Back from 4 day trip in Palm Springs. It was pretty uneventful other than one relatively significant decision. So we decided to bring our dogs with us for the first time on a trip. We rented an SUV just for the occasion, and stuffed all the luggage in the middle so that the dogs would have the back to themselves. Other than taking about an hour to get Sam into the car, the drive went pretty well for the first 2 hours, until Sam started getting restless and growly and mean to Calvin. Luckiy we arrived after not to long. Things went well for the first 2 days until significant event #1, when Sam got into another fight with Calvin, giving Calvin a cut on his face and Sam a limp in his leg. Significant event #2 occured the moment we were preparing to leave, when Sam again wouldnt get into the car. We tried for about 3 hours before the decision was thrown out that maybe Sam needed a new home. It turns out that one of the employees at the hotel had a cousin who had been looking for a dog to adopt for a while, and Sam was amazingly receptive towards him. So, amidst tears from my mom and silence from my dad, we handed over the leash, said our goodbyes, asked Calvin to jump back into the car, and drove home.

I know it seems like the decision was made on a whim, but I think my parents were considering it for a while. Sam, being the half chow he his, really is born to get all the attention and to have his way. Splitting affection between the two dogs resulted in Sam constantly exhibiting his dominance, in other words attacking Calvin. Calvin's torn ear and the numerous scars on Sam really make me feel like it was only a matter of time before one of them were seriously hurt. Even more significant, I think, was the fact that Sam had no desire whatsoever to get into the car with us, and seemed more than eager to go along with someone new. It really makes me feel that it was time to part ways. At least now we can spend 100% of time with Calvin, and hopefully Sam gets the attention he wants and deserves.

In happier news, I got a cool new cell phone for Christmas (finally a flip phone!) and my mom won $2000 playing slots at Viejas.

Happy New Year!!!

Wooo!!! I love winter break!!! Time for a 1 minute recap of the last week.

Monday I tried skateboarding for the first time with vic and jon, the 2 masters. It was actually pretty fun, and got pretty decent towards the end, and managed to escape with only a half broken wrist. On tuesday we all went out for dinner at this one restaurant which had really hot . . . chicken wings. Yup, really hot. Phew. I also finally saw the Incredibles, which was an awesome movie. Yesterday vic came along with me to the Hampton Lab Christmas Party, which was oodles of fun. People actually ate my apple crust pie thing, and I ended up with a 1 pound coupon for See's candy, and a handy gift card from Randy. Good stuff. Today I helped out with George and friends filming his new movie, where I play a pivotal role with such dramatic lines as "Well, hello sexy". And I got shot.

Chargers: AFC West Champions

The biggest, most significant Charger game in the last 10 years.

Chargers: 20
Broncos: 17

I visited Sea World to see a special Christmas Shamu show friday, which was pretty cool, and Balboa Park yesterday for their Holiday thing including all free museums. More on that later when I don't have 2 finals and an essay breathing down my neck.

So I spent a good portion of my time yesterday transforming 12 more of those wonderful Hrd mutant yeast strains. It took a long time and it was hard work, but afterwards I felt good knowing that all I had to do now was wait for them to grow. Then I came in today with the intention of doing one quick thing, when Renee tells me that the 24 SC-Ura plates I used might have been screwy, which means all my transformants might be miserable failures. So Brian asks me if I saved my transformants, like I did the other 13 strains but NOT THESE ONES!!!! Dang. And on top of that, the SC-Ura plates that might be screwy were made by none other than ME!!!!!

Today was also the last day of the bulk of my classes, which is kinda sad since I wont be listening to Randy lecture anymore, meaning I'll have to rely on myself for good jokes.

Hope everyone had an amazing and brilliant Thanksgiving break. Mine went pretty well considering we didnt go to vegas and have unlimited turkey. Other than eating too much food I spent a lot of the time shopping, although I ended up buying next to nothing. Oh well. Christmas is all about receiving, not giving right? Wait a sec . . .

If you missed the Chargers-Chiefs game, you missed one of the best games ever. In all seriousness, this is the best chargers team i've ever seen (granted thats not saying much).

Chargers 8-3
First place baby!!

"Did you go shopping recently?"
Renee, in response to me wearing something different

Gloating of the Victorious Part II

Once again, the Chargers defeated, pummeled, humbled, smacked down, laid down, brought down, knocked down our more hated and detested arch enemies of all time, and did it in the Black Hole!!! Wooooooo!!!!! LT is the man!!! So are Drew Brees, Antonio Gates, and Keenan McCardell, all of whom are now my favorite players of all time. Who woulda thought there would be a day when the real life Chargers were better than my madden team?? Watch as I bobble my LT bobble head in awe and amazement. *bobble bobble*

Chargers 7-3

So today I visited Kevin for the first time to give him my old midterms from the historic o-chem class with Prof. Tor. He lives in I-House, and I have to say that it was the nicest apartment in all of UCSD. The buildings look cool on the outside, and the inside is very very spacious. Kevin had this one roommate from Austrialia / Norway / Scandaniva who seemed pretty cool too. Chang was also dropping off ochem stuff, and he had an intense time examining the non straight lines of the walls and ceilings, and almost falling off a chair in the process. Kevin showed us his room, where I found songs of him singing kareoke on his computer. Fun stuff.

My poor dog. Over the weekend calvin and sam got in a fight, and calvin ended up with a large tear in his ear. It was all bloody and gross too. He seems allright now, but its too bad his beautiful, velvety ear is damaged. I guess its kinda like a battle wound, which just makes him look more gangsta street. So he's still one sexy looking labrador chow halfbreed.

"That can't be right"
-Brian, in response to the data from my analysis of some screwey yeast mutants

"You could have told it was us from Brian's crazy driving"
"It's not crazy, its efficient"

This week has been pretty slow. With the intense excitement of midterms over I havent done an ounce of work all week, other than my usual slaving around at the lab. The only highlight of the week was Randy treating everyone to a goodbye dinner for Alex at the Korean House. Free food is always good, and mix that along with Randy cracking jokes and you get an awesome bundle of fun.

Oh, and now that I've got the free time I'll announce that after 3 1/2 years of loyal service from an '85 minivan, I finally got a brand new car. Its an amazing 2005 Civic LX, which I have nicknamed Blue. It feels great being able to drive without having to feel like you're going to tip over when you turn or that the engine will die if you stop at the stop sign or that the breaks will suddenly give out, although it does take some getting used to being so low to the ground. Blue is an awesome friend already, and I am looking forward to a great future together. Whooo!!

An Ode to Reuben's Retirement
To an old friend whose time is here
3 claps and a hearty cheer
For getting me to lab and school
The sandy beach or the swimming pool
You broke down at least once or twice
But overall our times were nice
Now at the end, your job is set
Taking the dogs to the vet.

Happy Retirement Mr. Van!!!

Chargers: 42
Raiders: 14

Woooo!!!! The Chargers destroyed our arch enemies, massacred them, slaughtered them, pounded, squashed, smashed, crushed, and all but annihilated them in possibly the greatest game in history (ok, maybe not . . . but close). Not bad for a team that people said would be the worst team in football.

Halloween with Raymond, Vic, Grace, and Kimberly at Raymond's yearly Haunted Garage. Lots of fun as always, with a really cool baby holding a machette climbing out of a flashing car with caution tape around it. Free pizza didnt hurt either.

More free pizza today in lab meeting. I also got to show the lab my nonsensical data, saying such brilliant comments as "Uhh, well, err" as I tried to explain why half the strains were different than the rest. Thanks a lot, freak Hrd 11 mutants that act screwy for a poor undergrad's experiment.

An Ode to Midterm Week and Anaylzing Yeast Mutants

3 midterms in a row
My lab work's gone so so
Must work though I'm tired
Otherwise I'll be fired

Putting off writing my essay and studying for my 3 upcoming midterms, so here's yet another update about my new second home, the Hampton Lab, courtesy of the greatest grad students this side of UCSD.

(Brian reaches for a drawer near Omar's crotch)
Omar: "What are you doing?"
Brian: "Reaching for something near your crotch"
(Renee cracks up)
Brian: "Renee was laughing before I even said it"
Renee: "I saw where you were reaching"
Brian: "Renee was looking at your crotch"
Omar: "So what else is new?"

