"C'mon, Marge, it's like kissing a peanut!"
Date: Friday, May 27, 2011
Current Location: Abrams, Escondido Village
Time of Entry: 3:25PM
Finals and project due dates are just around the corner, but to give us a little break, Third Eye Blind was nice enough to stop by Memorial Auditorium for a free concert. Set list included:
Never Let You Go
Narcolepsy
Slow Motion
Losing a Whole Year
Graduate
Crystal Baller
Jumper
1 in 10 (I think this is what it's called)
Motorcycle Drive by
Semi-Charmed Life
God of Wine
And a few others that I forget.
Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Current Location: Abrams, Escondido Village
Time of Entry: 11:25PM
I might as well post at some point during this quarter. Yes, I know you have been dying to hear about my wacky adventures of trying to find computers that work in Y2E2 and late night runs to Little Caesars. Please, sit down. For starters, it is already near the end of week 6. Or is it week 7? It's been all a blur to me. Anyway, Spring Quarter has been dominated by work, as usual, although the sun is starting to rear its head and there are days when it is actually warm. Sometimes I can go outside in shorts and sandals, which is saying a lot for Norcal. I remember the first time I didn't have to wear gloves while riding my bike. I felt naked without them. This quarter consists of four classes: Advanced Topics in Structural Concrete (CEE205B), Finite Element and Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics (CEE284), Earthquake Resistant Design (CEE287), and a one unit fun class, French Cooking (FRENLANG 60E). For a while I was auditing several classes including a music theory class (MUSIC 19), another structural engineering class, Structural Performance and Failures (CEE290), and a beer tasting and brewing class (GENETICS 25SI). I've mostly stopped attending these extraneous classes because they started becoming over my head (19), boring (290), or insistent on me paying dues if I wanted to stay (25SI). Overall, I have to say that with the advent of some nice weather, a nicer class schedule, and greater familiarity with the campus, this quarter has been turning out to be the best so far. I only have a few more weeks. Let's hope it stays this way. I feel like I have been at this campus long enough to cover a certain topic I've been wanting to post about for a while. That topic is Stanford itself, and all its little quirks and unique traits that separate it from other colleges. At least from UCLA. Hey, you can only attend so many colleges.
Me stuck in traffic with my Prius, behind another Prius, while another Prius drives by on the other side. One of the first things I noticed about Stanford, and Palo Alto in general, is that there are tons of these things around. The first time I drove into campus three Priuses pulled in front of me, creating a solid line of four Priuses driving to the same place.
Not only are there three Priuses parked in the same spot, they are all the same color and same model. In case you are wondering, yes, this was picture-worthy.
There are a lot of trees here, a fact that has come to my attention moreso with the advent of some insane allergies. This little irritation aside, they do a lot for the campus, creating nice autumn colors as I've previously posted, and blooming into beautiful blossoms in the spring. These flowers are already gone, but they were a sight to see while they lasted.
Everyone rides bikes here because it takes forever to walk across campus. When class gets out the streets can get crazy, and apparently even the smartest of people lack the concept of riding counter clockwise around the turnarounds. I've had my share of running into things, but none can beat one of my friends, who crashed into a bush.
That enormous blue area on the map that looks like a small ocean...
...is this. Welcome to Lake Lagunita, the hilariously over-exaggerated Stanford puddle. There was a time when it was actually filled, but it's generally not anymore, which makes me wonder why it's still here.
One of the biggest differences between Stanford and UCLA is the copious amount of free stuff around campus. A while back the international center celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, which as far as as I can tell is basically American Thanksgiving but with more booze. It was all on the house and it was awesome. Another nice thing about this school is its open alcohol policy. Apparently it is perfectly okay to walk around campus with alcohol out in the open, although I've never exercised this privilege because why would I want to be wandering drunk around campus?
Here is the international center again giving out free Ben and Jerry's for no reason at all. There are a lot of events around campus that seem to exist solely because someone had too much time or food on their hands. I once found a five foot long burrito randomly sitting in the Tressider lobby. Ladies and gentlemen, dinner has been found.
The occasional SEG happy hour with FREE snacks and, of course, FREE booze. This is one of the professors smacking a pinata at the most recent one. I think the students just wanted the opportunity to spin him around and make him dizzy.
