Electrodynamics Final

So I went and took my 110A electrodynamics final and feel like I did really well which is awesome because I was kinda dreading it as my hardest final. This time however, I wasn't nervous at all, in fact I was rather confident and looking forward to the test. This is in stark contrast to my usual pre-test m.o. as long time readers know. Oh well. That's the update for now. I have to go do quantum homework.

Finals Coming Up!

So I'm getting ready for finals and looking forward to this break which will be my first vacation for a year since I spent all summer doing research. I still have work to do but I plan to laze around a lot more than usual. This year I don't have any finals on the same day which is pretty nice because I don't have to go through that all over again. Other than that not much new.

Robert's Rule #1

Henceforth, there shall be a regular update entitled Robert's Rules.
-Robert


I'm introducing a new feature called Robert's Rules where I discuss what I would do if I were to become your ruler. (not the measuring kind, the one that you pay taxes to. If that description doesn't eliminate the ambiguity I would like to have a talk with your ruler and discuss 'business'. By business I mean inches, by inches I mean how do we take out those annoying snooty metric jerks, by annoying stupid metric jerks, I meant the dinosaurs.)

Pinto Alegre!

"Recently, in a small Brazilian town called Novo Santo Antonio in the central state of Mato Grosso, the mayor Joao de Souza Luz began a Viagra distribution program that was approved by the legislature and dubbed 'Happy Penis' or 'Pinto Allegre' in Portuguese. In this program, men over the age of 60 can sign up to receive free Viagra. " But many of the men were cheating on their wives so "De Souza Luz changed the program to only distribute Viagra to the wives of the old men, 'That way, when the women are in the mood, they can give the pills to their husbands.'"
-Prompt from Public Health Homework

I’m pretty sure that there would never be such a blatant program in the United States. For one thing, the United States is absolutely obsessed with the idea of maintaining sex as a taboo. This can be seen in the way how the government educates its citizens about sex: only promoting abstinence only programs despite their lack of effectiveness. The major political issues of the past few elections have been gay-marriage and abortion, two sex-related issues that affect few people and have little or no impact on the actual day to day lives of a huge majority of the population. Voters don’t turn out to vote for their legislators, but they will turn out in droves to turn down these measures. We are in a weird Puritanical culture that only has comparisons with countries in the Middle East. It’s not an issue of Christianity or even fundamentalism. In Europe, you don’t see anything like this. Portugal, which is where my family is from and a place I’ve visited many times, is a country that is nearly entirely catholic yet they have few of the hang-ups that you see in America. It is not uncommon to see nude people on television, in commercials, movies, or on beaches at just about anytime during the day.

This is part of the Puritanical idea of denying any pleasures but in fact it only leads to greater disturbances and more bizarre behavior. Shoving sexuality to the dark regions of what is dirty in our society has had little effect on preventing teenage pregnancies or pedophilia. In fact it has been shown that the shame regarding sexuality has led to decreased use of contraceptives of teenagers which has only worsened the problem. To me this is all completely insane. I have a lot of problems with the way how this whole issue is treated in our society. For instance, I don’t think that parents should be able to keep their children out of sex education classes if they don’t want their child to participate. It think that it is the government’s role to educate its citizens and it is absolutely in societies best interest if children are able to learn outside of the box that their parents want to keep them in. If this didn’t happen there would never be any progress. For this reason, I think that home-schooling for any non-special needs child should be outlawed. All this breeds is a lack of free thought and encouragement of the sheep-like following of some particular tenants. In reality, any rational person would see that even if they were not in favor of gay-marriage, it doesn’t really affect them and it is only irrational thought, which currently is mainly being perpetuated by right-wing religious groups, that is keeping this country from finally stepping out of its discriminatory history. The only dangerous thing is I don’t know who I would trust to determine what is taught in schools.

The most dangerous thing imaginable is someone that is brainwashed, because someone who simply follows the doctrine of a religion without thinking isn’t someone that is faithful, it is someone that is already dead. Hence it is no surprise many are willing to commit suicide to promote their ideas in the Middle East. This is an issue that spans all cultures and all religions and one that needs to be addressed.

In this particular case in Brazil, it is a little questionable that the stance of the government shifted. Either sex is a human right that should be covered by health insurance or it isn’t. One can’t say that people have a right to have sex but only with their partner. It is the person’s choice and not the government’s. It seems that this type of medication could only reasonable be given if it was viewed in that way. It can’t just be seen as a way of giving an opiate to its elderly people or else what is keeping them from moving on and actually giving them actual drugs.

New Things on the Horizon

What's that in your eyes? It's the sun. A burning ball of gas 149 598 000 kilometers away. And it is on the horizon heralding forth a new era of my rules of order. Behold with all the glory of the universe, the oncoming swath of excellence about to swish back and forth all over this page.

Also: Added a link to mel's blog on child development the world, . Unlike this blog, it's actually about something.

An Update!

I'm not up to too much. I slept in this morning because I didn't have any classes and now I'm getting ready to go to geography to watch a movie called "Favelas Rising". It should be interesting. I've got some work to do later today but in general things are going pretty well. That's it for now.

Finally I Return!

So I've been pretty busy lately. Sorry for the total lack of updates. Sigh... I've just been too busy. To sum up what has happened lately, I had my midterms and got them back and did pretty well on them. I feel like I've definitely chosen the right major. I love it and apparently I'm pretty good at it. Other than that, the only other news is that we got Marvel Ultimate Alliance which is an amazing game. I highly recommend it. If you liked X-men legends or the champions of Norrath series then you will love this game. It does have some flaws but altogether it is a really well put together game. I guess I don't have too much else to say, except that you should all go here. It's my brother's blog and infinitely better than mine.

Sorry for the lack of updates

I've been pretty inundated with work. This semester has kind of hit me like a Mack truck. I have by far the most homework I've ever had in my life. I barely get a chance to stop and rest at all. I'm almost constantly working during the week. Luckily I've been able to maintain my weekends, but to be honest I'm wiped out by then. Oh well, that’s why I haven’t written anything for a while not even on Rexum (although I’m still thinking about stuff in my head [In fact my recent reading of Jared Diamonds Guns, Germs, and Steel has helped me to figure some stuff out for Rexum.]) I don’t mean to complain, just explain. To be honest I wasn’t really expecting anything different than what I have right now, I was just hoping for better. Oh well. Best wishes to everyone!

I Hope There Are Crocodiles In Heaven...

On September 4 Steve Irwin, a.k.a. The Crocodile Hunter, was killed in a freak accident involving a stingray. Mr. Irwin was a great man that my brother and I both greatly admired and looked up to. His unending enthusiasm served as testament to the definition of passion. His work inspired me more than I can possibly describe or explain. I really can't describe why a man I've never met is so important to me but he was very influential on my life. I send my thoughts and prayers to his wife and two young children. A great man and a member of my short list of heroes died far too young and I will mourn him for years to come...

New Semester New (Something That Rhymes With Semester, Possibly Chinmester)

So its a new semester and I've already started my classes. So far things have gone pretty well and I'm likeing my classes. In a way it seems almost as if this semester's classes might be easier because it seems like they are lower pressure and the class sizes are also a lot smaller. So not too much new. I'll be sure to try to update more often now, but for now I'm going to sleep.

A Discovery

Sorry for the lack of updates on this and my other webpage but I've been pretty busy running around between doing work and cleaning up the house for a get together of my dad's friends. It's been a big mess but I have an announcemnt. I actually found something in my search. I didn't find any double WD binaries but I did find 2 WD + M star binaries. I have the spectra and plan to post them up here when I can figure out exactly how to do that. (they come in .eps format and I currently don't have anything that can convert that to a gif or a jpeg). Oh well. It was big news for me and it was nice to see I had accomplished something as my day was winding down. Now I have to right a paper and learn all about how to use this thing called LaTeX which is pretty intuitive but making tables is a real pain. Oh well. Talk to you later!

An Update!

So I couldn't come up with a snazzy title, so sue me.... Please don't. After that exclamation point thing I've already got a few suits on me and in this heat it’s unbearable. You ask why don't I just take them off, well then I have two responses for you: 1) It's the law, I can't and 2) I have to keep myself modest.