Proving my recent realization that the only things I ever mention on my blog are the lab, sports, and my dogs, I'll just say that the Chargers are 3-2 and playing the Falcons next, and Calvin almost ate a rat before I grabbed it and held it for a few seconds before realizing that I was holding a dead rat.

Thanks all round to everyone for well wishes and temporary attention; the Imus Clan for always bringing home dinner, the friends for all the good times, and the way-too-smart-lab people for giving me a b-day card with a joke i didnt understand.

"I'm getting too old for this sort of thing"

Well, the post season is here and sadly our old friends the Padres wont be there. Sad indeed, but looking back on the season you can't deny that this was a great year for us. Our first winning season since '98, staying in the race for a playoff spot until literally the last 3 days, and tons of great plays from new and old players. Not to mention cool new uniforms and an awesome new park. So, here's to the Padres, the fans, and a great season. We'll get em next year.

Padres: 87-75

Reading for Cell Bio: "... one that includes a powerfully negatively charged detergent, sodium dodecyl sulfate, or SDS ..." Hey, I use that in the lab!!! Its that stuff in the bottle above the balance that always gets caught in my throat and makes me cough!! I'm so important! I'm directly involved in the scientific progress of mankind!! Wooooohoooo!!!!

Back to reality . . . that stuff really does make me cough. I guess thats why the directions say "Wear mask when handling SDS"

Interesting things seen while walking the dogs around wonderful RP;
*** I just realized that I never see anything interesting while walking my dogs ... their chick magnetism is wasted ***

School is going well so far. I think i'll be spending a lot of time in the lab this quarter, but its all good cuz they gave me free food again today. All my classes are 1 midterm, 1 final, which is kinda scary. But, everything in the world is great, because this is the first quarter in over a year WITHOUT O-CHEM!!!. Yeeeehaaaww!!

3rd year of classes started today. Whoooooooo

This quarter I have the pleasure of taking metabolic biochemistry with Randy Hampton, the one and the same professor whose lab I get to hang out at on a daily basis. He's a really cool guy in person, and I'd heard great things about him as a professor, so I was really looking forward to being in his class. Today I got to experience that, and I'm not really sure what else to say other than that he's a natural born comedian, and that he swore more times in an 80 minute class than all my other teachers and professors over the last 14 years combined.

I ended up parking in the same old spot that was basically my car's home for all of last year. I got the chance to test out my new shortcut that I'd discovered over the summer (its only taken me 2 years); turning right onto North Torrey Pines Road and then right onto Genesee, which takes you directly to the 5 without having to drive through the winding roads and stop signs you get cutting across UCSD. Well, imagine my surprise when it took me 20 minutes to get to genesee from that turn (its like 20 seconds without traffic). Even more disheartening was the traffic on the 5, after thinking that the lack of traffic during the summer would become a trend. Yeah, that definitely ranks high on Mike's Top Ten Worst Decisions of All Time.

So I sat in on my first lab meeting today, taking a seat in the very front next to Randy in the designated "Everyone Hates Randy Seat". The next hour and a half consisted of all the grad students talking about proteins and degradations and ubiquitons, and me trying to look like I had even the slightest clue what what going on. Everyone sounded so intelligent just describing what they had for lunch, while my entire input to the discussion consisted of saying "Right". My only other involvement was when Randy began poking me in the shoulder and yelling "YOU'RE GOING TO F***'IN ROCK!!!".

Me:"So, how was the retreat?"
The Lab: "There was a lot of drinking", "We drank a lot", "Brian drank too much"

Finally getting to do something other than the usual filing of papers, finding of charts, and opening of mail, at the hospital yesterday i got to accompany the doctor into the ICU to watch him work on a patient. He even let me look down this scope they had placed down the patient's throat, so I got to see a bunch of muscousy membranous tunnels and holes. Good stuff.

Our dish washer Christine has been on vacation the last two weeks, which meant that the next lowest person in the chain (me) got stuck with all the fun duties. Thankfully, she gets back monday and i can get back to wastefully using glassware in an inefficient manner knowing that i wont have to worry about washing them. Whoo!!

Chargers win!!! Whooo! Ok, I know that they probably won't win too many more from here on out, and that the chargers have had a hundred seasons where they've started out good before losing 1o in a row, but it was still quite a win. For the last few months just about every sports writer in america has called the chargers the worst team in football, and though that may still turn out to be the case, i can honestly say i still have faith in my boys.

Chargers: 1-0

Friday we decided to spend a night camping at Dixon Lake in Escondido. So as soon as we got off work, Jen and I drove up to try and claim one of the last few sites that were left. We cleverly avoided the 15 traffic by getting stuck in Pomerado Road traffic, and after narrowly making it to the lake with our lives we were able to pick out a nice spot with a view of the lake. As we made our way back to Jen's place so she could pick up her stuff, I was right about to comment that "Whew, good thing there's no time pressure on us now" when I realized that the gates to the lake close at sunset and that the others werent even on their way yet. Amazingly, with Vic driving really fast and Jen driving really fast (truly an awesomely powerful combination) we all made it back to the lake in time and were able to pick up some sandwiches on the way. Thanks must be given to Vic for having the ingenious idea of bringing glow sticks, which entertained us pretty much for the entire night.

In the morning we rented a rowboat and had lots of fun attempting to row around the lake, which we actually did pretty well. We were so precise in our movements that we were able to navigate close enough to a tuna fish can floating in the lake that Jen was able to reach out and grab. 2 days in a row I was amazed at the power of our group.

Pics at my other site.

I've been pretty bad with movies this year, not seeing anything through the first 6 months thanks to my busy schedule at school. This summer hasnt been much better either, but over the last few weeks i've been able to catch a few movies, so here's the rundown of the better ones.

Spider-Man 2: I liked it. I imagine some people expect more action and less characterization in a comic summer flick, but i thought it did a really good job of capturing the character of peter parker, while at the same time showing some good spider-man battles. It also made me like tobey maguire as spider-man, which is a pretty good accomplishment in itself. Grade: A-

Catch Me If You Can: I finally got a chance to see this one, and I was quite amazed with it. The movie was awesome and kept me interested throughout the entire thing, due in large part to perfect acting by leo and tom hanks. I had thought it looked interesting before, but it was even better than i thought. Grade: A

Kill Bill Vol. 2: I liked the first one for its action and its music, but not much else. This one focuses more on the characters and explains all the background plot we didnt get in the first one. After seeing it and understanding what was really going on, i have to say i appreciate the first one even more. The dialogue as expected is awesome, and the plot really did get me interested, especially after you understand the relationship between the bride and bill. Grade: A-

Hidalgo: This was a fun and entertaining movie starring our favorite king of gondor. It has some good action scenes and a nice sense of adventure, but in my opinion more of a rental than a keeper. Grade: B

Honey: Starring Jessica Alba and her abs. First off, the plot is nothing revolutionary, and the acting is nothing extraordinary. That being said, the movie does pull off a feel good inspirational sentiment while not getting cheesy, thanks in large part to some genuine sweetness from jessica and the above average supporting cast. There are some good performances in a movie that doesnt give a lot of room for good performances, along with some scene stealing by missy elliot. It doesnt hurt that jessica's smile can make even the worst scene worth watching. Movie: B+, Jessica Alba: A+ Note: There's about a half hour of scenes deleted probably on the request of the studio. In my opinion a lot of these scenes accomplish a lot as far as exploring the characters and developing the plot, so I think the movie really could have been better than it was allowed to be.

Our little group finally assembled yesterday, and seeing as how lots of funny little things happened I feel that its my duty to record some of them here in my blog so that they can be forever remembered whenever I get bored enough to click on the archives button on my own blog.

