Omar Abu

A Slew of Novelty

2008-08-23T02:07:00.006-04:00

Seems like I made the correct decision in coming here. To my delight, MIT has hurdled over three spots in US News' nefarious rankings, earning the cozy 4th place spot it rightfully deserves (although not along with Caltech >.<). In this farce of rankings, Harvard has once again attained the number one spot (no surprise there considering how many people were upset about Princeton snagging first last year) and the three main ivy's have yet again remained in the top three. Bravo US News. Without you guys, what else could I vehemently make fun of? Getting to the gritty juice of this post, I have snapped some pictures of my room and want to share with you all how my humble temporary (maybe permanent) habitat looks. Know that everything wooden has been graciously provided by Simmons. There is also a special black "surprise" that comes along with every room. It's hidden behind the desk, but I'll leave it up to you all to discover it once you visit campus.

Snazzy right? Well, it required a great deal of work and six people. When I first opened my door, I almost burst into laughter at the absurdity of how despondent my room appeared. Truthfully, this insufficiency stemmed from the lofting of my bed, which I did not like (climbing up these ladders kills the feet). So I gathered together a group of my closest, intimate friends and we spent some time lowering the bed (keep in mind that the furniture is modular). All this was well worth it though because now it's a breeze to jump onto my bed and I won't kill myself by falling off in the morning (seriously, my friend has already accidentally fallen).

After meeting up with Paul (yes, the blogger) and talking about dipping dot machines, a group of us went around to some REX events.

This is how cool MIT is.

Naturally, I went for the ice cream at Baker devouring many scoops of chocolate chunk ice cream. Afterward I experienced one of the most not so well known traditions of MIT: chairing. It's actually a fairly self-explanatory idea. You take Athena chairs from the clusters and ride them down the long and somewhat steep inclines in the underground tunnels (ever wonder why so many of the seats are missing wheels?). After scrapes, bruises, and many wipeouts, we headed back, only to find ourselves in the grasps of East Campus, the land of all scariness for us West Campus folks. Well, let me tell you that I was freakishly surprised that I enjoyed the atmosphere of EC and the projects they do. The senior who showed us around completely modded out his room, using a water hydraulics system to open and close his door automatically through his iPhone. Not stopping at that, he even added this unlocking mechanism that allows him to use his phone to unlock his door. EC takes the lead even more with their obnoxiously large project in their courtyard. Going until about 4 am in the morning every night for the past week, these ECers have been constructing a 3-foot high roller coaster out of plywood while playing Dragon Force over and over. If that's not awesome, then I don't know what is.

Today, after the competition (more on this later), we headed over to the MIT boathouse and had some scrumptous slices of Bertucci's pizza ( still holding true to my pizza promise). After scarfing down the food, I quickly jumped at the opportunity to go sailing - for my first time. It was a blast. Words cannot even explain how exhilarating it felt to be sailing through the heart of Boston with downtown on one side and MIT on the other. The sun was setting and the breeze was just right. I even learned how to meagerly manage the boat. I'm partially convinced that I should join the boating team. Hours are flexible and it's just plain old fun. If anything, I'll attend the Sunday morning sailing class.

Boston skyline ftw!

The even better Boston skyline!

Nothing like home.

Music is in the air and campus is bustling with newcomers. This can only mean orientation is in full swing and so I must venture forth and explore campus. DME has ended after a week of some heartwarming experiences. I cannot wait for the reunions. In a week and a half, classes start. Now, it's time to enjoy myself.

Epic Night

2008-08-20T02:22:00.007-04:00

Tonight was grand. After a long debate with Kelsey about whether we'd end up blogging with ~~watching 40 Year Old Virgin~~ those never-ending psets and all, we ultimately ended up posting, staying once again faithful to our ~~daily~~ shaky commitments to our blogs. Call us mad for diminishing our precious sleep time even more by blogging, but we amazingly produce our best work at these wee hours in the morning. MIT students rock like that. They really do.

The DMEers (Discover Mechanical Engineering FPOP), being the coolest kids on campus, trekked out into Boston for a night of sheer craziness (aka ice cream and shopping). I pretty much fulfilled my "dream" of drooling over the shiny new Apple Store and fell in love with the best shop Boston has to offer: Newbury Comics. Why do I have this new love (I feel like I'm always saying that I love something new...I swear I'm not this fickle in real life)? Because of the best character known to man that was sitting all lonely on the shelf in this store:

< /jealousy>

Wipe that slobber off your keyboard. I know how ridiculously incredible Domo is, especially when he’s holding his own specialty energy drink. I’ve been showing him off to everyone and being that this is MIT, most people are thoroughly impressed. I don’t think the old couple walking by cared too much though, opting to give me weird looks instead. Go figure.

Well, apart from all the fun, DME has been an extraordinary experience. Look soon for posts about my DME days and nightly excursions (wait until you see my Apple Store pictures ^_^).

I’m liking this school more and more everyday, just like an exponential curve (did I mention this place is rubbing off on me too? ).

First Days at School Have Never Been So Great

2008-08-17T08:43:00.011-04:00

I've finally arrived! Yesterday afternoon I bubbly skipped around campus, picked up my orientation folder, and obtained my room key. Since I'm a little early, there are only international students on campus (internationals must be here early), and I've been meeting folks from all over the world. This is such an amazing way to begin the next four years.

Because the finest part of orientation is the folder that is our lifeline to surviving the next two weeks, I thought I’d highlight the components of what I received.

Seeing as this is the coolest school in the world, I’m sure you all would love a look into what us frosh are given on our first day. I’m ready to give you the inside look, so here we go!

After bursting into the student center second floor check-in room, I was handed the orientation bag fraught with all the goodies a frosh could wish for.

Obviously, I lugged that bag around last night proudly proclaiming to everyone that I’m an MIT frosh now. Inside, of course, was the formidable orientation folder.

This is pretty much our guide to orientation. It sports the times of my swim test (need it to graduate :/) and math diagnostic test, FPOP name, and this weird number. Mine is 44. I’ve come to believe it has something important to do once orientation actually begins next week (right now is preorientation). So let’s dissect this bag even further and get to the good stuff.

The first thing inside was the obligatory welcome letter from MIT including a list of important events to attend.

MIT, no doubt thinking us students are not fit enough to drag around hefty course catalogs, gives us a CD of the listings. Better for me, I’d rather have a search function anyway.

Since this is MIT and all with a nuclear reactor smack dab in the middle of campus and danger everywhere, there’s a nifty what-to-do-in-case-of-any-disaster sheet.

There’s even a towel in the bag with TIM the Beaver on it telling us to wash our hands and stay safe from the flu! It’s quite evident that MIT wants us to graduate and donate loads of money.

Orientation is at its heart a uber-large version of CPW with free food and events all the time. As such, it requires its own thick book of events naturally called “The Hitchhiker’s Guide” (my inner geek squeals at that).

No school can be complete without the handbook. In high school, I read my entire handbook on the first day (I’m rolling my eyes right now at my four-year ago self). Am I going to read it this time? Heck, I’d be lucky if I could find enough time to shower let alone read a book (kidding :p).

As many of you probably know, we lucky students visit all the dorms for a week, pick our dorm preferences again, and move in all over. Here is the guide to Residence Exploration (REX) events.

Because we students hate paying for software (torrents ftw), there’s a nifty little reminder about the consequences behind such “illicit” action. Also, included in the computing at MIT packet is the Athena Pocket References, a convoluted guide to using the Athena network at MIT. I cannot wait to dive into computing here.

No big packet from MIT would be complete without something about the COOP.

Unfortunately, the only mention of DME in my folder was this paragraph of information regarding arrival.

With my definite plans to eat pizza everyday (so far so good as I ate at Bertucci’s yesterday), I’ll be making good use of these athletic forms.

Without further ado, the top 3 items in the orientation bag:

3) The TechTube orientation shirt

2) The famous 101 Things to Do Before You Graduate list (I’ve already accomplished a few!)

1) The most amazing school ID ever with shiny MIT logos and all. I’m ready to do some damage seeing as I have access to all the buildings now.

So far I’ve only received one shirt, but since I’ve been here for less than 24 hours, I’m not disappointed yet. I’m hoping to collect at least 10 or so.

Keep tuned for more pictures and info involving MIT, orientation, and Simmons Hall, my humble abode for the next 13 days.

The Journey

2008-08-16T07:18:00.008-04:00

Now that I’ve finally found access to the internet after 12 long hours of uncertainty whether I would survive, I’ve had a chance to post this little write-up I did while on the road yesterday morning.

Sit back and enjoy the ravings of a man who has just left home for a four-month visit to the land of ~~calculus~~ hell.

~~~~~

For the first time, I truly feel like a college kid, finally being cast for the role I was destined to eventually play. I’m at last past city limits, out on the open stretch of road with nothing but 15 hours of pavement and thrilling experiences ahead. It’s a beautiful day, blue skies and no clouds (the Earth must love me or something :D ).

While I’m slightly disappointed to not be flying, my dissatisfaction is partially overcome by my excitement to see Niagara Falls tonight. So if that doesn’t give away my travel plans (or you cheated and scrolled down :P), I am crashing the night in the city of Buffalo (from what I’ve been told by well-placed sources deep within the government, Buffalo isn’t much fun). Tomorrow, we’ll hit the road again and will finally arrive at Boston in the afternoon (naturally, the first item on my repulsively long to-do list is to all out sprint to the student center attempting to contain my desperate desire for my student ID and room key).

So how am I distracting my perceptive conscience away from thinking about the adventures that await me in Boston? I’m reminiscing about how spectacular this morning was. My friends practically surprised me by all gathering at my house to send me off (sorry guys for having to wake up so early, glad you all reached my abode safely). All six of us sat on a comfy patch of concrete on my driveway and sadly conversed for half an hour about everything, our plans for four years, how we’re going to change, and how in four months I’ll have unequivocally gained at least 25 pounds (pizza everyday ftw =) ). Perhaps, the oddest part about my relationship with this amazing circle of friends is how just four years ago I was an outsider, the newcomer who knew no one. Over the course of months, even years, I became seriously close to these people, forming life-long friends and memories to last me eternity. There’s something ineffable in my bonds to these friends, something I’ll be lucky to ever find again. I love you all. Thanks for making high school unforgettably legit.

This is my last post from Michigan for quite some time. As I sit in my dangerously overcrowded van…

…this tingle is slowly spreading through my body at the prospects of the next two weeks, the frenzy that will inevitably wear me down, the buzz of surrealism that will no doubt keep me afloat. Am I ready? At the risk of sounding cliché, I was born ready.

~~~

Because 7 hours is outrageously long for anyone to stay cooped up in a car, I had to find some outlet to keep my sanity intact. While continuously devouring bags of chips seemed like the best option, I opted out for something less taxing on my delicate body (plus, what fun would it be to put on all the pounds now?). So instead I offer you a rundown of my trip.

What follows is the uncut, lewd, and never-before-seen account of my journey to reach MIT. User discretion advised.

8:04 am – I groggily force myself to wake up for I have quite some packing to do still. Naturally, my mom gives me her “disappointed face” and gives me a mini-lecture on “responsibility.” Pssh, clearly she hasn’t learned the true art of packing.

8:20 am – Convincing myself that 20 minutes of TV is perfectly reasonable, I watch a bit of the my favorite new series Flashpoint. Don’t judge me. I may be a TV junkie, but I’m a junkie who can do differential calculus and derive Schrödinger’s equations. I promise I’ll stop at MIT. Can someone hold me to that?

8:30 am – I start fiddling with my iPhone, failing at syncing it with my new laptop. Why Apple must you make the simplest tasks so complex?

9:30 am – My bags are swollen, zippers nearly about to tear apart, and the van is littered with my stuff everywhere. A job well done.

9:33 am – A doorbell sounds. It’s so early. Who could it possible be? MY FRIENDS! Kindly scroll above for the juicy details behind this surprise visit.

10:04 am – My parents cruelly rip me away from my friends screaming and dragging. It was intense.

10:20 am – Staring out at the endless span of trees loses its enticing flare and so I decide to follow a more productive line of action. I pop in the SolidWorks DVD I received for free at the engineering expo I attended a while back.

10:40 am – SolidWorks finishes installing!

11:14 am – Following the tutorial for 3D Modeling newbs like me, I end up with this odd-looking pressure plate model. Seeing how pressure plates are dull and all, I start modeling something more interesting.

11:46 am – After hurdling over the considerable learning curve of this convoluted software (Adobe has got nothing on this), I end up with a Lego piece model sure to impress anyone. I was proud of myself to say the least.

11:30 am – Complaining that my stomach has been annoyingly grumbling, my dad finally pulls over at an Ohio rest stop. These aren’t the usual rundown truck stops you’d expect of highways, but instead impressive mini-malls filled with an eclectic mix of fast food restaurants. I immediately hurled myself toward the Sbarro line and bought a slice of pizza larger than my own head – and my head is humongous.

12:00 pm – Stuffed to the brim with delight (and pizza), I quickly succumb to a slumber for a couple hours. With a severe lack of sleep last night due to a wonderful last get-together with my friends, this opportunity for some shuteye was welcomed with joy.

2:02 pm – I awaken frustratingly to the noise of Arabic music blasting in the car. Thanks Dad.

2:20 pm – A terrible realization comes across my mind. Advanced standing exam are coming up and I’m not ready. With trepidation, I begin frantically reading my chemistry text book (they say barely anyone passes >.<).

4:01 pm – We hit construction and obviously traffic was backed up…for miles…and miles.

5:05 pm – Still caught up in traffic…

5:45 pm - Finally we pass through the one-lane close up and are able to resume cruising speed: 55 mph. Isn’t that sad? Highways in New York have speed limits of 55. You poor sheltered New Yorkers.

6:20 pm – Civilization at last! We survived 7 hours in a van together and made it to Buffalo.

7:30 pm – Being the master debater that I am, I persuade my dad sick from driving to go the extra mile – no pun intended ;-) – and venture out on the 30 minute drive to Niagara Falls.

8:20 pm – I walk up in wonder to the only thing in the world that can rival my power: the Falls. This is a gorgeous sight people, seriously.

An attempted side view picture that somewhat grabs the majesty of this landmark.

I discover this observation deck that essentially stretches out about halfway across the river. Gathering up the courage, we trek out onto it and saw some magnificent views. Nature rules.

So the night quickly descends upon the area, but no one leaves. I wonder to myself how exciting these Falls could possibly be in the darkness apart from listening to the rumbling sounds of water smashing down. To my astonishment though, there were lights that transform the Falls into something altogether more stunning.

Of course, what fun would the Falls be without Fireworks? As the time neared 10 pm, the crowd exponentially grew (I’d derive the function, but I’d figure you readers would enjoy doing that yourselves) and like clockwork fireworks went boom at 10.

These sure aren’t Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks, but what do you expect? They were shot from the Canadian side :p.

And so this brings me to this morning. We’re about to embark on the next 7-hour stretch of the journey that will land us at the heart of Cambridge. Scared? No. Giddy like a 7-year old school girl? Heck yes.

Oh How Time Passes

2008-08-14T08:23:00.009-04:00

It’s times like these you learn to live again
It’s times like these you give and give again
It’s times like these you learn to love again
It’s times like these time and time again

It's official. Only 24 hours remain before I hit the road. Only 24 hours to relive the best of times here, converse with old friends, and savor the tranquil atmosphere of this small Midwestern town (I hear Boston is a whole new world compared to this).

So soon everything I'm familiar with will grow distant and foreign. Friends will form new friends, places I leave behind will age and be replaced, and this city, my home, will be relegated somewhere deep in my mind to be remembered solely as the town I grew up in.

Despite any reservations, fear about the future, or uncertainty about my readiness, I'm up for the challenge. I look forward to taking nerdiness to new heights, ~~living~~ attempting to survive on my own, and most of all, residing in a large bustling city full of things to do. I think it's about time for change.

On a lighter note, I haven't technically packed yet and somehow I'm calm despite this. Luckily, my mom has stripped my closest of its essence, stuffing all sorts of things into our obnoxiously massive luggage bags. Finding more delight in stretching procrastination to its absolute limits, I haven't selected which clothe to accompany me for the next four months or for that matter anything that I will be taking to campus. Should I be worried?

My laptop finally arrived a couple days ago, seductively waiting at my doorstep just begging to be ripped open and played with (I'm blogging this on it if you were wondering). Originating from Shanghai, China (seriously, what is up with that? My laptop has traveled more around the world than I have >.<), the laptop weighs in at 6.8 pounds and is essentially the god of all computers considering it can run OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Linux (did I mention it also boasts 4 GB of memory O.O!?). Needless to say, I've loaded it with tons of software, including the all famous Adobe Suite CS 3 and Flux (the most amazing web design program I have ever laid my eyes upon). Today I'll finish empowering this beast by installing Solidworks and Matlab, two pieces of code no MIT student could be cool enough without. If we ever meet in real life - and you aren't stalkerish - I'll more than likely end up judging you by the software on your computer (I'm shallow like that, sue me ^_^).

I have to admit that ever since I ripped open my laptop box and heard the characteristic Mac tone as it gracefully powered up, I've been addicted to taking odd photographs of myself in Photo Booth. The picture effects allow for unlimited possibilities! Good times, good times.

Naturally, no self-respecting post about a laptop would be complete without the necessary unboxing photos.

Nom

The screen boggles my mind every time I look at its high-res beauty and grandiose nature. It's hard to peel my eyes away from it (sort of like with bugs and light). I'm definitely in g33k heaven somewhere on cloud 1001.

Lying nonchalantly on my laptop are my fourth limb, the smallest portable hard drive ever (can you guess what my third limb is? Hint: it's a phone), and my free iPod Nano. Taking further advantage of whatever is free, I engraved the Nano with none other than "Omar Abudayyeh - MIT 2012." The gorgeous blue thingamabob is my "thumbdrive." Seriously folks, ditch your current flash drives and upgrade to these buggers. This slim device holds 250 GB and is self powered through USB. The kicker? It's less than 100 bucks! Go buy one now, you'll thank me later :)

Funny how the Apple product ships in a box that conforms exactly to the enclosed iPod case while the Microsoft product comes in a unnecessarily large box that's nearly 8 times its size (way to be wasteful :p).

Now I must figure out how to transfer all my music and files to my new lappy. I honestly did postpone everything to the last minute.

Cheers to the future.

Never Forget

2008-08-12T16:39:00.010-04:00

It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

Today was a beautiful and yet terribly sad day.

The time ultimately arrived to part ways with me beloved research lab, the most difficult part saying goodbye to my mentor who I've come to admire and adore over the past two years. I saw him get married, watched his eldest son graduate, stood by his side as he rose through the faculty ranks, listened to him when he needed it the most, and formed this everlasting bond with him - something no one else in the lab can rival. He is more than my mentor. He is a friend, someone who I deeply respect and can approach about anything. He is a fountain of wisdom and a beacon of light in my life. I'll never forget him.

Out of all the lessons I've learned from him, one truly struck a chord with me. It was when I practically burst into his office screaming that MIT accepted me. He obviously rejoiced, perhaps exhibiting more emotion than myself. After all I became like a "son" to him. But after we settled, letting our highs subside, he sat me down and told me one of the most profound statements I've ever heard. Getting caught in all the hub bub of getting into a "US News-acclaimed" school, it's easy to forget about the real essence of college. He opened me eyes, however, allowing me to finally advance past the superficiality of brand-name schools. Sure, I got into a great school. What does that even mean though? Nothing, if you don't work for it. He told me, "College is a tree of opportunities, ripe for the taking. You must take advantage of every possible one you can. You've got in, but that's only the beginning." It's easy to live in the fantasy that the "college name" will mystically guide you in life toward success and endless treasures, but because of my mentor, my friend, I'll never forget that every accomplishment is only another chance for opportunity, another means to achieve.

Being the gracious and kindhearted man that he is, he treated the entire lab to a wonderful lunch at our city's premier Chinese restaurant. We all chatted for hours, discussing the memories, the good times we all had together, and of course they gave me the obligatory reprimand that they'd hunt me down if I did not visit.

We were all a close-knit bunch - my second "family" if you will. Today I bade farewell to all that.

Things are changing. I know that. I even understand that. I may be grasping, practically dangling, onto the last threads of the life I've grown to love, but regardless, in three days I'll be in Cambridge at the start of a new epoch.

Maybe in all the craziness of these last days, it's hard to remember how life without change is boring, dare I say, even pointless. I can't help but smile that the end of this chapter ushers in a new phase of my life full of bountiful opportunities and friends just waiting to be made.

Today was a beautiful day and I loved every moment of it.

Top 10 Reasons I Chose MIT - # 10

2008-08-10T00:05:00.001-04:00

I've decided to begin a series of posts that detail why I elected MIT to be my four-year death sentence. It's been such a long, arduous journey since last summer full of surprises and mind-opening events that I've been taken aback and left almost speechless. I scraped through senior year, traveled the East Coast, and watched this love blossom for a school I never wished to attend. Over days, weeks, maybe even months, this magic spell took over every fiber of my being and sucked me into a whirlpool whose only end was MIT. The blogs no doubt played a major role in my entrancement, serving as this gushing fountain of stories about the lives behind the school. I laughed and cried along with bloggers and even felt their pain during the treacherous finals week. A lifeline between MIT and me was formed and luckily still remains alive today, drawing me closer to the zany campus every day until this sudden moment in time when I'll actually step into my dorm room and realize my life is all genuinely unfolding as I imagined it not too long ago.

That's easy enough to say, but what is it that mysteriously attracts me to this strip of land in Cambridge. To me it seems impossibly difficult to pinpoint, but I'll attempt to illustrate my love for this school through 10 reasons why I committed myself to the "Institute."

*figurative drum roll please*

Reason 10: Independent Activities Period (IAP for short)

IAP is a four-week term in January that exemplifies what MIT students are all about. While MIT students could escape away to the Bahamas or watch cartoons all day for a bona fide break, IAP tempestuously invites students to rebel against the "man" and revel in any pleasures that please their hypothalami. This limbo state in between the fall and spring terms is where MIT students show their true masochistic colors, immersing themselves in anything from fast-paced courses to impossible competitions, from research 24/7 to even a Charm School (I kid you not).

