Jenkins Small

Riceballs for lunch

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:38:41 GMT

Today is going to be sweet, and here's why:

-I have my favorite work shirt
-I can see Chris after work
-I can eat riceballs for lunch, which is extra awesome because I can eat them outside and spend my entire lunch going for a walk instead of hurrying back to get food

Riceball = Onigiri, which can be read as "demon cut," since Japanese is weird but cool like that.

HUGS AND KISSES
-Jenkins

something I realized today

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:13:56 GMT

People love to get all proud of democracy, and how it's totally the "will of the people," and the fairest way to do government, but I think there's a problem with that.

Democracy, and any other form of representative government, isn't a way to guarantee the right solution or the best laws or anything like that. Democracy is, quite simply, a protection against a single ruler always getting their way, no matter how good or bad that ruler is. As a countermeasure against tyrants, it's great, but as a countermeasure against tyranny in general, it's not as great, simply because the largest group of similarly-minded people will become the collective tyrant. Also, democracy has the flaw of being an INCREDIBLY slow and bureaucratic method of government, as opposed to, say, a dictator. The perks are great, but sometimes the majority rule is just plain wrong, and while democracy remains the best viable method of government (since individuals simply cannot be trusted to take care of an entire nation on their own), it does have its flaws, and its very important to remember them. Especially with an electorate as clueless and apathetic as ours.

Just saying.

oh this too:

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:21:50 GMT

I bought Matt's old Gamecube, plus four controllers, all the necessary cables, a memory card or two, Pikmin, SSBM, 8 AA batteries (for my camera, not the Gamecube), and a box full of packing peanuts.

Price, for all of the above: $40

I looooooooove secondhand stuff.

hell yeah

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:19:17 GMT

Done. 2 Exams, done, and I think I did pretty well on both (maybe better on Econ though).

I missed a perfectly gorgeous day thanks to my goddamn studying. I'm not going to sit through the evening too. And tomorrow, yeah, tomorrow I think I'll spend a lot of time outside again. Maybe bike to/from Belchertown. Very much within the realm of possibility.

Anyone else bursting at the seams with pent-up energy?

-Jenkins

things are looking up

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:23:56 GMT

93 on my project in Dynamics. This was the project that I could barely figure out the instructions to, in the class I hate more than any of my other classes (indeed, the only class that I actually dislike this semester). Good news? Oh hell yeah it is.

I'm also kicking all sorts of ass in Japanese, and I got my project approved in Sustainable Cities. This is honestly a chance to get GRADED on my train fandom. Insane. I hope I do well on that, too.

hugs and kisses,
-Jenkins

Thoughtful Day

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:03:18 GMT

Every Tuesday and Thursday, I get a 3+ hour break between my classes (2:15 to 5:30)--long, but not quite long enough to go to Belchertown or see friends. So today I took that time to go on a walk around Amherst in the snow.

Like an idiot, I left my camera at home. Predictably, there were lots of great photos I could have taken :P
I'll probably head back in a while, but it'll be dark before I get another chance today.

I walked down to the fountain, which is boarded up in the winter. I said a little prayer, then headed out behind the shops, reminiscent of the bathhouse in Spirited Away--gritty and elaborate. Did I mention I was mad I didn't bring my camera?

It was, on the whole, a pleasant walk. Got some snow in my shoes, though.

Completely unrelated, but I think I'm going to have to drop Systems Analysis. The class is really incredible boring, and the material is almost exactly the same as Econ 103, which I'm also in. I might want to talk to my professor in Sustainable Cities first, to get his opinion (he's the head of the Regional Planning Masters program), but I really don't see any need to stay in the course. No fun + no relevance = no point.

And now, I gotta run--class in 29 minutes, all the way in Isenberg. This is gonna be a crappy walk :(

HUGS AND KISSES,
-Jenkins

PS- photos coming soon; I HAVE still been taking them.

