Degenerate Eigenfunction

If you don't get the joke, please don't ask. It was based off the notes we took in PChem today and it's mostly only funny if you have taken PChem. Ok, it's probably not that funny at all. But I think it's hilarious and in the end, that's what matters. This is what happens when you take a really boring class (aka stats) immediately following an interesting one (aka pchem). More to come.

Levels of Accent Confusion

I realized today that most people don't really think of having an american professor as a luxury. Most people sort of expect it, especially considering USC is an american college. I however take A LOT of mathy, sciency type classes. Mathy sciency classes tend to, but are not limited to, be taught by people from a foreign country. This often comes with a ridiculously confusing accent. So here's my handy-dandy Richter Scale of Accents:

0- No accent at all! Maybe a slight hint of southern under there but really the only thing that could confuse you is the material he's teaching.

1- Accent is so slight that you may not notice at first that they're not american. Maybe a random word here or there could throw you off.

2- Accent is definitely foreign but he/she has obviously been either taking a lot of english classes or has been here FOREVER. Shouldn't give you too much trouble but keep an eye on their grammar.

3- Accent is thick enough for you to easily identify their homeland. This one may require you to pay much closer attention to what they're saying but you should be ok.

4- Accent is thick enough to make understanding difficult. You aren't going to get every word but if you can get the gist of things you'll at least know what to study.

5- They're straight up speaking a foreign language. Good luck.

New Classes!

Yippee! Oh come on now you knew this post was coming... If you're not ready, and/or not willing to put up with the following level of nerdiness, feel free to find a "cooler" blog to read. For those of you who have already joined the dark side and received your complementary cookie(s), please read on.

So there was really no point in posting yesterday on the true first day of the semester b/c I only actually had 2 classes yesterday. Mondays are a good day for me. I don't do much. I had business french for the first time yesterday morning. Should be an interesting class; we're going to be doing a wide variety of assignments, eventually including writing up our resumes french style and searching for and writing a cover letter for a real life internship that we might be interested in. Wonderfully practical and there's only 6 of us.

Physics is still not phun, but it will be less ohmygoshwhatthecrapamIsupposedtodo than last semester. I now fully know the tortures of using a clicker and CAPA. Yucky but I'll live.

I also got to stop in the research lab yesterday and now I'm all set on when I'm going in this semester.

Pchem. In chemistry major lingo, pchem is physical chemistry. It is organic's bigger, badder, older brother who likes to eat undergrads for breakfast on top of its Wheaties. The ACS (American Chemical Society) sells bumper stickers that say Honk if You Passed PChem, and assuming I survive Pchem I and II, I want one. Really though it should be ok. The professor seems really nice, doesn't have a foreign accent, and counts attendance for 5% of our grade. All desirable qualities.

Stats is a joke. This should not be a class. For real. I can't believe I'm getting 3 credit hours for this. Today he went over the syllabus and then briefly explained what a mean is, and how stem and leaf plots can help you visualize data. Which he defined for us. The only downside is that he has a REALLY thick chinese/japanese/asian accent. So I don't really know what he's saying, but according to the syllabus I've already learned everything he's going to teach.

I have chem lab for the first time tomorrow (just a recitation) and phys lab on thursday. Yippee!

Too True

Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes. There's just too much fraternizing with the enemy.

~Henry Kissinger

Oh Steve...

"a sad, sad effort" is a bit of an understatement, don't you think? The band showed up. We were so cold we could barely play. The cheerleaders showed up. They were at least in the sun, but they only had jumpsuits to keep them warm. We at least had layers. 30,000 fans showed up. We gave them more than a homefield advantage. Everyone came but the football team.

They had four days of practice out there. They were in great hotel right by the stadium. They had heaters on the field to stand by if they got too cold. They had all the equipment they were used to. In short, they had every possible advantage. But, once again, our team is just not capable of winning a bowl game.

Next year they'd better do well and take us to the Chick-fil-A bowl so at least when they epically fail, the fans will be warm and dry!