So what have I been up to? Well this weekend I got together with some friends on Saturday and then went and saw A Scanner Darkly on Saturday with Zac and Paul. It was pretty good and enjoyable but nothing spectacular. Other than that most of my free time went to Champions of Norrath which is a pretty amazing game. If only they made more RPG's 4 player! Oh well. I've been pretty productive at work today if I do say so myself ( I JUST DID!!!!) and I even got a chance to shoot the breeze a little with my boss today about some politics stuff. Considering how incredibly awkward I am in all social situations, I was glad to have a good conversation with him. I really like my boss and I hope he likes me but it's hard to tell sometimes. Oh well! So I also have been working on Rexum and am planning a new update and have even been throwing around an idea for a new little story to break the monotony of the whole Risenno thing. So I guess that's it for now. See you next time.

Well it's the middle of the week!!!!

Those exclamation points were completely unnecessary. I'm sorry. I would like to extend my greatest apologies for all of you that are terrified of exclamation points. I am often quite insensitive about my exclamatory usage so please forgive me and I will do my best to prevent future offenses.

...
...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Didn't Piss Anyone Off?!

I was really hoping I would get someone riled up with that last post, at least enough to leave a comment if not a flaming epithet. Oh well. In other news, what am I up to today? Well not too much. I went to work and came home and watched less than an hour of TV while I ate dinner. Then I got to work on my Rexum story and before I knew it I was writing this blog! I just had to after I stopped by Michael's blog and found out that there is a DRAGONLANCE MOVIE COMING OUT!!! As evidenced by my use of caps and three, count 'em, three exclamation points. Even though it is only animated, I am very happy about it. Especially since I think the director is the same one as from the 90's X-men cartoon I watched as a kid that was very faithful to the comics which I hope means a faithful translation of the book to the big screen. So I know where I'll be Autumn 2007, Watching Dragon's of Autumn Twilight.... teehee

What was I doing today? PLUS: Some Incendiary Comments

So I went to work today and my boss was away at Apache point and ironcially enough I had one of my most productive days because I had a couple of break throughs. Oh well. I also went to an ergonomics class that was a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be. I actually enjoyed it. I then went home and watched about half an hour of tv while I made/ate dinner to unwind a little bit before I got to work on my Rexum story. What I worked on isn't up to snuff yet so it probably won't be posted until tomorrow at the earliest. That took a couple of hours cuz I got a little stuck. Then I helped Clarence with some Math stuff and before I knew it it was 9 o'clock and I was calling home to see what everyone was up to. Not much exciting except something to do with captain crunch.

So this weekend, my brother had a birthday party which as always is a lot of fun. Everyone came over and it just seemed like I didn't have enought time to spend with everyone, that always happens when you have such a great family! So during the party Paul passed around a birthday card which I feel I need to address in this blog. It seemed to promote a theory that perhaps I am a robot, which to anyone who has performed surgery on me knows is false. Also there was some mention of a giant apricot and some other things I don't care to mention... So I guess that's all except for the fact that Zinedine Zidane in a complete act of classlessness headbutted an Italian defender because he called his sister a whore [translation of lipreading from Globo], which is bad but come on the job of the defender is to get in his head. Whatever, the French played like a bunch of goons and the only goals they scored in the last two games were penalty kicks that were the results of bad calls from refs not recognizing dives. By the way, diving in soccer is CHEATING! no matter who does it Portuguese, Dutch, French, or English. It's all cheating. Although Portugal has gotten a bit of a bad rap lately due to French PR who tried to condition people to believe that they were a bunch of divers but to be honest let me give a quick recap of who dove the most. It's really just a few key players who should have their names in infamy as the cheaters they are: Henry, Zidane, Podolski, Christiano Ronaldo (although only about half as much as people like to think he does and by the way he is on my team and I recognize this). I would like to interject in here the entire Dutch team which played the most brutal soccer this cup has seen. They knew they couldn't outplay Portugal so they just played the ugliest and by far dirtiest soccer I've ever seen with everything from trying to injure Cristiano Ronaldo from minute one, to refusing to play by fair play rules when a Portuguese player was injured. In my humble opinion they should be forbidden from the next world cup as a disciplinary measure for their atrocious behavior in the cup. Also as far as disciplinary measures, Zidane should be stripped of his Golden Ball from this cup and I hope that in fact if the refs didnt see that call, the stadium showed it on the big screen(even though they weren't supposed to). I also think the French coach is the biggest jack ass in the entire cup who can kiss my astrology disbelieving ass. Oh well, that's my tirade for now because I have to go to sleep but as a quick recap: the French and Dutch should be forbidden from the next cup! Note these comments say nothing of the French or Dutch people only of the horrific performance of their players both on and off the field since both teams had players speaking far more inflammatory comments than any in this post. I hope I didn't upset any of you Dutch fans out there since I know a few read this, but that's just how I saw it. Also keep in mind, my opinion is meaningless and has no effect on anything and by now I've already put the cup behind me. I'm just glad that Zidane tarnished his reputation and that he didn't get by with people being mistaken that he was a gentleman. I needed at least one good World Cup rant.

Sorry for the lack of updates

A combination of work, world cup, and video games have kept me from updating for a little while so I'm just making a quick update to let you know that everything is going well and not much else is new. I'll talk more about the world cup later. I'm tired of typing cuz I was working for 8 hours and then I was working on my Rexum stuff (and it came out quite poorly I might add... sigh...) oh well I'll probably go back and fix it up.

One Million Dollars...

So while David is out trying to get his million dollars someone at the office got his today. Down the hall from me (two rooms to be exact) a man named Saul Perlmutter won the Shaw Prize (the chinese equivalent of the Nobel Prize) that along with prestige comes with a million dollar prize. Not to shabby eh? He's in line to probably win a Nobel Prize also in the next few years since his work in discovering the accelerating expansion of the Universe was so groundbreaking. Excellent work Saul! Today we even had a little party to celebrate. It was all quite nice. Today I also met a grad student from Harvard who was visiting to work on some stuff. It was all in all a pretty good day. I just wish I could finally get my white dwarf project to work ::sighs:: oh well. If not, then I can always work on something else... and maybe win my million dollars....

Still at It

Well I'm still working on my project and even though I'm encountering some problems my boss is pretty confident that the kinks can be worked out and even gave me a bit of code he wrote for a similar kind of problem. Tomorrow I'll see how that works. Other than that, I don't have much to say. O btw for those of you who check my Rexum page, you can expect an update on Thursday(70%) or Friday (30%). I'm just a little sick of looking at computer screens to do any more typing for a little while...

A Paycheck?! wtf!?

So I got my first paycheck today and I can't help but thinking two things about the money I'm earning. Firstly, I absolutely have no business earning any more money than anyone else, especially not people out there in the fields doing manual labor I could never do. Secondly, I don't see how anyone on could possibly get by with minimum wage. I'm getting paid well but what I earn isn't even enough to cover my rent for the summer to be able to work up here. It's all madness. Anyway, my project is still stagnated at the stage of I don't know why it's not working, but luckily I get paid either way and either way I still get all the benefits of working this summer. It just seems doubtful that I'll be able to contribute to the astronomical community what I was hoping to. Oh well I haven't given up hope yet. I still have a lot more stuff to work through. I mean today was the first day I actually had the error line in my code written correctly. Oh well, see you next time.

Portugal 1, Anglola 0

So since I'm always tired updating this blog I decided to do an update a little earlier. Today I meant to wake up to watch the 6am soccer game but like yesterday I just couldn't bring myself to stay awake (perhaps staying up past 1 am on both nights was a mistake) but if I could be so cool and stay awake during Fanime... (I'm being sarcastic, about the cool part. No one who goes to anime is capable of being cool. At the door they perform some sort of surgery...) For once I'm not tired at all (It's only 5 o'clock) and I was able to go running today with Paul.

Anyways, back to soccer. I've been watching most of the World Cup but will miss some this coming week due to work... ::sigh:: oh well.

