End of poll!

Here are the old results:

Meredith is most similar to which character from Teen Girl Squad?

cheerleader! : 10 (13%)
so-and-so! : 2 (3%)
what's-her-face! : 32 (42% )
the ugly one! : 32 (42%)

Other random, interesting stuff from our trip

(sorry, but I can't directly link to pictures because of the free image service I use, so you have to manually paste them into your url bar; also, I added a line break in the middle of each because the URLs are way too long)

1. We made up weird nicknames for each other. They are as follows:

Michael "Lazy" Adams
Meredith "What's-her-face" Gardner
Felix "Extraordinary" Huang ("X" for short)
Kristen "Mom" Jones
Seth "G.R." Johnson (we couldn't decide on "Great" or "Grand" so we chose GR)
Adam "Monster" Wang

(By the way, three of those nicknames make more sense if you view them as nickname and last name together.)

2. We got a picture of Felix sleeping with his eyes open (that's really him, and he's really sleeping)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid69/
pf80dd055c3b6311200b251e440bea0ca/fbb545df.jpg.orig.jpg

3. We played "80" with nine decks, making it "240." That was about the weirdest hand I have ever played.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid69/
p545a623fd3c260e94a05eebeb1953597/fbb48a64.jpg.orig.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid69/
p2863190257477cde443e59559759b6a4/fbb48a1b.jpg.orig.jpg

4. The fancy hotel we stayed in, the French Quarter Inn, served Jelly Bellies around-the-clock in addition to offering periodic fancy snacks / alcoholic beverages for free.

5. We were bored; we took a picture of Michael; I was bored again on my computer later on; here is the result.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid69/
p7756adad012a891e9eae9671375f6db9/fbb545ce.jpg.orig.jpg

Finally!!!

I now post the third and final part of the account of our trip! If you feel that you can't read it all, at least scroll down to the last 5 or so short paragraphs.

Okay, it's about time that I actually give you an account of what happened on our last two days, Saturday and Sunday. Let me include the starting sentences at my last lazy attempt at a post:

We woke up kind of early (7:00), ate breakfast, and went to Food Lion to get some lunch materials for, er..., lunch. Next, we went to the kayaking place and left with the kayaks and the guide and his assistant for the point where we would set off.

It was a few minutes' drive there, but we finally arrived in a place that looked like somewhat like a treeless swamp but was in fact a seawater estuary. We took the kayaks off of the rack, and the guide showed/told us how to use them and adjusted our rudder pedals. All the while we had to endure the festering stench of a deceased animal that happened to reside right near our kayaks. So, after that was done, we dragged our kayaks to the muddy banks at the edge of the water.

We got in. There were hundreds of 2-inch by 2-inch fiddler crabs on the opposite bank. They were interesting. (That's a little foreshadowing there, hint hint.) So, the estuary was like a bunch of intersecting rivers and so forth. We would've been pretty lost without our guide. After some minutes of kayaking, perhaps a quarter of the way through the estuary, I believe it was Bonnie who pointed and exclaimed, "Look! Is that a shark?" The guide, with some measure of what was perhaps excitement, answered, "No, it's a dolphin!" Our course took us closer to them , and we ended up getting perhaps 10 feet away from them. There were at least two of them; perhaps there were three. They swam along under the water and occasionally poked their heads out of the water as they traveled farther and farther away. We thought that was pretty cool. Our guide then pointed out a far-off power line pole and told us that that was the direction to head.

As we went along, the guide explained to us about the estuary, and so forth. After a while, we reached the Intercoastal Channel or something like that. This is a big "road" where a lot of boats travel, so we waited for one boat to pass before we crossed. By this time, the power pole was a lot closer. We rowed until we encountered a beach with a lot of people with boats on it; this was the other side of the part of the island that was our destination. So, we rowed a little more until we arrived at a beach with virtually nobody in it. There had been so few people there that there were still lots of nice, big shells everywhere (they hadn't been picked clean by people). About 10 yards from the island shore, there was a sandbar that we walked to (in between the bar and the shore, the water was about 4 feet deep with lots of sharp shells on the bottom) and Adam claimed it as his island. That didn't last long. It was about 11:30, so we decided to have some lunch. We took out lunch boxes that we had stowed in the kayak and walked underwater to the sand bar, where we had our food. Next, we kind of walked around on the sandbar and in the water. We noticed some cool stuff about the waves. There was some interesting diffraction and refraction around the bend of the sand bar. Also, there was a place where the waves would bounce back, so two waves collided head-on (they were only like small ripples, even though it looked really cool, like two massive armies running into each other to fight and one emerging smaller but victorious; this is almost certainly the longest parenthetical that I have ever written).

