gingerbread

Who loves gingerbread cookies? I do. So Mart and I baked and decorated about 4 dozen. The absolute best cookie, however, was our Trogdor cookie. For those of you who don't know who Trogdor is, well, he's a dragon, made by drawing and "S" and then a more different "S". Travis began making the Trogdor. I helped with the frosting and made the wings (because he's a wing-a-ding creature). It was a group effort and came out beautifully. We even baked lines of majesty, since every great dragon needs lines of majesty. For more pictures of our fantastic cookie-making experience, please follow the links to my photo albums. Otherwise, I leave you with one final photo of our chorus line: a line-up of our finest cookies (or most ridiculous).

secret santa's are awesome

Here we go. We have this one masters student in my class. Even though he's just a masters student (and couldn't hack it as a Ph.D. student ... jk), he's quite fun, and organized a Secret Santa for our class. Last night we passed out the presents and let me tell you, it was brilliant. Why brilliant? Here is the story:

So there are these two kids in my class, Yoosik and Sheng, let's call them. Yoosik is from Korea and is really smart. Sheng is originally from China but when to high school here and she is also very smart. Now, upon beginning our year at Princeton, everyone pretty quickly found their usual study groups: Dave and Baley, me and Bob, Linda and Samantha, Tom and anyone who has time, Yoosik and Sheng. Now, not only do they homework together, but they eat dinner and lunch and breakfast together, and are always seen walking to and fro together. So Dave (the masters student) pulled Yoosik's name out of the Santa hat.

In steps Baley with a genius idea: give him a poster of Sheng. How were they to do this? Well, naturally the person they come to is me, the one with the resources. What resources do I have? Well, Dave knew I had a sick camera (Nikon D50 ... quite awesome). Dave's plan was to lure Sheng to the E-Quad and have me standing by taking photographs of random stuff. Then I was to approach them and ask if I could take a photo, at which point he would suddenly have to run off and I'd photograph just Sheng. Too obvious, right? I told him I had a better plan. The better plan involved the fact that I have a 200m zoom telephoto lens. Dave was confused. What did that mean? Well, that simply meant that Sheng never had to see me taking the photographs. I totally should be a spy. So we arranged for Dave to meet up with Sheng outside the E-Quad at 11:00 AM on a Thursday.

I arrived at the E-Quad with a few minutes to spare and ran into Dave. He was about to call Sheng to get her to meet him. Where was I going to be, he asked. I pointed to a 2nd story window in the building. Dave just started laughing. This was going to be awesome. I took my gear up to the 2nd floor and got into position. Perfect. I could see him beautifully through the window. Zoom lenses are awesome. He called Sheng and she arrived. I started snapping photos like I was in the KGB and was witnessing a meeting between two CIA operatives. It was quite comical to notice the looks I was getting from people passing me in the hallway. There was one kink in the execution of the plan. Shortly after Dave and Sheng started talking, an older professor walked in front of her and set his bag down. He then took out a cell phone and started a very long conversation. Enemy operative! Ruining my shots! I couldn't get a clear one. I immediately called Dave who answered "Hi Mom!" I told him the situation, that they needed to move so I could get a clear shot. He did. It worked. I snapped a total of 50 pictures and she was none the wiser.

After perusing the shots (and seeing that I had a number of good ones), I thought my job was done. Until Bob suggested we make a photo mosaic. Uh oh. Such a good idea. Could we do it? I looked into how to make one, found a program, and banged it out in such high quality it took my computer 3 hours to chug through and make it. But it came out beautifully. Dave brought the file to Staples to have it printed as large as the quality would allow it. Want to know how large it got?? Try 2.5 feet by 4 feet. Oh, it was poster sized.

I just have to say this:

Nikon D50 camera: $600

200m zoom lens: $200

Poster printed at Staples: $20

Look on Sheng and Yoosik's faces: priceless

and the vacation marches on

So much to relate. So much going on. So many good things. Where to begin? Alright, I'll start with this year's Thanksgiving celebrations, which were phenomenal (except the fact that my mom had to work ... so sad). So my Thanksgiving break started around 10:30 AM on Tuesday. Why, may you ask? Because the Chemical Engineering department here at Princeton seriously likes to slow things down after fall break (as I described in an earlier post). My thermo professor had to cancel classes all week last week (so Monday and Tuesday) because he had a family emergency and had to fly home to Greece (everything is ok now, though, so that's good). On top of that, my reactions professor decided that having class on Wednesday before Thanksgiving from 1:30 - 3:00 PM (my only class of the day) was a bad idea, so he cancelled that class a well. That left me done with classes for the week after math on Tuesday morning. However, I did not leave for home festivities until Wednesday evening. Here is how the chapters developed:

Chapter 1: Visiting Luc's friend in Manhattan

For those of you who don't know, Luc is a plasma physicist here at Princeton (also a first year) and is from Colorado, so he had no where to go for Thanksgiving, since home was too far away. I, being the nice person I am, invited him to join me in my Thanksgiving festivities, which he happily accepted. Before entering New England, however, we decided to stop in Manhattan, where a friend of his from Vassar (Malissa) lives. She lives in a super swank apartment in Morningside Heights (near Columbia). It was cool. We had dinner at this french restaurant around the block (and I had the best steak ... ever) then proceeded to check out some holiday sights in the city. Quite fun.

