Holly Jolly Christmas

I had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It really was splendid. What made it so great? Well, I’m a big fan of lists, so here is my list of what made my Christmas so great this year:

-Coming home each time during Christmas break to the smell of a freshly burned Christmas candle
-Spending all day Christmas Eve making cake balls! I made red velvet and chocolate, with white, milk, and dark chocolate. Here is a picture of the finished product:

-Helping my parents be “Santa” and wrap gifts for everyone
-Painting my fingernails red with white crackle on top

-Waking up to the smell of Christmas morning casserole
-Eating breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, French toast, and orange juice for breakfast
-Having my back burned next to the fire place while opening gifts
-Going to church on Christmas day
-Taking up four benches at church with my entire family (true story! They were the short side benches…but four benches still).
-Wearing new red heels to church.
-Listening to my dad sing the solo during the ward Christmas program
-Giving the gifts that I carefully had planned. True, I didn’t even think about gifts until finals were completely done, but they were still perfectly thought of, and they turned out well.
-Playing with my dog and his new Frisbee
-Hearing my nephew exclaim “Ee-a! Ee-a!!” all day long 
- Getting a bike pump for my road bike
-Tending my nephew and playing with him all Christmas night
-Taking pictures with my nephew:


-Sitting with my nephew by the tree and quietly showing him the ornaments. It was the most ideal moment of my entire Christmas day!
-Listening to Christmas music! I could listen to Michael Buble's "All I Want for Christmas is You" over and over and over!!
-Eating so much cheesy, hearty, sugary food that I literally got sick last night (again, true story. I barfed. Sorry for the deets. But I habitually eat bland cereal for breakfast, maybe something for lunch, and then a medium-ish dinner. Yeah. Yesterday was too much of a splurged FEAST). Turkey, ham, funeral potatoes, stolen beans, frog eye salad, 7-layer dip, chips, cookies, cake balls, toffee. Um. Probably something else, too.
-Being with everyone in my family. No one was missing that day, and I’m very grateful for that. All 3 siblings and the 2 in-laws, all 3 nephews, my closest aunt and uncle and my 2 cousins that live next door, and of course my parents.
-Remembering the TRUE meaning of Christmas. I love what Christmas is really about, and I’m so glad that we have a holiday to celebrate it! May we always have the true love of Christ in our hearts.

I am "Ee-a"

I decided yesterday that being an aunt is the greatest thing ever. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it before, but not nearly as much as I do now. My mom has this passion for babies, but I tend to have a passion for toddlers. My first nephew, Levi, will be 2 years old in April, and my other two nephews, Luke and Tristan, are almost 3 months old, and five weeks old, respectively.

The two babies I love and adore, but they’re just not as much fun as I would like. I think they’re the cutest things on the planet, and of course I have a tender spot in my heart for tiny little ones (what girl doesn’t, really?) but I just love and adore little kids more than I do tiny babies. My nephew Levi is the perfect example.

Since I was gone to Baltimore all summer, Levi completely forgot who I was. Coming back was like introducing him to a totally new person he had never met before. Living an hour away from home and going to college doesn’t help much either. I come home probably about once a month, and that’s all that he gets to see of me. I, of course, am his favorite aunt ;) so he is beginning to remember who I am now.

Levi is starting to talk. He first learned “papai” and “mamai” (daddy and mommy in Portuguese...I have no idea if I spelled that right), and “Papa” and “Mama” (for grandma and grandpa) and things like juice in Portuguese, and my two favorites, “airplane” and “touchdown!” Of course, I’ve been trying to teach him how to say Lori. But he just won’t. Instead, he just recently came up with the idea of calling me “Ee-a” [I don’t know phonetics at all, so, it sounds like the letter “e” and a as in “a horse” (not the letter A)]. Anyway….it’s SOO cute. No idea how he got it. I asked his parents what it could have come from and they have no clue either, especially since it sounds nothing like my name. But whatever, I am “Ee-a” and I love it.

Yesterday my brother and sister-in-law invited me to go out to lunch with them. We went to a place called “Dolittle’s Café.” It’s at the Ogden Airport. Levi absolutely LOVES airplanes, and this restaurant has airplanes hanging all over the ceiling and painted all over the walls. We walked in and he pointed all around and said “airpae” in his cute baby accent because he was so excited to be there! The whole time, he was happy to be there, and was happy to be with “Ee-a.” At one point, he had to have his diaper changed. As his mom took him away, he cried out, in desperation “Eeeee-aaa!!” hoping that I would save him!