Undergraduate housing seems pretty sweet around here. They're closer to campus and more social than the graduate housing. And then there's housing like the one pictured above. This place is called the French House. There are many houses like it. They are exclusive to undergrads, house around 60 or more, are very dorm-like, and come with their own chef and kitchen. That's right, each house has several completely stocked fridges, soda fountains, and some guy who makes you good food everyday, with cooking styles varying from house to house. I have my French Cooking class on Fridays in the French House, otherwise I would not have known about this whole other side of campus. Speaking of which...
Stanford has a lot of cool one-unit activity classes such as that beer class I was auditing and this cooking class. Everything from windsurfing, horseback riding, golfing, wine tasting, and dancing is offered here, as long as you have enough credit capacity and sign up quick enough. French Cooking is awesome. Every week we make really good food with surprising quickness and simplicity.
Salmon cooked in a brown paper bag. I don't normally care for fish, but this was ridiculously good.
Quiche. Tasted as good as it looked. Our instructor is quite skilled at making complex foods be extremely simple to make.
Souffle. Our instructor intersperses our cooking with all sorts of great tips and tricks. I just might try to take this class again next Fall.
While I'm on activity classes, this is the beer class I was auditing. This was pretty sweet too, that is, before they kicked us out. Each class would revolve around a certain type of beer such as Belgian Pale Ales, and we would discuss the differences between different brands. We even had a class that tried to match beer with chocolate. There is some weird stuff out there, such as sour beer and smoked beer, which tastes like liquid barbeque.
Cafeteria food is not bad around here. There are a few times when I think it's even better than UCLA food. Overall however, I would have to give the trophy to UCLA. There is less selection here, both in the types of food and the types of restaurants, the operating hours suck, and no matter how hard they try their salad bar, pizza, soups, and desserts just don't compare. There's a weird emphasis on curries here and on the campus in general. Not too sure why that is. It might have to do with the large population of international students.
Stanford wins for sense of humor, though. The writing reads "braised rainbow chard w/ hella garlic."
Like UCLA, Stanford is constantly under construction. This here is a new cafeteria, hopefully to be done by next year. Don't let the stone facade fool you. The structure is a steel frame with prefabricated architectural concrete forms covering it to only make it look as though the building was made out of stone. Sad.
Final construction of the new Knight Management Center, which is already done by the time of this writing. Stanford was recently ranked #1 in Business, which I think is due in part to this new complex. The place is pretty nice, but it could do without the extremeley pretentious, completely pointless modern art displays.
Renovation work of my apartment complex, before they realized that, you know, they forgot the permits to do so. As of now, construction is completely halted, and I don't think they will reach my floor for several months. This picture is eerily reminiscent of Dead Space 2, for those that have played it. While construction was still going on they would leave generators on all night, which creates a soft background hum, which just made it even more creepily similar to Dead Space 2. I'll try to post at least once more before the quarter ends. Honestly, I'm running out of things to write about, unless you guys are interested in response spectrums and finite element formulation for beams. The reason for the longer spans between posts is that sometimes I just don't have the time or energy to do so, but mostly because I don't really have anything to write about. Most days are spent inside in front of a computer or a book, which doesn't make for very interesting conversation. I guess all I'm saying is that if the site seems pretty dead at times, it's probably just me being uninteresting. On another note, if any folks are up north for the summer, let me know. I'll be working in Oakland with plenty of free time at nights and on the weekends. And I'm totally not being desparate, just putting it out there. Until next time, cya.
