pet a freshman

{ November 28, 2009 @ 8:54 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ } · { Comments (1) }

Apparently, December 4th is Pet a Freshman Day.

You know those pesky, usually annoying [not to mention rabid] fishies? Well, you cans imultaneously show them your condensation and irritation by petting them.

Maybe amusing things will happen.

Or you’ll catch rabies. [But at least it's amusing. Just not for you.]

I, for one, elect to pet juniors. The current freshman class at my school isn’t terribly irritating or awkward. The  fish population two years ago were collectively more bothersome. I still think of them as fish, to be frank.

Even though they’re technically juniors.

+1 for spreading confusion.

laptop woes

{ November 27, 2009 @ 2:51 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

At approximately 11:30 pm local time many nights ago, I noticed that my laptop made a grumble-ly, rumbling noise. The noise reminded me of a hybrid of an elephant stampede and a blender processing items not ment for blending.

Uh oh.

I’m 90% sure that the noise comes from my hard drive. Which is bad, as such noises are indications of  failure.

My laptop is a trusty Sony Vaio (Windows XP) that lasted heavy use for around five or so years. It’s one of those small-and-powerful deals, and I adamantly refused to trade it in for a long time. Why should I, when it worked?

It’s not working well anymore. It’s prone to viruses, and has a difficult time shutting down. Which is why I haven’t been using the computer lately.

So one defragmentation and several virus scans later, my conclusion is that this computer can last for approximately two or three more months. Which is perfect, because by then I should have my brand new 13″ MacBook Pro. :]

I can’t wait, but I am rather sad to see this computer go. It has been in use for about five or six years (which really explains a lot).

Lesson? Don’t run Photoshop, keep a browser open with ~20 tabs, work in Microsoft Office, and compile at the same time. Especially on a Windows.

Because it will die. [I am rather biased against Windows. When Vista came out, I snuck into a Circuit City to see how quickly I could break discover and manifest a flaw in the OS. Of course, I didn't have time to do anything before I was dragged out by parental figures who do not appreciate finding the lifespans of various computers. Partially due to this, I remain wary of Vista and the newer Windows 7.]

On a side note, HP laptops have a very short lifespan. I had one, but it lasted about a year before refusing to respond to anything due to overheating. My dad now uses it in his toasty 60-degree [Fahrenheit] office, and it works okay-ish. HP discontinued that model’s production a few weeks before my then-laptop had issues, and even under warranty, we couldn’t get it repaired.

Sidenote Two: I do have posts written, but I am too lazy to actually post them. I blame sheer exhaustion.

admission worries and failed plans

{ November 18, 2009 @ 11:58 pm } · { daily adventures, tangents of thought }
{ Tags: , , } · { Comments (1) }

College application season is in full swing, but for me, it’s almost finished.

I chose to apply to only two schools: a safety (accepted) and MIT (probable rejection).

My rationale was to apply to only colleges that I wanted to go to and had programs I find interest in.

The safety school was a no-brainer. Really, anyone finding themselves with a loss of brain would conclude that I would apply to that safety school.

MIT was a long struggle fought. Just to apply to.

My parents don’t want me far from home [technically, whatever pops up when I open my browser of choice, frequently something of my own construction]. The schools close to where I physically live, however, either I dislike or are community colleges.

So those colleges became Plan B. [Plan C involves an elaborate scheme to get a job; Plan D calls for mass amounts of valuable substances; Plan E is to live in the wild, away from monetary compulsions; and Plan F is simple failure.]

Plan A was always the state college at the state capital. [I was admitted one or two days ago, so that's a currently viable option.] MIT continually hovered as a dream just outside the reach of my consciousness.

Then my parents, who often act as my unwelcome and unneeded psychiatrists, decide to rid me of my MIT fantasy permanently. It didn’t really work. I’d go so far as to say their attempt backfired. For, after their unsuccessful arguments, I decided to form my own arguments.

My arguments got me grounded.

So, after years of skirmishes, it all ends with a simple action designed to discourage childish behavior, such as applying to college.

