Sorry about not posting for a while. I guess it's just been one long progression of events. Finals week, then Science Olympiad tournament, then visiting North Carolina, then ACS meeting and the start of a new semester.
As to not write a monstrously long message, I'll keep it fairly short.
The Science Olympiad tournament went really well. I wrote the exams for two events, but given my limited ability of being in only one place at a time, I only ran one of them, but was in the room next door to the other one so that if there were any questions the proctor had about the other exam, they could easily come over and ask me. Alpana and Nikhil volunteered with me, which was really helpful, and I think both events went smoothly (at least I didn't hear any complaints). I've talked to the state tournament director, and I'll be running another event at U of I on April 21 for a middle school event. I'm having trouble finding people to help me out for that one though... everybody seems to be busy that weekend.
My visit to North Carolina was nice. The weather was warmer, and it was relaxing, albeit short. I'll have to find time to visit longer next time, but it was good to see everybody since it had been 7-8 months since I had been home.
In other news, I found out I got an National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship! This means I have my own funding for grad school for the next 3 years, and it gives me a lot more flexibility for projects I want to pursue. This is excellent news for any grad student, so I'm very excited about being awarded such a prestigious fellowship. Of course, it was also great news for my advisor, since he'll save a lot of money from not having to pay my stipend.
I'd love to write more but I'm exhausted this week from class and attending the ACS meeting. The meeting started Sunday and runs through Thursday, and I've had to take the train over an hour each way for the past three days to watch 4 hours of talks every afternoon. I enjoy it, but it's just tiring.
I'll try to post again soon, and not wait over 3 weeks to update.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
Another update
Alright, I never posted what else I did besides the ski trip last week. I can't even remember what I did in the early part of last week- it was probably just studying for my polymers test so who cares about that. Thursday I presented at group meeting again, and Brian visited me Thursday night since he was in the area for the week. We made homemade pizza (alfredo/broccoli, pesto, and tomato/onion/garlic/pepper/pepperoni). I hadn't had a pizza night since December, so the pizza was especially tasty. Then Brian and I had a Trivial Pursuit showdown which was rather disappointing. We pretty much each got our 6 pieces at the same time (technically I was first by a turn or two), but then I absolutely could not get to the middle of the board for the final questions. Brian ended up getting into the middle 6 times before getting his question right, and I only had 2 chances even though I had probably rolled the dice about 3 times more by answering lots of science questions. Anyway, he won legitimately (even if the question was ALMOST a repeat question about agent orange), so I can' complain.
This past weekend I went to a blues bar called Kingston Mines with prospective students for the department and a whole bunch of current grad students. The music was alright, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the smokers, loudness, drunk people, etc. Not exactly my scene, but it was cool to get to talk to some of the prospective students (after leaving of course, haha).
This week I've got two finals and a project due so I'm not getting anything productive done in terms of lab work.
In other news, I ran into a door today. Yeah, that's right. I was leaving campus, and I wasn't really paying attention when I went to open the door to leave the building, and the door just stopped opening about halfway. The door stopped, but I continued moving and ran headfirst into a giant heavy metal door. Needless to say, there's a huge gash above my left eye (about an inch long) that gapes wide open without the butterfly band-aids and liquid bandage I covered it with. There was a guy coming in from the other side of the door at the same time, but after he saw what happened to me said "I think I'll try another door". I proceeded to bleed everywhere and had to go back into the building to the men's bathroom to check out the damage. It actually stopped bleeding rather quickly, but I had a case of the uglies before walking to CVS to buy hydrogen peroxide, Neosporin, and all the band-aid equipment. Now when everybody asks me what happened to my face, I hesitantly admit that I ran into a door. I may need to complain to somebody about that door. It's strange because I always walk out another door, but for some reason I went out a different one today, and needless to say, I won't be using that door again.
I'l have to post a picture later. I've got work to do.
Hope everybody is doing well, and avoiding all doors...
This past weekend I went to a blues bar called Kingston Mines with prospective students for the department and a whole bunch of current grad students. The music was alright, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the smokers, loudness, drunk people, etc. Not exactly my scene, but it was cool to get to talk to some of the prospective students (after leaving of course, haha).
This week I've got two finals and a project due so I'm not getting anything productive done in terms of lab work.