Those particularly keen in all that is MIT know that the most prominent and seductive part of IAP is the Mystery Hunt, a puzzle-fraught chase for a hidden coin on campus. Sounds simple, right? Far from it. To come out victorious in the hunt, one's team must solve over 40 ridiculously tortuous, byzantine puzzles to be finally lead to this eluding coin. One must possess arcane knowledge, think ingeniously, and be willing to sprint across campus frantically searching for clues to even come remotely close to winning. Some of the most esoteric puzzles require live ducks to solve them and will thrust your sanity to the brink of lunacy.

After all the hassle, stress, and inevitable swearing, the winner's only compensation is the right to design the next year's Hunt. Practically, this may seem quite unsatisfactory and frankly lame, but in the end, the Hunt's not just about winning - it's more. It's this tradition, a sense of camaraderie between students, in which everyone's intelligence is pushed to the limit. While to the everyday person this prize may seem paltry and impractical, to the passionately dedicated player there's no greater honor than to be handed down the torch and allowed to carry on this venerated MIT custom.

To me, the Hunt transcends just mere winning, being rather about the journey. It's about every team forming strong bonds, experiencing the high of pushing their bodies to the physical limits of exhaustion, laughing hysterically into the late night about the randomness of every challenge, and collapsing after days of no sleep. The real reward is simply being apart of this wit-testing, nerd-encrusted MIT legacy.

In some respects, the Mystery Hunt symbolizes what is veritably at MIT's heart - this philosophy that students must sweat through enormous pain to triumph, recognizing that education is not a state function, that the odyssey endured to obtain a grade is more meaningful than the grade itself.

But I diverge. It's just that IAP means so much to me. This special term unrivaled by any other school is a major component of why I'm willing to spend four years sleep deprived attempting to overcome insurmountable challenges. Any school that encourages their students to pursue scholarly interests as much on their own as they do in the classroom is a place I can certainly cherish as home.

This may all sound silly, but to me it's a world of possibilities just waiting to be explored =)

Olympics ^_^

2008-08-08T09:04:00.008-04:00

It's 9:05 am and...

I'M WATCHING THE OLYMPICS OPENING LIVE AND IT'S BLOWING MY MIND AWAY!

Downside for Americans? Well, tonight's broadcast from NBC will NOT be live since the opening ceremonies are happening right now. WAY TO BE CHEAP NBC!

How'd I discover this? Will I woke up and noticed Tong '12 was online so I started talking to him:

"Hey Tong, what's up man?"
"WATCHING OLYMPICS OPENING LIVE!"
"Crap, crap it's on now?!"
"YES, but it's not on tv."
"Wth"

Tong, being the wonderful guy that he is, showed me this nifty trick that apparently most Chinese Americans are using. If you want to get in on this action (I suggest you get it on it quick...the athletes are walking in right now!), direct your favorite web browser over to Sopcast and download the P2P channel client. Then input 15102 into the address bar of the client and enjoy!

So why does NBC suck? Basically broadcasting networks must pay an extra premium to broadcast the opening ceremonies live and NBC refused to pay. The end result? Americans must watch the ceremonies 12 hours late. If it weren't for The Office I'd totally be hating NBC right now.

"The LHC is super duper fly, you know what I'm sayin' Check it."

2008-08-07T12:56:00.005-04:00

CERN Rap from Will Barras on Vimeo.

THIS VIDEO IS AMAZING! How is it that physicists and engineers (at CERN no less) have come up with the most knee-sleeping hilarious rap song ever? I don't think I've ever had so much fun learning - let alone learning about a particle collider. I find the awkward dancing and pretend beatboxing to be the most entertaining parts. If you're wondering, I really do wish I was cool enough to be in this video. Unfortunately (fortunately?), I am not freakishly stalker-obsessed enough with the Higgs Boson to be accepted wholeheartedly amongst the ranks of the good folks over at CERN.

Let's not be quick to dismiss this video as just a funny, yet lame, idea that was construed deep within the confines of some mad scientist's mind. Maybe they are onto something magical here. If we really want American kids to learn something, we should be teaching them in rhyme! Well, maybe that's a little sad to think about (because it would probably work). Anyway, kudos to CERN for producing the next great nerd rap (sorry Weird Al, you've been replaced).

For a couple seconds there, I forgot how soon the world's doom is. To be precise, September 10th will be the day scientists switch on the Large Hadron Collider, the 17-mile long racetrack, and micro black holes engulf the Earth. Woah, I even had myself convinced for a second - not. Seriously (and I'm talking to you Citizens Against The Large Hadron Collider) TAKE A CHILL PILL. The most credible scientists on Earth have concluded that there is no threat so sit back, make some popcorn, and watch a revolution in physics unfold before your eyes. And in the end, if the smartest people in the world are wrong, then at least we won't have to worry about Global Warming or Miley Cyrus anymore :p.

A New Home?

2008-08-06T23:30:00.004-04:00

Has anyone ever noticed the "MIT Syndrome"?

M·I·T Syn·drome - n. The serious, but temporary, infection that causes one to feel the sudden urge to blurt out something MIT related just because someone going to MIT is nearby.

In serious cases of the syndrome, the afflicted will make quips about you becoming a card counter and earning unhealthy sums of cash or will inquire if you've seen Good Will Hunting. You may be asked if you've read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, if you've met Noam Chomsky, or if you even knew this one fellow who graduated 10 years ago from you high school because he went to MIT (I still don't get this last one). Even though this quickly becomes irritating (like after the first time), I've actually become quite cultured in all that is MIT, and truthfully, it's downright amusing to watch people pause in mid-conversation just to think of something MIT-relevant to say.

True stories, fake disease. Welcome to my life =)

Well, this post has gone awry far too quickly. Let me stray toward something more interesting. As I was doing my daily run through the interweb yesterday, I stumbled across this news article on The Wall Street Journal that discusses how in regards to salary that it's not one's career choice that matters as much as where one graduates from. As you would think, MIT cleans up well, snagging second place for having a starting median salary amongst alumni of $72,200.00. Unfortunately, we're beat out by the physics nerds of the West Coast as Caltech graduates have a starting median salary of $75,500.00. As time progresses, however, it seems that MIT alumni start to not fair so well, MIT moving to fourth on the list with a mid-Career median salary of $126,000.00. To say the least, I'm still impressed with MIT's showing no matter how low my career salary would be down the road - well, unless it's 1 dollar a year in which case I'd put my angry face on.

I guess I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll worry about my finances later in life (although I can use this data for bragging rights ^_^ ). With all this chitchatter about MIT during the past six months or so, it's hard to realize that in less than two weeks I'll be in Cambridge building soccer robots at my dream school. It's been so long since I last visited campus that MIT has become this online entity, not something tangible. Although I keep saying that I'll be living at MIT for a good chunk of the next four years, I don't understand how real that actually is. I feel like I'm just walking in someone else's shoes, trying to fulfill this role I don't quite comprehend. It's tough to accept that the place where I'm sitting right now typing this entry will become this distant memory, a vacation spot for my future breaks. This is it. My life's about to drastically change and I just don't have any clue about what to expect. I say all this somewhat calmly, but do I really fathom what I'm saying? I have no idea.

Probably the hardest concept to come to terms with is the permanence of all this. My days are numbered and once the clock winds down, I'll never be at home again for more than two weeks at a time. From now on, visits with my family will be just that. Visits. I'll never see my parents on a daily basis again - apart from video chat - and in a way will become torn between two worlds that are separated by hundreds of miles. Will home still even be home? Perhaps that's the biggest question all of us must answer. When does one home end and another start? Maybe this is it. Maybe as we mature and become adults, our home starts to change and keeps changing and moving, until we're lucky enough to find that special someone and settle down. Maybe from now on, we really are on our own. We must scramble to form our own communities far from our comforts zones. Maybe this is how we finally discover who we are and ultimately gain some insight into the world. Maybe this really is it.

In the end, maybe home is not a place after all, but rather a construct, an intangible placeholder for your memories - the good times and bad. I'm certain by the time I'm finished with MIT come this winter break, after I've suffered through killer psets, nightlong freak-out sessions, and nosebleed-inducing tests, I'll be calling Cambridge my home because of all the memories I would have made.

It's hard to wrap my head around that in just a short while my life will cease to exist the way I know it, the way I'm used to it.

While it'll be a long 9 days until I jump into the rabbit hole, I've already begun packing for this journey. Just yesterday I lugged up the suitcases from the basement and suddenly all of this began to feel real. Although I've been staring for weeks now at the pile of stuff my mom has amassed through her ritualistic trips to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, the imminence of college hadn't felt any surrealer until I peered into the dark, expansive emptiness of my luggage bags and realized that every item I stuff in there will be the only remaining threads of the life I know and love.

Some may cower in the face of such impending change. I look forward to it.

Self: Buckle up for one of the bumpiest adventures of your life.

Poor Plastic Lion

2008-08-05T01:06:00.001-04:00

As I was perusing my 18.02 notes, I was reminded of when I posed you all with the "nerd test," this atrociously difficult math problem that can only be solved with ingenuity and elegance (is it sad that ASEs are the only things in this world that truly frighten me?). Don't let me mislead you. One stare at this problem had me running to the hills when I first encountered it. Now, though, I appreciate the trickery behind it, the way something so complex and seemingly insolvable can become refreshingly simple and, in hindsight, easy. Well, I return now with the solution to this problem. In reality, I don't think you'd be that impressed unless you live in Michigan and find it difficult to have a life. But seriously though, can you blame me when cows here are as common as McDonald's and soccer fields are found within corn fields? Anywho, without further ado, here is the solution straight out of some random multivariable calculus book that I seem to have lying around for some reason.

In actuality, I do live a life outside the blogosphere (*gasp shocker I know). Today my friends and I were doing one of those "I might never see you again so we should keep hanging out" get-togethers. In our attempt to relive the glory days of senior year, we all decided we wanted to gulp down frozen custard so obviously we met up at Culver's, home of the cheese curds and all that is Wisconsin.

To my delight, the flavor of the day was "rockin' raspberry." I approached the counter and asked the lady, "Can I get the raspberry Concrete Mixer?"
"Yea, what toppings do you want?"
"Hmm, let's see. Cookie dough and-"
"You want cookie dough with raspberry?"
"Yea, why not?"
Mumbling to herself, "You don't get cookie dough with raspberry..."
"It sounded good in my head."
"Ok, your call...anything else?"
"Yea bananas too!"
To the side, "Oh god, raspberry and banana really?"
"What was that?"
"Oh nothing..."

Five minutes later another girl comes out, "Raspberry concrete float with oh gosh umm-"
"Yea yea I know. It's mine. Givee here."

Well, you know what? It was positively scrumptious, despite all the attitude I received! It just goes to show that it's always the weirdest combinations, like peanut butter and mustard sandwiches, that turn out great.

Not that I have anything against Culver's, even though I should considering the girl who waited on me, I found their advertising scheme ridiculously corny. Everyone at the table passed around the flip card thingies so we could all take pictures and laugh at the cheesy slogans.

Seriously? We aren't five years old.

*Shakes head

Shamefully reminds me of the somewhat flattering catchphrase "You've been Omerized" from American Dreamz (yes with a z).

There you have it. Culver's, the heroic food chain of the cheeseheads, uses ads that insult our intelligence. I'd like to give their advertising agency a piece of my mind! At least they made for a good laugh.

As the night pressed on and my ice cream degenerated into a puddle of red, chunky mush, three teenagers sneakily approached the fence of the putt-putt place across the parking lot and slid underneath. They then proceeded to climb onto this giant fake mountain that featured this life-size lion at the top. The hooligans slowly made their way to the summit, only their silhouettes showing against the night sky. As my friends watched, the girls giggling, the conversation basically went like this:

"Wow, they're so cool."
"Yea I want to be just like them."
"Uhh, where's that guy's hand going."
"Is he putting his hand...up that...on the lion?"
"Umm, yeah I think so. Oh god-"
"Did he just pretend to give that lion-"
"Ow my god, what are they doing?"
"Yea, I'm pretty sure that lion is scarred for life."

These three teenagers single-handedly managed to gross out the entire customer base of Culver's in a manner of 5 minutes. After these kids finished molesting this plastic lion, they were chased out by the workers who finally noticed what they were up to. Talk about a shocking night >.<

Excuse me while I try to recover my eyesight and erase the events of tonight from memory.

And so the maddness begins...

2008-08-03T23:53:00.009-04:00

While ~~stalking~~ faithfully reading the MIT blogs, a nice nugget of information seemed to have slyly appeared on the left side, just waiting to be discovered, something I think a lot of people have been patiently awaiting.

"Online Application • The freshman online application for entry in Fall 2009 is now live!"

After hours of down time in which monkeys running the giant server rooms scrambled to prepare everything necessary for the 2009 online application, it has finally been made available.

So the 2009 application season for MIT has officially begun (*gunshot). With the release of this year's application, I'm now a true frosh ready to tackle the psets and long nights of MIT. I hand off the mantle to you, class of 2013ers, knowing full well you will take on the role of proud prefroshies by commenting on the blogs, keeping your facebook group active, and invading campus next Spring during CPW 2009 (wow already?)!

I'm pleased that the application hasn't been modified too much since I think MIT's application does it right. It doesn't succumb to the level of uniformity and remains a maverick under the excruciating pressure to adapt to the common app. It has it's own personality, a special, mystical aura about it that no other school can dream of touching. With the MIT blogs, the application forms a deadly combination, poised to draw in unsuspecting prefrosh until MIT is all they can think about. The blogs allow for an atmosphere of openness and comfort. With MIT, you know that down-to-earth people are reading your applications, excited to read about your exploits as a teen, excited to fathom the real you. It leaves room for creativity ("something you have built"), asks the right questions, and even let's you have fun. Plus, who doesn't like superscoring their test scores (yes I'm looking at all you CC folks)?

Other than some adjustments that improve the overall experience, there should have supposedly been an another addition to the application. About a month ago, I along with a few others received the following message from the Ben Jones:

"Hi folks,

I am still working on an application companion piece for MIT that is meant to guide prospective students through the application process and help them to chill out. I've set aside a page for quotes from current students about their own experiences in applying to MIT, and I'm looking for help filling the page

I need quotes from a few different people, perhaps a sentence or two each, that basically convey the fact that simply being yourself is the best strategy. If you feel inspired to contribute, hook me up!

Many thanks, and see y'all in the fall, when I visit. :-)"

We all hit the writing pads and after hours of putting pen to the paper, nose bleeds provoked by deep thought, and hands covered in blisters, we provided him with some quotes and sure enough, as I'm sure you'll eventually see, we mustered up a number of inspirational and supportive quotes. Naturally, I produced the following Pulitzer Prize worthy piece of writing:

In my application, I decided to emphasize my passions and where I came from. I wasn't afraid to write that some of my favorite interests did not involve math or science or that to this day I still spend afternoons playing with Legos. Showing who you are is of the utmost importance because the perfect school for you is where your personality will feel right at home.

Although I don't see any of our quotes present, I just thought I'd share this piece of information with you all. If they are ultimately tossed into the vast interweb for your reading pleasure, I hope that these quotes guide you toward success while forming your applications. I'd be completely distraught and lost if they didn't :p.

So how many of you started? Consider yourselves lucky. Back in my day, we didn't have this online shindig. We had it old school: fountain pens and scrolls. We didn't have email, only snail mail, but we survived.

Yeah, yeah. I'm pulling your leg. You probably called me out on that one.

Well, all this application talk lately has surfaced many memories from the past year. Expect an entry on senior year from me shortly once I pull myself together and get over the fact that I'm leaving my humble Midwestern abode for the scary, cryptic East Coast in precisely 11 days. Yikes >.<

Until then, good luck on the application!

Fire Palooza

2008-08-03T21:10:00.006-04:00

"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive." ~ Elbert Hubbard

Do you enjoy converting aerosol spray cans into impromptu flamethrowers? Do you spend your spare time playing with bubbles, soft, cuddly methane bubbles? Do you find yourself uncontrollably amused by popping hydrogen/oxygen balloons? If yes to any of these question, then you and I are destined to be friends - best friends forever.

Don't give me that look. I can still be utterly engrossed in pyromania and still be normal. We all burned ants with magnifying glasses as kids, watching them smoke with awe. We all messed around with fancy, high-tech lasers, using them to light matches in mere seconds. Ok, well maybe the latter isn't so common, but that didn't stop me from reveling in the wonders of green lasers! Before you think I'm absolutely obsessed with fire (well, maybe I am at times :p), let me get to the point. I recently learned of this boyscout survival technique that is used to start a fire when abandoned in the middle of nowhere. All it involves is a 9V battery and some steel wool - why someone stranded would have either of these I don't know.

When first hearing of this neat phenomenon, I was fairly skeptical, not believing that you could start a fire with just a common household battery, but as always, physics (and maybe a little bit of chemistry) has the answer. As anyone who has dipped their toe in physics would know, circuits produce heat, a whole lot of it - this being the reason why three obnoxious light bulbs can render my room 81.9 degrees. Well, that means if you have a plain old circuit, doing nothing but circulating electrons, then it's just wasting energy in the form of heat. If one were to use a wire - this is where the sheep wool comes in - that is easily combustible, then like dark, medieval magic, sparks fly and the good times roll. So what fun is a lengthy, boring description of this? Since I wouldn't be any good at this job if I didn't subject myself to horrifying dangers on a daily basis for the sake of blogging, I threw in bundles of steel wool into my handy-dandy fire pit and lit away. Check out my exploits below:

But Wait There's More - College Application Advice Continued

2008-08-02T22:08:00.007-04:00

In response to the guide I spun up for seniors applying to college, I received two questions that I would like to address now. I've opted for a more public discussion of the questions because I feel like it's important for everyone to learn from each other in an open sort of format. So without further ado, question numba one from Alex is as follows:

Could you tell me more about teacher applications and how they work (max to send, which teacher or what people should send them,etc.)

With teacher recommendations, you are definitely walking on thin ice. Recommendations tend to be fairly involved and lengthy, requiring much time and effort on the reader's part. Now, as long as you are fulfilling the number of recommendations required, no problem. The problems arise when sending in optional recs. You send in too many and well, you're guaranteed to aggravate your reader and may earn yourself some negative feedback.

The trick to this is to restrain yourself to only sending in a maximum of two recommendations above the number required. These extra recs, however, should not come from teachers since it goes without saying that good students receive good references - the same good references. Not too many words exist for "hard work" and "amazing intelligence" and consequently recommendations start becoming repetitive. For this reason alone, I encourage you to solicit recommendations from sports coaches, research mentors, dance instructors, and so on. Ask for references from people who know you out of school, people who will talk about your non-academic qualities, the ones that show that you aren't a human-killing robot programmed to study by day and take over the world by night. For my own application, I asked my research mentor who graciously provided me with many kind words about his experiences with me over the past two years.

For submitting the recommendations, basic etiquette dictates one of the following two options: agree on picking up the materials sealed after a designated amount of time or provide stamped envelopes for the teachers to use in sending in the recommendations. Either one is perfectly acceptable.

~~~

The second question, coming from Ahana Datta, is:

somehow I'm getting cold feet at the prospect of the application. I mean, there is so much I want to say on the application, but then I feel it's all done before. how do you get around that?!

Don't feel alone! This is a common sentiment. I believe all of us at one point in time during the application process felt as if we were standing at the base of Mount Everest wondering how we could ever climb such a beast. In some respects, everything you might put on the application may have been used before, but in the end, it's the specific combinations that matter. Thousands of prefrosh may play tennis, do research, or help out clinics in third world countries, but how many do all three? Think about filling out your application as playing a game of "Apples to Apples" - if only it were as much fun too! Individually, the words available surely have passed through the hands of many, but once you look at the combinations of words, distinctness arises and your true personality shows - the words revealing your innermost nature (at least that's what some say).

To further individualize what are you writing, use examples. While overall ideas repeat, life examples usually do not. If talking about how tennis leadership shaped your character, discuss the instance when you helped Rob with his family crisis or had to intervene in a serious fight between two players. If telling the reader that your life-long dreams were influenced by your childhood, bring up the middle school science teacher who left a lasting impact on your life or the Gray's Anatomy book your mother got you when you were only in 5th grade. It's the stories, the moments in life, that will eventually distinguish you from the abstract pile of applications. Think hard about your life and build up a bank of examples you can use in your application.

All this is essentially a long about way of saying that you should refrain from hesitating to write something in the fear that it seems too plain and probably overused. Even if people are using similar ideas, the pieces of your application will fit together differently than theirs, giving the reader a completely separate, idiosyncratic image of you.

~~~

While digging in my brain - what a dark and scary place - for answers to these questions, I realized that I should mention something about updates.

Updates are a useful tool to stay in contact with the college and remind them that you're still alive and kicking. Every time you send in an update, someone has to dig up your folder and leave a sticky note or something that will end up in your reader having to pull up your application to read again. This is definitely good. Every time this happens, the reader is re-familiarized with you and will begin to notice how devoted you are to the institution. Only use this tactic, however, for serious updates. Any achievements that involve the regional level or above merit such lengths. Anything else does not. In your cover letter, include some sentiments about how deeply interested you are in the school and how much you dream about going there next Fall. It's always a good thing to remind your top school how interested you are.

I hope what I have said comes in handy. Sorry that all you MIT prefrosh have to wait a little bit longer, but like most have been saying, use this time to contemplate what you want to convey to the admission committee. Again, if anyone has questions, feel free to shoot away!

Politics and the Sorts

2008-08-02T09:10:00.010-04:00

Bang Bang, He shot me down
Bang Bang, I hit the ground...

If you're thinking there's no way a true campaign ad could feature pictures of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Obama side by side, think again. The negative ad war has officially started with McCain drawing first blood and initiating the descent of the presidential campaign down a slippery slope. Negative ads have always been a controversy in the political world, but this year's ads just keep turning heads. Did someone put something in the water over at the ad agencies?

