free! how cool is that? here's my awful picture:

I'm a level 3 space ranger!

san fran pics

well I made it back from Anaheim safe and sound. except, my luggage decided to keep on traveling without me and made a side trip to Baltimore. luckily, it decided to come back later that evening so I wasn't without it for too long.
I will post more about NSTA later. for now, here are some pictures from the rainy trip to San Francisco.


the famous cable cars




riding along the street on the cable car


a look down on Lombard Street


Ghirardelli Square


me being a total dork


Jen, with some big boat behind her


Alcatraz

city of rain (and science educators)

so, today ended my time at NARST this year. tomorrow morning I am leaving rainy San Francisco for hopefully sunny Anaheim for NSTA. the last three days have been really good. sunday was spent mostly travelling and getting situated here.
monday morning we had sometime before the conference started, so we did a bit of touristy sight-seeing. we took the cable car from our hotel near Union Square up to Ghirardeli Square. it was raining a bit, and very foggy, so we couldn't actually see the Golden Gate bridge from where we were, but we knew it was there. we then walked down the Embarcadero to Fisherman's Wharf. we had a nice lunch at Boudin's and then took the F street car down to the Embarcadero Center, where our conference was. I think I got a few good pictures, so I will post those up later when I get back home.
the conference itself was great. I went to lots of interesting talks and was able to talk to some people about my research interests and future things. I have plenty of reading to do now.
also, even more excitingly I was able to see some old UCSD friends today. I had lunch with Mike Ficken, one of the fellow infamous seven RAs. he is going to law school here and it was nice to catch up with him. also, it was pretty hilarious yesterday when I was registering for the conference: someone yelled "Cynthia!" and I turned around and it was Emily! I wasn't expecting to see her at this conference, but it makes sense she was here and it was really good to see her. we went out to dinner tonight and caught up on all sorts of things, from our physics education programs to stuff going on with our group of friends. hopefully we will be able to keep in touch better from now on.
so, I will be a bit sad to say goodbye to San Francisco tomorrow, but I must move on to my next conference this week. hopefully it won't be raining in Anaheim.

the week ahead

so, I finalized plans on Thursday as to what exactly I will be doing this coming week. the original plan was to go to the NSTA conference from wednesday to sunday, but after my class last wednesday night, my professor was really insistent that I try to get myself to the NARST conference in the first half of the week. she was so insistent in fact that she volunteered to pay for part of my trip if I could get the funding for the rest. so, I emailed some people the next morning, and next thing I know, I have a flight Sunday morning (that would be about eight hours from now) to San Francisco for one conference, and then another flight on Wednesday from San Fran to Anaheim for the second conference. I'll get back next Sunday, so it will be a long week away.
I am looking forward to it, though. it should be great to meet some new people and talk about all this stuff I'm interested in. hopefully it won't rain the entire time in San Francisco so I can get some good pictures. I will update from the road.

spring break

spring break was a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to post the pictures up. Angel and I drove to San Diego for a few days. he had never been to the west coast or even seen the pacific ocean, so we made sure to include that on our itinerary. I showed him some of the cool places in SD that I missed (like Balboa Park, PB, and Da Kine's) and he met a few other of my friends that I hadn't seen in a while.
here are some highlights in picture form of our trip:


here's the famous La Jolla Cove


me at the Cove


Angel, meet the Pacific Ocean. Pacific Ocean, meet Angel.




the lazy seals


me and Carolyn

friday, finally

wow, this week seemed to take forever. spring break is next week, so of course, I had a bunch of stuff due this week. luckily, I didn't put too much off 'til the very end so I was able to sleep at least 5 hours each night. but it was still a bit crazy.

so now it's spring break, which is not really a "break" for most graduate students, such as myself. although I don't have any classes, I do have lots of work to do (basically catching up on my own research and the stuff I couldn't finish the last couple weeks). I also have an abstract due for a summer conference on thursday and if I'm town, I have a research meeting on friday. which, because I'm a nerd and I love my research, I actually want to go to.

in other news, they asked me this morning to go to another conference in april (all expenses paid, of course) in anaheim. woo hoo for that. should be good.

birthday pics

so I turned 25 last sunday (yeah, I am old now) and we had lots of fun to celebrate. saturday night a bunch of people accompanied me out to dinner at Gordon Biersch. we all had lots of good food and drinks. afterwards we went to the Cue Club on Mill, played a bit of pool and just hung out. then some of us went over to Brian's house for a small party (it was his birthday the weekend before). all in all, it was a great night. thanks everyone for showing up.
on my actual birthday, I slept in (hooray!) and then had a soccer game that evening. we totally kicked ass 6-0 to put ourselves solidly in first place. after the game, some of team went to Rula Bula for the chips and curry sauce (my favorite!). then, a few of my other friends persuaded me to go out to celebrate even though I was super tired. I had a pretty good time, but was glad to get some rest after that game.

here are some pictures from the Saturday night dinner. thanks again for everything, guys, it was awesome!








this was the biggest piece of chocolate cake I have ever seen...and it was yummy too.

this is winter?

so it's been like almost 80 degrees here. which is hilarious. but it's sooo nice. it almost makes me forget how awful it is during the summer. aw, well, what are you going to do?

so I have made an executive decision to write a masters thesis with the data I am collecting this semester and then to transfer over to the college of education to finish my PhD. it makes so much more sense than I can possibly say. and I feel really amazing about the decision, as if I'm suddenly free to do what I want (which I am). the more I think about not taking the comps again, the happier I am. :)

each week of this semester I am busier and busier. but it's much better than not having stuff to do. and I really like my classes and my research and the people I'm working with now and all that, so it doesn't seem to matter as much that I have like almost no free time anymore (that is, if I want to sleep).

in other news, I got a DVR for my tv. and contrary to popular opinion, I am watching less tv than before. and I'm watching the shows I actually want to see. and I don't have to wait up to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, which is so nice. and I don't miss Grey's Anatomy when I play soccer anymore. and I can watch Project Runway anytime I want. life is good!

side note: I am addicted to NPR.

a new beginning

I meant to post sometime during last week and then after last weekend, but it just didn't happen. to bring everyone up to speed, let me sum up the last two weeks: the 11th and 13th I took the physics written comps again (which was not as painful as the time before, but I'm still not feeling really confident - which is fine), then I participated in a two-day soccer tournament with my Brilliant! team (lots of fun, but ended up really sore and with possible shin splints), then one day off to recooperate from all of that, followed by the first week of the new semester.