So want to hear my comments about the game? Well, I think that Scolari knows what he's doing. I still am not terribly happy with his choice for Goalie with Ricardo. If I were in charge I would probably have started Quim because even though Ricardo when he is on is probably the best person you want in the goal, he is frequently streaky and inconsistent and in general is quite poor at coming out. Almost all of the goals scored against Portugal during the European Cup (including the only one during the final vs. Greece) were caused by Ricardo coming out poorly on corner kicks. Other than that I felt that his substitutions were all reasonable but I couldn't help but feel that after the first 15 minutes the team went flat. They lost their heart and it seemed that they were content on sitting on there 1-0 score. While that still translates to 3 points it can become a tie very easily especially with Ricardo at the goal. It was quite a nail biting last 30 minutes but a guess a W is a W no matter how you get it. I just worry about what happens when they face a better team. Luckily most of the really good teams in the cup this year play the kind of soccer that Portugal can exploit (a more open field with a technical back and forth). Where Portugal tends to lose is against teams that play 10 men in the box and just counterattack and very physical teams that disrupt their tactical play with borderline legal tackles and charges. For the former, the new ball is especially light and supposedly easy to score with which is a huge advantage against these kinds of teams and I see it as a great step forward away from some of the more boring styles of play (i.e. Greece) which while effective do not display anything other than an ability to crowd the box. [Warning: Upcoming Magic Reference] This is really similar to those decks in Magic whose sole purpose is just to disrupt everything you do and win with a combo. While effective these decks are not fun to watch or play against. However in magic there is so much strategy that goes into crafting such a deck that I don't mind it quite as much since it is so difficult to construct. It's just boring in practice. The defensive team in soccer invests nothing of the same strategy. [END Magic Reference] It seems that the refs have really been letting the players play for the last few games which has me a little worried because if Portugal plays a Sweden or a Germany they may just get manhandled out of the win.

I think that Portugal has an opportunity to do really well if they can just keep themselves focused and work as a team rather than a bunch of individuals. It just would have been awesome if this game had been during Portuguese day (yesterday). Oh well that's all for now.

PS. Thank you for all your support in showing me that people read this. I've been reading your guys' blogs also and I'm sorry that this isn't of the same quality as yours'.

Working

So I'm back to being productive albeit not as much as I would have liked. Yesterday I wrote what I thought was a good like vignette for my Rexum page and today I dusted off my old PDA that I got from my high school a few years ago. Not much else new. Since no one reads any of this I guess it will just be this boring.... sigh

An Update

Not all that much new over here, just working and updating my Rexum site a little bit. Today wasn't as productive as it could have been because my boss was really busy and I got really stuck. Oh well, I'll talk to him tomorrow about it. I can't tell if my boss likes me or hates me. I mean on one hand, I'm doing a rather complicated project all on my own but on the other I have no result for my approximately 200 hours worth of work... sigh. I hope he understands. Oh well. Talk to you next time.

So What Have I Been Up To?

So I've started work up at the lab as an actual employee and other than some messy business regarding a beareaucratic mistake, things have been going smoothly. I've done an awful lot and learned more than I thougth possible in a semester. I took a short break for the last two days and started a new project where I'm trying to figure out what this mystery object is that has been puzzling astonomers all across the country. I'm running it against all the objects in the SDSS data and seeing how many other things out there are similar. It's been really exciting if not exhausting up at the lab. In other news I saw X-men 3 and was very disappointed. It seems like they didn't even try to make a good movie. I like almost all movies but this goes on the short list of movies I didn't like. Basically that list is just 'the Cable Guy' and 'the Aristocrats'. Oh well. That's all for now.

Sorry for the lack of updates

I've been busy with work and to be honest I've just been too lazy to get around to updating this more often. As an update, I did pretty well in math and am currently awaiting my physics grade. The mean on the final was a 48 which is pretty low and leaves me feeling ok about maintaining my grade even though I didn't do stellar on it. Speaking of stellar, my project at lbl is going well. I'm a little stuck now but that's fine. I'm also getting paid 12.80 an hour to work up there which is just icing on the cake since I need to be doing this research anyway. I also had jury duty today and yesterday but thankfully got out of it. They never even asked me a question and I sat there for 2 days! Oh well I think I'll get $15 for it. I was mainly upset because the judge kept taking these huge breaks. If we had just gotten down to it, I could have been out of there in one day. I'm glad I didn't get picked because the case as especially boring about some homeowners whining about their architect. This is not the kind of thing juries should be for. These people are inconveniencing how many people just because they can't settle a squabble. This is the kind of thing a judge should do. O well. That's all for now. I have to go find some kind of dinner. Maybe I'll try chinese. The thing I hate about my current schedule is that I get off work at 6 and the last thing I want to do is anything but I have to go and eat quick if I hope to go running before it gets pitch dark and unfortunately until the days get a little longer I can't really do that. I could go running in the dark but I don't feel comfortable doing that. Berkeley isn't the friendliest place at night, so now I'm trying to figure something out. I can still do weights but I need to go running. I do go walking though. I can do that with a full stomach. I already learned the hard way I need like 2hours between eating and running. I got an ipod shuffle from Mel's dad because he had an extra one. It's pretty cool but it takes some getting used to. It's unbelievable light. It's like it has no weight at all. Also Mel had a birthday on sunday and on saturday night me and her parents went out to the thai place. Nothing else new except me being lazy. You shouldn't complain about me not updating this site, you don't know what it means for me to not update. ;) Prior to a few months ago I think I went 4 years without updating my Rexum page. (and people used to actually read that!) oh well I'm updating that again, although not at the rate I was hoping to (once a week with a vignette about some odd subject or another and a short description of a nation). We'll see. If I get some more time this week I might just meet my quota. That's all for now.

First Day of Work

Well, even though I slept in, I am quite tired and my eyes are aching. This is all I can write. I've been at a computer for far too long today.

That's All Folks

So I finished my finals. Want a report? Math was ok, I dunno exactly what I got but we'll see. I think I did pretty well. My math professor did a really good job of making the test. Even though it was multiple choice it didn't feel like it. He also decided at the last minute to not deduct points for wrong answers. It was basically a normal test except no partial credit which sucks. Physics was a whole other breed of cat. I went into the test with a pretty strong grade and I hope it carries me through. I don't know what I got, but I didn't do great and I'm banking on the curve to help me out. The way how physics tests are, I could still pull an A so we'll see. After that I've just been doing some chores. I was going to go running but it is really cold out there right now. Oh well, that's all folks.

PS: To mark the end of the semester, I have changed the name of the blog. I could change to url, but I just don't see the point right now.

Seeing the Finish Line

It's so close I can taste it. It tastes a little like chicken, but kinda saltier I guess. I just need to finish up a couple of things and I plan to relax for most of today (besides another physics review session). Finals are very taxing on me emotionally and physically. I just have a lot of trouble with receiving any kind of evaluation less than perfect. That is why I am so hung up on grades and have never accepted anything less than an A. I guess everyone has their own thing that makes them feel special. Other people have excellence in sports or some other talent, but I have grades. I've done pretty well so far and I anticipate a continuation of the past trend. We'll see in just a couple days... (In about 27 hours)

More studying

So I just got out of a 3-hour physics review session and right now I'm feeling pretty tired and lonely. I've been trying to get in contact with my family for the last 4 hours and have left several messages but they haven't returned my calls. I called them cuz I needed to talk to Paul about my essay and oh well. It just seems like everyone I call today doesn't want to talk to me. Oh well. I'll get back to work now.

Geography Final!!!

So today I got my geography final. I've already written drafts for 2 of the 3 essays. Ideally, I'll be finished by the end of today but that probably won't happen. I also went to physics office hours to check my lab grade and ask a few questions. I think the stuff I'm shaky on is the stuff everyone is, since the GSI couldn't fully answer my question. It's all good though. Just a few more days... BTW I feel good now about both Math and Physics for the first time. I've been playing on a see-saw with them for a while now. Oh well, that's it for now. I have more work to do.

update: make that 3 drafts out of 3. I also went out and got a pizza to eat today. That might have been a mistake but I was really craving it and I was very careful to only eat a moderate amount. My problem with pizza isnt so much that I should never eat it, it's that when I do eat it, I can't stop myself. I have a real problem telling when I'm full. If I don't keep count of the slices and stop after a set number, I am absolutely sure I could eat an entire extra large pizza. So today I looked up the pizza nutrition facts and calculated that I could have 4-5 pieces since I didn't have a chance to eat much else today because I've been running around so much (not literally unfortunately). I went running a few days ago and my stomach started really hurting because i had eaten too soon before (90 minutes). I thought I would have been ok, but I wasn't. Oh well. right now I'm finally getting a chance to relax. The reason I'm not running now is that my knee is bugging me (I think it's from running on the cement for so long) and I cannot afford to risk any kind of injury at all until after monday. After that I'll return to my cliff diving....

