Astrology

So, I was looking up astrology information about myself, just for fun. Here is what I found:
"Taurus may be obstinately and exasperatingly self-righteous, unoriginal, rigid, ultraconservative, argumentative, querulous bores, stuck in a self-centered rut."
We are ugly ("Although their physical appearance may belie it, they have a strong aesthetic taste"), have no sense of humor, and are sloppy, greedy drunks. I would flourish in "almost any form of bureaucracy", although chemistry was also on the list.
There were no positive points. Ouch.
So, apparently you all are good people for hanging out with me. Thanks.

Some days are really lame. This was one of those days. Everything was going terribly, and I was starving. So I went to buy some food. And found out my wallet was at home. So I walked outside, and saw a table where they were giving away free brownies. Maybe my day wasn't quite so lame after all.

Multitasking

I love it when I can receive the maximum amount of credit for the minimum amount of work. Right now, I'm taking a physical chemistry class, a technical writing class, and a professional skills class. And they all have the exact same requirement--choose something and learn about it. Prepare a technical report. Bahahaha!
Now, all I have to do is choose one really good topic, and I'll be good to go. :)

Oops

You know how sometimes you think you've taken care of everything, and you go back over it once more just to make sure? And you don't see anything wrong? And then, after it's too late, you realize you forgot something important? Yeah.
I was taking an ethics test. On the front of the test, it said something along the lines of "Sign this page after you finish the test. Signing means you did not cheat or use unauthorized help." So I thought, great. And took the test. And looked it over. And turned it in. And realized the next day that I forgot to sign it. So now my teacher probably thinks I cheated on an ethics test. Fantastic.

Lois? David? Anyone?

So, wrong numbers are pretty high up on my list of phone calls I enjoy. Yesterday I got a really good one.
My phone rang, so I answered it.
Me: Hello?
Quavery old woman voice: Lois?
M: No, I think you have a wrong number.
QOW: Oh, I'm sorry. Is Lois there?
M: No, I think this is a wrong number.
QOW: Well, I was trying to reach David, really. I have a question for him.
M: I think this is a wrong number. This is my cell phone, and I don't know any Davids. (Not strictly true, but I don't know her David, so it's OK.)
QOW: The question I had was, how much did his gas bill come to?
M: I really couldn't say, because I don't know David.
QOW: Oh, is this a wrong number?
M: Yes, I think it is.
QOW: Oh, sorry to bother you. Goodbye.
M: Thank you. Goodbye.

Procrastination

Sometimes we need to do unpleasant things, and sometimes we need to do things that are not necessarily unpleasant, but are still not appealing. For example, tomorrow I need to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. This is very unappealing to me. It becomes more unappealing because I have yet to write my talk, and can't think of how to word things, sequence them, or even enough material. So, I am putting it off. I am fully aware that the longer I leave the talk, the less appealing it will be, but somehow I just can't quite get myself to buckle down and go to work. Sigh.

Whoa.

I am taking a physical chemistry class, in which we are learning about quantum chemistry and quantum mechanics. Here is a story which I thought was incredibly cool.
Einstein proved that light (sometimes) acts like a particle. Some other people thought this was pretty cool, as light had always been thought of as a wave up until that point. So, they decided to do an experiment to support his theory. They got two pieces of material and cut two slits in one piece. The other piece was used as a recording board. Next, they took some equipment that would shoot photons (light) at the first piece of material. The idea was that the photons would go through the slits and make a pattern in the shape of the two slits on the back board, which is what particles should do (imagine shooting marbles at a board with two slits cut in it). Instead, they got an interference pattern, which is what waves do.
This was strange, so they decided see what happened if they turned the intensity way down, to one photon at a time. So, they would shoot one photon at a time at the board. They still got an interference pattern, which means the photon was interfering with itself--it simultaneously entered both slits.
This was very strange, so they decided to see why. They set up equipment to observe the photon as it came through the slits so they could see how, why and when it became a wave. The photons did not cooperate, and they got a pattern in the shape of the two slits. Watching for the wave caused the photon to behave only as a particle.
This was extremely strange. So they came up with quantum mechanics and wave-particle duality. Wow.