I am feeling really good about this new semester. I am taking three education-related classes and am super excited about two of them (the third should be alright, but won't be as interesting as the other two). I have a history/philosophy of science class, a philosophy of education class, and another one on how to "generate" and analyze qualitative data.
I have come through the break with a new apprecation for my research interests and have decided not to apologize for them anymore. regardless of the outcome of the comps, I am seriously considering switching over to the education department, even though that is something that I initially was very against (due to some discussions I have had in the past with other people in my field - this is not because I think any less of the education department but because it is widely acknowledged that it will be more difficult to do future work in physics departments with a degree in education instead of physics). but I am starting to come to terms with the fact that I may be better suited over there, since their department is populated with people who actually seem to care about me and about what I want to do. the physics department is a big mess right now, and on top of all of that, my advisor is leaving and I need to find another one (and there is only like one other person in the department that would be able to advise me and I just don't know if that would work out). lots of things would need to happen for me to stay. I might be able to find an adviser in the math department or something like that. we'll see what happens. but regardless, I have told myself that by the end of this semester I need to have it figured out. I need to have a new advisor who understand where I am coming from, what I want to do with my research, will be able to help me with my research, and I also need to form my committee and start thinking about dissertation topics. oh, and I need to edit my paper from last semester and try to get it published. on top of all of that, I also have about 200 pages of reading each week, not to mention all of my research for the project that is paying me and my personal research as well. it is going to be a really busy semester, but I work best when I am busy, so I am happy about that.

happy 2006

I am currently holed up in my apartment in phoenix trying to study and not procrastinate. but clearly, I must take breaks for my own sanity, so here are my thoughts on the new year.

after a fairly uneventful trip to LA to see the folks for christmas, I drove down to san diego for new years and stayed there about five days. I caught up with a lot of old friends and that made me really happy. I hope that we can all keep in touch throughout the year. I saw Cogan at Jeremy's house, saw Eric K for some greasy mexican food (yum!), had lunch with Mike and Jen on sunday (really good to see them!), Carolyn and I watched WHMS sunday evening, and I chomped on pizza and beer with Ficken on monday.

the new year's eve festivities were quite nice. a lot of people came over and we all imbibed champagne and other intoxicating drinks. luckily, Jared and I woke up super early that morning to go to IKEA to buy champagne flutes; they were only 10 cents each (just that day - hence why we woke up early). we were only supposed to buy 8 each, but we went back in the store again and picked up another 16.

the rest of the weekend was lots of fun. we went to PB one night and Hillcrest another (wine tasting) and the boys even convinced me to play counterstrike with them for an hour or so one day (it wasn't so bad, but not something I am going to want to do on a regular basis). it was really nice being in san diego, and of course I didn't want to leave to come back here. I mean, really, what I was thinking leaving that place originally?

I was going to resolve not to have resolutions, but that sounds kind of silly. so I made some up I might actually follow: I resolve to read more books and watch less TV (unless it's really good Tv - then it doesn't count). I resolve to cook good food more often and to not go to fast food places (except In-N-Out burger which is the best place ever). I resolve to take the stairs instead of the elevator (unless the elevator is broken or I'm really in a hurry or I'm with someone else who obviously doesn't want to take the stairs).

merry christmas, etc.

Christmas was really nice this year. I didn't get into any arguments with either of my parents, which in years past has been quite a damper on the occasion. but sunday went off without a hitch and I had lots of fun at my aunt and uncle's house with my mom's side of the family and also at home with my dad and brother (and the dog). the weather stayed nice and we had the stereotypical 80-something degree los angeles christmas.

monday I met up with an old friend from high school that I hadn't really talked to since graduation. it was so nice to catch up and see how she is doing. we gossiped a bit about some people from high school, who was getting married, who was pregnant, and so on. it was pretty interesting (and a bit scary). neither of us could imagine having kids right now. when I got back from seeing her, I broke open the yearbook and reminisced some more about the good old days of high school. things were so different back then, and a lot simpler in many ways. but I definitely wouldn't trade it for what I have now: independence and opportunity and choices to make. the other thing I looked up when I got back was myspace. this was how we were re-acquainted and I wanted to see who else I could find on there. well, what do you know but about 36 girls from my class are on there (it was an all-girls school) which makes up about one quarter of our whole class. the problem is that I'm getting sort of addicted to looking at everyone's profiles and seeing what they are up to. it has been quite interesting to say the least. the one I just saw (and hence promoted me to blog this right away) is that my ex-boyfriend is getting married to someone that was in my class! what?! all I can say is, wow, I hope he's no longer crazy (for her sake). I don't even think they knew each other in high school. that is sooo weird.

