So the last time I posted here was in October. I just wanted to let people know I'm still reading your journals and commenting occasionally, and now that I'm on Christmas break, maybe I'll actually start trying to update more than once every two months!

This semester was challenging, but it's finally over and I've come out mostly intact. My first chemical engineering class (Material and Energy Balances) started out rough, but got much better as the semester progressed. Differential equations was awesome, by far the most interesting math class I've taken. Physics was interesting and taught well by my particular teacher, but the department head is out to get everyone because of a cheating incident that happened last semester, so he made tests unreasonably difficult (he writes them), etc. etc. Our averages in there were usually around a 50 or 52%, which is set at a B, so I think I'm fine. Biotechnology (my other chemical engineering class) was taught by a new teacher who still hasn't mastered English yet (he's Korean), which wasn't too much of a problem since he had good lecture slides, but he wasn't the best of teachers. The material was pretty interesting, though. Microeconomics was great! It was definitely a nice contrast to all my engineering classes, and I will be taking macroeconomics next semester. I also joined some more clubs (Queer and Allied Activism, Queer Student Union, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and got a leadership position in Society of Women Engineers!) and was far more social than during first year. Overall, I would call this semester a success!

So I have twelve days at home in Lynchburg, and then on the 29th I'm off to Guatemala for my January Term class. We have to perform an independent research project for it, so I am doing mine about AIDS and HIV in Guatemala, which I'm very excited about! Hopefully I'll be able to interview doctors and people with AIDS and HIV while I'm in Guatemala for my paper. We're also visiting the Mayan ruins, picking coffee beans on a coffee plantation, camping out in the jungle one night, shopping for local goods in street markets, taking a boat ride across Lake Atitlán, and much more that I will more than likely expand upon later. And apparently if we go to drink in a bar, you aren't supposed to argue about politics with the locals. Bad things will happen. Oh, and hopefully I won't be absorbed into any slave markets. That would put a damper on things.

Then I get back to the States on the 12th and classes start on the 13th (that timing should be fun!). Next semester I will be taking APMA 311 (Probability and Statistics), CHE 212 (Organic Chemistry and lab), CHE 202 (Thermodynamics), CHE 216 (Modeling and Simulations in Chemical Engineering), and ECON 202 (Principles of Macroeconomics), which is a total of 16 credits (one less than this semester!). I'm definitely looking forward to more chemical engineering classes, and this will be the last math class I'll ever have to take--weird.

Oh, and I've been getting calls from government people doing background checks on me for an internship with BWX-T (a nuclear engineering company in Lynchburg) for the summer, so hopefully that means they're taking my application seriously! I'll hopefully hear back about it any day now. *fingers crossed*

I'm going to Guatemala for UVa's J-Term (from December 29th to January 11th)! I will be taking a class on the "Natural and Built Environment and Public Health of Guatemala." So basically it's about how engineering and medicine can interact to solve problems in an international setting. I'm so excited! Hooray!

It seems that the more work I get, the less loquacious I get, at least on LiveJournal. I offer you a brief update. And by brief update, I mean a list of my classes.

PHYS 241E - Physics: Electricity and Magnetism
PHYS 241W - Lab
CHE 215 - Material and Energy Balances
CHE 246 - Introduction to Biotechnology
APMA 213 - Ordinary Differential Equations
ECON 201 - Principles of Microeconomics

I actually like all the classes, even though one of my major's classes (CHE 215) is a bit odd since we're doing stuff I've never been exposed to before. I guess odd is better than impossible.

Oh yeah, and science rules.

Grandma: Do you practice frottage?

So here I am, sitting in my grandparents' kitchen in Port Townsend, WA, watching Jeopardy and updating my LiveJournal. For dinner tonight was quinoa, broccoli, cheese, and onion casserole with baked sweet potatoes made by yours truly. Mission success. Tomorrow will involve bookstores and guacamole. Life is good.

I just completed week 3 day 3 of my running plan! I ran 2400 yards (~1.36 mi) in 18 minutes. I ran on the treadmill at a 2.0% incline, which is unfortunate because I do want to try running outside at some point in this program (today would not have been a good first day as it is 90°F outside). Overall I'm proud of myself at this point and can't wait to get onto week 4!

I got pictures of the nest in our garage!

( Clicky )

My dad recently told my mom and me that there is a bird's nest in one of his small storage bins in his garage (it looks something like this, but with a covering on top as well). After looking inside the nest, we discovered there were two tiny eggs inside, no bigger than a miniature-sized Cadbury egg! And we (my mom and I) were lucky enough to see the mother or father bird (whichever one takes care of the eggs--I'm not sure) fly out of the garage the other day. I don't know what type of bird it is exactly, but I'm doing some research on Virginian birds and it's color resembles that of a purple finch, but it seems a bit too big to be the bird we saw. It's body size resembles that of a warbler or wren more. That's the best I can do at this point, but if I can, I'll try to get pictures of the nest if the mom/dad (m/d...haha) is away. It's pretty neat how m/d has it set up--there are still various hooks and nails and screws in the front of the storage bin, but nestled in the back is m/d's nest and it looks as comfy as can be.

The Rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you. (The fabulous antarcticlust)
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

1. When I think of the alphabet, numbers or ages of people, or the time of day, I imagine them from left to right; when I think of the days of the week, I imagine them from top to bottom, with Sunday at the top and Saturday at the bottom. I think this last one stems from a poster my kindergarten teacher had in the classroom.

2. Half of my face doesn't produce pigment and so I have white blotchy skin, white eyelashes, one white eyebrow, and half a head of white hair on 50% of my head, although I dye my hair and eyebrow black so it doesn't show up.

3. I have two decorative decals on my car--one on the upper left hand corner of my rear window that is a V for UVa and inside the V it says "ENGINEERING." The other is a red Tool decal on the bottom middle of my rear window.

4. I store my books in four places--my main bookshelf by my bedside table, another bookshelf in my closet, and two drawers of my dresser and one drawer of my bedside table. I know, I know, I need help.

5. I have two necessary pieces of jewelry I must wear everyday (besides those reserved for my piercings)--my watch (a pink and black Timex I've had since 10th grade that I wear on my left wrist) and my high school class ring (one with an onyx stone, JENNA engraved on one side and 2007 on the other, with my school colors, which are maroon and gold, on each side, and music and track symbols engraved on the sides, and I always wear it on my left ring finger). I've worn these two pieces so much I have tan lines around them.

6. I've never had braces, cavities, and have not had my two (and only two--yes) wisdom teeth pulled yet and I have good teeth. That's one thing I've been truly lucky about.

And now I tag...
blueyoshi22
cidthecoatrack
foolish_m0rtal
gutzilla
jackshoegazer
opiumcat

How tricking the eye reveals the inner workings of the brain

By Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen L. Macknik

The Neural Correlate Society recently announced the winners of its annual Best Visual Illusion contest. To celebrate the event, Mind Matters invited Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen L. Macknik, two neuroscientists who specialize in visual perception, to explain the scientific value of visual illusions. This article is the first in a new Mind Matters series on the neuroscience of illusions.

( And there's a slide show of illusions! )

As mentioned above, Jacquelyn gets props for me writing this. A while ago, she posted an entry about the Couch-to-5K running plan. I must have started and stopped this program three times by now, not because it's ineffective or super-challenging, but because I didn't have the motivation or stamina to stick with it. Hopefully with some recent lifestyle changes (I've become a vegetarian again and am conscious of what I put into my body now more so than ever) and a big support group (such as my LJ friends, plus my dad is doing the running plan with me!) I will have more will power in sticking with this. I would ideally love to get down to 140 lbs for my 5'7" frame, but this is a very long-term goal. I've come to realize the power of realistic, short-term goals, so I'm not trying to think of my ultimate goal at this point. My goal at the moment is to stick with this workout routine and to drink 1.5 L of water and take one multivitamin per day (which I have been good about!).

By the way, this episode of Naked Science about the Phoenix mission is pretty sweet.

My friends, it is 72°F outside right now.

Movie Quote Meme!

Here is how it works:
1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDB search functions. Totally cheating, you dirty cheaters.

1) Whatcha got ain't nothin new. This country's hard on people, you can't stop what's coming, it ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity. No Country For Old Men antarcticlust, gutzilla

2) Normally, both your asses would be dead as fucking fried chicken, but you happen to pull this shit while I'm in a transitional period so I don't wanna kill you, I wanna help you. Pulp Fictionjackshoegazer, gyttja, gutzilla

3) A mental mindfuck can be nice. Rocky Horror Picture Show gyttja

4) I'm only allowed to let in five percent black people. He said that, that means if there's 25 people here I get to let in one and a quarter black people. So I gotta hope there's a midget in the crowd. Knocked Up mmmrorschach

5) Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek? Silence of the Lambs antarcticlust

6) Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand? The Green Mile opiumcat

7) I'm voting for Dukakis. Donnie Darko freckled_tiger, gutzilla

8) There has to be a mathematical explanation for how bad that tie is. A Beautiful Mind antarcticlust

9) What have I got Harry, hm? Why should I even make the bed, or wash the dishes? I do them, but why should I? I'm alone. Your father's gone, you're gone. I got no one to care for. What have I got, Harry? I'm lonely. I'm old. Requiem For a Dream opiumcat

10) Bottom line is... we're around each other an'... this thing, it grabs hold of us again... at the wrong place... at the wrong time... and we're dead. Brokeback Mountain gyttja, cidthecoatrack, gutzilla

11) How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew? The Motorcycle Diaries opiumcat

12) New lovers are nervous and tender, but smash everything. For the heart is an organ of fire.

13) Now, a question of etiquette - as I pass, do I give you the ass or the crotch? Fight Club jackshoegazer

14) A real loser is someone who's so afraid of not winning he doesn't even try. Little Miss Sunshine antarcticlust

15) As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices. Children of Men antarcticlust

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 4, 2008

The principal policy division between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama involves health care. It’s a division that can seem technical and obscure — and I’ve read many assertions that only the most wonkish care about the fine print of their proposals.

But as I’ve tried to explain in previous columns, there really is a big difference between the candidates’ approaches. And new research, just released, confirms what I’ve been saying: the difference between the plans could well be the difference between achieving universal health coverage — a key progressive goal — and falling far short.

( Read more... )