More Studying

4 hours of review session and maybe 4 more hours at home....

Studying for Finals

So I've been studying for finals, hence the lack of updates recently. I'm done on the 16th so after that it's just going to be working up at the lab which I am looking forward to. In case you weren't aware I study a lot differently than other people. Throughout the semseter I study and prepare so that when it comes to be about a week or two before the test, I try to relax and just listen to music while I run through the ideas and concepts in my head. If I get stuck I don't worry about it and come back to it later. Eventually I'll have gone through all the material and understood it. I don't really waste time doing practice problems, but I will read solutions to problems so I can get insights and strategies for general problem types. I feel good about physics but I am a little concerned about math since it is going to be multiple choice and we will lose points for an incorrect answer or an omitted answer. That means I could get a negative score! Oh well, I think I'll be able to do pretty well on it. In general I do pretty well on finals, at least I keep telling myself that to keep my spirits up.

On a completely unrealted note, last night I watched a movie called 'Domestic Disturbance' that starred Vince Vaughn and John Travolta. While some might consider the premise a little trite, I thought it was pretty good and it was neat to see Vince Vaughn outside of his normal funny man character. This appeared to perhaps be one of his earlier works but it still was quite good. I liked it. I won't bother with a rating system because I like all movies (including Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation if you were looking for some kind of standard candle). Oh well that's it for today.

Haven't been getting enough sleep...

So I haven't been getting enough sleep lately which means I may be a little bit insane. I feel pretty good about my upcoming physics exam and am right now a little more concerned about math. This summer is going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it. So not much new. I'm done with finals around 4 pm on the 15th.

So Today I Can Relax

I went up to the lab and talked over some stuff with my mentor. He seems moderately pleased with my work so far. At least it doesn't seem like he's displeased. I was going to do some more work but the computers over there are having problems so I can't really do that much. I've already fixed a few problems that I was having, but I'll have to check to make sure. Next week I'll go through all that again. Now that I have no hw and no lab work, I can just relax. Also it looks like I'm going to be working 30-40 hours a week this summer up at the lab and I'll be recieving a stipend which is quite nice. I don't know how much, but now that I have a job I'll probably finally get an ipod. We'll see, maybe not. I've been kicking around the idea of buying them for a year now...

Another Working Day

Today I did my last homework sets for math and physics and ironically after 3 semesters of webassign on this my last assignment using that crappy service there was a bizarre error that I had to send a report to my head ta about. Oh well, worst case scenario, I lose one point. I'm just preparing for finals right now. I spent a few hours working on my lbl project today. I think this summer will be a lot of fun. I've gotten a lot of the unexciting part out of the way. Now I'm just preparing for finals. Unfortunately today I heard that my math final might be multiple choice. That is terrible. What that translates to is easy mistakes, no partial credit, and a baseline curve score of 25% that screw up the curve. People will get points when not knowing the material and many will not recieve them when they do. I know that its 350 people but c'mon don't be that lazy. It's really terrible for the students and to be honest that's what the GSI's are paid for. I know its pennies on the hour but this is just going to translate to a very stressful test for me.... Also I have to decide which review session to go math or physics since they are both going to be on thursday. I can go to physics for its 2 hours and then do the last 2 hours of the math one but then I will miss the most important stuff. I don't know, I feel better about physics but then again physics is my major and is more important so I don't know. Plus if it is going to be multiple choice I'm going to have to study even more... I heard today that the physics test will have one problem on optics, one on relativity and 4 on quantum. That sounds ok, but quantum problems can be brutal. Probably there will be an alpha decay problem, a 3d infinite square well, some basic thing about Schroedingers (maybe a derivation), and maybe something heisenburg uncertainty principle related. It's going to be 6 questions choose 5 which is good because the midterms were 5 choose 4 and we get an extra hour for the final. That means we had 30 minutes a problem before and now we get 42 minutes a problem. That may not sound like a lot but that is a 40% increase. That's a lot. Oh well that's all for now. Time for me to actually relax. Just so you know, I wrote this post very quickly because I'm feeling kinda hyper. I didn't go running today because I had way too much other work to do. I also trying cooking today for the second time. It went better but not great. I think in 50 years I'll figure it out...

Another day, another dol....er... just another day

So not much happened today. I just did some work and went running all the up to Haas. It's been getting easier every time, but my legs are getting sore. Oh well sorry for being boring.

So far a productive day.

Well today I've been pretty productive. I did half my math homework due next monday and all my physics discussion work due wendesday. Right now I feel really ready for finishing off this year so that I can finally devote myself to my LBL project. Today I did a lot. Since I had an extra hour because my geography discussion was cancelled, I used that hour to go walking around. I ended up at Ross and was pleasantly surprised with their merchandise. I spent a long time on the phone trying to pick out some dvds for Paul because they were selling some history documentaries. I then took a walk over to the store and walked by a lot of the places my Cousin mentioned in his blog (Let's Be Real). So far my little cart has roused a couple of comments but they all are about how they wish they had one. It made the trip a lot easier. I also tried an asian chicken salad from McDonald's today to change things up a bit and it was pretty good. I'm going to go running shortly with my new watch and batteries for my radio. So I guess that's all folks.

Semester almost over

This semester is almost over and I'm looking forward to this summer. Even though I'm going to be working, I won't have any of the stresses of homework or grades. I think that I'll be able to finish the program within maybe a month or a month and a half of summer. Then it won't be long before I'm finished. I might also get a stipend. If I get some money then I will probably finally get an ipod or something.

I got it to work (mostly)

I've done a lot with my code today. Its working a lot better than it ever has, but I'm still having a couple of problems that I just don't understand. I'm going to have to take a good hard look at it to figure it out... But for now, I've done a lot today... Time to relax... BTW pictures were taken so you should see some posted soon... and I promise no more ducks.... and no more ellipses... ... AN OVAL!

Oh no, this class is going to last 3 and half hours....

So I got a lot done today. First I woke up at 7:30 am, which is nigh unheard of for me, and then I went to my EHS 10 class. I showed up thinking it was going to be 2.5 hours because that's what the website said but it took 3 hours and 45 minutes. Ugh... Then I met up with my dad and brother on the steps of Sproul Plaza. They brought up a big group of portuguese students from the school because today is Portuguese Independence day. I called Zac and we got together. Eventually we ended up going to class and after that I bought Akira from the local anime store as a little bday present for myself (I found it for 15 when on amazon.com I only found it for 30 because on amazon.com they only had the extended version with like 3 dvds. I just got the bare bones movie). Then I hung out with Zac for a while. After that I did my physics discussion and most of my physics lecture homework. This week I just need to finish up a little physics, do my math (which I can't do yet because he hasn't lectured on it yet), and then do some stuff for my LBL project. (I really need to come up with a snappy acronym for it... If you have any suggestions, just leave them as comments) My current best is SPDWD (Short Period Double White Dwarfs).

A Busy Day

After this weekend I didn't feel like getting back into the swing of things, but I had to... Today was busy but I got a lot done. Tomorrow I've got a safety class to go to. I also have a some work to do, but I already picked out my classes for next semester and it looks like I'm going to have a nice semester next semester. I also ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon.com including some boring history books for Paul. I'm excited about Final Fantasy Advent Children. It should be awesome. I also picked up a few other things I wanted. I'm ready for a break and I'll get one once these classes are over. I like doing my research and I won't mind spending more time on that this summer.

Being a Little Lazy

I've been pretty productive this week but I'm feeling lazy now. So I'm just resting right now.
PS I just worked for 2 and half hours on my project. I'm having some problems but I just don't know what quite is going on...

Working

I've been working on my project for LBL but my program has a lot of hiccups. I can't quite figure out why it isn't working. I'm going to have to sit down with it and dissect it. It really should be working. Oh well. I'm done with that for now. Lately I've been running around campus at about dusk which is good because I need it. Right now I'm taking a bit of break but it'll be back to work shortly.