back in the valley again

after recovering from a version of the common cold over the weekend (when I also attended a fabulous holiday party at russ and amy's), I cleaned my apartment monday and prepared to leave for the holidays (yes, I am celebrating more than one thing during these two weeks, give me a break). yesterday I left sunny phoenix and drove the 400 miles to los angeles (which was actually sunnier and warmer - how did that happen?). I made the whole trip in about five and half hours (with a short stop to eat a sandwich) and on only one tank of gas. that's right folks, my car is awesome (I got about 38 miles/gallon). anyway, the trip wasn't as bad as I was expecting and it was sort of nice to be back home. the soundtrack of the trip: broken social scene (a new canadian band - very good; it was different and interesting), wilco - kicking television (a new 2-disc live cd of a concert they did in chicago a little while ago - very excellent, wilco is amazing as always), and white stripes - get behind me satan (which I've had for a while but hadn't listened to in a couple months - helped with the traffic situation when I got into LA). no sooner had I gotten home, though, and my step-dad and I got into a "discussion" about the whole intelligent design thing. he has this thing where he doesn't listen to other people, so it's kind of hard to talk to him about anything, but this was totally ridiculous. anyway, luckily my brother showed up and interrupted us before it got really ugly.

today my mom and I had our first shopping day. we actually got a lot accomplished and didn't get into any fights or disagreements (normally shopping isn't such a good mother-daughter activity for us). so that was good. I only have a few things left to buy before christmas. then I drove down to LA to have dinner with marla. it should've only taken about half an hour, but of course, the traffic was completely ridiculous and it took almost an hour and a half. such is life (in LA, at least). the 405 was like a parking lot from the getty all the way to my exit at wilshire. that is basically four miles and it took me half an hour. but, when I got to marla's apartment, none of that mattered. it was really good to see her again and we had a really nice dinner and visit. her apartment is super cute and so close to so many things. she is really lucky to have found it. we caught up on all the happenings of our friends and what is going on in our lives. her experiences with teach for america are really interesting to me and the things I'm doing at school. she was definitely interested in hearing about how education researchers think about the program and I was interested in hearing her take on the same issues. it all makes a lot of sense now and it's really good to hear about it from all the sides. anyway, after that, I hung out with my brother and we watched 'crash' which is a really excellent movie. you should all go see that right now (it's on dvd).

end of the semester

so I survived another semester of graduate school. phew. this one wasn't nearly as bad as the first two, even though I was probably busier this time. the classes I took were actually interesting to me and will be helpful when I start to write my dissertation (whenever that may be). also, I was working on a big research project which was interesting to say the least.
there has been lots of drama in my office in the last few weeks and I'm still not entirely sure what is going on. basically, what it comes down to, is that I'm going to need to find a new advisor sometime next semester. she will probably be leaving here, and furthermore, I don't think she would be able to help me do the kind of research I want to do. so that will be another change to deal with next semester, along with a new job on the project that's funding me and three classes to top it off.

my plans for winter break: I am staying here in phoenix a couple more days. on monday or tuesday I will be driving to see my parents in los angeles. sometime after christmas, probably around the 29th or 30th, I am driving down to san diego to hang with some friends and spend new years down there. then I will be back here on the 2nd. so if you are going to be in any of these places when I will, make sure to give me a call so we can hang out. :)

an update on my dad: he is home from the hospital and doing fine. they found a couple things wrong, but they are both treatable with antibiotics and he should be back to normal soon. so that's a big relief. thank you all for your support last week.

I am a master at the art of time suckage

[quoting Reality Bites, quite an excellent post-college movie]

so, I've decided maybe the only thing that I am really truly good at is procrastination. I mean, really, I had two final papers due yesterday. and did I work on them over the weekend? not really. I thought about them a little bit, but didn't do any real work (i.e. typing up stuff) on them. what an idiot. so I worked on them on monday and tuesday, finishing the last paper a half hour before it was due (and believe me, that was not as close as I have been on other assignments). the thing is, maybe they're not great papers, but I think they were alright, and I got everything in there that I needed to. so, even though I procrastinate, I always finish things. and see, that is the key to good procrastination. if you don't actually finish it, then really you are a slacker and not a procrastinator. that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I am an excellent procrastinator and have honed my skills over my years in college and now in grad school. I feel that I could teach a whole class on how to effectively procrastinate. but perhaps it is not a skill that everyone can master. maybe it is some innate talent that I was born with. hmm. something to think about.

the other thing that was stressing me out yesterday was that my brother called me around lunch time and told me that my dad was in the hospital. he had been not feeling well lately, had some stomach pains, and on monday night, it got worse and he passed out a few times and was puking up blood. very bad. so, he took him to the emergency room and the doctors are looking into it. as of right now, they have determined that he has an ulcer, but they're still not sure why he was passing out so they're keeping him in the hospital for another day or two I guess. I really hope everything will turn out fine. it's just hard being so far away. I can't just go see him in the hospital like my brother can. but at least anthony (my brother) is calling me a lot and letting me know what is going on. that helps a bit. so, please pray for my dad and keep him in your thoughts.

happy turkey weekend

so I survived the long weekend at home. it all started off with a bad omen Wednesday morning when they forgot to put my checked luggage on the plane and I had to wait an extra two hours for it to come on the next flight (luckily I got a $50 voucher out of the ordeal). hopefully that's the last time that happens. the good news was that I got to hang out with my brother a bit longer and that was nice. later in the afternoon, we went to see the new movie version of RENT. I was very happy with how it turned out (see previous post), so that was a relief. I'm going to see it again this week. yay!
Thursday (turkey day) went off without a hitch. we all went over to one of my uncle and aunt's houses in Thousand Oaks and had lots of good food. it was the first time everyone on my mom's side of the family was all in one place in a really long time. it was really nice to see everyone and play with my little cousins (two of them just started playing soccer, so that was fun).
friday, I stayed as far away from the malls as possible, and saw a couple of friends. I had lunch with Laura and then some coffee with Carolyn later in the afternoon. it was so great to see both of them! :)
saturday, my mom and step-dad took me to lunch in Venice Beach and then to the Getty Museum. if it hadn't been such a blustery day, it would have been slightly better, but it was actually pretty nice. sunday, my littlest cousin was getting baptized, so I saw most of the family again for that.
all in all, it was a pretty good time at home. I got some work done, which is good, and saw some people I hadn't seen in a while, which was great.
now, back to the grindstone for a few weeks and then super-study-time through winter break. ugh.