We had to walk around the restaurant later and look at all the "airpaes" and Christmas decorations together after we were done eating. He loved showing his favorite aunt around, and I loved looking around with my favorite nephew.
We enjoyed the car ride home, too! We loved laughing together, without even talking! Ahhh…it’s just great being an aunt.

I don’t want to go back to school. It sounds great when I say that I don’t have to until next year!! Too bad next year is just over a week away. But then again… I’m very, very grateful that next year is coming up so soon ;) Next year will be a great one, I can’t wait to see what there is to come.

Sick + Dead Week

Why am I writing a blog on Dead Week (the week before finals where no tests are given and everyone studies their brains out)? Well. I'm terribly ill. I haven't been sick since February or March. And NOW I am sick. Worst. Time. Ever. And all I can do is blog. I can't study because it is doing me no good.

I just went to the store.

I purchased two different kinds of cough drops, three packs of daytime medicine (I already had a stock of Nyquil - thanks mom!), another bottle of Zicam since I've used basically all of what I had left today...and I think that's all medicine wise. I got some oranges. Good source of vitamin C. And some chicken noodle soup. I was craving it. Ah crap. I really am sick. Oh, and some orange juice. I think that's all I got...I don't remember.

Then, I bought this years game day shirt. At the grocery store. I have never gotten to buying it yet this year because I have always had an Aggie shirt to wear to a game when I go, but I really wanted one from this year, so I got one. $7 at Lee's.

The lady at the check stand was really nice.

Then I went to chick-fil-a and got a plain chicken sandwich for dinner and ordered orange juice for my drink. I just barely realized that this was a stupid thing to do since I had bought some at the store just before. I really really am not thinking straight. This better change before finals next Monday. I have three finals on Monday. Kill me now. One of them is just a presentation, so it isn't really a final exam, but the other two are cumulative exams that both cover 25% of my final grade I believe. Ugh. I really need to study.

#occupythespectrum

When it comes to me and Aggie Basketball, we are pretty much inseparable. I only caught onto this love of mine the middle of the season last year, and I have been awaiting this season since the last game of last years' season. Well...this season has just started, and it couldn't be any more epic.

There have only been three games so far, and the first two were only pre-season games, so they didn't technically count. BUT, we did win them though! The next one though...was the BYU (or, as USU students like to say...YBU), and it was the first real game of the season!

The USU vs. BYU game was BY FAR the MOST anticipated game of the season! The game was on Friday, 11/11/11. Here's the low down on how things went:

Starting on Wednesday, students began camping out by the Spectrum (the facility where the game is held on campus) for the game. By camping out, I literally mean full on camping out, like with tents and everything. The athletics department anticipated this (the Aggies love their basketball!) and had a plan. So, anyone who camped out, got a wrist band. A blue one. They had to have their camp site registered, and someone from their group had to be there at ALL times to essentially save their spot in line for the game. There were random tent checks 3 or 4 times a day to make sure that someone was always there from the group (that way, it allows for people from the group to go to classes and stuff, but they still have to be there to save their spot in line most of the time, it's just that atleast one person has to be there). Anyway. The blue wrist bands, and registering camp sites were being done up until the night before the game.

I did not take part in that. I guess I'm not a full-flegged Aggie fan if I did do it. Or maybe I just have my priorites set straight and I don't have time to waste camping out for two days for a basketball game. Either way, I didn't do it.

So, there are 4,000 student seats in the Spectrum (all student seats are free, it comes with tuition). They anticipated about 600 people to camp out. Well, as of Thursday morning, 1,200 students had camped out. Crazy, eh?! So, I'm imagining that there were about 2,000 that ended up camping by Thursday evening. Don't quote me on that though. So that means that for Friday line up, there were only 2,000 seats left, and more than 20,000 students left who probably still wanted seats to the game.

I had to be one of those students to get a seat. No questions asked.

From what I had heard, the plan from the athletic dept. was that the remaining students would get in just based on a normal line up. So I had to get in line the next morning. I arranged with my friends from the ward that were going to go with me to get in line with me the next morning that we would meet at 7am and walk over to the Spectrum and wait in line.

So. We did it. We got up bright and early. Just for this game. Thousands of students camping out. And now in line. And it's below freezing outside. See what we do for our basketball team!?