Chapter 2: Thanksgiving in Connecticut

Why Connecticut you may ask? Because my cousin Ben and his new wife Shawna wanted to host our family celebration this year ... and unfortunately they bought a house in Connecticut, although I suppose it is a bit better than Georgia (where they used to live). Anyway, for some reason monsoon season decided to visit us that day and the drive up from NYC, while not traffic-y, was very very rainy. I thought the car would flood. I thought I would be swept out into the Long Island Sound. I feared for my life. Despite that, we did make it, and quite on time too. My planning skills never cease to amaze me. Luc got a crash course in my family dynamics, as EVERYONE was there. Here was the guest list:

• Ben and Shawna (cousin and cousin-in-law)
• Poppa (grandfather)
• Brad and Jayne (uncle and aunt)
• Allan (favorite cousin ... oh, did I say that?)
• Andrew (cousin)
• Abby (cousin)
• John (dad)
• Martha (sister)
• Myself and Luc (um ... myself plus a guest)
• Anne (Aunt Jayne's mom ... so not related to me ... technically)
• Bobby (Aunt Jayne's brother ... also not related to me)
• Suzanne (Shawna's mother ... also not related)
• Greg (Shawna's brother ... flew in from some Midwest state or something)

So that's what, 16 people? It was intense. I am surprised Luc survived. Although, according to Abby, he's welcome at all family functions, even though Aunt Jayne uninvited him (meaning he was originally invited?) to Christmas because he was beating her at the card game. What else happened at Thanksgiving ... no punches were thrown during the card game, thankfully; dad and Uncle Brad passed out on the couch after a few glasses of scotch and turkey dinner (quite comical). The only other thing of note that happened was on the drive home in the monsoon (through eastern Connecticut/western RI). I almost rear-ended my dad. Oh yeah. I had to swerve out of the way. I was not going to stop in time. Thankfully nothing happened.

Chapter 3: Black Friday
So we didn't actually do any shopping of the sort. Instead, I took Luc on a tour of RI ... took only 3 hours (ha). No, we met up with a Mr. Brian Dowdell down in Narragansett at Crazy Burger for lunch (Mart came too). It was quite lovely. I miss Brian. He's a good chum. After that, we went out to hazard rock, this cool rock thing in Narragansett (on the ocean, of course). We clambered about and Martha was quite good in clogs. Hats off to her for being a sport. Then we had to drive by some sod farms, because Luc thought it was fascinating that we grow grass for commercial purposes in RI. Luc was so enamored he came up with a 3o minute story on the spot about the first sod farmer, Earl. His story telling skills are quite amazing.

After we made it back to Pawtucket (stopping briefly to show him Slater Mill ... as it is quite famous, right?) we chilled at home for a bit before .... SEEING CASINO ROYALE! Oh yeah. So good. Such a production too, getting to the theater. Originally, it was going to be myself, Martha, Sue an Steve going to the movies (since filming our James Bond movie with Sue and Steve in 1999, we have seen all Bond movies together). Then, I invited Luc along, since he obviously wouldn't have anything else to do while we went to the movies. Then, at Thanksgiving, Allan, Andrew and Abby found out we were going, so they wanted to go too. Brian also found out and wanted to go and he spread the word so as of Friday morning, there were 8 of us from northern RI coming and 8+ from southern RI. I suggested pre-buying tickets. I took care of the northern troops, while Brian was to take care of the southern troops. Upon arrival at the theater, as I was swiping my credit card to get our tickets, I received a call from Brian: "Hey Meg, I'm, um, the only one coming from down here, can you just get me a ticket?" No problem, or so I thought. The show was sold out by this time. Sorry Brian. I told you to pre-buy tickets. Can't say I didn't warn you. Ah well. We got there rather late ourselves. Even so, we did find 8 seats in a row ... in the front row. Oh yeah. But you know what, it was worth it. The movie was awesome. I recommend it to everyone.

Chapter 4: Back to Jersey
There is something to be said for having company on the ride back to New Jersey. Makes it much more interesting. We did do one spontaneous thing on the way home. We pulled off the highway and went to Friendly's for ice cream. Why Friendly's? Well, even though Luc has spent most of his life in Colorado, he was actually born in Boston and lived there for a few years. Now, his first name is really Jayson (Lucius is his middle name) and allegedly, his mom didn't know if she could spell his name that way, until she saw it on the name tag of a waiter at Friendly's. So as we passed a sign on the highway that mentioned the restaurant at the next exit, Luc commented on how he's never been to a Friendly's, even though that's how he got his name-spelling confirmed, so I got off the exit. Got two sundaes. They were good. Made the rest of the trip through Connecticut actually enjoyable.

So that was the Thanksgiving weekend. Now, my week just got better and better. I was a little sad going into this week, since it was going to be the first full week I'd had in a number of weeks. Wasn't I surprised when I walked into thermo to discover the professor was still in Greece and so there would be no class on Tuesday. Then, as I was ready to listen to another lecture in my reactions class, the professor said it was our last lecture (we have been having class 3 days a week instead of 2, so we finished all the material). Last lecture! That means I have no class on Wednesdays or Fridays for the rest of the semester (about 3 more weeks). So want to know what I did today? I got out of bed at 1:30 PM. It was glorious. I love my life. Couldn't be happier.

Oh, I should also mention that Naruto fillers are done as of February 2007. Things just get better and better.

im soccer champions

oh yeah. read the title. it's all there.

mission accomplished

In the words of Bob: "When did grad school become a vacation?"

Seriously though, it has. Between fall break and 80% of the department being in San Francisco for the National ChE Conference, our course work load has plummeted. It's great. I spend my days watching Naruto and playing intramural soccer (which we are in the finals ... maybe will get a t-shirt). Life sure is good. Let's hope it stays this way. I mean, this week consisted of only 2 days of classes due to the Thanksgiving holiday. And after that, not many more weeks before winter break. Fantastic.

