Movies, School and the learnings of the Insomniac

Where to begin today? Let’s start with yesterday.

Mostly nothing to report, other that school and a movie.

I spent some time studying for my midterm, I made my way over to Hollywood Video. They have a deal going where you can buy 2 movies and get 2 free. Naturally I felt like a kid in a candy store, until I had trouble finding 4 movies there that I wanted. I ended up with Casino Royale, V for Vendetta, Clerks II and Idiocracy. The latter two I had not seen before, but word of mouth was good enough to justify free, and V for Vendetta was for From Russia with Love.

After her rehearsal, From Russia with Love came by and we watched Idiocracy. It was hilarious. It comes with a two thumbs up from me. Yes, it had fart jokes and the like but still loaded with the wit and wisdom of Mike Judge. The movie is about an average Joe frozen to be re-awakened 500 years in the future when the average IQ of society is that of trailer trash with down-syndrome. He becomes the smartest man alive by default and hilarity ensues.

After From Russia with Love left for the evening, I tried unsuccessfully to go to sleep. So what do you do when insomnia sets in at the wee hours of the morning? Channel surf! I landed on an excellent program on the Discovery Channel about the tunnels under Paris. It was fascinating (at 2 and change in the morning).

The geology of Paris is unique. There is a layer of dirt and under that a massive block of limestone. The limestone became the most common building material for the early city. The limestone was mined out in tunnels and the city built on top (they dug about 85 miles of directionless spider webbing creepyness!). The tunnels where mostly forgotten about for several hundred years until there was a massive cholera outbreak. The dead where piled up near the cemeteries about 10+ feet high until someone had a bright idea to stuff them under the city. They made designs with the bones and several memorials and shrines. The government will usually not let any one down there for safety reasons, so it is not a major tourist attraction, but made for a very interesting half hour of television.

Today was the boring work. I used some vacation time at the end of my shift to study for the midterm tomorrow. Now that I am done with that excruciating task, I blog- so I can let all of you know about all of my (un)adventures.

Hope I kept you interested at least somewhat.

T

B-day and Beyond

Well, well, well. Where to start? School first.

Lab for P.S. & E. II- today we measured the Ohm’s of some resistors with equipment that resembles an old set from Star Trek. It was lots of wires and knobs and clips and oscilloscopes and such. The Ohm’s were on the resistors, and the assignment was to see if that was correct within experimental error. And of course, it was. Sorry if that was boring, but it was a tedious lab.

Modern Optics I & II- lenses. Combinations of lenses. Combinations of lenses with apertures. Me geeking out all over the place. Pretty cool.

Calculus III- still just vectors. I have a midterm on Friday. That will require some preparation, other that that there is nothing new to report here either.

And myself for the last couple of days? Fantastic for the most part. I was in a bit of a pissy mood around my birthday, mostly because I ended up with about 6 and a half hours of homework due the next day. I tried to get it done beforehand, but circumstances were not permitting (that’s an under statement- it was ACCESS DENIED across the board). All of that aside, I did have a fantastic time over all. Thank you to Mom and Dad for putting together a fantastic morning in spite of conflicting schedules and a moody kid, all with nothing but my best interests in mind.

My brother got me a San Diego palm that I have named Ferdinand. A plant is an interesting gift. Sometimes when you give people something they don’t want they will lie and say that they do like it, and that it was a lovely gift, only to put it on the shelf- never to be touched again. the plant however is different in the fact that you have to keep it alive. One is forced to live the lie of “I love it, um.. Thank you!”and as soon as the thing is dead, you are busted-the bluff has been called. Just kidding of course bro- I do like it. My room could use a little more green, and any a times I have contemplated buying a plant on my own.

After the fantastic morning with the family (which I guess I am feeling guilty about because I came off as a bit ungrateful I suppose, but it was the school and work! I promise!) and the homework, From Russia with Love took me too see Superbad. The movie had it’s chuckles, but only worth seeing once. After the novelty of the jokes and characters wore off, it was really a shallow movie (not as bad as Employee of the month, but still shallow).

As far as the 'resolutions' thing is going, I would say well.

"Every day is a gift, even if it's just a pair of socks." - Tony Soprano.

That’s pretty much it for me today, and I hope that it makes up for the lack of updates over the weekend (I was a busy boy).

Love you all!

T