We got there and they were handing out some wrist bands. I was so confused. They were green. The athletics dept said that they came up with a new system the night before and that it would basically prevent people from mobbing into the Spectrum when the doors open (thank goodness!!!). So, anyone who got a green wristband was guaranteed in the Spectrum for the game, and anyone without a wristband wasn't allowed in. Genius! We called all our friends who weren't there with us for the morning shift to wait in line to come get a wrist band, and they came and got one, and then we continued our waiting in line (we still had to wait in line so that we could get good seats!)

So then, it was FREEZING cold. We had our wrist bands, and I couldn't have been happier! I was wearing soooo many layers (multiple thermals, my game day shirt, my big winter coat, gloves, ear muffs, and all the typical winter stuff really, and I was still freezing!) but we continued to wait in line. I'm just glad we didn't camp out. So here are some pics of our early morning wait:


The early morning waiters. For a while we just took pics to keep us entertained :) Ashley, Stephanie, Rachel :), me


Our cold pic


My hobo breakfast of pears in a can. And my ghetto bike in the back behind the fence.


They gave out free Chick-fil-a! We were mostly just sooo happy because it was WARM! me and Ashley


My beloved wristband and my layers

I waited in line until 10:30 and then I had to go to class. Then I had class/work etc. until 3:30, so other people from my group took turns waiting in line.

I got back in line with my group around 3:45 once I had gotten back home and grabbed some food everything that I would need for the evening for the game.

Everyone with green wrist bands had to be in line by 4:30. At 4:30 there was no getting in or out of the line. The doors opened at 5:30. Here are some pics from waiting in line in the afternoon:


Most of the group waiting outside in line


Me and Ashley. We're so anxious for the game to begin!!

At 5:30, the doors to the Spectrum opened. First, for those with blue wrist bands. Then, for those with green wrist bands. Since my group was really really close to the beginning of the green wrist band line, it seriously was as if we were at the back of the blue wrist band line essentially. It was great! We got AWESOME seats!! We sat right behind the pep band, on the curved part of the stadium. Great location. I was so happy! Not only did we get in, we go great seats. And not only did we get great seats, we didn't have to camp out for them!

We had to wait for a while for the game to start (it started at 7), but the crowd was so much fun since we were all there so early, and we couldn't leave our seats or else they would take it away and claim it as "seat saving" (which wasn't allowed). So the crowd was really fun and we did lots of cheers for the team even as they were warming up even. There were two students in the USU student section that wore BYU shits, so we did "go home" cheers to them and stuff like that. The time went by super fast.

Then. The game started.

It was EPIC.

SO

WORTH

THE

WAIT

We were neck in neck the whole first half and the first part of the second half. Then, the last 12 min or so of the second half, we finally started stepping up our game, and BYU started fouling like crazy.

Oh, and the refs were absolutely ridiculous. They were not calling one single thing against BYU, and we were getting every single thing called on us. It was nuts. But, we still stepped it up.

Being in the crowed was AMAZING. Being an Aggie is the best thing ever! And every single student in the Spectrum you know actually wanted to be there, which was awesome. All the players on the team were totally taking it all in and loving all the cheers. It was great.

It got down to the last bit of the game, and we knew we were going to WIN.

Doing the "winning team losing team" cheer never felt so good in my entire life!!!

I was so happy!!! I love USU basketball so much :)


The morning group again, now inside at the game! (plus Brian in the background)








These are our yelling faces (Stephanie, me). We basically lost our voices by the end of the game!!


WE WON! WE WON!! WE WON!!!

Tis the Life

I went home last weekend, and my brother showed me that one of the bookmarks on his phone includes my blog. That's even better than being a follower in my mind. That means he really DOES read it. And then there's me. I love me blog. But. When I lived in Baltimore it was soooo much easier to update because I had to be in my house when it was dark and I had nothing better to do with my time than to do be on the computer. It's not like I had homework or anything.

Here's how my life goes lately:

Monday: wake up around 8. Go to class/work (lab) until 5 or 5:30. Depending on the Monday, I may or may not have eaten in that time block. If I did eat, then I can maybe squeeze in a bike ride. If not, I will come home and eat dinner, and start working on homework. I am a semi-diligent FHE attender, since last year I was an FHE mom, and I know how much attendance is appreciated. Then I come home and do homework, homework, homework. Then bed time around midnight to 1-ish.
Tuesday: Wake up around 7:30. Class/work until 6:00. Homework. Bed time by 12 or 1.
Wednesday: Same story as Monday minus the FHE part.
Thursday: Same story as Tuesday, except work only goes until 5, so I can sometimes bike.
Friday: Wake up around 9 (yay! sleep in day!!) and done with class/work at 3:30 (hooray, early done day too!!). But then...homework.
Saturday: three of my four major classes assign chunks of homeworks that are due on mondays. It seriously almost seems like I have 3 projects due every single stinkin Monday. No joke. But it's my routine. So, every Friday night/Saturday morning, day, night til the wee hours of Sunday morning I do this homework
Sunday: My homework free day. I'm first counselor in the RS pres in my ward, so I spend my time doing things for that a lot. I also spend a lot of time with my friends here, or resting from the week (it's MUCH needed), or with my family sometimes. Just doing whatever I need to really to prepare myself spiritually for the upcoming week.