Lately, the ad playing field has turned more into a game of chess - kiddy chess where all the characters are from Disney. Candidates use these ads to take stabs at each other back and forth in the hopes that their constituents will follow along in the heated rivalry. Sorry to disappoint McCain, but it's not working, especially when the accusations are completely ludicrous. You'd be surprised to learn that if you googled Obama's issue platform, electricity tax increases - the basis of McCain's attack in the ad - would be no where in sight. In fact, tax increases are barely even mentioned. So where does McCain's team come off publicizing this falsehood? Well, hilariously enough, McCain's people twisted what Obama said in an interview with the San Antonio Express News. This interview from six months ago, which primarily revolved around education, brought up the following question:

Q. Have you considered other funding sources, say taxing emerging energy forms, for example, say a penny per kilowatt hour on wind energy?

A: Well, that's clean energy, and we want to drive down the cost of that, not raise it. We need to give them subsidies so they can start developing that. What we ought to tax is dirty energy, like coal and, to a lesser extent, natural gas. (Washington Post)

So for something Obama clearly uses the word "ought" for and that does not appear anywhere in his political platform, it is now appearing in national TV ads across America. I even believed Obama was planning to increase taxes until I decided to dig deeper, under all the construed truths and misconceptions. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that negative ads distract from the campaigning and the issues at hand. For days, I've been listening to radio talk show hosts and news websites discussing this specific "celebrity ad" because of its audaciousness in comparing Obama to silly superstars. Maybe that was the point: to keep this ad, and thus McCain's name, in the news, in constant discussion. To that effect, bravo he succeeded. Does it help his trailing in the polls? Fortunately not. Does it show us what his plans are for America? Definitely not. With such an unexpected and bold move as this, it makes me wonder, who is really acting like the celebrity? Obama, who has advocated for a presidential campaign free of negative ads, or rather McCain, who has caused uproar in the political community with his obnoxious ad and coincidentally acted in the hit tv show 24. At least Obama has taken the high road and been the better man amidst all this.

Personally, I'm against the whole idea of bashing an opponent. I realize politics is a dirty game, but there's always time for change. These sort of ads should be adjusted in my opinion to be amicably competitive, a "he might not be doing this exactly right" type of criticism. Ads should resemble a debate, something serious and informative - not parodied over and over like the infamous Hillary Clinton ad. Point out what's wrong in a friendly manner, but don't stop there. Rather, show what you are doing to be different. Talk about your policies and how you will make a difference. That way you get the best of both worlds. We all learn from the ads while you get to unleash your testosterone and criticize the other party. Win-win for all.

Applying to College - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2008-08-01T21:14:00.003-04:00

As many of the anxious prefrosh know, MIT has delayed the grand release of this year's application for another week or so, leaving many prefrosh empty-handed. Originally, I intended for this post to be released concurrently with the application, but being the fickle man that I am, I obviously posted it now, hoping to partially satisfy the thirst of prefrosh everywhere by giving them a small taste of what their life will be like for the next few months. Essentially, at the heart of this post is a hodgepodge of advice - and ravings - from an application year veteran. Use the coming week to learn from this and prep for the MIT application.

With all the hype and excitement over this year's applications, I've been having nostalgic flashbacks about my own experience applying. There was that one night in Pittsburgh during my family vacation when I lay sprawled out on the coach until 1 a.m. fervently filling out the activities section in MyMIT. There was the five hour drive back home when I impetuously scrapped two essays and finally hit upon the one for MIT. And then of course there was October 12th, when I finally clicked the submit button and saw 65$ leave my pockets. Oh the good times.

As I sat musing about these memories, I realized there was one important thing I wished I could have had that would have meant the world to me: a simple guide for applying to college! So like any good engineer (soon to be engineer?) I decided to fix this problem for posterity sake by sharing what I have learned from my experiences. What follows is a list of some pointers that will help you prefroshies this year and hopefully for many years to come.

Caution: Use at your own discretion. Tailor to fit your needs.

1) Be Yourself

I'm not a fan of overused, contrite statements like "Be yourself and you'll live a happier life," but in this case you really, really do need to be yourself. Many think that the holy-like MIT admissions committee are looking for a certain type of person, you know the MIT stereotype. These people have 2400s, develop new math theorems for fun, and can secretly program AI robots, but secretly don't because they all belong to a clandestine consortium of programmers protecting the world form robot destruction. Fortunately, this is far from the truth as the admission people desire an eclectic class and thus look for special quirks, the things that make you you. Why? Because otherwise every student at MIT would be clones and life would be dull (aka Communism). Admission to top-tier colleges is not random, even though a thorough examination of the numbers may make you believe otherwise. MIT looks for a "match," a set of general guidelines that indicate how well suited you are for MIT. Does that mean you should present yourself in a different light, stretching the truth to be in accordance to the "match"? No, because you don't want to artificially match to a school and then find you are not enjoying the atmosphere of the place. I know many people, some who have even transferred, because they landed themselves in their dream school, but then discovered it was not for them. So my words of wisdom are, read up on your colleges, show them the qualities that demonstrate why you are a match, and all the while be yourself.

2) Know when to be serious and know when to let loose

Think of the application process as preparing for marriage. You can go wild, unleashing your darkest uncharacteristic behavior at your bachelor party, but for the most part, I'd recommend staying faithful and serious - and maybe even subservient - to your loved one. Despite somewhat of a bad analogy, most parts of the application require thoughtful answers so keep the writing relatively formal. Use profound language here and there to highlight certain parts, and even throw in some humorous anecdotes. Definitely have some fun, just not too much fun. Talk about your deadly fear of shower curtains or how you still play with Legos (umm...yes that's me). Make yourself stick out in the minds of the admissions officers by telling them something that will distinguish you from the rest and earn you some extra points.

As a side note, keep in mind that the "what do you do for pleasure" question for MIT really means "what do you do for fun." Don't talk about how you nurse stray baby kittens back to health just because you want to impress the admissions committee. Unless you truly do that for fun, talk about how you love playing Rock Band, how you only form scientific words in scrabble, or how cricket is an addiction of yours.

3) Answer the Optional Essay

In this game, optional = mandatory. Yes, there are many stories of people being accepted without the optional essay, but statistically you have a better chance of getting in by answering it. Don't you want to do everything in your power to convince the admissions committee of your worthiness? Ok, in most cases I'd recommend doing the least work possible to excel, as my Physics teacher always said, the first tenet of Physics is laziness, but for this, writing an optional essay allows you to express more about your passions and dreams. It gives the admissions people more to chew on. In my case, the optional essay provided an additional outlet to express myself. One essay felt too restricting. The word limit stifled me and relegated my full writing potential to a cage. The optional essay, on the other hand, has no rules. It's the "Joker" essay (The Dark Night ftw), the essay where you can unleash your writing talents for hours on end until you have a literary masterpiece.

4) Edit, Revise, Rethink, Consult, Rinse and Repeat

The essay portion of the application is by farthest the most important part in my opinion because it's MIT's only chance to see inside your head and see what's really rolling around in there. Luckily for you it's the part you also have the most control over.

While I wish writing the essay was as simple as pressing the "Easy Button" and walla, it's not and will require time, patience, and an open mind. I suggest writing whatever comes to you at first, just to get your gears turning. Think long and hard - even spending multiple afternoons pondering - about what you want to convey and take risks. Write about stuff you wouldn't normally write about. Write about stuff you may have never told anyone before. Show MIT how much you are into them and why. Above all, don't be afraid to scrap a well-written piece because you have a better idea. In fact, I suggest you write intending to only use your third or fourth draft. It took me two essays, one about my middle eastern heritage and one about how tennis changed me, before I landed on talking about my childhood and how my biomedical engineering interests developed through various events in my life. When all is said and done, have people read and edit it. You yourself should at least read it 15-20 times, editing, revising, rethinking, until there's nothing left, but a pristine essay ready for submission.

Add an extra touch to your essays by showing, not telling. Don't just tell MIT that you built a social networking website for your school, show them. Describe the long, frustrating nights it took you before your algorithms worked or how Monster cans lay piled up all over the floor. Grabbing the reader's attention through detail is a surefire way to form a lasting impression. Going this extra mile will make all the difference.

5) Activities... which to choose?

One of the many difficulties you'll encounter during the application process is which of your activities you should include. I will first advise you not to attach a laundry list of your activities because in actuality colleges only care about the activities that mean the most to you, not everything you participate in. So, yes, unfortunately you must limit yourself to the top 5 or so activities you love. Remember, order matters here.

I will add that the only exception to my "no laundry list" rule is if you truly spend a respectable amount of time in more than 5 activities. Under these circumstances, you may attach something that describes the activities you couldn't fit on the application, but don't just list them.

For activities, it's crucial for you to convey your passions to colleges. Pick an activity - maybe two for you risk-takers - and just discuss every possible aspect of why you love it. In my optional essay, my feelings about research drowned the page. I told them how research impacted me and why it is I did it in the first place. Show them what drives you to reach such amazing heights.

6) SAT, ACT...no worries!

Try not to worry about your numbers when writing up your application. Just list everything as it is and leave the rest up to the colleges. Don't look back. Don't worry one bit. Colleges, especially MIT, care about the perfect "match" and not numbers based off of long, grueling tests. Being a match for MIT transcends any numbers and even grades (well probably not D's unless there's a good excuse).

7) Emphasize Your Love for the School

Don't be afraid of sucking up. In the classroom, being the teacher's pet may have earned you your classmates' snickers (pssh, I loved all the brownie points I racked up), but in the application, it's the best course of action. Schools hate nothing more than just being applied to for the heck of it. I'd recommend inserting school-specific comments here and there. In my optional essay, I mentioned the infinite corridor, the great dome, the ball pit in Simmons, and other random snippets about MIT. Showing a college that it is your number one choice and emphasizing your undying desire to have a home there is truly to your benefit. Let your gut, your heart, and your dreams guide you in choosing the perfect words to express your emotions.

8) Craft a Story

You're more than just an applicant. You are a person with one amazing story to tell so don't look at each piece of your application as a means to an end separate from the whole. Rather, try to weave your wacky and crazy experiences together into a "quilt". Each thread stands on its own, speaking for itself, but together you have a picture, your whole life story. The essays, short answers, recommendations, and grades are ingredients. Make sure that each has its own special flavor while still fitting into the bigger picture.

9) Arrogance, it's not a virtue

Tell it as it is, but don't show haughtiness in your writing. There's an incredibly fine line between discussing your achievements and bragging about them. Don't cross it. At the same time, however, don't be afraid to talk about yourself, your accomplishments, your goals. We all like to talk about ourselves - me more than most - and essentially that's what an application is for, so as long as you don't boast arrogance, you'll be perfectly fine. Be confident. Readers like that. Overconfidence, however, is frowned upon.

Keep in mind that while it may seem easy to rest your entire case on your crowning moments in high school, you must not rely too much on them as after all, they're still one piece of the pie. Weave them into your story to your advantage. Talk about how excited you are about the opportunities awaiting for you in college. While colleges will want to hear about your victories, they will want to know even more about how you plan to succeed at their school. For example, I raved about how excited I was to jump into the research "world" at MIT and how MIT would propel me forward to achieve lengths I never thought possible.

10) The rest is history

After you've completed the application, you're ready for the hardest part of all. Share with others what you've written. Make use of teachers, friends, and especially your parents. My mom and dad were invaluable throughout the entire process. We had many fights over what works, what doesn't, but after the dust settled, everything turned out perfectly. Double check, triple check. Keep checking! There's no extra points for submitting months early. Ask questions. Go to your counselor if you are unsure of something. Venture forth into the uncharted waters of college confidential and ask for help. The people there are tremendously helpful. Even if you don't have a question, go there and read, soak in the advice, and learn from people's mistakes.