In other news, (and the point of my title), I finally got into an eating club this weekend. For those of you who don't know what an eating club is, it is Princeton's version of a fraternity: super swank houses in which no one lives but throw ridiculous parties Thursday and Saturday nights. Now, these are primarily undergraduate establishments: grad students can't join an eating club, but I've tried on 3 occasions now to crash a party, and finally succeeded. Ah, and not only did I succeed, I got into the most prestigious of them all : Ivy. How did I pull this off, you may ask? I was with another grad student who is on the Rugby team at Princeton and knows a few undergrads who are members of Ivy. He was able to get one person in, so I ditched everyone else in my group (I know, I'm nice) for the chance. The verdict? You can dress them up, but it's still a frat party. Eh, at least I can finally say I got in one and can stop trying. I definitely feel too old for that scene. Anyway, that was the weekend and I am officially done with classes now for the week and cannot wait for Thanksgiving. Hooray!

google is taking over the world

So that wasn't the planned title of this post, but whilst signing into my blog, they suddenly told me that it's all new and to actually sign in, I'll have to use my Google account (good thing I already have one) because Google has now taken over http://www.blogger.com/. They never cease to amaze me. Eh, I'm all for it, as long as it stays free and has cool snazzy features (gmail really is the greatest email ever). Anyway, on to the real news I had to post:

Fall Break Partie Deux:

So as many of you know, I had fall break a few weeks ago, which was quite wonderful. Well, I came back from fall break last week to find out that most of my classes (all ChE classes) would be cancelled this week due to the national Chemical Engineers conference in San Francisco, where about 80% of my department is right now. Ah, this is wonderful. Oh, and on top of that, my German class was randomly cancelled tonight. Hooray for unanticipated 5 day weekends. I should also mention that I only have a 2 day week next week ... due to the fantastic holiday of Thanksgiving and the fact that my professor cancelled class on Wednesday. I love Ivy League schools.

Forever IM Runners-up:

Ever since I went to college I have been actively pursuing my career in Intramural Volleyball. My problem is that I'm waaaaaayy to competitive when it comes to IM Volleyball. I treat it like it is the Olympics and as such, I just really want to win an IM championship ... just once. I've made it to the finals like 5 times in my career. I'm the Michelle Kwan of IM Volleyball. Always silver, never gold. Anyway, last night, my GC Volleyball team made it all the way to the finals, and lost in a 3 game match. It was a good match though. I have scars to prove it (ok, floor burns and bruises). Oh, and I also royally screwed up my neck. I can't look left. Kind of tough. But as Baley said, just make 3 right turns, and I'm all set. It is feeling slightly better this evening, but if it's still painful tomorrow, time to pay a visit to University Health Services. Maybe I can see a chiropractor or something.

Ok, that's it. Those were my rants for this evening. Be sure to tune in next time.

in one word: amazing

So this week has been absolutely amazing. In so many ways. Fall break is simply the best invention ever. This week has involved 70 degree weather, trip to see a Broadway show, photography expeditions, anime watching, burger king feasting ... oh, and some homework too, but that's a given. I took tons of photos around the canal and lake on Thursday so you should be sure to check them out in the usual spots. I also uploaded some pictures from last week's Halloween party and Bierabend. You can now see that I have made a few friends. I'm being social. I'm quite proud of myself. All in all, feeling pretty good right now.

random stuff

So for the past 2 hours I have amused myself by re-organizing and updating my "travels" page. I know, you're thrilled and I am sure you're going to click on the link the moment you finish reading this. Eh, I was bored and I wanted it to look more like a travels page, instead of what it used to be, my I'm-living-in-Europe page. So I updated some text. Added a few new pages. Made it amenable to future travel updates (because there better be some). All the old stuff is still there. Just some new tweaks.

I'm home in RI right now, because it's fall break, a glorious invention, if you ask me. I feel like I have tons of things to write about from last week (Bierabend, Halloween Party, midterms, home with family and friends) but I just can't find it in me to write any of that down now. Maybe I'll do it later, and include some photos. Maybe you'll just have to hear it from me first hand. I'm just tired now from staring at a computer screen updating a multitude of web pages. Ok, done complaining. Time to take a bath ... because that is what I do when I go home.

how i didn't fall asleep in math today

I finally managed to load and run Super Mario Brothers on my TI-89 calculator. It's amazing. This has just opened the door to a whole lot of possibilities.

i <3 chinatown

It's pretty cool living so close to New York City. Case in point, yesterday I went to NYC simply to have lunch at the Sahara Grill (only place in the US where you can get doener: corner of 7th and 40W) and to peruse Chinatown for a shirt for my awesomely cool Halloween costume. That's right, I'm going to be Ten-Ten from Naruto (yeah, it's anime). I will most definitely post pictures of me in my costume when I wear it. Anyway, yesterday was just a gorgeous day so Luc (plasma physicist I have met ... real name is Lucius, wicked cool) and I hopped on the train from Princeton circa 10AM and enjoyed a day in New York. He was a good sport as we traipsed around the city from anime store to anime store in search of Naruto costume accessories. He was also very good at helping me pick out a shirt for my costume. Couldn't have done it without him ... literally. We also had a really enjoyable walk through the entire length of Central Park. The leaves are just starting to turn and the afternoon sunshine was warm and welcoming. It was really fun. We even ran into a roller disco in the middle of the park. Those people are intense. After our nice day not doing anything related to school, we hopped on the train back to Princeton. I was exhausted. I don't know how I didn't fall asleep on the train. Must have been the good company. I need to go back soon. More lunching need to occur at obscure ethnic hole-in-the-wall eateries.

Oh, and I uploaded pictures I took in New York.

visitors

This weekend was marked by three lovely visitors from RI and VA. Well, I suppose they are all from RI, but Travis is living down in VA right now, so he had to drive up. Anyway, Mart, Brian and Travis spent the weekend with me and it was quite a weekend. They all made it safely, even though Travis drove about 40 miles north of Princeton before he realized he was going away from it. I wasn't much help when he got lost, I don't know the area yet. I don't even know what towns surround Princeton. My ventures off campus have been relatively few so far. Upon arrival we had dinner at Hoagie Haven (good place) and then just relaxed/crashed in my room. We all managed to fit among my bed/floor, so it worked out well. On Saturday we got up and had breakfast at PJs Pancake House. It was good. This was after I told them we would get free breakfast at the dining hall, which I didn't realize did not have breakfast on Saturdays. I'd never been up early enough for breakfast on a Saturday before. Then we just explored campus and Nassau street. Seems like they had fun. We went all over and then were tired around 4 so took mini-naps on the grass by the golf course. That was followed up with some comedy (Comedy Central Presents ...), dinner, more comedy and then we met up with Super Pete at Winberies, a pub/restaurant in town. We had a few pints (we being Pete, Brian and myself) and a little later Tom and Bob (two of my classmates) showed up. It was quite fun. The visit ended with taking the posse to Sunday brunch at Proctor Hall (my dining hall), where Martha had ice cream and oreo pie after her pancakes. Then the troops left. It was sad to see them go. I miss them already.