A Visit

So my Dad and Paul came up to visit me today and it was a lot of fun. Paul even went to my geography class. We ate at the thai place for dinner and a brazilian place for lunch. They were both quite good. Not much new here. The only other thing is that I'm starting to get excited about the next Magic the Gathering set, Dissension. It should be pretty neat. Not much else...

A Rant on Immigration Reform

Let me start out by asking you what do you think of when you think of an illegal immigrant? Picture one in your mind. Is he hard-working? Lazy? Is this person smarter than you? Stupider? Does he have a family? Does he wake up in the morning and sleep at night? Is he any less of a person than you?

The point here is that we quite often let labels names make people into non-people. Firstly when we judge illegal immigrants we think of them as coming in and stealing something from us. But what are they stealing? Jobs in the fields? Would you really want the livelihood that they have, stooped over in a field for twelve hours a day? Does their being here really affect you in any way? Did they take your job? Well in America, we have an opportunity that they don’t. Through education we can make it so we don’t have to do the kinds of jobs that they have to do. To be honest, isn’t a field worker much more hard-working than a paper-pusher or a retail employee. For the same pay do you think that a McDonald’s employee would spend all day digging ditches? Do you think that there is any difference between them and us other than birthright?

So who is the average Mexican illegal immigrant? He’s from a poor village, whose historic livelihood came from growing corn, but due to the increased Globalization of our world, is no longer a viable source of income. After struggling for meager subsistence farming, they come up short and are forced into the United States to earn money to send back home to prevent their families from starving to death.

So without Mexicans, what would life be like? Not to mention ‘A Day Without a Mexican’ which I felt was not that well-done there are some real issues. Estimates predict that building costs would skyrocket 25%. There’s nothing to screech an economy to a halt like a jump in the capital needed to start or maintain a business. We have a labor shortage in this country for the most menial jobs. As far as legal immigrants replacing them, they couldn’t get through the bureaucracy fast enough or in large enough numbers. Also they would demand the minimum wage they are entitled to, which these businesses are not willing to pay.

What does it mean to be here legally? Is it that you were born here? Well there are those that believe that naturalization by birth should not be allowed to illegal immigrants even though that is one of the fundamental principles of our democracy and history. It’s a right that has only been denied to minorities in our nation’s unsavory racist past. Is it just that you had enough money to file some forms? Is that how thin the difference between legal and illegal is?

So what is the present situation? 3,000 men, women and children die every year in the Arizona desert trying to get into this country because we refuse to allow them in.

Why can’t someone live the American dream just because of a label or a bureaucratic process?

The term illegal immigrant is less than 50 years old. Prior to that, they were called Irish, Italian, or Portuguese immigrants on Ellis Island. Did your ancestors from several generations ago have proper papers when they arrived? The only reason why an illegal immigrant is ‘illegal’ is because that’s what we’ve decided to call them. We just arbitrarily decided about 50 years ago that if an immigrant came from Mexico, like they and other ethnicities had been doing for centuries, that they would be illegal. Do you really think that there was anything other than racial motivation to suddenly make this decision?

As far as building a wall, the only thing that accomplishes is preventing the current immigrants from returning home during the off-season, when there is no work. It would also probably just increase the death toll of our own Berlin Wall. Making it a felony would only further stuff our overcrowded prisons and deportation has proven to just be ineffective. It would also alienate and possible incite riots in millions of people who have lived and worked in this country for decades. The only feasible solution to the problem is not to go after the workers because you can’t punish Labor. The only real option is to actually fine and investigate the farms that are hiring these immigrants. I mean come on; you’re telling me it’s not obvious when a giant farm or business is employing hundreds of illegal immigrants. If you wonder why they’re never investigated and the attention isn’t focused on them, you just have to follow the money of who is making campaign contributions (and not just to the Republicans). The real people who are stealing money out of people’s hands are the one’s employing people and not paying them a decent wage. I mean isn’t it obvious how desperate these people are when they do the most menial jobs for the smallest unlivable wages. The problem is that they aren’t paying the immigrant enough money and that is why they undercut the American workforce. If for some reason, you really wanted to reduce the numbers of illegal immigrants, then go after the businesses, not the workers who have no other choice. We need stricter regulations on the businesses that hire illegal immigrants and we need to insure that they are receiving their rightful minimum wage. The truth is that Mexican illegal immigrants are more desperate than American laborers and more numerous.

My main point is that the cat is out of the bag; ‘illegal’ immigrants have been coming here since the beginning of our nation’s history. After the signing of NAFTA isn’t this even more of a moot point. How can you have free trade without free trade of labor?

The real issue at hand is the lackluster performance of this administration of border control, but you should keep in mind that the men that flew those planes into the two towers snuck in through our northern border.

So what’s my solution to the ‘Immigrant Problem’? Well, I’ll tell you. It might not surprise you in an era full of ‘Social Security Crises’ that well, there is no ‘Immigrant Problem’. Things are exactly as they have been for 200 hundred years and there is no reason to suddenly think of a phenomenon as bad simply because you’ve put the word ‘illegal’ in front of it.

A Programming Day Today

I've spent a lot of time today programming stuff for the lbl lab. Today was a pretty uneventful day. Just a lot of work and looking forward to the weekend. Sorry for nothing exciting happening. The most surprising thing about today was that the sun finally came out today.

I've Been Replaced!

So imagine my surprise when I found that in my own home I had been replaced by a DUCK! Needless to say I was furious. He may be wearing my clothes but I know for a fact that he scored worse than I did on the Physics midterm. Quack!

Well I got my midterm grade....

So let me just start by saying I was shocked when I got my test. So I heard that the mean was a 55 on this test which at first shocked me because it took that score to get an A on the last test. It wasn't until later that I found out that this test was graded out of 100 rather than the 80 that the previous one had with each problem worth 25 on this one and 20 on the last one. Once I got my test my heart sunk as I read a very large red 25 on my paper. I closed my eyes and turned away. I looked back at it and realized that that wasn't the last number on the page. That turned out to just be my score on one problem. Looking lower at a small scrawl in the corner it read 78, which looking at the statistics page looks like one of the top 10 scores in the class. I was flabbergasted. I thought I had really screwed up, but it turns out that where I thought I couldn't solve the problems it was because they weren'y supposed to be solved. OH well. I nailed it and now I'm sitting on a sweet steady A going into the final. I have no idea how it happened. I really thought I had screwed it up.

Not a good Monday

Mel called me not too long ago and told me that she was so sick today that she stayed home from school and went to the hospital. It seems like she'll be okay but no one knows exactly what happened to her. It looks like she just got an infection but no one knows for sure. It was a quite a shock, but let me reiterate that she will be fine. She's on some antibiotics and it seems she's already feeling better.
Other than that, I can't really remember what happened in school today. Things were normal and pretty mundane. I took care of a couple of errands and finally turned in my psp application. That I remember because if I didn't do that I'd be out $9000 next year. Other than that I've just been talking to mel, worrying about her and doing some work.

I don't want to do anything today....

Well, as the title suggests, I'm having a little bit of a hard time getting started doing anything. That whole physics test really just drained a lot of energy out of me for the whole week. Today I went up to the lab and it seems I'm on the right track. Oh well. Nothing much new today. I just have some stuff to do. I'm just a little anxious to see my physics test. I'm sorry that this blog has been boring for the last few days but I've just been busy. If I can convince my brother, then I just might be able to get a video posted of a comedy movie we are planning to make, but that will take some time. We also need to get a camera first... Oh and big news, Free Comic Book Day is coming up and since I'm a subscriber at my local Comic Book Store Black Cat Comics, I get to get in an hour early to get first crack at their 75% off back issues. That's pretty awesome except it means I have to wake up early....
Mood: Lazy
Sonndtrack: Snow Patrol "Run"

Gee, it's been boring lately

Well, today was another working day. I found out that that test was very difficult for everyone. In fact, one of the problems was unsolvable. Oh well, I just hope I did well. Today I spent a lot of time working on stuff for the lab and learning some IDL stuff. I also watched a little arrested development. Not much else new. I'm looking forward to the weekend and currently am trying to figure out when the Full Metal Alchemist movie is coming out here in the states.
PS
Since it's been so boring, I added a picture of something not boring. My incredibly boring, lazy cat.

