You know, in case you guys forgot.
Anyway, MIT has really been pissing me off recently, which we'll call excuse #1 why I haven't been posting on the blog. I was supposed to take the last part of my qualifying exam this semester, so I've spent most of the semester wasting time and telling myself I should start studying. They were supposed to assign me a testing committee with whom I would schedule my exam. Well it's been two months or so and I still don't have a committee, which means I still don't have an exam day. It's damn near impossible to schedule anything in December, and professors are so busy they can't be scheduled less than a month in advance, let alone three of them for the same time. All this together adds up to about half a semester wasted waiting for a committee assignment and no exam until next semester. BLAH. Also I apparently had a class I need for graduation listed as P/F instead of a grade for credit. After 6 months of hounding various administrative offices here I finally got them to switch it but god damn it was a lot of work. OK I'm done ranting for now.
The silver lining in this exam being pushed back is I have more time to do actual research, which is actually going pretty well. I'm working on a paper right now that I'm hoping to get submitted some time this year. I still have a bunch of analysis to do, but it's some cool stuff. I'll be presenting some measurements on a new material we just reported earlier this year, as well as using those measurements to shed light on an interesting material that is as of yet not well understood. I'll have more on this as it progresses.
The other thing that's been absorbing my time is that I'm TAing this semester for MIT's freshman physics class. It's a lot of work, and grading is a bitch, but overall I'm enjoying it. I get to interact with students in class because the class is taught in this quasi-lecture quasi-group activity format. It's pretty cool. Also, the guy I work for has told me he wants me to give a lecture later in the semester, which I think will be some good experience, so I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also running a seminar for a small group of freshmen, most of whom are in my physics class. Most weeks I just line up professors to talk about their research (it's all cool futuristic engineering stuff), but some weeks I get to give little talks and do fun physics/chemistry demos. For example, a few weeks ago we did Mentos+Diet Coke, and I'm also going to show them how to light up a pickle, and why toast is more likely to fall butter side down. They're mostly pretty bright kids, so they're a lot of fun to work with.
Other than that, I still find some time for mountain biking on the weekends and some ultimate frisbee here and there. Add a smattering of TV and video games and some beer and that's my life. Kinda boring I guess.
Here's my TV breakdown:
Digging:
Dexter- This season has way less of Captain Dick Solomon's ass, which I think is a good call. Also machete-beheading plus Stockholm syndrome ftw.
The Event- This show is incredibly predictable, but it's still a good time and I like the whole aliens/future humans with magic powers thing.
Hell's Kitchen- Who doesn't love Gordon Ramsay screaming at people?
Modern Family- Hilarious every week.
Mildly Entertaining:
House, Chuck- Not as good as they used to be, but I'm still watching.
Oultaw- I'm a sucker for criminal procedure dramas, and I love me some Jimmy Smits, but honestly I'm surprised it hasn't been canceled already.
HIMYM, The Office, Community, and The Big Bang Theory- I think these are all on the way out, but they're still good for a few laughs.
Glee- Really I hate the ridiculous high school drama crap, but they have some interesting covers. I especially enjoyed "Losing my Religion"
Tumbs down:
Agreed on Outsourced and 30 Rock, although I did enjoy the 30 Rock live episode.
No Californication until January? BOOOOO!
I haven't watched any of the new South Park or Futurama, but I don't have comedy central and they're kind of bastards about putting stuff on the internets so whatever.
I've heard good things about Mad Men, but I haven't watched any of it yet.
I'm also interested in Treme, since The Wire was so good. Nick and Alan have you guys still not watched it?
So that's NUT(my life)SHELL. Hope you're all doing well.
P.S. Joseph get your lazy (or more accurately: overworked) butt up to Boston.