Besides that, last week consisted of the usual, and I am back in the thick of things after spending yesterday evening writing a snazzy bit of computer code I like to call the shooting method (ok, I didn't coin the term, I'm a fake). I also had Burger King for dinner last night. Very nice. Now it's Monday. Next week is midterm week. Then fall break! Just gotta hold out til then.

I should also mention I took a bunch of pictures this weekend and 3 of my albums have been updated. So look at them.

missing my africuch

In the midst of studying for my reactions exam, I suddenly missed my best bud who is currently in Africa. He also has a blog (see the link under //friends) and after perusing it I found that he did make it safely to Malawi, Africa. I miss him terribly though. I hope to hear from you soon bud!!!!!

light at the end of the tunnel?

Yes, I'm talking about small tunnels here folks. Gotta take baby steps. I'm talking about possibly almost finally getting on top of my work (notice all the uncertainties in that sentence). I have my first exam as a grad student tomorrow, and strangely, I feel rather blase about it. I have heard (from various sources) that this professor (my reaction engineering professor) will not actually give any of us anything lower than a B- in the course (which we need in order to qualify as a Ph.D. candidate in the department) and gives out only 4 grades on his exam: 0, 30, 50 and 80. So if you get a 30, no big deal, you'll still pass the class. Therefore my stress level tonight is at about 1 (on a scale of 0 to 10), despite having a test tomorrow. Perhaps I should be more worried. I feel at this point, though, worrying will not help me do any better. I will study, don't get me wrong, but I'm not stressing about it. It's a good feeling. Other aspects of this week that make me almost see the light at the end of my little weekly tunnel? Thermo homework is 75% done, which, if you've never done thermo homework, is quite a feat. Math homework is finally starting to make sense (this weeks homework actually has number in it and I am finally going to apply some of the analysis I've been learning the past few weeks). Reactions homework has been pushed back to next Friday (courtesy of Tom), even though that's not so much of a big deal since I've gotten most of it done in preparation for the exam. So I may actually have some free time this weekend, which is definitely a cause to celebrate. Especially since hopefully Martha and Brian are coming down this weekend. Things'll be good. Just have to hold on to that.

and the seasons march on

In celebration of the start of my most favorite season (even though it was about 80 degrees here today), I started taking pictures around campus (with my new Nikon zoom lens) of the changing leaves. This will be a season long theme, so be sure to check out the album titled autumnal progression. Maybe I will make this my thesis. Seems more fun.

the neverending cycle

So apparently a goodly number of people actually read my ramblings ... enough that a few people commented to me on SUNDAY MORNING that I had not updated this for the week. Well, I said, it is still Sunday. As you can tell, I just totally failed at updating the site on Sunday because, well, I was busy. These things happen. Anyway, a recap of this past week is pretty dull, so I won't bore you with the details. I have basically sunk into a cycle of receive homework - spend a week doing homework - pass in homework - receive more homework. I know, this, supposedly, what I am here to do. But come on ... every waking (and sleeping, I sometimes dream math) minute? Ok, I'm done complaining. You've just caught me on the "receive homework" day, so I am falling under and avalanche of items on my todo list. Sundays feel better because everything has been completed (mostly) and the new round hasn't been assigned yet (usually). Oh the difference a day makes. I did get to watch a cool German silent movie, filmed right around WW1 time. It is called "Metropolis" and, if you couldn't figure it out by the title, it's about a futuristic city run by a capitalist at the expense of the workers (I think the reason I had to watch it was because the director was perhaps in favor of the German Communist party at the time). So it was good. First silent move I've ever seen, and spending 2 hours watching that sure beat thermo homework (which I am stuck on now).

The only other thing that happened last week of note was that on Thursday I went to a dinner at the Prospect House, which is where the president of the university used to live, but is now a faculty club. So I guess I could say I had dinner at Woodrow Wilson's house, since he used to be president of the university. It was nice, better than dining hall food, and there was free wine and beer, always a good combination.

So that is how exciting my life is becoming, an endless cycle of homework. I feel I will have even less to report in the coming weeks. So stay tuned.

the good and the bad

My first full week of Princeton is done, and it was quite fun, I must say, in hindsight. There were some rough spots, but that is to be expected. I just keep telling myself that I am getting paid to do this. So this week/weekend was full of really good things, and really bad things. Let me recap:

• Feeling intimidated by my German class - bad
• Taking Dad's advice and contacting the German professor and thereby not feeling so intimidated about said class - good
• Having absolutely no idea how to do math homework because I've never had a formal class in real analysis - bad
• Attending the math review and having everything come together like a light bulb going off - good
• Wine and cheese social - very good
• Friday night cocktail hour - extremely good
• Playing a really fun scavenger hunt game across campus - good
• Surprising the crap out of Laura by driving down to Maryland Saturday evening for her surprise birthday party - good
• Seeking Skylar take some steps - good
• Having Skylar cry when I left - bad
• Witnessing an accident on the NJ Turnpike as I drove home - very bad
• No one was hurt in the accident - very good

Ok, here is the most momentous event that happened to me this past week, and it happened today, actually. As I was driving home from Maryland, while I was on the NJ Turnpike between exits 3 and 4 (I know, that could be like a 30 mile stretch), there was a car in front of me (but not too close, thank goodness) that suddenly swerved out of control and rammed into the Jersey barrier before cutting across the turnpike again and stopping in the breakdown lane. Luckily I wasn't so close that I had to slam on my breaks, but I had to slow down very very fast and move out of the way quickly to avoid hitting the car myself. I then quickly pulled over to see if anyone was hurt and saw a woman run out of the car, reach into the backseat, and pull a little boy out. She then collapsed on the grass in hysterics. I rushed over to her to make sure she and her son (15 months old!) were ok. Thank goodness, they were. She was just badly shaken and her face was a bit cut up from hitting the air bag. Her son was ok, he was in a car seat in the back. Another car pulled over as well and they called the police/ambulance while I comforted the woman. I waited around with them until the police and ambulance came and they left for the hospital. I was pretty shaken myself thinking about what might have happened additionally. I am just so glad no one was hurt. It was really scary.