So, that's really all that I do. My roommates and my mother get super concerned for me because I never even have time to eat. My roommates never see me because I spend ALL my time in the library or in the engineering building. I guess I think it's fun? Whatever. I never have time to grocery shop. The last time I went grocery shopping was on a Friday night at 11pm. It was the only time it would fit in my schedule. Plus, it's not like I have anything better to do on Friday nights, besides start doing all my hw that I would be doing the following day. I just need to eat more. I never have time to even eat.

But. Now I'm really really really going to sound like a hypocrite. I'm going to show you all the fun things that I HAVE been able to do for the past month and a half :) I take my camera with me whenever I do something that is out of the ordinary weekly schedule...so it's basically all photo documented for all you non-facebook followers of mine. The captions will explain what they all are:


My roommates and I at Peach Days in Brigham City. Maura, Katie, Jannika, and Me.


The Relief Society Presidency at our RS training retreat in Bear Lake. Ashley, me, Miryelle, and Holli


Alan and Alyssa's wedding reception! Alan and Alyssa are my friends from Baltimore. They got married in Idaho, so I was able to drive up to their wedding reception. I'm so glad that I was able to go, because I was seriously one of the only people even close to their age there...


Me and Alyssa. What a beautiful bride!!


Me and my old roommate Megan at the Thriller dance show. The Odyssey Dance Theater came to USU and put on the Thriller show, and Megan and I went to it. Tickets were $25 for the public, but student tickets were only $5. It was general admission, and Megan and I got front row seats! It was so awesome! Super entertaining, and they were all such great dancers!!


My friends and I taking out Heidi out for her 21st birthday to Cafe Sabor! Troy, Maura, Heidi, and me.


I went with Megan to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk! It's a Cache Valley tradition. Every year, there are little vignettes set up in a park that are made out of all pumpkins! It's super cute :)


Angry Birds


I LOVE Despicable Me!!


Calvin and Hobbs :)




More Calvin and Hobbs


Tigger (look at his tail!)


haha, I'm Harry Potter :P


This was actually a really cute waterfall scene...it's really hard it see in this pic though


This is, in fact, not a pumpkin, but a witch.


Jessie and Buzz!


The first basketball game of the season!!! I LOVE basketball season :) Holli, me, Karissa, and BIG BLUE!


My friend Robert Erickson's homecoming! I knew him, and all the other guys from high school. They were all on Science Olympiad with me. Me, Taylor, Robert, Iain.


My new baby nephew, Luke, at his baby blessing.

Real Time Contamination

Well, I figured I haven't blogged in a while, and I may as well because I have some semi-exciting things I could write about.

So last Thursday, my mom came up to Logan to spend the day with me. I called her the night before just to chat, and I think she could tell that I really needed her to come up or something, because I really did. So we worked out that the next day I could just miss my Institute class and the first part of work and she could come up and I could spend time with her. We ended up just going grocery shopping, and then going out to lunch to Sizzler together. It was soo great to just get away from my little world that I live in every day and get back to reality and realize what really matters! (I love you mom!)

On Friday, my friend Siri had an Oktoberfest party. Don't worry...it was completely non-alcoholic :) Basically the whole point of it was for her to teach us how to cook German food, and then we ate it! She's half German, so it was even pretty legit. I don't remember the names of anything really, so my descriptions will be pretty vague...but regardless, it was all really good! First off, we of course had Bratwurt, and then we had some egg noodle/dumpling things (they taste JUST like egg noodles we make for stroganoff, but they're homemade!), and then some potato/onion stuff. For dessert, we had poppyseed cake. To drink, I brought some apple cider. The entire meal was super delicious! We didn't have saeurkraut (sp?) because none of us liked it. It was really fun to learn how to cook all of these things and then be able to eat them!