Once you feel that you've represented yourself to the fullest, your essays are in tip-top shape, and all around you've written a story that flows from start to finish, you're ready to submit. Before you seal the envelope or hit the submit button, ensure that you are addressing the correct school. Lastly, I suggest, if it at all can be helped, to not wait until the last minute. Servers may crash, electricity can cut out, or life just happens, so plan to submit at least a week in advance. Trust me, it's not healthy staying up until 3 am three days in a row because of procrastination - or perfectionism for many of you.

~~~

Luckily, I survived the application process to live another day - and share my fanatic lessons. This is what I've learned from suffering through the application process. For you, I hope it makes the months of hard work less distressing.

I enjoy sharing my war stories so please don't hesitate one bit to contact me. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be glad to help.

On one last note, I officially apologize for the length of this guide. I realize many of you skim these posts, but if this advice applies to you at all, I encourage you to carefully breathe it in and follow it. There's no 100% guarantee that you'll be accepted, but there is my guarantee that this advice is the best I can possibly come up with and will aid you tremendously during what is sure to be a tumultuous application season.

The Memories

2008-07-31T12:35:00.003-04:00

Just a year ago exactly, my family and I were preparing to embark on our second annual trip to the East Coast to visit MIT and Harvard. I did not know much about either school other than that "Harvard" should be said "Hahvahd" and that MIT was not pronounced "mit" as in the first syllable of "mitten." Four days later, I arrived at Boston for my first time and was immediately in awe of this great city. I loved how beautiful the skyline looked in the night and how pretty the river glistened in the sunset. I loved how you could practically find lobster at every restaurant in downtown Boston and that falafel was a common delicacy in Cambridge. Most of all, though, I loved how in all the hustle and bustle, this was a college town, filled with thousands of genius students all vying to achieve and go forth into the world on their next big adventure. Somehow an environment like that just attracts me (sort of like bugs to light). Not normally one to quickly fall in love with something, I knew Cambridge was the place for me no matter what.

I was only eleven when I first heard of MIT. I was spread out on the living room carpet with Legos as far as I could see. This only meant one thing: I was building my next big project. At that age, I had this addiction to Mindstorms. I just couldn't stop designing robots and programming them. It seemed so cool that I could make some object follow my every command. Well, this time I decided to build a large model of the titanic, complete with programmed motors and nine decks. In the end it didn't float, but at one point, while I was deeply immersed in the project, my mom stopped me for a few seconds and asked,

"Honey where do you want to go to college?"
"Umm, I don't know. I'm working right now."
"Have you ever thought about it though? What do you like to do?"
"Come on just let me build this...well, I like working with my hands, making things."
"What's your favorite subject in school?"
"You know, math!"
"Have you ever thought about MIT?"
"What's that?"
"It's a place for people who like math and of course building things"
"Sounds nice"

Then and there, MIT was implanted in my head somewhere, only to be rediscovered years later when it was seriously time to be contemplating my future. Honestly, I never thought about MIT until June last year. In fact, it had only occurred to me to consider it when my teacher suggested it to me. I guess somehow he thought my affection towards math mixed with my nerdy sense of humor would make me a great fit for it. Well, MIT became a reality for me when I remembered the childhood conversation with my mother about my college plans and how MIT struck a chord with me, and so it only felt appropriate that I apply to the first college I had ever learned about.

And so soon enough I was in Boston still unsure about which school I was destined for. I would leave it to my visit impressions to guide me. Up first was Harvard, you know the land of argyle shirts and amazingly intelligent people. This visit pretty much ended for me though when I posed the following question to my tour guide:

"So what do you know about engineering here? What are some of the strengths of Harvard engineering?"
Pausing for a few moments, he replied,"Umm...yea why would you come here? MIT is just down the street?"
"Hehe..."

Just go to MIT was his advice. Thanks to this random person, who I don't remember one bit, my life had drastically been altered. Here, this very moment, was the turning point when MIT began to infect my mind, in a good way of course. The next day I visited MIT and endured another long tour in the scolding heat (you'd think being Arab and all that I'd have a tolerance for heat, but no). The tour went on for an hour or so and unfortunately I left unimpressed. I secretly desired a school with the traditional architecture and spread out campus of Harvard, but with the pro-science attitude of MIT. I would have to look elsewhere was my conclusion. This turn of events left me in quite a dilemma because I wanted so desperately to live in Cambridge and attend this top tier institution. Sadly, I departed Cambridge with neither Harvard nor MIT as my top choice any more, casting me into a wretched, despondent state in which I pondered what my future would hold. I already had my college application list all set in stone; the question was where I would go. Well, luckily school started and I pushed this matter to the back of my mind, reassuring myself that I would know the right decision eventually. Boy did I hope that would be true. Regardless, I became too bogged down in work to worry about life a year from now. Instead, I resolved to put all the same care and love into all my applications and wish for the best and that was that.

Well, September and October blew by and following my counselor's advice, "No trick-or-treat until applications are complete," I had submitted all my forms on October 30th. I was done...well, only with the paperwork. The biggest decision of all was still waiting.

Weeks went by and still nothing happened. My future and I were still at a stalemate. I often found myself deep within the recesses of my mind conversing with the little people up there who keep everything well oiled,

"Where am I going to go?"
"Well, there's Princeton"
"Yeah...but they're in the middle of nowhere...plus they have grade deflation."
"What about UPenn? You liked their campus."
"You're right. I loved their campus and it's right smack dab in downtown Philly, but of course, Wharton seems to overshadow everything else on campus. Hmm what else?"
"There's Johns Hopkins!"
"That place seems perfect. They have the number one biomedical engineering program and have a great medical school, but those are the only two things I like about that school."

and on and on it went for days, weeks, and even months...until one day in November when everything changed.

Something magical happened. Up until then, I had been ignoring the MIT blog posts, using the site for just the most basic information. I never thought much of the blog, not ever realizing why it was on an admissions website of all places. One lazy afternoon, however, like any impatient teenager, I started to wonder when MIT's early action decisions would be released. I scoured the MIT blogs for previous posts relating to this and at that moment when I finally read my first MIT blog post fate intervened. I felt like Pandora (a manly version of her) opening a non-evil Pandora's box and releasing a trove of information into the world. It felt exhilarating. My mind went crazy as I read through post after post about hacks and snowball fights and dorms and so much more. In just hours I had fallen in love with MIT. Here was my act of fate, this random event in time that handed my decision to me and told me that this was the right school for me. About time!

This decisiveness that empowered me proved to be a double edged sword. While I couldn't help but smile knowing that I finally had a plan, something to work toward and believe in with all my might, I quickly discovered the "dark side" and it definitely was not something eye-poppingly (Webster-please add "eye-poppingly" to your dictionary) cool like in Star Wars. Think of the MIT blogs as drugs and the average reader as the poor victim. We readers gradually start warming up to the blogs until one day when BAM we become addicted, can't stop clicking refresh, and have brains that run on and on at the speed at light thinking about MIT. I mean the MIT blogs are so mind-altering that people actually fight to post "FIRST" in the comments. Did I mention how sharp that sword was when decisions finally rolled around December 15th?

On December 1st, time literally slowed. Classes seemed longer, sleep couldn't end quicker, and regular, everyday life pretty much seemed pointless with the advent of decisions any day. What any day?!?!? There's not a specific date?!?!? Well, in a move that makes the decisions ever more suspenseful, the admissions committee doesn't release the "decisions date" until a few days before the "actual decisions date." This element of surprise was the root of a two week span of inattentiveness in my classes, perhaps due to my checking of the MIT blogs every fifteen minutes on my phone. Those last days leading up to the dreaded 15th, although tough, left me with lasting memories. I remember listening to soothing songs like "Relax" by Mika and "Who Will Save Your Soul" by Jewel. I remember jumping up and down in my seat during physics when I learned there was only five days left until decisions. I remember half-watching I Am Legend with my friends, one of which had just been accepted into Yale and was having the time of his life. Most of all, of all the painfully long days, of all the never ending lectures, of all the sleepless nights, of all my dreams that I hoped would come true, I remember the kind words of my friends who pushed me through the darkness of these winter days and pacified even the worst of the butterflies that plagued me. What would I ever do without you guys?

Well, the 15th did finally did sneak up. I was terribly inefficient that morning, suffering from bouts of serious butterfly attacks (like Mongolia killer butterfly attacks) and various thoughts along the lines of "OMG OMG OMG OMG WHAT IF I DONT GET IN DO I EVEN HAVE A CHANCE AFTER BEING DEFERRED COULD REJECTION HAPPEN I WORKED SO HARD I NEED THIS BUT WHAT IF THE WORST HAPPENS" and on and on until about 11:30 am at which time I started clicking refresh over and over because of course it's common knowledge that the decisions site goes online approximately 15 minutes early. And like clockwork, at 11:46 I was inputting my login information and ignoring the "There is no interim page. You will see your decision right away" text. In matters of seconds, my adrenaline spiked and then came crashing down when I saw a short paragraph and the one word that stood out: "defer".

The following two weeks constituted the most depressing and longest winter break I've ever endured. Against the advice of others, there was nothing to do but to contemplate the steps leading up to this moment. I already had sent in my previous applications. I had no travel plans. I even had no homework. I knew better though. You should never question yourself, your dreams, your actions or anything you've done. Being deferred was no statement about my abilities or personality, no matter how much it felt like it was. At that time, there was just not enough information to conclude whether I was the perfect match for MIT. So what did I do? I heeded the wise words of Thomas Edison: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." I sure as heck was not going to sit down during winter break wondering what I did wrong or which path I should have followed. NO! I quickly became focused on what I was going to do about this. For two weeks, I worked on updates for MIT. I wrote a long essay about my passion for research and how I grew from it. I talked about new accomplishments, but most of all, I opened up and flat out expressed my undying love for MIT and my visions of walking down the infinite with just minutes to spare for class or studying with friends into the wee hours of the night. It had taken me 17 years, but I finally opened up to someone, telling them my deepest, darkest secrets, and only hoping that they would understand and be appreciative.

Although the next three months ran on the same long timescale as the two weeks leading up to early decisions, my actions were completely opposite. I enjoyed life more. I went to movies more. I played tennis more (for fun of course, season was long done). I soaked in every moment, realizing how short my time left in high school was. I was going to be somewhere next year. That much was for sure. My dream was MIT, my goal was college. After all, this whole application process was just another instance of my all time favorite quote: "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

I felt the long days pass, but I was having a blast. When the 15th rolled around, I was in school on a Friday night at the annual SciFi Fest. I stuffed myself with pizza, ridiculed terrible movies with friends, and totally forgot about the immediate future. It was all about the present, living life one step at a time. This time around there were no killer butterflies, no shaky hands, no runaway thoughts. There was just me with a more mature outlook for my future. I never gave up on my dreams. I knew dreams never had to end because of one setback, one moment in time. During the milliseconds between when I clicked "submit" and when I waited for the page to load, the only thought running through my head was about how much I loved my parents and friends for giving me the best senior year possible and all the support I needed in the worst of times. Well, the few hundred milliseconds ended and there I was reading "pleasure...accept..." and immediately jumping up and down, hugging my parents, and yelling thanks to everyone out there for being so kind during a taxing 8 months. I called, I texted, and I instant messaged. Veni, vidi, vici!

My dream had been achieved. I was going to Cambridge for sure. The days following were ethereal blessings. I floated through the hallways and was tackled with hugs between every class. Teachers patted me on the back and strangers congratulated me. Needless to say, a smiled a whole lot (maybe even too much, Botox anyone?). My away message for an entire week and to the annoyance of many read "I LOVE MIT!!!" In this week, my school learned more about MIT because of me than they ever did about our own high school. In this week, I became facebook friends with Ben. I exchanged emails with Snively and told Paul I'd see him at CPW. Best of all, I thanked everyone, from my fellow classmates in the MIT '12 chatroom to teachers and friends at school for all their help and wise words.

If I could condense my entire senior year into one tiny morsel of advice, it'd be to live a little. Study, learn, work hard, but in the end, live your last months at home worry-free. Go to that new cafe you've always wanted to try, let the radio blast on your way to school at 7:30 am, talk to people who you never thought you could have been friends with, but in between all of this, make memories. In just a year, you won't care which colleges denied you. Rather, you'll regret the moments you missed out on, the potential for having the time of your life. Moments are all we really have. You miss them and there goes your life right before your eyes, but you hold onto them, make them yours, and then you have truly lived.

Ever since March 15th 11:45 am, life's been a party. The instant the application process is over and you decide on your four-year home, life becomes this giant never-ending party lasting until your first class in the Fall. I can't even explain how amazing April was with the absence of worrying, May with the best week of my life happening (ISEF) and June with graduation and the ending of a major chapter in my life. I'll need an another monstrous entry just to explain how unforgettable my senior year was. Perhaps the best part was learning about "blogging" and the ability of blogs to bring droves of people together into one tight-knit community. I never thought I could learn so much from transcribing my life experiences. If only I could express in words how much of a lifeline this blog proved to be during my "deferred months." It served as an emotional outlet, fueled by the readers. So while I've thanked my family, my friends, and basically everyone I know for being there for me, I now would like to thank you readers for being the wind underneath my wings, the ones who truly listened and still listen to what I have to say.

Aww Microsoft...how cute

2008-07-30T23:31:00.007-04:00

For lack of better things to do at 11:31 pm, let's point and laugh at Microsoft for being quite sad. Here is a new website of Microsoft's called "Mactopia."

Yes, Microsoft is full on embracing Macs with a whole website idolizing them. While I fully understand that the Microsoft peeps must support their products, they most definitely could have done this under the main Microsoft Office page. Instead and frankly quite humorously, Microsoft dedicated a website to the computer of their main competitor. Maybe it'll work out in their favor. Until I see proof though, let's just point and laugh :-)

Half-Blood Prince!

2008-07-30T10:44:00.004-04:00

The new Harry Potter movie trailer is out! I'm excited to see it, especially since I may end up seeing it in Cambridge.

Welcome to Nerdidom

2008-07-29T23:34:00.009-04:00

Welcome...please check any normality at the door.

We have a winner for geekiest household item ever. This trumps anything my wildest imagination could conjure and makes my "geeky sense" (sort of like the spidey sense) tingle. I want these (see below) so much!

No, those are not super enlarged eyes pulled out of someone's eye sockets like in Kill Bill, one of the sweetest movies to be produced in my time. These are eyeball lamps. Imagine these babies in action lighting up your room. You'd be the talk of the geek community. You'd be hailed as the uber master of all that is nerdy. Yes, you'd become geek overlord.

So why am I making such a big deal about something that seems so mundane. Why, because so far I've neglected to tell you one important (and perhaps creepy) part to all this. These lamps are tailored to resemble your own eyes based upon pictures of them! Like I said, you would be an overnight sensation in the geek world with these bad boys. Unfortunately, these would probably cost ~~a fortune~~ the tuition of MIT, so you won't be seeing my shiny eyeballs lighting my dorm room anytime soon. Regardless, you could at least whet your nerd appetite by going to the designer's website and drooling over pictures.

UPDATE:

Per Enas' request, I'm posting the nighttime picture because it pretty much confirms just how rocking this lights are. I'm not going to pretend though. Having these next to me while I sleep, staring at me, taunting me, would cause many twisted nightmares. Think Willy Wonka, but the complete opposite.

Me ->> Major FAIL

2008-07-28T17:13:00.005-04:00

I'm sure I've told you all many times, but for the sake of this story, I'll repeat myself once more and say that for the past few weeks I've been helping out at a research laboratory at this hospital nearby. I'm basically the go-to guy whenever someone needs help. Two weeks ago I assisted the team in removing hearts from pigs so that the effects of the implanted stents and associated medicine could be observed. Let me tell you, wrestling with pigs is anti-fun (have you ever heard these buggers squeal?...yea it kills the ears). In fact, I think we need a new word for this sort of agony. If the action of throwing someone out of a window (defenestrate) merits its own word, I think wrestling with a pig should too. Perhaps something like colluctsus. It's a latin amalgamation...look it up! I've strayed too far off topic. So yes, I help with various tasks around the lab and today it fell on me to dispose of old research case files.

The Paper Massacre

The papers stood no chance. They didn't see it coming. One moment they were resting in their safe haven aka the cardboard box, the next they were being collected for execution. Group by group they were lifted and fed into the "monster" rumored to be called the shredder...For an hour or so, this went on, this fantasy delusion occurring in my mind to make the time pass faster and more excitingly. Well, it seemed exciting at the time at least. For this hour of shredding, everything went smoothly. One by one, every piece of paper was shredded to pieces and laid to rest in this large plastic container. This seemed too easy though. No no no. it couldn't last like this the entire time, right? Something always has to go wrong when I'm involved and so it happened...I encounted the paper "muscle." The best of the papers, the ones that lift weights and are ripped. I, not paying attention to this threat, kept feeding in the normal number of papers. This was to be my undoing.

Return of the Papers

The papers fought hard. The shredder stood no chance and it jammed because of the increased thickness of these papers. Luckily, the shredder had a counter-attack known as the "reverse." With the flick of a button, these papers were flung out only to be fed in again in smaller numbers and oh did they shred. Threat averted.

Sneak Attack

The paper shredding continued as planned. There was no hope to prevent this inhumane treatment. Packet by packet, the papers were thwarted and relegated to the trash bags. A few lone souls, however, planned one last attack that fooled everyone. They seemed to shred just fine until they were barely visible at which point they jammed the machine and left it inoperable. The reverse counterattack failed. Any external measures to pull out the papers failed. It seemed that the shredder may have been defeated. A half hour, some broken scissors, and soar hands later still found the shredder in a sticky predicament, locked in a feud with the paper currently in the feed.

So Simple

Eventually my backup arrived. She nonchalantly walked in, turned the shredder off, turned it back on, and let the machine go. It immediately tore through the remaining bits, leaving no survivors. While this was quite frustrating as I had been working on loosening the paper in the feed for 30 minutes, I concluded that I had loosened the paper enough to finally allow the shredder to work. This conclusion brightens up the innermost cavities of my conscious (and unconscious) and allows me to ignore the half-hour waste of my life. On the other hand, this situation is just like when you can't open a bottle after so many attempts, but then the person after you does it with no effort. See it really was all me!

Unexpected Ending

With the shredder up and running, the papers once again met their doom in the depths of this machine. Soon, though, a surprising twist of fate intervened, saving the papers for the time being and disappointing me thoroughly. The jamming had caused the shredder to overheat and rendered it useless. After two hours of standing and only two trash bags full of paper, I felt as if I had lost big time. No no...I just utterly and truly FAILED. So there you have it, a typical day in my shoes.

Insane Indian Food, Candy Mountain, and Depression

2008-07-27T22:52:00.006-04:00

With all the buzz of the new facebook, I decided I'd throw in my two cents. After some exploring, I've concluded that the new design is quite friendly to those who hate the flashy applications that force you to scroll for a minute before you can reach someone's wall (psh, no exaggeration, I'm sure someone out there has enough apps for a minute of scrolling). It's nice to click "wall" and see this roll of posts and events that actually form a story. They've improved the wall by adding status updates, replies, friend additions, and various other news items in between people's comments. Of course, there's an option to return to the real wall we all know and love for those purists out there.

Now, it took me some time to decide whether I like the tabs, but since they hide the annoying apps, I've embraced the arriving of the tabs. I've actually been using tabs for quite some time now on the facebook web application for the iPhone, but that's besides the point. Another reason tabs rock is that it allows for a person's biographical and contact information to be concentrated on one page rather than mixed into one giant jumble with everything else.

One of my favorite enhancements is the new presentation of pictures. A person's tagged photos and albums are all located in on easy-to-reach - you guessed it - tab! There's not much I dislike about the renovation and since I'm one who loves change, I give facebook a hearty two thumbs up for this one. But wait, there's still one last thing left to ponder. Why has Facebook taken such a strong hold on our lives to merit lengthy discussions and controversy? I'll leave that to the philosophers.

Indian people, why is your food so darn spicy!? Don't get me wrong, I am a die hard fan of your food. I'll eat it any day, any time, any where etc etc. I love trying new Indian food and have gone to all the restaurants in my area, but it is this very propensity to your food that has landed me in this uncomfortable situation. Today I tried a newly opened place called the "Curry Corner." They have a large selection of delicacies that are cheaply priced, something any student like myself would squeal at (oh you know you would, at least a little whiimper on the inside perhaps). I went crazy and got pakoras, aloo tikka, somasas, and masala dosa (actually that's normal for me, not crazy >.<) and quickly downed the food while watching Psych and drinking lots of water. After I finished and my water ran out, some strange feeling engulfed my mouth. This feeling rapidly degenerated into pain. All I could feel in the cavity of my mouth was this stinging pain and so I darted toward the freezer downstairs and scarfed down an ice cream bar (you know the one with two soft chocolate biscuits with vanilla ice cream in the middle). Immediately the pain subsided and a long, exasperated "Ahhhh" emanated from me. A few minutes later, after the effects of the ice cream faded, some pain returned, but it was on an order of magnitude much less than before. I resumed my reading and then left for tennis two hours later. While playing with my friend, I could still feel the effects of the food in my system and even some acid reflex. And now, hours and hours later, I can still feel the food playing havoc on my digestive system. It's truly been a uniquely fun day I guess. I will have to gather up some courage and watch the video Snively showed me (embedded below) many times before I'll feel man enough to return to the "Curry Corner" and eat some more of their food. I'll have to man up quickly though, because they have an all-you-can-eat buffet for only $6.99. I bet now you squealed, didn't you? Be honest.

How to Deal with an Annoying Baby Chick

It is now time to once again to face my daily dilemma of how long I should read before falling asleep. See the problem lies in that I can read for a long time, finish the book, be happy, start a new book, and on and on, and at the same time be extremely tired tomorrow as I must wake up at 6:45 am. On the other hand, I could not read so much, not finish the book, feel lousy about not finishing the book that's almost done and have to repeat the process tomorrow, but be well rested and energetic to assist teaching my early morning chemistry class. In the end, it's a lose-lose situation that I can never win so I guess it's a lot like losing "the game." But I guess that's just life so essentially life is just full of loss. Man, how did I just end up depressing myself and the tone of this entire post as well. I guess that takes serious skill, but what do you expect, it's me and I'm just awesome. 'Night.

More baby madness!

2008-07-25T23:04:00.004-04:00

I swear I'm not a creeper. These are just toooo funny. If you can find more, pleaase share! By the way, before this post there were 123 posts on my blog. How exciting!

Aren't kids cute?

2008-07-24T20:24:00.004-04:00

I just can't stop laughing at this. Maybe it's the accent.

Simmons FTW!

2008-07-23T23:56:00.009-04:00

I found out I'll be temped in Simmons at MIT for orientation! For those who aren't familiar with MIT's housing, freshmen basically are given temporary dorms during orientation. Right before the semester starts, we have the option to select a new dorm based on what we have experienced during orientation and if we're feeling particularly dangerous, we can even choose a new roommate. MIT definitely does housing in a manner that does not disappoint and provides flexibility.

I'll be in room 744 on the south wall, which gives me a beautiful view of downtown Boston. Unfortunately, I probably won't see the river, but at least I will see this:

I was perusing floor maps of Simmons and noticed that I am temped in a single. There's nothing wrong with this as I'd rather meet someone during orientation than randomly be paired with someone based upon some whimsical answers we put down for the housing questions. In the end, if I end up alone and desolate, at least I'll be able to revel in the extra privacy.