hail the conquering hero

I finished my math proofs. Sorry, I know this is wicked dorky, but I was so excited, so I just had to share. MAE 501, bring it on.

and so it has begun

That's right. I'm officially a grad student now, I suppose. I've attended my first lectures, received my first homework assignments, attempted said homework assignments, and then put them away in frustration. I signed up for 5 years of this? I have to keep reminding myself that I actually like school, because right now I'm thinking more about what a nice summer I had. Hopefully I'll get back in gear soon enough, otherwise it'll be a long 5 years.

I've settled in here quite nicely, met a lot of nice people, from all over the world, including Britain, Germany, India, China, Mexico, France and Canada. I love hanging out with the Brits just to hear them talk, and I've discovered, much to my delight, that my German came back to me quite easily (I haven't spoken it really in about a year). I've had some fun conversations with the Germans and I hope to keep it up.

The Old GC (where I live) is a really fun place to live, because it's where most of the 1st year graduate students live (with a smattering of upperclassmen) and I have fun eating dinner with everyone in Proctor Hall, enjoying free cocktails and milkshakes in the common room on Friday nights, playing beach volleyball games at the outdoor court and watching people tee off right outside the GC on the Springdale Golf Course.

There has been such a slew of activities this past week as everyone moved in and started classes. On Monday I met with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) for the Chemical Engineering department. They fed us lunch and went over the Chemical Engineering Ph.D. program. I met all of my classmates (who are really cool) and then just ran some errands in the afternoon. On Tuesday I had the Graduate School orientation. It was really boring but they gave us free T-shirst and bags, so that's pretty cool. They also fed us breakfast and lunch, so I can't complain about free food. That night, I checked out the Taekwondo club that meets three times a week on campus. It was pretty good, and I have decided to join the club. The classes are taught be senior students (black belts) and starting this week, a 5th degree Master (Master Choi) will be coming in and running the classes. I even helped recruit for the club at a Graduate School clubs fair on Wednesday night at the Old GC. On Wednesday I had the Engineering Graduate School orientation. It was also boring but was followed up with a BBQ with free beer and a free T-shirt. I am well on my way to owning way too many articles of Princeton clothing. On Thursday classes began, and I started off my graduate career with Mathematic Models for Engineering Analysis. Now, normally this class is taught in the Chemical Engineering department and so it's just the ChE class, however, due to some abrupt departure of faculty, we have to take the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering section. It's pretty much the same material, but the class is huge now (due to all the MAE people). I'm not sure what I think of the class just yet. I would like it if I were good at formal mathematics and proofs, but I've never really had that, so I'm sorta struggling right now. We'll see how it goes. My second class was Advanced Italian, which I was very excited to take, but upon reaching my third class, Advanced Thermodynamics, I discovered I had to drop Italian because it conflicted with a problem solving session that is mandatory for Thermo. Crap. Friday was very easy, as I only had one class at 1:30. It is Reaction Engineering, which I really liked when I took at URI (the undergrad version), but the professor does not seem to care too much about what the course is supposed to be about and instead seems to be teaching us what he find interesting. Needless to say, after one class, it seemed to have nothing to do with reactions, or anything remotely related. I will see how this class goes. My only other class is a German Seminar on Monday evenings. It seems really cool. It's all about 20th century history/politics in Germany, so from the wiener Republic, through Nazism, to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's taught in German and has a bunch of German and English texts. I hope it is a good class and that everything goes as planned (don't want to have to drop it like Italian), otherwise I am short one class (we are strongly recommended to take 4 courses).

The week finished up with a welcome back party in Proctor Hall/Old GC common room. It was lots of fun, a.k.a. free drinks! Haha. I love going to a pretentious school. After the party, a couple of the guys in my class and I walked onto campus to see if we could get into an Eating Club (what Princetonians call Fraternities) and crash any of their parties, but unfortunately when we arrived they all seemed to be over or were only letting members in. It was a fun walk though.

This weekend Mom and Dad came down to visit and I showed them all around campus. I showed them where I lived, where my classes are, and just the campus in general. We went out for dinner at a really good Italian place (La Mezzaluna) and had tuna and tiramisu! The next day we had brunch at this really good pancake house (PJ's Pancakes) and then went shopping all around the town. They had tons of good shops for Mom and she bought me some things too (as moms do). Then around 3PM they hit the road and I retreated to my room to tackle some more thermo problems. So it was a very nice weekend and anyone reading this should also come visit me. I'll show you Einstein's house and other points of interest. Those are the updates for now. Who knows what next week will hold.

P.S. I added some more photos to the princeton album, so be sure to check them out.

first days

Let me tell you, my first days here have been a mix of fun and uneventfulness. I find I am either writing emails to people and updating my blog, all from the solace of my awesomely cool room or I am being totally un-Meg and am being social and witty and fun. Hard to believe, I know. I totally just randomly went up to someone last night at the New Grad Student social and chatted him up. I am proud of myself for my forwardness. Usually I like to be a wallflower, or cling to the safety of friends, however, both were in short supply last night.

As promised, I took some pictures of where I am living. More to come, for sure, but today I ran out of battery life in my camera so I had to call my photography expedition short. The photos can be found in the usual place, or by clicking here.

moving into princeton

What I have been doing since driving through 4 states this morning? I know you are curious. I arrived at Princeton circa noon and proceeded to lug my crap to entryway 16, room 8 (yes, that is where I live) in a beautiful Oxford-like castle. Yup, I live in a castle. Don't believe me? I'll take pictures tomorrow and show you. Seriously though, it is really nice, and even though I ended up with the small room in my two-room suite (I have a suite mate), I don't mind because, as I shall explain, I think I like the small room better.