The Verdict

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:06:13 GMT

I've now been to each of my classes for this semester once. I have a good feeling about them (I always say that, don't I?), but I think a list would explain it a bit better:

Intro to Microeconomics: This is my earliest class, 9:05 AM, and is in Bartlett for most of the week (Draper on Fridays), a good 10-15 minute walk from the DC. This means that I have to get up at around 7:00 or 7:30 if I want to get properly freshened up and eat breakfast--not early by some standards, but very early by mine (I got up anywhere from 9 to 10 last semester). While this isn't strictly related to the course material, it is a significant reason for me to resent the class, especially now in the middle of winter. As actual material goes, it doesn't look too difficult, but it involves regular online homework. Compounding this is the fact that for me to submit the homework, I have to register with the homework website for the low low price of $70. On the plus side, the material looks pretty interesting (or at least pretty useful), and I don't have to dish out any more money for a textbook. If only I could get a secondhand registration for half off...

Entry Level Japanese: I'm not actually registered in this yet, and if I can't get a slot by the end of add/drop, I have to stop going to classes, but for now I'm showing up regularly. Right on the heels of Econ, and right next door in Herter, this course is both very interesting and VERY easy. My only gripe is that the pace is slow (better slow that fast) and that the other students are, to put it nicely, talkative. The girl next to me kept calling her classmate "Kawaii," and her classmate kept trying to finish sentences before the teacher could. WE GET IT, YOU KNOW YOUR KANA ALREADY. Classroom behavior, kids!

Sustainable Cities: A 500 level course with a bunch of yuppie/hippy grad students (as well a few undergrads), this looks like the most promising course I'm in right now. We're off to a slow start (it's only been one day), but the class runs more like a discussion, with lots of conversation between the professor and the students, as well as amongst the students. Furthermore, I know for a fact that public transit and urban planning are part of the curriculum, so I can breathe easy in the knowledge that it won't just be an organic/vegan/fair trade/solar power gala (not to discredit these, but people have a way of rubbing them in my face).

Systems Analysis and Economics in Engineering: "Which roads do we expand, and how?" This class is run by a robot (I am convinced of this) and is guaranteed to make me rage, but it's still fascinating--you know, like a car crash. It's all about how to analyze engineering projects to ensure efficiency and optimal results. The concepts are great, and it sounds like handy information to have. I may still drop the course, though. I don't know what kind of work is involved yet. Also, I'm wicked pissed that they only refer to road projects when they talk about transportation. "How can we minimize travel time? Maximize safety? Maximize reliability? Minimize emissions?" I have an answer, you dicks: build a train. By the way, everything in quotes is from my notes on "Regional Transportation Planning," and the answers are always "build more roads." On the plus side, this is taught in the kickass new Integrated Science Building.

Dynamics of Human Habitation: This course is basically sociology applied to public and private spaces. It's kinda bland, but not that tough, and it's got some interesting stuff later in the semester about cities and public spaces there.

History of Landscape Architecture, Middle Ages to Modern Day: Another 500 level course! This one looks much more arduous than the other, though--it's basically an art history course (complete with essay tests discussing one style or another) about gardens. I can't say I'm honestly excited about it, but I know one other kid in the class, and he's a railfan like me, so it can't be all bad. More importantly, it IS a requirement for my major, so I've got to muscle through it and get to better stuff next fall.

Now I realize that I'm also a week behind on my photos, and I kinda left my entry on the 20th half-finished, so here's the deal: 365 photos is kinda tiring in that it requires me to upload photos every day. I will still be taking pictures every day, and they'll all get uploaded eventually, but there are definitely going to be lag periods here and there, and I might upload with very little actual journal content, just pictures. Long story short: I'm not going to fill in anything on the past week except in my comments on the pictures I took. There's just too much to write, and I'm not really that good about keeping journals.

That said, here is a week's worth of pictures:

Day 20: AWW ADORABLE
This kid was asleep in the 7-11. I guess an inauguration can really take it out of you.

Day 21: My favorite building in the country, I think. SO BIG!

Day 22: Union Station interior. Again: SO BIG!

