back from spain

You read the title. You know. I uploaded all the pictures this morning, so you can find them in the usual places. Also check out the "photo" page for an interesting new album titled "Where in Spain is the Snowman". Watch the movie I just uploaded as well. It is pretty good, just random clips we took on my camera while we were in Spain. Most take place while we are resting at cafes, or while on trains.

I don't feel like writing much else, so let the pictures tell the story of our trip.

reunited at last!!

So I am writing from Sevilla, Spain. I have been reunited with the Mart and it is great. I have taken so many pictures so far and uploaded a number from the first two days Mart and I were in Madrid. Following that we picked up my parents at the airport and spent 4 nights in Granada. Today we took the train to Sevilla, where we will be through Christmas. Check out the photos! More will be posted as I have time.

love thanksgiving

Not just for the food, which is amazing, but for the company. I seem to have done my "moving away to college" about 5 years too late. I feel a bit behind the curve, but I'm catching up. Going to college at URI, I never felt like I left home. I was still in RI, which, we all know, isn't that big. Family was always around the corner, as were old friends. Now, NJ isn't that far away, I mean, it isn't California, I can still drive home in one day, but to me it is just far enough to make going home such a big deal now.

I miss home. Not necessarily the physical place, although I do love bumming around my house in my PJs until 1 pm. I miss the closeness of family and old friends. The water nearby. Random visits from Poppa. Two families getting together for dinner and to reminisce about old time going back 24 years. Visiting Nannie and being able to see no less than 15 other family members within walking distance ... because everyone lives so close and is always visiting one another. When I come back to New Jersey after being home, it takes me a few days to readjust. I suddenly feel rather alone. Takes time to settle back into my apartment and my life, which sometimes seems so distant from that back home in RI. Not in a bad way, just in a nostalgic way. Every time I get back to NJ from RI, I think of new ways to decorate my apartment to make it feel more cozy, more homey, and remind me more of the places I miss. Last time I hung up a series of framed photographs I took. Four pictures, one for each season, one for each place I have lived or places that are special to me (Pawtucket, Little Compton, Europe and Princeton). This time I have decided to put together a photograph wall in my hallway. I procured a copy of a photograph from home. A traditional photograph we took for many years on the steps of the beach house. This was the one where we finally got all the family in: Poppa, Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins ... everyone. Everyone was home from college. Back in RI from Minnesota. To that I have two old pictures of my Uncle John, who passed away when I was 15 and was my most favorite uncle (sorry Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Brad ... but I miss him). I hope to add some other old pictures and some new ones too. Have to add a picture of me and Mart. Maybe we'll take a good one in Spain in a couple of weeks (so excited!). I am looking forward to my picture wall. Who knows what else I will come up with next time I go home.

To everyone who made my Thanksgiving so enjoyable, thank you. Thanks to my family for another ever entertaining holiday together. I love holidays with the Bellows'. To Chris and Brian, thank you for hosting a fabulous dinner for me and Luc and all your other guests. It was so great just to be together again making food and eating and reminiscing about the best times we had together (mainly Germany). Finally, to the Colemans, keeping the friendship that I have known my entire life going. It was great to see Laura and Charlie and Skylar and just fun to all have dinner together again. Only thing missing was us sleeping over afterwards. I guess you had a full house, so it is understandable.

Nostalgic tonight? I little. I am just readjusting to being in New Jersey again. Miss everyone already!

i'm so high!!

So high up in the mountains. Yup. I am in Salt Lake City at the Annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers Meeting. I am in quite good spirits right now because my presentation is all finished. It was this morning and it went great. It was on reserach I did at URI with Dr. Lucia, not research I am currently doing at Princeton, so I was worried that I wouldn't remember what I did, but I did fine. Tomorrow I hope to take a tour of the Great Salt Lake. Did you know that it is saltier than the ocean? I didn't. Here are some other fun facts about Salt Lake City, UT (ok, these are actually silly laws that are still on the books):

1. A husband is responsible for every criminal act committed by his wife while she is in his presence.
2. Birds have the right of way on all highways.
3. In Utah when a person reaches the age of 50, he/she can then marry their cousin.
4. It is against the law to fish from horseback.
5. It is considered an offense to hunt whales.
6. It is illegal not to drink milk.
7. It is illegal to detonate any nuclear weapon. (You can have them, but you just can't detonate them.)
8. No one may walk down the street carrying a paper bag containing a violin.

So Martha, if you ever come here and bring you violin, be sure that it is not in a paper bag. Also ... no whale hunting. Interesting in a land-locked state. Maybe there are whales in the Great Salt Lake. Perhaps I will find out tomorrow. I have apparently already broken a law here, as I have not had any milk since my arrival. Must remedy that soon. And now, for those curious readers out there, here are some real facts about the Salt Lake City area:

1. Elevation: In the valley, the city's elevation is 4,330 feet above sea level, and in the foothills reaches 5,200 feet. The Wasatch Mountains to the east are 11,500 feet tall, and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west are 9,500 feet high.
2. The Great Salt Lake, 17 miles west of the city, is only about 45 feet deep, and its water is 5 to 15 percent salt. The Lake is 48 miles wide and 90 miles long, making it the largest lake in the U.S. west of the Great Lakes. The Great Salt Lake is part of an ancient lake known as Lake Bonneville that used to encompass part of Nevada, which today is made up of salt flats.
3. Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 with the arrival of Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers who sought religious freedom. The settlement was originally called Deseret, and within three years of their arrival, the Mormons founded the University of Deseret, which is now the University of Utah.
4. With a population of over 179,000, Salt Lake City is the state's largest city and the capital city.
5. As a whole, the state population of Utah is the nation's youngest and healthiest.
6. The population boasts the highest literacy rate, highest percentage of high school graduates, and highest percentage of college-educated people.

Ok, those are enough facts. I am taking some pictures while here, but did not bring my USB cable, so they will not go up until I get home. So stay tuned. In the meanwhile, I did upload a few other pictures that my friend Sareh posted from our homecoming weekend celebration in Rhode Island. Those are in the "October" album, if you wish to see them.

cozier

Fall is here for sure. Every morning the sun is bright on my face and the air is cool (sometimes downright cold) and crisp. This is my favorite season for sure. For some reason, on autumn mornings, I really feel that the day is full of promise. Of course, the days are no more promising than any other day, but it feels different. The noticeable darkness in the evening is quite cozy at first. I know I will tire of it come mid-November, but for now, it is nice. Makes me want to go home, light my candles, and snuggle up with a book. Too bad I am too busy with school work.

Ah yes, school work. Do you want an update? Well, here it is: 91 pages and I am done! Woot. First Prop is officially written! I still have to bind it and pass it in, so I will hold the celebration off a bit longer, but as of this morning, I finished my abstract and printed it out. Only to discover that the color printer in the lab is terrible and the figures looked like garbage. What to do? Do I fork over $120 to get it printed at Staples or Kinkos (3 copies of a 91 page paper = a lot of money)? No no no. I call dad, who else? Having your dad work for a paper company with printing capabilities has its perks. I emailed him the report around 12:30 pm this afternoon, and circa 3 pm it was being given to a UPS guy to be mailed to me in NJ. 3 copies all printed out. Thanks dad! Now, when I receive them, I just have to bind them and pass them in. A good feeling for sure.

In other news, on Sunday I leave for Utah. Why Utah? Well, that is where the annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is holding their conference. I'll be there from Sunday to Friday. I go through bouts of nervousness and excitement. Excitement because I've never been to Utah and it looks pretty with the mountains and such, and I'm staying in a super swank hotel, and super swank hotels are fun. Nervousness because I am giving a talk on research I did before I came to Princeton (yes, while I was at URI). I am sure I will be fine, but that does not quite quiet the nerves.

I will be quite a happy camper when I get back from Utah, because the presentation will be over, First Prop will have been handed in, Thanksgiving will be around the corner, and my trip to Spain will be even closer. The only thing I'll have to worry about after that is the oral portion of my First Prop, but that isn't until January!

Until then, I will be content with warming up in my apartment on these blustery fall days. Tonight, I shall drink some cider. Huzzah!