So here is a description of my housing. It was built in the early 1900s and was set up so one student would have two rooms: a study and a bedroom. The study was equipped with a fireplace, naturally, for heating purposes at the turn of the century. Anyway, now that it is 2006, enrollment is slightly higher and so they have converted these two-room suites into suites for two people. So it is slightly odd because one comes in the door, walks through the study, into the bedroom, and then off of that is a bathroom. Anyway, my roommate arrived from Shanghai, China on the 4th and just took the outer room (the study, a.k.a. the bigger room). I had originally hoped to get that room because it has a fireplace (even though you can't use it, but it is nice) and more windows. However, that was not my luck. After moving in though, I find that I like the smaller room ( a.k.a. bedroom) better. It feels more private because one does not have to walk through it to get to another room and the bathroom is adjacent. It also has a closet ... the other room doesn't ... which is key. So that is my room, and as I mentioned a bit earlier, my suitemate is from China. She's wicked nice and I think we'll get along really well. Her English is so cute. She's going to teach me Chinese too, I already know this: Ni hao (hello!). She taught me goodbye but I forgot it.

So that is my move-in scoop. I was so tired from unpacking and stuff that I'm just spending the night in tonight and tomorrow I start with all the welcome festivities (barbecues, wine tastings, museum gatherings, orientation, etc). Classes start on the 14th for me, so wish me luck. I have a lot of things to figure out but I think I can handle it. It's fun.

week in little compton

Little Compton, is in my opinion, one of the best places on earth, and I have been to a few places so I have some comparison. I just had the best week ever vacationing in Little Compton with the family. It was full of kayaking, reading books, making s'mores, riding bikes ... all the usual. I can't believe Poppa even got in the kayak. You have to see the photos.

The week started on Friday when we drove down. I was so nice Friday afternoon that we immediately brought the kayak down to the beach to give it it's inaugural try. That was the day Poppa went out in the kayak and the day dad and I climbed atop the big rock ... a formidable feat. Chris came down the next day and stayed until Monday. That was quite fun and involved some more kayaking, some bike riding and some reading. I even made dinner for everyone Sunday night (I know, I can cook, amazing). I made Parmesan Dijon chicken (one of my favorites) and bake stuffed potatoes. Quite delicious. The next few days were pretty lazy. Kate Coleman came down on Tuesday just in time to witness the aftermath of me pulling my hamstring while practicing for my upcoming black belt test. That was lovely. I couldn't walk when she arrived, but by the end of the day I could hobble quite well. It was a fun beach day with her. We even made her go out on the kayak (I know I know, you're saying, enough about the kayak ... but it's lots of fun!). Wednesday was another good day, as was Thursday. One of those days mom, Mart and I made a great dinner concoction. Some might call it Pasta Primavera, but we call it Refrigerator Pasta ... because we just took a box of pasta and added left over chicken, tomatoes, onions, garlic and basil to it. All the scraps we had in the fridge. Then I made an Alfredo sauce (because I have such great culinary talent) and it was delicious! Went to the beach a ton, read about 3 books. Friday was my black belt test so the family came and watched and then we went to Chili's for dinner on the way home in Middletown. Saturday was our last nice day, and in celebration, I got a sunburn. Hehe. I went the whole week without one until Saturday. I suppose that's the best way to do it, if you have to get burned. That night Poppa took us out to dinner at the country club and I tried striped bass (thanks for the recommendation Kate!). Sunday was rainy and chilly so we packed up our things, then built a fire in the fireplace. It was nice and cozy. I played crazy 8's and go fish with Mart. Ah, the simple life.

So that was the vacation in a nutshell. It was perfect. Can't wait for next year!

black belt test

Just a little note that I did test for my black belt last Friday, despite pulling my hamstring on Tuesday (ouch!). Yeah, I'm an idiot. That's what I get for not stretching and then trying my jumping ax kick. Sheesh. I didn't think I'd be able to walk again. I was most upset about missing my chance to test, all because I was practicing for the stinkin' test. Anyway, I did manage to hobble over to the dojang (I know, I'm exaggerating) and Grand Master Hong let me test, but I had to cut a few things out from the testing (like my jumping ax kick) and some other things just didn't look pretty (like my jumping back spinning kick). All in all though, it went well. My choreographed fight routine with April was really good. It was funny. We did a thing from Mean Girls. Imagine that with some Taekwondo added. It was beautiful.

I won't receive my black belt until next April, because you receive your belt at the following black belt testing and they hold testings only twice a year. I'm lucky enough to have gotten to test before I left for Princeton, as the black belt testing is actually in October ... not August. Lucky me. Maybe my luck is back. It's been missing for a bit.

So I thank those of you who wished me well in my testing. I will have to show you some new moves some time ... when my leg heals.

defending anime

Why defend anime, you may ask? Well, I guess I'm just a bit irked with how I always seem to have to go on the defensive when I mention I watch anime. YES, I WATCH ANIME AND I LOVE IT! I am not some sketchy pre-pubescent male in a basement watching cartoons. Because you know what, they aren't cartoons. Yes, they are animated, but isn't animation just another way to express ones ideas and opinions? It is no different than film or art or photography. Not to me, at least. Besides, if you even took the time to watch some anime, you'd understand. Most anime is graphic, bloody, violent, and verbal. I wouldn't want my kids to watch it, any more than I would want them to watch an R rated movie. And yet, what is so appealing about it? To me, it is the fact that most anime shows are finite. They are not this never ending run of episodes which have no connection to the previous except for the fact that the characters are the same and never seem to change their clothes. Good anime shows, the kind that you download of the internet from fansubs because they are released in Japan and you are lucky to get it with English subtitles, are cohesive storylines, kind of like a really long movie, which I really like. It really gets inside my head sometimes, and leaves me contemplative, which is probably why I am on this rant now. I just finished watching all the episodes of Full Metal Alchemist (a really good anime, by the way) and well, the story just left me that sense that usually only a good book leaves me with.