Baby steps

I have decided that most things happen by increments so small you can't really tell that they are changing until you look back and realize that somehow you started at point A and ended up at point B. A good case in point is my life this semester. All indications say that my life should be really easy, as far as I can tell. I am only taking 14 credit hours. That is the least credits I have ever taken in a semester. Furthermore, I have one class on Tuesdays and no classes on Thursdays. However, I somehow am insanely busy. How did that happen?

In Which we Learn not to Give In to Peer Pressure

I went to my career skills class on Wednesday, comfortable in the knowledge that I could totally take anything that class could hand me. Then the teacher announced that we will be doing technical presentations, and all needed to choose a topic to talk about for twenty minutes. Now, this past summer I went to Wales, and everybody else in my graduating class got internships and did research. So, they all started listing the things they were going to talk about: Building silicone chips using lithography and etch, Vasoconstrictive technology in artificial organs, and various other long and difficult to pronounce project names.
At this point, I was fairly panicked. Everything I know that is remotely technical, everybody else in my class knows also. So, I did the only thing I could--gave in to peer pressure. I decided I had to choose a legitimate, intelligent-sounding topic. So I chose a topic a chemistry grad student I used to share an office with once gave a presentation on. He practiced the presentation on me, so I knew about the topic. It was Electronic Modeling of Protein Structures. The teacher was impressed, and asked if it's something I do research in. I thought that sounded fairly smart, and planned to switch topics fairly soon.
My justification for switching was going to be that it turned out to be more chemistry than chemical engineering. This came back to bite me, which I suppose was fairly predictable. It turns out there is an entire chemical engineering class called Molecular Modeling. So, I suppose electronic modeling of protein structures is about to be something I do research in.

Awesome

Today is a momentous day. In fact, it is the day that I finally did something about my lousy computer, which I have been complaining about for months. What I did was buy a new computer. I am now the proud owner of one of those mini computers you may have seen advertised. It has a 10.1"screen, and is about 80 times faster than my old computer.
I am happy.

Thought of the Day

This comes straight from my P-Chem textbook, and is for your consideration.
"Hence, the rotational energy is doubly degenerate. Note that the degeneracy is doubly degenerate but not infinitely degenerate."
I hope you got more out of that than I did.

Oreo

Today I overheard an interesting conversation. I was sitting in the office of Dr. Solen, the professor I TA for. Dr. Solen is an amazing man. He has been teaching at BYU for years, has written several textbooks and taught several of the other professors. I overheard him talking with one of the secretaries. The secretary said, "Would you like an Oreo?" Dr. Solen said, "Yes, I never turn down free food."
My world was kind of rocked--I know students never turn down free food, but Dr. Solen? Eating free Oreos because they're free? Consider me flabbergasted.

Happiness is

Taking Welsh classes instead of religion classes.
Returning my $87 book to the bookstore because the teacher told us we can use an old edition, which only costs $30.
Not having any classes on Thursdays.
Less than happiness is:
Still having work early on Thursdays.
Realizing I left all my dishes at home.
Realizing I also left my cell phone charger at home.
Paying rent for September.

Sometimes...

Things just work out. This is the case with my job this semester. I had hoped to be working about 15-20 hours per week for the chemistry department, because they pay really well. Unfortunately, they also are really slow about offering you a job, so by the time they did, I had already accepted a different job with the chemical engineering department.
The problem with the job I had accepted was that it is only for 11 hours per week, which is not really enough to keep me fed and not homeless (despite the fun I had being a hobo in London, it is not something I want to make a habit of). The other problem is that it didn't work with my schedule. So, the last I heard, I may or may not have had an eleven hour job. I also had applied for a 3-5 hour per week job, also with the chemical engineering department, but hadn't heard anything from them. I had sent a bunch of emails, but never gotten any replies. This was basically my status as of yesterday morning.
Then, yesterday, everything just kind of fell into place. I got several emails, informing me that:
1. A different professor wanted me as his TA because he wants a woman, and this severely limits his options in the chemical engineering program.
2. This job would require working hours that I actually am available.
3. They do actually want me to work the 3-5 hour/week job. I am going to get trained for that today.
I don't know exactly what the message in this is, but I'm guessing it's something along the lines of "Things will work out if you have faith and make a reasonable effort on your own."