Wednesday, December 31, 2008

December the 31st - Goodbye 2008

Winter Break: Day 12

*wakeup*
Breakfast
Rhodobacter planning and Google Docs configuration
Cereal with almonds, walnuts, pecans, soymilk
Halogen Oven quesadilla
Shower
Fenske
Halo, >> 2009, Rock Band
Back to my apartment with Brian and Bryan
Quesadillas, blueberry cranberry smoothies, Deep Sky Map, black-and-white photography
Shower
*crash*

December the Thirtieth

Winter Break: Day 11

Bike Bath!  (Yes, in the bathtub and all!)
Bike Wax!  (Sooo shiny now)
Bike Lube! (Rides like... [and that's what... {I'll stop.}])
Halogen oven test-drive! (Melted cheese on 15-grain bread, ate with Southwestern corn soup)
Shower
Refrigerator rack shower (I spent a long time accompanied in the bathtub today)
Speaker system ordering (Scratch-and-dent stretches every dollar further)
Kitchen layout design and execution (positioning the tabletop, stacking appliances)
Cereal for late lunch
Apartment junk shifting and reorganization
Bike to Fenske
Rhodo Resurrection
Pasta cookup
IM with Bryan and Annette
Project updates, general online organization
Shower II
*crash*

Monday, December 29, 2008

December the Twenty-Ninth

Winter Break: Day 10

*wakeup* (late!  noon!)
Shuttle home
Bike retrieval
Bike ride
Lab unlock
Bank (closed until the 2nd!)
Bicycle Shop
Lab organization
Algae sampling help
Soup dinner at home
Lab flyby: water the plants, collect junk, etc
Apartment
*crash*

Sunday, December 28, 2008

December the Twenty-Eighth

Winter Break: Day 9

*wakeup*
CurtisLab website construction
Bathroom setup
Kitchen setup
Soup!
Rhodobacter stuff
Shopping Trip - Apartment Cooking Stuff and Food
Fenske dishwashing
Lab stuff
Fenske dinner

Saturday, December 27, 2008

December the Twenty-Seventh

Winter Break: Day 8

*wakeup* (9:30am)
Wayne's World web design
Lab stuff
Apartment organization
Bed setup
*crash*

Friday, December 26, 2008

December the Twenty-Sixth

Winter Break: Day 7

It's the end of the first week of winter break, so it's probably a good time to review the progress I've made on various projects so far.

Organization
  • Box Sorting: Completed!  Highschool stuff is a project for another day
  • Apartment Move-In: Big progress made!  Additional furniture procured
  • CurtisLab Data Backup: decent progress made; still a bunch of computers to back up
  • Wayne's World Site Construction: no progress since finals week
Courses
  • ENGR 497E book purchase: Completed!  Should arrive any day
  • ENGR 497E site construction: waiting on book arrival
Health
  • Workout Plan: Progressing well!  Will be improved by the move to the apartment
Finances
  • Knowhow Notes: first set of test banks procured; no progress on solutions yet
  • Scholarship Apps: no progress yet
Teaching
  • ChE 340 Class Planning: no progress yet
Publication
  • Write A Paper!: experimental plan converted to HTML and rewritten; still lots of work!
---------------------------------------------------------
Today I'll be rather busy: Secret Plans

*wakeup* (6am)
Weekly Review
Breakfast
Shower
Bed pickup
Home stuff procurement
Apartment move-in
Lunch
Nap
Resume Update and PDF conversion
Dinner
Website Updates
Projector Planning
Speaker Planning
Kyle Visit
Grad School Planning
*crash*

Thursday, December 25, 2008

December the Twenty-Fifth

Winter Break: Day 6

Merry Christmas!... where appropriate.

*wakeup* (6am)
Gift Exchange
Breakfast
Box sorting
Netbook setup
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Craigslist furniture hunt
Lunch
More box sorting
Weights
Dinner
*crash*

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

December the Twenty-Fourth

Winter Break: Day 5

Cloudy today, so much warmer (31F) and not nearly as astronomically interesting.
Freezing rain all night, so everything's coated in a sheet of ice.


*wakeup* (5:45am)
Finances
Spring Budget
Speaker Research
Photography
Box Sorting
Lunch (soup and toast with swiss)
Graduate school research
Indiana Jones
*crash*

Listening to:
Jimmy Eat World - 23

Boys Like Girls - The Great Escape
Angels & Airwaves - The War
The Ataris - In This Diary

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

December the Twenty-Third

Winter Break: Day 4

Beautiful beautiful crescent moon out this morning. I'd take a walk, but it's NINE DEGREES (-13C, 260K).