Day 23: Holyoke. Cool city, bit dead though. Poor milltowns have it rough.

Day 24: Lunchtime at work. Does it count as abuse when it's self-inflicted?

Day 25: Moving day. I had two even HUGER suitcases in the back :P

Day 26: OMG THE INTEGRATED SCIENCE BUILDING <3 <3 <3

Day 27: One brave duck.

Enjoy! ;)

HUGS AND KISSES
-Jenkins

Day 20

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:03:45 GMT

The 20th

Inauguration Day

There is a hell of a lot to say for today, and I took 99 pictures, some of which I want to post. With that in mind, I think I will break this down a little:

I woke up today at 7 AM. Never fun, but it was especially painful after two consecutive 5 AM starts and a very high-energy day on the 19th. It took a while, but I managed to get up and shower, and was dropped off at Vienna station at around 8:30. The first train on the platform was filled to the edge of the doors, and eventually it went off. The next train to arrive quickly filled up (I was worried that I wouldn't get a seat at first), and I was stuck at the back, leaning over a seat. For some reason, it STILL stopped at every station on the route to pick up EVEN MORE people. By the time we got to L'Enfant Plaza, I had been standing at an angle for an hour and a half, and was wobbly for a little while getting off.

The station itself was a mess. Crowds were backed up at the fare gates, and we were stuck for about 5 minutes until a cheer broke out as the station attendants shut off the gates, allowing us all to pour forth...and smack right into another log jam at the escalators. They had been turned off to let the crowds move at a realistic pace (and to stop people from being shoved into crowds up top), but they still had that one problem that elevators do: they were narrow. VERY narrow.

After a grueling 20 minute slog up the escalator, I made it to the top, only to be stuck for another 5 minutes or so as people squeezed out of the narrow station exit and burst into the street. Somebody asked to take my picture, because they were collecting images of people with odd Obama decorations. I ended up having lots of people ask about the pin, and only one guy knew it was in Japanese (but he still asked me what it said).

The first thing to greet me out of the station was Abraham Lincoln:

^^ This guy.

I followed crowds until I found a CVS, and grabbed a couple of snacks and an 8-pack of gum. I then managed to find the Blue Gate, where a HUGE swarm of people were trying to get their tickets approved. Somebody was offering to sell his Silver ticket for $500. I looked around to find a gap in the crowd, and managed to get a glimpse of the Capitol. I also noticed some people in a tree. This gave me an idea. I grabbed my snack bag with my teeth and hoisted myself up. Unfortunately, the view was still obscured by other trees :(

I did get some shots of the crowd, though:

I gave up on the tree before long, and began to slip closer and closer to the Capitol. I peeked into the Museum of the American Indian, and found the place PACKED:

Finally, I found a fairly empty street between two chunks of the Mall. I was actually about as close as I could get without a ticket, and psyched for it. I still couldn't see much detail, but I could at least get a clear view.

It was an amazing spectacle. Warren's speech was surprisingly good (although one guy determinedly held up a rainbow scarf for the whole thing). After Biden was sworn in, I felt a thrill of excitement: Cheney was OUT. We had a new Vice President. Aretha Franklin's announcement got the biggest cheer yet, until Obama's own announcement. As soon as he finished his oath, celebratory gun/cannon fire broke out, and the crowds went wild. The teeming masses behind me looked like they were shimmering when they all waved their flags at once. I don't think I've ever seen so many people at once. It was spectacular. Bush's departure set them off again, and then they started to wander off a bit as the poetry segment began. However, the national anthem caught their attention, and then they all started dancing and jumping up and down when the Stars and Stripes Forever began to play.

Pics:

Rainbow Scarf Guy

Look carefully at the roof of that building...all three of its roofs are covered in people.

Right after the oath

Loved this guy's poster

Bye bye!

The trash was horrendous--millions of dollars spent to make the Inauguration good, and they forgot to install any trash cans.

It is very late at night, and I am very tired, so I think I'll head to bed now. There are WAY more pictures, and I got to really walk around that day, so I'll post more later.

