Pong

March 21, 2010 Multipurpose ping pong table

My classmates were playing beer pong tonight. We're still partying. Well, they are. I need to do my reading. The lounge has been converted into a dance floor. My professor is playing pool. Haha. School.

Bench II

March 31, 2010

It's March 31st! Tomorrow is funny picture day.

My sister's lab bench seems to be finished. There's a cm scale, cardboard arrows, and a triangle glued to the flashlight. You can see the image of that triangle. Both the lens and cardboard supports move along the track. So they're going to measure distances and derive the inverse whatever ratio that you learned about in PHYS 116.

Laboratory

March 30, 2010 Molecular lab on the third floor

Here is the fun lab where we did RNA extractions, reverse transcription assays, PCR, and gels. Today, we were playing around with phosphate and the absorbance spectrum.

Our current lab is on tidepools. We've been playing with tidepools since yesterday morning. As the tide level changes, we have been going out to sample the water for salinity, pH, oxygen, temperature, and phosphate levels. I'm not really sure why. Actually, I'm not really sure what has been going on since yesterday...

Finns

March 30, 2010 | HUB

The Helsinki Men's Choir performed at UW today. I went, and so did Chris, Aryn, and several other members of University Chorale.

There's a bit of history here. Over Spring break, University Chorale went on a tour to the Baltics, visiting Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, where they sang for the president.

In Finland, the choir got a chance to meet the Finnish choir. It happened that they were also going on a tour to the USA. So, UChorale sang for them, and now they sang for us.

Spray

March 29, 2010 Along the ridge

If I had known how to get to the tide pools, I would have taken you here. It's fun. I liked this spot especially because as the water splashed in, the spray would form a rainbow. Pretty. I also went to the tides at night (just now). It's high tide, and it's more windy right now. It's kind of scary and cool seeing the waves at night, especially with tonight's force.

Matchbox

March 29, 2010

Here's your rock. It's small and easy to confuse with other rocks, so I put it in a box and labeled it.

What do you think?

Airport II

March 28, 2010 Beyond the Patio of Airport in the Sky

My hike began at Airport in the Sky. The day was quite warm. I bought a cool field guide to wildflowers that is somewhat color coded. The hike took a few hours. It was about 5 miles by trail (6 by road). Most of it was downhill which was actually a little tiring. I almost died a few times by slipping on rocks. We meant to spend a little time at Little Harbor once we got there, but we didn't have any more time. After this hike, I'm not sure if I'll be doing any more...It was supposedly the easiest one. And while it was short than ours together and definitely less painful, I think I'm too lazy to go on a longer hike.

Labyrinth

March 28, 2010

We have a guest over this weekend. He's an old family friend. Here, my family is playing Labyrinth, teaching the rules. I was in my room fixing up the assassins web site. I think. No, I was looking at Budapest videos.

Trails

March 27, 2010 The somewhat pointless but still neat kind of neat trail

Something in this picture is not quite right. Something in this picture doesn't quite belong. Well, I guess that something could belong, but the intention of the trail was for anthropogenic uses.

Today, I went kayaking. I don't have pictures for evidence because I don't have a waterproof camera, but it did happen. I saw all those sea lions again and harbor seals elsewhere.

Magnets

March 27, 2010

While I was away, my parents bought a bag of strong ball magnets. There's a lot you can do with these. For example, you can peel off a string of magnets and roll it up into a cylinder, or a cone. Or make a pattern. But there's more going on than what you can see. Magnets have a North and South pole, and when they arrange into a string, opposite poles align. If you join two strings parallel, the attraction between then will not be as strong... There's a lot one can think up here. Kind of like ochem.

Beach

March 26, 2010 Shark Harbor

I went to Shark Harbor today with some staff people to collect my mussels. It was pretty exciting. Ripping mussels from their habitat is fun. Hehe.

Oranges

March 26, 2010 | Scripps College

I like oranges! But students in Scripps have too many. Too many orange trees with oranges on them. Wouldn't you like all those oranges?

Infuser

March 25, 2010 Tea infuser

Here is my infuser holding green tea leaves! It is a clever contraption. The only probably is that it is already starting to get dirty, and it needs to be washed with dish soap. And now, it is a little dented...:( I'm very excited about having a tea ball now though. Tea party!

Pre-mock

March 24, 2010 | Two-story lounge of Case Dorm, HMC

Harvey Mudd has a somewhat complicated process for choosing dorms for entering sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I'll try to describe in some detail.

Students generally pick ("pool") individual rooms and have the option of pooling roommates. Pool order is based first on groups (seniors / people with medical problems, juniors, sophomores) and then on a random predetermined order. The student with the lowest draw number gets to pool other students (with higher numbers) into that room with two exceptions:

• A student pooling a single may pool another student into a neighboring single
• Two students pooling into a double (based on the 2nd highest draw number) may pool two students into a neighboring double in the four main residence halls (but not in Case)

That happens during the draw. But the night before the draw is a mock draw, required for all students, in which the same thing happens. The intent is to give students an idea of what is going to happen.

