Xatal

So somehow over this last weekend, I’ve contracted tonsillitis. It’s not particularly fun — I miss being able to swallow my food painlessly. Since it doesn’t seem to be bacterial in nature, there’s not much I can do but wait it out, which could take as long as another week. Going to classes is unpleasant at best, and I’m doing my best not to spread it.

On a completely unrelated note (yeah right), Ibuprofen is my new best friend.

It rained for the first time of the school year on Friday here in Santa Cruz. This was a rather… interesting event.

At UC Santa Cruz, the tradition is known as “First Rain”: on the first major rain of the year, kids run through campus naked (streaking).

It started raining fairly late at night (about 10 PM), and the general rule is that it has to be a GOOD rain — sprinkles don’t count — and it has to last a while.

My roommate and I ventured outside at around midnight to see just how much truth there was to the tradition. We walked up part of campus to see what the hubbub was, but there wasn’t too much. The rain was pouring down hard and it was very chilly, so we decided to head back in.

Just as we’re nearing our dorm, we hear cheers off in the distance, steadily growing louder. We decided to wait a bit, and then… Keep reading »

Recently I had a massive explosion of traffic to my post showing 50 unique Fantastic Contraption solutions.

The source of it all? StumbleUpon.

For those of you who don’t know, StumbleUpon is a new social media service. Unlike other famous ones, such as Digg, StumbleUpon works differently: you click the “Stumble!” button, and it takes you to a random page, based on topics you’ve shown interest in and what the community has shown interest in. Once on the page, you can then thumbs up the site (if you like it), or thumbs down it (if you don’t like it).

From that one website alone, I had a massive boost in traffic over several days: over 10,000 hits total. Considering that before that burst, my best day had been only about 500 hits (all of this coming from Google Analytics).

Wow. I was surprised.

In theory, I couldn’t see Ralph Nader talk at Santa Cruz because I had an astronomy discussion.

Tonight, I walked up the hill to my first discussion, and I enter the classroom. I was more than a bit surprised to notice that the class was already full, and I got odd looks from everybody, despite me being 10 minutes early.

The TA begins talking, and he’s giving very basic information about graphs: how to find slope, how to calculate area, what the x and y axis are, and how that ties together. Nothing I didn’t know. I was wondering what all of this had to do with astronomy — it seemed an odd thing to start a discussion with.

Towards the end of the class, he asks everyone to turn to the Chapter 1 Appendix in their book. As everyone pulls out their book, I realize that I don’t have it. I was in the wrong discussion. I played it cool for the rest of the class — the TA was actually pretty funny — and waited it out. Since I had come in late (by then I had realized that), the class was over pretty quickly.

I came back to my dorm room, completely puzzled and I checked my online schedule to see what the blunder was.

Room 130, okay yeah that’s what I have down…

7:30 PM, yeah I have that too…

I couldn’t figure it out. I kept looking at my schedule, trying to figure out what went wrong. I knew I had been in the right classroom, maybe there was some sort of change? I checked my e-mail and the website for the astronomy class, but to no avail.

And then I saw it.

Tu 7:30PM – 8:40PM
PhysSciences 130

Son of a.

The discussion is on Tuesdays, not Mondays. Somewhere, somehow, I’d gotten it in my head that I had the astronomy discussion Monday nights. Turns out I was wrong, they’re on Tuesdays.

So not only did I miss Ralph Nader, but now that means that my Tuesday schedule is much more packed: 3 classes now. If the discussion was on a Monday, things would be more balanced. Whoops.

As I was walking around campus today, a man handed me a flier saying that Ralph Nader was coming to Santa Cruz this upcoming Monday.

I’m not a big fan or follower of the guy, but I do think it would be neat to see a famous political figure talk, regardless of if I agree.

Buuut as it turns out, I have my first discussion that night. Drat.

So after sitting through my first several sessions of college class, I’ve come to one major conclusion:

Being left-handed in college sucks.

Even more than it did in high school. Here, the actual   you have to work with — both in classrooms and in lecture halls — is much smaller, and is entirely on the right side of the desk. So, if you’re left-handed, you have to position your arm awkwardly across the desk to write, which isn’t fun at all. Your right arm, meanwhile, is cornered uselessly between your left arm and your body, so it doesn’t have much to do at all.

Supposedly there are left-handed desks and seats here, but I have yet to see any, nor am I too keen to hunt up and down a lecture hall to find any.

I’ve tried learning to write with my right hand in years past, but never really stuck with it. Perhaps college will be the motivation I need to finally get that down…

So over the past few days I’ve been settling in to my new home. I’ve been doing my best to feel a bit established and take care of various odds and ends: finding classes, buying books, meeting people, keeping touch with those back home, and so forth.

Part of my dorm room

Moving in went pretty smooth, we only had to buy a couple of things at a store… it could have been much much worse. My room is pretty nice, all things considered. There have been some minor quirks, but that’s to be expected. I’m lucky to have a cool roommate as well.

UCSC has been keeping me pretty busy, so I haven’t had much time to write a decent post (and I don’t really right now either). My first lecture is today, and classes start tomorrow. Once I get fully into the flow of things, I’ll make blog posting come back into my routine.

Don’t worry, I’m not abandoning you guys, I’m just adjusting to my new life right now. When things calm down, I’ll be back in business. In the meantime, if there’s anything you’re interested in reading a post about, let me know!

Today is also my 19th birthday, and my first one ever away from home. Doesn’t really feel like it, though.

I’ve been out of school since the end of May, and now it’s finally time to get ready to go back to school. This summer has been unusually long for me, and for the first time in years, I don’t feel like it’s too early to go back to school. Because I had over 3 and a half months off, I had enough time to do a large variety of things, including traveling, visiting friends, camping, working, and simply relaxing. It’s been a great summer, definitely the best I’ve had in recent years.

All of my luggage is packed

Many of my friends already started school, but those on the quarter system are now getting ready to head out, taking care of their final odds and ends.

Of course, that includes me.

Today is my last day at home. I’m leaving bright and early Saturday morning (too early: 5 AM) for Santa Cruz to move in.

Over the past week I’ve been spending time with my friends one last time, and I’m spending today with my girlfriend. Most of my stuff is all together, so now it’s just a matter of spending my last day here.

Move In

Since this is my first time leaving for college, I’m not too sure what to expect, but you can bet I’ll make some posts about things I notice and learn when I’m there.

My first week there is going to be a busy one, full of all kinds of orientations, get-togethers, and informational meetings. I know I normally try to update on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but I might have to hold off on making some posts until I adjust to my new home. Please bear with me, and if you have anything you’d like to see a post about, let me know!

In the meantime, everybody take care!