confessions of a renthead

in the fall of 1997, when I was a junior in high school, a friend of mine introduced me to the musical RENT. I remember the first song of it that I heard and I remember exactly where I was: on a school field trip, on the bus, listening to "one song glory". the rest is history. I quickly became obsessed with jonathan larson's amazing rock opera. for the first few months, I listened to the entire show every single day before I went to sleep. I basically fell in love with it. it was so optimistic, so idealistic, so full of life and love, of strength and family & friends overcoming tragedy and loss. it gave me a new philosophy on life; a new way of looking at people and the world and myself. and it has changed me forever. I don't think that any other thing has affected my life in such a deep and meaningful way as RENT did and does. I saw the stage production three times, in los angeles and in san diego and even saw the original mimi in one of the casts. each time I saw it, it reaffirmed my beliefs that love and hope can overcome anything.

so you can imagine my feelings of both apprehension and excitement when I heard that they were finally making it into a movie. on one hand, I couldn't wait to see it on the big screen and to see six of the eight original cast members that I had fallen in love with. on the other hand, I had such high expectations and ideas about what it should be. however, I had faith that they would not let the movie lose what makes the show so special.

so, I saw the movie this morning, and I must say that I am really impressed and amazed at what they did. somehow they were able to translate from the stage to the screen without losing too much of the power and presence that the stage affords the musical. each medium is different and it is interesting to see how things have to be altered and how certain things work better in one or the other. there were minor changes, and they added some extra stuff in to fill in some of the gaps, and I can honestly say that I loved it. they definitely did the best that they could and I can't ask for more than that. (and I definitely can't wait for the dvd to see the few scenes that they deleted.)

so, in conclusion, I am still a proud renthead, and can't wait to see the movie again later this week.

no day but today!

aargghh!!

what is wrong with these people?
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/11/08/evolution.debate.ap/index.html

how appropriate that today was the day I gave a presentation in my science ed class about the philosophy and nature of science. argh. makes me so upset. and motivated. I guess I won't be out of a job for a while. *sigh*

my solution: I'm joining a new church so I don't have to think about this any more.

more pirates!

new travelogue

so, basically, geocities sucks. there is a rate limit on how many people can look at my webpages and there is that dumb ad on the right side that is super annoying. so, for the past few months I've been trying to figure out some other option for hosting my travelogue (for free, since I am a poor grad student). I love blogger, and did eventually figure out a way to get it to work the way I wanted it to. the benefits of the new site are that I can put up as many photos as I want (and if you click on them, they are bigger than they were before) and it's totally easier to use. right now, I have up the same content that was on the other site (basically, days one through twelve). I am now going to start on finishing up the rest of the trip and will let you all know when that is finished. let me know what you think (and yes, I already know that the dates are wrong. I am going to fix that last, along with adding links at the bottom of each day to the next day).
the new travelogue: http://cynthiaeurotrip.blogspot.com/

teaching an old dog new tricks

so, as I'm sure I've mentioned previously, the movie version of RENT is coming out in november. and while the trailers look amazing and I keep hearing from the cast and directors that it is going to be great and very true to the original musical, I am still hesitant and am anxiously and apprehensively waiting for the day before thanksgiving. the first step towards this process of accepting the new came yesterday. the movie soundtrack was released two weeks ago, but I was broke (well, I still sort of am) and I was busy, so I didn't pick it up until yesterday. I was having a pretty shitty day and I hoped that listening to the soundtrack would make things better. and of course, RENT always pulls through.

it was really such a strange thing listening to it. imagine listening to something that you have had literally memorized (down to each instrument and vocal aside) for the past eight years, yet it sounds totally different. I knew all of the words but it was new. it was kind of trippy. but interesting. all of the songs are different in some way, some much more obvious than others. there is a heavier, more rock sound to most of them. there are also two new voices out of the eight original actors and that is definitely taking some getting used to, especially Mimi. I'm still not sure yet about Rosario Dawson playing her. I'm really going to have to wait until the movie to see if she can pull it off. the new Joanne (Tracie Thoms) is really great, so I'm excited about that. all of the returning people are great as well. Adam Pascal (Roger)'s voice has changed a bit in the last nine years, so that is interesting (but he is even hotter than before, so that's really good. hehe). and Anthony Rapp (Mark) is still amazing. there are a couple lyric changes, but even those are very very small (for instance changing 'christmas eve' to 'christmas day' in one case which I'm sure has to do with some change in the timeline of events). Besides all that, though, I am enjoying the cd and as part of my get-used-to-the-changes plan, I am not going to listen to the original broadway cast recording until sometime after I see the movie.


in other news, school is still humming along. I'm busy as usual. friday night, a bunch of us went out to get cuban food and then went to a couple of art shows in downtown Phoenix. that was pretty cool. the ASU football game was really fun on saturday. me, Brian, Steve, and Keely got drunk beforehand and made a big racket. one of the highlights was when Steve fell like three rows forward and landed on some girl (not really like on top of her, but just sort of into her). she was sooo mad. it was hilarious. all in all, it was great fun. too bad we lost. that sucked. sunday my grandparents were in town visiting, so I went to my aunt and uncle's house (they live about 40 minutes away on the other side of Phoenix) to have dinner with them. it was really nice and a good way to end the weekend.

catching up

I've been a bad blogger. I'm sorry. it's been way too long since I've last posted. I've meant to be better. I apologize.