P.S. I uploaded photos from the Halloween parties I went to last week. Have to find some time to have fun!

homecoming weekend

Hooray for Homecoming! I guess you don't realize how much you're going to enjoy it until you move away and miss family/friends/home. I am so glad that everyone was able to come home for the weekend. The whole crew from Germany was there (Ben, Brian, Mikey, Chris, Sareh, Ana, Tom, Nate, Doug, Rob ...). Sorry to those of you I didn't see. It was a very busy weekend for myself.

I had a wonderful time at Sareh's, where she made us Iranian food for dinner. Delicious! Then on Saturday I got up early and practiced with the URI Marching Band ... because I was in the Alumni Band! It was fun. We marched about with the band and marched in the halftime show too. I played the piccolo, which I hadn't played in years, but I did fairly well. Saw lots of people from band too. The best part about the whole game was when my Dad surprised me and showed up at the game. He came and sat next to me and it was just like the good old days. After that, I checked out Brian and Chris's awesome cool old apartment. Well, I suppose it is a new apartment to them, but it is in a really old house, so the floors are sloped and there are fireplaces in every room. It was so cozy! I hope to go there again over Thanksgiving. Was noch, ah yes, then I went home and had some dinner and spent the evening with my Mom. Then bed. In the morning I stopped by Travis' house and saw him. He leaves for Iraq at the end of the month, so it was good to see him before he left. Then I visited with Nannie and also saw Aunt Ginny and Uncle Everett while I was down in Touissette. All in all, a very solid weekend. Can't wait to come home again! As always, there are pictures posted (October 2007 album)!

done and done

Bierabend* couldn't have gone better. That being said, I am sure glad it is all said and done. It was a lot of work, but I am very proud of how it came out. So many professors and grad students came up to us afterwards and said it was the best one they've ever seen. That sure warms the heart. I took, um, 2 pictures during the entire event, and they are in the new "October" album that can be found on my "photos" site. What can I say, I was a little preoccupied with actually running the show, than taking pictures for posterity. I did get one of Justin giving Bob a haircut after he had glued on the "old man hair", a.k.a. Halloween spider webs. It worked well. In the future (probably more distant than near) I will upload some of the skits that we made for Bierabend. I will, of course, let you know when that time comes.

*Bierabend is an evening in which the 2nd year class in my department "roast" the faculty and the department in general, to introduce the department to the new 1st year class, and for everyone's general enjoyment.

phd comics

For those of you who don't know, PhD Comics are hysterical comics about graduate life. The author of the comics, Jorge Cham, spoke at Princeton a few days ago, and I bought the first volume of comics and got it signed by him. So, in the spirit of this being on my mind, I discovered I can post the comics to my own website! Therefore, there is now a new feature. Towards the right, bottom of the page are the latest comics, and this gets updated automatically, and more frequently than I update this page (so it seems), so you can enjoy a nice comic strip while awaiting my posts.

I'll probably have a good post this weekend telling about how things have been, and upload pictures I've taken over the weeks, but just haven't had time to. Until then, enjoy the comics.

so school has started

Wow. I did not realize that my last post was about a month ago. The reason for the delay in posting? School started ... and I hit the ground running. Despite only taking one class, I have been extremely busy. The other two items on my plate? First Prop and Bierabend skits. Now, those two things are rather obscure to those who don't know what I am talking about, so let me explain.

First Prop (short for First Proposition): So as part of my time here at Princeton, I have to leap over many hurtles. The first hurtle was getting a B- or higher in each of the 5 core courses (Fluids, Heat and Mass Transfer, Thermodynamics, Math, and Reaction Engineering). That I did ... last year. The next hurtle is referred to as First Prop. It consists of a written report (typically 60 - 120 pages, or something) due in November (this year, Nov 9), followed by an oral defense of the paper in January. The paper consists of background information about one's thesis, as well as any results that have been obtained since starting last January, and the future direction of the thesis. I currently have ~30 pages (but that includes pages like references, table of contents, list of figures, etc.).

Bierabend (German for Beer Evening): This is an annual tradition in the department of Chemical Engineering at Princeton, whereby the 2nd year class (so my class) organizes an event for the new first year class to get to know the department better. We have a dinner with the first years, with beer, and then the whole department shows up and we (the 2nd years) proceed to make fun of the professors/department through a variety of visuals (live skits, filmed skits, games, etc.). Of course, being the only one in my class who has seriously made/edited films before, I volunteered to be in charge of that. Well, that was a bit more than I wished to handle, but, I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have only one more bit to edit and then I am DONE! Stay tuned for possibly postings of skits on YouTube. They are good.

secret travel

As many of you know by now, I ended up in California for the weekend. I was just as surprised as many of you may have been to find out, since I did not find out myself until I was at the airport. Here is how Thursday's events transpired.

After enjoying my lunch by the fountain, I headed to the benches outside the E-Quad to read my Economist. It was hot, so I sat in the shade. Around 1:30PM, Tom approached me with a plain manila envelope. The envelope was sealed had my name typed on it. He said he was instructed to give me the envelope at this time, then left. As he walked away I opened the envelope. Inside the envelope was a single sheet of white paper, and upon this paper was typed "http://www.geocities.com/agent_bellows". I laughed. This looked like it was going to be fun.

I encourage you to click on the link and find out what my next instructions were. I was to meet someone at "the docks" and mention I wanted the "special with no onions". I knew where "the docks" were, they were these wooden benches by the fountain. I must have re-read the instructions 3 or 4 times, because I was unsure if I was to meet this agent that day, or the following day, and if I really was to pack up and leave work. After talking with Mart, I decided to risk it.

In order to investigate who I was meeting, I circled around the building before the fountain, coming to the fountain by a different direction. Along the way, I looked for clues as to who I was meeting. I found it in the form of a Colorado license plate on a nearby parked car. I saw the agent (Luc) sitting on the "docks" and approached him and gave him the code-phrase. He immediately got up and told me to follow him. We approached his car and got in. He asked if I had my wallet/keys/cellphone with me, then we drove off.

We stopped at the "safe house" (his apartment), where I dropped off my laptop and lunch box. We got back into the car and started driving.

I was obviously being taken somewhere, so I started to try to puzzle it out. First I thought we might be going to New York City, but we got on Route 1 South, not North, so that ruled that out. Then I thought maybe we are going to the Jersey Shore, or even Delaware or Maryland, but we got on 95 S, not 295 S, so that ruled those out. Now we were obviously headed toward Philadelphia, but I couldn't fathom what we would do there. As we passed through the city itself, I saw highway signs for the Philadelphia International Airport. Surely not.

We got off the highway an exit before the airport and proceeded to airport parking. Oh my goodness. I couldn't believe it. We were flying somewhere. After we parked, Luc popped the trunk and in the back was my luggage, all packed and ready to go. I had no idea. We hoisted our bags and made our way to the shuttle stop, and from there, to the airport itself.

At the check-in counter I anxiously awaited hearing our destination ... LAX. We were going to California. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking Providence or something. Not clear across the country.

The plan was to stay with Luc's dad, who was on sabbatical in LA. Luc had wanted to visit him before classes start, and oddly enough, plane tickets were half as much during my birthday weekend than during any other weekend, so he took me along and surprised me.

Once in California we went swimming in Santa Monica (saw the ocean for the first time), went to Disneyland on my birthday and I got to wear a pin that said it was my birthday and everyone wished me a happy birthday that day, and we went to Hollywood before hopping on a plane back to Philadelphia.

It was the best surprise ever. I put up pictures, so I direct you to the "travels" page and from there to the "photos" page.

relaxing weekend

All I have to say is that I took a nap in a pool. It was wonderful. For pictures, go to the usual spot. I also saw Vassar College this weekend (spent the long weekend in upstate New York with Luc and his friend Malissa).

missing my mart

She has left us. Left as all. 2 days ago, Mart embarked upon her adventure, leaving many behind sadly awaiting her return. Mart has left for Europe to study abroad in Granada, Spain, although, right now, she is in London an a 3 day excursion before landing in Spain. Lucky her. I meticulously tracked her flight progress across the Atlantic, and I will do so again 1 day hence when she flies to "the continent". Until she reaches Spain, contact with her is minimal. No telephone number. We await calls from her. Sporadic email checking. Here are some excerpts I received today:

Boo! I don't know what to say.

She does has a blog (as you can see by the convenient link from my page), but in the words of Mart:

So I don't have a long time on the internet so I have not updated my blog. I probably will when I go to spain.

