wait...what class is this?

I just got out of my biology class and I feel like venting. 

First, why do I have to take bio100?  I've already taken, and done very well in, bio120 bio220, and inbio465.  What could I possibly learn in bio100 that wasn't covered in those other classes?  So far, nothing.

Second, why do they want us to write like we just came out of high school?  I realize this is a freshman class, but should that mean I should go back to the 5 sentence paragraphs and basic essay structure I learned in high school, ignoring what I've learned about writing in my technical writing class and from experience with the papers I've submitted for publication, which, before they are submitted, are checked by multiple professors, all of which have had papers published in some journal somewhere, which is certainly more than the ta grading my papers can say.  

Third, is there a reason why more points are given out for "proper" structure in papers than is given out for accurate biological information?  I thought I was in bio100, but it looks like I ended up in English 101, with a biological emphasis.

Fourth, since when is it normal for students in a freshman class to know more about the class topic than the professor?  I know my professor specializes in environmental biology, but shouldn't he know enough about genetics that he doesn't need to ask some random girl in the class, who did a report on genetics in high school, to explain the phenotypes of individuals born with an additional X chromosome?

Fifth, why is it ok for the professor to allow a conversation on genetics and inheritance of traits degenerate into a conversation of possible causes of body hair growth in humans and facial hair on women?

don't you know...about the bird?

So, my ta job has become suddenly boring.  The class I ta for is apparently one of the harder classes we have to take.  Something about building a proxy web server from scratch.  It's kept me busy most of the time, answering peoples questions, or crushing their hopes and dreams of finally being done by pointing out one or more bugs in their program, or just letting them know that it doesn't do at all what we told them it needs to do.  The class builds up the workload for the students fairly consistently throughout the semester, until right about now.  

Right around this time, they're done with the web server, except for a few slackers, who either will turn it in for 30% credit, or won't turn it in at all.  Either way, I'm likely to see them next semester.  From now until the semester is over, the majority of their assignments consist of working through a tutorial, then showing the results either to me or the professor.  Since most of these are done in class, I don't see many students.  The few that do come to me are done in less than a minute.  At least I can get my own homework done before I go home now.

Halloween in Salem

Yes, I know it's pretty far past my trip, but it's still worth posting about.

Massachusetts was pretty good.  The conference, at least most of it, was interesting.  There were a few speakers who stood out as particularly dull, and helped me catch up on some sleep.  I presented my research during the poster session, and had a few people come up to ask me questions.  The tried to feed us snacks every few hours, I guess to make sure we weren't getting bored and let us stand up and stretch, and they also fed us lunch.

One night, for dinner, we went to Legal Sea Food with a group from the conference.  That place was awesome.  Very fancy food.  We had crab cake appetizers, and calamari.  The calamari comes in four varieties, with different sauces or cooking methods, and all were pretty good.  I had swordfish for dinner.  That is one tasty fish.  I'm kind of making myself hungry now, so I'll move on.

For Halloween, someone at the airport recommended we go to Salem and see all the stuff that's going on.  Salem has the biggest Halloween party you've ever heard of.  People from all over the state come dressed up in the coolest costumes.  I think some of the people I was with got some pictures, but I'm not sure.  The party is so big, they block off the streets for most of downtown so there is more room for people.  We saw 4 stages for bands to play, not that I recognized any of them, but they were cool.  All the witch museums are open, and I think they sold tickets to spend the night in some witch's house, but it just looked like a really old house to me.  The streets are packed with people.  I saw a lot of Jokers while there.  I also saw a very well done beetlejuice.  It gets pretty crazy, so they've got cops pretty much everywhere, probably not a night most of them enjoy, but it's good to see them around.  Oh, they also get out some carnival rides and food stands for the event.

Since I went there with my professor, we didn't stay very late.  As we were leaving, cars were in standstill traffic all the way back to the highway, and probably farther back on the highway, though I have no idea where they thought they'd park.  People had already filled up any parking lots, most of the streets, and even some small fields.