Quote Day!

How can one conceive of a one party system in a country that has over 200 varieties of cheese?

Charles de Gaulle

French general & politician (1890 - 1970)

Manatees!!

"Barbara Manatee, manatee, manatee, You are the one for me, one for me, one for me, Sent from up above, up above, up above, You are the one I love, one I love, Oh Barbara!" ~Silly Songs with Larry, Veggie Tales

Sometimes referred to as sea cows, manatees are infinitely amusing water mammals, but that's pretty much all I knew by myself. Oh and they live in marshes, which is bad for them because boats come through the shallow waters and hurt the manatees. Well, my interest in manatees was recently renewed when a friend of mine posted some manatee pictures from a recent dive.

Here I bring you the knowledge gleaned from my questions to Caleb, marine science major, and manatee semi-expert:

He doesn't know what's up with the eyes, but the nose plugs keep poor Barbara Manatee from breathing in water. He also tells us that manatees are fairly friendly, if a little slow. They tend to be curious or indifferent to the presence of people, and enjoy having their bellies scratched.

Our outside research (aka Wikipedia) adds that they are grazing herbivores and are endangered. They have no natural predators but as I mentioned before they get hurt by boat propellors.

Save the Manatees!

Machu Picchu

Well, it wouldn't really be my blog if I didn't provide you with random and only marginally interesting information.  Today's topic? Machu Picchu. And no it is not a pokemon.

It's a place, as you can now see, and my current desktop background is a picture of it from NatGeo. The NG photo also includes a llama :).  Anyway, Machu Picchu (pronounced matchu peektchu) is an Incan site in Peru, and is often considered to be the "Lost City of the Incas". It's situated 8000 ft above sea level.

It was mostly-ish constructed in the mid 1400s but it was completely abandoned within a century. The natives were likely wiped out by smallpox from spanish conquistadors, although historians are pretty sure the spanish knew nothing about the city.

It lay utterly abandoned for centuries. There are some indications that in the mid 1800s the site was visited by and plundered by various europeans. There are also many claims for discovery of the site at the turn of the century, but it wasn't until American historian Hiram Bingham found it in 1911. He wrote numerous books and articles on Machu Picchu through out is life. National Geographic devoted their entire April 1913 issue to the site. Although more than one theory exists about the role of Machu Picchu in the Incan Empire, the generally accepted one names it as an estate of the emperor Pachacuti.

Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site but they are likely to add it to the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger because of heavy tourism.

A New Direction

So, I haven't exactly posted in a while. Ok a really long time. Stopped for a while cuz I didn't really have much to say after France, then I kinda picked up a little with school, but once again ran out of things to say. So here we are way later with the most recent post as like two months ago. Oops.

I needed a new theme, and the blog needed a face-lift for sure. My mother always refers to me as her "Scarlett" for my occasional inability to recognize that parades do occasionally get rained on. Minor side story: My senior year, in the midst of the marching band rehearsals, crazy ridiculous volunteering for clubs and such, and the academic, um, "thrill" of 4 AP classes, I somehow became in charge of organizing the Homecoming Parade, which is kind of a big deal at my high school. It was crazy and ridiculous and I'm still not sure how I pulled it off, but throughout the process whenever my mom asked what would happen if it rained, my immediate answer was, "It won't." It didn't.

Anyway, I don't always have such a lovely Life Will Be Perfect rose-colored sunglasses outlook, but I try. I gripe and whine like everybody else from day to day, but at the end of the day, tomorrow is still another day. Except of course if your math homework is due tomorrow. But I don't have math anymore so that's no longer a problem.

I'm also an EXTREMELY left brained person. It has its ups and downs. My idea of creative is clean lines with funky colors, and a slight chemistry theme. Yup. There you have it: Jackie's blog, take two.

Joy to the World!

I did something in lab today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to learn how to cut off a piece of silver tubing, use pliers to crimp one end shut, melt the edges closed, fill it with reagents, and seal it. And then we put it in the furnace! Yay!