the last few weeks have been a bit crazy. or at least it seems that way. school has started to consume my life once again, but at least this year, I think it is mostly by choice and not because it is being forced on me. I am starting to seriously think about what sort of research I want to do for my dissertation (even though I don't really need to start working on it yet) and how that is affecting my current research. I feel very overwhelmed because I have a general idea of the direction I want to go in, but no clear focus or way of getting there yet. but I suppose it's good that I have a direction. that seems like an important first step. I had a meeting with my advisor last thursday to talk about this sort of thing and I began to talk about the direction I was thinking about in vague terms because I'm not sure she was expecting it or will be willing to accept it down the road. we'll see what happens. she has some ideas in her head about what she wants me to do, but I don't really think that's exactly where I want to go, so hopefully we'll be able to find some middle ground that will work out. one interesting thing that came up in the conversation is that I might have the chance to go to south africa for a few weeks next summer to work on a research project. that would be super exciting and I hope it all works out. they would pay for everything except a few things like my visa and vaccinations. so that would be even better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

along with all the school stuff, I'm having fun too. I bought a student season ticket for ASU football (and basketball too, but that hasn't started yet). I was at the LSU game and the Northwestern game (which we were able to sneak jpg into when he came to visit) which were both fun. but last weekend, the USC topped them all. it wasn't all that comfortable because it was a 12:30 game, so it was ridiculous hot out. plus, all the drunk frat boys around us were sweating alcohol so it smelled totally gross. the first half of the game was really exciting; we were winning 21-3 at half time and we all really thought that we might be able to win it. but then the second half something happened and we just went downhill. our quarterback, keller, threw a bunch of interceptions and then our defense got really tired because they had been on the field too long and we just couldn't hold them any more. with about 5 minutes left, usc finally pulled ahead and ended up winning. oh well. at least it wasn't as bad as last year's lost.

friday was the one-year anniversary of scruin day and the little grape's birthday, so we celebrated with a small party at my apartment. katie, angel, hwi and I made shirts for the occasion which were pretty hilarious. some other people came over and we ate grapes, drank wine, and watched monty python and the holy grail (because it's funny, not because it had anything to do with grapes). and a good time was had by all.

in other news: my soccer team, brilliant!, has won our last two games 11-0 (same score both times, isn't that weird?). our team rocks. also, a new in-n-out opened like a mile from campus so that is super exciting. I don't have to drive 20 minutes to get my burger fix anymore (although I still have to drive that long to get my chipotle fix. hopefully that will be remedied soon).

very strange indeed

ok, so I'm sort of freaking out. there's been a very weird confluence of events today. when I was in the shower this morning, I started singing songs from "the sound of music" for no apparent reason. I hadn't even thought of that movie for a while. when I got out of the shower, I checked cnn.com for the headlines of the day and they said that robert wise, the guy who directed the movie, had just died. so that was a little weird.
but then, tonight, I wanted to watch a movie. I decided to watch "I am trying to break your heart", a documentary about the band wilco, which I had purchased over the summer but just hadn't gotten around to watching yet. then I went to imdb.com to check on some movie thing and what is the movie of the day? that's right. the movie I am watching right now. I'm officially freaked out. what does this mean?

I miss the beach

so I'm back. and I survived the shortened week. Tuesday was one of the longest days in recent memory. I woke up around 5am with only about four and a half hours of sleep under my belt and had to drag myself to the airport. luckily I had some coffee and was able to get an entire assignment typed on during the hour it took to get back to Phoenix. Brian picked me up at the airport (thanks again!) and I headed home, only to briefly unpack and then bike over to school for a long day of work and classes. the good news was that I had finished all of my homework before I got to school (something that doesn't always happen). the bad news was that I had to be at school until 8pm. ugh. anyway, I survived.

the beach and the accompanying weekend were awesome. I got into LA on Friday and spent most of the day hanging out with my mom. it wasn't completely horrible. the coolest thing was that I went back to my old high school for a visit. my old high school physics teacher had sent me an email earlier in the week and said I should come by and say hi if I could. we had a nice little talk and he wants me to come back some time and talk to the girls about college and physics and grad school and stuff like that. apparently, I am the first and only person from my all-girls high school to ever get a degree in physics. so that made me feel pretty cool, but also more aware of the gender problem in physics. but anyway, that's a problem to think about later on (like not right now). I also saw my dad for a while and that was nice as well.

Saturday we drove up to Carpinteria beach (just south of Santa Barbara). the weather was absolutely perfect all weekend (we stayed until Monday afternoon). eventually everyone else in the extended family showed up (although my brother didn't come up until Sunday). it was lots of fun hanging out with my cousins and aunts and uncles and everyone. my newfound obsession with sudoku was echoed in my stepdad and grandfather, so that was amusing as well. (in case you don't know what I'm talking about, two things: a. it is extremely addicting and b. it is great.) so I got a bit of a tan (because even though I live in the land of eternal sun, we spend most of day in air conditioned buildings or automobiles) and caught up with everyone. one of my cousins just started college at cal state long beach. her suite has the same bathroom facilities we did at ucsd (two toilets, two showers) except she has to share it with 13 other girls instead of just 7 like I did. yikes! good luck with that!

so besides all that, classes are going pretty well. I don't feel overwhelmed yet, but I don't think I will either.

oh, and I failed the comps (along with more than half of the people who took them) so I will be taking them again in January. sounds like fun, huh?

vacation, here I come

so I'm off to escape the heat! I'm leaving for LA tonight and then will go up to Carpinteria (in Santa Barbara) for the weekend to be with my family. it should be nice and relaxing (even though I do have about 80 pages of reading to do while I'm there). the best part about the weekend is that the high temperature projected for the weekend is 72. ah, heaven. it's 108 here right now, so I'm very excited about that.
I'll post more later!

a long way home

so classes started this week. I seriously can't believe how many people are on campus. it seems like twice as many as I remember from the last two semesters. craziness. stupid freshmen. wandering around lost. it's hilarious. hehe.