On Saturday, we decided to go out and do some sight-seeing.  We saw the Old North Church, where the lanterns were hung to signal Paul Revere, the Bunker Hill memorial, and we toured the USS Constitution, the oldest warship in the navy.  It still floats and works.  They even take it out a few times each year, but I think just around the harbor.  

On Sunday, one of the others wasn't feeling well, so we didn't do a whole lot.  We went to church, where I ran into a friend who recently moved to Boston.  That was definitely awesome.  After church, we went to the airport, and I played psp until we got on the flight and finally went home.

Stan's is out, Greg's is in

I've got a new favorite restaurant. I still love Stan's, just like I still love Diego's, and I'll still go to either of them, but Greg's has something that neither of those does, and it is very fun to go to.

For anyone who hasn't heard of Greg's, which I'd assume is almost everyone, it is a restaurant run by the last semester culinary arts students, like my room mate. It's pretty difficult to find out about if you don't have someone tell you about it, and even if you know about it, you'll have to be sure you have time on Thursday or Friday, 5-7 or 7-9, because that is the only time they're open, and yes, you do need reservations. There are only a few tables, about 16, I think, but all of them are next to the kitchen, so you can see all the chefs cooking all the meals.

The menu changes every week, and I don't mean small changes. They change everything on the menu, and center each week around some nation's food, depending on what they can get fresh. So far, I've gone twice, once for Thai night, and once for French night. They've also had German, Italian, Mexican, and Chinese is this week.

When you go in, they give you a menu and you pick one of two or three appetizers, soups, salads, main courses, and desserts. While you're deciding what you want to eat, they'll bring you some kind of pallate cleanser. For french night, it was some kind of pumpkin sorbet. After giving your order, all you have to do is enjoy each course as it comes out.

planning, planning

So, I'm guessing everyone knows already, but I did give guildylocks her ring! It was pretty awesome, even if the plans I'd made didn't go exactly the way I wanted them to, it all turned out to be amazing. Everyone should check out her post, Carebear's post, and Wudan's post for pictures and stuff. It's all pretty exciting. There is definitely a lot of planning left to do, but I think there's enough time to get everything ready.

In other news, I should be going scuba diving this Saturday, which should be really awesome.

In other news, which is both more exciting than the previous news, but less exciting than the news previous to the previous news, I'm going to miss halloween here. Why? Because I'll be at a conference in Boston, presenting some stuff for the project I've been working on all summer, listening to some speakers, and finding out how my project did in MIT's DREAM3 challenge. I didn't really end up doing much with those other students, just kind of did my own thing. As of Monday, my results were submitted and I was registered to attend the conference. Also, my abstract was finished and submitted for acceptance. So, it'll be awesome to go to this conference, but kind of sucks that I'll miss halloween.

and so it begins anew

The new semester has begun. So far, there are several totally amazing things. First, I have a new job, sort of. I was working as a research assistant all summer. When school started, I wanted to keep going with the same job. I also wanted to work more than the 20 hours allowed by the university and take less than the 9 required credits that let you work on campus. Unfortunately, the department I work for doesn't really like to deal with the paper work created by such requests. Fortunately, the professors I work for came up with what is definitely a better solution.

One of my professors needed a TA for the class he's teaching this semester. For some reason, there have been a shortage of TA's throughout the department this semester. They asked if I would be his TA for the 20 hours the university allows me to work, while doing my RA work on the side. In return for doing the RA work, they are paying my tuition for 10 credits. Switching back to TA jobs also ended up getting me a $1 raise. Also, since I had to find classes to raise my credits from 3 to 10, I'm now taking my BIO100 (required for generals, and full of freshman) as well as Japanese, which so far has been awesome.

Another pretty awesome thing comes from my RA job. During my hours, there is a graduate class held in the lab, and I've talked to the class about my project and a few of the things I've been researching. Also, I'm working with a couple of the students in that class to submit answers to the DREAM3 challenge, which sounds totally lame, but is actually pretty cool. It's all about reverse engineering gene regulatory networks from microarray data, which is exactly what my research is doing, with moderate success. I'll probably be attending the conference where the results of the challenge will be announced out at MIT. It should be around the end of October.