Perhaps one night is too short of a time to resolve room pooling arguments, so dorms host a pre-mock draw a few days before. Before the pre-mock draw, there was a meeting for freshmen: a pre-pre-mock draw meeting.

The freshmen weren't very lucky. Four people trying to pool into a quad didn't make it. It was somewhat sad. But then we went to a donut social, and after that to a night cafe, and the mood lifted somewhat.

EDIT: I figured it out. After the pre-mock, the boards like that one stand in the cafeteria, and people may overwrite other people if they want. So, the pre-mock sets the initial position of the board, and is followed by unavoidable changes.

Hearts

March 24, 2010 Monitoring mussels under stress

So, today in lab, we stressed out some mussels by depriving them of oxygen and by changing the salinity of the water. Yeah...biologists are a little sadistic...all in the name of science! And while they were being stressed, we were monitoring their hearts with super-glued infrared sensor things. We'll get the results sometime soon, so that we can write another long lab report. *sigh*

Physics

March 24, 2010 | Somewhere in Harvey Mudd

I sat in basic chem and basic physics today. They were very basic (no pun intended), but the chem professor and physics TA were really cool. In physics, we worked on problems on the blackboards. Some people decided to work outside.

I should start a tradition of doing homework outside on sidewalks. Unfortunately I don't live on campus.

By the way: I posted Catalina pictures from March 17 - 23. They are linked to from those days' posts. Catalina was a lot of fun. I hope you like the pictures.

Prints

March 23, 2010 Arts and crafts with the fourth graders

I was watching the kids make these thingys today. They did a pretty good job. I made one, too, but it wasn't nearly as good.

Grass

March 23, 2010 | Ridge behind the houses

I might have more interesting pictures to share, like the pictures from the boat. But I think it would be better to write about one of the last things that we did together. I like Catalina, it's vegetation, sunny weather (it's a good thing the weather was sunny last week). And this ridge that we've explored once and went up on twice more. It's a good place to hang out when there's a little time left over. On one side is a bench with ocean views. On the other: a green grass field with a view of the bay, cacti nearby, and a comfortable surface on which to sit share the moment.

So we went here just before your afternoon class. And then we had class, and then I saw you again on the dock. And then I boarded the boat, and it pulled away, away from the island that you shared with me in those 6 days... toward the mainland.

More pictures: Catalina - March 23

Sleeping

March 22, 2010 Pull-out couch

Here is where we slept. It is surprisingly comfortable. I have to go back to sleeping on a single now. :(

Today I had class. And in the afternoon, we went kayaking and saw lots of sea lions. I almost died from fear of being turned over.

Students

March 22, 2010 | View from WMSC cafeteria

Those are the houses that USC students stay in. Jessica's house (where my couch is) is the right half.

Anyway, we just got our breakfast (I got freshly-made pancakes) when I spotted groups of students heading up the path. They are the other students, and they arrived on the morning boat. We went out to wave to them. These girls saw Jessica and waved back. Then they saw me and got really excited.

More Pictures: Catalina - March 22

Ridge

March 21, 2010 The hill from the ridge

You can see the hill from the ridge. We climbed that together! Which for me is always a feat and for you, the climb was probably like a walk at a flat elevation.

Harbors

March 20, 2010 | Harbor Reef Restaurant in Two Harbors

Yesterday, Jessica and I decided to go to Two Harbors for dinner. There's only one restaurant in Two Harbors, so where to go was easy. The hard part was figuring out what to order. We ended up splitting a salad and a plate of ravioli. The food was very good.

We took a harbor boat back. It was fun. It's a harbor patrol boat — convenient since it goes back and forth along the harbor anyway, and it's very small.

More pictures: Catalina - March 21

Fog

March 20, 2010 Two Harbors and a creepy fog

Today was the first day of spring! It didn't really look like it though because it was pretty foggy yesterday. We're still having a hard time finding foxes and bison. :/ I liked dinner at Two Harbors. It was yummy. And the boat ride back to Wrigley in the dark was fun.

Library

March 20, 2010 | WMCS Library

Studying / working in the library is more fun when the library is just one room on the second floor of the laboratory complex, as is the case here. There's a few shelves of books, a few drawers of shells, a table, and a four computers. We spent a few hours here today.

More pictures: Catalina - March 20

Cliffs

March 19, 2010 Warnings

If you go beyond the cliff, you will fall backwards like the blob in the triangle. Looks fun. We should go cave exploring, except I'm really tired and sore because you made me walk a lot yesterday.

Upward

March 19, 2010 | 33.442 N, 118.479 W

Today we went on a mini-hike (about 2 miles) after breakfast, and a bigger one (about 6 miles) after lunch. This is near the beginning of the big hike, when we were happy after just climbing the hill behind WMSC.

After this hill, we climbed another ridge and went along it, making our way through cactus plants and bushes, along bison tracks and past a scary spasmic lizard tail. Unfortunately we didn't see any bison on our hike.

More pictures: Catalina - March 19

Bench

March 18, 2010 Secret Bench

This is our bench. It hides well in the bushes. I almost couldn't find it...I think it has an okay view. The vines are pretty, except they get all over the bench.