At work, one week ago today, I was given the assignment to calibrate the Real Time PCR machine, which *should* be an easy task. All you have to do is put some pre-made PCR plates in the machine (or, for the background, a plate with H20), and run some tests, and hopefully the machine will still be calibrated correctly. If it's not, then you just have to do some minor cleanings or fixings depending on what's wrong. Well, I ran my background calibration plate, and it said that there were a bunch of contaminated wells! So, I followed the directions, and I cleaned the metal plate in the machine with H20. I ran the calibration again. Still contaminated. I cleaned with EtOH (Ethanol), then H20, and ran the calibration again. Still contaminated. So I cleaned with bleach, then EtOH, the H20 (this is all as directed in the instruction booklet). Still contaminated! LONG STORY SHORT: I spent all through Friday cleaning and calibrating. On Friday, I was down to 10 (out of 96) contaminated well. First off, I have NOOOO idea how they got contaminated, and I had NOOO idea how they were to get any better cleaned then what I was doing.

The cleaning involved a tedious process of suctioning the fluid into the well, and suctioning it back up, and then carefully scrubbing/drying it out with the end of a Q-Tip that had had the cotton ripped off equal just the perfect amount. For each. and. every. single. well. It took hours. All my work hours last week.

Anyway. I left the machine to dry completely on Friday absolutely confident that I could come back on Monday to a perfectly clean machine.

On Monday (yesterday) I went to the lab, and put in the background plate for the calibration. I sat there and anxiously awaited the results. Remember...10 previously contaminated wells. The results popped up... 55 CONTAMINATED WELLS. WHAT!? oh no :( how is that even possible?! I didn't even touch the other 86 that weren't contaminated!! I talked with the lab tech for a while, and we couldn't think of a solution.

We got in new Real Time PCR plates right as I left the lab on Monday. The lab tech said we could test those the next day. I guess that gave me incentive to continue...

I got to work today, and the lab tech said that Sam tested it earlier with the new plates and (drum roll please)...IT PASSED!!! AND...(get this)...it was three times cleaner than it had to be to even qualify as non-contaminated! Which totally makes sense given how many hours I spent cleaning the thing..

Sorry to spend ranting time talking about how I clean a Real Time PCR machine. No one in the world even cares about that, I know. But hey. I had to write about something :) And considering that all I do is lab work and homework, I figured I'd write about the more interesting of the two...

Experimental Parasitology

Just a blog on some interesting things that have been said to me this past week:

(number 1 requires some background info. but I promise it's GOOD. So keep reading...)

1) Background info part 1: While I was doing my internship at Johns Hopkins, I was required to do a final presentation on my research at the end of the summer in front of the entire Stanley Division. In order to prepare for this, my PI had me do a journal article presentation at one of our lab meetings during the summer in order to practice my presentation skills and stuff. It went really well, and I just did a journal article related to some of the research that was going on in the lab. My presentation was about 10 or 15 min long, so it was legit, and I knew all about it.

Background info part 2: I'm in English 2010 right now. I was super bitter about having to take this class initially. Why? I hate English. But now, it's my favorite. The ENTIRE purpose of English 2010 is to write a persuasive research paper. So. At the beginning of the semester we had to choose a research topic. I chose laboratory animal studies (basically, I have a more specific thesis statement) because that is what I worked with over the summer. My stance on it is that it is good, and that it is better that the animals die for research than millions of people with disease. (You should read my papers, they're much much MUCH better than that last sentence I just wrote, because I'm really passionate about this topic, but you get the idea). So, this whole semester, we've had assignments revolved around this persuasive research assignment, which is easy for me, because I already know all about my topic.

Now to my point: Our most recent assignment, this last Tuesday, was to bring an article with us to the library for class. It did NOT say a news article, it just said an article. So...therefore, me having lived in the scientific community the last however long, immediately thought of a journal article before a news article even crossed my mind. And therefore, I was really happy because I had the article that I had presented to my laboratory group already prepared pretty much and neatly filed away in my bedroom ready to take to class the next day. I didn't have to look up anything at all. I grabbed the article, took it to class, and went on my way. I knew ALL about the article already. I had read, studied it, and PRESENTED it to my lab group at Hopkins. I knew my article inside and out.