The Dark Knight

My, my, my... I don't think I could adequately describe how much I loved this movie!!! I already loved Batman Begins, but this one definitely kicked it up a notch. Before seeing this, I thought Jack Nicholson was the best Joker ever. I don't think I've ever been so pleased to be proven wrong. I also love the way Gotham is set up in these movies, and there are tons of one-liners that I love. Amazing movie, and definitely one that I'd recommend to just about anyone. I'd also recommend watching Batman Begins shortly before seeing The Dark Knight, but that's not necessary. Once this one hits the dollar theatre, I'll definitely see it again, maybe twice, maybe more. It's just that good.

survey says...

since these seem to be the cool thing for now, but more because I kind of feel bored and think these might amuse me slightly, and because I like to amuse myself and tend to be quite good at it, which has almost always been to my benefit:

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
planning my next decade of awesomeness.

2. Five things on my “To Do List” today:
- go to sleep, wake up & go to work, climb, swim, and play video games.
3. Snacks I enjoy:
salsa verde doritos, spicy cheetos, a sheet of sea weed lightly sprinkled with cayenne pepper.
4. What would I do if suddenly I was a billionaire?
first, wonder where the money came from. Then, devise an awesome savings plan, worry less about income, and probably buy several videogames I've been wanting for a while.
5. Three bad habits:
- showing up a little late for work(doesn't matter too much since I set my own hours), procrastinating schoolwork for classes I don't enjoy, going to bed too late.
6. Five places I’ve lived:
colorado, germany, california, utah, the computer lab :(

7. Five jobs I’ve had:
office guy, fire extinguisher maintenance guy, fire safety technician, CS236 teaching assistant, BioInformatics research assistant.

8. Five things that MOST people don’t know about me:
I've been the president of a Karate club for the last 2 years, I can do a decent beginner's routine in gymnastics on the high bar, I collect swords and currently own about 9, I used to shoot rifles for target practice and for NRA qualifications(I think I got up to sharpshooter 6th or 7th bar, at least that's what I tell myself), I am a certified SCUBA diver.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Sarah

2. What were you doing at 0800? Sleeping

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? reading my brother's blog

4. What happened to you in 2006? college

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? I think I have some somewhere, but I have no idea where I put them.

6. How many beverages did you have today? 6 - diet mountain dew(gross), dr. pepper, fruit juice mixture(good), blended watermelon(good), blended watermelon with dr. pepper(gross), dr. pepper mixed with diet mountain dew(gross).

7. What color is your hairbrush? finger color

8. What was the last thing you paid for? awesome soap.

9. Where were you last night? home.

10. What color is your front door? don't care.

11. Where do you keep your change? in various tins.

12. What’s the weather like today? hail, rain and sun.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? pineapple, or a good bannana.

14. What excites you? getting my new computer parts, playing games.

15. Do you want to cut your hair? maybe.

16. Are you over the age of 25? yar.

17. Do you talk a lot? no.

8. Do you watch the O.C.? Oh Crap!

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? yup.

20. Do you make up your own words? yes. in english and german, and the latter are generally accepted as being actual words.

21. Are you a jealous person? sometimes.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Sarah.

25. What does the last text message you received say?

26. Do you chew on your straw? no.

27. Do you have curly hair? a little bit. gives me awesome spikes.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? bed.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? a horrible teacher from last semester.

30. What was the last thing you ate? frozen yogurt.

31. Will you get married in the future? eventually.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? not sure. kind of tired of thinking about this kind of stuff.

33. Is there anyone you like right now? yes.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? maybe last week.

35.Are you currently depressed? no.

36. Did you cry today? no.

37. Why did you answer and post this? boredome.

so, you may notice this stopped amusing me. it was probably about halfway through the second one, when it started asking questions I had to actually think about. Totally not down with real questions.