Date: Sunday, February 13, 2011
Current Location: Abrams, Escondido Village
Time of Entry: 1:39AM
I'm still alive, and I still remembered to write
Even if it's the dead of night
I should say what I want to say
Before the work resumes
And I'm left to face the doom
Of being stuck back in the computer room
In a month, not much to tell
It's cold and I do homework
There are a few things worth mentioning
But they are few and far between
It's probably a good thing
Because writing takes a while
And I want to sleep as well
Our structural department went to Tahoe
At first I wasn't sure I wanted to go
But after seeing this view from the cabin
I was glad to be there in the snow
We drove up so we could ski and board
But for MLK weekend, I didn't doubt it
The parks were going to be crowded
Northstar is fantastic
The trails are long and wide
Attendance was in record numbers
It was me and twelve thousand others
But I still felt like I had enough room
To ride and do whatever
There was a trick park as well
Succeeded in landing a rail
But the landing I had to bail
Now that I think about it
Even though I didn't get hurt
I should have worn a helmet
Snowboarding fail
View from the top of the lift
I like this place a lot
Of all the parks I've been to (not many)
Northstar is my favorite spot
------------------------------------------
A few more things about campus
Out with the old and in with the new
The Terman Building is to be demolished
So I thought I'd take a picture
Before it ceases to be a fixture
So this is the last that you'll see
Of a place that will no longer be
It didn't look that great anyway
At least to me
Knight Management is almost finished
For the graduates in the school of business
Haven't explored the building yet
But I bet it's cool, let's not forget
That Stanford has money and will make things nice
I guess that's why tuition is its price
UCLA's buildings are nice too, no joke
But perhaps that's why the school is broke
------------------------------------------
Stanford at night, like Jekyll and Hyde
Feels empty and surreal
Fireflies got trapped and forever glow
Never off or turned down low
Even when not in use
A "green" building so they say
But the place eats up a lot of juice
------------------------------------------
One last thing:
You might think a place with tapas and ramen
Would be fun and amazing, but then
We found that the "tapas" were
Simply Japanese appetizers
Turns out it was just another ramen house
And had nothing to do with tapas
Not that ramen houses are bad
But I still was really sad
------------------------------------------ That's it for now, hope the format was fun
But sadly, this will probably be the only one
It took a really long time, you know
I didn't realize that initially though
So so long for now
I'll write again, but not in rhyme
I just don't want to put in the time
Date: Monday, January 10, 2011
Current Location: Abrams, Escondido Village
Time of Entry: 10:55PM
Hello all! A belated Happy New Year to everyone! I'm back up at Stanford for a second fun-filled quarter of engineering spectacularness!! It's already the start of second week and everything is in full swing once again, as if we never left, really. This quarter I am currently enrolled in Nonlinear Structural Analysis (282), Structural Dynamics (283), Behavior and Design of Structural Systems (286), and a 1-unit class called Structural Engineering and Geomechanics Seminar (298). I'm also going to try and audit a 'legendary' class called Psych 235, otherwise known as Sleep and Dreams, and a hip hop dance class (Athletics 63). Both are really cool so far, and I hope I'll be able to spare time for these classes as the quarter progresses and gets busier. Already I notice a difference in the way the humanities and the sciences are taught. In the Sleep and Dreams class they opened up with a skit starring the TA's and the professor, then told us that at the end of every class they draw random names for people to shout "Drowsiness is red alert!" If they choose to shout it, they get extra credit. The first thing my 282 professor did was talk about differences between 2nd-order and inelastic nonlinearities... There is hope though; my Dynamics professor is completely off the wall. I love this quote he told us in the first class: "Newton... was a crazy guy. When an apple falls on your head, you eat it. You don't think about gravity." So enough with the introductions, what has Winter Quarter been like so far? Cold. Freezing. In fact, this is a common sight every morning as I bike to class:
frost...
everywhere...
In fact, wanna know how the drive up to Norcal was like?
This.
Yes, apparently it's not just the mountains that get snow in California. They shut off a section of the 5 on my drive up, I'm guessing due to snow, and redirected us to a detour along the 14 and 58,
where it was also snowing. Not only did this tack on about 100 extra miles, everyone was going about 30 mph the entire way because the road was kind of like ice. The guy in front of me almost slid
out at one point. I made it to Stanford in 11 hours. I'm considering flying from now on. On the plus side (I guess) I got some neat pictures out of it.
Not adviseable to be taking pictures of the snow while driving.
So the drive sucked, but at least I survived. It could have been worse I suppose, but hey, it could have been better too! Whatever, I'm over it. So the one thing that I should have posted last
quarter was one of the most basic parts of college life: my apartment. For one reason or another I just forgot to take pictures, or the lighting outside sucked, or something. I figure it's only
appropriate to include this in the first post of the new year and new quarter. My housing setup is a two-person efficiency apartment on the 7th floor of the Abrams midrise. It is me and my
roommate, who was kind enough to take the living room for himself while I get the bedroom. So far it's worked out pretty swell. Other perks about the building include occasional free dinners,
the fact that three other structural engineering students live here, and last but not least, free laundry. That's right, no coins, no card, just a press of a button is all it takes to get your
clothes clean. I should be a bastard and put a single sock in a full wash.