Perhaps there will be more at a future date. Until then ... we miss you Mart!

more updates

I'm not going to talk a lot today. I mean, I just posted yesterday. All I have to say is that "Manwitch" has been uploaded ... so now you can relive the memories, or see them for the first time. Also, photos have been updated from my recent trip home to Rhode Island with Luc and Tom. Last time I'll see Mart until December!!!

Also, just wanted to direct your attention to a new "friend". Mr. Thomas "Tommy J" Eyster has created a blog for everyone's reading pleasure. Specifically, one of his recent posts describes our trip up to RI, so you can read his for more info. I'm too lazy to write that much.

road trip and other movies

It took a while, but it is finally here. Why did this take me so long to finish (it took about 2 months)? Well, 1. I am slightly lazy. 2. I was moving into a new apartment. 3. My computer broke ... twice. 4. Sometimes just didn't feel like editing. 5. Computer broke. 6. I took over 2 hours of footage and made a 5 minute movie for your viewing pleasure (I know my target audience). 7. Computer still broke.

Whatever the reasons, it is done. I hope you enjoy it. I had fun figuring out Final Cut (new video editing software I bought with my MacBook). I have also uploaded Jedi vs. the Blob (finally), so if you want to hear my Yoda voice, you should also check that out. Hopefully Manwitch will also be making a reappearance now that I can finally compress them (using Final Cut) so I can upload them for your viewing pleasure.

To see the Road Trip, just click on the embedded video above to start playing. To view all my movies, please direct your browsers to the "movies" link on the right. Happy viewing!

the new apartment

Yes yes. The pictures have arrived. Now everyone can stop bugging me. I went around with my SLR on a tripod and attempted to take some fanciful shots. Now you can see my entryway, kitchen, dining area, living room, bathroom and bedroom. The only thing you don't see are the inside of my closets (which are very well organized, I might add). The pictures are located in the "August" album. 10 photos don't warrant their own album, and since I took them in August, they can go in "August". The apartment isn't totally decorated yet. I still hope to hang some things, like some photographs and my diplomas and black belt certification, but you get the gist. The furniture is all done (except for sanding/painting the arms of my futon. Maybe I will add some plants in the near future. I like green things.

busy weekend

It's been a while. I know. Maybe I've been busy. Maybe my computer broke and I had to send it in for repairs. Maybe I just moved. Maybe it is all these reasons. Regardless, here I go again. I know some have been waiting for pictures from my new apartment, but sadly, that is still yet to come. Maybe the next post. I'm still decorating.

This weekend was rather busy. On Saturday I woke up early to do some filming. What filming? Well, filming for this year's Bierabend. For those of you who don't know, Bierabend (which is just German for Beer Evening) is an evening that the 2nd year graduate students host for the department and new 1st year graduate students. We film skits making fun of grad life, professors, the department, etc. and then serve food and beer and make people laugh ... hopefully they'll laugh. After filming, I went to Ikea to get some random things for the apartment. Not too eventful of a day, but it was long (after Ikea I went to church). I was out and about from 8:30AM to 7:30PM. On Sunday, I had the expressed privilege of seeing a certain Kate Coleman (mom of my bff ... or something). She and her husband (Reid) were in Philadelphia for a conference (well, Reid had the conference, Kate was just tagging along) and so Luc and I took the train down to Philly and had lunch with her, went to the art museum, walked around, drank beer at an outdoor cafe, and had a delicious fondu dinner. It was great. I hadn't really be been to Philly just for sight-seeing. We had fun. There are pictures, of course, for your looking pleasure.

Until next time ... you can wait for some apartment photos.

little compton weekend

I love Little Compton. Quite possibly my most favorite place on earth. It's so good to me, I bought coasters of Little Compton for my new apartment. I am excited about my coasters.

Luc and I headed up to RI on Thursday for a long weekend with my parents and their friends at the beach house. Despite rather hazy/foggy weather, we had a good time. We had brunch at the Commons (a breakfast/lunch place in the village), went kayaking, beach exploring, bike riding. Quite the nice weekend.

There are pictures up, as there usually are when I do things of interest. Some of my dad's friends from lacrosse also were there ... so we had a full house. Here was the guest list:

Poppa (grandfather)
Lois (grandfather's girlfriend)
Mom
Dad
Me
Luc
Skip (lacrosse friend)
Ellie (wife of lacrosse friend)
John (lacrosse friend)
Tracy (wife of lacrosse friend)

They weren't all there every night, but they were all there on Saturday night at least. It was qutie fun. Full of good food, drink and revelry. We should do it again. And next time Mart should come too (she was in Virginia visiting Travis).

cake woes

I wanted to bake a cake. It was going to be Luc's birthday and I felt that baking him a birthday cake would be a great idea. I am a great girlfriend, after all. I thought I would impress him with my awesome baking skills. Skills definitely needed to bake a cake out of a box and frost it from a tub of store-bought frosting. It would be delicious and wonderful looking. A work of art. Mart always liked how I decorated her birthday cakes. This was a great idea.

Or so I thought.

Baking the cake was the easy part. You just mix stuff and throw it in the oven. Voila. Easy. Cooling the cake, an even easier step one might think, wouldn't cause trouble ... but it did. After putting it on the cooling rack I put it in the fridge, since my fridge contains only butter, milk and turkey ... therefore there is plenty of room for a cooling rack with two cake layers. This became a problem when Luc called up and said he was coming over to cook me dinner. A nice gesture, to be sure, but definitely what I didn't need at the time. Due to my lack of cleverness, I came up with no excuse. He was headed over. I opened all my windows and tried to fan out the "I just baked a cake" smell. I took the cakes out of the fridge (for he would surely see them there) and put them in the linen closet. Yes, I cooled a cake in the linen closet.

Luc came over and was none the wiser. Cake was successfully cooling. My plan was succeeding. That night, we went with Tom and Jess to see the newest Harry Potter movie (quite good, by the way). After the movie we had about 30 minutes before we were going to rendezvous at the D-Bar for Pub Quiz. I cleverly told Luc I had to back to my apartment to do the dishes (which I did have to do) so I could go alone and frost the cake (still in the closet).

Now, here was the biggest problem of the evening. You see, my mom gave me a tip to frosting cakes years ago. I always remember that she gave me a tip, but I never quite remember what the tip is. It has something to do with how to stack the layers, and inevitably, I do it the worst possible way. The funny thing is, if I were to go by my intuition, I think I would get it right, it's fairly obvious, but because I am thinking too hard, I do it wrong. This time, I did it wrong by thinking the flat bottoms of both layers should be apart (this may seem like a crazy way to do it, but I have tried 2 other combinations before this as well which had failed, I was sure I was right this time). Here was my theory:

I put the bottom layer with the flat side down so it sits evenly on the tray. I put the top layer flat side up so it is even on top, and match the touching sides so they sit evenly (usually they bake lopsided, so this was the point of the tip ... I thought). Perfect cake ready for frosting.

So, I put the first layer down, frosted the top, and placed the second layer on top. I then immediately noticed that the sides of the cake were about two inches apart. This was not going to frost well. Then, in my infinite wisdom, I carefully picked the top layer up, thinking I could just flip it over. That was a bad idea. The middle stuck to the frosted bottom layer and pulled a chunk out of the top layer. Now I had a hole in my cake. I thought this was even worse, so I put it back as it was and tried to frost my mistake. It was not coming out well at all, so I carefully lifted the top layer and pulled more middle out. Great. Whatever. I flipped it over. Now I had one seriously frosted middle. I was worried I would run out of frosting. The sides were now touching (good) and so I frosted the rest of the cake. I put a huge glop of frosting in the middle to try to hide the hole. It worked, or so I thought.

I put the cake away (again, hidden in my closet so Luc wouldn't find it) until morning. In the morning, I took it out to put candles in it and saw that while flipping, not only had I created a hole, but I had created cracks in the top layer. Cracks that had settled during the night, letting frosting seep through. The cake looked like it had been through a war zone. I failed in my ability to impress with my baking skills.

It was still a tasty cake though.

