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  • Total Eclipse of the Moooooon!

    http://www.news.com/2300-11397_3-6231126-1.html

    Don’t miss the total lunar eclipse

    On Wednesday, February 20, 2008,
    beginning at 7:01 p.m. PST, the moon will move completely under the
    shadow of the Earth in a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse can be seen
    in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Hope for good weather because the
    next total lunar eclipse won’t happen until December 2010.

    The moon will be completely under Earth’s shadow for about 50
    minutes. During this time, the moon won’t be completely obscured
    because of indirect light coming from the Earth’s atmosphere. But the
    moon will appear to change colors from light gray to orange or deep
    red. The shade depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the Earth’s
    atmosphere.

    Credit: NASA TV

  • Marc, Minna, Jason and Steph Go To White Castle

    I went to White Castle!  It was so freaking awesome.  MM-MMM.  It melts in your mouth.  The whole 1 mm patty-ish thing with the onions.  YUM.

    And what other fast food joint serves sweet potato fries?

    I now fully understand how Harold and Kumar felt when they finally got their 50 whatever slider burgers, 15 whatever french fries, and 6 (diet) cokes (???).

  • A time of reflection…

    I didn’t do my end of the year reflection…maybe because there wasn’t much to reflect on.  hehe.  Well, there is, it was just a lot less emotional than past years.

    It was a mellow year.  Life is mellow and comfy.  Hmm…thinking about it, worst year was probably 2005.  This year in comparison, overall, a good year. 

    • School = good, although it was stressful at (many) times, but always the expected kind, the kind I know how to deal with. 
    • Friends = good, although I don’t feel as close to anyone here as friends from home and probably never will, which I’m totally okay with. 
    • Family = good, everytime I go home I don’t want to leave, I love my family!.
    • Sean = very good, he’s so good to me even when I’m not nice to him, but I’m trying =). 
    • God = always good, Relationship with God = ?, up and down as always.
    • Church/small group = okay/not bad, very different than Newsong, much more conservative, very different culture, different people, different demographics…just different.
    • Midwest = not too shabby, kinda used to the cold, I now know how to dress whether it’s 60 or 50 or 40 or 35 or 30 or 25 or 20 or less.
    • Health = good, but quickly diminishing.  I’ve gained at least 5 lbs. since I’ve been here.  My jeans are tight on the waist, butt, and thighs.  My shirts are tight around the shoulders and upper arms.  My bunion is gross.  My eye is forever red because my contacts.  My teeth are yellowing. And I think I have a lot of ear wax.  =
    • Food = yum.  I am cooking new things and they are usually good.  I hope to put together an album of all my food soon.
    • Fun = less than years before, but I’m okay with that, too.  I enjoy staying at home and relaxing more than I ever have before.
    • Morals = slowly diminishing.  I don’t think I’m the stickler I used to be.  good/bad thing?  not sure.
    • Research = you never ask about research.  lol, but in all honestly, it’s going.  that’s always a good thing!  I am aiming to qualify by summer.  Hope I can do it.
    • Tan = gone.  Good Lord, my skin sees the sun a total of 20 minutes a week maybe?  At least the skin around the eyes does.  Everything else is always covered.

    Might be missing some things, but this is basically it.  I like to keep things simple. =)

  • A little ridiculous…

    AirAsia.com is having some massive and unreal air-travel sales.

    You can fly from Bangkok to Chiang Mai for 10 THB.  That’s 31 CENTS USD.  Are they for real???

    I don’t understand those asian people and how/why they would do it.  The tickets were already cheap (<$20 USD).  They’re nuts.

  • I’m dreaming of a non-white Christmas…

    Bummer.  Once again, no snow on Christmas.  LoL.  I’m ok with that though.

    IRVINE:
    EVANSTON:

  • Ants in my pants!

    I’m so antsy to get home!  I don’t think anyone is as excited for me to come home as I am (ok, maybe Sean, but that’s a given).  But I get the feeling that some of my friends have their own lives now and me coming home would just interrupt their daily routine.  I know I’m just making much ado about nothing, but I still get the feeling that everyone’s slowly sinking into their own lives and people who used to think you were so important to them, well, it just ain’t so anymore.  =/  I fear I speak the truth this time…

    As for the grad school update: YES, I think it’s worth it to go to grad school.  Just read www.phdcomics.com .  It speaks the truth and nothing but the truth.  It’s been a lot of work this quarter, the most yet, but I haven’t died, so I figure that’s a good sign and that I should continue to go through with this thing called grad school.  For once I am kind of getting excited as I get more and more into my research…am I a true nerd yet?  Hm…don’t think so yet because I’ve still got some desire in me to try to be hip and cool and all OC-ish.  lol. 