My room, fully furnished by the school. The furniture here reminds me a lot of the Dkystra furniture at UCLA - heavy wooden desks and drawers. I thought the foam bed would
suck, but actually I find I sleep pretty well. At first I was slightly disappointed in the room, expecting some kind of luxury suite or something for some reason. I quickly warmed up to my place
though, especially after seeing the kind of places some other people have for almost twice my rent. It has more than enough space for me, a nice view, and the temperature is relatively constant.
The living room, now converted to my apartmentmate's room. I wouldn't use a full living room anyway.
The kitchen. It's pretty small, but gets the job done.
The view from our balcony, taken on one of the warmer days in September. I like our view a lot, and in the spring time all the grass on hills will sprout, forming rolling mounds of vigorous green.
Can't wait. Our balcony is pretty much used for storage of our bikes and making occasional phone calls.
Thus concludes my first post of the quarter. I have some ideas for future blog posts, as well as some cool events coming up that I can write about. One of my goals this year is better time
management, which, if successful, will mean more frequent entries. I'm already looking forward to a lot of things this year. I hope my posts are one of them for you.
Current Location: Abrams, Escondido Village
Time of Entry: 3:25PM
Never Let You Go
Narcolepsy
Slow Motion
Losing a Whole Year
Graduate
Crystal Baller
Jumper
1 in 10 (I think this is what it's called)
Motorcycle Drive by
Semi-Charmed Life
God of Wine
And a few others that I forget.
Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Current Location: Abrams, Escondido Village
Time of Entry: 11:25PM
I might as well post at some point during this quarter. Yes, I know you have been dying to hear about my wacky adventures of trying to find computers that work in Y2E2 and late night runs to Little Caesars. Please, sit down. For starters, it is already near the end of week 6. Or is it week 7? It's been all a blur to me. Anyway, Spring Quarter has been dominated by work, as usual, although the sun is starting to rear its head and there are days when it is actually warm. Sometimes I can go outside in shorts and sandals, which is saying a lot for Norcal. I remember the first time I didn't have to wear gloves while riding my bike. I felt naked without them. This quarter consists of four classes: Advanced Topics in Structural Concrete (CEE205B), Finite Element and Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics (CEE284), Earthquake Resistant Design (CEE287), and a one unit fun class, French Cooking (FRENLANG 60E). For a while I was auditing several classes including a music theory class (MUSIC 19), another structural engineering class, Structural Performance and Failures (CEE290), and a beer tasting and brewing class (GENETICS 25SI). I've mostly stopped attending these extraneous classes because they started becoming over my head (19), boring (290), or insistent on me paying dues if I wanted to stay (25SI). Overall, I have to say that with the advent of some nice weather, a nicer class schedule, and greater familiarity with the campus, this quarter has been turning out to be the best so far. I only have a few more weeks. Let's hope it stays this way. I feel like I have been at this campus long enough to cover a certain topic I've been wanting to post about for a while. That topic is Stanford itself, and all its little quirks and unique traits that separate it from other colleges. At least from UCLA. Hey, you can only attend so many colleges.
Me stuck in traffic with my Prius, behind another Prius, while another Prius drives by on the other side. One of the first things I noticed about Stanford, and Palo Alto in general, is that there are tons of these things around. The first time I drove into campus three Priuses pulled in front of me, creating a solid line of four Priuses driving to the same place.
Not only are there three Priuses parked in the same spot, they are all the same color and same model. In case you are wondering, yes, this was picture-worthy.
There are a lot of trees here, a fact that has come to my attention moreso with the advent of some insane allergies. This little irritation aside, they do a lot for the campus, creating nice autumn colors as I've previously posted, and blooming into beautiful blossoms in the spring. These flowers are already gone, but they were a sight to see while they lasted.
Everyone rides bikes here because it takes forever to walk across campus. When class gets out the streets can get crazy, and apparently even the smartest of people lack the concept of riding counter clockwise around the turnarounds. I've had my share of running into things, but none can beat one of my friends, who crashed into a bush.