HUGS AND KISSES,
-Jenkins

Day 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 03:54:01 GMT

Oh lawd guys--five days now. I really suck at staying on top of things :O

Day 13: The best day EVER. We went to the Three Ditches Trail for an adventure in the snow (and man was it cold).

Day 14: I stayed indoors all day this day :(
Photo is from walking Molly.

Day 15: Went to see my BRAND SPANKING NEW ADVISOR this day. Finalized my change of majors into Environmental Engineering and signed up for new courses. I'm kinda (very) nervous, but at the same time, really optimistic. I think this will work out much better. At the very least, the material is way more interesting. Also, I'm DONE FOREVER with Chemistry, Math, and Physics. I'm trying to let that sink in more: I never have to take another math course again. Ever.

Amazing.

Topped the day off by sledding with Chris on a golf course at night--SUPAH COOL (cold!) and now I want to go sledding on the Three Ditches Trail as well.

Pic is of brunch, from the Newman Center :D

Day 16: Another shut-in day. I spent most of the day talking to Shikuchi and working on my various computer projects. Pic is from the Molly walk.

Day 17: Spent the morning working on the computer, and the afternoon with Chris :D :D :D

...working on the computer. Oh well~

Still have to find time to go to Holyoke...mebbe Friday?

HUGS AND KISSES,
-Jenkins

Day 10, 11, and 12

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:28:56 GMT

HAY GUISE 3 WHOLE PICTURES THIS TIME :D

Pic 10: the day I totally forgot to take a picture, so I busted out Photo Booth at around 11 PM and got a photo of Chris on the phone :3

Pic 11: the day that I had to work at 8 AM...but shovel the driveway first. Check out that sweet, sweet shoveled goodness.

aaand pic 12: today. Which one of these is not like the other?

Today was also the day that Big Y began the process of collapsing. Five people (storewide, not in Produce) were fired on the spot, Produce was merged with Floral, Meat merged with Seafood, and Deli with Food Service. Our hours have been cut again, and we all need to be trained to run a cash register, and in Floral, Bakery, Meat, Seafood, Deli, Food Service, AND Dairy/Frozen Food (ok, I don't need the last one). Thing is, Big Y refuses to pay for training hours anymore, so all of our training will come right out of Produce's hours, something which Gina can't say without making veins pop out.

However, Gina did take the opportunity to rant about how this would all be so much worse if we had unions, because she wouldn't be able to fire people with impunity.

On a kinda related note, I seem to be eating way less food as of late, particularly in the category of candy. I only had a bagel on break today, and got some cheese sticks & mentos for the ride home. For someone of my build, eating less food is a dubious accomplishment at best, but we'll see where this goes. For some reason, I'm really afraid of eating too much sodium. Not sure why.

Hugs and kisses all,
-Jenkins

PS- BONUS PIC :D

This one's for Chris <3

arglebargle

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:20:00 GMT

It turns out (kinda as expected) that posting pictures every day is pretty tough. That said, I am still TAKING pictures every day, but having a tough time with

a) making the pictures good
b) finding time to update

Besides, this has been a very work-y weekend. I'm working tomorrow as well, but after that, the week is all clear. Hopefully I can post my short backlog of pictures then. Right now I'm mad tired...how long before I fall asleep at the computer, I wonder?

hugs and kisses,
-Jenkins

8 days until Washington! WOOOOOOO :D

Day 9

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 04:58:07 GMT

OK, boasting time: I cooked PANCAKES today! They were a present for Chris. Unfortunately, we were out of milk, and I was wicked dumb at mixing dry milk, so I had to go buy more. Also, I was really bad at flipping the pancakes. But hot damn--they tasted AWESOME.

After Chris left, I took Molly on a super-walk, and explored the new development behind Saporito's (see: photo). It was cold, and windy, and I slipped and landed on my finger (ow) on the way back, but it was still a sweet walk.