So jen called me up right as i was making my way out of work and says she's free to do stuff, so we head down to UTC so that i could get food and we could look at the skaters and laugh about broomball, and after walking around the mall a bit we met up with vic, and jen decided she wanted to see the new Humane Society Site up in escondido, so we drive around a bit and find a Mexican bar hideway before jen (driving jake) realizes we're going south instead of north, so after getting gas and handing jake back over to vic, we drive down a few more roads while i get to know vic's computer monitor in the back seat and eventually find Dixon Lake, where the guys there were really cool and told us that the place was on the other side of the lake "except you cant get there" and that "we're high", by which time its pretty dark and jon calls me up, so after wasting even more cell phone minutes i dont have we decide to meet at north county fair where I use the bathroom in Nordstrom and after thinking jen and vic have abandoned me i run into jon and we walk around aimlessly looking for them before vic calls me on his phone that he cant hear out of but is able to tell me where they are, so once we get reunited once more we drive down to good ole chang's mansion where he feeds us popcorn and we play some 3 on 3 ping pong, in the process hitting chang's old red car a dozen times with jon getting bonus points by hitting jen, which leads to chang telling his ping pong ball story and everyone going home. Then I watched the Matrix Reloaded before falling asleep and waking up with a pain in my leg.

Work was fun too.

"Maybe if I whine about it enough it'll go away"
"That's what I do"

Lots happened this fine week at the end of august, and i'm in the mood for some summer reflections.

So here comes year 3 of the all important college phase of life. If we count high school, college, and something after college, then we're right about at the half way point in our growing years. We're halfway through school, halfway through the part of our lives devoted to learning and finding out who we are. I dont know that i have things quite figured out yet, but things seem to be going in the right direction. I've done some thinking about school and such, especially when it comes to med school. In what seems to be something of a trend these days, i'm starting to wonder if my goal of the last 10 years of my life is really the path i should take, whether the "stress is worth it", and whether i've been holding on to something that wasnt mean tfor me. I havent totally given up on it, but i have opened up myself to new directions, and with that the stress of grades has gotten much lighter.

In happier news, i got to hang out with jen a bit the other day. Her lab was having happy hour outside pfizer, and having just gotten off work 5 minutes down the road i stopped by to say hello. I didnt even realize how many pfizer buildings are down there. It was good seeing jen again though, and getting some hook ups ;)

My lab went out to lunch again, this time to CPK. Good stuff, and this week has started me thinking how much i've come to love the people in my lab. They're such cool people, and crack me up as much as anyone. If i end up taking a job somewhere else this year, I'm glad i'll at least get to stick around doing my 199 (and continuing to be a worker slave, just one that doesnt get paid).

"Next time why dont you have an ugly kid whose not fun to be around?"

Happy 2 Year + 1 week Anniversary of Mike's Blog!!! Here's to many more funny and pointless posts!

Mike's back!!! Vacation was long and fun, and pics are up at my site.

Things started with a 9+ hour drive to June Lake, located near Yosemite. We drove around the area, which consisted mostly of mountains, forests, small towns, and lakes. The food was pretty good, but the gas prices were even worse than here. Eek. Among our visits were Mono Lake, Mammoth Mountain, Yosemite, and Lake Tahoe.

After we were done there, we drove down to the familiar vacation spot of Las Vegas. Amazingly, it was our first visit in close to 2 years due to a mom-imposed exile. Things had changed a bit, but overall it was the same good old stomping ground. The biggest change was to our beloved Mirage Buffet, now much bigger and much fancier. It looked really nice, and even had tv screens next to the line, showing dramatic shots of food, such as orange juice being pored and brocoli being chopped. The food was darn good though, and they had real ice cream, a rarity among vegas buffets. Square plates too, which I couldnt quite explain.

The arcades had changed somewhat too. In addition to my familiar favorites of Time Crisis 2, House of the Dead 2, and Virtua Cop 2, I was soon greeted by new friends Time Crisis 3, House of the Dead 3, and Virtua Cop 3. They hadnt really changed all that much from their prequels, although virtua cop was surprisingly fun. Despite the new stuff, I found that old classics such as Area 51 and Time Crisis 1 were still loads of fun even after all these years.

Lots of shopping malls, awesome food, and some underage gambling made for a good couple of days off :P

I made another one of those Quiz Your Friends things that we all love so much. Its all Dereks fault :P, have fun.

Here's something that should provide you with a few seconds of entertainment.

Going far and away on vacation for the next week. In case I'm to lazy to update tomorrow, here's to see ya later!!!

Summer is going better now that summer class is over. The other day I came across the brilliant idea of hanging out at the beach rather than sitting through traffic when i get out during rush hour. So hopefully i'll be seeing more sand and waves every now and then.

If you're bored, you can check out my lab's website. It hasnt been updated in years so I'm not in it, which is why i never bothered mentioning it before. On second thought, there isnt much reason for you to see it since there arent any pictures of me.

Here's something funny. Calvin has developed a new hobby of going into the corner of his room to sniff around, and then getting stuck there. The only way for him to get out is to walk backwards. Hahaha. Have you ever seen a dog walking backwards?? Hahahahaha!!! Hey come on, thats funny.

"I would never intentionally hurt you"
"Intentionally"

So I started my first day of volunteering at the hospital last thursday. Got to help out a bit, but didnt get to see any operations or procedures yet, other than an xray on one of the patients. I was told that there will be "plenty more". My timing was excellent however, as that was the day the Doc decided to treat everyone to mexican food for lunch. Free chicken enchiladas!! Add that to Islands today with the lab, and that makes for a productive few days at work. Whoooo.

"Who wants to ride with me?"
"Everyone who wants to get there slower than Brian."

Nooooooo!

Steve Finley has joined our arch enemy. Its like Wolverine joining the League of Evil Mutants.

In even worse news, happy first of August. Its a cliche, but I cant believe summer is already half way over.

If there's any good news, its that blogger has now made it really easy to change font color. Nifty

I find myself in the all too familiar situation of sitting in Geisel with a final in 2 days and not enough energy to study. Here's a song expressing my feelings of structural biochemistry, to the tune of that really sweet song from the san diego zoo commerical (i think the star website has a link to it if you havent heard it).

An Ode to Summer Structural Biochemistry
"Maybe its the hot weather
How much it makes me sweat
Eyes, so sore from reading late
The hardest topic yet
Maybe its the beta sheets
Or the ten pages on DNA
All I know is that all year long
Finals dont go away"

 

ComicCon with Jon today!! Fun stuff, with lots of crazy things to see. My girlfriend Jessica Alba was there, but sadly the line into her presentation was incredibly long, so I guess I'll just have to meet up with her later tonight. Jon and I settled for such other celebrities as Mark Hamil, The Wayans Brothers, and that one dude who played Hulk in the 80's. The funniest sight of the day was seeing Jon spill gatorade on himself, so it looked like he peed pink in his pants. See pics at my other site.

At the lab . . .
Me: "Damn, they requested something i have no idea how to make. Hey Brian, how do you make YM + adeninine/methionine/leucine + galactose plates?"
Brian: "Well, galactose is 4%"
Me: "Oh, ok . . . so how do i make them?"
Brian: "Hmm, well, hey do you guys know how to make galactose plates?"
Renee: *shrugs*
Christine: "You're making galactose plates?"
Brian: "Yeah, I need them because *insert scientific jargon* didnt work."
Christine: "Why dont you just *insert scientific gobbledygook* cuz making galactose plates is a real pain in the ass and you'll only use a few of them anyway."
Brian: "Oh, ok. I guess you dont need to make them anymore"
Me: "Score one for Mike!!!"

And the 56 opened this week. I was driving down it for the first time, and when I realized how quickly I made it to the 5, i was flooded with memories of being trapped on the backroads in traffic, and a tear came to my eye. After 2 long years, I no longer needed to spend half my life sitting in the car, I could sleep in an extra 1o minutes until the sun actually came out, no more stoplights that turn red so 1 car can get through, no more merging 100 cars into one lane, no more tractors driving 10 mph down a one lane road, no more stop signs, no more dust, no more pain, there is hope, there is light, the world is wonderful and just afterall!!! Then I realized I was at UCSD and had to go to class and work.

I finally got an email with my student TA evaluations. A grand total of 4 people evaluated me, and I got pretty good scores considering I was making things up as I went along. The funniest rating was for "Stimulates your curiosity", which I got a 5 for. If you ever need youro curiosity stimulated, you know who to see. "This ta is one of the best ive had, he helped prepare in the worst of times."

I also added a few more pictures of my dogs in case you havent seen them already.

Whoo!! I finally got a digital camera!! Yee haw. Of course, there's a 2 week return policy, so its possible we wont hang on to this one, but for now, i might actually have a reason to update my lost and forsaken "other" website!!