    I’ve gained 10 pounds or so since I’ve been here, mostly in the thighs and stomach.  I asked my friend if being fatter made me look older and she said, “No, it just makes you look fatter.”  =(  So sad, but true.

    Btw, ants in your pants must be a most horrible feeling.  Kind of like the feeling you get when you’re wearing a long sleeve shirt and you put your jacket on and your sleeve bunches up at your bicep!  Ugh…I used to cry when that happened and my mom would have to reach in and pull down my sleeves.  I HATED it so much!

  • Republican Debate and YouTube?

    I’m so not into political things.  Usually gives me a headache.  But the little YouTube intro thing and people on YouTube asking questions got me hooked (even if some questions are pretty dang stupid).  Now I’m watching the debate!  Kinda weird at first, though, when they had alien cartoons (not real people aliens) and a guy playing guitar singing about the candidates, but not bad as for entertainment value.

    But I’m still just gonna stick to my enginerd things for now…

  • Almost forgot I had this thing.

    I’m obsessed with this song.  I don’t really listen to much music, in all honesty, because I’m so freaking busy and so out of touch with the world.  Eeek.  But I like this rendition of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” which my mom said was the first song she heard when she came over to the States.  Cool, huh!

    Well, as always, I’ve been thinking about the future.  I just want to have a job!  My office mate is finishing up in less than 4 years – this is very rare.  The majority of people take almost the full five years.  The reason why he’s doing this is because he’s in the awesome Olson group, working on steel…which is what I’m doing!  Do I have a chance of doing the same?  He just got 3 job offers, accepted one already, turned down another, only to be offered an additional $15k+ within an hour of turning it down, and now is debating how to say “no” nicely.  Ugh, what a hard life, huh.  He’s also always playing basketball every time I come into the office.  I jingle my keys extra long so he knows I’m coming in.  =P.  I wish that were me now.  Too bad it’s not.

    Grad school’s good, but it’s not as exciting as you would think (if you ever even thought it was).  Sure, we do fun things and socialize and play IM sports and go downtown to see what’s hip and happening there and try to appear normal, but for some reason it’s kind of lost its appeal.  But it’s only because I get this feeling that people are trying to prove something by doing all these cool things.  Am I reading too much into this?  Yes, absolutely.  But I can’t help but feel that everyone’s trying so hard to keep a balanced life – working extremely hard and having somewhat of a life outside of the lab – just to prove a point that engineers are real people, too.  Well, I say, we engineers ain’t that special.  I’ve stopped getting that feeling of specialness when I tell people I’m in the Ph.D. program in Materials Science Engineering.  Maybe it’s because I’m around so many driven people.  It just seems the norm now.  Everyone’s working so hard.  Everyone’s so freaking smart and it’s annoying.  Can’t we all just act dumb and unmotivated for once?  Does it mean I’m a little too removed from society if I am even unmotivated to find something cool to do on the weekend?  I’m talking out of my a** right now.  I’m just pissed that I’m not finished with grad school and getting that six-figure salary right at this moment.

    I still wonder if my friends and family think I abandoned them.  I came to the realization that all my investing in people did pay off.  I got really close with a lot of people and talked about a lot of tough issues with them, too.  But then I just kinda left.  I feel like I was so intent on “starting over” that I forgot that I didn’t really want to start everything over.  I can’t even give my closest friends calls consistently because I’m too stubborn to put up with the small talk.  When I go back, is everyone gonna have their own lives that don’t include me?  It seems likely since that’s how it is right now.  So sad.  For now I’ll not worry about it…procrastination! =)

  • FLAN…F-L-A-N

    Have people in the Midwest never heard of Flan?  I asked 4 grocery stores if they have flan, and EVERY SINGLE PERSON I talked to said, “What?  What is that?” 

    What is wrong with people here?!?!

    I’m very disappointed and very pissed off at the bad customer service of the grocers.

  • Too bad I’m not a geek…

    …I may be a nerd or a dork or just plain silly, but I’m not a geek, and sometimes I wish I were.  It’d save me time and money and let me have really cool stuff hooked up in my room and on my comp.  Interestingly enough, there aren’t too many geeks in Mat. Sci. Engineering, either.  Nerds, yes.  Geeks…not so much.  Bummer.  I need to go find some geek friends…EECS is a good place to start.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/26/60minutes/main2401726.shtml