A Day in the Life...

I'm very sorry that I haven't been posting more often. To give you an idea why, here's a typical day in the life of an Engineering Chemistry student.

7:30 AM (or really, 1 hour before my first class, no matter what time): Alarm sounds. Wake up!
7:35 AM: Mute alarm. Snooze for another 10 minutes
7:45 AM: Shower, grab a quick 5 minute breakfast
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM: Lectures/Labs. If not in either one of those, eating Lunch/reading for class
5:30PM-6:30PM: Post-school doldrums. Completely unproductive while snacking/watching TV
6:30PM-7:30PM: Theoretically: Homework-first wave
Actually: Procrastination while thinking "I should be doing homework."
7:30PM-8:30PM: Dinner! A perfectly good excuse to not be working on schoolwork.
8:30PM-???: Doing homework/labs. Start off with things due next week and get a decent beginning. When nearing the ??? mark, realize "OH CRAP THIS IS DUE TOMORROW" and quickly hammer something out (usually finishing something you started last week or studying for a quiz that you completely forgot about)
???-7:30 AM(or one hour before first class)

And the cycle repeats.
As you can see my day consists of eating, sleeping, and schoolwork/procrastination.
I am feeling pretty tired since ??? fluctuates between from before midnight to 2 in the morningf. But then, I get into science-mode and sciencey stuff appears in my labs (and I end up getting good grades). My friend put it this way:

"You are a computer. Usually functionally retarded, but feed enough crap into you and stuff happens"

Yeah.
In the meantime, enjoy this xkcd comic about scientists.

Something we can all take to heart

This comic is amazing.
Oh, xkcd, you crack up the scientist in me.

FINALS FINALS FINALS FINALS

Aargh, finals season is in full swing. On the one hand, I am lucky since my exams are all spaced out, so I can study for them individually. On the other, I AM CONSTANTLY STUDYING. Unless I'm not. Like now. It's one of those hyperbolic phrases. A friend of mine and I were making hyperboles to de-stress from the exams. Example? Er, I can't rightly recall. But, it was funny. We were in kind of a post-exam stupor.
In order to break up the monotony and disprove the above CAPS LOCKED statement, my roommate and I have taken to going to the gym for an hour. It's a lovely, mindless break from redox reactions, proving something is linearly independent, and trying to find the freaking parse error that won't let my program go. I was curious about my weight and hopped on the scale when I went a few days ago. Turns out I've lost weight, defying the freshman 15. Yay!
I also ran around and played frisbee with some friends yesterday. The weather has finally turned gorgeous and I'm usually stuck in my room doing practice exams. It felt fantastic just to run around and enjoy the beautiful weather.
It's hard to believe that this time next week I'll be packing up my room and preparing to head home.
Meh, 'tis the future. My more immediate problem is figuring out electric fields. Why must I integrate in physics?!?!

When seen outside of calculus, this fellow is the harbinger of pure evil.

Decision time!

Wow, it's kind of hard to believe that I'm 1/4 finished my second term. I don't feel like I've learned very much, yet I feel that I have so much to do!
Group projects are a new thing this term. One of my projects is to design an anode for electrolytic reduction in order to stabilize a condenser retrieved from the USS Monitor. Kind of epic, eh? We're basically de-crapifying it using the gas bubbles generated plus removing ions that could react and make the metal disintegrate.

The condenser. With all of its glorious crap.

A pretty cool project, if I may say so myself. It could actually affect something in the real world! It's not just theory!
But, I now stand at the brink of making a decision that will affect the rest of my schooling. What to specialize in?
It's confession time. I'm a lab rat. A consummate lab rat. You know how analysis happens instantly on TV, like on CSI? Well, it takes hours of analysis and much down time. And I actually like that. I know. I'm a freak.
So, I'm leaning towards Engineering Chemistry. Instead of figuring out how to make old goo faster, I make new and exciting goo! Everyone says it is extremely hard, but I think I'm up to the challenge.
Well, fingers crossed that I make the right decision. Now, I'm making another good one. I'll stop blogging and do some research and actual work. Go me.
On a side note, happy year of the Ox!

XKCD...Does it even need a post?

So, XKCD is one of the web's hottest nerdy webcomics. It has nerdy humor that is funny, even if you don't quite get it. Or, it's just extremely dry and hilarious.
Randall Munroe is a smart and funny guy and it shows in his numerous references that only those into the sciences will get. If you haven't already seen it, head over to:
http://xkcd.com/
Here's a little thing I made inspired by this comic: http://xkcd.com/152/