Here's a pic of my amazingly handsome dog calvin. Not looking at the camera, but he had red eyes in all the other ones.

Saturday I finally got to go to Petco Park to see the Padres!!! Awesome awesome experience. The place is beautiful and it feels great just to walk around taking in the surroundings. The game itself was cool too. I got to see just about everyone; nevin, giles, klesko . . . greene got some of the hugest pops surprisingly. Adam Eaton pitched a no hitter through 7 innings, which was pretty cool. The best part of the night came in the 9th . . . Trevor Time!!! I've never had the pleasure of seeing Trevor Hoffman pitch, even back at Qualcomm, but seeing him was even cooler than i thought. At the end of the eighth, us up by 1 run, i knew he was coming in and so did everyone else. Then, all of a sudden, Hell's Bells start ringing and the whole place erupts. His music starts playing, and he comes out, running onto the field with fire all over the screens. It was amazing. Then he starts pitching, first guy up, out with a flyball. 2nd guy up, out just as quickly. The bells start ringing again and everyone gets on their feet for the last out. Groundball, to first, we win!!! The whole place is jumping and cheering, high fiving as the fireworks go off. Whew. Amazing. We're lucky to live in san diego, with some of the best baseball fans anywhere.

Afterwards they had fireworks, which were cool too.

Yesterday we went up to seaworld, and saw fireworks there, which were pretty good also. And I got to go on their new Atlantis ride, which was decent. You would expect the big drop into the water to be the climax, like every other good ride, but for some reason it turned out that it was the first drop. When we were about to go down it, i expected it to be a teaser, with a slight fall and then a turn, so i had my arms up in the air, yelling in a joking manner when i look down and realize "Oh great . . .". So yeah, that was fun.

I watched Casablanca for the first time since honors american literature. Its now been placed among my top 5 alltime favorite movies.

Currently listening to: Switchfoot!

Summer randomness!!

I was watching Wimbledon today, and maria sharapova is pretty good. She's pretty hot too, and there are obvious comparisons to anna kournikova (russian, blonde, high rank as a teen). The thing about tennis is that as far as i can remember whichever player i root for always seems to lose, which is pretty discouraging. But, sharapova won today so maybe the trend will change.

Wow, that one dude on jeopardy won again x2 (21 days). Seriously, the other players are never even close to this guy.

Hey, ma$e is back!! How cool is that?

Currently listening to: New Found Glory
Cheesy Song of the Day: Mariah Carey - Thank God I Found You (actually a really good song)

Oh, summer classes started this week too. Structural Biochemistry with Buehler, who doesnt seem all that bad despite what cape says. Chang is in my class too.

Wanna hear about some productivity? I was playing smackdown, and beat the big show (biggest guy in the game) with rey mysterio (smallest guy in the game) !!! Whooo!!! Go me!!!

Wow, that one dude on jeopardy won again (19 days).

So I went food shopping with my dad over the weekend, since he always goes alone and this was the first weekend in a long time I havent had any studying to catch up on. The result? Cheetos, soda, and a krispy kreme donut for breakfast. Yeah, I dont think I should go food shopping anymore.

Wow, that one dude on jeopardy won again. Ok, so nobody watches jeopardy but old retired people, but this guy's been champion for 18 straight days or some such ridiculous number. He's won like $600,000. What!!!

I got to drive down to Hillcrest for the UCSD healtcare volunteer orientation. Fun stuff, and I'm actually really looking forward to volunteering at the hospital. The thing that sucked was that they had the clever idea of letting the people in the first row sign up for interviews first, and then go through each row backwards. All this after I sat in the 7th row. !@$!! So i dont even interview for 2 weeks, which means itll be a short while before i get to actually see some volunteer action. What also sucks is i have to drive down there again and park in their $3.00 lot that they dont validate. !#%!#@$!

Amazingly, sitting next to me during the orientation was noneother than Nan herself!! Which reminds me of all the other random people i've run into this week. Eileen payoyo at church, tammie at the fair, jocelyn at revelle orientation, this one pretty girl from my BILD 1 class at chipotles, and a few others i've forgotten. So many people and i havent even gone to costco yet!!

Currently listening to: Jay Z, and Maroon 5 cuz i just saw them
Cheesy song of the week!!! S Club 7 - Never Had A Dream Come True

So i've pretty much gotten used to my dogs going bark crazy over nothing, but yesterday it turns out that they were barking at a baby bird laying outside their door. It seemed to be hurt and couldn't fly, so we brought it in and allowed it to dorm in a shoebox. I was actually thinking it would be cool to have a pet bird. Which reminds me of the time i thought it would have been cool to have a mouse for a pet right before i broke its neck with a wooden stick. No no, dont worry, the mouse only get hurt cuz he was stealing my cinnamon toast crunch, the bird will be well taken care of. At least until my dad decides to leave him outside to be retrieved by the other bird peeps.

Me and jon went to go visit the fair again yesterday, which was pretty fun despite having to wait an hour and a half for his friends. We scoured almost all the shops, with jon looking for a cowboy hat. He found a couple he liked, including one made 100% out of paper, but didnt end up getting one. We got to see maroon 5 perform, which was pretty cool. They were the first band i've seen perform at del mar since tom jones. Good stuff.

Afterwards jon showed me where he works, which was really cool looking. It reminded me of cyberdine systems from T2, and made me feel bad about how unclean and funny smelling my lab is. There were also a couple of guys still working there at 10:30 at night, which is kinda freaky.

Speaking of my lab, we also had a mini going away luncheon for one of the guys who is leaving. Free pizza and soda!!! Take that jon and his automatic coffee / tea maker and soda dispenser and 30 cent candy bars and elevators that are really high tech!!

Yay for summer!!!

Currently listening to: that really old song by 3lw. Dont laugh at me.

It feels great having so much free time, so here comes a bunch of random stuff.

Wow, i really cant remember what i did last weekend. Must be from the shock of finishing finals. I guess i didnt really do anything. Went to the beach with derek and his friend on tuesday, where i missed the really cool earthquake cuz i was in the water when it happened. Tried boogie boarding again, and still failed to catch any waves. Fun stuff though. Went jogging downtown with vic today, and also stopped by fashion valley where i got a hat for dad.

Afterwards me and derek visited good old mt carmel to see the end of graduation. The security guard was really cool and let us in without a ticket. We caught the very end of the ceremony, just in time for the mad rush onto the field. Applying our amazing skills of tracking, we happenend to randomly stumble upon eupheme who was being mobbed by about 20 people taking pictures. Me and derek got into 1 pic, where i think i was moving my mouth like i was chewing right when it was taken. Afterwards we wandered into the gym to check out the set up for grad nite, which looked nice, and actually a lot like ours. The rest of the school didnt seem to have changed much, except that they got rid of a bunch of those trailers out back. No, not the APEC room!!!!

"I think he's a very stressed dog." -mom, referring to calvin. Stressed? He eats, sleeps, and smells grass all day!! And he's got a kind and loving guy like me to come running whenever he starts whining. Let him take some ochem courses, and then we'll see who's stressed. (What's the product of an Aldol Condensation?...ruff ruff ruff...brilliant!!)

It is over. *falls over and dies from exhaustion*

*gets up so he can update his blog*

Finally, this year is down the drain and gone forever. I'm glad finals are over, despite the fact that they killed me with death coil and then cast animate dead on me. This year was tough, but as always there were many things learned and new experiences to remember, and the memories are always worth keeping around. (especially if you have a handy dandy blog!)

"Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down
These memories are playing like a film without sound"

Ahh! Why isn't this week over yet. Blah. One last final tomorrow morning at 8am, followed by catching up on a week's worth of work at the lab, then grading bio finals for ~4 hours. Gosh i wish this year was over.

Which would mean college is halfway through. Whoa. Can you believe graduation was 2 years ago?? Freaky.

Also, turns out the guy who emailed me asking for all my handouts from the quarter cuz i was such a great TA, actually emailed all the TA's asking for all their handouts. Monkey head.

So i held my final office hour yesterday, planning on sleeping in geisel before ochem lecture. Out of nowhere, 5 people show up and start asking me to share my multifaceted anthology of BILD 1 knowledge. I felt so loved!! I also learned that a good way to avoid answering questions that you dont know the answer to is to keep saying "So I saw 14 pages of the final" every 5 minutes. And, now i've got 5 people to send my handouts to, so my lecture outlines are forsaken no more, but rather loved and cherished.