I got to the library, and our class was being lead by the class librarian (yes, we have a class librarian...). The girl next to me in class was doing her research topic on whether or not facebook is a good or bad thing, and another kid was doing his on video games. Let's just say my research topic is a little bit...different from everyone else's. I'm pleased. The librarian asked if anyone's "news article" referenced any other articles. I sheepishly raised my hand (because mine was NOT a news article). And of COURSE a journal article references other articles. One other kid raised his hand. Oh boy. Later in class, she came around. (THIS is where the story gets good). She looks down at my article and says to me: "Are you sure you're ready to read 'Experimental Parasitology'??" Did she REALLY just ask me that!? REALLY!?!?!?! Yes. She. Did. Oh my heck. Ha! I looked her in the eye and said "Yeah, I think I'm ready." And then she walked away. That was all she lasted with me! But yeah. I can't believe she asked me that! If only she knew how much I knew about that article she wouldn't question me. Granted, it's not like I wrote the thing, but I'm sure most people in the class didn't even read their stupid NEWS articles, let alone present their Journal Articles at Johns Hopkins over the summer. Just sayin'.

Anyway. That turned into a longer rant than I thought it would.

2) Today as I was biking from the Engineering Building to the Institute across the TSC Patio, there was some sort of event going on. Like, there was a stage thing set up, and there was a dude standing on it with a microphone. I have no idea what for. But it was there. Back up. It was REALLY cold today. Like 35 or 40 degrees. And considering that on Saturday it was 90 degrees, jumping down that quickly, feels SUPER cold. And it was raining at this particular instant, and it was really misty and foggy too, and there was snow on the mountains. Now the scene is much better set :) Anyway, I'm riding my bike though this. And it's in between classes, so there are a TON of people that I'm going through, so it's like a maze. No one was riding bikes today because it was so cold and wet. Well. Right as I was going though, the guy with the microphone said something to this effect "Oh here come another bike rider, and she looks like she's super stoked to be riding her bike in this freezing cold rain today!!" Oh, you better bet I was! I'm super stoked to be riding my bike any day!! (Oh. note: this isn't my super nice bike that I wrote a blog post about before. I have two bikes. That nice bike, and a relatively crappy mountain bike that I usu. ride around campus that I can lock up and ride in bad weather etc.) And they better believe it too when the see me riding it around in when it's snowing too :)

Anyway, those were the highlighted things that were said to me this past week. The crazy librarian lady who thought I wasn't ready to read my journal article, and the guy who announced to everyone by the student center just how happy I was to be riding my bike.

Maybe I'll Switch Majors?

I should switch my major. I'm just throwing this thought out there. I don't think it would actually happen in a milllion years. Perhaps I'm just discouraged this semester?

Let me back up. This semester sucks. Lets just have a really honest blog post, yeah? I'd appreciate comments at the end. Here it goes.

At the end of last semester, the end of my sophomore year, it was the routine time to apply for the professional program. (oh, critical piece of info...in case you didn't know...I'm a Biological Engineering major). Well. My academic advisor was kind enough to tell me that I couldn't get in. I had not taken all of the required classes to get into the program. "Few students have" she told me, as to not make me feel left behind. Well, it made me feel like crap. So, now I have to take all of the classes that I so conveniently skipped the last two years of my college education in order to be able to get into the professional program of Biological Engineering and continue me on the track of graduation.

There are no other classes that I should be taking at this time. ONLY the classes that I need to get into this program. So. That leaves me, this semester taking the following classes: Electrical Engineering for Non-Majors, Computer Engineering Drafting (AutoCAD, aka a 3D engineering design class), Dynamics, and English 2010. I absolutely DESPISE all of my classes.

I take that back.

I LOVE my English class. My teacher is great, and the entire semester is based around writing this research paper, and I'm writing it on all of the research that I did over the summer in Baltimore. The general IQ level in that class is pretty low (ask me about that some other time), there is hardly ever any homework if any, and the class usually gets out early. Yeah. Good class. But...I'm not an English major.

All my other classes are awful though.

The thing is this: I just don't know if I have a love for Engineering. (That's your cue to take a gasp if you haven't at some point already in this blog).

I have a love for science. But NOT engineering.

I hate physics.

Engineering is applied physics. Crap. Why the heck am I majoring in engineering then!? Beats me. That's why I chose Biological Engineering!!! I LOVE the biology part with ALL of my heart!! I really love all of the lab work that I do, and I love all of the research that I have done in the labs that I've been able to have experience in.

The part that troubles me is the requirements that the University places on Biological Engineers to get the stupid mechanical engineering emphasis all to pass the FE exam in order to graduate. If I don't want that particular backgroud in my education for my future career, then why do I need to take those courses?! I simply do NOT understand.