After a while, we were called back to shore, where the guide explained the existence of these barrier islands and how they keep re-forming, etc. He showed us some tide-pool like things where there were anemones, crabs, etc. Next, he took us on an inner tour of the island (he hadn't done it in years, so we weren't really walking along much of a path), which was crawling with spiders, ticks, ants, and mosquitos. It wasn't too fun, but we did learn some interesting stuff, including about a tree whose leaves smell like citrus and cause numbing when chewed. Once we got out of there, we cooled off in the ocean and loaded back up in the kayaks.

We then went back around the island and crossed the channel thing again. At this point, Meredith asked what the best time would be to flip the kayak. The guide said that now was a good time, so Meredith flipped (in the literal sense, for now). He then walked her through getting back in the canoe. Then, the rest of us did the same. It was fun.

As we approached our destination, the guide was talking about how rich in organic matter the mud was in the estuary. Adam and Meredith have had a long-standing rivalry on eating food (both in type and amount), so Meredith said she would probably win if she ate mud.

So she did.

It wasn't a trivial amount, either. What she ate (licked off her hand, really) was about the amount that you would get from taking a big lick of a McDonald's soft serve ice cream cone. This was just after we arrived on shore. At this point, we worked on getting the canoes back onto the racks on the trailer that brought them there. As we were walking back to the van, we saw a little fiddler crab, about the size of a half-dollar, scuttling across the road. Meredith said, in essence, "If you catch it, I'll eat it!"

So she did.

She just popped it into her mouth, crunched it a couple of times, and swallowed. She said it was a bit bitter, but otherwise good. The guide essentially said that she was the strangest person that he had ever guided.

So, that was the end of that strange experience, which was, needless to say, strange.

For the rest of the day, I think we just goofed around and played 80 and whatnot. It has been about two weeks, because I have put this off for so long, so I can't really remember.

The next day, we left. We left Michael there too. This was only because his parents came to spend some vacation time there.

THE END.

D'orm!

Well, I got news that I got into Lechner! My roommate is one CASEY JONATHAN LAWRENCE. I assume that the format that that is in is LAST, FIRST MIDDLE. But whatever! I'm going to be on the first floor, and I hope that all this works out.

Update: with a little expert Google searching, I found that he is a national merit semi-finalist (at least) and likely a scholar.

Changed!

My change from math 251 to 253 is approved!

Gah!

Dear me! We had a Turk visit our web site searching for felix bodybuilding. How odd. We have also had more odd visits in recent days, and that is reflected by the ever-growing search part of our sidebar. What a strange little world we live in.

Results of my new student conference (or "Orientation")

Well, I finally got done with my registration stuff (I had to make it so late thanks to, first, snail mail, and second, our Savannah River trip).

It turns out that, thanks to AP tests, I exempted almost my entire freshman year. I was talking this over with Dr. wolraM, the nuclear department academic advisor, also Synnove's dad, and he suggested that I do a double major in Physics and Nuclear Engineering. I counterproposed Chemical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering, so he worked out a schedule for the first year that would fit with that and said it looked like I could do it.

After taking it home and mulling the two majors over, it looked like I would have to take an average of 18.125 hours per semester, which is crazy. I mean, how can I take .125 hours in a semester? Also, that's just way too much. I was wondering if he really knew what he was talking about.

The next day, I go back to him and ask for some clarification on the future year plans. He said that figuring out the years after this one were my own job. Well, whatever. I decided to keep the semester schedule he suggested (it is NUEN/ENGR with the exception of having one CHEM class, organic chemistry, and its corresponding lab) because there is a possibility that I may switch to Chemical Engineering.