Played some more of Lufia and the Fortress of Doom today--finally got off the first continent, and beat a couple of bosses. No photo, but if I keep playing I'll post pics.

Also, I tweaked Google Earth's driving tour prefs until I had created, essentially, a TRAIN SIM :D
Now I can pick a line and send the camera rolling along above it, creating a (rather primitive) train effect. Not the best...but I'm proud :3

Day 7 and Day 8

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:39:03 GMT

Man, it's really kinda hard to keep on top of this...which makes me a little apprehensive about updating during the school year.

So yesterday, before I went to shovel the driveway, I drank the last pack of cocoa. Feeling kinda bad about this, I decided to go down to CVS after I was done, and asked if people wanted to come along. Of course, everyone did, and for some reason I got wicked cranky about the whole thing, and was in a bad mood for a while. Anyhoo, we got down to CVS only to find that the only thing they WEREN'T carrying was cocoa, so I bought a bunch of soup and ramen instead for the spring semester, and the others got noodle lunches. On our way out, I decided to check TownMart to see if they had any, and so the others went ahead. I bought the last two packs of cocoa in the shop, and then went home. Oh, and I forgot to mention: this entire debacle took place during an incredibly wet day of slush and freezing rain.

I went to see Footloose that evening in Symphony Hall with Chris and her parents (see: my pic of the day), which was awesome. The building, that is. The play was ok, but chock full of stereotypes which kinda ruined the story: the hip kid, the hick kid, the fanatic preacher, the preacher's daughter who hangs out with bad boys but has a heart of gold, and of course, the unfair teacher. I kinda want to see the movie version...it features (as did the play) "Holding Out for a Hero."

Today was much better--went in to see my advisor and begin the tricky process of changing majors. I went down to the Office of Student Affairs for the NRE, but there was only one person in, and she told me that I had to contact somebody else to get my paperwork approved. On the plus side, I got the necessary contact information, and should be able to schedule an advising appointment. Furthermore, I FINALLY found the major that I've been inadvertently wanting: Environmental Design. The name threw me off at first, until I read the course description. There are several courses on city design and planning, and a concentration in urban studies. Sounds about right, Y/Y?

I saw Chris afterwards, and we talked about rats :D

Pics of the day, then?

Pic 7: Interior of Symphony Hall. Of course, flash photography was banned, so I couldn't get any really nice shots. I only took photos of obscure corners where I thought something looked cool, and I could get away with it. BTW: the building was a FREAKING MAZE, and I got lost in there about 3 times...during the intermission :P

Pic 8: Snowy campus. Of COURSE the NRE is at the opposite end of campus from Engineering. And it was snowing >:(

Day 6

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:00:51 GMT

Holy cow, apparently it's going to be an apocalypse tomorrow. Big Y was completely SWAMPED today, and we sold out of most of our stuff at 3 in the afternoon. The upshot of this is that I spent 6 hours being shouted at for not having enough vegetables to feed an army. Times like this always make me wonder: why do people, when faced with the prospect of their refrigerators failing, stock up on incredibly perishable goods?

...I suppose their can openers are electric too. Silly America.

Photo for the day is the desolate cooler:

...I think that, until I get a few more days off work, I should suspend my other features. They were afterthoughts at worst, and novelties at best. I'll put them in when I feel like it.

Hugs and kisses,
-Jenkins

wait shoot

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:21:05 GMT

crap crap crap

I realized, just now, that there were actually some pictures on my camera which I should have put up instead, for yesterday's picture. I'm dumb :(

So...here they are!

Day 3

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 05:00:51 GMT

Another day = another day spent at work :P
At least today I was entertained by Will using as many Eric Clapton song titles in his speech as he could work out, and also by him yelling about Gina for an hour when he got a remote scolding from her, via Bill.

After work today I went to visit Chris. Her uncle was up with his new baby :D
Unfortunately every time I held him I got nervous, and he would start crying. This was compounded by the fact that Chris's uncle is kinda intimidating, and I didn't want to make him angry. The baby (called Nicolas, by the way) had a great grip and would clutch onto my finger as hard as he could whenever I stuck it out.