Pictures from the evening and Luc's birthday outing to Dave & Busters in New York City can be found in the usual place. Oh, and for those of you who were wondering, my mom's tip was to place each layer with the bottom side up, matching the lopsidedness so it settles evenly. ... that way the sides touch, the top of the cake is flat, and the halves don't slide apart (that can happen with another combination: flat sides together).

moved

That is it. I have moved. New address is

1 Lawrence Drive
Apt. 301
Princeton, NJ 08540

for those of you who haven't looked to the right of the screen yet where I normally display my address. Please note the zip code has changed. Even though I moved only about 1 mile from my original domicile, it placed me outside Princeton Borough and inside Princeton Township. Now, don't even get me started on the differences between the borough and the township (the township surrounds the borough, because the borough seceeded from the township in 1895 due to a dispute over school taxes ... the line between the borough and the township cuts the campus in half, including some residential buildings).

There are a few new pictures up, some of the move, some of other things. It is another slow picture taking month. There will be photos of the new super swank apartment when it becomes super swank. Right now, I would just call it swank. So be patient.

finally, the beach

I finally went to the beach for the first time this summer. It took too long for me to get there. And let me just say, I went to the beach, not the shore. I was home this past weekend and Luc, Sue and I went to Little Compton for a fun day at the beack. Pictures of our kayaking adventures have been uploaded. Look at them, see what we did. It was fun.

had to share

July 5, 9:18PM ...

"Here I am in some of Travis' gear."

... oh Mart.

fireworks and things

I know. It's been a while. This could be strictly due to the fact that nothing interesting that warranted reporting has happened to me. What has happened since I got back from Colorado? Well, I go into lab every day. Then come home, eat dinner, sometimes Taekwondo, sometimes a bible study, and then go to bed. And guess what, I do it all over the next day. Why the rant? Because people keep commenting on how I haven't written. You know who you are. I will write when I have something to share.

Like now. I have something to share.

I spent the fourth of July sitting in rain at a minor league baseball game ... and it was fantastic. For real. We were kind of under an overhang, but all that mean was that we got the big fat drips on our knees. Never fear, we used the free t-shirts we acquired at the entrance to shield our knees from the elements. Shirts were soaked, but knees were dry.

The game was quite comical to watch. It was the Trenton Thunder versus the Altoona Curve. What is a curve, as far as a mascot is concerned, I have no idea. I couldn't even tell what the mascot of the Thunder was. Could have been a bird. Could have been a dinosaur. No one could figure it out. The game was delayed 1 hour by the rain, but then it cleared up a bit and they played 2, maybe 3 innings. Scoreless. No one on base. Rather boring, but I was content with my ball-game food. Then, the Thunder just ran away, scoring 7 runs in one inning. It had started to rain again and the Curve were slipping and sliding and dropping balls all over the place. We thought they were doing so poorly because of the rain, but no, it was just because they were terrible. When Trenton took the field, they did fine and got three quick outs, then scored 3 more runs in the next inning, making it 10-0. After that, they called the game. 4.5 innings total. It was raining quite hard, but they still had fireworks. Now, these were no Pawsox fireworks, but they were decent enough. Still enjoyable.

So that was my fourth of July. I uploaded a few pictures from the event and also a few previous photos, and by a few I mean 3. I know, I haven't taken many photos lately. Oh well. It happens. You can find them in the usual place.

back from colorado

Let me just say this ... road trips out to your destination are much much more fun then going back home. Going back home feels a lot longer, and the trip was probably exacerbated by the fact that I caught a terrible cold about a day before we left Colorado.

Anyway, I am home again in good ole' Princeton. It feels good to be home, although I had an awesome time in Colorado. Most of anything I had to say about the trip I said in the previous post about Colorado. Since that post, I just went into more mountains and took more pictures, which you can find by clicking on the "travels" link to the right of the screen, and from there click on "photos".

** Note -- do not simply click the "photos" link to the right. You will find no Colorado photos there. Why not? Because this was a trip and as such is documented in the "travels" portion of the website.

mini interrupt

Yes, I am still in Colorado, but instead of talking more about that, I direct you to my illustrious sister's new blog. Please direct your mouses to the right side of the screen, under the heading of "links" and then "mart". There you can read her first post. Quite an accomplishment. Quite amusing.

colorado so far

For those of you who didn't know, on June 2nd I hopped in a car and drove west ... for a very long time. 3 days. My destination: Colorado. Why? Because that's where Luc's family lives. Also because I've never been past the Mississippi River. I cannot say that anymore. My current farthest westward point is now the restrooms just on the other side of the continental divide up in Rocky Mountain National Park. No joke.

It's been a good vacation so far. Even though the drive was long, it was interesting to see the changing countryside. I have uploaded pictures I've taken so far from the trip, for those of you who have been bugging me for immediate pictures. Since arriving in Colorado, I have gone into Rocky Mountain National Park and seen snow (yes, it was snowing up there, but 75 and sunny down in Boulder). I hiked up to the top with an elevation of about 2.3 miles above sea level, maybe 1.2 miles above Boulder. I went to the Celestial Seasons tea factory and saw how they made tea and got some free samples. Also ate in a persian styled tea house ... given to Boulder by their sister city in Tajikistan.

Boulder is an interesting place. Upon arrival, I kept hearing about all the crazy hippies that live in Boulder. It is true, but I suppose in a good way. These hippies are not your typical poor crunchy hippies, but more of the chic trendy blend. This I have discovered because it can cost $59 for a pair of shorts at a normal chain store (probably only like $45 back on the east coast). They also enjoy their super eclectic restaurants and bars and the big thing one notices is how into nature they are. Upon giving Luc's dog a walk, we found a spot of freshly turned dirt along the path by the creek with a handwritten sign stating, "a snapping turtle laid eggs here, please do not disturb 6/3/07". The dirt was surrounded by sticks to be sure no one trampled it accidentally. I have also heard that residents of Boulder wished to build a wall deep into the ground so the local prairie dogs could not wander out of the city limits where they could be shot (Boulder has a no killing of animals policy). Despite these oddities, Boulder is beautiful. That is the only word that could possibly describe the simplistic grace that this part of the country exhibits. Can air possibly feel any fresher or crisper when drawn into the lungs? I think not. Thanks to the hippies, this wonderful piece of beauty has been preserved, and probably will be for all time. No building in Boulder can be higher than 3 stories, to prevent overdevelopment which would block the view of the mountains. Everything is built to fit in with the surroundings. Boulder is apparently one of the 10 healthiest places in the country, and this is readily apparent with the many natural, organic and health food stores (thanks again to the hippies), the many bikers crisscrossing the streets every day (and when I say bikers, I mean top of the line road bikes ridden by helmeted, tight-clothed riders with shoes that clip into the pedals). People up here are serious about being outdoors and enjoying it. It is nice. Refreshing. I am loving it.

So check out photos and be ready for more updates. Just a reminder, since this is a trip, the photos are found in the "travels" section of the website. Tomorrow we leave for Keystone, which is in the mountains on the other side of the continental divide. Can't wait.

fun weekend

Hooray hooray hooray!! My first year of grad school is finally over!! Well, I have a project due on Tuesday, but I have already finished it, so this was the first weekend where I didn't have schoolwork hanging over my head. It was a very nice feeling. It was a weekend full of fun and relaxation.

It all started Friday night when my Dad came down. He was refereeing the NCAA Division 1 Lacrosse quarter finals, which were at Princeton. He met me at the E-Quad and I immediately showed him my art exhibit. Well, not really mine, basically there is this thing called "Art in the Cafe" in the E-Quad Cafe. For the latest show (Black and White) I submitted a few photographs I had taken, and one of them got chosen. So I showed that to my Dad. For those of you who read this, if you happen to be at Princeton, you should go check out my photograph. I'm just excited to have one of my photos in a public exhibit. It's snazzy. In the evening, Dad took Luc and I out to dinner at the Blue Point Grill on Nassau Street. Excellent fish. I had Australian something. Of course I can't remember the name. Then, later in the evening, Luc and I went over to the hotel that my Dad was staying at and went swimming in the pool. Lots of fun.