Well, not quite. Because on Wednesday, September 23 at approximately 3:26 local time, I was informed my argument worked and I could apply to MIT.

So I did. Excitedly.

Their amazingly transparent admissions team just released a post, announcing that tracking is up-to-date.

I look at my MyMIT dashboard because my application should be finally complete. . . and BOOM! No interview.

Panic ensues, until I read:

First, do not worry. We do not assign blame on why we don’t have it, we just know that we have not processed it. We will not look at your application unfavorably because it is missing an application component at this time. We will wait a while longer before having it evaluated to give you time to send along another copy. Your complete application will be considered for Early Action.

…

If you had an interview more than two weeks ago and we haven’t yet processed it, you should fill out the Conducted Interview form on the MyMIT Application Tracking Detail page. We will follow up with your Educational Counselor.

Oh, I love you MIT Admissions. You’re so much easier to understand than those other schools’ teams.

I await your prompt and swift rejection.

Too bad I got accepted into that other school –  I really wanted the excuse to be a hobo.

autumn leaves

{ November 8, 2009 @ 5:18 pm } · { daily adventures }
{ Tags: , , , } · { Comments (2) }

Where I come from, leaves are either green or moldy. And the weather is disgustingly hot all year.

But I’m not there right now. (Guess where I am, all you stalkers. Here’s a hint: Earth.)

Actually, I’m somewhere in New England. Originally, I thought it would be horrendously cold here, so, like the dork I am, I packed a thick winter coat.

Reality? It’s really, really, really nice outside. 60-ish degree weather, blue skies, and sunshine.

Did I mention the leaves look spectacular? I did now.

I spent the majority of the afternoon in a garden, looking at the leaves. Yellows and oranges abounded, sprinkled with a few brilliantly colored red trees. The willows were amazing, and the bridge’s surroundings looked like a facsimile from a Monet painting. And I don’t regret the waste of three hours. (I should have been studying physics, or Hamlet, but alas…)

I took a lot of pictures, and will upload them when I’m back in my own room. For now, rest assured that New England foliage are completely worth seeing. Really.

On a side note, I almost tripped over a squirrel. Seriously, there were at least a dozen per square yard.* (Dogs were highly entertained by this, as yo can probably imagine.) I know these overgrown rodents (I have to say, they were fat) are preparing for hibernation, but I’ve never seen such a high concentration of squirrel in my short life. Thank whatever-deity-you-believe-in that squirrel-leaf mixtures are relatively unreactive. (Squirrel-french-fry mixtures, on the other hand…)

People here seem to like to give out free entertainment, in hopes of petty donations. So while I was walking around enjoying leaves, I simultaneously listened to the varied sounds of saxophone, violin, and the odd mix of accordion and cello.

I adored the sax performance, felt the violin was slightly too technical to be enjoyed on a Sunday afternoon, and quickly became bored of the uncreative chord progression of the accordion/cello group. (All three were lovely in their own ways, though. )

So who was the lucky recipient of $2.50? The sax player!

Honestly, I’m such a cheapskate sometimes.

*slight exaggeration.

airlines and travel-times

{ November 7, 2009 @ 6:28 pm } · { daily adventures }
{ Tags: , , , } · { Comments (2) }

So, today I was on a plane. No, not a boat. A plane, one of those Neolithic elephants of the air, if you will. (Compared to planes from the rest of the world, American planes are Neolithic hunks of metal.)

Airplanes are not the most desirable place to sleep, yet I found myself dozing off during takeoff, thus saving myself the discomfort of my ears adjusting to new pressures. Nevertheless, I had a refreshing 20 minute break.

Apparently, the recession has done nothing to curb airline provided food-at least for my flight. Although, I did notice the second serving of beverages was rather close to the first–possibly in hopes of passengers declining?

Hm…I smell a conspiracy theory. I’m in a flight induced zombie-state, though, so why don’t you comment with your own theory? Remember, the more complicated the better. Ignore Occam’s Razor for once.*

I spent most of the flight either watching a movie (review to come shortly), studying physics, or writing this blog post. One of my more productive flights, if I say so myself.