Irony: a Facebook ad for careerbuilder.com states that it is 'looking for the next Tesla'. I'm sure every company wants a genius they could steal some of the greatest technological advances of the 20th century from, completely uncredited. Tesla died penniless, driven mad by the firey destruction of his laboratory and the failure of his Wardenclyffe Tower project to maintain sufficient investor support.

"It is intended to give practical demonstrations of these principles with the plant illustrated. As soon as completed, it will be possible for a business man in New York to dictate instructions, and have them instantly appear in type at his office in London or elsewhere. He will be able to call up, from his desk, and talk to any telephone subscriber on the globe, without any change whatever in the existing equipment. An inexpensive instrument, not bigger than a watch, will enable its bearer to hear anywhere, on sea or land, music or song, the speech of a political leader, the address of an eminent man of science, or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman, delivered in some other place, however distant. In the same manner any picture, character, drawing, or print can be transferred from one to another place. Millions of such instruments can be operated from but one plant of this kind. More important than all of this, however, will be the transmission of power, without wires, which will be shown on a scale large enough to carry conviction."
-Nicolai Tesla

It's been over a century, and well... we've almost caught up.

*wakeup* (8pm-3:30am, 7.5 hours)
Various last-minute Internet Tasks
Shower
Alumni Day
Ride home with Matt and Erik
Honors math alumni networking initiation
Dinner (potatoes, corn, squash, stuffing, cranberry sauce)
Miscellaneous reorganization
*crash*

Monday, December 22, 2008

December the Twenty-Second

Winter Break: Day 3

*wakeup* (6am, 3.5 hours)
Kitchen organization
Home procurement
Pain Box sorting
Dentist Appointment
Subway Run
*crash*

Sunday, December 21, 2008

December the Twenty-First

Winter Break: Day 2

*wakeup* (3am!)
XHTML/CSS Refresher
id assigns a specific identification tag to almost any element
clear specifies where another floating element _cannot_ be in relation to the element
css:html #junk : id="junk" .stuff : class="stuff"
when setting attributes, clockwise!: attribute: top right bottom left
use 'min-height' to prevent things from getting ugly when the browser window is resized
Float everything. Table-free!
id - unique identifier
class - recyclable identifier
style - in-line stylizer

HTML port of experimental plan
Rhodo experimental plan start
*nap* (3-6pm)
Dinner
Email Tasks
Tomorrow Planning
Shower
*crash*

Saturday, December 20, 2008

December the Twentieth

Winter Break: Day 1

*crash*-*wakeup* (6:30-8:00)
Redifer breakfast pickup
Ice biking to the apartment
Breakfast with Annette
Frozen parking lot breakout
Nittany Mall
Apartment Cleanup
E*Trade Transfer
Amazon Order
TV Pickup
Website Updates
Apartment Move-In
Cinderblock Pickup
Home for dinner
*crash*

December the Nineteenth

All-nighter!

Set up 'BC's Documents' and 'Life Organizational Strategies' to organize my organization
*Nap* (2.5 hours)
Fenske pasta dinner with Annette
Apartment key pickup
British TV with Annette
Netbook research
Wireless authentication cracking:
Migration to Garden House (6am)
Fortunately, due to the magic of the general populace's complete computer illiteracy, I could unpack, plug in, and connect to a completely unsecured network within seconds *rolls eyes*.

Updated goals for winter break in the 'Current Directives' file... sort of a modified version of Bethlehem Steel's 'notecard method'.

Major price increase for Garden House, but it doesn't affect me. Still... ouch.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

December the Eighteenth

Last night in Fenske! Tomorrow, I pick up the keys to my new apartment and start moving in.

Rothrock was quite an adventure... we lit a fire in the snow, with the help of a lighter, some tissues, and a handful of peanuts, no thanks to the flame-retardant Redifer napkins and ice-covered sticks. Laurel Run Road is frozen already, so we may have to wait all the way to spring thaw to head back up that way (in a car, at least!).