On Saturday I went to the lacrosse game that Dad was refereeing. Luc came too. We could only stay for so long though, because that morning, an email was sent out that all the ChE first years were going to celebrate being done with the year by going out to NYC for dinner and dancing. So we left the game around half time and got ready to go to NYC. Hopped on the train and met up with everyone. It was a bit of a fiasco trying to connect with everyone once we got in the city. There were about 4 mini-groups of people, all trying to meet up. We finally met at the corner of 3rd Ave and 9th Street. We were starving, and Luc and I had been to a Japanese BBQ on that corner, so we suggested that, but when we went up, they did not have enough seating for 14. Fortunately, I was apparently speaking with the owner and he owned another restaurant on the corner of 1st Ave and 8th Street. It was more of a Sushi place than a BBQ, but that suited us just fine. They had a table for us when we arrived and we had a really good time. Luc, Dave, Tom and I split a party boat of Sushi. Delicious! After that, we headed back to a bar called the "Central Pub", I believe. "Central" something. It was an Irish pub (always a good choice) on 9th Street between 3rd Ave and 4th Ave. The fun part was that upstairs was a lounge with a dance floor. We went up, but were the only ones upstairs. That didn't bother us. We just got the party started. It was a lot of fun. We stayed until about 1AM, when we caught the last train back to Princeton. All in all, a very good day.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, and I just slept the morning away, because I was so tired. I feel very rested now. It's great. There are some new pictures from the weekend up in the "May" album, so check them out.

hiking in the poconos

Yesterday I drove up to the Poconos in Pennsylvania with Luc and some other Plasma Physics people and we went hiking at Hickory Run State Park. The cool thing about this park is that there is a huge Boulder Field. What is a Boulder Field, you might ask? It is a small piece of a landscape left over from the last ice advance, about 15,000 years ago. It is a jubled assortment of loosely packed boulders which range in size from 25 feet to several inches in length. In other words, it was cool. In addition to the Boulder Field, we also hiked some trails in the park and saw a bunch of waterfalls. Check out the pictures in the updated "may" album.

new mac new albums new photos

So exciting. I have to say, my new computer has arrived. I am typing this blog entry on the new laptop as we speak. What kind of laptop is it? It is a super swank black MacBook. So cool. I love it. Alright, enough about that. I uploaded some more photos and I should also mention that I found a new web album to upload my photos to: Google's Picasa. It's good. You can see the difference. I restructured my albums by month (starting with this year, because I didn't feel like going way back in time). I hope you like how it is. This new album is great because allegedly you can download full size picturs, so no more poor quality downloads for those of you who like to use my pictures as desktop backgrounds (I'm looking at you, mom). Til next time ...

displace me

Last night, Luc, Tom and myself displaced ourselves. We were part of an event with over 60,000 other people across the country who left their beds and slept in a displacement camp for one night, to see what it was like, and to try to understand how people in northern Uganda have been living for over a decade. We were told to bring certain provisions and items, such as

Cardboard: Bring enough cardboard to build something the size of a small tent. The displaced in Northern Uganda were given 48 hours to leave their homes and move into camps where they had to build their own huts. As a part of recreating IDP camps, you will build your own hut out of cardboard.

Sleeping bag: You will be sleeping outside. A sleeping bag is essential, especially for cities where it is expected to be cold. Check the weather and dress warm.

Water bottle: Bring a 1.5-L, sealed water bottle to be collected upon entry. These will be redistributed to you later in the night. They will not be sent to Uganda. Those in the camps must rely on others for the provision of water. As a part of the simulation, you will do the same.

Saltine crackers: Bring one sealed box of saltine crackers to be collected upon entry. These will be redistributed to you later in the night. They will not be sent to Uganda. Those in the camps rely on foreign aid for their food rations. As a part of the simulation, you will do the same.

Art Supplies: Many Ugandans consider their homes an extension of who they are and decorate the surfaces of these huts to make a statement about their displacement. You will do the same. Draw, paint, or glue, but be creative.

Picture: Bring a picture of yourself wearing a white shirt with a red X. These will be used in the letters to political leaders.

So we did all this and built our shelter. It withstood the rain and wind and we made it through the night. We feasted on saltine crackers and water, and by 9pm, it was a feast. We listened to testimonials from Ugandans living in the camps as they described what their daily life is like. We wrote letters to the Ugandan President and our Senators, urging them to get involved to end the war.

This movement all started when 3 Americans fresh out of college went over to Africa to film a documentary. The story they came back with, Invisible Children, changed their lives and prompted them to start an organization of the same name that is doing what it can to put an end to the war.

One of the filmmakers, Bobby Baily, was at the NYC site. Before it got too dark, all those at the camp were filmed in a variety of scenes, which will be used in the finished documentary. I will be sure to post a link when the mini-clips come out about the Displace Me event.

It was an awesome event and all three of us had a great time. Pictures are posted of our evening, so be sure to check them out and see what we were up to.

wrap up of spring im sports

So this whole past week was playoff week for IM sports. I was on the soccer and volleyball teams, and here is a quick wrap up of how they went.



Volleyball:
Well, we made it to the semi-finals, despite losing every regular season game we actually played (that's because we only played 2 games because all the other teams forfeited out of the league). It was a really good game. Went 3 sets. Unfortunately, we lost in the end. I am doomed to never win IM Volleyball.

Soccer:
Quarter finals were Sunday and it was bright and beautiful. We won that game rather easily and then went on to the semi-finals on Tuesday. That team was much tougher, we but we won and went on to the finals on Wednesday. Now, on Wednesday, it started to sprinkle around 5pm and our game was at 6:30pm. By the time the game was to start, it was a steady rain, but both teams showed up and decided to play anyway. We went through both 20 minutes halves scoreless. Then 1 5 minute over time. Then another. Then sudden death. Still 0-0. Very even times. We ended the game in penalty kicks: us 2, them 0. Santiago, our goalie, was a brick wall. He gets the game ball for sure. So that's it. We won IM Outdoor Soccer. We are the soccer champs.

recap of last weekend

So much has been happening this past week, and I have been taking so many pictures, but I've had no opportunities to upload the pictures or let you know that I've even taken them. So here is a wrap up from this past weekend (so what, 4-5 days ago?).

First off, where did summer come from? It pretty much came up and wacked me in the face Saturday and Sunday when the temperature soared to the upper 80's. It was, in one word, awesome.

Unfortunately, I had to do some errands on Saturday. That made me sad, because I just wanted to be outside, but the car ride was nice with the windows down and the sunroof open, and I got them done quick enough. After that, Luc and I packed a quick picnic lunch and headed outside to enjoy the sunshine. We camped out by the GC and watched a bunch of Indian students (and one New Zealander) play a game of cricket. It was quite fun to watch. We spent the whole match trying to figure out what the rules of that game actually are. We came pretty close (looked it up on wikipedia afterwards). It was so nice and sunny, I started to get sunburned. Wonderful.

After that, I hopped on my bike and headed to a local bike shop to pick up some parts for my bike. I got a basket, bell, new pedals and mud guards for the wheels. Oh, and new grips. It's totally tricked out now. I love it. Especially the bell.

Once I got back to the GC, I had to hurry up and change because at 5:00PM we (my ChE class) had a cultural potluck dinner. We dressed up as our culture and brought food from our culture. Unfortunately, most of the people in my class who actually have foreign cultures to us Americans were not there. Baley wore a kimono, because she's half Japanese and make Japanese curry. That was good. Bob dressed as a classic snob from Connecticut and brought finger sandwiches. I dressed like a Rhode Islander on her yacht and brought shrimp cocktail and coffee milk (yum!). Tom was sporting a trucker cap and miller lite T-shirt (he's from Indiana) and brought corn. Finally, one other culture of note, Beth came dressed up as a Mennonite, because she's from the middle of Pennsylvania. Luc would have worn a cowboy hat if he had one, but he did not. There are a number of pictures from this festive occasion, so you should check them out. Oh, and Luc's friend Malissa came down from NYC, and even though she didn't know of the cultural potluck, she came dressed as a very typical New Yorker.

After the potluck, we all headed over to the Frist Campus Center to watch Dave Franco and a number of other friends preform in a dance show by 888 (Asian Dance Company). The show featured both traditional Asian dances and hip-hop. It was quite good, and quite hysterical. One number featured Dave as Paula Abdul in an American Idol-esque dance bit. Priceless.

Finally, the evening ended with a trip to the D-Bar, where there was a live band. All I can say about that is they were terrible.

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful. My first plan was a pick-up beach volleyball game at the sand courts by the GC. Played for only about 30 minutes, but managed to skin my elbow because apparently there is only about an inch of sand above the concrete below the court. Yeah. Ouch. Don't worry, they're getting new sand in this week. I complained.

After that I had to dash off to the soccer fields to play in the IM Outdoor Soccer quarter final match. It was hot, but wonderful. We won. That put us on the the semi-finals ... and more about IM sports will be reported in the next blog entry. This one is long enough.