By the way, the photo at the top is my random picture for today. I snapped it last year when I was visiting the great New York City. Some parking garage owner seems to have an MIT-like sense of humor. I bet he cruelly enjoyed watching us nerds stop and laugh as opposed to most people who had no clue about it. You should consult wikipedia about 1337 if you are not sure what it means.

Well, now that housing lottery results are out, I feel one major step closer to MIT. All that's left is the loooong drive out there, which I'll be sure to blog about. Shannon and I already discussed this. She'll be blogging her journey as well, but don't worry because both of ours will be completely different. Luckily, she is taking the route through Canada as it is the shorter one while I will be taking the other route that goes through Ohio and Pennsylvania. So yes, be sure to read both of ours.

Until next time, good night!

YOU FAIL

2008-07-18T07:06:00.004-04:00

Well not really, especially since you are reading this blog which makes you undoubtedly awesome. I am so addicted to these "FAIL" pictures. I can't stop looking for them, I can't sleep...I can't eat...well I guess I can eat, but when I eat I get sorta of sleepy...eh but anyway, these pictures rock. You'll probably end up laughing hysterically to most of them and hurt yourself (I almost did...whoops :) ), but take the chance and go to these two websites ASAP and have a good time!

So do you ever FAIL? Just yesterday I dropped a toilet paper roll and it unraveled a few meters. Yeah I fail a lot. It's ok though.

Happy Fantasy World

2008-07-15T06:52:00.007-04:00

Above is a strip from my favorite web comic site: the Perry Bible Fellowship! Don't be fooled by the name. None of these are holy like. This comic rocks this world so much that it has been turned into one of the greatest books of all time. That's right! Nothing can beat a book that has a candyland theme. It even has one of those handy built in bookmarks. Go check the rest out NOW. Some of their outstanding strips include "Suicide Train," "An End to Gopher Trouble," and "The Tree of Irony." Let me know what your favorite comic site is in the comments!

For you mac lovers out there, a new site launched that allows you to make your own software bundles for discounted prices. I'm not talking about the 5% discount that saves you like 3 dollars on an item that's overpriced in the first place and is taking you for everything you've got. No. This has actual prices with discounts based on the number of applications you buy. If you buy five, you'll get 40% off! I was playing around and discovered that I could buy five applications for less than the cost of parallels, the only application I care for at this time. Sweet deal right?

Because of Enas '12 I can now have MIT's school calender on my phone! She created an iCal version of MIT's calender and posted it, allowing me to download it and transfer it over to my phone. Now I know precisely when every holiday is!

The only downside is that now I have no excuse for missing anything. Oh wait, I'm covered. "My phone ran out of battery." There we go I'm good for the time being. I do know though when that excuse won't fly like today with my physical exam appointment. This has been scheduled for months and I'm pretty sure my parents wouldn't be pleased if I missed it. Yeah, that's right. I slyly snuck in the fact that I'm almost done with some of the last major forms MIT needs! Once I get this medical report out, I believe I will be done for the time being. Woohoo.

Happy Tree Friends!

2008-07-09T19:43:00.001-04:00

The lesson folks: "Love is blind."

Gosh I love these cartoons. Enjoy!

New is Good

2008-07-06T13:52:00.009-04:00

For a while, I've been feeling that the generic blogger template I've been using for my site seemed a little boyish and just not me. As the days went on, my cozy friend I called my blog became more and more unfamiliar. Every time I saw the pale green and beige background or the stars at the top of the page or whenever I posted a new entry, I wondered when change would come, when this blog would finally feel familiar again. Yeah...It really wasn't that dramatic. It's been six months and a chapter of my life has been completed so I felt change was necessary. I'm going to try this out for a while and see if it works. What do you think? Should I keep it? If not, maybe I will find something more appealing.

By the way, the picture above is a picture I took at the top of Mount Washington in Pittsburgh. I forced my dad to drive all the way to the top in rain just so I could see the amazing view (and take pictures, of course, for my blog). Aren't I such an awesome son? I know right. I think I read somewhere that the view from the top of Mount Washington is the second best view in America. That's right they even rate views nowadays, not just institutions (*cough MIT is 7 *cough). Now, if rating of the views is anything similar to the prestigious US News' college ratings, then I would completely ignore them, but I did go through the trouble of looking up the top 10 views in America and this is what I found. So apparently the view of Pittsburgh is number 2, three spots ahead of the Golden Gate bridge view, which I think could be a strong contender for the number 1 spot, but like I said, these ratings are just as "good" as US News' ratings.

Enjoy the new look!

Dedication

2008-07-05T00:10:00.004-04:00

Thanks to geardiary.com for the picture.

It seems that those darn New Yorkers have already started lining up in front of Apple's famous cube store on Fifth Ave. These people are seriously loyal to Apple. Don't they have jobs? And does anyone know where I can find myself some dedication like that?

Check out more pics and a video interview at engadget.com!

The Real Kind of Superhero

2008-07-03T23:34:00.006-04:00

Yes what a tear jerker. If you didn't feel sad and inspired at the same time then I don't know what's wrong with you. I really liked the music. It perfectly set the mood and would be something fun to play on the piano (just not in front of people with perfect pitch as Rachel '12 has previously pointed out...I would hurt their ears and they'd never let me play again :( ). Now I posted this video because of its depiction of Earth, but what's truly hilarious is the video's intended purpose. If you're naturally keen to details, you may have noticed that this video is a "gift" from the people behind "The Secret." Yes, the secret. The secret that isn't really a secret. The secret that involves some red stamp as its logo. The secret that is ironic because like I said it's not a secret. Yes the secret that defies physics and science in general. And yes, if you were wondering, I have read the book "The Secret." Basically, the secret behind "The Secret" is the notion that the universe will magically wrap up whatever you want in a nice box with red glitter wrapping paper and a bow tie to top it off as long as you think deeply about what you desperately desire. Most importantly, "The Secret" states that you must send forth positive energy waves to the universe for this to work. After that, all you must do is keep thinking about what you want in life and expect it to arrive at your door steps within the next 3-5 business days (give or take a few loads of BS). The people behind "The Secret" are masters of advertising stories about the success of this. Someone thought about 1000 bucks constantly and was desperate enough to even put up a fake 1000 dollar check on his wall and long behold 1000 dollars arrived in the mail. Yes, stories like this they claim prove that "The Secret" exists and is out there for everyone to use. Funny how I can diverge so much because of a simple video...oh well.

So tonight I went and saw "Hancock" and I'm here to say it ABSOLUTELY ROCKED. Yeah, it was good. Although the special effects for the flying are not the best, it is a great interpretation of what a real life superhero would be like even though this interpretation drastically goes south toward the end of the movie when there's this completely somewhat unexpected twist that insinuates that there's some greater being out there. Other than that, the movie was still a blast to watch.

I'll try to upload some interesting pictures of Chitown (chicago for you who don't know) tomorrow. Most likely I'll be lazy and won't upload any, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. So Happy Fourth of July and have a safe weekend!

Yay for Rainbows

2008-06-28T23:27:00.006-04:00

While on my way to the newly released movie Wanted, I saw something quite spectacular. I'll give you a hint. What do you get when droplets of rain interact with sunlight? A RAINBOW! This was unlike any rainbow I've ever seen though. Usually, I only see rainbows that are visible as a small arc in the sky, but this was completely different. This one spanned from one end of town to the other as bright as day. But wait, there's more! There was another full, although somewhat fainter, rainbow above this one. It was a magnificent sight.

As I was driving through town, EVERYONE was snapping pictures. At traffic lights, people stuck their heads out windows hoping to capture shots of the sky. In neighborhoods, people were outside their homes pointing and staring in awe. It was this beautiful thing smack dab over our town connecting everyone in a way.

Scroll through the photos, and if you desire a clearer picture of the scene I saw, check out the wikipedia article.

Now on to something more interesting. Wanted turned out to be a surprisingly engaging movie. I enjoyed the twists in the plot line and winced at the intense action. I found the story to be unique, especially taking pleasure in the novel ideas I had not seen elsewhere. Curving bullets around obstacles to reach a target is definitely a wickedly amazing way to shoot someone. To top it all off, there was an obscene amount of blood and killing, maybe even a little too much for me (keep in mind I play Grand Theft Auto IV a LOT). Anyway, I recommend seeing this movie at some point in your life whether in theaters or on DVD.

To end the perfect night, I finally got my AP scores, courtesy of the MIT 2012 facebook group and the people who practically announced it the second scores were available. After fumbling with the AP phone service for like 15 minutes because I clumsily pressed the wrong digits (that actually told me that I reached my error limit and must start over...so frustrating), I was told by the freaky robotic voice that I got 5s on the CS AB and both Physics C exams! w00t. Now I won't have to take 8.01. Now if only I did not have to take 8.02 or 18.02. ASE studying not ftw, but alas I must do it.

Well that's it for now. Good night all.

stay tuned

2008-06-28T20:06:00.001-04:00

I just saw something amazing. I'm blogging from my phone in the car. Yea, it's that amazing. Pictures will come tonight. Keep checking!

The Grass is Greener on My Side

2008-06-23T09:19:00.003-04:00

For the past few days I've been hitting it up in downtown Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers, the smallest T ever, and a downtown that is closed by 5:00 pm (thank god the restaurants stay until at least like 9 ). There are some fun areas during the day, though, like the strip district (get your mind out of the gutter) that is a long strip on the outskirts of downtown brimming with all sorts of fresh food, such as bread and fish, and cool trinkets and the sorts. I also attended an arts festival, which featured art from all over the country from as far as Hawaii. I saw some incredible work, including these drawings that transformed famous pieces of writings into art. The next day, while I was meandering around downtown, a gay pride march began with people shouting, "We're here, we're queer, our families are real!" After the march, a gay pride festival started with bands, lots of food, and sumo wrestling (well pseudo sumo wrestling, you know with the suits)! It's so funny when people go down because they have so much trouble getting back up.

Now, why I'm really in Pittsburgh is not for the arts or for shopping, but because of the American Society for Engineering Eduction's annual conference, which is taking place in the Pittsburgh convention center. My parents always come so I decided to tag along and register. Today I'm going to attend a few lectures by MIT professors (including two bio(medical) engineering professors and explore the exhibition hall filled with companies showing off their amazing products. There's many companies from Mathworks (Matlab) to SolidWorks to National Instruments! I plan to wear my MIT shirt during the day and see what happens, sort of like an experiment. Anyone interested in seeing what happens? I already had one person in the elevator stop me and say, "Are you from MIT? I was class of '61!"

Well I better be off. I have many fun pictures that I want to post, but cannot because I only brought my firewire cable, and unfortunately the iPhone (along with all new iPods) does not have the firewire chipset for transferring data and syncing. I'll definitely post them later though once I'm home. Ciao!

Do you pass this test?

2008-06-15T21:14:00.003-04:00

"Do you know what a mathematician is? A mathematician is one to whom that [see below] is as obvious as twice two makes four is to you." ~ Lord Kelvin (a long time ago)

So do you pass this tried-and-true test?

For those who do pass, earn some extra credit by telling me how you found the answer (the square root of pi) when this integral's corresponding indefinite integral cannot even be solved.

Whooooo Weeeee Areeeeeeeeee

2008-06-15T21:04:00.001-04:00

I was perusing fellow MIT '12er Emily Zhao's blog and came across this great song. It's "Who's to Say" by Vanessa Carlton. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Betrayal, Trickier, Sadness, and the Sorts

2008-06-14T01:20:00.006-04:00

I know I promised no more Apple related posts for a while, but I figured that since this is going to bash Apple and AT&T that you would perhaps forgive me. As I mentioned in the last post, the iPhone is now 200 bucks. Cool right? Amazing right? Affordable right? wrong :-( While I would expect this from AT&T - after all they are a conniving, bloodsucking phone company - I, along with everyone, expect more from Steve the man Jobs. So what's the problem? Well, let's go over it. The iPhone is 200 bucks on paper. Everyone from age 12 to 60 would walk into a store, see that price, hop up and down like little kids, childishly claim they want it, and hand over their seductive credit card, finally obtaining the shiny piece of metal they so desperately desire. They would have to sign the 2 year contract in store (more on this below) and then happily play with their iPhone for a month. One sad day a month later come the bills which are 70 bucks (without tax and the five extra bucks it is for texts), which then causes these unlucky people to drop their iPhones and yell excruciatingly loud. Why? Because these people have just realized how badly they had been cheated. Let's outline it.

| Old Plan | New Plan
-------------------------------
450 mins | 39.99 | 39.99

Data (req.) | 19.99 | 29.99

Texts | Included | 4.99
------------------------------
Total (-tax))| 59.99 | 69.99 (w/o tax)

Over the required two year period, you would end up paying an extra 240 dollars (24 months x extra $10) in the new plan. This essentially makes the iPhone $440 instead of the unbelievable $200 that it is advertised for. Now you see why AT&T is able to subsidize the iPhone for so much. In the end, they really are gaining much more, and because they require you to activate in store, they will no longer lose phones to unlocking unless the person does not care forking over 2000 dollars over two years. Overall, the process is now against the customer, as before activation occurred in the comfort of one's home and the phone plan was not so expensive. Despite this deceit, I still recommend the iPhone, since in actuality, all this pricing is beacuse of AT&T and not Apple, so don't ignore your thirst for technology just because the plan seems expensive. In my opinion, of all the phones out there, the iPhone does the best of really paying itself off in the form of usefulness.

Moving away from the iPhone, I have now submitted all my MIT forms that were due by today. I guess that's a good thing right!? My housing preferences are as follows in order: Simmons, Baker, Macgregor, and BC. I cannot wait to find out which one I am placed in. Does anyone know if we find out our roommate at the same time? I also submitted an application for the FPOPs. My desired FPOP is definitely the Mechanical Engineering one because building a soccer bot is without a doubt the best way to spend the last hours of the summer.

Well, this marks the end of my fun-filled post. Sorry there were no pictures. I'm a little tired from studying 18.02 and because of the lateness and so didn't feel like scavenging the vast space that is the internet for pixels to please your eyes. Instead I hope you enjoyed my table! Until next time, stay classy!

OW MY GAWD

2008-06-10T18:27:00.003-04:00

Excuse me for sounding like a 12 year old girl (referring to the title), but something amazing happened yesterday. Yes, I think you may know what I'm talking about. I finally saw the Blues Brothers. Oh wait...hmm...that's not so amazing... So if it's not that, I guess it could only be the new Apple iPhone! When Steve Jobs said 3G, the crowd went wild with shouts and cheers. On top of that, there is even GPS tracking. And wait, there's even more. It is only 200 dollars. In actuality, I really should have no reason to be happy considering that just docked the value of my current iPhone to next to nothing. Luckily, someone is willing to buy it off me for 150 (he is planning to unlock it). That way, the new iPhone will merely be an upgrade and not too expensive. Yes, like I've said many times, I AM an Apple fanboy.

Okay, this post will probably be the last of my obsessive posts over Apple for a while until of course I buy my Macbook Pro. What do I do in the meantime to distract myself from Apple? I play Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots. I've been playing late night LAN games with friends. As I haven't touched this game for years, I'm a bit rusty and did in fact lose in 25 minutes the other night. I will say though that the map we played was completely unfair considering that because of a lake, the computer team had to pass through me to reach the rest of my three teammates. That pretty much means I became a human shield for my team and was defeated in no time. Needless to say, I will build up my army from now on much quicker.

Regardless of my terrible playing skills, it is still an enormously fun game. I love watching soldiers with guns shoot down infidels with bows and arrows and submarines take down wooden ships. Ah, the beauty of rising civilization.

Nowadays, I'm just volunteering at the hospital and continuing my research. I begin in the lab again tomorrow and am stoked to once again open up leeches.

Yesterday, I spontaneously drove up to Grand Rapids for shopping. Today I was poked with a needle as part of the annual TB test required by the hospital I volunteer at. Tomorrow who knows what will happen (meh I do...probably watching OCW lectures lazily at home), but at least I'll be a day closer to MIT and a whole new world.

Good times

2008-06-07T23:04:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone! I've finally graduated from both my schools (remember I went to two schools, half day for each). The past week has been fun since I've been going to a lot of recitals and open houses. In fact, today I went to 10. From 12 to 10 pm I was pretty much driving around trying to catch all the parties I wanted to attend. Oh poor me right :-p. Now that I'm out of school, which feels weird by the way, I'm looking more and more into MIT and what I want to do there. I'm really excited to be there next year, despite my reservations about how good of a school it is for premed. I'm trying to finish up all my forms that are due by next friday, but they are very important and I don't want to rush them. I think I'm going to choose Simmons for my first choice since I really liked the new feel and concrete architecture. I also am not sure about whether I want a freshman advising seminar or traditional advising.

My highlight this week was trekking out to the new Threadless store in Chicago. If you don't know what Threadless is please go to their website and see their amazing selection of clothes. They tell artists to design shirts and then let people vote on them. The best voted designs are printed on shirts that people can buy. These shirts are trendy and many of them are extremely hilarious. One of the most popular t-shirt designs is the Communist Party one, which has Stalin and many other Communist leaders with party hats and cups partying it up, representing a Communist Party. Get it! Anyway, I went to the store and giddily bought 6 shirts. They are priceless and a joy to wear, especially because of people's comments when I wear one. The one I wore today had a clown vomiting a rainbow into a toilet. Funny stuff.

In other news, the supposedly revamped 3G iPhone should be announced next week. I am considering buying it if I can sell my current iPhone and am stoked about what features it will have. I am truly an Apple fanboy. Check out this questionable picture of it below:

Well, now that I'm not extremely busy, I will keep trying to update this blog more frequently. Please keep coming!

ISEF - Part 2!

2008-05-15T08:47:00.005-04:00

[Picture are coming soon]

Tuesday was an amazing day as we all were treated to a dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck at the aquarium and desert at the World of Coca Cola. The dinner was amongst whales and sharks in an elegant dining hall, but the best to come was to be found at the World of Coca Cola. After getting my picture taken with the polar bear, I headed for the tasting room where there was about 6 stations each with around 10-15 drinks Coca Cola makes from around the world. Needless to say, I had to try every single one. I did shots by quickly going across each soda fountain and 20 minutes later my stomach was more than full.

While that was a great end to the night, judging was tomorrow morning. It was definitely more laid back than I thought it would be. The judges were extremely interested and nice, asking fair and not mind-numbingly hard questions. Things became intense though in the third session when I had an unscheduled interview with two grand award judges for the last 20 minutes or so. They kept asking questions one after another and knew what they were talking about. In fact, one of them had worked with leeches, my model animal for study, and was meticulously analyzing my work. It became more of an academic discussion though, which proved enjoyable and their questions about my procedure provided me with many ideas on how to improve.

After judging was the student mixer. Food was served on trays and so everyone had to chases the waiters down to eat. It was hilarious because throughout the entire night you would see a big mob of people chasing after a waiter with such delicacies as scrumptious chicken wings or mini hamburgers. After a couple of hours of watching lame dancing in this brightly lit atrium, I and a few others headed to the Hard Rock where we didn't order much, inadvertently angering the waiter who obviously desired a large tip. After eating my apple cobbler, we headed to the Omni and sat around talking until we felt dreariness from the past few long nights overcome us. We concluded that the hotel wouldn't be pleased with a bunch of geeks passed out in their lounge so we called it a night and crashed in our rooms.

Right now I have to head to the exhibition hall as public viewing starts at 10 am. Today will be an interesting day.

ISEF - An amazing two days so far

2008-05-13T08:11:00.010-04:00

We're two days into the science fair and Atlanta is packed with aspiring young talent from end to end. Everywhere I walk in Atlanta, I can expect to see the signature orange finalist ribbon dangling across someone's neck. It's as if we've taken over the city in a matter of days. I'm not complaining though. Geeks everywhere. Science in the air. What more could I ask for?

Let me take you back through the past two days so that you can vicariously see ISEF up and close. Trust me if you have even the smallest inkling of nerdiness in your blood, this will be a treat you don't want to miss :p.

As we were driving in on the ridiculous 7 lane highway, Atlanta's skyline slowly became visible, popping out from amongst the trees. In addition, to the weather being good on Sunday, the rental company gave us a covertible and so my friend, chaperone, and I drove into Atlanta with the top down and the tunes blazing (<-- who are we kidding, we were'nt listing to music...I was reading).

When we finally made our way through the streets to the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), the wind had picked up and was blowing everything. Luckily, we survived. ISEF takes up the entire GWCC to my knowledge. Regardless, it is humungous. I'm not just talking about the exhibition hall, which rocks in its own right. I'm talking about all the rooms, including the e-lounge filled with internet enabled laptops and a plasma and the presentation room filled with awesomeness (aka a huge, huge projection screen).

Sunday night was the pin exchange in which I met many old friends and many new. My name badge strap now has pins all over it from all sorts of countries. For the record, it's funny how many Stanford pre-frosh are here. I met like 10 at the exchange, but only 2 MIT '12ers.

I spent Sunday evening and Monday morning setting up my project and after about 4 hours I was finally approved. My project check was funny and unnerving at the same time because the inspector kept analyzing the leeches in my pictures attempting to ensure that their weren't any ghastly views of the dissection process. Apparently, there are thousands of young students coming out on Thursday who would be disgusted by opened animals. Plus, there's the whole issue with animal rights.

The HUB in the exhibition hall is by far the coolest feature available to exhibitors as it has endless supplies of every single tool and type of material you would ever need.

Monday night was the opening ceremony, which had the exact same setup that I've seen in the online videos. I was overjoyed to finally experience it all in person. The swinging cameras definitely add to the whole glorified atmosphere of the event. It rocked. I have many videos of the Atlanta Drumline (featured in the movie Drumline) performing, the Intel CEO giving a lecture, weatherman Nick Walker from the Weather Channel hosting, the president of Society For the Science and the Public encouraging us, and Philipe Cousteau from "Oceans" motivating the crowd. The shout outs came afterward where reps from each country sprinted up onto stage with posters inducing shouts and clapping from their respective countries. The entire night was just amazing.

The host (weatherman) is on the left and Phillipe is on the right.
After the event, I got a picture of everyone leaving the hall. Anyone care to do a Fermi estimate of this?

Of course, any trip to a great city isn't complete without the obligatory skyline photos.

Today I hope to see the CNN tower and go the Science and Technology Panel with Nobel laureates. Then tonight is the dinner in the aquarium and dessert at the Coca Cola center. Tomorrow is judging!

End of the Year!

2008-05-11T09:28:00.003-04:00

Hey all!

I'm back yay. So here's the deal. I leave for ISEF in about 15 minutes and just wanted to say that I've been pretty hosed the past couple of weeks trying to finish end of the year projects and make up work for the week I'm missing in addition to readying up for ISEF. I just want to say May has been fun, after all it is the month of my birthday so therefore it IS the best month. About 600ish people came together for my bday on May 7 (really there was an awards banquet that happened to be on my bday, but I played it off as my bday celebration :-) ).

I've only got one more week of school once ISEF finishes (*tear tear) and then I'll finally graduate. Until then I must get through ISEF, finals, AP Physics C, and the American CS League's All Star competition. It sure is the best of the times and the worst of times.

I'm going to try to blog throughout ISEF, so keep coming and keep an eye out for more posts. Until next time, enjoy:

An Interlude of Silence (Note: Heavy Apple Content)

2008-04-28T20:23:00.004-04:00

I apologize yet again for a long, deplorable delay in writing. What can I say? I have people to see, things to do, places to be. Do I gain cool points for saying that? Anywho, I was just studying for a lab practical when experiencing the sudden urge to drop my packet, turn 45 degrees to the right, extend my arms toward the computer, and begin blogging. I like to think it's nature, my genes telling me to take a break as I've become bored of reading about tissue and what not. Ah, isn't natural selection beautiful, regardless of how much I stretch the term to make it fit this situation.

So since I'm a senior and will inevitably need a machine with processing capabilities (much better than saying computer..doh I said computer...DOH I said it again), I've had my eye on Apple, the magical fountain of machines with processing capabilities. Now, I obviously wouldn't mention this amazing fountain without having a reason and oh boy do I have a not so good reason. Apple has updated their iMacs today with better specs and I felt I should acknowledge that here even though they freakin' update their machines with processing capabilities like every week, every day, every second! That link takes you to their homepage that is obnoxiously bragging about the update so if you click on that in a few days and it's talking about some other update or amazing new piece of technology don't blame me.