More so than the time I was stranded in an airport overnight. But I will blog about that at a later date.

Now I’m in a hotel I’ve been to at least a dozen times eagerly anticipating a salad.

Well, the remains of a chicken-mandarin-orange-walnut-with-tangy-house-blend-sauce saled. The recession ate it first.

(I’d include a picture, but I haven’t the opportunity to find one.)

* either that or the Principle of Parsimony. I forgot…

conspiracy theories

{ November 6, 2009 @ 9:00 pm } · { tangents of thought }
{ Tags: , , , , , } · { Comments (1) }

One of my main character flaws is the inability to cease thinking. Sure, this may sound lovely. Maybe I do learn a bit better for it, but, of course, much of my ordinary thought process revolves around inane topics of rather sensitive nature.

By this, I mean conspiracy theories. Particularly those which are clearly false.

(Remember the balloon boy incident? I think it was a NASA publicity stunt gone wrong, in reaction to MIT’s space camera. By the way, this theory is completely untrue.)

Usually, controversial events are the center of my theories. And our school has been granted the dubious honor of  controversy. The only reasonable action? Developing a conspiracy theory from misconstrued interpretations, of course!

Recently, my school went through a rather abrupt change of administration. Needless to say, an amusing litany of rumors proceeded. The more entertaining ones involved alien abductions, embezzlement, and explosions. Oh, and the fact that students were sitting on the floor in class.

Local media attention has been garnered, and yet no member of the general public knows the actual details of the event. The almighty district has yet to make a statement. (Although an excess of pointless faculty meetings has been called of late. But who am I to call them pointless?)

Naturally, I decided to develop my own theory, albeit, a slightly more believable* one. I did so, and admirably, if I don’t say so myself.

While I do not intend on sharing the details, for our school is now quite stringent on acceptable behavior, I will divulge that it deals with a possible homicide…or just drunk driving.

Moral of the story? Don’t drink and drive.

Mathematicians must take greater caution, for drinking and deriving leads to disastrous results of far greater magnitude.

Especially if you decide it an excuse to pull a Fermat.

I suppose everyone can learn from that lesson.

Fermat's Last Opus

* meaning, entirely too believable with elements of complete ridiculousness, so as to be unbelievable and aid the dodging of any persecution, legal or otherwise.

no greetings for you

{ November 4, 2009 @ 12:09 am } · { tangents of thought }
{ Tags: , } · { Comments (2) }

“Hello World” is highly overrated. Especially as the first post in any blog.

In this case, a “Hello World” post is also inappropriate. Some out of context quoting gives us:

hello world can be a useful sanity test

I’m not insane. Hence, the inappropriateness of a cliched “Hello World” post.

But I digress. As should be apparent by now, this is the first post of a new blog, seeing as how no previous posts were found in said blog. And hopefully, this blog will last longer than my attention span usually allows. A couple of days, maybe a week.

A week would be good.

…

Well, this is now awkward.

…what do people usually write in first posts anyway? It’s strange, because a blog is, in a way, like a conversation with yourself. One that other people can hear.

Starting with an involved discussion of something is strange because it creates expectations. Expectations that may or may not be reflective of the blog’s actual content. And normal conversation does not spontaneously generate. (Arguably, conversation with oneself sometimes does…)

An introduction feels useless. (Remember, we’re assuming a blog to be a conversation with oneself that any monkey with internet can read.) Do you really need to introduce you to, well, you?

Okay, some people may. The ones with identity crises. Or the incredibly narcissistic ones. But I have neither (at least I hope), and can’t really talk about myself easily. That was a lie. When I finally manage to talk about myself, I can continue forever. Does that make me a narcissistic with an identity crisis.

So does that return us to the post about something? Not really. Because there can be a post about nothing!

Which is what this, as well as the post(s) to follow, will be about.

Nothing.*

(and welcome to my tiny corner of the internet, by the way.)

* actually, whatever nonsense is currently occupying my mind.