The evening wound down with me and Luc fixing up my bike, then relaxing the evening away. It was such a busy weekend.

Pictures from the potluck and 888 performance can be found in the usual place (photos, album: life 2007).

ninja club card

It was a long wait, but it was worth it. I am officially Dan Certified by the Kukkiwon. For those of you who don't know what that means, I have my first degree black belt in Taekwondo. It was a long but fun road. I hope to keep going. There are pictures up (life 2007) featuring me getting my belt, my dad testing for his black belt and some other really cool things that happen at a black belt testing.

grad student formal

Well, this post has been a long time coming, but this week has been rather busy so far. Believe it or not, I have been doing work. I know, it's difficult to wrap your mind around. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, every year the graduate college hosts a formal. It's a black tie optional event that includes a string quartet, waltzing, desserts and cocktails. Quite the evening. Luc was my date (like you didn't see that coming) and he was all dressed up in his tux (yes, he owns one). We went early to the waltz lesson which was at 9:30PM and had quite the good time. By the end of the evening I wasn't putting my feet under his anymore and I was beginning to get the hang of following (instead of leading ...). Pictures are up. That is all.

broomball playoffs

Even though it was a late game last night (12:30AM), our broomball team pulled through and took a 3-0 victory. We only had one casualty. Luc hurt his knee and is on crutches now. He's fine though. He's loving the attention. Here is what our captain, Dave, had to say about the game:

Heros,

Congratulations on a great win last night! I thought we played the best all around game of the season including lots of great defense, talking, offense, and goalieing. Awesome job. Last night's game ball went to Kate for her solid play on defense and offense. There were at least two times when they might have had a two on goalie if not for some solid play. And there's nothing better than seeing the opponents superstars get frustrated because they kept getting it taken away by Kate...haha, loved it!

Tonight's game (10:30pm) will likely be a tough one as we'll be missing our right winger, Luc, due to a serious knee injury suffered yesterday. However, there is still lots of great players on the squad and I think we can and will still pull it off! So get your friends together, rally the troops, and I will see you down there on the ice at 10:20. Go Heros!

~ Dave

Oh, and there are some new pictures up in life 2007.

puerto rico

March 18 – 21, 2007
San Juan and Fajardo, Puerto Rico

(for pictures go to the travels page)

This was my first trip with Luc. Let me first say, that he is a first rate travel companion. No complaints that our flight was 1 hour delayed on our leg out (getting into San Juan around 2AM instead of 1AM), nor about the fact that I apparently cannot drive on the correct side of the road (island driving is crazy, what do you want from me … I was trying to fit in). He also didn’t complain about us shelling out ridiculous amounts of money for cab fairs because we were idiots and couldn’t figure out how to take the bus. Sheesh, you’d think I’ve never traveled before. Don’t worry. The trip was totally awesome. A real get-a-way … since we were only there for 2.5 days. We made the most of it though.

I am pleased to say that our first hotel, which was the crap hotel since we just needed a cheap place to get 4 hours of sleep (3 AM – 7 AM), had no bed bugs. Believe me, I’ve had that happened in Puerto Rico before. However, the Mango Inn is bed-bug free, for future reference. Our first day started out bright and sunny. We strapped on our packs and were ready to head back to the airport to pick up our rental car, because we were going to jet out of San Juan and head to quieter Fajardo, on the east coast. Now, when booking this first hotel, from the website it said that it was walking distance from the airport. Yeah, walking distance if you want to walk on a 6 lane highway. After a bit of walking (we had taken a cab the night before since it was so late), we determined that walking was not an option. Now, instead of thinking to try public transportation (which totally did not occur to me), we hailed the next cab. Luc told the driver (in Spanish, none the less), that we wanted to go to the airport, and specifically the Dollar Rental place. The driver told Luc that he didn’t think that Dollar was at the airport, but right outside it. Now, I figured we should just go to the airport, because if the rental place is not there, there would probably be a shuttle that would take you. That’s how these things work. The cab driver had better ideas. You see, there is a flat rate from San Juan to the airport: $13. If he took us to the rental place, though, then we would be charged $23. You can guess where we ended up in our ignorance. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

After we picked up our rental car, we hopped on the highway and made our way to Fajardo and the nearby beaches. We did quite well navigating, since we seemed to end up on highways that weren’t on our maps. Luc directed us to a nice beach near Fajardo: Playa Seven Seas. We were looking for a nice quiet beach. What did we find? Jackpot. There were a total of 5 people we could see and parking was free. We hit that up til lunch time, then drove a bit til we found some shacks serving lunch. Delicious. After that, we went back to the beach, but then walked about a half mile west to Playa Escondida (Hidden Beach). On the way there, Luc found a number of conch shells (5 total). Many were in good shape too. Upon arrival, guess how many people where there? Just 2 … me and Luc. Yes ladies and gentlemen, we found a secluded beach. I didn’t think they existed anymore. I was wrong. It was great. We lounged about the rest of the afternoon before making our way back to the car and finally driving into Fajardo where our hotel was.

Now, I was a bit nervous about this hotel. Luc booked the airline tickets, so then he made me do all the hard work and find hotels. I found this one and it looked far too good to be true. It was inexpensive, yet looked like a resort. I figured the pictures were lying. I can make bad places look good with my camera too. However, it was exactly as advertised. We had a room with a balcony with views of the ocean. The hotel had 2 restaurants and 2 swimming pools (one with water slide and waterfall). There was also a mini-golf course. Quite nice. Everything was clean and beautiful. We won again. That night we hung out at the hotel exploring, because that’s what you do at new hotels. We ate at the Mexican restaurant in the hotel (really inexpensive, and the food was good) and proceeded to have our first tropical drinks of the trip (strawberry margaritas … no little umbrellas though). After that, we were exhausted since we didn’t get much sleep the night before, so we went to bed. A very nice day.

Day 2 dawned bright and beautiful. We got our gear together because that day we went hiking in the rain forest. It was a quick drive (about 30-40 min) to El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest. We hiked one of the more popular trails, because halfway down the trail one runs into a waterfall that you can go swimming under. We did that, naturally. The water was frigid, but it felt good after hiking in the warm forest. After hiking, we went back to the hotel. Earlier that morning we had tried to make reservations on a night time kayak expedition to a nearby bioluminescent bay (Laguna Grande). Unfortunately, there was no more space for that evening and we were heading back to NJ the next day, so we couldn’t do that. Next time though. Instead, we explored the large pool with waterfall and water slide at the hotel. It was nice and relaxing. We also played a round of mini-golf. Dinner was eaten at a local seafood restaurant, Rosa’s. It was quite good. Luc had conch … the animal from a conch shell. It was chewy. That’s all I have to say about that.

The last day we awoke early to get the car back to the rental place by 9:20AM. We made it just fine, even though it was a bit tricky to find the right roads to take us to the rental place. Then we took the free shuttle to the airport and started to have a few problems. I think that the San Juan airport just doesn’t like us. See, we were hoping we’d be able to do something with our bags, because we did not relish the idea of traipsing about old San Juan with our huge backpacks on. Ideally there would be a luggage storage room. If not that, then maybe we could check our bags, but our flight was not until 7:30PM and I didn’t know how early one could check luggage. We thought our hopes had been answered when we saw a sign that said “luggage storage”. We followed the sign but after a bit of walking with our bags, we were at a loss as to where this alleged storage place was. We walked back to the sign to see if we had missed something, but we hadn’t. I checked down a narrow corridor and there it was. Hooray! Except it was locked. Boo! We looked around to see if there was someone to ask, but there was no one. We headed back to the Jet Blue check-in counter and thought to try checking our baggage. After getting our baggage inspected by the USDA and waiting in line for a while, we finally got up to the counter. We mentioned how our flight wasn’t until 7:30PM and the lady said she could only check in our luggage 4 hours before the flight. Strike 2. Now what were we to do? She said there was a luggage storage place around the corner, and to find a porter to ask him to take it. So we searched for a porter and finally found one. Returned to the storage room and waited a bit til someone came and unlocked and took our luggage for $3.00 a bag. Finally success. I was getting a bit cranky because it was taking so long to get this accomplished, and the severe lack of people to ask irritated me.