In addition, Apple came up with a new iPod video that has some catchy tunes. I'm always a fan of their artistic, fun commercials so I've embedded here for convenience:

I warned you all, this post has some heavy Apple content. Sorry if you absolutely loathe Apple. I know many people do.

I would like to once again thank the weather for disproving meteorologists everywhere by NOT snowing today. We here in the midwest are thankful.

And on that note, I must sadly go study.

Nerds Unite!

2008-04-22T08:04:00.004-04:00

I think it is now fair to say that the best thing since sliced bread are these Cat 5 wedding rings! What better way than to say "I love you" than to give an ethernet ring to your loved one? You know you want one. Just go over to etsy and check it out. Even if you aren't thinking about getting married yet, get one! Save it for when the good times do roll :-)

The Final Countdown

2008-04-21T18:52:00.005-04:00

Today is a good day. I just had three tests, which I have been studying for all weekend, and now I feel relieved. Even better though is that one of these tests was my differentials final. You know what that means? I just finished the first class of my last semester in high school! Done, finished, over...What this also means is that I have finished high school math forever :-) and that next time I take math I will be sitting in a classroom at MIT with an awesome professor and other minds that almost rival mine (just kidding :-p...I'm going to get hosed...bring it on).

While I'm three tests down, I still have a full blown practice Computer Science AP Exam (a whopping three hours, but it counts as my final!) tomorrow. Then on Wednesday I have a Bio exam. But wait, when I've finished this stuff, I have more stuff to do, and when that stuff is done I have even more stuff to do :-(. Don't believe me? Let me spell it out. So when these tests are finally done, I have to prepare my ISEF board, study for my Latin final, study for AP Exams, and practice programming for upcoming competitions. Once that stuff is done, I have a computer science competition, AP exams, ISEF, All-Star (programming competition in Maryland). In between all that stuff, I have to prepare the digital video presentation for graduation and when all the graduation festivities are over, I have to get ready for my senior recital. Yeah, when people say senioritis is a perfectly alright disease that's not terminal or life threatening, they don't tell you everything you slack on will come back to bite you in the last month! For those of you who think I'm complaining, it's called letting out my feelings and it's cathartic :-p. So there :-). Those are my psycho mumbo jumbo words of wisdom for the day. I think I'll be ready for MIT next year (I hope so).

By the way, it is a beautiful 75 degrees out and sunny right now. Don't cha wish your weather could be like that?

The Final Countdown has begun...

Beatbox Bird...He's better than me

2008-04-20T12:50:00.001-04:00

CPW 2008 - Another Highly Satisified Customer!

2008-04-18T22:13:00.027-04:00

[Guest Entry on MIT blogs]

While I’m not cool enough to enroll at MIT on an iTouch or to dedicate myself to MIT for four years weeks before CPW, I am cool enough to now say, “I am enrolled at MIT!” In fact, I just enrolled moments before finishing this very blog entry and am proud of it. Now with that out of the way…Hi, I’m Omar!

I come from a small Midwestern town located on the lower left side of the palm that is Michigan (I wonder how many people actually get what I mean by palm :-p). After a two hour flight, in which I met a matriculating Harvard Medical School student who tried to convince me to go to a public university, I was definitely ready for some MIT action. I left the plane and descended upon the luggage claim where I met my first MIT friend Shubhi. Although I never saw her again during CPW, there's no one like your first MIT prefrosh friend (words of wisdom).

To those who have heard rumors of a clandestine, transcendental chat group full of amazing people, let me assure you. There is an MIT 2012 chat room (commercial: if you would like to be part of this, for a one time only fee of five dollars (just kidding) you can join this interesting bunch by going to your favorite AIM client and joining the chatroom “MIT12”).

And here are our trusty sidekicks:

For the past few months, while waiting for my MIT decision and even after it, the chatroom provided me with my daily MIT fix. We laughed, we cried, we made fun of Harvard and Caltech, and we anxiously awaited CPW. All of us chat people became closeknit and couldn’t wait to meet at CPW. When I stepped off the Peter Pan bus onto MIT’s campus, I looked around hoping to spot someone I "know." As I edged closer to the student center, I saw some people doing an odd version of the cha cha slide and by the time I turned on my trusty, dandy, handheld video camera with laser deathbeam and all, I had realized that they were all MIT12 chatters!

(They are all going to punch me at orientation for posting that picture.)

My first duty on campus after registration, of course, was to find the admissions office. I quickly scanned the doors in the infinite corridor until I found:

After the chat group finished taking pictures we knocked on the door and an MIT student asked, “Are you prefrosh?” and we just giggled and nodded yes and she told us that all of the admissions officers were in the student center. We didn't care though, we got what we came for: a picture of the names.

Now, one of my personal goals during CPW was to collect as many free shirts as possible. While I ended up only getting 4, I still came away feeling like I had somewhat accomplished my goal. Two of the shirts were actually unexpected, while the other two I snagged from the enourmous activities fair. While I do not have a picture of the activities fair, I do have a picture of the CPW festival, which was held in the same place and looks exactly the same as the activities fair minus a naked guy in a box.

At the activities fair, I saw Paul again and he was at my favorite booth. He works for the MIT Undergraduate Research Journal staff and if I recall correctly is going to be co-Editor-in-Chief next year. This journal rocks and so I did what any prefrosh would do...I put my email address on "the list."

I ended up obtaining another shirt from the Arab Students' Organization (ASO). I adore this shirt because it spells “Massachusetts Institute of Technology” in Arabic. Yeah, you wish you had one of these. While on the subject of the ASO, let me go off on a tangent and say that I am very impressed with how MIT regards religion on campus. I went to a Muslim Students Association event held in the Religious Activities Center and it was amazing. There was a well-furnished prayer hall filled with everything a Muslim student would need. Out of all the universities I visited, MIT treats religion the best. End tangent here.

Aside from rocking out in Rock Band throughout CPW...

...some of the highlights of my trip at MIT included:

1) CPW Welcome

My favorite part about the welcome was definitely the MIT Logarhythms, MIT’s all-male a cappella group. For your enjoyment, here are two of the songs they performed:

Here in Your Arms:

Thanks to Sam '12 for uploading this second video for me :-).

2) Battle of the Bands

In this event, I received my fourth free shirt as one of the bands threw a shirt and I luckily pushed and shoved people out of the way and caught it. At first I was like “Meh another shirt,” but then someone pointed out to me that the band members on the shirt actually spell out “MIT” and then I was like “OMG this shirt rocks!” and I walked around feeling victorious.

3) Walking on the Harvard Bridge…like a bajillion times!

I quickly found the Skullhouse fraternity on the other side of the river to be a nice safe haven for breakfast, snacks, monster drinks, and, of course, rock band. As a result, I trekked a few times back and forth across the Harvard bridge, killing my feet in the process. That’s ok though because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to stomp on something that relates to Harvard and I wouldn’t have taken this picture below, which adequately describes how I feel now as the orientation approaches and the next four years edge closer.

4) Bouncy Ball Drop

This event rocked. It absolutely rocked. There is nothing like being the target for 10,000 bouncy balls that are being subjected to the cold-hearted force that is gravity. One moment it was quiet and calm, the next moment it was raining bouncy balls. I must admit that the strobe light was a nice addition, especially since it helped illuminate the floor in our scramble to collect as many balls as possible. Right as we all began collecting balls though, the fine folks of Senior House began pelting us with water balloons. After being struck by the third water balloon, I decided it was time to high tail it over to the Meet the Bloggers event before I was late.

5) Meet the Bloggers

With wet, soggy pants, I power walked through East Campus and the infinite corridor and reached the student center with time to spare. Inside, Ben Jones himself was preparing all the necessary supplies to make a scrumptious root bear float. The event eventually kicked off and all the bloggers filed in! After each person gave a brief introduction, everyone would clap with Ben and Snively earning the loudest clapping/cheering (no surprise there :D). When the introductions were complete, we were scoffed down root beer floats and conversed with the wondrous MIT blogging team. I got to chat with Ben, Matt, Paul, Snively, Melis, Mollie (college confidential ftw!), and Chris. Chris by the way does look a lot taller in person. I think that is the general consensus. To top off the night, we did the obligatory group picture!

6) Underground Capture the Flag

On the last night, a huge game of capture the flag took place in the vicinity of the infinite corridor. The underground tunnels, the main floor, and second floor were all fair game and made for an interesting battle. While my feet were killing me at this point due to the continuous walking for three days, I toughed it out and played offense with Sam ’12. We snuck around for most of the game, until we were deep in red territory (we were Blue) and were spotted. I made a run for it and somehow ended up out of bounds. Nevertheless, I hid around a corner for five minutes, but just as I felt I was safe again, a red person came out of nowhere and took me to jail where I found Sam ’12 sitting. Then just moments later, we found out the game had ended and everyone walked back to lobby 10 to discover that the Red team had dominated. Well, at least it’s “better dead, than red.”

7) Math until you die

I died after 30 minutes. Here are the poor souls who I left behind:

While I only stayed 30 minutes, the math involving group theory and topology was still fairly interesting.

8) Simmons Hall

After seeing the tour, I absolutely fell in love with Simmons and will be putting it as my first choice (disclaimer: all feelings I express now are subject to change). Let’s start with the basics:

a) Meditation Room

b) Cool architecture

c) Random walls that jut out

d) A very new feel (maybe because it is new)

e) Amazing, hard-to-reach views (can you guess where in Simmons this was?)

If I decide I don’t want Simmons anymore, I would definitely choose Baker. I think Baker made the cut when I saw this board filled with physics. It reminded me of The Big Bang Theory, one of my favorite shows.

If neither Simmons nor Baker work out, I could always live in the best room on campus: the study area within the great dome!

I must say that MIT has really shown itself to be a safe campus. It’s great to know that campus police have thought about every possible situation and have come up with ways to protect the student body. This really puts my parents at ease too.

After walking past this excellent hack, I was innocently rickrolled (yes, I'm streching the meaning of the term) as someone was cruelly playing Rick Astley's music video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" in the hallway. Of all places!

The welcome ceremony was also entertaining, giving us another performance by the MIT Logs and an amusing act by a guy with Chinese Yo-yos. Click here to see their performance of "Save Room" by John Legend.

At the end, I saw none other than Ben Jones himself and got a picture along with Pam ‘12:

Overall, CPW was a great way to experience MIT in a fun way (I hear it's not like this at all next year, go figure). It was so much fun that it persuaded me to enroll. I cannot wait to be a full fledged MIT freshman next Fall. I visited a few classes, such as Physics II (not too bad), Linear Algebra (I understood it all yay :-) ), and Applied Electromagnetics: From Motors to Lasers (cool stuff). The premed panel was also very helpful. I was afraid I'd come to MIT, leave with a bad gpa, and end up practicing medicine in my parent's basement, but it's not true! Just about 90% of premed undergrads get into med school :-).

I am very happy to say: Only four months left!

Pictures!

2008-04-16T20:29:00.010-04:00

Meet the Bloggers!

It was really nice up here.

Read the headlines here left to right, meshing the left and right titles together. The top one should read "Sloan Group Received A Record Number of Students." Someone pointed this out to me.

Safety first

I'm Back!

2008-04-16T12:33:00.004-04:00

I'm at school right now so unfortunately there won't be any colorful, mind-blowing pictures, but since I have some downtime I figured I'd come out and say I had ONE HECK OF A WEEKEND! It absolutely was fun 24/7. I think I only had a total of like 12 hours of sleep over the four days.

I'm currently writing a guest blog post for MIT admissions so that's one reason I haven't been writing much here. It's also been a hectic week and will only get worse as I have some chemistry competitions this friday and saturday (two different ones). Since I want to make my guest blog post as sweet as possible, with videos, pictures, humor and all, this blog might be left abandoned for a few more days. Of course, it will all be made up for by an awesome MIT blog post coming to an MIT admissions site near you.

Other than that, highlights of CPW were the ball drop, special "tours", ridiculous amounts of food, Meet the Bloggers (they are all cool people, seriously), just being on campus, and the people. I am ashamed to say that I did die during "Math until you die" and went to find something more interesting. The server room in the student center was just amazing and had a ridiculous amount of AC machinery. In fact, it required two large AC units on both sides of the room just to keep the temperature in there comfortably warm. Anyway, I will definitely talk more about my experience later and I hope to have a CPW blog up within a month or so.

2008-04-08T07:45:00.002-04:00

On my way to the east coast this very moment. I'm blogging on my phone in detroit airport, waiting for my next flight, which leaves in 2 hrs. This is such a sweet terminal because there is a subway that runs at the top that takes you everywhere and this huge fountain in the center. I'll begin taking pictures shortly. My camera has just about 2000 pictures left and I plan to make good use of them in Raleigh and at MIT. Anyway I've basically got nothing to do so I just figured I'd come out and say that I was still alive. I've been busy so that's why there was a short hiatus on posts. There won't be many this week though since I'm out of town, but expect many next week. In fact, I already have a CPW blog up ready for many juicy posts. I also plan to guest blog for MIT so keep an eye for that. Ciao!

Spring Break - Wild and Uncensored

2008-04-03T17:00:00.005-04:00

If you did not guess from the title, it is SPRING BREAK! It finally is time for the weather to get better (oh wait it's Michigan, it's snowing outside as if it were December, go figure), time for a break, time to get work done (we'll see about that), and time to go absolutely wild. I plan to actually stay up past midnight to maybe 12:30 am. I might drink a non-diet caffeinated Coke past 10 o'clock. Hecks, if I'm going to go all out crazy I might as well sleep in until 8 am. Yeah, as you can tell, I've got big plans this Spring Break to finally break out of my shell.

As opposed to previous spring breaks, this break I'm actually going out of town. This Saturday will find me two hours away at a programming competition with the hopes of coming back with 500 bucks, a nice start towards paying MIT's tuition. I then get two days of rest and then leave Tuesday morning for Duke, which is footing a big chunk of the travel costs. On Thursday, I leave Duke for CPW! I already have a blog set up for that. I was hoping I could partially blog while I was there, but that probably won't be feasible. One, because bringing a laptop would be tough considering I would not be able to look after it 24/7, especially during activities like Capture the Flag at 1 am. Two, because I'm not even sure if there would be enough down time. If I don't have access to a computer there, then I will just have to quickly write an amazing CPW blog when I get back dead tired on Sunday in lieu of preparing for a full, glorious, effervescent (note the sarcasm) week of school ahead of me.

In other news, BBC once again pwns the world by discovering flying penguins! It's an amazing discovery and about time penguins began to do something useful other than look pretty for those crazy enough to trek the wild terrains of Antarctica. The inability of penguins to fly has always grinded my gears. It's just a shame to have wings, but not the ability to fly. It's like having arms, but not being able to use them to do anything. Thank you BBC for showing the world what's what. Check out the video!

APRIL FOOLS! This was a complete joke. Apparently, it's tradition for BBC to do a fake video each year for April Fools' Day. This video looked fairly convincing except for the rain forest, which in my opinion gives away the entire joke. Check out the making of this video below!

Ciao!

(If you were wondering about my wild Spring Break plans, I'll leave it up to you to figure out how serious I am :-p )

In a State of Shock

2008-03-31T20:37:00.005-04:00

For now since I am running short in time I will just say, OMG I got into Princeton, Cornell, and UPenn (and something about a waitlist to this weird school in Boston. I think it starts with an H and is up the river from MIT or something).

I had class until six meaning that I wouldn't be able to check decisions until way after the they came out. My parents, however, came up with an ingenious plan to keep me not so focused on class, but yet informed about my status. They planned to send me emails with the subject "[School] - Yes/No" (for example, "Princeton - Yes"). Using my iphone, which I cleverly hid behind my leg, as I sit in the front row, I was able to continuously check my email. I think my professor noticed though as I pretty much stopped taking notes and never looked up, but this is important stuff so I thought sacrificing 30 minutes of a 1 hr 40 minute lecture was worth it. Pretty much this was the order of emails with 5 minute intervals in between: Cornell -> I start smiling -> UPenn -> I start hopping up and down in my seat -> Princeton! -> HUGE smile plus my brain explodes leaving nasty brain guts on my notes -> weird school that starts with H -> Yes, I didn't get in! Even bigger smile :-)

I just had the best math class of my life. I will never forget fourth quarter senior differential equations. Never ever ever evar. MIT here I come.

Hit Me

2008-03-30T22:23:00.005-04:00

Winner winner chicken dinner. That phrase echoed through my head as I sat there drinking sip by sip. I kept an eye at all exits as that phrase just took over my mind, money driving me forward. Wait wait...I'm not Jeff Ma (the actual person...not the fake Ben Campbell). Yes, that is to the effect 21 opens with nice special effects of course as the camera closely pans over the cards and tables (to point of dizziness). From that great opening to the end, I was engrossed, laughing, fidgeting, loving every moment. I really enjoyed seeing views of Boston and Killian Court. Even though critics may not agree, I give it two thumbs up.

Here's me! I like movies...and books...and MIT shirts... especially that shirt.

It's too bad the book has the movie poster on it as Paul '11 had pointed out earlier. Makes the book seem tacky for some reason. Matt '00 will probably post this picture on the MIT blogs soon along with the other prefrosh who trekked out to watch this fantastic movie. Well, I'm going to go get ready for this long week ahead of me. I only have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off this week and then Spring Break. School, thou art a cold hard b....

A Friday Before the Perfect Storm

2008-03-29T11:14:00.007-04:00

Instead of enjoying my day off yesterday, I along with 30ish other people were at the regional ISEF tournament. I had no expectations for the day and pretty much went into the whole event chill and relaxed. As the judging went on, I realized how much reverse alphabetical ordering sucks. Notice that my last name starts with "Ab" and so I was the last person to be talked to after 2 and a half hours of waiting. Let's just say I am not a patient guy, but I managed.

After going to lunch at my favorite Indian restaurant that has an all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch, I headed back to the fair site. Little did i know, my chemistry teacher had came to look at people's research. He also brought some good news for me. While conversing with some friends, he pulled me to the side and told me that I had qualified for the USNCO. Yay! He made me happy for a total of two seconds because then he said unfortunately the national date might conflict with the regional chemistry scholarship competition, a chemistry test that doles out wads of cash to the winners. So the question of the day I guess: Is money > national competition?

I ended up escaping to my house for a few hours to relax until the awards thing in the evening. They announced all the cash special awards first and (no surprise) I was not included. My friends got many awards though. Then they began announcing the people who placed. Third, someone from another school. Second, a good friend of mine who is a junior. First, it was unanimous (oh great...no way that would be me) Omar. Woo! I did not really expect anything especially with my showing last year, but then somehow I managed to come away with first and a spot at ISEF 2008.

There is me all happy because my thoughts are "Yes...free trip to Atlanta...free trip to Atlanta." Five minutes later, we are pulled aside and the fair director who represents my school, which hosts the fair, tells us that our school cannot afford the 5000 dollar cost of the trip and that we are on our own to pay if we choose to go. Great! While everyone else is paid for during their stay at the Hyatt Regency (the main hotel for ISEF) and for their flights, we have to find awesome deals, a hotel that will probably not be close to the main hotel site, and have to incur some sort of expense. That happiness was short lived.

I head home and then spend a couple hours looking online for good rates for hotels and airports and plan ahead for what I might miss during the trip (May 11th - 16). Guess what! On the 12th, I have AP Bio, AP Physics C Mechanics, and AP Physics C E/M. Guess even more! On the alternate AP exam dates, Bio and Physics C Mechanics are at the same time. Hmm...well after some pondering, I rush my browser over to MIT's class of 2012 page and read that MIT does not even accept the AP Bio credit. So I figure, I won't take the AP Bio exam and everything (I hope) will be ok. Small problem solved.

While trying to figure out all the logistics of this, my Johns Hopkins decision found its way into my email inbox. Wooo I'm in (don't worry, I've decided on MIT)! After some more internet browsing and talking on the phone, the 2nd place junior and I semi-agreed on a game plan that will be the best for both of us. Looks like we will be going to ISEF 2008 after all! It'd be awesome if we could even get a company to sponsor us and pay...but who knows.

With most of this partly settled, I then lay down to watch some TV when the doorbell rang. My MIT shirt came! The one with the equations that spell out MIT. Yesss. Just in time for the "Night at the Movies," which I will do tonight with friends. I hope 21 blows my mind away.

So overall, the net balance of yesterday = awesomeness :-)

If anyone was wondering what a perfect storm has to do with all this, the perfect storm of Ivies decisions occurs this Monday and I thought it made the title sound cool. Enjoy the weekend!

Lights Out

2008-03-29T09:41:00.003-04:00

This morning Google greeted me with what you see below. At first I thought something had gone wrong with my computer, but then I quickly read the small line of text below the search box. Apparently, Google is supporting Earth Hour, an energy conversation effort, and so if you feel like supporting the cause, then turn out all your lights today from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm in your local time zone. If not in the energy conserving mood, at least enjoy the dark side of Google for the day. I know I will.

Wowser

2008-03-28T20:29:00.002-04:00

I just had a very eventful, amazing, strenuous, weird day. I will blog about this tonight/TOMORROW. Keep an eye out!

For All the Unlucky Ones Out There

2008-03-26T21:31:00.006-04:00

Are you clumsy? Do you chronically trip on smooth surfaces? Do you dislike all your scrapes and bruises? Do you wish you could just be like everyone else? Well there's a solution that should alleviate your distress.

It all started yesterday morning. I tripped over a nicely waxed, smooth surface and got to thinking what if I had fallen and broken my neck, tore an artery, or broke some bones (excuse my drama queen melodramatic ponderings...it's who I am gosh!)? Seriously, I am so misfortunate I could trip on a frictionless surface. So what does a despondent person in my situation do? The person thinks like an engineer!

What if some mystical object could soften the fall, making it seem as if I were jumping into bed for a nice long slumber. Yes, I am talking about nothing other than an airbag suit! A suit that deploys an airbag just like a car in an event of impact. With this thought in mind, I hit google and came up with this:

Check that out. An airbag comes out of a suit upon impact. How crazy is that? All us clumsy nerds never have to fear the floor, asphalt, or whatever surface again. We are safe. Our savior has arrived in the form of a not-so-bulky, cleverly hidden, amazingly useful airbag...in a suit.

And I Thought I Was Ripped

2008-03-25T21:19:00.006-04:00

Getty Images

Those darn californians. They have done it again. They aren't just satisfied with good looking surfer boys with ripped physiques. Nope. They have to have surfer boys with self-healing muscles that generate electricity O.O.

The folks over at UCLA have created an artificial muscle capable of expanding 200%, mimicking human muscles in movement. Carbon nanotubes (doesn't the word nanotubes just make you giddy?) are the culprit here as they allow for the muscles to handle extreme duress that occurs from normal, everyday usage. There's one more thing...they are smart muscles too! In the event of carbon nanotube failure, the surrounding area seals off and prevents any more damage from occurring.

Now what's the selling point for all this because who cares about self-healing artificial muscles? It generates electricity. Imagine this. You are walking down the street. Beep beep (the annoying one that signals your cell phone is out of battery). Oh no I'm going to be out and about all day and my cell phone is nearly dead. What will I do? Wait, due to the artificial muscles I now have, I'll plug my cell phone into my upper bicep. There you have it. You can be a walking power plant. I bet you never dreamed about that as a kid?

The future of nanotechnology!

Read all about it here.

Goodness In the Mail

2008-03-24T19:05:00.013-04:00

A phone conversation with my senior picture studio a month ago:

Me: Hello?
Some guy: Yes, this is Main St. Studio. We have your wallets that you ordered ready. Please come pick them up within a few days.
Me: Oh yea sure thing. Bye.
*Click*

A couple days ago:
Me: Oh hey mom. I told you about Main St. calling a few weeks ago right?
Mom: Umm no why?
Me: Hmm umm...yea we were supposed to pick up my pictures a while ago.
Mom: WHAAAT! I told you we were waiting for a call!
Me: I'm a busy guy.
Mom: You are never to pick up the phone again!
*I laugh on the inside and shrug*

Yes, the story of my life depicted by this simple anecdote.

The not-story of my life is the amount of good fortune that has happened in the past month or so. Observe:

YES! It finally came today, the coveted MIT acceptance folder chalk full of goodness. This is how all Mondays should start.

The packaging after I ripped through it. I couldn't contain myself. Side note: half that damage was done by USPS itself. How hard it is to take care of mail? Seriously. You could see everything that was inside the folder by looking through the 2 inch gaping hole on it. My folder was beat up too. I dream of a day when USPS becomes a superior mailing service that actually cares about what they deliver. I think I'm being too harsh (seriously though...if you have something important I recommend not-USPS). They do have brownie points with me though since they are the ones who delivered my MIT folder.