Here's the schedule that I had planned:

NUEN 101 (Principles of Nuclear Engineering)
ENGR 111 honors (Foundations of Engineering I)
MATH 251 (Engineering Math III)
ENGR 211 (Conservation Principles in Engineering Mechanics)
NUEN 201 (Introduction to Nuclear Engineering I)
CHEM 227 (Organic Chemistry I)
CHEM 237 (Lab for Organic Chemistry I)

So, when 1:30, the registration start time rolled around, I managed to get myself to the proper place that I was supposed to be (I had been misinformed and was in the wrong place). So, I barely got into several of the courses, and didn't make it into CHEM 237. Since the nuclear engineering people couldn't force me into the class, I had to walk over from Zachry to the big Chemistry building to wait around for someone who was supposed to help me but ended up only basically saying that I was stuck. So I had to walk back to Zachry to give my Advisor a status report. Next, I needed to have my Student ID made, so I walk out of the building... into pouring rain. Whatever! Just a couple of minutes ago, it was rainless! Well, I walked across campus to the MSC, which I thought was close to the place where IDs were made. By this time, Every single article of clothing on me was absolutely soaked. But I was enjoying the rain. So it was fun. Then I found out that I had walked too far, so I went to the right place to get a student ID. So that's the end of that. So, in retrospect, how many times did I say "so" in that last paragraph?

Now, I heard that MATH 253 (basically MATH 251 with Maple, the computer math system) is better than MATH 251. It has 15 people as opposed to 70 in 251, and it is also taught by Dr. nikssaY. So, I'm trying to see if I can get in there instead.

In conclusion,
THE END.

I am stark raving crazy!

I have found that I have the strangest tendency to blend two similar words together unconsciously - whether I am speaking out loud or just thinking of words in my mind.

This is pretty disturbing, especially with the odd mixups that you know I had during our Savannah trip.

For example, I noticed something strange, so I was thinking about the source of this phenomaly... what? Phenomaly? I realized I was initially thinking the word "phenomenon" and halfway through decided on the word "anomaly." That is weird.

The other day at work, my boss was laying down some squares of carpeting over some cables that we had running in a conference room. He had to get another one, so later on I observed he had one more and said, "Ah, you got another mug." Realizing I had said the wrong word, I frowned and corrected myself, "Rat." I was more confused. I realized I switched the order, so I corrected myself again, "Rat." I knew that wasn't right, so I said the other word, "Mug." By this time, I was pretty flustered. I had switched the order of the words; why wasn't it working? Finally, I managed to say, "Rug," and, "Mat." Jeez. That is also really weird.

Gaaaaaahhhhh!

We got another hit from a person searching for "ugly smokers!" And this one had his computer set on West Africa Time! What is wrong with the world?

SmarterChild II: The Return of Smarterchild!

Heh. My AIM client will let me auto-reply to a message every time someone sends me one. I had some fun with Eric Capps and Felix with this, and then I had the brilliant idea of doing it to SmarterChild. Here is the result:

AIM IM with Smarterchild

2:12 PM

Seth Johnson: Hello?

Smarterchild: Hi sethrj, I'm SmarterChild!

I'm your new robot friend.



May I ask you a few general questions? (To do this later, type "skip." You can also skip any question.)

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: Hello.

Smarterchild: Sorry, I need to know if I can ask you some questions first. Type "yes," "no" or "skip."

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: Hello.

Smarterchild: OK! I guess that means you don't want to answer any questions. That's cool. If you ever change your mind, type "interview me."



There is one question I have to ask you, though. How old are you?



1 Over 17

2 13-17

3 Under 13

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: Hello.

Smarterchild: Sorry, I don't recognize that. Please tell me your age in years.

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: Hello.

Smarterchild: Sorry, I don't recognize that. Please tell me your age in years.

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: Hello.

Smarterchild: Sorry, I don't recognize that. Please tell me your age in years.

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: Hello.

Smarterchild: Sorry, I don't recognize that. Please tell me your age in years.

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: Hello.

Smarterchild: Sorry, I don't recognize that. Please tell me your age in years.

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: Hello.

Smarterchild: Sorry, I don't recognize that. Please tell me your age in years.

Seth Johnson: 17

Smarterchild: Cool!



Here are the things you can do:

You can make your window bigger and scroll down to read better.



Next time you want to see this menu, just type "home."



What can I help you with?

Seth Johnson: Nothing, thanks.

Smarterchild: Hey, no problem.

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: How are you?

Smarterchild: I'm doing great, how are you?

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: How are you?

Smarterchild: I'm doin' alright, sethrj. How 'bout you?

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: How are you?

Smarterchild: I'm doing great! You?

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: How are you?

Smarterchild: I'm doing well. How 'bout you, sethrj?

Sent auto-reply:

Seth Johnson: How are you?

Smarterchild: I'm doing well.

Sent auto-reply:

The AIM service could not send the message: You have sent too much data too quickly. Please wait a little while before sending more.

The AIM service could not send the message: You have sent too much data too quickly. Please wait a little while before sending more.