In other news, I ran into a door today. Yeah, that's right. I was leaving campus, and I wasn't really paying attention when I went to open the door to leave the building, and the door just stopped opening about halfway. The door stopped, but I continued moving and ran headfirst into a giant heavy metal door. Needless to say, there's a huge gash above my left eye (about an inch long) that gapes wide open without the butterfly band-aids and liquid bandage I covered it with. There was a guy coming in from the other side of the door at the same time, but after he saw what happened to me said "I think I'll try another door". I proceeded to bleed everywhere and had to go back into the building to the men's bathroom to check out the damage. It actually stopped bleeding rather quickly, but I had a case of the uglies before walking to CVS to buy hydrogen peroxide, Neosporin, and all the band-aid equipment. Now when everybody asks me what happened to my face, I hesitantly admit that I ran into a door. I may need to complain to somebody about that door. It's strange because I always walk out another door, but for some reason I went out a different one today, and needless to say, I won't be using that door again.
I'l have to post a picture later. I've got work to do.
Hope everybody is doing well, and avoiding all doors...
Friday, March 02, 2007
Ski Trip and more
So I haven't been able to post since the ski trip, so I'll give a little run down on how it went to start off:
A group of 12 of us headed up from Evanston last Friday to Wausau, WI, to enjoy the slopes of Granite Peak. The car I went in left around 7 since some of the students had group meeting until 6, so we didn't end up getting there until midnight. We played a huge game similar to Mafia for a few hours, and in the morning at 9 hit the slopes. I had to teach Nikhil how to ski, so the entire day I was going down the beginner's slope helping him. He actually wasn't that bad, aside from not being able to turn right. Here's a picture of me, Andres, and Nikhil about mid-day. My face is half-frozen so I'm not smiling normal, but I assure you I would be smiling less awkwardly if I had feeling in my cheeks.
I kept skiing all day until about 7 o'clock, after which I came back to the lodge to find almost everybody in the hot tub situated outside in the freezing weather. As nobody brought their swimming suits, everybody was wearing either their underwear or a pair of shorts, so it was rather comical. We relaxed out there for a while and then dried off in the sauna for a bit before having an awesome dinner cooked by one of our classmates, Zhenxing. By that time, I was pretty exhausted, so I ended out the night with a game of Taboo and a few more Bang games, and headed to bed.
Luckily the next morning it wasn't snowing and we were able to hit the road and make it back to Evanston on schedule. It was a great trip, and I look forward to doing it again. Here are some more pictures:
A scandalous picture after coming back inside from using the hot tub.
The Rib Mountain Inn, where we stayed.
A picture of the group who went; I'm the one taking the picture so I'm not in it.
I'll post more about the rest of my week later. I hope everybody is doing well.
A group of 12 of us headed up from Evanston last Friday to Wausau, WI, to enjoy the slopes of Granite Peak. The car I went in left around 7 since some of the students had group meeting until 6, so we didn't end up getting there until midnight. We played a huge game similar to Mafia for a few hours, and in the morning at 9 hit the slopes. I had to teach Nikhil how to ski, so the entire day I was going down the beginner's slope helping him. He actually wasn't that bad, aside from not being able to turn right. Here's a picture of me, Andres, and Nikhil about mid-day. My face is half-frozen so I'm not smiling normal, but I assure you I would be smiling less awkwardly if I had feeling in my cheeks.
I kept skiing all day until about 7 o'clock, after which I came back to the lodge to find almost everybody in the hot tub situated outside in the freezing weather. As nobody brought their swimming suits, everybody was wearing either their underwear or a pair of shorts, so it was rather comical. We relaxed out there for a while and then dried off in the sauna for a bit before having an awesome dinner cooked by one of our classmates, Zhenxing. By that time, I was pretty exhausted, so I ended out the night with a game of Taboo and a few more Bang games, and headed to bed.Luckily the next morning it wasn't snowing and we were able to hit the road and make it back to Evanston on schedule. It was a great trip, and I look forward to doing it again. Here are some more pictures:
A scandalous picture after coming back inside from using the hot tub.
The Rib Mountain Inn, where we stayed.
A picture of the group who went; I'm the one taking the picture so I'm not in it. I'll post more about the rest of my week later. I hope everybody is doing well.
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