The folder all gutted up. Of upmost importance is the 10% COOP coupon in the lower left. Methinks I will be making excellent use of that in the coming days.

Oh my gawd. Tim the beaver wants me to come out and play. Maybe I'll get to see him at CPW. For all your non-MITers: do you know why the beaver is MIT's mascot? There's quite an ingenious explanation behind it all.

And as if MIT was purposely trying to add the cherry on top, the shirt I ordered last week from the coop was sitting on my doorstep, just waiting to be worn by mwa. I quickly tore off my current shirt and slid into the freshly delivered MIT one and ran off to my differentials class. Ahh, how good it feels to make fun of Harvard, all in good fun of course. I plan on taking Arabic there so I cannot completely alienate the neighbors. What would happen if I wore that shirt to Arabic class? Did someone say experiment?

All in all, today is definitely a day I did not have someone say to me "Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays?"

Classic Lulz

2008-03-21T15:37:00.002-04:00

Spring to Blizzard in Less than an Hour

2008-03-21T14:54:00.010-04:00

I wake up today to the signs of a beautiful day. The sun was rising, the air was crisp, and the grass was green (sorta). I go to class and then come back home at 10 am to a cloudy sky and chilly temperature. In just two hours, the weather went from great to just alright. I sigh and go inside and immerse my self in autoCAD, which I am attempting to learn and will blog about soon. After an hour of messing around, I again leave the house for class. I step outside and to my amazement the ground is covered with an INCH of snow! In less than 3 hours, the weather has gone from that of a nice Spring day to ridiculously terrible! Roads were becoming impassible, accidents were everywhere, people were getting stuck, and the snow was just piling up.

Here is my yard just an hour into the storm and the snow is still coming down fast and steady despite the calmness depicted in the photo. Just two hours ago, my yard was completely green.

I ended up popping in Super Smash Brothers Brawl yesterday and I found it quite enjoyable. The single player is actually fun now since you cycle through the characters during this captivating story line and all the levels relate to the characters you play with. Overall, I think it is a definite improvement over the old one. I still need to get a group of people together though so I can pwn everyone in a four player battle royale. I know I could play against the machine itself, but what fun would it be to trash-talk a hunk of plastic/metal?

To make an already crappy day worse, I did not find my MIT acceptance packet waiting for me when I got home. I was all giddy since I figured that if Karen got hers yesterday and she only lives a state away, I should receive mine today. Well that logic failed as miserably as my entire class did on the last bio test. Perhaps tomorrow. Speaking of things that did not come, I am still waiting for my MIT shirt that I ordered last sunday to come as well. I assumed it would have arrived by today, but that assumption failed too. Well you know what they say when you assume...

TGIF

*Sigh Long Day

2008-03-19T22:05:00.006-04:00

Bio Test: Check.
Psych Test: Check.
Physics Test: Check.
Differentials Midterm: Check
Research Poster: Check

One extremely long day: Check.

I leave the weekend coming out high and enter a week at rock bottom. That's alright though because after today, I can just enjoy the rest of the week and revel in the fact that I can finally answer someone when they say, "So Omar, where are you going to college next year?"

Today, my school brought in people from all over the city to read applications for next year's incoming freshman class and this reminded me of myself four years ago, anxiously waiting for my high school decision to come in the mail. Thinking about the perils of not getting into this science/math magnet high school and spending the rest of eternity in the realm of humanities and english was tortuous (I was 13, forgive me please). I remember opening my "first" admissions letter back in 8th grade when acceptance letters actually started with "Congratulations" (I still love you MIT) and doing my little jiggy out in the street. It reminded me how much that process was similar to the past three months. Stress. anxiety. what ifs. always turning out for the best (no matter which way it goes) :-).

As previously mentioned in the MIT blogs, I was promptly called at a little past 6 this evening by Paul himself! How cool, eh? I got to ask some questions, hear about some aspects of MIT, and get pumped up about CPW. I'm just thankful the call was not as awkward as Karen '12's conversation. She lucked out though. Snively is giving her another chance! Plus, he is going to reveal stories about the bloggers. Fun stuff.

In other news, please don't yell at me, but I bought Super Smash Brothers Brawl a while ago and still have not played it. What am I doing? I know I know. I promise I WILL finally play it tomorrow and will post my initial impressions because I know you all want to hear my opinion since of course my opinion is law.

As I was typing this, I realized that this post has become really random, switching from topic to topic with no clear theme. Oh wait, wouldn't that mean the theme is randomness? Hmm...that's a good question. Regardless, why don't i just make it more random! Here is a t-shirt I found on the COOP's website that I desperately need to buy as it rox!

How can you not just smile at that?

Continuing on with the randomness: I just registered for CPW! About time too. Only 11 days left. All I have to say is this spring break is going to be the best evar. I totally cannot wait to explore MIT's campus and perhaps catch one of those "secret" tours everyone is raving about. To all hackers out there: please, please, do a hack during CPW. I think I speak for all prefrosh when I say that we all want to experience a hack while we are there!

Ok. I'm done now. Time to finally rest after a ridiculously tiring day.

An Awesomely Uber Spectacular 1337 Weekend + Some Greatness

2008-03-16T18:45:00.010-04:00

So in the past 72 hours there has been such a plethora of greatness. I can not even begin to describe it in words. That is why I will use pictures too. Although if pictures = 1000 words then in actuality I'm still describing everything in words, but let's not worry about the silly details.

Friday Morning 4:30 am: I stumble out of bed to the annoying beep of my alarm clock and rush to the park-and-ride to meet w/ my carpool.

5:15 am - We leave for Saginaw where the Michigan State Computer Programming Competition is held. I stare out at farm land for an hour before nodding off.

7:40 am - We arrive early and watch the people set up the breakfast table and registration area. I am hungry.

8:00 am - We get shirts that look like this (if you get the joke, you rock!):

10:15 am - My three person team (well just me) gets yelled out for typing code early. I get pissed off. See, it's good strategy too write out code you might need before hand to save time. In previous years, this has been allowed and it has come in handy. This year I did it and got yelled at. Go figure :-p

10:30 am - The gun goes off (the guy mutters GO to everyone)...

11:30 am - I complain of a headache. My team this year decided to go with a new plan this year. Since I am an awesome, uber fast typer, we decided I would type the entire time while other two would write code/pseudocode. We weren't sure how well it would work, but it did! I even fixed two programs and ended up writing one and a half as well as typing out everyone else's programs.

12:30 pm - The guy yells stop (doesn't really matter. The submission software stops allowing submissions anyway). We got six programs out of 12 in 2 hrs. Now before you go like 50% how awful. Consider this. We wrote 6 not so easy programs in 2 hrs! yes, six is pretty good usually. We were'nt sure this year though because Midland high school is very good this year. We shrugged it off and walked away to lunch.

1:00 pm - I for all intensive purposes pig out at the cafeteria. This cafeteria is absolutely amazing. In fact, my friends believe that SVSU is putting on a show for everyone to entice them to come next year. No university can have all you can eat amazing food like this. They have every single type of food you can think of from soup bowls to hamburgers to interesting asian meals to awesome Italian meals. Then there is even a whole section devoted to deserts with Chefs constantly making deserts and other confections. A lot of people at my school want to come to this competition for the food. It has quite a reputation :-p.

2:00 pm - Time to present the awards. 3rd Place - Midland 3 with six programs. My team realizes that we did better than them since we had better time and less mistakes and so we all get giddy and excited. 2nd place - KAMSC (us). We flip out and rush the stage. People take pictures of us and hand us 1 gig usb sticks. We also receive a plaque and medals will be sent. 1st place- Midland 1 with 9 programs. Go figure again. But w/e...we got 2nd place in the state!

3:45 pm - On our way home, I start coming off the high from winning and realize it is less than 24 hrs till decisions come out.

6:00 pm - MIT stress begins to trump my winning-high. I start to worry, but then remember I have an all night Sci-fi Film Fest to attend. No sleep for me (like I would get some anyway with decisions on the horizon).

7:05 pm - I arrive at the film fest and chat with friends. We discuss how ridiculous the Movie selection is this year:

7:30 PM - Enemy Mine
9:30 PM - Planet of the Apes
11:30 PM - Timeline
1:30 AM - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
3:30 AM - Capricorn One
5:30 AM - Ultraviolet
7:30 AM - Sunshine
9:30 AM - Explorers
11:30 AM - Deja Vu
1:30 PM - Serenity

The only good movies on here are Deja Vu and Serenity. The point of this entire thing anyway is to loudly criticize the movies and discuss how bad the physics and production quality is. In fact the only rule is to be loud enough so everyone can here your comment and laugh.

8:10 - Enemy Mine is so easy to make fun of. Going into it, everyone thought it would be like Alien vs Predator. The story is about a war between humans and these lizard creatures. One humand and one lizard creature crash land on a bad planet and then the human is captured by the lizard. The conditions are tough though and so they become friends and learn each other's languages within a week. Then this movie goes Brokeback Mountain and they start living in this house and the lizard becomes pregnant! The human begins following the lizard's religion and then has to raise the lizard child since the lizard dies. At the end, this human-lizard child relationship brings both races together and ends the war. YES ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS! But everyone had a good laugh!

9:25 - I go outside the presentation center and play cards. Then pizza arrives and I eat.

Saturday
12:35 am - I am starting to become very tired. Remember I only got 6 hours of sleep the night before. I begin to doze off and then finally fall asleep. Thirty minutes later I wake up and am rejuvenated like the energizer bunny. The night goes slowly and pretty much we all keep making fun of the movies.

5:00 am - The stress of the impending doom that is MIT decisions begins to consume me. I can't think, i can't eat, i cant slee- well i can sleep and I did.

6:30 am - I wake up and decide to leave when the movie (now Ultraviolet) ends.

7:05 am - Yay I get to go home...and worry more! Oh well.

8:30 am - I get home and try to sleep. Hmm...I'm unsuccessful...I wonder why..OH I KNOW decisions have taken over my mind. Stress exponentially begins to increase.

11:30 am - I stop talking in the chatroom MIT12 where everyone (even the EA people) are awaiting the RA decisions. I head over to my parents and begin rapidly refreshing the decisions page.

11:45 am - The page finally comes up and I quickly type in my username/password. I read "On behalf of the Admissions committee...pleasure...offer admission..." and I quickly begin screaming "IM IN IM IN!" The chat room becomes frantic and I cannot concentrate on anything. I sit in disbelief and feel the stress dissipating, leaving me tired and ecstatic. The entire three months of disappointment and hope are now over and I'm in at my dream school. Everything seems to finally click into place.

1:00 pm - My parents and I leave to Coldstone where I eat my favorite Birthday Remix ice cream and think about how awesome CPW is going to be and how I really am in at MIT.

2:30 pm - I decide to return to the film fest to catch Serenity, a favorite of mine. Let me tell you, this is the first time I felt relieved in months. I was able to just relax and actually enjoy a movie. What a great feeling! After the movie finished, people were all proud of themselves for staying the entire time, an incredible feat. I was a poser as I had left, but I had too. It was for MIT people...come on. Anyway here is who was left at the end (yes i know. I wasn't looking grrr):

6:00 pm - We all go out to this Japanese restaurant I was saving just in case I was accepted to MIT. I still could not believe it.

12:00 am - One great day ends.

Here is a graph of the stress I felt during the the hours leading up to decisions and the aftermath. Yes stress is coming back. I have basically done nothing all weekend because of my "celebrating" and so I'm sort of behind. >.> Oh well, MIT >>> tests. I think I exaggerated the stress of Sunday night in the graph. It is no where close to the stress I felt for decisions, but w/e :-).

So there you have it. Three amazing things just happened to me: 2nd place in the state, Scifi film fest, and MIT MIT MIT! I still don't feel like an official MIT '12. Maybe it is too early or maybe it is just too surreal. One thing is for sure though. I do, absolutely do, want to go there. CPW will only confirm that. What a dream come true! Thank you to everyone who supported me and to MIT admissions for taking the time to consider everyone and thinking that I have something special that I'll be able to contribute to the class and university for the next four years. To everyone who was denied, follow your dreams no matter what! Go make your college experience be the one you want. Don't let the college make the experience for you. Because you applied to MIT, you have the ability to do ANYTHING! You WILL change the world. Godspeed.

HERE IT IS

2008-03-15T12:05:00.002-04:00

The proof Snively ;-) Haha just kidding. I only had a chance to read the first line before freaking out.

MIT HERE I COME

2008-03-15T11:55:00.001-04:00

I'm in. More to come later. Celebration time.

Here is Where the Future Begins

2008-03-10T10:45:00.003-04:00

Remember that wireless electricity I talked about earlier? Well, MIT featured this research on their homepage yesterday and I have the video for you all. This is amazing stuff and is yet another reason why I want to go to MIT.

[UPDATE] I am so doing this some day

2008-03-09T14:45:00.004-04:00

Now if I could get over my fear of roller coasters, I would totally be up for doing this. I mean come on if the roller coaster is going like 5 m/s then I'm only feeling a centripetal acceleration of 2.5 m/s^2 on all those loops (10 m radius ) and such. Come on, who could possibly be afraid of 2.5...I AM! But one day...one day...that would be hilarious to do. Until then, maybe one of you readers would be willing to do this and send me pictures eh?

Oh I found this link that actually shows people who have done this! Cool, huh?

MIT Decision Date for RAs

2008-03-09T10:59:00.003-04:00

Ah the time has come...again. The decision date for MIT was just released and as I have been saying all along, it is the 15th (kudos to myself :-) ). Whatever happens, I'm already in at college with two free trips so at least the next few months and the next four years will be awesome no matter how it turns out next Saturday! To make things easier for the night of the 14th (since i wont sleep) I'm going to an all night and all day saturday Sci-fi film fest. That way, I don't have to sleep and I won't feel bad about it. Back to physics...

Check out Ben Jones' awesome post about this monumental date.

Champs! [UPDATE]

2008-03-04T16:08:00.004-05:00

Today (March 3rd) rocked, absolutely rocked. Aside from not having school, my awesome friends and I went down to Indiana for the midwestern JETS tournament there. And guess what? We got first! We are the champs! Soooo awesome. We got this large trophy and five hundred bucks for our school. Too bad it's going to the geology department and not to us grrr. Anyway, today was fun nonstop. Fighting, laughing, crying, punching and all as we worked for 3 hrs on multiple choice and free response essays. Now we have to see how we will place nationally after our essays are all graded. Be sure to keep an eye out. Here are the pictures!

That's Chris. He's my friend and behind him are my best friends: textbooks! OHHHH sooooo many! The green one is my java book. Yea basically we are awesome because collectively we have all the knowledge known to man :-).

The damage we did :-p. Ok ok...the damage I did. What, don't look at me like that. I need my space to spread out err make a mess.

This is my friend Chris again. He likes his coke...

Oh oh oh, look at me and the trophy! hehe...

This was definitely one of the best Mondays evar.

Thank you Snively!

2008-03-03T22:29:00.004-05:00

I have to say this. THANK YOU Snively! You have helped me set a new record for this blog. You have helped it blossom into a "man." How so? This blog has reached the triple digits in the number of visitors today. Yes, more than 100 people came here and no it was not me 100 times! I owe it all to Snively who posted a link to my blog in his MIT blog post today. Apparently, this is actually interesting, which was not the case back in November (what a long time ago huh). Well, I guess that is my trip down memory lane.

I guess the true test of how interesting this blog really is will show in the number of people who come back tomorrow, eh? Come on help me out. Come back to me (totally resisting the urge to say "That's what she said" on that).

Enjoy two wacky music videos I found below. If you are running short in time, I recommend the second one, which is aewsome because it deals with robots. Adios!

ROBOTS ROBOTS ROBOTS! They're going to kill us all!

About Time I Stop Losing and Start Winning

2008-03-03T16:13:00.003-05:00

I'll try to keep my xkcd posts to a minimum as I'm sure you all religously visit their website, but today's comic is just too good not to blog about. It's about the game of course! The game you lose by thinking about it. If you have somehow never heard of it then go here to learn more. Without further ado, enjoy!

More Randomness

2008-03-01T21:55:00.004-05:00

OMG this cartoon made me laugh for like 5 minutes straight. It's also related to the post below...double win!

Ahh, It's Really So Simple

2008-03-01T21:49:00.003-05:00

As I was scanning, the College Confidential forums, I came across something that actually made me laugh out loud. Something that funny deserves to be shown to you all! While I do not completely agree with it, it sure helps us direct our frustration with the entire admissions process :-)

admissions officer 1: We've certainly procrastinated long enough...we need to send out our decisions now!

admissions officer 2: But who do we take! look at all these 36ers. And these other applicants have 2000 hours of research.

admissions officer 1: Hm. Hold on a sec. *pulls ti-83+ out of his pocket* Let's see...math...PRB...randInt(). Aha. Perfect.

OH....MY..........GAWD

2008-03-01T07:42:00.005-05:00

Because I have fingers of gold when it comes to programming (bad metaphor...they'd be too stiff too type), my biology teacher asked me to create a program that integrates detailed case studies along with DNA searches in databases to simulate the DNA analysis process for students. I agreed and quickly went home to download Visual C++. After an hour of tinkering around with that program, I realized that Microsoft uses a wacky syntax for C++ that I did not feel like learning and so I then downloaded Visual Basic. While I vowed to never use Basic again in my life after seeing how simple and not very useful it was 4 years ago, I found visual basic to be perfect for what I needed. It could make fantastic visual programs using simple commands and in my excitement I did a little jiggy right then and there in my room.

So for the past 4 weeks I have slowly been building this program as it involves a lot of patient cases, DNA sequences, result pages after searching, and questions. And all this time, I figured I had no deadline because my teacher never said that I did. Well, yesterday while I was leaving class, he nonchalantly asks if I'm going to have the program next week. I tell him that I can bring in a copy of what I have so far and he then sorta freaks out and tells me that he needs to have it completed so that he can make copies and distribute it at a conference he is going to. YIKES! Now, I have to hole myself up in my room (like that is different from any other weekend) and program the tips off my fingers. I have no problem with this because I absolutely love programming, especially when your programming visual stuff. Basically, this weekend is going to involve many, many hours of coding and frantic panic sessions while I try to get this out the door.

OMG IT"S MARCH 1st.

OMG IT'S MARCH 1st.

OMG IT'S MARCH 1st AHHHHH.

I feel like this is the final leg of the race, that we are approaching the finish line and all around college admissions officers are egging us on, pushing us to get there...so that they can trip us right before reaching the finish line and laugh at our failure. GRRRR! Oh well, it'll all be over soon...oh so soon.

MIT Google Search

2008-02-27T21:55:00.003-05:00

So I've noticed I get on average one person a day to my site who was searching for "MIT Decision Date." Google in its infinite wisdom brings up my blog in the top hits because of a post a while back that talked about MIT's decision date (see here). Anyway I just wanted to set the record straight. If you are interested for the decision date coming up, you will be disappointed by that post because it was about Early Action. Now, if you do want to know the decision date and come across this well here you go. It will most likely be March 15th 2008. The official date will be released within the next two weeks, but according to past years, it should be March 15th. So now, you anxious MIT hopefuls can stop frantically searching the internet for a date that is not out there. I say that with kindness...I really do :-).

Guess what! The next two weeks are going to rock my socks. I only have two days of school next week (Tuesday/Wednesday). Monday I have a JETS Teams competition and Thurs./Fri. I have a research competition (Junior Science and Humanities Symposium). The week after that is state testing and so juniors are the only ones who have to go to school on Tuesday. Furthermore, on Wed. and Thurs. school does not start until 11 because juniors have more state testing in the morning. Then on Friday I have a programming competition. Thus, in the next two weeks, even though I will be uber busy, I will be totally enjoying the fruits of being a second semester senior.

Now for my feature presentation!
LOLZ CATS!!!

WOW!

2008-02-25T21:32:00.004-05:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Great find Najah!

The War is Over

2008-02-25T07:17:00.003-05:00

Return to your homes. Begin building a new life.

The HD-DVD has lost to its formidable foe Blu-ray. It seems the all intense war between these advanced disk technolgies is finally over and that Blu-ray will take the world into the next generation. Things pretty much went downhill for the HD-DVD camp when many rental services and retail outlets (*cough netflix and Bestbuy) began supporting Blu-ray a few weeks ago and announced that they would stop promoting HD-DVD products. This caused a flurry of panic and soon after major movie studios began forming alliances with Blu-ray and eventually Toshiba the HD-DVD producing giant finally realized that they would have to cut their losses and surrender. Toshiba who has mainly kept HD-DVD alive had to give in to the pressure around as basically everyone abondoned the HD-DVD format. As a result, Toshiba said that they would produce Blu-ray technology. This essentially ended all support for HD-DVD, except of course for Microsoft, the makers of it. Supposedly, however, they will begin supporting Blu-ray technology as well since it's all about business and not pride. Even Toshiba is proclaiming that they still think HD-DVD is superior, but after all they are in the game of business and so they must go with the flow.

All in all, it has been fun following the format war, seeing top company execs make fun of each other and denounce the other side. Now I guess Sony actually may sell some Playstation 3s although I do hear that Microsoft is considering making Blu-ray drives for the Xbox 360. I'm just glad I did not buy a HD-DVD drive for my xbox as I was about to since they were on discount. Now we can all rest assured that the Blu-ray drives we buy in the future will be around for some time (prolly a couple years until another format becomes popular).

More on what HD-DVD and Blu-ray really are:
Blu-ray wiki page
HD-DVD wiki page

Read more about it here:
Engadget retrospective

The Big Bang

2008-02-23T07:43:00.002-05:00

This weekend is not like any other weekend. Oh no! It is three days long! 72 hours! 4320 minutes! 259200 seconds! Why you may ask. Because it is mid-winterbreak of course. Even though many schools do not have this, I think there should be a mid-winter break for everyone because February is such a slow month. Don't feel too jealous though. I do not have Monday completely off. I still have math class...and some research stuff to do. Regardless, I do not have to wake up early...and yoooouuuuu doooooo!

Lately, I have been watching this incredibly amazing show called The Big Bang Theory. This show is absolutely tailored just for nerds like me. It constantly has scientific jokes and allusions and probably every stereotype about nerds. I especially enjoyed the reference to MIT (of which there are many in different episodes). If you hate science, then perhaps this show might disgust you and make you hate TV forever. For the rest of us, however, I dare you, watch the clip below and see for yourself just how awesome nerds are.

Uggghhh

2008-02-19T16:19:00.005-05:00

So I'm really into those chocolate covered expresso beans, especially the ones that Starbucks sells since they're so darn tasty. Anyway, even though it is not very healthy, I usually finish a nice, hearty sized bag in like 4 days, jacking my body up on the non-illegal drug caffeine. And every time I do this, the next day I am in agony from a headache so big well it makes things look small. At this very moment, I have one of those headaches and I feel crappy. I feel like I want to bang my head into the wall a million times until it is so numb I cant feel anything anymore. It was worth it though just in case you were wondering. Totally worth it. If you haven't experienced the wonder of chocolate covered expresso beans, then I suggest you go out right NOW and buy some! Why are you doing still reading?! Go NOW!

In other news, Duke loves me...it really loves me!!! I can't wait to visit.

Wow and Gross

2008-02-15T23:25:00.004-05:00

WOW! My school's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie was amazing. It was completely different from previous musicals that my school has done and frankly it just put a smile on my face. It was fun and lively with humor all throughout and even cantonese translations, fake asian accents, and high rise views. Kudos to everyone involved.

Now because I felt that it was time to blog about my research, I took a picture of what a dissected leech looks like through the eyepiece of a microscope. Below is a leech that I opened up and pinned out, so enjoy the view!

So basically I use these leech preps to do various experiments that involve neuron development. If you look at the long white thing in the middle (running horizontally), you would be looking at the Central Nervous System of the leech. I investigate how this system makes connections with the surrounding muscles (specifically the heart tube muscles) and what affects such development. So now the boring part of this post is over.

Now to the farewell part of the post: Goodbye!

I like blankets

2008-02-11T17:48:00.000-05:00

I just got back from my math midterm and am glad to say I pwned it and finished very early. The only thing I could not figure out is why the professor calls it a midterm, more specifically midterm 1. Yes, we have two midterms. Midterm 1 and midterm 2. In actuality, they should be called thirdterms or something. But anyway, I could go on and on about this and get no where so let me complain about how I had a midterm on what should have been a day off.

So out here in the midwest it has been very chilly. How chilly? So cold I had a Cold Day today! Apparently the school district thinks we are going to freeze our limbs off going out to school and then whine during class about how cold it is and so they just figure we might as well not have school. Works for me. I'd rather wrap myself in a blanket and pretend that it is not -10 F outside my window. Unfortunately, the university here is strict and wants their kids to lose fingers on their way to class, meaning I had to go to my math class today and take the mid errr thirdterm. Oh well, maybe I'll luck out and have another day off tomorrow (I doubt it).