If I were to switch my major to something else, I fear that I would lose the parts of Biological Engineering that I so deeply love. All I want to do is get rid of the physics aspect, however I feel like I am asking for the impossible.

Even after this semester is over, I have two and a half years until I graduate, so switching my major wouldn't make that big of a difference. I have most of my generals done, so really any switch would add on about one semester to my schooling.

I suppose at this point, I should make a pros and cons list:


Why I should NOT swith majors:

1) I've already done 2 years (will be 2.5 soon) of Biological Engineering, and I have a pretty good base built up in it of knowledge, friends (study groups), and professors.

2) I will be accepted into the Biological Engineering Program after the end of this semester.

3) I would lose my job. You have to be a declared Biological Engineering major to work in my lab.

4) I think like an Engineer. Whether that came naturally, or they (meaning my profesors) have taught me how over the last two years... I'm not sure, but regardless, I do.

5) It would be kind of embarrassing at this point to have to tell everyone that I switched majors. You know...it would be like an identity crisis.

6) I would have to start a whole bunch of new classes with (hold your breath) FRESHMEN

7) I have no idea what major I would actually switch to.

8) I should learn to be persistent and do hard things

9) No one wants to be in school for forever. I would be nice to just get a degree. I'm half way done. I should just finish and get it. Maybe the second half will be better.

10) The obvious money issue with staying in school longer.


Why I SHOULD switch majors:

1) I think I would be happier...

2) I hate physics, and the FE requirements are retarded.

3) I'm having a really hard time in some of my Engineering classes as of late

4) Maybe a job as a teacher? or something would be a more practical career with a family????

5) Maybe I could actually understand my homework for once, and then get an A on a test. I don't remember exactly the last time I got an A on a test. (Keep in mind...getting an A on a test is defferent from getting an A in a class...usually teachers have to curve the points because the tests are so freakin hard). You might think this is an exaggeration, but I've serioulsy walked out of class a couple times in the last month almost in tears. I would have been in tears if I wasn't in the male-infested Engineering building.

6) I no longer feel like Engineering is my passion. I like it. I know what it's about. I think a little part of me is really giddy about it...but it's not my absolute passion. I'm not one of those people who can spend all night (and I literally mean ALL NIGHT...it's open later than the library for a reason...engineers need the extra hours) every night at the engineering building doing their homework. I honestly don't think that it's because I'm a lazy student. It's because I don't find a passion in the crappy physics. I need to find my true passion.

7) If I had a hard time with the first half, who's to say what will be thrown in my face the second half? Granted, great classes could be coming my way...but at the saem time... they could be terribly awful also.

8) I'm not sure how long it would take me to find a job. I don't want just some random job doing whatever. I want a research job! Esp. with the research experience I have a Johns Hopkins and everything, I feel like I could be a valuable lab worker somewhere here at USU. If I get onto work study they MIGHT keep me at the lab I work in right now, but I don't think my boss would be too happy with me...


Okay, well that's all I can think of right now. Knowing me, I probably missed some big, super, critical point, but regardless, I think you get the jist of what has been going on in my head for the last long while.

Please give me your advice if you have any! If not, I'm glad that I could just write about my troubles and that you got to read them. I came to no conclusions myself writing the blog post. I'll just continue sitting in misery staring at some circuits that I don't understand because supposedly I have to know them for the FE exam so that I can be a real engineer someday.

My New Road bike

Once upon a time, back in January, I had a crazy idea to participate in a triathlon. My brother Alan is pretty much a pro biker and he was kind enough to let me borrow his fancy cyclocross bike to train for the race, and I used it for the race in April. I slowly gained a small obsession for biking. During this time, I also took a spinning class, which added to my biking obsession.

Then I went to Baltimore. I obviously couldn't take my bike. I was way more sad than anyone could ever imagine. Seriously. I went though biking withdrawals. No joke. I had hyperactive legs, and I didn't even realize it until in lab meetings people would have to physically have to stop my legs from tapping. I didn't ever have that habit before in my life.

I wasn't earning a ton of money for my internship. I earned a lot of money relatively speaking, but it was by no means a lot. However, I was missing biking so much, and all that I wanted to get a road bike of my very own. I thought that I could save up and get my very own road bike. Not a very fancy one, but just a cheap sort of, used one off of the internet or something when I got home.

I contemplated this decision greatly, and I decided that I would go through with it. I hadn't told anyone about this, but right when I decided to do it, I called Alan and I told him. I was super excited. He didn't sound too thrilled. Well, he did, but I don't think he was thrilled with how I was going about doing it. So, then he said that he would help me look for some bikes that I could get, and help me get the best thing.