It's just in my head and I keep mulling over the finer points of how the show was summed up and what it all meant. Monster made me feel that way too (also recommended). I thank my Canadian friend Jon for recommending me all these good anime shows. Now, I need a new one. Naruto just isn't doing it for me anymore, not since the filler episodes (which reek of normal, unconnected cartoons ... I am losing interest).

Another interesting thing to note about anime in general, I know it is known for its distinctive facial expressions, but oddly enough, this only makes the characters more real, in my mind. They are drawn with such emotion, that you know exactly how they are feeling because you've inevitably had the same feelings, so it only helps to draw you more into the characters. Really cool. Also, most cartoons don't waste time with things like setting scenes and other filmatic devices. Most cartoons just focus on dialogue between characters. Anime, then, is more like film in that just as much time is given to the background and surroundings that you are drawn into the world.

My last gripe ... that someone won't watch something just because it's anime. Anime is just a style of animation. The topics that anime cover can be as varied from crazy technique wielding ninjas to psychopathic serial killers to futuristic alchemists to adolescent Go players. So don't judge something just because it's anime ... who knows, you could find yourself liking it.

Oh yeah, and I totally dressed up as an anime character (Ten-ten from Naruto) for Halloween last year. It was awesome.

skylar's first birthday

Who'd have thought she'd be one year old by now. For those of you who don't know Skylar, she is my best friend's daughter (my best friend being Laura Coleman ... er ... Bacon). I keep flipping between thinking I can't believe it's only been a year and I can't believe it's already been a year. Laura and Charlie are great parents. Amazing. Skylar is amazing. Such a great little girl. Anyway, I flew down to Maryland last weekend for the single fact to attend her birthday party (what a good friend I am). Naturally, I took a bunch of pictures and put them online. Click the links to the right to see pictures from the party, or if you are lazy, simply click here.

Laura - I look forward to many more visits once I move down to Princeton. Good thing you got that Aero-bed.

the end of summer

Ah! Say it isn't so! It can't be the end of summer already?? No, I shan't think it. This has been one fantastic summer, I must say. Working at home, antagonizing Mart, it's been well worth it. I am excited about the coming months, though. First and foremost, I am very excited about our annual family vacation to Little Compton. A week of nothing more than books, photography ... and perhaps ... an ocean kayak? Oh, that would be awesome. We are in the process of possibly purchasing one. I think it is a fantastic idea. I have many fellow supporters.

Another exciting event that is coming up is my black belt test. Yes sir, I am finally testing for my black belt in Taekwondo. Although, I suppose I shouldn't really say finally, since I am jumping the gun by about 6 months. You see, I just tested for my black stripe about 1.5 months ago, and I'm supposed to have it for at least 6 months before I test for my black belt, but with this whole going off to school thing and never coming back, I get to test before I go. Hooray for me.

And finally, the most monumental event that is coming up is ... my move to Princeton, taking place on the eve of my birth. I am sad that I will be all alone on my birthday. I guess that is what being an adult is all about, or so my mom says. Lonely birthdays. I'll tape a sign to my back so everyone will know. Seriously though, I am excited about moving down to NJ. Despite what everyone here in the tri-state area seem to think, not all of Jersey is dirty! I will defend that forever now, I feel. Ah well.

So for now, I bid thee adieu, and I will most definitely have a few more posts this month with updates, before leaving for the great state of NJ.

family, friends and food

Well, I must say, I had a marvelous time at my graduation party last weekend. Good job Mom and Dad! You are fantastic! I just cannot believe the good fortune we had with the weather (finally!). I also must thank everyone so much for coming. I cannot believe that almost everyone was able to make it. Special thanks to those of you who flew into town just to be there. That means a lot to me. It was so great for me to see so much family and friends, many of whom I do not get to see that often, and for those regulars who I see all the time, well, it's always good to see you. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. I wish I could do it all over again (although, I'm sure my mom does not). As per usual, I have uploaded the photos to an online photo album, so please check them out (click the link at the right). If you would like high quality copies, just let me know and I can email them to you.

Again I thank everyone for coming and celebrating with me.

new york city

Well, I just got back from my vacation to New York City (with a side trip to Princeton), and let me tell you, it was hot and dirty. Every day I felt like I needed to take 20 showers just to escape, but they always let me down, because the minute I got out, I was sweating again. I guess that is what it is like in the mid-Atlantic states: hot, humid, muggy. Makes me appreciate New England weather a bit more. Aside from that, though, it was a fun trip. I haven't really been to NY as an adult (last time was a 6th grade field trip), so it was fun to be a tourist. We also went to Coney Island for the 4th of July. It was really really crowded. The best thing was the roller coaster, too bad that didn't last 2 hours, only abut 2 minutes. Anyway, there are pictures, as always, so check them out.

photography

Yeah, I like taking pictures. Pretty much everyone knows that by now. Now that I am armed with my new Nikon D50, I am taking more pictures than ever ... and deleting about 80% of them because they are pure garbage. However, for every 10 or so pictures I take, there is one that strikes me as rather good. So in an effort to show people these few good ones, I have created a new photo album I have labeled "photography". In this album you will find pictures I take at random times, of random things: whatever strikes my fancy (currently, most of the pictures were taken in my yard when I get bored working at my computer). The photos do not fit into any "event" album because I do not think that my being bored and home alone constitutes as an event.

Check them out. Tell me what you think. This album will be constantly updated, as I take more and more photos. If you ever would like high-res copy for displaying in your own home, I would be happy to accommodate.

family gatherings

Oh the fun that we have when the family gets together. You'd think we never see each other, what with all the shouting we do to talk over one another to excitingly share a story that 75% of the people in the room have heard 3 times already. I'm just kidding. I love getting together with the family. The more the merrier. We are always looking for an occaision to get together. From weddings (thank you Ben and Shawna, I think your wedding will go down in the books) to birthdays to upcoming graduation parties (hooray for me!), we always have a good time when we get together.