In other news, I guess my final AMC is tomorrow. I have been doing the AMC since 6th grade and now that I am a senior I will be taking my last one tomorrow (or in a couple weeks if there is a Cold Day tomorrow). I'm not going to tear up about this or anything (or am I?), but it does not hurt to be nostalgic for just a few moments...and there all done with the trip down memory lane.

For some good news, the writers strike should be ending soon. This does not mean new shows will magically spring up on TV anytime soon. While production should resume, the fate of many TV shows is still undecided. Check out this chart at NY Times about the fate of your popular show.

Comedy at its Best

2008-02-10T07:57:00.001-05:00

Last night, I was reminded of a really funny comedian...a really funny brown comedian! Go ahead and watch. It is a forty-five minute act, but at least watch the beginning and see if you like him.

Another Way to Be Electrocuted

2008-02-06T07:15:00.000-05:00

A while back, I was sitting around on my couch eating some chips and thinking to myself, "Self, why not have wireless electricity. It is such a pain to have to lug around charger cables when going on vacations, having no phone for a day because you forgot to charge it, having to stay near an outlet when on a laptop and yadda yadda yadda." Then I shrugged and figured I have no idea how that would be done.

Zoom forward a few months...I see in the news that a MIT team has made wireless electricity! They were able to light a 60W battery from a power source that was 2 meters away with no wires what so ever. How does this work? They like to call it WiTricity. Now think about this. We have electromagnetic radiation all around us. Whizzing by, entering through are body and we dont even notice it. This radiation has a lot of energy, but we cannot use it for power because it goes in all directions and so is wasted. So what's the key? Magnetic coupled resonance. Now we all know about resonance. It is what causes a glass to shatter when someone sings a loud note that matches the frequency of the glass. It is all about matching frequencies. So when imagine if two objects had the same resonant frequency. They would be able to interact with each other with minimal interaction with objects of different frequencies. Using copper coils, one to send and one to receive, the sending coil generates a resonating magnetic field which causes the receiving coil to resonate. This then brings enough power to even run a laptop. In fact, a laptop would charge automatically or not even need a battery at all while in the room! Anyway, I just thought I'd introduce you all to the future. Check out more here.

In other news, this is just another boring old week. Nothing new. No snow days, no nothing. Although I did have a photo shoot yesterday which was quite awesome. I volunteer at Borgess Medical Center and the hospital was trying to promote its volunteer opportunities so they wanted to make brochures and such. So they had me come in for some pictures around where I normally work (intensive care). I walked around while he snapped pics in front of me as I walked. Those were cool since he slowed the shutter speed, making everything a little blurry except me. He took pictures of me coming out of the unit as the automatic doors opened. Those were interesting too. And then he took a lot of random shots here and there. It was really great though, since it is a busy area and so lots of people were watching and wondering what was going on. Definitely fun stuff.

Anyway, gotta go.

Why Else Would I Watch?

2008-02-04T21:04:00.001-05:00

LOL!!!

These are imo the funniest commercials I saw during the superbowl yesterday. Check it:

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There were a lot of other awesome commercials too. Comment about your favorite one!

Frrrozzzzen

2008-02-03T15:52:00.000-05:00

Another great improv stunt by Improv Everywhere: Frozen at Grand Central.

Enjoy!!!

Week in Review

2008-02-01T11:44:00.001-05:00

This was my schedule for the past week:

Monday - School ->>> Chicago
Tuesday - Chicago
Wednesday - Snow Day
Thursday - School ( One class and a 2 1/2 hour lecture )
Friday - Snow day

The odds of all this happening in one week is like a statistical anomaly, but it happened...to me!!! I was out of town and had two snow days. I couldn't ask for a better week.

In other news, apparently Microsoft is at it again, trying to enslave us all and rule the world. They now desire to take over Yahoo and are throwing around such numbers as 44.6 billion as if it's loose pocket change (it probably is). I just hope I dont start getting system errors when I login to my Yahoo account if Microsoft does take control. Check out all the juicy details here at the NY times.

Random Piano Playing

2008-01-30T10:26:00.001-05:00

So with my extra free time today, I was just messing around on the piano came up with this recording below. It's pretty rough and not that good, but that's the point :-).

boomp3.com

Rockin'

2008-01-30T07:23:00.000-05:00

I'm back in town now...came back last night. Interviews went well and lasted from 10 am to 3 pm. The people were all awesome and fun. The medical school students were very interesting, especially this M4 student who was getting a master in bioethics. My interview with that student was perhaps my best since we clicked on so many things. We ended up talking about many topics including the ethics behind this wall of deformed fetuses in the gross anatomy lab (the one I had seen the night before because of my friend). It is almost meant for people to point and stare since it is in such a random place and we seemed to agree that it should be used towards educational purposes in a museum setting.

I ended up getting lunch from the Corner Bakery as well so yesterday rocked, except for the fact that I did not get a chance to visit the Apple Store and see the new Macbook Air. That's life I guess.

Now to the good stuff...I DONT HAVE SCHOOL TODAY!!! A blizzard hit last night and is still raging. How great is this? No school yesterday, no school today. This week absolutely loves me. I still have class later tonight though since my differentials class at the university is still on. W/e though, that is not until 4 and I can deal with that. So now, while all you readers go to school, I'm going to chill and possibly catch up on some work.

Bye.

Made It - UPDATE

2008-01-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

Alright, so it is Tuesday morning in the beautiful windy city. My interview is not for another couple hours, meaning I am frantically preparing last minute notes while attempting to blog. Whaaat? Why preparing so hard Omar for just an interview? Wrong, it is not just an interview, it is three interviews mixed with some sort of panel interview and including a lunch interview. And apparently I have to have an engineering interview on the Evanston campus too, but we'll see about that. I just hope I can answer all the questions in an articulate manner without going all "Ummm ahhhhh ummmm...hold on...ummmm...i need a bathroom break" on the doctors.

Last night was great. I got a wonderful tour of the Chicago med campus by a good friend (and incidentally my old babysitter). She took me throughout the area and stuff. All the students live right in the heart of chicago minutes away from all the awesome places (like Michigan Ave.) in the area. They're too busy to enjoy it though!

I do have some more pics from my room window. The view is not that amazing, but we have a great view of one of the Northwestern Memorial hospitals. Now, if we had stayed in the Westin (they were booked) I would have magnificent views of michigan ave like the one below from the Summer:

Anyway, here are the window views:

I cant figure out how to turn it and I sorta don't want to waste time figuring it out so just tilt your head and walla. That is a view of the hospital. Nice, huh?

Random window view...

Ok so im heading out, so lata!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey all. I just arrived in Chicago. A friend of mine is going to be arriving soon to give me a tour of Feinberg Medical Campus. I'm excited about that since I've never actually been to the Chicago campus...only to the Evanston campus. Anyway, I'm really starving. I have not eaten since lunchtime but w/e. I dont think you readers really care. I do have pics of the ride in though! Check it. On and please ignore the blurriness, I was in the car.

Nice pic of the skyline.

Michigan Ave.!!! I love this street, especially since there is an Apple Store on it!

Ok, so I will add more later, but I gotta go. Ciao!

Only in Japan!

2008-01-27T22:02:00.000-05:00

So semester two starts tomorrow. One last semester of pain, late night cram sessions (who we kidding, i go to bed 10:30ish), random lectures, the monotony of going to school, aaaaand of course pot smoking, crazy left wing, vegan hillbilly polar bears. Ok, I may have exaggerated on the last one, but one thing is for sure, this will be a semester to remember (I hope ;-) ). There is also one thing that I will definitely not be happy about...I actually have class at 8:30 now! No fair. During the past month and a half, I've gotten used to having no class until 11:30. You know what they say though...change is good.

Now, to the main topic, only in Japan will you see a woman flip her skirt up and turn herself into a vending machine, a boy transform his backpack into a surrounding fire extinguisher case, and another woman turn her purse into a pothole cover. You think I lie?!?! Would I do that to you? Nawww...as always I have proof riiiiiight here aaaand what you may have already seen above. I urge you to check out the slideshow though. It is really entertaining. So what do you think? Would people even consider this here in the states?

ZOMG ^ 2

2008-01-24T18:42:00.000-05:00

So I guess I'm a richer man today! U of Michigan is offering me $8000 a year for four years! It is one of their engineering scholarships that they give out and I'm stoked. Considering that tuition is $10,000 a year for us in-state folks, that pretty much will cover me if I go.

BUT ( a big but indeed)...I'm still not sure I want to go there as I have yet to hear from nine schools (only two months XD). Nonetheless, that still wont stop me from writing a list of the stuff I want to buy with the $32000 I wont have to spend if I go to Michigan. Hmmm...nice BMW anyone?

Second semester starts next week. Need I go on?

Party Party

2008-01-23T19:43:00.001-05:00

This blog has reached another milestone! It has finally drawn 1000 visitors and still counting. Check it out at the right. So I believe this requires a celebration. Who wants to throw a party? Just make sure there is a lot of cake and ice cream. Actually scratch that...Make sure there is a lot of ice cream cake!

In other news, I have made my first friend (oh come on, it was bound to happen eventually). See him below:

He goes by the name Will and is definitely the best friend anyone could ever ask for. He never talks behind your back, is always wherever you left him, and listens to you for hours on end. Will never stops smiling and is without a doubt smarter than Newton, Einstein, and any other genius you may think of. Unfortunately, he is shy and refrains from talking. He has indeed proven that God does exist and that objects can travel faster than the speed of light. I hear you skeptics out there saying "pssssshhhh" and "Noooo way," but it is 100% true. The problem is since he is so afraid of speaking to others he keeps all these discoveries to himself. On the upside, though, this makes him the perfect listener and the friend who is always there for me!

Now, all you readers, must think long and hard about whether I am a bona-fide loser and have a stupid head for a friend or if I am exceptionally smart due to my brilliance in befriending a mind that dwarfs even my intelligence in comparison.

If you want to know the real truth behind the all-knowing head, stay tuned. I'll post the mind-blowing explanation to all this madness in my next post.

Before I say "Good bye" to all of you, I just wanted to say I DON'T HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW...OR FRIDAY W00T!! Ok, good bye, and feel free to start signing up for items to bring to the 1000th visitor party. It'll be a blast!

ZOMG

2008-01-21T16:48:00.001-05:00

2 WORDS: HPME INTERVIEW!

Ok, well more like one acronym and one word! But w/e...I'm soooo glad I was selected because frankly who would have thunk I had a chance with my recent string of bad fortune (intel x.x). It all started with me nearly dozing off while reading my CS text. All of a sudden the phone rang and the ominous "out of area" label appeared on the caller id. I shrugged and figured that at least now I was wide awake and could keep reading. Then, out of the blue, I hear my dad running towards the stairs, yelling at me to come get the phone. I thought to myself, "Self, what could possibly so important?" I take the phone and say, "Hello there."

"Yes, Omar. I am caling to schedule an interview with you for HPME."

"Oh cool. Yesss. Thanks" To myself: "Who rocks, I rock, Who rocks, I rock...oh yeaaaa!"
and the rest is just small details

And that is how I got my interview. I'm not sure how selective this premed/MD program is, but I hope it at least means I am in at Northwestern (I mean why else would they waste their time interviewing me otherwise). Now, maybe I can just get some likely letters and maybe, just maybe, I wills survive until March (did I say maybe?).

Ok, time to work (aka trick myself into thinking I am working when in actuality I'm not). Adios!

This is My Secret

2008-01-19T22:17:00.000-05:00

The day has come. I am sharing my secret with all...why I am so attractive. It is because of these pick up lines below. Beware, they are nerdy (but 100% effective!).

(The truth: I found them online...no secret...same level of attractiveness)

I just noticed you were missing a valence electron from across the room. Did I mention my name was sodium?

You know why we should let time approach infinity? Because d = v * t, and I want to go all the way with you.

Is the room shrinking? Because you're getting hotter by the second!

Looking at you made my jaw go from V(0) to V(terminal) in miliseconds.

Hey babe, I was going to measure the spring constant of my bed tonight and I could, you know, use an assistant. If you know what I mean. ;) (We could make some forced oscillations.)

Are you cos^2(x)? Because I'm sin^2(x) and together we are one.

Baby, we must be a sine wave, because we're always oscillating.

I wish I could be your derivative so I could be tangent to your curves.

My attraction to you is an inversed square law.

Could I get your signifigant digits?

You've got my mind going in circular motion!

Nice blouse. But it would look even better accelerating at 9.8 m/s^2 toward my bedroom floor.

I wish I was your integral so I could be the area under your curves.

01101001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101

You're more special than relativity. =)

If you wanna learn about simple harmonic motion, I can always teach you...

In our circuit of love, there is no resistance, only capacitance.

You and me, that's grand unification right there.

Wow you're pretty. You must be a Mac!

We're moving pretty fast, this situation has some momentum!

Are you the square root of 2? Because my love for you is irrational!

Hey babe. What's your resonance frequency?

I think we're on the same wavelength, so who cares if we're going a little fast, as long as it's constructive.

Just looking at you turns my software into hardware.

Heisenberg was wrong. I know exactly where you'll be tonight. *stalkerish*

I've got so much pent-up potential energy. Wanna help me convert it into... kinetic energy?

It's so hot in here. Is it global warming, or is it you?

Hey babe, wanna see the exponential growth of my natural log?

I wish you were my problem set, 'cause then you'd be hard, and I'd be doing you on my desk... or on my bed... or in the library...

You're so hot you make my unit vector go from j to k and dilate all the way.

Love is a matter of Chemistry,
Sex is a matter of Physics.

If our love was of the form a + bi, b would be zero 'cause we keep it real.

Math is the basis of everything.
Applied math is physics.
Applied physics is chemistry.
Applied chemistry is biology.
Applied biology is fun. =D

Why don't we measure the coefficient of kinetic friction between you and me?

I wish I were your second derivative so that I could investigate your concavities.

If I were an enzyme, I would be DNA helicase so that I could unzip your genes.

If I was chlorophyll a, you'd be the sun, because you excite my electrons.

Are you 2x? Because I want to integrate you from 10 to 13!

My love for you is like a concave up function because it is always increasing.

How 'bout you and me go back to my place and form a covalent bond? (*with* a dipole moment =D )

You and I would add up better than a Riemann Sum.

You're sweeter than fructose.

You're hotter than a bunsen burner set to full power!

You know what they say about men with big hard drives don't you?

You can put a trojan on my hard drive anytime...

I want to see the area under YOUR curve.

If I were to say /hold hand, would I get the response /slap?

Can my substrate bind with your active site, or are you allosterically inhibited?

Wow...you're a strong nucleophile and I love your back-side attack..

I wish I were Adenine so I could be paired with U.

If i was an endoplasmic reticulum, how would you want me: smooth or rough?

You know.. it's not the length of the vector that counts... it's how you apply the force.

You compute me.

By visually measuring the wrinkles in the front of your pants, calculating your body mass based on your height and weight, and dividing that number by your waist size -- I conclude that you have absolutely nothing in your pocket and are, in fact, glad to see me.

Do you think we can make it a step more serious and disable network sharing?

Baby, you are as mysterious as the random reboot problems I'm having with my Linux server!

Would you like to share my bandwidth? I have a really fat pipeline.

I 1-sin(theta) you.

If you and I were the ideal gas law equation (PV = nRT), how would my pressure and volume affect your temperature?

Put your golgi body next to mine!

I wish we were vectors so I could put my head to your tail.

Your love is sweeter than 3.141592656...

Your chest is just like crystal: a rigid, geometrical structure.

You must be gravity, baby, because you're the only thing keeping me here.

I must be trippin' because only acid rain could show me a hallucination as gorgeous as you.

Are your pants being entropically unfavorable, or are you just happy to see me?

Hey baby, what's your activation energy? 'cause I bet I could catalyse my way across those curves ;-)

Forget Microsoft, I'm Macrohard.

How many concurrent users can you handle?

I wish I were the derivative of your natural logarithm so I could be the one over U.

If I were an enzyme, I'd be DNA integrase so I could put myself in your genes!

If *I* were making the periodic table of elements, I'd put Uranium and Iodine together.

Are the stars out tonight? 'Cause you have one heavenly body.

I wanna react to completion with you.

I'd like to look at you through a telescope so I can check out your celestial body.

Baby, I know my chemistry, and you've got one significant figure.

I wish I could be the Patriot Act so I could violate your privacy.

Let me equal awesome, and you equal awesome. Then if you go into me, we become one!

I'm so emo, because I know I'll never get to touch your asymptote.

Hi. I'm an astronaut, and my next mission is to explore Uranus.

Do you work for UPS? I could have sworn I saw you checking out my package

My love for you is like diarrhea, I just can't hold it in

I wish I was a viral vector so I could transduct my material onto you.

You must be a lanthanide because you are definitely a rare earth element.

You are an alkali metal because you are reactive to my salt-forming halogens.

I think you would like my amps divided by volts.

Can you be my other bonding pair so you can bend my molecular geometry 105 degrees?

I wish I was Columbus so I could explore your virgin island.

Can you help me prove Lamarck's theory of use and disuse? *points to pelvic region*

In chem we learn Dimensional Analysis. So can I analyze your dimensions?

So the Biot-Savart equation says to the solenoid: "That's not your Poynting vector, that's my wife!"

I hear you're an electron. Allow me to introduce myself: My name is fluorine.

Hey are you singular? 'Cause if so, together we could be plural. ;)

You can come into my proteasome, if you've got some Ubiquitone to bind to my protein lid.

I wish we were doing vector addition so we could go head-to-tail.

Forget dipole-dipole attractions; I feel we have an ionic bond!

You're so cool, I've got to measure you in Kelvin.

If I were a neurotransmitter, I would be dopamine so I could activate your reward pathway.

Hey baby, SN1 or SN2 attack? If he knows his organic chemistry, then he'll choose SN2 and release his electrons from the backside.

Hey baby, you and I should form a carbon-carbon double bond so I can oxidate your cleavage.

If you were a sterically hindered substrate, I wouldn't mind, I want to be closer to you.

Ridiculous ^ 2

2008-01-19T19:14:00.000-05:00

WARNING! MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO!

I stumbled across this video earlier today and found it to be worthy of these sacred pages of mine. I believe the video is produced from the makers of the 24 parody that I posted about earlier. Basically, this is a parody of ER with every urban legend coming true. My favorite is the kidney harvest legend where a person is drugged and then found in a tub of ice with a tub sticking out of their side. I had just read about it in Made to Stick and so it was exciting to see it in action! Anyway, without further ado, enjoy!

More of Nothing

2008-01-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long hiatus...again. I've been slacking from my "blogging responsibilities" because of finals and all around because I'm lazy.

So I guess I have to start planning graduation related stuff, namely my senior recital. I did not really want a senior recital since a) I'm not a musical prodigy (sadly, I wrote my first amazing piece at the late age of 8 as opposed to those other talented musicians, like Mozart who began composing at age 4) and b) I would not have enough material for a long concert (long being an hour). I decided this in the Fall.

Zooming forward a few months, I was coming back from winter break when WHAM I was blindsided by my music teacher with the question "Do you want a senior recital?" I thought about this for a couple seconds, shrugged, and said, "Not really." After much prodding, however, I ended up walking away with the homework of finding a date and having to memorize many pieces (obnoxiously difficult pieces that make fingers bleed). Things are looking up, though, as one of my friends may combine his senior recital with mine and then we will have a decent length recital with lotsa people. It would be like a wedding where his friends come and my friends come and they don't really care for each other, only coming to see their respective friend play (this being the explanation for why lotsa people would come).

So there's your beautiful window into my life for the day. Say, anyone getting sick of 2008 already?

Improv It

2008-01-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

I just discovered this comedy group called Improv Everywhere. This group goes around doing large performance pranks on video and then shows it to the world via the internet. By performance pranks, I mean stunts where groups of 50 to 100 people go and either try to trick or confuse people during their day to day activities. Most recently, many people in Boston rode the subway with no pants on, prompting many weird looks from other passengers. A notable performance of theirs is their Best Buy prank that you can catch below:

If you want to check out more of their awesome stuff, make the leap to their website.

Almost There...

2008-01-11T18:30:00.000-05:00

So the real, uncensored, and more wild than ever reason I have not posted for a while is because of a special week coming up in three days that I like to call "finals week." Even though I am only taking half as many finals than I usually do due to the glory of dual-enrolling (my university classes ended before break), I still have been fairly busy studying for finals and not studying for finals (i.e. tennis, programming, research, life).

In actuality, I have probably been doing more stuff in the "not studying for finals" category than in the "studying for finals" category, perhaps because of my affinity for being timely and thus studying for finals over break or maybe because my CS teacher told me I do not have to study for his final to do well and because I am always ready to tackle physics problems, meaning the physics final should not be difficult. Subtracting physics and CS from the mix, only Biology is left to study for. But don't worry, I have gone through the trees of packets my teacher has given me and feel fairly confident that I can do well on our multiple choice final (i mean come on, everyone knows the answer is always C). Before going on, I would just like to say that despite my biology teacher's best efforts to plant trees every year, I do not think it is good for anyone or anything (namely, the environment) when he religiously gives us packets of information each week in lieu of reading our textbook, which weighs more than me! Honestly, we have only read three chapters out of the 57 chapters it has. Anyway, I am now going to end my tangent on hurting the environment.

To add to the "not studying for finals" category and to the downside of dual enrollment, my differentials class at the university has started (before the high school semester has ended and right before finals). So far, however, it has been quite interesting. This is one of the first math classes that I have taken that has truly taught theory and applications of the theory side by side (not surprising as it is an engineering class) and so I have found it very enjoyable. In addition, even before class started I had already won some brownie points with the professor since he had come to my high school the year before to talk to my adv. calc class about fourier series. So while it usually takes weeks for a professor to find out I'm in high school, he found out the very first day and was delighted to hear that I had attended a lecture of his. Too bad I no longer need any recommendations.

This basically sums up my week of studying for finals, not studying for finals, and unfortunately not blogging. In other news, though, Intel STS results come out next week. While I expect not to become a semi-finalist because 1700 people apply and only 300 are selected, it is still nice to look forward to something in the near future. I'll post on that next week.

I hoped you enjoyed my first long post in a while and have a good weekend. Adios!

What is up with the Weather?

2008-01-07T20:26:00.001-05:00

Right now, when it should be blizzarding outside, making roads impassable so I can have a snow day, it is pouring rain and thundering!!! Rain in January!! Sixty degrees in January!!!

Just last week, we had a huge blizzard that even dwarfed my own awesomeness (I know, I was surprised too!). Even though it happened to come when there was no school already, it was a blast to drive through it (I mentioned this in an earlier post). Fortunately, I now have a picture to show you just how ridiculously awesome this storm was. Now to fully understand what I treked through, imagine those roads you see with the 1 foot partitions of snow completely filled with snow. Go crazy, just imagine snow everywhere, coming down, coming up, coming from the side. Imagine that the road just blends in with the 1 foot high surrounding of snow. Now once you have that image (possibly video if you see snow coming down) floating in the dark place called your imagination, you have a good picture of what my trusty Honda CR-V and I braved and survived.

That picture was taken just a few days ago. Right now, as I look out my window and see endless rain attempting to penetrate it, there is no snow left. Yes, the weather has killed the snow. Rather than being cold outside, the weather has decided to throw a curve ball full of warm air. What's even weirder is that this happens every January here!! There is always a few days in January with sixty degree weather. The seasons should be: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, More Summer, Even More Winter. The only reason I'm ranting is because I'm pissed at the thunder that keeps distracting me and the rain that's rumbling at the window a few inches from my ear.

~Anyway, rant ends here~

Great! The storm is picking up...AGAIN!!! err sorry, moving on. So I've got finals next week, but like I said earlier, I'm still excited since my bio exam is all multiple choice (/me goes and does a victory dance). Once finals are out of the way, I'll be in my final semester, entering the final leg of this journey we call high school.

G'day everyone! Enjoy More Summer, it will be ending soon!

My Recital

2008-01-06T13:02:00.001-05:00

This is long overdue, but I have finally gotten around to importing my recital videos and posting them online. The three pieces I performed are below. The first one is "Waltz in B minor" by Chopin. The second one is "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" by Tchaikovsky. The third one is "Hungarian Dance no. 5" by Brahms. Watch them (you better) and enjoy. And yes they are rough around the edges, but hey, it's not like I'm being paid to play.

Waltz in B minor

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Hungarian Dance no. 5