I am taking two classes this semester. they are both education classes, so no physics! woo hoo! it's a nice break, let me tell you. I'm also taking some research credits and working on the same research project from the summer, so that will be good as well. all those things will definitely keep me busy. I already have over 100 pages of reading to do for next week. but the good thing is that I don't have any tests this semester, just a bunch of papers and presentations and stuff like that. which I prefer. so yay for that.

Monday was Angel's birthday, so we went out to Gordon Biersch for dinner and then to the Cue Club afterwards for some drinks. it was lots of fun.

yesterday was a totally full day, with all my classes and meetings and stuff.

today wasn't so bad as far as all of that goes, but there was an interesting incident on the way home. so, Katie and I have been carpooling this week since it's really super hot and we don't want to ride our bikes (parking is free during August). so she drove this morning and everything was great. we had to park pretty far away, but there was a shuttle to drop us off by our office, so no worries there. we had to leave our offices around 2:45 so I could get home in time to drive to my research project meeting in mesa. so, that was fine. we went over to the shuttle stop and waited with everyone else. we ran into Hwi and talked to her for a while and then her bus came so she left. ours showed up a few minutes later, but it was totally full, so we had to wait for the next one. the next one was so full it didn't even stop, so against our wishes, we decided to walk to the car. it was really f*cking hot today, so we were dripping by the time we finally got out there. we manuevered out of the parking and got onto Rural Ave. we decided that there was a bunch of traffic there, so we should take McAllister instead. so, we got into the left hand turn lane on Rural to turn onto University to get to McAllister. here's a map if you're confused (please note that our car was parked as far away as possible from campus). as we're sitting in the lane (we are the next car to turn), Katie's car totally dies. like won't even turn on. so there goes the a/c. crap. we realize right away that she is out of gas. arghh! and of course, we are across the street from a gas station. so I got out and tried to push, but something was wrong and it wouldn't move (it was in neutral, but as we realized later, the ignition was in the wrong place). after waiting about ten minutes in the ridiculous heat, we convinced two strong boys walking across the intersection to help us out. they figured out what was wrong with the ignition and helped us get it across the street. whew. so finally we got some gas and everything was good again. luckily I wasn't too late to my meeting and everything worked out ok.

glad that's over

well, I finished taking the comps yesterday. and all I can say about that is that it's over. I'll find out in about a week how badly I failed. hehe. we'll see. I'm still praying for partial credit.

to celebrate the end of the test from hell, some of us went out last night (after, of course, a nap). angel, hwi, and I went to get some great sushi and sake bombs for dinner. it was delicious. we even got a free dessert. woo hoo. after that, alec and rosa (one of the new grad students) met up with us to go see "the 40 year-old virgin". it was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard for that long ever at a movie. steve carell is awesome. he really made the movie. after the movie, we went to back to katie's place and hung out for a while. by that point, we were all exhausted and went home. I think I slept for about ten hours. it was wonderful.

the plan for the rest of the weekend: do as little as possible. school starts on monday, so I plan to be as lazy as possible before then. so far, so good.

a hilarious article: intelligent falling (from the onion).

doubleplusgood

while procrastinating tonight, I ran across this blog: http://avantgame.blogspot.com/2005/08/ministry-of-reshelving.html
a great book, and a really funny idea.
(some of the comments are hilarious too - people need a sense of humor.)

comps

so the first day of the comps was today. from 8am to 1pm we struggled through seven classical mechanicis and electricity/magnetism problems. my brain still hurts. we got some free ice cream later in the afternoon, but even that didn't help much.

tomorrow is another study day and then on friday we have quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. hopefully that will go alright.

pray that the graders are generous with partial credit. seriously.

my name in lights

ok, not really lights, but it's still pretty cool. here's what's going on with me this week.

so, yesterday I flew to salt lake city, utah for the summer meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). it was a fairly uneventful flight and trip to the hotel we are stayng at, near the university of utah (where the conference is). I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night and had to wake up super early this morning (6am, which was really 5am for me). today was the first unofficial day of the conference, and we went to two four-hour workshops. it was slightly painful, especially around 2:30pm when the caffeine started to wear off and I got a bit punchy. anyway, it could've been worse I suppose. at least they are paying for me to be here (and for my food and everything which is totally sweet).

there were a few redeeming highlights today. first, when we checked in the registration area this morning, we got a t-shirt with our packet. on the back of the t-shirt, there is a list of all the people who are presenting a poster or talk at the conference. and my name is there! it was exciting. then there was boring boring boring. after the last workshop, Brian went with me to go find Fred, my old boss from SDSU. it was so good to see him and see how the project was going and everything and how everyone in the office was doing.
after dinner, Brian and Jen and I headed back to the conference area because we heard there was some free food (this is the only way to get graduate students to go anywhere). there were lots of booths set up with various vendors trying to get you to buy their books or calculators or physics demonstrations. it was pretty ridiculous. but they had chocolate cake, so it was ok. Brian decided to make it more interesting, we would search out all the free stuff and try to get as many stickers and pins attached to him as possible, making him the physics whore. it was quite funny; (one of our favorite stickers said, "the physics front" on it. we stuck it to his back). while we were walking around, I ran into one of the professor I knew from UCSD who I haven't talked to in a while, so that was really great as well. but the best part was seeing the finished project of the textbook/curriculum I had been working on at SDSU. it had finally gotten published and the publisher was there and had the full-color, hardcover version (I had only ever seen a black and white softbound). it was really amazing to see this thing that I had helped work on for sale and potentially being used by students all around the country. however, the best part, is that my name is listed as one of the contributors to the book (as it should be). it was so cool to see my name in print like that, in a real book and everything. It was a great feeling.