*Wakeup* (9:35am)
Tutoring (to 12:30pm)
Simmons with Bryan
46 (1:30pm)
Organization
ANGEL harvest
Nap
Redifer with Bryan
Rothrock with Bryan and Annette
Fenske with Annette
Nap
Bike ride, Fenske >> Apartment >> Fenske
Copyright licensing research:
Try out 'Remember The Milk' - Task Management Webware
  • Integrates with Gmail and Google Calendar
  • Available online from anywhere
  • Available OFFLINE through Google Gears
  • Very many very nice features
Breakfast - rice and stirfry
Breakfast II - cereal + nuts + cranberries
Shower
Mess around with HTML Hosting in Google Docs
Try out Box.net - Free Online Storage
Try out FEBE - Firefox Environment Backup Extension
*crash*

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

December the Seventeenth

*wakeup* (7:30am)
Walk back to Fenske in the icy, snowy melt with Annette
Daily Review
College Search organization
File Backup
Housing phonecall
Fenske Mass Transfer studying and Pasta Cookout
46 with Annette
Tutoring marathon
Apartment with Annette
India Pavilion
Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood
Fenske; water the plants
Organization
Shower
*Crash*

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

December the Sixteenth

Major Bioseparations crunch
*crash*, 10am (one hour)
Shower
Undergrad lounge donuts
Bioseparations midterm
Allegheny Power phonecall
Angel Fall 2008 Harvest
Daily Review
File Organization and Backup
Nap
Wegman's with Annette
Fenske Stir Fry
Apartment with Ben and Annette
Graduate school research
*crash* (2:30am)

December the Fifteenth

All-nighter #2!
Bioseparations Crunch Time
Wayne's World laptop backup
Bioseparations, all morning/afternoon
4-hour *crash*
Visit with Annette
Physics Tutoring
Late-Night
Fenske Dinner with Lan and Bryan
Bioseparations, all-nighter #3!

Monday, December 15, 2008

December the Fourteenth

It's amazing how productive life can be when there aren't classes to screw everything up!

All-Nighter in Undergrad Lounge
Spring 2009 FINAL course finalization
Wayne's World site development
Pancakes: shelf-life experiment
*crash* (noon)
Undergrad Lounge Cookout
Pancake shelf-life experiment
Mushroom and olive quesadillas with hot salsa
Kitchen cleanup
Water the Plants
Vitamin Restock
Emails, emails, emails
Bioseparation Construction


I would really like a gigantic LCD monitor for my desk in 46.
I also need some sweet speakers for my apartment!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

December the Thirteenth

*Wakeup* (8:30am)
Writing: Master Plan 2009
Breakfast: Honey almond flax cereal, almonds, walnuts, fresh cranberries, soy milk, vanilla yogurt
Sink cleanup and white vinegar soak
Nap (12:30 to 3:30)
Master Plan completion and publication
Urgent To-Do list knockoff

For the rest of today:

Dinner with Annette and CurtisLab (salt-free stir fry on brown rice)
Major Bioseparations studying

Friday, December 12, 2008

November the Twelfth

*Wakeup* (9am)
Check Deposit
Fenske
Shower
Water the Plants
P4_H2O Overclocking
Email; Learning Gmail Shortcuts
Bioprocessing
Waffles+Eggs at Focust
Essay Contest - too hard
Pearson's Advisory Board - too preppy
Shopping @ Wegmans
Cranberries with Annette

General Organization
A few dozen more emails...
Application for SHC Orientation 2008
Application for 'Genetics of Personality and Sexuality' study
Checking on my Carnivorous Plant project:
  • Seeds in media flasks under the lights have formed mats of seedlings!
  • Seeds left in microcentrifuge tubes full of ddH2O in the hood are etiolated, but sprouted!
  • Germination rate looks decent, probably 35-50% so far
  • Can definitely afford to put more seeds per flask to save time
  • No contamination!
Fenske Workout
Shower
*crash*


Shopping List:
  • 9-grain whole grain bread
  • shredded parmesan
  • vanilla soymilk
  • yogurt vanilla
  • 7-grain pasta
  • brown rice
  • pasta sauce
  • kalamata olives
  • honey almond flax cereal
  • bananas
  • mushrooms: oyster, shiitake, portobello
  • onions
  • potatoes
  • Florida avocado
  • papaya
  • mangoes
  • Jersey cranberries
Deliciousness.

Gotta start prioritizing Spring 2009!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

December the Eleventh

So freaking tired...