That enormous blue area on the map that looks like a small ocean...
...is this. Welcome to Lake Lagunita, the hilariously over-exaggerated Stanford puddle. There was a time when it was actually filled, but it's generally not anymore, which makes me wonder why it's still here.
One of the biggest differences between Stanford and UCLA is the copious amount of free stuff around campus. A while back the international center celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, which as far as as I can tell is basically American Thanksgiving but with more booze. It was all on the house and it was awesome. Another nice thing about this school is its open alcohol policy. Apparently it is perfectly okay to walk around campus with alcohol out in the open, although I've never exercised this privilege because why would I want to be wandering drunk around campus?
Here is the international center again giving out free Ben and Jerry's for no reason at all. There are a lot of events around campus that seem to exist solely because someone had too much time or food on their hands. I once found a five foot long burrito randomly sitting in the Tressider lobby. Ladies and gentlemen, dinner has been found.
The occasional SEG happy hour with FREE snacks and, of course, FREE booze. This is one of the professors smacking a pinata at the most recent one. I think the students just wanted the opportunity to spin him around and make him dizzy.
Undergraduate housing seems pretty sweet around here. They're closer to campus and more social than the graduate housing. And then there's housing like the one pictured above. This place is called the French House. There are many houses like it. They are exclusive to undergrads, house around 60 or more, are very dorm-like, and come with their own chef and kitchen. That's right, each house has several completely stocked fridges, soda fountains, and some guy who makes you good food everyday, with cooking styles varying from house to house. I have my French Cooking class on Fridays in the French House, otherwise I would not have known about this whole other side of campus. Speaking of which...
Stanford has a lot of cool one-unit activity classes such as that beer class I was auditing and this cooking class. Everything from windsurfing, horseback riding, golfing, wine tasting, and dancing is offered here, as long as you have enough credit capacity and sign up quick enough. French Cooking is awesome. Every week we make really good food with surprising quickness and simplicity.
Salmon cooked in a brown paper bag. I don't normally care for fish, but this was ridiculously good.
Quiche. Tasted as good as it looked. Our instructor is quite skilled at making complex foods be extremely simple to make.
Souffle. Our instructor intersperses our cooking with all sorts of great tips and tricks. I just might try to take this class again next Fall.
While I'm on activity classes, this is the beer class I was auditing. This was pretty sweet too, that is, before they kicked us out. Each class would revolve around a certain type of beer such as Belgian Pale Ales, and we would discuss the differences between different brands. We even had a class that tried to match beer with chocolate. There is some weird stuff out there, such as sour beer and smoked beer, which tastes like liquid barbeque.
Cafeteria food is not bad around here. There are a few times when I think it's even better than UCLA food. Overall however, I would have to give the trophy to UCLA. There is less selection here, both in the types of food and the types of restaurants, the operating hours suck, and no matter how hard they try their salad bar, pizza, soups, and desserts just don't compare. There's a weird emphasis on curries here and on the campus in general. Not too sure why that is. It might have to do with the large population of international students.
Stanford wins for sense of humor, though. The writing reads "braised rainbow chard w/ hella garlic."
Like UCLA, Stanford is constantly under construction. This here is a new cafeteria, hopefully to be done by next year. Don't let the stone facade fool you. The structure is a steel frame with prefabricated architectural concrete forms covering it to only make it look as though the building was made out of stone. Sad.
Final construction of the new Knight Management Center, which is already done by the time of this writing. Stanford was recently ranked #1 in Business, which I think is due in part to this new complex. The place is pretty nice, but it could do without the extremeley pretentious, completely pointless modern art displays.
Renovation work of my apartment complex, before they realized that, you know, they forgot the permits to do so. As of now, construction is completely halted, and I don't think they will reach my floor for several months. This picture is eerily reminiscent of Dead Space 2, for those that have played it. While construction was still going on they would leave generators on all night, which creates a soft background hum, which just made it even more creepily similar to Dead Space 2. I'll try to post at least once more before the quarter ends. Honestly, I'm running out of things to write about, unless you guys are interested in response spectrums and finite element formulation for beams. The reason for the longer spans between posts is that sometimes I just don't have the time or energy to do so, but mostly because I don't really have anything to write about. Most days are spent inside in front of a computer or a book, which doesn't make for very interesting conversation. I guess all I'm saying is that if the site seems pretty dead at times, it's probably just me being uninteresting. On another note, if any folks are up north for the summer, let me know. I'll be working in Oakland with plenty of free time at nights and on the weekends. And I'm totally not being desparate, just putting it out there. Until next time, cya.