My boss also took me and a few of the other lab peoples to lunch today. I learned two things about Randy; he's actually a really funny guy to talk to, and he's also a scary driver. Food was good though, and you cant complain when its free.

"I remember stormy weather
The way the sky looks when its cold
And you were with me
Content with walking
So unaware of the world"

I dont have any time to play warcraft 3 on my awesome new computer because finals are next week!! *hands clenched, fist shaking at the air* NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

My last section is also today!! Whoo! I'll bet tons of people will show up, totally amazed by my TA'ing skills. There will be people crowding on the floor, others trying to just shove their way through the door, thinking "if only i'd come to this section since week 1, i'd be a BILD 1 professor by now!". Also got to demo the final, which was fun. Luckily, i didnt blatantly miss any obvious questions that TAs are expected to know, cuz if the professor found out that i have no idea how glycosylation works . . . well, that would be a bad thing.

On a lighter note, i tossed this roundish dog treat to calvin and he missed it, and it started rolling away as he chased after it. I thought it was funny. So would you if you saw it. Yes you would. Shut up.

Allright, i think i'm gonna go play warcraft 3 now . . . wait, i cant because finals are next week!! *falls to knees, hands covering face* NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

"Hand me the world on a silver platter
And what good would it be?"

Mike finally got a new computer!!! Whooo!! No more crashes every 5 minutes, and I actually have sound again!! Yee haw.

Studying physics at the beach today. Fun stuff. And, my mom conveniently left all her credit cards at home today, so during shopping afterwards i was called on for help. At least now I have a member's credit card at Mervyn's.

More to post later but i think ill go to sleep now.

Padres 28-22, 1st place!!!

I was busy working on the latest edition of Mike's Forsaken BILD 1 Lecture Outlines when Will im's me this thing. Will figured it out in 2 minutes cuz he's will, while I did it in 5. It made me feel smart again so i thought i'd share it with all you people.

Ahh, the memories. Seeing all the high schoolers talking about prom on their blogs and xangas makes me think back to that special night 2 years ago and wonder one thing . . . how come our year was the one that got screwed up and scheduled before AP tests were over?? Haha. Fun times though. I'm happy for everyone who had a great prom over the weekend, and thanks for reminding me of a time before ochem :P

Someone actually came to my office hours today!! I finally got a chance to share my vast wisdom, and i feel loved and appreciated once again. (Until she comes back and says "You explained it all wrong!")

Alias and Smallville finales!! Fun stuff, although i liked last year's alias cliffhanger better, and i'm kinda sad they killed lauren, cuz she was hot. (Of course, she fell into that hole in the end so its possible she may have survived somehow, despite getting shot about 10 times).

"I hate you! But I love Sydney more!"

Well, the ochem midterm is finally out of the way, and i think i did ok. So now i feel much more relaxed and can write a happy, generic journal post. (Until the midterm is handed back at least)

Saturday drove with jon to ucsd for his transfer admit day. Didnt really do much, just walked around a few places and showed him vic's fridge. We ate at shogun (again) where jon made fun of my chop stick skills. Also got some pool going, where i sucked, but did manage to win one game legitimately.

Afterwards went with mario and his suitemates to their new apartment for their housewarming party. It was a pretty nice place, with lots of space (mostly cuz they didnt have any furniture yet). Getting out kinda sucked cuz the parking lot was so small, and i rammed into a car twice before asking the girl in the car next to me if she could move so i could get out. Ugh. Plus, eric rode with me driving there, and he happened to be the one carrying the korean bbq, so now my car smells like korean bbq.

Between getting home and yesterday at 6:00 was studying ochem.

After the test vic needed a ride home, and we decided to get dinner at mimi's cafe. It was pretty good, and several funny things came up during our conversations. Sadly i dont really remember what they were. But they were funny!!

"You cried, I tried
To stretch the truth, but didn't lie
It's not so bad when you think about it"

This has been a long week, and i havent even started studying for my ochem midterm yet. Why wont this year end?? Ahhhh. I seriously cant remember the last time classes bugged me so much, although i guess even when i didnt worry about grades i always found something else to stress about. Augh.

Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of bringing calvin and sam to the room in the back of our house. I still cant believe there was a time i could carry both of them. But as annoying as it is to get calvin's paw prints on my white shirts and to hear sam barking at birds past midnight, i have to say i truly appreciate being able to go home everyday to see calvin's carefree smile and sam's stoic glare. (and their chick magnetism doesnt hurt either . . . did i ever mention bringing them to pacific beach?)

So, what do i do to try and relax during a long and stressful couple of days? Why, write a rap of course!!!

In Da Lab (to the tune of 50's in da club)
You can find me in the lab
Bottles smellin bad
Mama, I'll make what you need
If you need some YPD
I'm in to pourin plates
I aint into havin dates
So come give me a call
If you're in Pacific Hall!!

Okay, that may have been the cheesiest thing ever conceived, but hey, i deserve a break from the stresses of college every now and then, and so do you :P (admit it, you laughed right? right? dang)

Gosh, I wish this quarter was over. This is seriously the busiest quarter so far (lets hope that doesnt translate into even worse grades).

My dogs got out again yesterday. I think that makes it 4 times? I didn't even realize it until my neighbor rang the doorbell. I ran out to go look for them, taking a right on salmon until neighbor dude yells at me that they just came back. So i turn around, run back to the house, and head to the backyard to find them laying down as if they had just had one of their normal walks. Hrm. I say instead of trying to walk them from now on we should just open the gate and allow them to run around the neighborhood on their own, since they seem pretty good at finding their way back by themselves.

4 more weeks . . . I think the old gang should hang out a lot more this summer. Last summer we only convened twice? That's not good enough!!

"If tomorrow never comes
I would want just one thing
I would tell it to the stars and the sun
I would write it for the world to see"

Jon is comin to ucsd!! Whoo!! I'm glad jon will be joinin the rest of us former mc'ers, cuz jon is a cool guy and sometimes the world doesnt seem to have enough cool guys in it. Plus he makes me laugh.

I was playing pool with gary from my ochem lab this morning (ochem lab got out early for the 2nd week in a row!!! did i mention how much i love that lab? well, maybe love is too strong a word) and there was a funny moment that went something like this:

Me: "Do you watch friends?"
Gary: Shocked look on his face
Me: "Oh. You dont watch friends?"
G: Shocked look on his face
Me: "You dont watch friends and are insulted i asked?"
G: "No. I just remembered i forgot to set my timer"
Me: "What timer?"
G: "To tape the last episode of friends"

I've been waiting a long time to say this, so get ready . . .


THE PADRES ARE IN FIRST PLACE BABY!!! WHOOOO!!! TAKE THAT ANTI PETCO PARK ACTIVISTS!!!

Padres: 18-11
The Padres are in first place, while the Dodgers are NOT in first place. You may be wondering how many teams have more wins than the padres. The answer beings with an N, ends with an E, and has OON in the middle.

First of all, go here, click on the Online All Star Ballot button, and vote for san diego boys to go to the all star game!!

So yesterday was the Warren Semi Formal. I hooked up with mario and friends once again, except this time there was something like 27 people. We had reservations at buca di beppo downtown for 5:30, but didnt get there till 6:30. I had the privilage of driving 5 of us in mr. reubens, and discovered that the only thing more fun than driving downtown on a saturday evening is trying to find parking on a saturday evening. We got a spot in a parking structure not to far from the restaurant, and actually got the very last spot all the way on the top (not counting the guy who kinda parked on the side of the road). It was even more hectic in the restaurant where people were trying to figure out where to sit everyone and what to order. The food ended up being pretty good, so i guess it was all worth it.

From there we walked down to the convention center. We could see petco park from basically everywhere we were the whole day, and seeing it just makes me more excited to go watch a game sometime soon.

So we finally got to the dance, where they had some more good eats and drinks. The dancing itself was pretty fun, and our group once again had a huge circle going on. A lot of people from last time who i thought werent coming ended up showing up, so that was cool to see everyone. Vic, kevin, and chang were all there too, so it was lots of fun hangin with them and getting a groove on (kevin is a monster!!) :P

So 5 hours later we decided to go home, after taking about 100 huge group pictures. Overall it was noodles of fun.