No pictures of the baby, unfortunately :(

Picture of the day is from work:

Every time I see it I think "Duckroll."

Thanks to work, I have no Vidya, 4chon, or Fark to post. But I DO finally have Google Earth pics!
My project for the day was to plot the locations of the Gyms in Pokemon onto their actual locations in Japan. This is pretty straightforward, since each town or city in Pokemon corresponds to an actual town or city in Japan.

First is the Hakone League, equivalent to the Indigo League, with two sets of gyms. It was the hardest to plot, since the regions it featured in Pokemon (Kanto and Johto) were only loosely mapped to their corresponding places in Japan (Kanto and Kansai). Bit tough, but here it is:

Next up is the Okinawa League, equivalent to the Evergrande League. The setting is Kyushu, which was for some reason flipped 90 degrees when it was put into the Pokemon world, where it is referred to as Hoenn:

Last one is the Kunashiri League, equivalent to the Sinnoh League. The setting is Hokkaido (Sinnoh in the Pokemon world), but the situation is made a bit complicated by the fact that the game designers decided to include Japan's old territories in Russia--specifically southern Sakhalin Island and Kunashiri Island--in the region. A bit nationalistic, but oh well. The result is that the actual Pokemon League here is actually on a barely inhabited Russian Island. The rest of the cities, at least, are very familiar to me :D

Here it is:

The whole project took about 20 minutes :P

The second day

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:41:41 GMT

Work today was really incredibly stressful. Caught me right off guard...the past few days have been pretty easy, mainly due to weather and post-Christmas shopping fatigue, but today was nuts. It wasn't even that there was tons of work to do, just that there were so many interruptions. Couldn't think straight because the phone kept ringing, and people kept leaving utterly random garbage all over the food.

Picture of the day is from my ride in this morning:

Totoro has always been there, but the thorns were put there recently. I thought it looked kinda nice...although, heads up: the next few days worth of photos may just be pictures from work :P

I didn't really get much time to play games today--which might be a good thing, once the semester starts again. But I DID play Lemmings 2 last night after midnight. So that can count. Space levels are WICKED HARD:

Google Earth: again, no real chance today. Work does have a way of keeping me on my toes.

4chan:

and Fark--the submitters are, alas, usually this dumb, forcing me to take pleasure in the comments/article: "America: Whew--Gas prices are finally going down. Congress: Great--Now we can raise gas taxes on you."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28467330/
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=4118669

2009 is here

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:14:54 GMT

Apparently 365 photos is the thing to do this year...and I must say I'm very curious about it. The fact that I've been really, really, bad at updating regularly makes me think I should come up with something to get me posting regularly. So here's my plan: Every day, I'll post...

1) A photo I took, ideally from that day
2) An update for where I am in a video game, whichever one I play that day
3) A picture and description of what I did on Google Earth that day
4) A good picture from 4chan from that day
5) A story on Fark from that day

This doesn't mean that I won't make any regular posts or anything...it just means that I'll always be posting SOMETHING on any given day, it just might not be about what I did.

Not really sure how long this will last, but I can always modify the list, and since I never really RESOLVED to do any of these, I can always drop it...

So anyway: here is today.

Picture:

I thought this was adorable :D

Vidya: Super Mario World--I beat Vanilla Dome 2, and made it to the Ghost House.

Google Earth: Didn't actually use Google Earth today...first time in ages. Crazy.

4chan:

aaaaand Fark: "Iraqis take control of Baghdad Green Zone on Thursday, plan to have it renamed Red Zone by Friday."

Story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/01/iraq.green.zone/index.html
Comments: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=4116722

HAY BIG NEWS GUISE

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:26:59 GMT

I've been trying to find a good way to break this long gap in my LJ (31 days?!?), and I figured this would do:

100% SCORE ON MY ENGINEERING PROJECT

Now of course, our group still has to do a presentation on Tuesday, and to do that we need to meet up tomorrow and get a Power Point ready. Not too hard, especially since it's only 3 or 4 slides, but I don't want to screw up now.

