The No-Longer-Hypothetical List of Exciting Things That Have Happened to me at Cornell, Fall 2013 edition

In case I haven’t said it enough, this fall was really, really busy. Between AAIV, Cornell Productions, pep band, rock climbing, and, oh yeah, actual classes, I didn't have a whole lot of time to sit around staring at the walls. With all the eventfulness came a fair amount of excitement, which leads us into this semester’s list of Exciting Things That Have Happened to me at Cornell.

1. Madison Square Garden: My first time at Madison Square Garden, I not only got to see Cornell’s men’s hockey team play, but I also got to play with the pep band at the game. It was quite an adventure.

2. Unsupervised baking: As the semester wound down, some friends and I managed to get together and do some baking. So far we've made lemon bars and mini apple pies, and I made (not very cheesy) cheese crackers all by myself. The main thing about cooking in college is that you want recipes with as few ingredients as possible. Everything also has to be done by hand with basic tools. Pastry cutter? Don’t have one. I don’t even have salt, but flour has taste by itself, right?

Mini apple pies

3. Mariinsky Orchestra: This was part of the Cornell Concert Series at Bailey Hall, and I was working backstage for Cornell Productions during the concert. They played Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Isle of the Dead by Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 5, and they were very good. Besides putting away the hundreds of chairs and stands, we also helped to load their truck. It takes a lot of wardrobes to clothe an entire orchestra.

4. Small group: Here’s how the story goes. At the end of summer one of my friends emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in being a core member for her small group. To be a core member I “just had to show up.” I said okay, because showing up isn't too hard once you commit your time to it. Sometime in the middle of the semester, my friend asks me if I’d like to prep for small group with her. I said, yeah, sure, because it would be good to see how preparation for small group goes. As we’re going through the passage, she asks me if I’d like to lead that week. Well, then. So much for just showing up. [I did end up saying yes and leading. And it was a good experience.]

5. First ChemE presentation: At the end of Mass and Energy Balances, we didn't have a written final, but we had to make a group presentation about our efforts to reduce the flow rate of carbon into the atmosphere. I was working with my Intro to ChemE group from last year and my current roommate. Apparently it isn't enough for chemical engineers to take all the same classes. We also do homework together, have meals together, and live together. It’s great.

Quite frankly, I can’t narrow down an entire semester to a few events and call them the most exciting things that happened to me in the past four months. I went hiking and saw waterfalls, helped to plan several AAIV events, got to use the very nice sound board the Bear’s Den has while working for Cornell Productions, spent hours yelling at Cornell sports teams, spent more hours hanging upside down at the bouldering wall, stayed up past midnight way too many times arguing with Mathematica or writing essays the morning they were due, trekked a couple hundred miles across campus, complained about anything and everything, and generally had a phenomenal time. And I get to do it all over again next semester.

Monsters University

In one of the few instances where I watched a movie in the same year it was released, I recently saw Monsters University. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was funny, and although the second half of the storyline wasn't the most creative, it was still good.

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I will be talking in some detail about the plot and ending later on, but for now, the premise of the movie is that Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan (Sulley) are monsters aspiring to become scarers who meet at Monsters University. The scarers go into the human world to make children scream, which powers the monster world. Of course, Mike and Sulley get into trouble at college, and have to learn to get along with each other if they want to have a shot at becoming scarers.

NOTE: The next two paragraphs contain information about specific events in the movie, so skip to the last paragraph if you don’t want any spoilers. If you do dare to read on, I’ll be writing as though you've already seen the movie.

Starting from the beginning, I liked the story explaining how Mike got to Monsters University. Orientation was amusingly accurate, including the seven hundred different groups trying to get you to join. I’m not going to comment on any of the frat parties, but then again, I’ve never actually been to one. As for the Scare Games, that’s where the storyline started becoming more standard, though it was still enjoyable to see how Mike and Sulley and their team got through the challenges.