Also, the other day i found a mouse in the pantry. Grabbing my trusty wooden stick that i keep around in case i ever need to defend the house from an intruder, i patiently waited for the mouse to reveal itself. Eventually the mouse got foolish and ventured out to the front of the pantry, and (having just watched kill bill) i proceeded to execute a downward slice, laying the smackdown directly on the mouse's candy ass. It dropped dead and i felt manly. Until i had to pick it up and stick it in a bag to dispose of (picking up a mouse is really, really icky). I wished i had used one of my dad's samaurai swords so i could say i sliced the mouse in half, but ah well.

Padres: 16-9

"Cuz i don't know if i take that chance
Just where is it gonna lead
But what i do know is the way she dance
Makes shorty allright wit me"

I love when o-chem lab gets out early!!! Yet another reason why 143A is a thousand times better than 6BL. Now I can actually eat something and not be hungry all through bio lecture!!!

Nobody came to my section yesterday. I feel so unloved. So do my expertly composed lecture outlines. When they dont get A's on the next midterm they'll all say "If only i had gone to mike's section and not forced him to sit around drawing stick figures on the chalk board".

Padres 13-9

"What if I said what I was thinking?
What if that says to much?
When everybody's got a reason
I feel like giving up"

Wow its hot. I think I'm gonna go to work and hang out in the cold room.

"So many moons that we have seen
Stumbling back next to me"

Friday ate at Shogun's with mario. Food was good, and we saw Diane there.

Yesterady drove up to Del Mar with the folks cuz mom wanted to see the Home Development Expo. Exciting stuff if youre into that sorta thing. Stuff like fireplaces that run on ice and "The World's Greatest Toilet System" or something like that. There were lots of food stands also, plus free candy!!!. Afterwards we ate at The Fish Market, which was also good food, with the added bonus of several pretty waitresses.

Found a journal of mine from 2nd grade. The writing was difficult to interpret, but i did find one entry about me and vic looking all over the school for someone's missing watch. Haha. I actually remember it happening too. Me and Vic were great detectives, despite the fact that someone else ended up finding the watch. Good times eh?

Be excellent to each other!

"Be, be the one I need
Be the one I trust most
Don't stop inspiring me"

The Joys of Being a Biology TA cont.
Today i got to grade midterms. Fun stuff. The page I graded had the impossible last question on it, which an amazing 2 out of the ~200 pages I graded got full credit on. Add that to the 1 full credit paper that heidi had (we each did half) which makes it about 3 out of 400 people. The best answer to the question (which asked about myosin being able to distinguish between ATP and CTP) was a drawing of a dragon looking thing with an arm sticking out of its back and ATP going into its mouth. A character from some website apparently, and worth 1 point since we gave a point for any answer. All those people who left the question blank will feel stupid when they realize they could have just drawn a picture of a dragon with an arm sticking out of its back to get a point.

Also, according to the professor people with last names starting with Z are the dumbest people in the world.

Asked during the midterm: "I know its those little p thingies. Can't i just have the first letter?"

Padres baby!!! 9-7

"I've been all over the world
I've seen a million different places
But through the crowds and all the faces
I'm still out there looking for you"

Done with my midterm! Lots of fun.

Also got to proctor my first test today, which was equally fun. People ask pretty interesting questions, like "When it says draw a lone phospholipid does it mean draw one?" and "That number on the board, is that the time remaining?". You'd also be surprised how often people cheat. This one girl was seriously looking at everyone's test around her, and even after one of us told her to keep her eyes on her own paper she still keeps cheating!! Oye. Even more fun was alphabetizing, dividing, and taking apart 400+ 10 page midterms. According to Dr. Hasson using a staple remover requires a "bit of anger", and seeing as how i was pretty good at it i guess i'm a pretty angry guy.

Best excuse to try and get out of taking the midterm; "I think I may have testicular cancer"

Best answer on a Biology final: "Have a Great Spring Break!!!"

"So if an old friend I know
Drops by to say hello
Would I still see suspicion in your eyes?"

Midterm week is so much fun (note the sarcasm in case it is not immediately apparent). I hope I make it through.

"Lately I can't be happy for no one
They think I need some time to myself
I try to smile but I can't remember
And I know tomorrow there'll be nothing else"

"I write about the things I'll never know
And I can't find a moment just to slow down
It makes me think I'll never have the chance
To figure out what it's all about
So tell me what it's all about"

So my 2nd TA section went much better. Its probably cuz i studied the stuff pretty well this time, since the professor had most of us TA's take the midterm to check for mistakes, and i didnt want to look bad by not knowing something. I had 4 people again, except the 3 girls from last week were replaced by all new people. I guess a net gain of 0 is better than a loss. Thanks again to vic for even more moral support.

Not much else going on except that I feel really tired. 8:00 in the morning is way too early for an O-chem lab, and 8:00 in the evening is way too late for an O-chem lecture. Especially when that lecture takes place at the same time the physics TA gives away the questions for tomorrow's quiz. >:0

See ya around.

"Well its all so overrated
In not saying how you feel
So you end up watching chances fade
And wondering what's real"

Weekend was good. I actually got some homework done, plus had a ham dinner for Easter yesterday. Now the week has started and I cant believe midterms are coming up again. Don't these things ever go away? Actually, it turns out I only have one midterm to worry about, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

What's scary is when you've gotten so used to early classes that waking up at 8:00 in the morning feels like sleeping in. Whoa. Freaky.

Other than pachisi, recently i've been playing chess on hoyle board games when i need a distraction from hw. It kinda bugs me though cuz the computer seems to constantly call stalemates for no reason. I think that i've got the game won for sure when all of a sudden "Stalemate!! You dont get to win cuz its a draw!". Can anyone tell me how it can be a stalemate when he's got nothing left but his king and I've got 2 queens and a rook? Battle Chess never did that to me.

I'm stuck here till 6:00 cuz of my wonderfully scheduled TA meeting. Sitting in CLICS trying to distract myself from working on my chem lab writeup. This is really a pretty nice building. There's a really cool design on the roof that i dont really know how to describe. Maybe if i paid more attention in humanities. And did anyone ever notice that those support rail things are purple? Amazing what you learn when you dont want to.

Okay, sorry about that. Later kids.

This quarter is so busy. Physics, O-Chem lab, TA stuff, and work take up so much time . . . and the REALLY scary part . . . I haven't even started doing any O-Chem yet!!!! !$@%!$@#!! On a brighter note, my lab TA is really cool (he happens to be named Tom Brady . . . haha), and doesnt require that we use that damned carbon paper stuff. He actually lets us type up our labs!!! Greatest lab TA in the history of kind and caring lab TA's!!!

My first section went ok. Four people showed up not counting victor. I think i did ok except for messing up two things . . . i'm glad that one guy showed up during the last 15 minutes cuz he asked a bunch of easy questions that i could answer and somewhat redeem myself. And thanks to vic for the moral support. (Ask him about trying to get those two girls to sit closer together :P ;) ... hee hee.

"I didn't notice
But I didn't care
I tried being honest
But that lead me nowhere"

"This, whatever you make it to be
Sunshine set on this cold lonely sea"

Baseball season is back! Whoohooo!!! It was good to see the padres back in action . . . i have to say i like their new uniforms. And what could make opening day better than beating the dodgers!!!!! Yeee haww!!! We're goin all the way this year!!

Padres 1-0

The joys of being a biology TA. One of the things that makes biology at UCSD so great is the fact that there are always a billion TA's. Well, 14 at least for my class. Which of course means there are plenty of section times for people to chose to, therefore providing no need to attend a section at 6:00 in the evening on a wednesday. Which of course, is exactly the section I was assigned. On the first day of lecture Professor Hasson went down each section time to get a show of hands of how many people would likely attend that time. Of course, in our class of 412 students, only one person raised their hand when the Professor asked who would want to be studying bio at 6:00 in the evening (that one person happened to be sitting next to me and asked if I was a TA). So, after spending the last hour typing up study notes that probably nobody but myself and my dogs will ever enjoy, I invite everyone to come spend quality time with Mike in Center 217A at 6:00pm next wednesday, since I'll probably be having a pizza party by myself.