I also know what I'm doing now. I'm synthesizing new ruthanates and gallanates for basic research. In Calbert-terms, I'm making new stuff for the sake of making new stuff. Yippee!

Oh and my math professor gave the whole class a 1-day extension on the homework so now I have time to fix those draining tank problems. Woot!

AND as if my day wasn't good enough, I got my guard rail today! Now I don't have to worry about falling out of my loft anymore.

Could we just all have a round of applause for God for delivering such a well-rounded, wonderful day?

Physics in not Phun

...but it is funny. Today I had my double dose: lecture and lab. All the normal people are sitting there cringing on my behalf and my mom's thinking to herself, "Lucky!"

I am not lucky. Physics class is awful. I like my teacher, and I have a great TA. I know another sophomore in the lecture class with me, and overall the class doesn't seem too hard. The lab is going to be downright easy. No the problem I have with my physics class (and more specifically the lab) is what my problem usually is: There are just too many stupid people in the world.

Now I realize that I have an unusually low tolerance for people who ask dumb questions, but there was this girl in my lab today (who I'm assuming is a freshman and will hither to be known as 'Emily') who really just shocked me. I just didn't think it was possible.

'Emily' was that girl. The one that the is in books, and tv shows, and movies, and who is in all sorts of hypothetical examples, but who you didn't think actually existed. Like I really didn't think anyone ever actually asked the teacher if he was going to give them the answers. My teachers always say things such as, "Well, I'm never going to just give you the answer, but I'll help you work through the problem." So our TA goes and says something along these lines and she follows this up with, "But after that, you'll, like, tell us, the right answer, right?"

It was like that the whole class. And all we did was go over the syllabus.

It's going to be a long year.

Mmm New Dorm Smell

Ok besides being ridiculously tired, I'm very happy with my new dorm. It's big and spacious and fantastic. My only real problem is not enough storage. But I've got it covered. I'm next door to the science buildings, just up the hill from the band hall, and right around the corner from Strom. Perfect! I have a beautiful view of the stadium from not 1, but 2 windows (which have curtains now btw). My roommate is supposedly moving in wednesday. And thursday the cafeteria downstairs will be open. Yes! Life is good.

New director smell, not so good. Verdict is still out with me. He is much more, um, intense, than say Brozak. He really wants us to be the best band in the SEC, which of course we will be, but that's besides the point. I can tell band is going to be a lot more work this year, I'm just hoping that he also makes band a lot more fun this year too. He seems like a very serious guy, and I'm hoping he loosens up just a little bit after band camp. I don't know; we'll see.

Our first show, for those who are interested, will be Dave Mathews Band (and yes we're playing Ants Marching). The music is killer.

Back to School

Today is my last day at home. Phooey. I have to go back to actually doing something every day. I'm almost done packing. Just a few more things that have to get stuffed in. How I don't know, but I should be able to get it. It'll be so good to be back on campus and see everybody again. It feels like it's been ages since I've seen anybody. Tomorrow we have to leave really really really early in the morning so we can get to the dorm when it opens. I'm sure a bunch of people are going to move-in today despite the fact that housing says we can't, but I'd rather not risk it. It's not that big a deal. Ok, I better go finish packing...:(.

Jackie's Random Thoughts

This qualifies as one of my more random thoughts: can you give a cat a bath? Now, obviously, I have never owned a cat. I know people who do, and I'm sure they would all tell me that they have never even considered bathing their cats. I understand that for the most part, cats clean themselves. However. I worked in pet kennel and I assure you that I have never yet come across a cat that smelled good.

Dogs get baths all the time. Most people who have dogs can tell you some pretty funny stories involving giving Fido a bath, but they will all tell you that you have to wash your dog from time to time. And besides, they look so much better and they smell SO much better after they've been bathed with puppy shampoo.