The part of the ending that I thought could have been written better was what happened after Sulley confesses to the dean that he cheated in the Scare Games. She tells him that it’s cause for expulsion, and Mike and Sulley do end up having to leave Monsters University, but they immediately go and work in the mailroom at Monsters, Inc. They then manage to work their way up to the scare floor, which was their goal in the first place. While it’s good that they had to work to get what they wanted (imagine that), the short timeframe in the movie made it feel like there wasn’t really a consequence for Sulley cheating. Because cheating is wrong. Don’t try that at home, kids. [Though the scene in the human world right before they get expelled was well done, both animation and script-wise.]

To conclude, I would recommend the movie. I didn't even fall asleep while watching it, unlike during both Iron Man and Iron Man 2, the third Transformers, and Thor, among others. [Just so you know I don’t think all superhero/action movies are terrible, I did not fall asleep during The Avengers, which I thought was pretty good.] I once read or heard that Pixar movies grew up with their original audience, the students currently in college (people around my age). They still make what can be called kids’ movies, but they started out with Toy Story, which was about kids’ toys, when we were young. Around 2005, they released movies about growing up, like Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. And now Andy, from Toy Story, has gone off to college in Toy Story 3 and Mike and Sulley have had their own college experience in Monsters University. Pixar, if you’re reading this, if you could release a movie about getting a job next, that would be great.

I’m Dreaming of a White . . .

Christmas. Yes, I’m filling in the song title with the right holiday this time. I also realized that I used the wrong verb last time. . . . The song is “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” not “It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas.” Or Thanksgiving, in my case. Anyway, my mistake.

When I last left Cornell, most of the snow had actually melted due to an entire day of temperatures in the 40s. Before that, however, campus really was white. At least before the snow was trampled and turned brown and grey.

Here are some scenes from around campus:

The sundial on the engineering quad

Ezra Cornell

The slope

Another fact worth noting is that I wrote my first post one day and one year ago. Other than that, the only thing I have left to say is Merry Christmas.

Everything I Needed to Know

I fortunately did not learn on the internet, however, I have occasionally come across useful information/recipes/dating advice.

For one, I got the idea for hot dog corn muffins, which were surprisingly good. By the way, cornbread should, as a rule, be sweet. Just saying. I’ve also turned to the internet to determine what is acceptable to put into a strawberry banana smoothie (basically, strawberries . . . and bananas), and since the recipe had to specify that you should peel the bananas, there may be people more pathetic in the kitchen than I am. On second thought . . .

Then there was the time I was on one of those newfangled internet chat forum things and

Over Thanksgiving I found out that you really shouldn’t refrigerate tomatoes. I had a box of grape tomatoes (that were surprisingly good) that said “Do Not Refrigerate” on the lid. I discovered this the third or fourth time I took the tomatoes out to eat . . . from my fridge. Turns out refrigerating tomatoes breaks down the membranes in the cell walls, making them mushy and powdery.

Moving away from food, the American Dental Association officially says that it’s okay to floss your teeth before or after brushing. However, they note that flossing before brushing may help the fluoride in toothpaste get between teeth.

People seem to disagree about the definition of Morton’s Toe. Some say your second toe just has to be longer than your big toe while others say it’s the lengths of the actual metatarsals that matter. My second toe is, in fact, longer than my big toe on both feet.

The highest scoring soccer game ever was played in 2002 between AS Adema and Stade Olympique L’Emyrne. The final score was 149-0. To protest an earlier refereeing decision, Stade Olympique L’Emyrne scored an own goal every 36 seconds. There were several suspensions and bans handed out for the “unsportsmanlike conduct.”

But first and foremost: If you freeze a banana and throw it in the blender, it comes out tasting like ice cream. This may have been the discovery of the summer.