Brian and I ended the evening at the bar with a few drinks and then the hot tub at the hotel. it was a good end to a long and tiring day.

tomorrow morning I get to present my poster on the research I was doing this summer. hopefully it won't be too boring. I have to stand in front of it for an hour while people come by and ask me quesions about me. we'll see how it goes.

"are you a rocket scientist?"

so the most hilarious thing happened today at school. I was sitting in my office, working on some stuff on my computer, when all of a sudden my advisor (in the adjoining office) starts freaking out about something. Jen went in to investigate what the disturbance was, but she didn't really say anything except, "oh crap" or something to that effect. so, now, Brian and I are intrigued and walk in there and we see that the entire office is filled with smoke and smells completely awful.

so it turns out that our advisor was making some popcorn in the microwave and just trusted the machine to know when to stop popping. it was a smaller than normal bag and I'm guessing that the microwave didn't know or care. anyway, it caught on fire and since the microwave was sitting on a cardboard box, it started to catch that on fire too. around this point, our advisor saw the smoke and realized something bad was happening and proceeded to freak out. Brian came in, unplugged the microwave and took it out to the stairwell while Jen and I and our advisor started to get the smoke out of the room. we were afraid the fire alarm and/or the sprinklers would go off, both things being not fun situations to be in. apparently when Brian opened up the microwave, there was some yellow gas that rushed out (probably the butter?). luckily he didn't get burned or anything.

here's a picture of the guilty microwave (and the bag of scorched popcorn):


so then our advisor decided that she had to call the campus police and tell them what happened. they called the fire department and sent them over. we were expecting at the most one truck with a couple guys to make sure that everything was ok and that nothing was still burning, etc. she explicitly told them on the phone that nothing was still on fire and that there was just some smoke (and an awful smell). so, a few minutes later (and we are still laughing hysterically at this point), we hear some fire engines. multiple ones. and we're like, oh crap, did they really send a bunch of trucks for this?

well, I guess the fire department was fairly bored today, because apparently they sent over four trucks (although we think they may have been exaggerating - we only saw two). three firemen, in full gear, carrying hoses, tanks and long hook things, came up the stairs a little bit later to see what was actually going on. once they saw the microwave, they started radioing in "popcorn in microwave" over and over again. and then they started making fun of our advisor. they were like, "are you a professor here"? and "are you a rocket scientist"? we were like, well, she's a physicist. and they started laughing. and we started laughing. it was really funny. they were giving her a really hard time about it, which made it even funnier. she was a pretty good sport about the whole thing, but definitely won't be hearing the last of it for a while.

the firetrucks:


so, all in all, it was an interesting afternoon at work. I would like to point out, that even though it was a tiny bag of popcorn and our office is on the fifth floor, the smell permeated all the way down onto the first floor. I think our office will smell bad for at least a week.

thunderstorms!

today and yesterday were mind-numbingly annoying in terms of work, but luckily each day was redeemed by something else happening. yesterday, it was a lunch trip to in-n-out with brian and then shopping with katie and angel in the evening (complete with dinner at cpk). today, it was an awesome thunderstorm and a subsequent short-term power outage. oh, and I also bought a label-maker for no real reason.

the thunderstorm is really cool. it started getting windy (like around 50mph) around 7pm or so, and then around 8 or so, my power went out. that was exciting in and of itself. luckily I found my flashlight without any difficulty and then got some candles lit. after a while I decided to go over to angel's house which was a couple blocks away, but had power. we watched the storm develop even more and it started pouring rain around 9pm. by the time I left his house about 45 minutes later, the streets were already sort-of flooded and made driving home more interesting than usual. when I got home my power was back on (luckily) and it's still raining and probably will keep going for at least a few more hours.

grad school, eternal damnation...what's the difference?

today's PhD Comics was especially hilarious:



and the studying continues...

pics from last weekend

we went out for steve's birthday on friday, as I mentioned earlier. here are some pictures from our night out.



this was us at the big bang, where after a few drinks, steve was called on stage and did the ymca dance in front of the entire club. it was hilarious (I have a video, but it's too big to upload to my other site. sorry.) what is angel doing?



before the big bang, we were at the cue club and played a bit of pool. here are the guys discussing a crucial shot.

30 days, physics style

so Angel and I decided to start a new blog documenting our immense pain over the next 30 days while we're studying for our stupid written comps. you can read all about it here: http://30daysphysicsgradschool.blogspot.com
I will still be posting here, of course, but the other site should be good as well.

harry potter and the half-blood prince

so I just finished the sixth book. and I am still stunned. so many things happened that I was not expecting (though, some of them were not surprising nonetheless). it is quite an emotional book, and much much darker than any of the previous ones. it is also probably my favorite of the six. I think this is due mainly to the way that all of the plot lines are interwoven so well so that the book flies by and keeps you interested all the way through. plus, there are so many revelations and explanations that bring together many of the things that have been questioned during the rest of the books. in that way, the ending is good because it answers a lot of questions. however, it also leaves you feeling very anxious and expectant because you can taste how close the last book is (even though you know it will be at least two years before we get it). the inevitable death that we all knew was coming was harder to take than expected, but this was mostly due to the person who did the killing. that part, more than anything, upset me and will keep me waiting to see what happens in the last book.
the romance in the book was highly amusing (and also with the pairings that I thought would happen) and that, along with the usual interesting little tidbits about the magical world that rowling throws in every now and then, make it a very enjoyable read. it had just the right mix of humor, mystery, adventure, and emotion to make it the best book of the series so far. just be sure to have a tissue on hand while reading the last few chapters.