Note: if someone does show up, just bring the pizza in after.

I saw John Kerry today!!

Disneyland was fun, despite every ride breaking down sometime during the day. Go Mickey.

Happy birthdays to Calvin, Sam (March 26), and Stephen Chang.

Warning: lots of whining ahead >>>

First of all, the physics department never ceases to enrage me. Other than the fact that my grades suck this quarter, the wise physics leaders enjoy making us go to physics class 5 times a week. Which doesnt seem so bad except that at least one of those days is late at night, which wouldnt be so bad but for their habit of assigning rooms that dont fit everyone. Of course, all this wouldnt be all that horrible if not for their enjoyment of putting out a schedule and then changing it once everyone has already planned things out. So now, after all my careful planning, my perfect schedule now has a big red conflict in it. Thanks a lot physics!!!

<<< End whining

Ok, sorry about that.

I visited mt carmel today. It looked just like the old days, except with a whole lot less people, and more parking spots open. I saw Mr. Hepler (Mrs. Hepler wasnt there!) and he actually remembered me. I saw jocelyn and eupheme too, which was fun. They said that i looked older. Eupheme said I "wasnt a teddy bear anymore" !!!! :O I can't tell if I should feel insulted or complemented . . .

I went to Borders today. What's wrong with borders? Borders is fun!! There's books, music, dvds, comics, magazines, anna kournikova calenders . . . Borders isnt nerdy! Its cool! Someone back me up on this :P

Finally . . . Mike . . . has come back!!!!! . . . to Disneyland!!! (impression of The Rock) Tomorrow, actually i'll be going to Disneyland. Should be fun.

Got The Rundown DVD, which is one of the greatest movies since The Scorpion King.

"You threatening me? You threatening me with pee?"

Planning on visiting good old mt carmel tomorrow around noonish. Anyone wanna come? Call me up yo.

Quick recap of the past few days; Wednesday went with vic to UTC. Nothing too notable, except for vic trying to ride a 2 foot skateboard in K-B. Thursday me and mario played our traditional end of quarter round of pool, where he *almost* beat me. Friday did some b-ball with jon, who has a really big house. We made some pretty funny shots.

Weekend did family stuff. We were supposed to go to disneyland on saturday, but changed it to sunday, and then postponed it till next saturday. Instead we ended up going to seaport village and other random places around there. We drove past Petco Park which looks pretty cool.

Not much else going on. See ya later.

Well, one more physics final and then its all over. Then its on to spring quarter "Where it all begins . . . again."

Music used to facilitate studying over the past week+ :
Channel 933
KyXy
Michelle Branch - Hotel Paper
Mike's Rap Mix (mostly Yeah and Slow Jamz)
Mike's Love Songs Mix
Elvis - #1s
The Beatles - #1s

Hotel Paper is a great CD by the way, even when you're not trying to memorize the mechanism of a Wolff-Kishner reaction.

Hey ya!! I took the o-chem final and still live!! Haha! You missed me suckas! Waddup now punks?? Word life yo!! Woooooooh!!!!!!

Another quarter just about done. Whoo these things go by so fast.

Augh, so hard to study ochem these days. I seriously can't do much more than 5-10 minutes of looking at that stuff before i need to stand up and walk around or something. Okay, so not much has changed since the last 2 midterms, but i really can't concentrate on all these enols and enolates and enolations. So much on my mind these days, which isn't good going into a final that requires the use of a lot of your mind.

I've also been skimming random xangas through the web of links that people have. I've found some really interesting ones, and its made me feel like my blog is kinda low on the substance. Then again, i think i purposely make it like that to keep things light and fun. The last thing i wanna do is get all emotional and depressing (mike emotional?).

I respect my mom caring for my health and all that, but peeling the skin off hot wings??

Semi-formal pics up at Mario's. Good stuff. The one with the bodyguards, damn i'm scary :P

Most fun songs to dance to that night;
Yeah
Hey Ya
Toxic
Yeah (they played it twice)

Dang! At work today i was walking out of the coldroom when somehow my arm got caught against the door as it was closing. The handle scraped against my arm and now theres a monster cut on it. It didnt hurt but it looks really bad. Almost like i was fighting wolverine and lost. Ok, not that bad, but i still think im gonna have a hard time hiding this one from my mom.

Come fly with me!!

Last night i went with mario and friends to Revelle semi-formal. Fun stuff!! It was at the aerospace museum in balboa, which i have never been in but was really cool. We actually showed up an hour early, and had to kill time playing all sorts of interesting games. When we got inside it was pretty cool. Not very big, but it looked really nice and there were these huge planes and helicopters hanging above. Our group of 14 were the first people to start dancing, and throughout the night we had a cool circle in the middle. I, of course, was my usual hey ya yeah yeah self, burning up the dance floor.

Anyway, it was noodles of fun. I'll talk more later when i have the energy or when someone puts up pictures i can link to.

"Who is John Muir anyway?"
"I think he was some sort of woodsman."
"Like Robin Hood?"
"No. But he was an outdoors type of guy."
"So he went camping a lot?"

If you think people being pied in the face is funny, see Jan's site for some great pictures. Jan cracks me up.

Ahhhhhh. All my finals are on the first 3 days of finals week! That means even less time to cram! Shoot. Now how am i supposed to set the curve on the ochem final now?

I know my bio section. Turns out i only have to do one, which is cool. What's not so cool is that its at 6:00 in the evening. Ah well. I have office hours too. I think ill make a prediction that less than 5 people will come see me all quarter (victor visiting doesnt count). That'll be either because i'll explain perfectly well in section, or, more likely, nobody ever needs to talk to BILD 1 TA's anyway.

So me and my dad went through all the trouble of getting calvin and sam into the back of my van so we could drive them to the vet to get their stitches removed, only to be told that we needed to wait and come back in a week. So now they have to wear those cone things even longer and my car has dog hair in it.

A funny thing i noticed is how sam has developed a habit of actually using chairs and sofas. He actually climbs up on the sofa in their room and sleeps on it. And in the car he sits on the back seat. Calvin refuses to do either of these. We tried giving him a rug, but all he did was eat it and sleep on the bare floor.

My dad, my supervisor, and mario all had birthdays in the last 2 days. Freaky stuff.

Here's another cool shirt.

In case i havent mentioned already, i get to TA next quarter!! For BILD 1, which is the most basic of bio classes, so you should take it so i can be your TA. You'll be guaranteed an A if the price is right ;)

Spent this weekend babysitting my newly-neutered dogs. Fun stuff, especially how calvin bumps into stuff with his cone head thing.

Most of you guys have probably heard of the da vinci code. The prequel to it, Angels and Demons, is a really good read, especially when you need to be studying for o-chem midterms.

Slow Jamz by Twista. Download it if you havent heard it (!?), its pretty cool how fast he raps.

Here's a cool shirt.

Another new description! Guess the artist (without googling!).
Beatles
Blink 182
Elton John
Elvis
Mariah Carey
Nelly
No doubt
P. Diddy

While doing my best to keep up with Smallville this year, it donned on me how similar the show is to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of the original teen action-dramas. So in order to put off studying for my o chem midterm for as long as possible, here is a head to head comparison between Smallville and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (counting only the first 3 seasons).

Setting
Smallville: Smallville, a small town in the middle of nowhere.
Buffy: Sunnydale, a small town on top of the Hellmouth.
Advantage: Buffy

Main Character
Smallvile: Young Superman.
Buffy: Buffy, a hot blonde who can kick ass.
Advantage: Draw

Love Interest
Smallville: Lana Lang, a hot girl who runs a coffee shop.
Buffy: Angel, a hot vampire cursed with a soul.
Advantage: Smallville

Supporting Cast
Smallville: Chloe, a friendly teen reporter who helps out Clark and cries a lot whenever he makes her feel bad. Pete, constantly shows up to say "Give me a 3 second summary of the plot Clark" and then disappears.
Buffy: Willow, best friend who is always there when needed to help defeat evil and say funny lines in the process. Xander, best friend who is always there when needed to help defeat evil and spurt out clever jokes in the process.
Advantage: Buffy

Parents
Smallville: Clark's dad who always watches out for him and gives good advice, and temporarily gets super powers to attack Clark when necessary. Mom who says "Be careful Clark".
Buffy: Mom who says "Be careful Buffy" and accidentally awakens evil demons.
Advantage: Smallville

Typical Villains
Smallville: Endless teens mutated by the meteor and possessing various superpowers, including twin Jonathan Taylor Thomases.
Buffy: Endless vampires and demons, including werewolves, monsters in tuxedos, giant snakes, mummies, robots, American Indians, ghosts, Dracula, and puppets.
Advantage: Buffy

Central Love Theme
Smallville: Clark and Lana love each other, but can never get along.
Buffy: A vampire slayer falls in love with a vampire, one who happens to be among the most evil in history but has been cursed with a soul. Their love breaks the curse, changing Angel from love interest into main villain.
Advantage: Buffy.