We walked back outside, our packs greatly lightened, and found the bus stop. No more taxis for us. We got $2 out (since fare was $0.75 each) and awaited the bus. It came and as we tried to present the money, the bus driver informed us that the machine only accepted change. Gah! We frantically scrounged about and came up with 30 cents. It’s all we had. Luck was with us, though. The bus driver just motioned for us to throw it in and take a seat. Woot! We had to transfer buses to make it to old San Juan, and while waiting for our transfer we bought a pack of gum with $5 in order to get lots of change for the next fare. The bus ride into old San Juan was uneventful, if long (about 45 min – 1 hr). Our first order of business once we got off the bus was to find lunch. In my guidebook were two recommendations that looked good. Unfortunately, neither of them seemed to exist anymore, as when we approached the address, the buildings looked long abandoned. I was getting really hungry, so I said we’d eat at the next place we found. Around the corner we saw an open-air café. It was one of the places we were looking for!! It had apparently moved since the publication of my guidebook. Needless to say, it was amazing. Exactly what we wanted. Delicious panini and we had tiramisu for dessert. Wonderful! After that we made our way to the fort and just hung out there for a few hours. It was sad when we had to make our way back to the bus station and back to the airport. I could have stayed 2, 3, 4 more days. Probably longer. What a great vacation.

For pictures, I direct you to my travel page and from there photos. There are many of them. Hope you have nothing else to do.

old news

I know, it's been a while, but I got distracted with school ... or something. As many of you know (or maybe don't know), I just got back from spending 3 days in Puerto Rico. This post, however, is not about that, or any pictures I took. That will come later. You'll have to wait a bit. This is just letting you know that I posted pictures from my trip to NYC to see Luc's friend Malissa perform in a choral concert at Carnegie Hall. It was awesome. Not only were we in Carnegie Hall, we had box seats ... and the tickets were free. I sure lead a charmed life.

Beyond that, we are in the playoffs for broomball, even though we lost our last match last week against a really mean team. I want to beat them up. And sadly, we lost yet again in volleyball, so our record stands at 3-2, with all of our wins being forfeits. Let's see if we make the playoffs.

new pictures

This is just me letting you know that there are new pictures in my life 2007 album. What pictures could these be? Just some publicity shots of our Hoagie Haven sponsored broomball team, taken by Tom (a.k.a. Trash Talking Tom). Many came out quite nice. I'm wearing the bright orange pants in the shots, so you can pick me out, and yes Dad, we wear hockey helmets while playing. So you should look at them. Many are good. If you have no idea what broomball is, here is your chance to see some action shots.

Here is an IM sport wrap-up:
Broomball: 2-1
Volleyball: 1-0
Soccer: season starts up soon!

documented weekend

This weekend was crazy busy, if you didn't see from my snazzily posted calendar (see link to the right). What happened, you may be asking?

Well, first off, this past weekend was our (ChE Department) recruiting weekend. After people get accepted to the graduate program in our department, we have 2 hosting weekends for them to come visit: meet faculty, students, check out the campus, etc. I signed up to be a lead host on Thursday night and Saturday , so that involved a lot. Thursday night I was in charge of organizing dinner (with Bob, my co-leader). We took the recruits out to dinner at Winberies, a local pub/restaurant, in two shifts: one at 7:30PM for those who had arrived in Princeton, and a later one at 9PM for late arrivals. It was quite enjoyable, especially since the department picked up the tab, but I got the points on my credit card (I get reimbursed).

After that, we took them to the Yankee Doodle Tap Room, a pub in the hotel where they were staying in the center of town. It was quite fun. We were there until it closed (12AM). Seemed like the recruits had a good time. After that I moseyed back to my room and fell asleep. I was exhausted.

Friday during the day was rather hectic because in the evening ... I went to the opera! It was fantastic! Luc and I went to see Die Zauberfloete (the Magic Flute) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Quite fun. However, the day was hectic because I have class normally until 5:30/6PM (depending upon when the professor stops lecturing) and we needed to catch a 6:06PM train at Princeton Junction, which involved driving to the train station in rush hour traffic. I was worrying. Here was the solution: in the morning, I packed up everything I needed for the evening, clothes for the evening plus I made sandwiches and packed snacks for dinner on the train. I gave Luc my dress that I was going to wear that evening and then went off to class. At 5:00, I left class early (don't worry, I got permission) and met Luc outside the E-Quad. He was all ready to go (dressed in a tux!) and gave me my dress. I ran inside, changed in the bathroom, grabbed our dinner and met him at his car (~5:20PM). We then drove to the train station and had about 10 minutes to wait on the platform. All in all, good timing. It was so much fun going to the opera house. Everyone was quite dressed up (we got really dressed up just for fun, but I was surprised to see others wearing tuxedos and evening gowns, spersed in with cheap-seat-ticket-holders wearing jeans. This was the first opera I ever saw and I loved it. In front of your seat, you have "met titles" which are subtitles for the show, so you can turn them on if you wish to understand more. It was quite good. After the show, we headed back to Penn Station to get our train back to NJ. We didn't get back until 2:30 AM, which was unfortunate, because that meant we totally missed the 80's Party at the D-Bar that evening. Oh well, can't do everything.

Saturday dawned warm and beautiful. I am so ready for spring!! I had volunteered to take the recruits around on the housing tour (because I had a car, so I could drive) and that meant I got free lunch at the super swank Palmer House. It was nice. Delicious. And so warm outside! After lunch, took the recruits on the housing tour which included showing my room off. Then after that, since it was so nice and I had 2 hours to kill before meeting the recruits again, Luc and I went for a walk through campus, ending up on Nassau street and getting some drinks at Starbucks. It was nice, but I could feel it getting cooler as the evening pressed on. Best thing: long afternoon shadows at 4:45 PM now instead of 2:30 PM. Spring is coming!! After that I drove back to Nassau Inn to pick up the recruits going on my evening activity: rock climbing. We had dinner first at the Thai Village (paid for by the department) and then headed down to the Trenton area where there is a rock gym (Rockville). It was good. I climbed some tough routes for me (5.7). Next I'll try the 5.7+ I couldn't finish the first time I went. Mostly though, I belayed for the recruits who were climbing. After that (about 9:30PM) we went to the Princetonian Diner for some dessert. I had a delicious Reeses Chocolate cake. So good. So big. I took half of it home and ate it this afternoon. I also saw my advisor, Dr. Floudas, at the diner. It was weird. I said "hi" though. Then we took the recruits back to the hotel and I headed home. Before going to bed, however, I stopped by the D-Bar where a bunch of people were relaxing and having some drinks. It was quite fun. Then I went to bed. Now it is cold out. Spring needs to come back.

I uploaded a bunch of pictures I took throughout the weekend (hence "documented" weekend). Also, I should mention, I renamed the princeton albums to life since they feature general photos taken in my life. That is all. Hope you look at the pictures.

what am i up to

Oh I love google. For your viewing pleasure, I have created a google calendar ... so now you can see just exactly what I am up to every day. I know you are thrilled. Check out the new link to the right: calendar. Other than that, nothing else to report.

wet snow new camera

We sort of had some snowfall last night, except it got warmer this morning so the snow is very wet and drippy. Made for a slushy day. Luckily, I wore my rain boots with wool socks. A good combination. I took some wet snowy pictures on my walk from the E-Quad back to the GC with my new point-and-shoot digital camera. Now, if you are my parents, you might be thinking something like, "What! Why? What is wrong with your totally awesome and cool digital SLR camera?" Fear not. There is nothing wrong. This was just phase 2 in my quest to own cameras. You see, digital SLR is by far totally awesome and cool, especially because I like photography and try to be an amateur photographer, however, it is not so convenient to slip into your pocket if you're going to NYC for the evening for dinner and drinks. Hence the pocket-size point-and-shoot. It is the smallest camera I could find (depth of only 0.7") and fits quite nicely in my pocket. So there you have it.