I should check how much weight the project carries on the syllabus, because this is AWESOME. Just one exam left, and that's it for the course.

The Mystery Bus

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:13:11 GMT

Two new bus stops are under construction on the newly rebuilt Thatcher Street. As you might expect, this makes me think that there will soon be bus service across the back of campus, relieving congestion on North Pleasant Street. But this also raises another problem: who will use it?

The new bus line appears to have stops at Worcester and Franklin DCs, connecting the two with (I hope) a yet-to-be-built intermediate stop at UHS, Morrill, or the new Integrated Science Building. It runs directly parallel to the lines on North Pleasant, but serves fewer buildings and would be really awkward for through service to the center of town. It runs closer to Central, and might provide better service to North as well, but not much better, since it doesn't go to the main campus.

Perhaps, then, as I have hoped, it means that the university is going to build up Thatcher Street as a new artery for the campus, with new dorms, new academic buildings, and a bus line. It makes sense--there is plenty of space currently used for parking, and development along the street would help to integrate remote housing areas like OHill into the main campus.

This should be good, when finished. We'll see. Maybe I can get in touch with "New Dirt" and ask them...

rainy day = rambling post

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:27:30 GMT

This rain is ridiculous. Because of the way the tiles on the roofs are bent, it looks like the rain is stripping them off. I wouldn't be surprised if they did, either.

In my lab today, I missed a great photo of the campus since I didn't have my camera with me. Upon getting into the lab room, I immediately noticed that water was dripping from the ceiling. AWESOME.

Also, I have a meeting with my project group in about 5 minutes. How many of them won't show up due to rain? My money is on "all of the above."

Anyhoo. I gotta run. Future updates will hopefully only happen when I have something to update about...

PS- <1 week to the election!

grim and dark

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:30:39 GMT

It's so dark out right now. I went to bed early last night, and I swear to God I would have woken up sooner if it weren't so incredibly gray and rainy outside. It's 8:30 now and it still looks awful. Ugh. And I'm really, really tired because the light is playing tricks with my head. I just want to go back to sleep. Too bad class is in an hour.

stupid project

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:14:38 GMT

I just realized today that the floor plan I prepared for our engineering project is worthless because it's too awesome. We don't really have the know-how to figure out the extra-complicated frame that would go with my building, so we'll have to replace it with a more simple rectangle. I'll see if I can whip up a fresh batch of awesome for the new plan...we need a rectangle, but not a boring rectangle.

Unfortunately for me, my group, while well-meaning, aren't really thinking too hard about the project, and are leaving ~~most~~ all of the decisions to me. The stress is ridiculous, and the only thing for it is to keep meeting every two or three days and get more work done. We muddled through our rough draft...barely...but we can't afford to be this disorganized for the final draft in December. We need to work constantly. Wait, let me fix that: I need to work constantly. Hopefully they'll get better as they go.

PS- here is how my group breaks down:

1 freshman who's new to everything and not very enthusiastic
1 sophomore (me) who failed the course once and is desperately trying (and succeeding so far) to do better
1 sophomore who just changed from a liberal arts major to a CEE major and is totally lost
1 junior who failed the course once and is trying to do better, but has been caught off-guard by the harder work

go me :(

photos are in

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:37:25 GMT

I inherited LMD's old camera when she got a new one, and just in time: I needed it just last week for an engineering project.

Not a lot of photos this time, but I'll post more as I take more.

The Northeast Quad from my window.

The room (and roomie!).

Home sweet home :P

9:30 TuTh: Engineering 111 D:

Everyone knows this building :D

I have to design a building on this field. Too bad I can't explore it >:(

john mccain is the funniest man alive

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:17:37 GMT

Check out this campaign ad:

It's only 30 seconds, and if you are not laughing by the end of it, I will apologize for wasting you time and send you flowers and chocolates to make up for it :D