Not much today

After staying up until 4 am last night I finally fell asleep out of exhaustion. I watched Arrested Developement for quite a few hours. Today I just went to class hung out with Zac and I lent him my Spawn the animated series dvds. Like I said, not much.
Mood: Sleepy
Soundtrack: Deathcab For Cutie Plans

The Test that Destroyed Me

Today I took a test and I absolutely bombed it. I've never done so poorly on a test. It grabbed me by the collar and beat the living shit out of me. With tears in my eyes and blood in my mouth, I lay on the rain covered asphault, my skin raw. I'm not going to sleep tonight, because I can't wash the taste of blood out of my mouth.

Still Studying

Not much else new. I tried to wake up early today but couldn't. Oh well. I've been doing some studying today but right now I'm just trying to relax. I feel pretty confident about the material right now so I'm just trying to not burn myself out.

Studying

Just been studying for Physics class and setting up paul's myspace account. I'm very tired but I feel pretty good about the upcoming test. Now I'm just going to relax.

Vacation

I haven't done whole lot except finish off Full Metal Alchemist and read some comics. FMA was really good. I liked it. Not much else except my cousin Michael stumbled across this blog. That means someone might actually read it.
PS there you go Michael, a mention of you...

Just one more day...

So I slept in today and have already done some work for the lab, about 2 hours. I'm going to go relax now. Really nothing at all new today. Sorry folks.

Math Midterm

So today I had my math midterm and it went really well. I feel like I really nailed it. I also spent some time helping clarence with physics and then I went on to do my phyiscs homework which means I'm done for the week, other than doing some hours for lbl. As long as I do 9 hours between this week and next I'm fine. I'm just going to relax for now. So that means a short update...

Mood: Tired but relieved
Soundtrack: Pete York 'For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)'

Not Much

Today I just went to class and did a little work. I've got a math midterm tomorrow so I'm preparing for that and just trying not to do too much in general to keep my mind off of it. That's it.

Monday Monday

So I went to class today. Not too much happened except my math prof decided to present a bunch of new material rather than review for the midterm. Oh well no problem there. I just did a bunch of work and some writing. I got my geography essay back and got a B. It's a good thing I'm taking it pass/fail. I didn't put too much time into it but I was expecting to do a little better. I saw zac again. He missed a few weeks of geography lecture but didn't actually miss anything much. It turns out that he, danny, his sister, veronica, and danny's roomate all may be moving into my building next semester and maybe even the same floor. That would be awesome. Like more awesome than the word awesome can communicate. As it is I barely get to see danny and I hardly see zac even though we have a class together. Also the internet at home got fixed. We had a guy come in and replace our modem free of charge. Sounds good eh? Well now it's working perfectly. Not much else new. I'm looking forward to spring break but not to studying for physics. Oh well. That's all for now.

Math Math Math

I went to a math review session today that lasted 3 and a half hours and if that wasn't enough after I finished that I had to do Math homework. I had nonstop math with only the walk from the room to my apartment as a break (less than 15 minutes) from 1-6 pm. It wasn't so bad and luckily I was able to get my prelab done for physics on the bart train. Not much else. I was going to post some stuff on Rexum but that will have to wait. I'm going to go get something to eat and then relax a little. Before I can do anything for Rexum I have to do some LBL stuff. I can't wait for spring break. Also as a result of all this work I feel really prepared for the math test. Oh well that's all for now.
Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: A Perfect Circle Emotive

Rainy Thursday

Well it only started to rain after I had been home for a few hours so the fact that it was raining didn't have much of an impact on me except to give me a title for today's entry. Most of today was spent either checking my math homework, working on stuff for the lab, or relaxing a little. Not much else to say. Also take a look to the right and you might see something you weren't expecting. More too come on that in the next few days...

Mood: Ok
Soundtrack: Tool Lateralus

A Working Wendesday

While I still don't totally understand all of physics I was able to get through my physics problems rather quickly. I'm just having some trouble where I don't know the unit conversions off the top of my head. Oh well. So far I spent 3 hours today working on stuff for LBL. It didn't seem as productive of a 3 hours as I've had in the past but oh well. It just takes a long time to figure out how to do stuff. I wrote a program that should be able to start looking for some very small period binary white dwarfs. I'll have to come up with an acronym for that or something. All the other cool astronomers do it. Lately, I've had a bit of a revival of my interest in my campaign world of Rexum not so much for D&D but for maybe finishing that story I was writing. Tomorrow I get to sleep in and relax. I only have to do a few hours of stuff and prepare for my math midterm next week. Oh well, that's it for now.

An Embarrassing Meeting

So today I went up to the lab and met with my mentor. I was really embarrassed because I looked like I didn't know how to do anything because I didn't know how to log in. I knew how to everything else, just not that because with my ssh, I login completely differently. Also I didn't know how to use this obscure program as well as he did (which he wrote!!!). Also this student of his from his last apprenticeship was there and asked me about my project and then asked me how I was planning to do it. I'm no good in front of people I don't know and I also hadn't gone through the effort of putting it into words (which isn't the easiest thing in the world). All in all, it took me about 5 minutes of stumbling in front of this stranger and my mentor that I don't know too well to say anything. I felt really bad and the guy probably thinks I'm an idiot. Oh well. It was probably the most embarrassing moment for me in the last few years (since guildenstern). I just came off as a complete idiot. Oh well. I know I'm smart, I just keep telling myself that and I hope that I can impress him with my work when I'm done. At least I don't have to combat any high expectations. You know how I am though, I keep going over this over in my head...
Also I forgot to tell my dad happy birthday which was more of a function of the fact that I don't know what day it is than me forgetting what day his birthday was. Oh well. It just fits right in with my day so far.

Mood: embarrassed
Soundtrack: None

Tuesday Morning

So I'm heading up to the lab in a little bit to talk some stuff over. Right now I feel pretty on top of things even though I'm a little lost in physics but I'm pretty sure that everyone is. Right now I'm slowly trying to figure it out. If I get one concept a day I will more than ready for the midterm because there really are about 10 and the midterm is in 3 weeks (including spring break). For math (which has a midterm next week) I feel pretty on top of things and good quiz and homework grades have been padding my grade for a while now. Not a whole lot of stuff is going on right now. That's it for now.
Mood: Good
Soundtrack: Live "Lightning Crashes"

Finally a Chance to Sleep In!

I'm feeling so relaxed right now. I'm on top of things. Everything is working out. In fact, tonight I'm going to a meeting to see if I could be a writer for a science magazine. Something really low commitment. Just a little writing each week and totally optional. I think it would be a lot of fun and an awesome thing for applications. Paul's also coming over tonight. Oh well, that's it for now.

Mood: Great
Soundtrack: Godsmack "Voodoo"

What a Wendesday

Today I spent 3 and half hours doing lab stuff, mainly learing some IDL tricks and planning how I'm going to do my project. I think I just might be able to get this done sooner than I anticipated. Today I also learned that mass and energy are the same thing which is always a cool way to start your day. I have almost nothing to do tomorrow for the first time in a long while. I might go up to the lab to talk with my mentor. Oh well.

Mood: Relaxed... I know it's amazing
Soundtrack: Tool Lateralus

A Case of the Mondays

Today I had a really hard time getting up. It's been like that for the last few days. I didn't do nearly as much work today as I would have liked. Physics Homework took a lot longer than I expected and this weekend I didn't get much done because David came up to visit. I have gotten a lot of my lbl computer stuff all worked out and lately I've just been working to get acquainted with the system. I think that things are going pretty well in that area. I don't know, the week just began and I'm already looking forward to it being over. Things are quite a mess over here too. Oh well, that's all folks...

Will I Ever Get to Sleep In?!

Once again I couldn't sleep in this morning because at 8, Clarence's sister called me to tell Clarence to call her. I just wish I could get some sleep. I got screwed on Tuesday because of that stupid safety class thing. I've been working on my Geography essays. I'm almost done. I'm done for now. I'll come back to them later. I'm getting a little burned out because I haven't gotten much sleep lately. I couldn't sleep well last night because I was having a panic attack. Oh well.

Mood: PLEASE LET ME SLEEP!
Soundtrack: iTunes playlist Heavier Stuff

It's Still Only Wendesday?!

