Where is my mind?

You are probably all wondering where I've been in the last few weeks... Well, let me tell you... I feel like I've been to the ends of the earth and back.

First, there was Thanksgiving. What a great time! I had so much fun hanging out with friends, playing paintball, eating tons of food, and playing games. Thanks to all who made this Thanksgiving the best ever!

Second, Madrigal Dinners. Otherwise known as "Hell Week", because when you're one of the key players in the direction of the performances, you have quite a lot on your mind. I was the script-writer and stage director this year. Effectively, I monitored the performance as it progressed and made sure everything was going smoothly. This was already on top of the 30-so-odd pieces of music I had to sing or play. As my friends who attended probably could attest, I was having a lot of fun but was rather stressed.

Third, this week, otherwise known as "Dead Week". During dead week you're not supposed to have as much due because you should be studying for finals. Hardly anything happens during dead week, most campus organizations won't have meetings and such, but overall it is usually a pretty laid back week for me -- but not this time. My "evil" professor of the semester had given us these ridiculously hard project problems that basically spent all my week's time. I haven't started studying for finals yet because of them. On Wednesday I broke my record for time spent on campus, I was in Shrenk (Chemistry building) a grand total of 14:55 minutes. Time flies when you're doing stupid projects. You know, another thing that bugs me about these project problems is that NOBODY in the class is learning anything from them! Our prof is sooooo terrible that NOBODY really knows what's going on in the first place, and we're just sick of playing his games. All this is over now... So I can start studying for my finals! Good thing I only have two in-class finals and one take-home final this semester!

Finals week should be one of the better weeks of this semester, though, actually I'm looking forward to some calm days. Bet you never thought you would hear someone say that! Welcome to my life...

MRI, NMR, and the Japanese Professor...

I had a 2 hour lecture today on NMR. You know what it is even if you've never heard the term before. You know it as MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging. You know why you don't hear it called NMR or NMRI by Doctors? Because of that lovely little "N" at the beginning, which stands for that dreaded word "NUCLEAR"! I know, you can't hold back your shock of disbelief and fear. Actually, the American public can't seem to get over that word, and because the majority of Americans wouldn't take an MRI scan if they knew it involved "nuclear" imaging, Doctors have decided to just knock the word off... but I digress...

I didn't take notes today during this lecture, rather I wrote down my 'thoughts'. This professor is probably the most boring lecturer I've ever had. I have described his lectures to people as "listening to paint dry." Think about it. Anyway, his obtuse and vague way of teaching leaves me with many, many questions, yet when I ask questions I only get long, drawn out, obtuse, and vague answers. I'm reaching the apathetic stage faster than ever before. So let me put my Sarcasm Hat on and tell you what I learned in my lecture today...

Travelogue - NMR Lecture 11/19/03
1pm - Amazed at the speed at which I can become lost in the material.
1:15 - I ask a question regarding how the blazes he managed to get a complex number into a physical quantity. He attempts an answer and baffles the class, but I'm sure an answer is out there even though the NMR book I own doesn't seem to indicate it...
1:20 - Bogus drawing #1. Rotating coordinate system? What the?
1:25 - Oh, magnetic spins have ENSEMBLES? Who would have thunkit, I didn't know they were so talented.
1:30 - Magnetic spins begin to take on even more personal aspects when I find out that they have COUPLING. Greeaaaaat...
1:35 - Spin interactions disappear when theta = 55degrees 44minutes! (angle measure) NO KIDDING! It's the 'magic angle' of spin! No joke, the terminology exists!
1:41 - Discovery of the 'fictitious temperature' that can happen to take negative values. Anybody up for negative absolute energy? Maybe this is antimatter...
1:43 - The fictitious temperature can also happen to take an infinite value. This just makes Ramin and I crack up. Uh-huh... It's kinda like saying "two plus two equals four, except for unusually large values of two, in which case two plus two equals forty-two."
2:15 - We are told that the Hamiltonian (quantum mechanical operator) is "easy to understand" in matrix form. Bull. Make the insanity stop!
2:40 - Total amount learned = 0

"If you can't answer the question, just make fun of them."
-Me, to Ramin, regarding my prof's answer to a question

Can you tell I was a little ticked? Haha... I'll perhaps have something more pleasant in a day or so... Until then: study hard and remember that NMRI is a very safe and excellent method that really does work... I just can't explain it yet.

Apples to Oranges?

Can you believe it? Two posts in two days! Amazing.

Anyway, a chemistry friend gave some links I found quite incredible. You should check these out.

"Everyone should know the wonderful fruits of science."
-Ramin H., Rolla Chemist, pun intended

Apples and Oranges - Actually, they're quite similar...

Kansas - You thought it was flat? You were right.

USPS - Our postal system is pretty amazing! Laugh your socks off with this one.

Homestar makes headlines

Wouldn't you know, good ol'Homestar Runner has his 15 minutes of fame in the Missouri-Miner, the University newspaper. I thought it was funny, so I'll share it with you.
~The Yellow Dart

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http://www.missouri-miner.com/news/549696.html?mkey=596540
Homestar Runner as a basis for society
By Laura Warren

Well, since I am not exactly a fan of the hate mail, I decided to avoid a controversial topic this week. Thus, those of you who have ever visited www.homestarrunner.com, prepare to be amused.

In my year of watching the wonderfully amusing cartoons on this website, I have noticed many parallels between the characters and various types of people we run into in the real world (yes, there is a world outside of your computers and Rolla, believe it or not). Thus, I give you how the characters of Homestarrunner.com fit into the real world (or just whatever I happen to think of related to a character).

So without further ado, in alphabetical order we have:

Bubs: Grease monkey, McDonalds worker, whatever you wish to call it, Bubs is the person you depend on for conveniences that for some reason no one can live without.

The Cheat: The Cheat (my favorite character) is the little devil that runs about playing pranks on everyone. But, he's so well loved, no one ever suspects or blames him for anything. He may seem to be Strong Bad's lackey, but the Cheat has masterminded plenty of pranks on his own.

Homestar Runner: Homestar is the "slow" athlete. He thinks he's in charge, but really, he's incompetent at anything outside of whatever athletics he's involved in. He even has the moronic girlfriend.

The King of Town: The King of Town seems to be a caricature of the corrupt, bumbling career politician. Other examples of this role could be Mayor Quimby of The Simpsons, or Dick Gephardt of the St. Louis and Jefferson County areas. This type of person seems to be in charge, but is just an idiot who looks for publicity opportunities, and does nothing to benefit the area in which they supposedly have influence (unless it benefits them). Oh, and he also reminds me of the Hamburgler.

Marzipan: Marzipan is the dirty hippie of the bunch. If she were not so busy protesting everything, I could see her sitting around smoking weed, strumming on her guitar. Silly hippies...

The Poopsmith: The Poopsmith is the perfect example of the hardworking laborer. They may not have much a job, but they do it, whether they like it or not, they get paid, and they go home. The job may suck, but someone has to do it.

Strong Bad: Strongbad is a fine example of a teenage bullyboy with too much time on his hands. He is constantly causing trouble for others to gain amusement out of it. He cheats his way to get ahead in life, with a modicum of success.

Strong Sad: Strong Sad, the eternally depressed brother of Strong Bad, as well as the butt of many jokes, reminds me of the rock in the Zoloft commercials. Heck, his face even looks like the rock! He is just a big, misunderstood teddy bear who really needs to learn how to have some fun. Maybe he should try drinking...

What can I say - I have too much time on my hands.
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