Road Tripping: Madison Square Garden

I left off after we did the Walk of Waiting for Traffic Lights and the Obstacle Course of Stationary People and made it to Madison Square Garden (MSG). Once we got to MSG, we had to do more waiting, first to get our tickets so we could go up an escalator, then in a hallway outside what turned out to be the Delta Sky 360 Club. We went in to play the Alma Mater, which is probably the only way I’ll ever get into a Sky Club. There is, however, a sky lounge in each of the high rises at Cornell.

After the Alma Mater, we walked over to the rink. The stadium was massive compared to Lynah. We were in the second level of seats behind the Cornell goal. The view wasn't bad, but it was starting to get far enough away that there were a few “where’s the puck?” moments. Of course that happens occasionally at Lynah, even if you’re on the ice . . . funny moment at Lynah from last year: the band was at the rink when it was mostly empty so It must have been during warm ups or the red-white game (when Cornell scrimmages itself). Either way, it was quiet enough so that when things got a little heated we could very clearly hear one of the players scream “where is the ******* puck?” Don’t worry, we told him where it was.

MSG before the game

Back at MSG, we didn't get to play our usual pre-game sets, and not just because Boston University’s band was there. MSG had announcements straight up until they announced the players and played the National Anthem. And then they had ads for BU and Cornell throughout the entire game, which was nice, but honestly, if you were there, I think you knew about both schools in the first place.

The game was a slight disappointment. It was mostly evenly matched until BU scored their first goal. Then Cornell could not get their offence started. Third period saw Cornell losing 3-0. It was not good.

In the end, Cornell came back for two goals, and there were a few times in the final minutes where it looked like they had a shot to tie the game. It turned out they couldn't, but they gave it a try. I still had a fun time and it was pretty cool to see this on the screens when we walked in:

Of course, even without overtime, we left New York City at 11:30, an hour later than we were scheduled to. I slept most of the bus ride back to Ithaca. MSG was a cool experience, but I was excited to be playing in Lynah again. Everyone’s close to the ice, it’s loud in a good way, and (almost) everyone’s a Cornell fan. Also, after navigating the seas of people, I was thrilled to be going back to Cornell in general, because 1) it’s in the middle of nowhere and 2) I get to see the same people (ChemEs) every day.

It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot Like . . .

Thanksgiving. I know, Thanksgiving was two weeks ago, but hey, we should be thankful all year round, right? Also, I’m behind on blogging as usual. Two problem sets, a project, an essay, and two finals in two weeks can do that to a person. [On a tenuously related note, my latest attempt to increase productivity while writing essays – my average speed is just over three words a minute – includes copious amounts of music without words. To get through my history of science essay I went through three or four hours of the Piano Guys and the Vitamin String Quartet, Schumann’s Kinderszenen (played by Horowitz) twice, Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, and the entire soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Note that there are words in the Lord of the Rings soundtrack; however, I don’t understand Elvish.]

Anyway, Thanksgiving break began after class on Wednesday. After a last lunch in the dining hall, I was responsible for feeding myself for the next twelve meals. Food was actually the main concern of the weekend, since we still had shelter, heat, electricity, water, and most importantly internet connection in the dorms. There were a lot of peanut butter and jam sandwiches, some throwing of things into the oven, and a little boiling of water. It turns out cooking takes a lot of time.

I made my sandwiches more fun with one of my two cookie cutters.

And there was this dinner that included all the food groups.

What happens when you only have one bowl-like dish
(look at what the red cup is)

When I wasn't watching water boil, there was always p-chem homework. A friend and I got most of the assignment done between Thursday and Friday afternoon. Even with all that done, it still took another three hours at office hours to finish the problem set up.

Saturday I went with the pep band to Madison Square Garden for Red Hot Hockey. There were only a dozen or so people on the bus ride down, so it was a real party bus silent most of the way into the city. We got to Times Square early and decided to walk to Rockefeller Plaza to see the tree. It was absolute madness. Plus the tree wasn't lit. If I wanted to see an unlit tree I would have gone hiking. The person to tree ratio is much lower as well.