Biochemistry
Biochemistry Final
Bioseparations
Engineering Entrepreneurship
Major Planning
*crash*

December the Tenth

Wakeup (7am, 3.5 hours of sleep)
Thermo Exam
Tutoring (5 hours)
More Thermo Exam
Bioprocessing
KnowHow
Apartment with Ben (Mmm curry and bread)
Biochemistry with Annette
*crash* (6:45am, ~1 hour)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

December the Ninth

Wakeup at the apartment (7:45am, 2.5 hours of sleep)
Biothermo paper wrapup
Thermo Presentations
Biochem Quiz
Engr presentation writeup
Engr presentations
Sleep at the apartment
Vegetable curry
Back to Fenske with Ben
CERS abstract submission
Thermo Exam
Late Night
Shower
*crash*

December the Eighth

*Wakeup* (9am, five hours of sleep)
Water the plants
Cereal for breakfast
Tutoring, 9:45-10:45
Bioprocessing Homework
Tutoring, 1:15-2:15
Bioprocessing, 2:30
Tutoring, 4-6
Dinner with Annette (2x quesadillas, huevos rancheros for the lab)
psuKnowHow Biochem Study Party
LateNight with Bryan
Apartment Migration

December the Seventh

*Wakeup* (1pm)
Workworkwork
Dinner with Annette
Homework + Pasta + Blueberry Smoothies
*Crash*

Saturday, December 6, 2008

December the Sixth

For today:

- Bioseparations Homework
- Thermo Paper

Wakeup, 11:30
Internets
Breakfast
Bioseparations
Simmons with Bryan
KnowHow party
Apartment
Fenske
*Sleep*


Final Spring 2009 Schedule

Friday, December 5, 2008

December the Fifth

EVE6 concert was awesome! A very fun day and a very good week.

Wakeup (9:45)
P4_H2O File Maintenance
Shower
Lunch
Biofilms
Bioprocessing
Website Updates
Dinner with Annette
Blueberry smoothies with Bryan and Annette
Shower
Email Check
*crash*

Thursday, December 4, 2008

December the Fourth

Onset of sleep was pretty late last night... but I spent a good amount of time organizing 46, and it's in much better shape now. Today, I need to start on the huge number of things due between now and finals.

Wakeup (11am)
Internets
Breakfast/Lunch
BMB
Biosep
Entrepreneurship
Fenske Pancakes with Annette
EVE6 Concert
Apartment with Annette, Ben, Brian
*Apartment floor crash*

Homework:
ChE 340 - 'Biofilm' Project Friday
ChE 449 - Final Homework Set Tuesday
ChE 524 - Write Paper Tuesday, Study for Exam Thursday
Engr 310 - Continue updating Business Plan, Oldcastle Project next week
BMB 401H - Quiz Tuesday, Exam Thursday

Tonight:
Continue updating Business Plan
'Biofilm' Project Friday
Final Homework Set Tuesday

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

December the Third

Dear Brandon:

Effective fall 2008 your change of major request has been approved.

Finally! I'm a Real Chemical Engineer now.

Time to file all the rest of that paperwork...


Scholarship stuff
Tutoring - 3 hours
Bioprocessing (briefly!)
Tutoring - 2 hours
Web updates and organization
Dinner w/Annette
Food Micro Lab

December the Second

7:30 Wakeup
10:00 Curtis Seminar
11:15 Thermo
30-min nap
Fenske Lunch with Annette
Engr 310 - Oldcastle presentation
Simmons Dinner with Bryan
WalMart with Annette
Fenske All-Nighter
*Crash*

Monday, December 1, 2008

December the First

Up at 7:20! Who would have thought?

Today I'm going to pick up tickets to a free Eve 6 concert, tutor for five hours, and hit the BMB review session to see what the heck is going on in that class. Afterwords, a bit of homework and a decently-early bedtime (say, 1am). I think for the the time being, I want to get into an 'early to bed, early to rise' schedule to get myself a little more sunlight as it starts getting cold and miserable.

Today (Mon, Dec 1)
7:45 Breakfast (Flaxseed Crunch, almonds, walnuts, vanilla soymilk, white tea)
8:15 Hub (Eve 6 Tickets)
9:45 psuKnowHow - Phys 250
1:15p psuKnowHow - Phys 212
--No Bioprocessing Today!--
4p psuKnowHow - Biol 230
5p psuKnowHow - Phys 250
8p BMB 401H Review
Sterile Seed Distribution
Thermo
*Crash*