There are new pictures in winter snapshots and I also added some pictures of my new room (well, two rooms). You can see those in the princeton 2007 album.

hope

Spring is on the way. I can feel it. Flowers smell nice in the late winter. That being said, this past week was a crazy busy week. I am exhausted just thinking about how crazy it was. Here is a day by day breakdown:

• Monday - watched the men's broomball game which started at 12:30 AM!!!
• Tuesday - organized and ran "Critical Points", a departmental social hour, with Bob
• Wednesday - visited Justin in the hospital (he's home now and doing ok)
• Thursday - went to NYC with mom to see the Broadway musical Tarzan
• Friday - visited the new D-Bar (bar in the basement of my building) for a bit before falling asleep far too early on a Friday night
• Saturday - went to a dance performance and then again stopped by the D-Bar but left rather early on account of the tiredness

It's ok though, I'm feeling good now. Got up early, believe it or not (well, early for me). Over and out.

best game ever

So everyone has been on me for a while to post the pictures I took at our inaugural broomball game. Before I get into that, you may be asking what "broomball" is. Well, simply put, it is one of the best games ever invented. It is an intramural sport here at Princeton and our illustrious master's student, Dave, put together a team (both co-ed and mens). Here is how the game is played:

• It's like hockey ... but with sneakers (yes, it's still on an ice rink)
• ... and instead of sticks, you use brooms (well, short sticks with triangle wedges at the base, but originally it was a broom)
• Helmets are a must ... since falling is more common than coordination
• Ball is slightly smaller than a size 3 soccer ball

So basically, it's tons of fun. That being said, the men had a game last Monday and won it with 3 unanswered goals in the final half. Here is Dave's rendition of the game for your reading pleasure:

The first half of the game was well played but the inexperience showed and we let up three goals in quick succession. However, one of the keys to broomball is believing in yourself and each other and I think we've got better team spirit than anyone out there - it showed in this game, when after falling down 3-1 in the first half, the men's team really opened it up and scored not 1, not 2, but THREE unanswered goals to win the match 4-3!!! The second half consisted of sharp passing, great communication, timely shooting and most of all a ton of heart! We outworked the team and whether it was Luc taking it in and beating the goalie 1-on-1 (twice), pan making several incredible sprawling saves, bob controlling the flow of the game and feeding us beautiful passes (all while talking trash and throwing 'bows), or D-2 (Dave) out hustling everyone to the ball and giving up his body like a hooker with a bad crack habit, it was a game won on heart. Game ball goes to Pan who played keep the entire second half and didn't give up a single goal, despite much heavy pressure. Nice job, Pan. In a post-game interview, when asked how he did it, Pan replied "It's easy, I'm short" :) Congratulations again guys and what a thrilling way to start the season!

I cheered them on at that game and took close to 300 photos. Don't worry. About 90% of them were garbage so I weeded it down to a few good ones and posted them in the princeton album. The following night (Tuesday), the co-ed team made their appearance. Here is Laura's synopsis of the match

Basically, everyone played incredibly well, and it was great to see how we came together as a team after only ONE game together - can't wait to see what the coming weeks bring as we hone our skillz. Already looking forward to Peter's pre-funk fiesta, where we can discuss strategies and make plays! :) game ball goes to...drum roll please....more drumming.... THE TEAM. It was truly a great effort by everyone, and the passing, talking, falling, sliding, and scoring were on point! Congrats on a job well done . . . the other teams are already jealous of our sponsorship, and now we'll have to keep the momentum and make them jealous of our amazing skills. Granted not all the games will be that easy, but what a way to start the season!

Oh, and let me just mention a few more things ... (1) we are sponsored by a local sub place (Hoagie Haven) just for fun. It's awesome. They gave us T-shirts. (2) A special thanks goes out to Trash Talking Tom for his efforts in discouraging other teams before they hit the ice.

valentine's day can be not so bad

Amidst all the "singles awareness" events that took place yesterday, I discovered once again that Valentine's Day can be a day to celebrate simple friendships and acknowledge the people in your life that make it worth living.

Case in point: I entered the grad lounge after my first class yesterday to discover that there were a myriad of flowers in some of the mailboxes. I initially thought, "Aw, how nice. Someone took the effort make someone's day. I wish one of those mailboxes were mine." And lo and behold, one was. Apparently on Monday night the guys in my class (1st year ChE class) decided to put together cards and flowers for all the girls in the class. How nice and thoughtful. The cards were wonderful too, everyone's was personalized. Here is what mine said:

Dear Meghan,

Where would we be if there was not a person like you to laugh at our jokes, point out our stupidity, and partake in our high jinks. You add to the group in so many ways, from Victoria's Secret fashion shows, to DDR tournaments, Naruto lunch boxes, googly eyed socks and of course those crazy boots. Meg, you'll always be a winner in our book!

Love, Ashwin "the submachine gun" Subramani, Santiago "the Mexican psycho" Romero, Justin "I am obnoxious as hell" Spaeth, Varun "the V-dawg" Kumar, Yoosik "I've got office hours" Kim, Bob "I miss my frat" Batten, Tom "I know my Wikipedia" Eyster, and Dave "I can power a small village" Franco

Isn't that so nice?? I thought so. Anyway, my class is great. Couldn't have asked for a better one. Oh, and I took some pictures because it snowed so there are two updated albums. Check them out.

new place

Just a quick little blurb to let everyone know that I have moved. Fear not, my mailing address is the same (for those of you who send me mail). My room number at the GC has simply changed. Instead of 168 it is now 128. Want to know the best part? It's a two-room single. That's right. I have a single ... and two rooms: a study and a bedroom. I bought a full size bed at Ikea yesterday, I was so excited.

Oh, and my study has a fireplace. It's awesome. More info and pictures will follow next week, when it's all set up to my liking.

winter snapshots

It finally really snowed here. Well, not that great of a snowfall, but the best we've had (better than flurries that don't accumulate). Princeton is painted in 1 inch of pure white icing (how long will that last ...) and I woke up the next morning and rushed to my window to stare in wide-eyed wonder at the new world. Really. That's what happened. Anyway, since I had an autumnal progression album to photographically document the changing of the leaves, I decided to put up a winter album, except instead of a progression, this album is called "winter snapshots" because no one wants to see pictures of a grey tree branch that doesn't change all throughout winter unless it has some fluffy snow on it. So look at the new album ... just a few pictures of the snow on that first morning.

free adventures

Last night I went on a last minute adventure for free. I headed up to New York City for a showing of Blue Man Group. It was fantastic. How was it free, you may ask? Well, Luc's best friend, Malissa, lives and works in New York. Specifically she has this totally sweet job where she works for Blue Man Group in NYC. She told Luc that occasionally she gets emails saying that they have extra tickets for the next night's show ... that last minute. Luc told her to call him if that ever happens, because he'd go. So, Tuesday night at dinner, Luc got a phone call. Malissa said the tickets were being offered, he asked me if I wanted to go, I didn't hesitate with my "yes" and about 30 minutes later we had a confirmation email from Malissa saying that we got the tickets. Sweet.

Oh, and the NJ Transit trains are free this week to students, so our ride to New York was free too. I win.

ddr tournament = awesome

Since bringing Martha's Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) equipment with me to Princeton, many have been asking me when we were going to have a big DDR party or tournament. It was decided to hold one in the New Grad College TV Room (big wide screen TV) on the evening after we all finished our Thermo final. That was last night.

So I put together a double elimination tournament bracket including everyone in the class (minus Baley since she had to study for an exam for the next morning) plus Luc and Peter (our math TA) and we even got Laura (Plasma Physicist) in there.

Being the dork that I am, I used a random number generator to put together the initial match-ups. Let me tell you, there were some good match-ups. The main event was, by far, Ashwin vs. Varun, our two Indian classmates. They had never played before, yet Ashwin tore up the dance floor, losing in the 2nd round of matches in the winner's bracket. In an unforeseen upset, Luc beat me in the 2nd round of matches in the winner's bracket. That sent me to the loser's bracket, which brought heckling from Bob. His heckling was short lived, however, when he lost to Samantha in the 3rd round of matches in the winner's bracket. Beth, never having played before, did fairly well in her match-ups and just barely lost to Justin in the loser's bracket. Yoosik went on to the 2nd round in the winner's bracket (defeating Santiago) but then forfeited because he had to leave the tournament. In his place, we managed to convince Laura to play Ashwin (no small feat). After her first loss, however, she refused to play anymore, giving Justin a "bye" in the 3rd round in the loser's bracket. For all his talk, I beat Bob in the loser's bracket then went on to match up with Luc once more to determine the winner of the loser's bracket. This time, he upped his play level to standard (from light ... since he's good now). I beat him. Easily. It was no contest. Then I went on to play Samantha and after a tight match, I came out ahead. It was a good game though. Good tournament. I hope everyone had fun. I know I did.

Pictures from the event are in the princeton album, so check them out. Main event pictures are there, Tom going crazy, even a shot of Laura.