We returned to meet the bus and the rest of the band at the bowling alley where some alumni were having an event and wanted the band to play for them. Apparently there are high class bowling alleys, because that’s what this was. They fed us dinner in the barroom (just the fact that they had a bar should say something) and instead of overdone pizza and a jug of soda there was actual food. Things like sliders and chicken strips, but it was still good. That may also have been because we couldn't actually see what we were eating. Lighting was reminiscent of a film developing room or a highly inappropriate club.

After we played a few songs, we made the trek to Madison Square Garden. Ten blocks at Cornell is a twelve minute walk sprint to get to engineering classes from North Campus. Ten blocks in the middle of New York City during Thanksgiving with fifty instrument-carrying band members is a marathon-length ordeal. You could cartwheel from your dorm up the slope during a snowstorm faster than we were walking. Because besides the crosswalks every fifteen inches, there are people who think it’s a good idea to walk into the middle of a group. And then stop. Some of them even act confused when they get hit by limbs and/or instruments. You didn’t notice the giant instrument carrying herd of Waldo’s in disguise? Really? (Our pep band shirts are red and white striped, but most people were wearing jackets.) And then we finally made it to Madison Square Garden.

Business as Usual

Happy December. Cornell has started to look like this more often:

It’s cold.

In the next three days, I have a 1500 word essay due and two finals (for physical chemistry and linear algebra). I also had a project due yesterday. It was supposed to be study break, but my group ended up working on the project for eight hours on Sunday and two more yesterday. Therefore, I have gotten exactly no studying done.

So it’s business as usual around here. During the semester I had a mass and energy balances problem set due on Tuesday, a linear algebra problem set due Thursday, and a physical chemistry problem set due Friday. My liberal studies class had between thirty to fifty pages of reading a week. As there were no numbers, these readings tended to be dense and massively confusing. I also worked for Cornell Productions about once a week, and had pep band two to three times a week.  I spent most of the semester behind on . . . everything, and I thought I’d finally get a break during finals week, but apparently not. We’ve just replaced problem sets with final assignments that only determine thirty to forty percent of our final grades.

There were two points I wanted to make. 1) The past two weeks are the reason I haven’t gotten to write anything about Thanksgiving. 2) I’m now taking suggestions for a new major.

Any person, any study, right?

Troll in the Heater

My life as an engineer has recently been busy, occasionally frustrating (I’m talking to you, Mathematica), but I can say that it’s never boring. Even so, I've been thinking that certain aspects of the classes I’m taking could use a little more fun.

First up, mass and energy balances. Say you have a heater that increases the temperature of a water stream from 50°C to 75°C. 125 kg of water enters the heater, but 117 kg of water exits. A mass balance (or basic math) tells you that 8 kg of water is missing. Well, at this point you could speculate that there’s a leak in the heater or that water is building up in the system. Or you could decide that neither of those explanations is that plausible and conclude that there must be a troll in the heater drinking the missing water.

Moving on to linear algebra: we learned how computers use 4x4 matrices to perform transformations on coordinates to make them look 3D from a viewer’s perspective. Our example was a falling building (“don’t worry; the building’s only three units high and you’re standing five units away”). Apparently, when viewed on a 2D screen, this building:

should look like this as it falls:

I know, you’re waiting for my first video game to come out, aren't you?

Then in physical chemistry, we’re dealing a lot with operators that do things to functions. For example, we have an operator that takes the derivative of a function and one that multiplies a function by x. So that we know they’re operators, they wear hats like this: . But those are boring hats. I like these better:

There are some special operators called Hermitian operators. They don’t like people and live alone in huts in the middle of nowhere. [Not really. They’re named after the French mathematician Hermite.]

Finally, if a band called Schrodinger’s Cats put out an album called Wanted Dead and Alive, wouldn't you want to listen to it too?