Winner: Buffy, 4-2
But hey, Buffy kinda dwindled off in the later seasons, so there's still hope for Smallville. I smell rematch!

Genetics is killing me. 2 more hours to study before the midterm, but i can feel my energy evaporating off of my skin. To help get my brain started again, here's a list of the musicians that are currently high on my good list.

(random order)
Beatles
No Doubt
Mariah Carey
Elton John

Ok, i was going to do a top ten or something like that, but my brain cut out about halfway through there, so you'll have to wait to see the rest of that list. Notice my new description. Extra points for anyone who can guess which of the 4 musicians it comes from.

They say time flies when you're having fun, and i used to believe that until recently. I think the saying should be changed to "Time flies by when you're in the quarter system". The days really go fast. It feels like i just got home from school friday looking forward to a 3 day weekend, sat down to close my eyes for a minute, and then woke up and its monday evening and i have to study for midterms. Life needs a remote control with a rewind and fast forward button. But of course, if we had that we wouldnt spend much time in the present would we?

Happy Valentine's Day! 2 days ago? Whatever. Ah well. I say a valentine's day with a steak dinner and hot chocolate isnt too much to complain about.

Spent the day up in Julian. That town reminds me a lot of Smallville, except without kristin kreuk. Good food though.

This morning i cooked myself a healthy breakfast of fried eggs, fried rice, and fried spam. Yum yum. The spam turned out well, but i think i put too much garlic in the rice and overcooked the eggs. And of course i baked more double chocolate cookies for desert (those really dont last very long in this house).

I think my recent interest in cooking may partially stem from work in a twisted, perverted way. The stuff i do in the lab is a lot like cooking actually. The protocols for the things i make are called recipes, and the little room i work in is cleverly called the kitchen. Plus, the kitchen is stocked with sugar, salt, jello, and lots of alcohol!! So, making food is a lot like making agarose plates and buffer solutions, except instead of worrying about making someone's experiment explode, you just eat whatever you make.

My neighbor is playing one of those loud vibrating beat speaker things that people thought were cool back in high school. Its really loud, and i can hear it from inside my house. No windows have shattered yet, so its all good.

For some good clean fun, check this out. Whoo!

Grammy Awards tomorrow!! I think i might watch this one, but chances are ill end up forgetting about it or getting bored with it. Hey Ya!!

For the past few months, calvin has started a habit of sticking his head out from his room and looking into the kitchen whenever we're eating dinner. He always has his usual happy and excited expression, and it was during one such instance that i said to my sister, "Doesn't Calvin have a great smile?". Her response; "Dogs don't smile. He's just opening his mouth the way dogs do."

What a shock. The thought that dogs dont smile. Well, of course dogs smile, especially calvin, who smiles so often his mouth probably hurts from it. So after dismissing my sister's comment in about a nanosecond and deciding that dogs definitely do smile, it occurred to me that while calvin smiles 2/3 of his awake time (the other third is when he's eating or being bitten by sam), sam smiles considerably less. He generally has something of a stoic, serious expression. I really find it interesting how different they are, despite the fact that they're brothers. Calvin, the happy go lucky energetic one, and Sam, the too cool to care guy. Which makes me wonder what all their other brothers and sisters were like. I think there were 5 of them total. It would be fun to someday have a big dog family reunion. "Hey, how's it gonna bro. I havent seen you since we were born. Yeah my master doesnt have any good food either. . ."

Slight warning: this post is really random.

Superbowl was great. Since I know that most of you probably dont want to hear too much more about it, ill just say that it continues the streak of alternating between good games and bad games (this year was a good game, last year was a bad one, the one before last was good, etc.).

The halftime show was decent. None of the last 3 have really compared to the aerosmith / nsync halftime show of 2001 though. That was a really good one.

Recently i've had the strange urge to go back and play a bunch of my old video games. This includes devil may cry, which i still want to beat on dante must die mode. I was able to beat that griffon boss, which was pretty amazing since i could never get more than about a tenth of his life down before. I was quite proud.

Making jello is still fun, but i think my new hobby is going to be baking those store bought cookie recipes. There's a little more hands on stuff involved, and a box lasts for more than one serving (jello just doesnt fill me up).

I've also been burning new CDs recently. This is mostly due to the fact that the sound still doesnt work on my computer so i have no other way of listening to all the cool songs ive got. I made this one cd of classic love songs, which is really good. I was thinking about making a cd with all my rap songs to balance things out. Of course, it would basically be a p diddy, nelly, and will smith cd. Sounds good!!

"The Rock is just motivating his team. Now why don't you go motivate yourself and do about 100 backflips back that way."

I'm glad its the weekend. Almost time for Superbowl, Superbowl commercials, and Superbowl halftime show.

"Lady MacBeth was the catalyst for MacBeth's actions. Its just like in o-chem!" - Mario

I still have no idea how the panthers ended up in the superbowl. The rams should have won last week, and the eagles should have beat them if donovan hadnt gotten so beat up. What annoys me the most is that way back before the season that one dude chris berman on espn said that the panthers were his surprise pick for the superbowl champions, and i said something to the effect of "What an idiot!". And now the panthers are in the superbowl. Damn it! So now we have to root for the patriots because as long as they win, i wont be a fool and i can say "Ha! What an idiot!" to chris berman the next time i see him.

I got a chance to watch last week's smallville that i had taped. Overall i thought it was pretty good, although i didnt like lex forgetting everything at the end. "Erasing" his memory is a pretty cheap way to get out of what i thought was a pretty good plot twist. Its just as bad as having all sorts of wild things happen like lana dying or clark's dad turning evil and then saying "Just kidding! It was all a dream!!". But other than the ending it was pretty good. (Except for pete once again having nothing to do but pop up and say "Hey guys! Bad things are happening! K bye!").

This week had way too much physics. Thank goodness we have a 3 day weekend, with lots of time for NFL playoffs, underworld dvd, smackdown, and physics hw. Wait, no physics!!

"May the gods have pity on you. Because my brother will not." (extra credit if you can guess the movie!)

Between the NFL playoffs and the World Figure Skate Championship, what a weekend of sports!! Whoo! I love the Colts for beating the Chiefs, but I cant believe the Rams let me down again. Good thing I decided against that early call of the superbowl winner.

In my vast boredom and inability to study the first week of classes, i did what everyone else does in such a situation; look up people you know on google!! So, here are the best sites featuring people we know.

Victor the "unofficial photographer of the Chinese community"

Victor Chiu's standings in the Rhode Island Table Tennis Association

Michael Imus: Adult survivors of violence within marriages

Mike Imus helps out the Immaculate Conception Church

Organist: Dr. Jennifer Woolridge

Derek Wu, Ph.D. assistant

Novels by Eric Hanson

Less than 2 months on the job and I get my first raise!! Whooo Baby!!

In worse news, my jaw still hurts. Where are those pills?

Best review of The Return of the King: "Needed more sex and fireballs, but still worth seeing half a dozen times." -Jan

So I had my wisdom teeth taken out on Friday. Lots of fun, at least as much fun as getting teeth ripped out of your mouth can be. My surgeon is cool though, and the fact that his assisstant was pretty hot almost makes up for the pain of having a needle stabbed into my gums about 12 times (**almost).

After having blood drooling out of my mouth for a few hours after, things arent so bad now except for the fact that i cant really eat anything. The pain isnt so bad thanks to some pills they gave us. I've never condoned people taking pills, but now that i've tried them . . .

Classes start again tomorrow, which means 8 am classes for the next ten weeks. Blast it.

Ok, time to get more pills.