So today I did a lot of work. I even went up to the lab for 2 hours but my advisor didn't show up because there is a DOE review this week. It's alright. I got work done while I was up there. I also found out that there is a LBL bus stop really close to my apartment (like 20 feet). There were also a few earthquakes today. Nothing bigger than a slamming door but my professor had to turn it to physics when one occured during physics class. He also made a connection from a slow clock to relativity. He also mentioned that he will go and tell people in Italy that Californians laugh when there are earthquakes. I also got my midterm score back and did really well. Oh well, that's it for now.

Mood: Tired

Another Tiring Day

Baiscally same as yesterday except I went up to the lab to go to this class but it was cancelled which meant I woke up really early for nothing. It was also raining and really pouring too, but only for the 5 minutes after I got out of my Geography class. I was soaked to the bone. All day today I only had 30 minutes of free time. Oh well.

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: None

Finally a Chance to Relax!

I know, no more alliteration in the titles.... it deeply hurts me as well but for everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season...

The title suggests that perhaps today was a chance to relax but quite the contrary, right now is the first chance I've had to relax all day. Currently I'm just catching my breath. I got stuck making a math problem a LOT more difficult than it actually was. Oh well, that just burned about an hour of my time. I wasn't able to finish my math like I wanted to today but I got other things done, like I got my badge, which ended up taking a really long time. Another good thing I did was figure out a closer bus stop to my apartment. There might be a closer one but I'll have to find out later. Tommorrow I have to go to a safety class up at the lab and then I'm meeting with my supervisor and some of his former URAP students. It shouldn't be too bad. Oh, I also got an email today saying that my petition to change my schedule was approved but as of right now it isn't reflected in my bearfacts account, but then again that only updates at midnight so I'll wait until then. In physics we're done with classical physics, which is pretty cool and means that we're finally done with giancoli, which is a terrible book. Tomorrow is going to be a long day but oh well.

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: The Killers Hot Fuss

Weary Wendesday

I've got a midterm ina few hours and currently that's all I've been up to. Now I'm trying to relax and listen to music. I feel pretty good about the midterm but I guess we'll see about that... Well studying is the reason I haven't been posting lately for whoever cares, which is no one. O well, time to relax.

Mood: Anxious
Soundtrack: Dido Life for Rent

Tiring Thursday

I just spent like 2 hours working on a problem for the head of my lab thing and I don't even know if I did it right. I also got some magic cards. Sorry for the short posting, I'm just tired and a little cranky. Clarence had some friends come over from tennis. They were very boisterous and unClarencey.

Mood: Exhausted
Soundtrack: The Killers Hot Fuss

Working Wendesday

Not much happened yesterday hence the lack of an update. I went up to LBL today and am kinda close to finally getting started on my project. I had a math midterm today. It was okay. I'll have to wait to see my score. Still not too much new today. It sucked that I couldn't spend valentine's with mel but I get to see her this weekend which I'm looking forward to. Oh well, not much else.

Mood: OK
Soundtrack: Olympics in the background

A Mindful of a Monday

I haven't been up to too much today. I just came home and did some hw and then emailed those guys about the research. I found out that I just couldn't find the room for the review session. Oh well. Not much else new. I'm working on a new black deck that so far all I know has 4 hypnotic specters, 4 dark rituals, and 4 phyrexian arenas for sure.

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: None

A Stressing Sunday

I have a midterm this wednesday but I feel pretty good about that. Today I got up early and cut my visit with my Grandmother short so that I could get to Berkeley in time for a Math review session, but when I got there, I found out that the room it was supposed to be in doesn't exist and that the building it was supposed to be in was most definitely the wrong one. I actually ran into someone else also looking for it and together we eventually gave up. I also still haven't been able to get the math answers from the website for math which is frustrating because the hw for math is worth 10% of the grade. Oh well, I'll just have to get it from someone else. Today I went and got some pizza for dinner and other than that I haven't done too much except go over my math homework. Not much else new. Valentines day is on a tuesday this year so Mel and I aren't really celebrating it this year which sucks. But I just haven't had time to prepare anything and neither has mel.

On friday, I went up to LBL and met with a bunch of researchers and was offered a lot of projects. It looks like I'm going to be looking for binary star systems in the SDSS data. It should be interesting. I'm looking forward to it. Oh well, that's all for now.

Mood: A little stressed
Soundtrack: Dido Life for Rent

No Update!

no real update since nothing much happened today other than doing work and going to class.

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: None

Now With Titles!

So I got an email today from the guy for the supernova program. I'm heading up to the lab on Friday to meet with a bunch of professors and scientists to figure out exactly what I'm going to be doing. It's pretty exciting. Today I went to class and did a two math homework assignments. All I have left to do now is some physics which unfortunately looks really complicated. I was supposed to meet up with Danny for lunch tomorrow but he hasn't called me and it looks like I might have too much to do tomorrow with all the physics so I guess I'll just wait til next week. I also went and got a book for Paul from the library and the woman working there was very angry about having to help me. It was very odd. In general when I'm talking to strangers I get really nervous and pretty much act like Butters from South Park. When someone is outright angry at me, this effect is doubled. Also I went and got a AC transit sticker from the Class Pass office and the person was very nice. So I guess it wasn't me. Oh well, that's it for now.

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: Sterophonics Just Enough Education to Perform

I didn't do a lot today other than a lab and go to lecture and my decal. Still no news on when I start research. My mom got the job as senior librarian which is really awesome. I knew she would get it. I went to my decal today and I think I would have enjoyed the class but oh well I've got more important things to do and I can always read the books on my own. I added captions to my pictures on myspace and other than that I haven't done much. Today was my earned day of doing little this week and if I just do a couple of things tomorrow, I'll have another on thursday.

Mood: On top of things
Soundtrack: Party Shuffle

Mood: On Top of Things
Soundtrack: Party Shuffle Currently Korn, followed by Stereophonics

Paul came over last week and it was fun except he doesn't like how I keep everything clean. I did a lot today. I did all my physics for the week and I did almost all my math. I got an email and I was chosen to do the research. Right now, I only have about half an hour (at most) worth of work for the rest of this week. I think that I could totally handle this research. The only thing stopping me from being completely done is that I need a little clarification on some stuff (that happens when you're doing work a week ahead of lecture). Physics is a lot easier this semester. Oh well, that's it for now. I've written some poems recently so I might post them somewhere. Keep an eye out.

PS Look to the Right -------->

Mood: Relaxed
Soundtrack: Sarah McLachlan Surfacing

I didn't do a whole lot today. I just did some homework and went out to dinner with Danny at this sandwich place called Suffient Grounds. It was pretty good. Not much else new. Paul might come visit tonight. Still no news on the research. That's it.

Mood: Relaxed
Soundtrack: Dido Life for Rent

Today I had a nice lazy day that I've earned by doing a lot of homework early. Tomorrow I just have a couple of things to do and all day to do them. I watched a lot of evangelion today. Episode 24's director's cut only has like a minute of extra footage but in all seriousness, it was a pretty amazing revelation in that extra minute. Not much new. Still no news about the research.

Mood: On top of things
Soundtrack: None
Quote of the Day: "Oh, igneous..." -Mel (for reasons unknown)

So I didn't do much but work most of the day. I'm really on top of things and it seems that Zac was just sick. That's good news. I did a lot of work and went to a decal that is being taught by the guy that I did my final project with for my hitchhikers class. I watched some eva and that professor posted on his website that I'll find out sometime this week if I got picked. Not much else new.

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: None

I haven't been up to too much. I just did a lot of work today. I did all my physics except for one problem. I think Zac dropped out of geography either that or he is sick. I don't know. Not much else.

Mood: Relieved
Soundtrack: None

I did a lot of homework including a prelab question that took me a few hours. I went out to dinner at the thai place and went and got some milk. I'm so tired and so happy to have finished that problem.

Mood: Feeling good
Soundtrack: Death Cab for Cutie Plans
Quote of the day: I'm not going to baby you. You're old enough to smoke, die for your country, and star in porn. -My Math GSI

Today was pretty good. Tomorrow I have some work to do to get ahead. I found a cool dart game on myspace that I was playing. Other than that not much is up. I'm trying to decide whether to join a comic book decal or a isaac asimov one. The reason I don't want to do the comic book one is that you have to buy all these lame comics. Lots of DC garbage and fantastic four and stuff like that. I'm thinking of doing the asimov one. I played some tennis with clarence on the ps2 and helped him with some physics. Oh well, that's it for now.