So that led me to my all important question of is it possible to wash a cat? Does anyone do this? Because let me tell you, I would (but I'm also the kind of person who would be training the cat to go out in the yard like the dog). The answer, according to Yahoo! Answers, is Yes, people do wash their cats. And there are lots of tips there for how to pull it off. Personally I think it's a matter of starting young. If you start washing the cat as a kitten, using very gentle methods and lots of kitty treats, I think it would probably be just as easy to wash the cat as the dog.

I mean, after all, Calbert is no big fan of bath time, but he tolerates it because he knows there are biscuits involved.

What is the difference between a Jam and a Jelly?

The title is pretty self explanatory so I'm going to just dive in.

According to Dictionary.com :

jam: n. a preserve of whole fruit, slightly crushed, boiled with sugar.

jelly: n. a food preparation of a soft, elastic consistency due to the presence of gelatin, pectin, etc, esp. fruit juice boiled down with sugar and used as a sweet spread.

I would like to point out at this time that "jam" had twelve dictionary results whereas "jelly" had merely five.

wiseGEEK.com provides us with further analysis:

Jam is made from whole fruit and jelly is made from fruit juices. Jam is healthier for you. Jelly is generally sweeter than jam. Both are types of fruit preserves; other fruit preserves include confit, fruit butter, conserves, and marmalade.

Now you know.

Vacuuming and other such things

When I was in tenth grade, one of my very best guy friends and I were in the same french class (we've actually always been in the same french class prior to college but back to the story). Anyway, our teacher always went down the rows every monday asking what we did over the weekend. Johnny's answer was always cleaning. "I cleaned the bathroom" "I vacuumed the second floor" "I cleaned out the basement" "I cleaned out the garage". No really. Every time. It was always a big class joke. Now the joke's over. I have spent most of today cleaning.

I vacuumed the basement. I swiffered the first floor. Not that you can tell, Calbert took care of that pretty quickly, but at least now there's less fur-bunnies rolling around. I emptied and refilled the dishwasher. And I'm about to go bathe the dog, which I'm sure will make him uber happy with me.

Oh and I killed three spiders in the basement. I should have a parade.

France Picture

Azay-le-Rideau, from the side

Disagreeable Smells

Everyone smells things differently, but there are lots of smells that just about everyone agrees are disagreeable. And for every one of those disagreeable smells, there is someone out there who likes them. Like gasoline for example. My lab TA first semester loved the smell of gasoline, but I like many people don't like it.

My personal list of smells that I love that most people hate:

~Fresh paint: I love the smell of fresh paint and the stronger the better.

~Bleach/chlorine: To me this just smells clean but I've been told I'm crazy.

~Shoe polish: Can't really explain this one.

~Coffee: This isn't really that unusual, lots of people like the smell of coffee. My little weirdness is that I don't like coffee, just the smell.

Smells I don't like include nuts (except for peanuts), cigarette smoke, and "airplane smell". Buses don't smell too terrific either. Thoughts?

Home Sweet Home

Home is a wonderful place to be. Annelise and I chilled out and talked and caught up. I talked to Steph for just shy of 2 hours on Skype. Savannah and I went swimming and then out to eat (cool Italian place called Figo).

Yesterday Meredith and I watched Mamma Mia on Sing-Along-Mode. And yes, we sang along.

I have Giradelli (spelling?) fudgy brownies cooling while my giant puppydog stares gloomily in the direction of the kitchen. (He doesn't dare try anything with Dad home).

Oh and I have been mildly productive. I made my bed today. And I did laundry. Boo-yah.

Home!

Yeah, I'm home. Back in ATL. major relaxation in store. Woke up at 4:30 am this morning (france time) and guess what? It's currently 4:36 am france time. Full 24 hours with only naps to keep me going. Woah. So I'm pretty tired.

But it's so good to be back. I love travelling, and trust me France was the ultimate, but it's always good to come home and fall into your own bed.

Giving out souvenirs to the family was fun too. Like christmas in july. le noel en juillet. teehee. ok. seriously that's not funny; I should get to bed soon before I start making bad puns. Ok.

Good Night everyone from the American desk of Jackie