Our most recent gathering was in celebration of Poppa's 81st birthday. It was much fun, as Aunt Janet was there from Minnesota, and Ben and Shawna came up from Connecticut. The usual crowd was there too (i.e. Uncle Brad, Aunt Jayne and Allan) along with my family. One of the best parts of the celebration to me was the fact that most of us spent the night down in Little Compton. Every bed was full (including a couch!). I cannot remember the last time that happened (well, perhaps I can, but it was a long time ago).

So hooray for family. I hope we have many more gatherings. Be sure to check out some photos from the latest event in my photo albums.

taekwondo

I had probably one of my last Taekwondo demos (with Grand Master Hong's Taekwondo School) yesterday. It went well. I broke all my boards (ax kick, round house kick, ridge hand speed break) and performed my self-defense routine without a single mistake. I was so nervous about the demo though. I have such performance anxiety or something. I am wicked nervous about my upcoming testing. I am testing for my black-stripe belt on Friday: the last colored belt before black belt. Wish me luck.

books in my head

Have you ever read a book and after reading it, you just can't get the story out of your head? Well, that has just happened ot me, and it wasn't even that spectacular of a book. I mean, it was OK. It was like mind candy. Something to keep me occupied, because I hadn't read a book for fun in a while. Even so, as much as I wish the silly book would stay out of my head because I think I thought it was a silly book, I can't get it out of my head. Does that make any sense? So obviously I couldn't have thought it was such a silly book if I am still thinking about it, and thinking about it so much that I am writing about it. I know you are dying to know by now what book I read, but I'm not going to mention it. I'm almost too embarrassed to admit what book has turned me all contemplative. Ah well, it'll pass. I read the book in only two days though. I need to learn to read slower. I need a new book already.

weddings are fun

Wow. It is finally over. Laura's wedding extravaganza is all done. For those of you who didn't know, I was Laura Coleman's (my best friend's) maid of honor in her wedding yesterday (June 10). However, my duties did not just involve looking pretty and walking down the aisle (although, I did that marvelously). I attended dress fittings with Laura, made CD favors (and cases), put together programs, helped Laura shop for the perfect ribbon and rhinestone belt buckles, threw a shower, helped arrange a bachelorette party, attended a bridesmaids luncheon at a spa, went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, woke up early again and had my hair done (like Audrey Hepburn), helped Laura into her dress (a 4 person project), walked down the aisle, gave a toast, and then danced like there was no tomorrow. It was a fantastic time and I am sure everyone had fun.

I have added two new photo albums to my site (click on photos at the right). They feature photos that were taken at the bachelorette party and the wedding. You should also check out a photo website I am making for Laura and Charlie. It is where family and friends can share photos they took during the wedding festivities. It came out rather nice.

I am sad that the festivities are over, but kind of relieved. I can breath now ... and the wedding will not take the focus of all my thoughts anymore. I love you Laura! Congratulations to you and Charlie!!!

updated movies page

So I have finally gotten around to updating my "movies" page. I highly suggest you check it out, as it is wonderful. I finally found a good website (YouTube) that hosts videos for free. Each video can be up to 100MB!! That is way better than the 5MB limit I got on ZippyVideos (although I think now the limit is 25MB there). Anyway, even better, I can embed my videos on my website ... so it looks snazzy too. So check out the link to the right or just click here to go there. Everything is there: James Bond trailer, One Too Many Drinks trailer, all the shorts I filmed while in Europe (Die Bahn, Tour de France), Knitting Club promo ... Manwitch will be up there soon (I just have to cut down the length a bit). So yes. Enjoy, and tell me what you think of them. I like feedback!

stupid weathermen

Hmm ... let me amend my previous post. So after a morning of ranting and complaining about the weather, Chris convinced me that we should at least try hiking the mountain, and if it started raining, we'd turn around. I was indignant and against it, but finally acceded. Needless to say, it did not rain, in fact, the sun came out, and there was blue sky, and it was a glorious hiking day. I need to learn not to complain and whine so much. Things turned out pretty good. Check out some photos.

stupid weather

Have you ever planned something and checked the weather and there was like no chance that it was not going to be perfect ... so you get really excited and then when that day arrives ... it rains? Yeah, it's crap. This whole week I planned on hiking this weekend in NH and checked and double checked the weather. Saturday was going to rain all day, but Monday ... clear clear clear. Clear across New England. I was going hiking. So I drive all the way up to NH Sunday night, and when I arrive ... I discover that even though all the papers still predicted sunny skies, TV and internet were now saying "severe thunderstorms." Where did these thunderstorms come from? Where did they materialize? Well, now I get to spend my day in NH indoors, watching these "severe thunderstorms." Let me tell you, at this point, it better severely thunder, because if it doesn't, I'll be mad.

graduation and stuff

So it's been a real long time since I've updated any of my websites. I just haven't had much to report it seems. Coming off of a year in Germany, everything just suddenly seemed mundane and not exciting ... also, my camera sorta broke so it was no fun to take pictures for a while. Never fear, however, because that has all been remedied. For those of you who don't know ... I have the greatest parents in the world and they bestowed upon me a Nikon Digital SLR camera. Oh yeah. It's amazing. Needless to say, I have been taking pictures like crazy, and there will be many more to come. I highly suggest checking out the newly updated "photos" page where there are links to online photo albums. The madness will continue.

Graduation was a really good time, despite the 20 degree drop in about 10 minutes that occurred during the individual college ceremonies. If only the keynote speakers had been shorter. Ah well, we still beat out the rain, mostly. I will miss spending every waking hour among a handful of people ... (yeah CHE class) ... but this turning point does not mean I shall cease seeing the people who have filled up my life these past 5 years. I am looking forward to this summer of fun and enjoyment before hitting the books yet again at Princeton next year (so excited about that, by the way).

So for now I close my thoughts, and encourage you to keep coming back and see what I am up to and in fact, call me or email me, so I know what is up with you. It's been a fabulous 5 years, and I know I have many more to come.