Date: Sunday, February 13, 2011
Current Location: Abrams, Escondido Village
Time of Entry: 1:39AM
I'm still alive, and I still remembered to write
Even if it's the dead of night
I should say what I want to say
Before the work resumes
And I'm left to face the doom
Of being stuck back in the computer room
In a month, not much to tell
It's cold and I do homework
There are a few things worth mentioning
But they are few and far between
It's probably a good thing
Because writing takes a while
And I want to sleep as well
Our structural department went to Tahoe
At first I wasn't sure I wanted to go
But after seeing this view from the cabin
I was glad to be there in the snow
We drove up so we could ski and board
But for MLK weekend, I didn't doubt it
The parks were going to be crowded
Northstar is fantastic
The trails are long and wide
Attendance was in record numbers
It was me and twelve thousand others
But I still felt like I had enough room
To ride and do whatever
There was a trick park as well
Succeeded in landing a rail
But the landing I had to bail
Now that I think about it
Even though I didn't get hurt
I should have worn a helmet
Snowboarding fail
View from the top of the lift
I like this place a lot
Of all the parks I've been to (not many)
Northstar is my favorite spot
------------------------------------------
A few more things about campus
Out with the old and in with the new
The Terman Building is to be demolished
So I thought I'd take a picture
Before it ceases to be a fixture
So this is the last that you'll see
Of a place that will no longer be
It didn't look that great anyway
At least to me
Knight Management is almost finished
For the graduates in the school of business
Haven't explored the building yet
But I bet it's cool, let's not forget
That Stanford has money and will make things nice
I guess that's why tuition is its price
UCLA's buildings are nice too, no joke
But perhaps that's why the school is broke
------------------------------------------
Stanford at night, like Jekyll and Hyde
Feels empty and surreal
Fireflies got trapped and forever glow
Never off or turned down low
Even when not in use
A "green" building so they say
But the place eats up a lot of juice
------------------------------------------
One last thing:
You might think a place with tapas and ramen
Would be fun and amazing, but then
We found that the "tapas" were
Simply Japanese appetizers
Turns out it was just another ramen house
And had nothing to do with tapas
Not that ramen houses are bad
But I still was really sad
------------------------------------------ That's it for now, hope the format was fun
But sadly, this will probably be the only one
It took a really long time, you know
I didn't realize that initially though
So so long for now
I'll write again, but not in rhyme
I just don't want to put in the time
Date: Monday, January 10, 2011
Current Location: Abrams, Escondido Village
Time of Entry: 10:55PM
Hello all! A belated Happy New Year to everyone! I'm back up at Stanford for a second fun-filled quarter of engineering spectacularness!! It's already the start of second week and everything is in full swing once again, as if we never left, really. This quarter I am currently enrolled in Nonlinear Structural Analysis (282), Structural Dynamics (283), Behavior and Design of Structural Systems (286), and a 1-unit class called Structural Engineering and Geomechanics Seminar (298). I'm also going to try and audit a 'legendary' class called Psych 235, otherwise known as Sleep and Dreams, and a hip hop dance class (Athletics 63). Both are really cool so far, and I hope I'll be able to spare time for these classes as the quarter progresses and gets busier. Already I notice a difference in the way the humanities and the sciences are taught. In the Sleep and Dreams class they opened up with a skit starring the TA's and the professor, then told us that at the end of every class they draw random names for people to shout "Drowsiness is red alert!" If they choose to shout it, they get extra credit. The first thing my 282 professor did was talk about differences between 2nd-order and inelastic nonlinearities... There is hope though; my Dynamics professor is completely off the wall. I love this quote he told us in the first class: "Newton... was a crazy guy. When an apple falls on your head, you eat it. You don't think about gravity." So enough with the introductions, what has Winter Quarter been like so far? Cold. Freezing. In fact, this is a common sight every morning as I bike to class:
frost...
everywhere...
This.
Not adviseable to be taking pictures of the snow while driving.