5 weeks to go

the last week and a half has been particularly annoying. the studying for the comps has been kicked into high gear and it's slowly killing me. five weeks from yesterday is the first day of the test, so I'm starting to really freak out, and I'm hoping that it doesn't get much worse (but of course, it will). *sigh* anyway, I have lots and lots of studying to look forward to during the next five weeks and hopefully it won't entirely kill me. luckily tomorrow night the new harry potter book comes out (year six: harry potter and the half-blood prince) so that will help me have some enjoyable breaks from studying over the next week.

oh, and it's really freaking hot here. the high has been around 112-113 the last week and will probably continue that for the next two months or so. ugh. I had soccer practice tonight and it was still over 100 degrees when we finished up around 9pm. that is insane. insane!

san diego!

so, earlier in the week I decided to go down to san diego this weekend for the fourth of july (and for a reprise from the 112 degree phoenix heat). friday afternoon I set off to drive down there. I was expecting a really long boring drive, but it actually wasn't too awful. I had lots of cds to listen to (and a in-dash 6 disc changer so I didn't have to do much) and it went much quicker than I was anticipating. first of all, excluding the stop I took in Yuma for some dinner and a bit of a break, it only took me five and a half hours. so that's fairly amazing. also, my car totally rocks as I was able to make the entire 400 miles on only one tank of gas! woo hoo! so yeah, it wasn't too bad. I got in late last night, and hung out with jeremy and a few other people that were over at his apartment.

today, I had lunch with carolyn down in the gaslamp (at this nice little pizza place) and walked around horton plaza a bit. then we decided to drive up to san clemente so that we could go to the rainbow sandal factory store. even though it took a while and there was a bunch of traffic on the way back, it was totally worth it. I needed new sandals sooo badly and kept meaning to order them online, but I'm so glad I didn't. not only did they have the entire selection there, but they were super cheap. I ended up getting two pairs instead of just the one pair to replace my worn-out ones and I paid only a little bit more than I would have if I had ordered them online and paid for shipping. so that was fantastic.

tomorrow, the plan is to go to the beach and see some more people probably.

monkeys!!!

so I've had a busy last couple of weeks. I've been meaning to post, but just keep forgetting or running of out time. anywho, here goes nothing.

last weekend was pretty fun. friday night we had a surprise birthday party for one of my office mates, Jen. we surprised her at the phoenix zoo and then went to Jody's house for a bbq. the zoo pales in comparison to the wonderfulness that is the san diego zoo, but it did have two redeeming qualities: first, it was super cheap; on friday evenings you can get in for only $2. second, they had this exhibit that you can go in and all these crazy squirrel monkeys are running around, literally inches away from you. they were super cute and hilarious (as all monkeys are). I took some video on my digital camera. one of the videos is posted here for your viewing enjoyment: click here

last sunday we had a really good soccer game; we beat the first place team. it was great. yesterday we played them again for the championship, but unfortunately lost. they were playing a very physical game which our team is not as used to. oh well. second place is still pretty good. our team has improved so much since last fall.

last week was pretty crazy at work. there was lots of stuff to do and seemingly not enough to get it all done. I did get a bunch of studying done, so I feel pretty good about that.

thursday night we all went out because it was Katie's last night here for two weeks. it was lots of fun and definitely hilarious. saturday, steve, brian, and todd had a party at their house, so that was cool as well. there weren't as many people as some of their past parties but I think everyone had a really good time.

in other news, there is less than three weeks left until the new harry potter book comes out, so I have begun to re-read book five so I will be all up to date when the half blood prince arrives. it sucks because I don't know anyone else here who reads the books so I don't have anyone to talk about it. plus, they all think I'm crazy. whatever. they are missing out.

so Jeremy thinks that he is really funny:
http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=JeremyPaulGallagher&tab=weblogs&uid=288233913

but I know better.

RENT!

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/rent/

I am sooo excited. cannot wait until november. I think the most exciting thing is that they got so much of the original broadway cast in the movie (mark, roger, collins, benny, angel, and maureen). six out of eight ain't bad. check on the cast here.

30 days

so, there's this new show on fx called "30 days". morgan spurlock, the guy who only ate mcdonald's for one month in "super size me", has a new experiment. during each episode, he explores how it would be to live as someone else for 30 days. in this first episode, he and his fiancee moved to columbus, ohio and tried to live on minimum wage. it was a quite interesting and eye-opening exercise. the worst part came when both of them got sick on the same day and each had to make a trip to the emergency room. of course, they didn't have insurance, so the bills were enormous and completely ridiculous (I think they charged him $40 for an ace bandage). anyway, try to see it if you can. it's on wednesday nights at 10pm.

in other news, we won our soccer game on sunday (and I scored a goal!) so if we win the game this sunday, then we will play for the championship the following weekend. we will have to play really hard for that to happen, so hopefully our whole team will show up and give it their all.

my research is going well. I got a whole lot of new stuff to work on today, so that's good. being busy and productive is nice. studying is going slowly. I think we are making some progress, but I just don't know if we're making it fast enough. august 17th is creeping closer and closer.

"bank error in your favor, collect $200"

ok, so it wasn't a bank error, but basically I felt like I had picked up the best community chest card in monopoly when I got my mail a week or so ago. there was a sizable check and I had no idea what it was for (it was from ASU). the mystery persisted for about a week, and finally last friday I got the answer I was hoping for, namely that the check was not a mistake and that I could deposit the money without any guilt (some friends were trying to persuade me to just cash it and not say anything). it turns out that I received a fellowship when I first got here and no one told me about it (or the other person who got it). we were supposed to be getting a check each semester, but somehow they not only forgot to tell us about it, but forgot to give us the money. and so, a couple weeks ago they realized what happened and just sent us all the money now. so it's super exciting. I get to pay off all of my credit cards and have a bit of money left over. so that's the best news in a long time. yay for that.

in other news, the studying for my physics comps test is going alright. I think I am making some progress. Angel and I have scheduled about two hours of studying every day for this month. next month, we'll move it up to probably four hours a day, plus one day of just studying. should be fun.

tonight I'm going to a Bright Eyes show with Katie. should be cool.