Helicopter

March 18, 2010 | USC Wrigley Institute Helipad

Catalina is a quiet island. Here at the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, there are very few people and very few cars. It's a fun place. When the helicopter landed today (something that rarely happens here), we came to watch.

More pictures: Catalina - March 18

Changes

March 17, 2010 Luck of the...Asians...

It's Saint Patrick's Day! And without intending to, I've worn green all day (lime green Hello Kitty pajama bottoms for the wiiiinnn). I am no longer at home, but I wanted to document some of the changes around the house for my brother who is abroad and for myself. It's a bit cleaner. A lot cleaner. And brighter in the dining room and living room. The curtains are different. And the house has gotten exponentially Asian-er.

However, because matter is conserved and can be neither created nor destroyed, other parts of the house are much more stuffed. Example, I came home on Friday to find the coffee table and a bookshelf in my room.

Lamppost

March 17, 2010 | Southwest corner of Suzzallo Library

Today I finished with Spring quarter finals and left with Jessica for California. We'll spend a few days on Catalina island where she is staying this semester, and then I'll spend a few more days visiting friends on the mainland.

UW cherries are blooming, and today was my first day to try out my new lens. So, after my finals were over, I took a few pictures.

More pictures: Catalina - March 17

Choir

March 16, 2010 Third Place Commons

I came to Third Place with my friend to have cake this morning. Coincidentally, a group of children were here. They serenaded us for about thirty minutes. This is the group as it was gathering. There were a lot of children.

The little girl hanging out with the pawns is adorable.

Package

March 16, 2010

Here is what arrived at my door on Monday. A new lens, smaller than my present one,and it takes very nice pictures. It's good for indoors and for flowers.

I'm excited to try it out on Catalina. As well as for Catalina itself, of course!

Egg

March 15, 2010 Steamed egg

This is what happens when you take an egg and mix it with things and steam it. Eggs are also good poached with noodles, over-easy with salt or soy sauce, as an omelette with yummies, scrambled with ketchup, neatly scrambled with tomatoes, soft-boiled, hard-boiled in soy sauce and tea leaves...I think I'm running out of ideas. Eggs are yummy. Mel thinks so, too.

Elephant

March 15, 2010 | TS Classroom, RC

Lots of exciting things happened today (for example, finals), but I wanted to show you this elephant. It belongs to one of the students who played hearts with us in the two-hour break between my LING 461 final and my CSE 322 final. We were playing in the TS classroom (room across from the lounge) because TSers have a free day on the Monday of finals.

P.S. I was being sarcastic. But yes, exciting things did happen today.

Quad

March 14, 2010 Pi Day at the Quad

The Quad is very pretty, and the trees go well with the buildings. And the people go well with the Quad. I especially like watching people play in the field. And the children chasing bubbles, even if those bubbles aren't theirs.

Q-pies

March 14, 2010 | Northeast side of Quad

Happy π-day!

Today was π-day, so we went to a pie bakery for lunch. Unfortunately, they were out of pies, and we got these quiches instead. Technically, a quiche is a pie (hence, "q-pie").

Pi Day at UW

After pie, we went to Suzzallo to study.

Slant

March 13, 2010 In bloom

We have two apricot trees. They are slanted. And blooming! Our cherry trees are a little on the slow side and are just beginning to bud. They have beautiful blossoms. It is unfortunate that I will be missing them. I'm excited to be back during the spring though. Last year, I didn't come home for spring break and stayed in LA instead. I don't know if you know this, but even on my commute from USC to Children's Hospital LA, LA is essentially a park of buildings and palm trees and cars (I might be exaggerating).

Bricks

March 13, 2010

My sister started making her optics bench for science fair. It uses LEGO Duplo and another compatible set of bricks that we had long before this Duplo set, which also existed for a long time. There's going to be a big lens attached, and a screen.

Departures

March 12, 2010 LAX Sunset

I was so excited about making stand-by for the 4PM flight and quite disappointed that it was delayed by nearly 2 hours. I also saw two people, separate parties, who missed their flights to SF because they were told that the flight was delayed by 2 hours instead of 1. I felt so sorry for them! And the way Virgin announces boarding is very confusing, I think. At least for Alaska, they flash on the screen who is boarding and probably also whether a plane is left. Virgin is so hip, as you will see soon. It's very interesting and colorful.

Mingling

March 12, 2010 | Meany Hall

This is what happens after the concerts. I know two people in choir: Chris, whom you've met and heard much about, and Aryn, who's an Acad. After the concert they come out of here and we meet them.

Funny thing is, Chris and I both have our math projects to finish. But regardless, tonight's concert was great.

Boat

March 12, 2010 Party boat

Today was a gorgeous day out. After lab, some of us headed over to Two Harbors in a skiff/small boat. This boat was out there. So big and pretty and fancy.

Math

March 11, 2010

I'm still working on my math paper. So I went to the math library today and checked out some books. The bottom one I own. The top two I checked out. And they're all thin and concise. (Most graduate-level math books are, on the other hand, fat and concise.)

I think the top one is cute. Yeah?