Mood: Feeling Good
Soundtrack: Playlist of some of my harder stuff

Today I didn't do too much other than do homework. I did some exercising for the first time in a few weeks. I have a decal that I'm going to enroll in tomorrow in case i dont get the apprenticeship. I saw the movie 6th day last night around midnight. It was a lot better than i expected. I liked it. Other than that not much else new.

Mood: On Top of Things
Soundtrack: Evanescence Fallen

So today I turned in my application for doing research this semester and I also went to class. Nothing much new. We haven't done much of anythign at tall. Today I watched the 40 year old virgin and it was pretty good. Zac is in my discussion for geography and my gsi really doesnt seem to like the professor or care too much about the class. I also ran into bilaal and zuhair. I don't have much else to talk about because now much else is happening.

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: Party Shuffle currently Tantric, followed by She wants revenge

I went to my grandmother's today and spent some time with her. This myspace thing is pretty cool. I really hope it helps me keep in touch with people. Sorry for the jump, I'm just in that kin dof mood today. Today I finished my application to do some research this semester since I can't really do it during the summer without getting started during this semester. I applied to do either some atom smashing or some supernova watching. Sounds cool, huh? except I most likely won't be able to do either but it's worth the try. I also watched some football and I had a weird experience. As I got off the BART train this guy that was leading around this handicapped guy in a wheelchair turns to him and says "in all the time that I've been 'working' for you, I've never heard you threaten anyone's life." That was just such an absolutely bizarre thing to say, I was stunned.... "if it wasn't for that horse, i wouldn't have spend that year in college."

So I don't know if I mentioned this but zax (typo somewhat on purpose [not really] because zax looks cooler than zac, don't you agree? [it's the second time this happend]) anyway... as i was saying. Zac is in my geography class with me and it looks like we're going to be in the same discussion section. Pretty cool, huh?

O well, I've got some reading to do so that'll be it for now...
Wait, that whole threatening to kill someone things was just so weird. I mean the guy didnt even look like he could talk. I mean he had a keyboard on his tray on his wheelchair. I mean you wouldnt expect stephen hawking to go around threatening to kill people unless he was like a mafia genius black hole physicist hitman. O well... now i have to go

Mood: Content
Soundtrack: Party Shuffle with some Jack Johnson followed by Pete Yorn right now

Last night I made a myspace account you can find it here. Go there. There is alos a link in my links to the right
--------->
Other than that, not much is up. Yesterday I watched Star Wars Episode 3 and it was pretty good. Probably the best int he series. Today I talked to colin for awhile. Not a whole lot.

Mood: Sleepy and a little lonely
Soundtrack: None

So I went to my classes and not much happened. My physics professor has a way over the top italian accent. Today I found out that I can't really do that research that I was planning to do this semester. I'm considering putting this up on myspace so that some people will actually read this. O well. We'll see.

Mood: Relaxed and Content
Soundtrack: The rain pounding outside

So today was my first day of class and I found out that I only have to go to lab 6 weeks out of the year which is pretty good. I also went to my geography class and I liked my professor. I hope that I can get my section switched. Zac was in the class which is pretty awesome. I also did a bunch of sudoku puzzles. I really like them. I also went into the physics advisor's office and got some information. I found out that they recommend research after the second year. The problem is that right now I don't know anything about anything that I would be researching.

Mood: Excited about the new year
Soundtrack: Family Guy in the Background

Today I had list of things to do and I didn't accomplish a single one of them. I went out and tried to but was thwarted at every turn. Other than that I haven't been up to much.

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits

So I'm back in Berkeley. I just finished putting everything in order for this year and I already picked up my books. For dinner I went out with my brother, mom, mel and my grandma to this place called Thai Garlic right next to my apartment. It is really good and we all enjoyed it. I'm pretty excited about this year and to be honest I don't have that much to talk about so that will be it for now.

PS I also got an umbrella.

So in other news. My finals went really well and I ended up getting really good grades. I got an A- in physics and an A+ in math. It was a mistake not to take psych for grade but o well. Next semester is going to be a lot easier. My only stress is making sure that I get set up to do summer research but we'll see how that works out. Currently, I've been studying Java and soon I'll be starting to learn Matlab. O well, I'm getting tried.

You can expect much more frequent updates now that I'm returning to school. That's it for now. I'll see you later

Mood: Tired
Soundtrack: Coast to Coast AM

Well, it's been a long time since I last updated. A lot has happened this winter break. I didn't get to do everything that I wanted to do this break. I really wanted to get together with some people from high school but I just didn’t have time. My Grandfather passed away on December 18th. It was pretty hard on all of us. I did a really good job of keeping myself together. When my dad told me I told them that I would just go get ready and started a bath. As soon as I shut the door I just broke down and cried like I've never cried before as the sound of the falling water kept that away from my mom. Other than that I kept myself really together but it was rough. When we got there he was still lying there. The previous night we had stopped by and he was already pretty far gone. He was barely conscious but when my grandmother told him that we were there, he raised his hand to wave at us. It was the first real sign of consciousness he had given in a while and it was one of his last. We stayed with him for several hours and then headed home. Before we left I kissed him on the forehead and told him that we all loved him. The next morning, my dad woke me up and told me. I kept thinking about the last time I talked to him and how he really wanted to talk to me. I think he knew that it might be the last time I saw him. He didn't suffer and he went surrounded by people that love him. Since then, to be honest I haven't stopped thinking about him and I can't help but feel he still with me. I am a scientist by mindset but I noticed a few weird things. Shortly after he passed, my silver amulet that has a picture of an angel guiding a child and the phrase "Deus te guia (God Guides you)" on it fell and I caught it. The next day, a Christmas decoration of an angel fell down while we were playing video games and it fell again on Christmas day and we found it when we came back. Also, after I got home really late one night, I sat in the car for a really long time thinking about my grandfather and about the angels that had fallen. I then went in and got ready for bed and when I went to put my clothes in the hamper in the garage I noticed that the motion sensor light outside had gone on and lit up the garage. Now I go in the garage every night and we have had that light there for maybe 5-8 years and this is the only time this has ever happened. All of these things are easily explainable as coincidences but to me they mean something. Maybe that's because they have to for me and I need them to but they do.

This break I've done a lot of cleaning and have tried to do a lot of nice things around the house, tried to be like my Grandfather was. He was the most considerate man I've ever known. I've met a lot of people and I love a lot of people in my life, but he was the only person I ever truly admired. After he died we went over to his house and one thing that I had to do was figure out what every key on his key ring was for and I just thought that it was so poetic that I couldn’t do it. Also I had to find Krazy glue (which I know he has) and I couldn’t. The whole time I kept thinking how easy it would be if he was still there. I went and made a bookcase a week later, over in his workshop. He would have been proud but he also could have helped me so much. He only saw my bookcase that I made for my apartment when it was in the back of the van. I could have made so much more that he could have seen. I never took advantage of all the knowledge that he had that he was so willing to give me. I remember once I asked him for a pocket knife and he gave me a spare. It stuck a little and I was practicing taking the blade in and out and was purposefully showing how much it was getting stuck in hope that my grandfather would show me how to fix it, but instead he just gave me his which I still have to this day. I also have a letter R that we made together one time when I stayed over at his house. He was a craftsman who knew so much. He never had a son to teach any of his knowledge too and I think that I was the closest thing he ever had. When I showed interest in tools and was old enough he bought me a toolset set and gave me a lot of his hand tools. I always have and will feel guilty that I never got serious about any of that and that I always took him for granted. He was always so strong. When we 81, he redid a large part of his roof by himself. During Chemo, he popped out a wall and hung a 10 foot joice. After Chemo, when we put in the wall in the front room he was the only one strong enough to pull out some of the bent over nails. He was the strongest man I've ever known. I thought he was immortal. There will never be another man like him and I can only hope to be like him. There wasn’t a lazy bone in his body. Right now, I think of him a lot and I can't think of a better name for my first son than Jess.