Long story short...I GOT A ROAD BIKE. MY VERY OWN. Alan had it ready for me by the time I got home. It was the very first thing I saw in my bedroom at home. AND. Alan even surprised me and put STARS on my bike, and my NAME on it, too!!! GAH, I WAS SOOOO HAPPY!!!! It is PERFECT!!!



Then, I got to buy all of the accessories for the bike. Including bike shoes, pedals, biking shorts, etc. I'll be honest, I don't have enough money right now (or didn't want to spend the money right now) to buy my own helmet, so I'm borrowing my brother's helmet for the time being. I'll get my own eventually.





So yeah. I LOVE my biking stuff.

I crashed once. I won't go into details on that. It's embarrassing. But I broke my cleats. I repaired them though. So they're fixed again as of yesterday. So I can go riding again starting tomorrow. I'm stoked!

My Baltimore Experience: A Day In The Life

All along I've been wanting to post pictures of my true Baltimore experience. True meaning, what I lived through everyday. I couldn't do this from the beginning because I didn't want to post pictures of where I lived for obvious reasons. But now, I can totally do that. Everything I have posted so far has been pretty touristy and not so much "day in the life", so that's why I've wanted to do this.

However, I have found that it is much harder than I thought it would be to capture the "true experience" in photographs. Much of Baltimore I didn't want to pull out my camera in. Maybe I just didn't stay there long enough to become comfortable. Maybe I just stay safe. Either way, I don't have complete photo documentation. Regardless, I will now post what I do have, and provide appropriate captions.

So below is my ATTEMPT to provide what is, what I consider, my daily life in Baltimore (outside of laboratory, because I already did a blog post on that :) )


These benches are ALL over Baltimore. Every single bench in Baltimore has these words on it: "Baltimore The Greatest City in America". By the time I left Baltimore, I truly believed what it said. This bench may be the best looking of all the benches that I ever saw in the entire city (it's right by Kate and Meredith's house). All the other benches are pretty...ghetto to say the least and I most likely would have gotten my camera stolen if I would have pulled it out. (Okay, maybe it's not THAT bad, but some of them are!)

MY APARTMENT:


Charles Towers. I lived in the one on the left.


The plaza to the entrance of the towers.


The front entrance to my apartment tower


View #2


Me and Kevin, one of the guys who works at the front desk at the apartments. I wrote about him before, he's the one who sings and has a CD out and is going to be famous :)


The door to my apt., #505


My bedroom. Yes. That IS an air mattress. Yes. That IS all that clothes that is brought and wore all summer.


My bookshelf and pictures of my family.


The other side of my bedroom (sorry, bad pic)


My herbs that I grew from FHE! Yes! There IS life in a little apt. in downtown Baltimore!!


Another view


A picture out my bedroom window. This window faces west towards Lexington Market (dun dun dunnn....). Pretty much every night I could look down and there would be homeless people sleeping on that street below by the bus stop. And yes. I would frequent that bus stop.


Our living room (aka Megan's bedroom)


The dining room


A view South West from the dining room


A view south from the dining room


The SMALL little kitchen :)






The bathroom. It kind of reminded me of a hotel sometimes.




Hallway entrance.


View #2.


The door to the trash chute


The trash chute for my floor


The elevators for my floor


The mail room


My mailbox. #505. I checked it obsessively for mail daily.


TRANSPORTATION:


The Hopkins Shuttle. This is how I got to work everyday.


The Charm City Circulator. It's free for everyone. That means you can find anyone and everyone on it. It's fabulous.

I wish I would have thought to capture a shot of the MTA...


CHARLES STREET

I walked up and down this street multiple times daily (I DID live on it after all). So why not take a few pics of it?


The intersection where my apartment is at. Charles and Saratoga.


A view up Charles Street. Right where I would walk everyday to get to work. Or anywhere else I would need to go most likely.


A classic row of shops on Charles Street.


Another view up Charles


Pretty much the best picture I have ever taken. This near the Washington Monument (the old one in Baltimore, not the one in DC) circle. That's an old church in the back ground. I love the stone road, and the church in the background. The sign on the post is one for the Mt. Vernon district, which is the neighborhood I lived in (or right on the border of technically). It's one of the nicer neighborhoods in Baltimore. This is right where the shuttle would drop me off after work every day, by the Peabody music school.