the MBTA

Posted by in college life, science, Uncategorized on Nov 29th, 2010 | 0 comments

The first part of my trip to school today:

7:00 I get on the Fung Wah bus.
11:05 I get off the bus, 200 miles away.

The next part:

11:05 I get off the bus at South Station, thinking I should easily be able to make it to class at 12.
11:15 I get to the Red Line, just barely missing a train. Dang. Well, there should be another one coming along within ten minutes.
11:17 I realize that the train from before has not completely left the station.
11:19 The announcer announces “The next train to Alewife is now approaching.” The other train is still there. I idly wonder just how this is going to work out.
11:25 Same announcement again. I realize the first train has left, and I become filled with hope.
11:30 Announcer: “Due to a medical emergency on the Red Line, shuttle buses will run between Harvard and Broadway.” We all go stand outside.
11:45 The first bus arrives. I am standing behind the last person to get on it.
11:50 The second bus arrives. I get on it.
12:10 Bus arrives at Downtown Crossing, .5 mile away.
12:45 Bus arrives at MGH, another .5 mile away.
1:05 Bus arrives at Harvard.

A hypothetical second part of my trip:

11:05 I get off the bus and set off toward Harvard on foot.
12:00 I get to Harvard.

the lens.

Posted by in Uncategorized on Nov 8th, 2010 | 0 comments

I’m finding something.

Something: it’s not until you introduce something really new into your life that you get even a small glance at yourself — what you are, what you’ve become, and whether you think this is even a good thing.

Things are happening in my life and I am (as always, always, always) re-evaluating everything around me, but it’s only close encounters like these that let me evaluate myself.

Have I changed? Have my desires changed? My bad habits? My sense of self-control? My fears, hesitations, inadequacies?

I’ve not a damn clue of what’s to come, but I shall treat it as an adventure, and attempt to be wise, kind, and thoughtful at every step.

Computer surgery

Posted by in Uncategorized on Nov 3rd, 2010 | 0 comments

Dear readers,

Let me tell you a story, full of tragedy and despair. In December 2009, through an accident involving a high-speed pen and poor aim, I cracked my laptop’s LCD screen. The damage wasn’t so bad at first – a couple of dead lines on my screen – but as the months went by, the amount of dead screen space got bigger and bigger. I finally caved and bought a brand-new replacement screen for my computer…

and decided to install it myself!

I’ve always wanted to get better at knowing about the insides of computers, and this was a great opportunity to do this.

Here’s an image gallery of my wonderful exploits.

Long story short, it turns out that in a ThinkPad, if you want to replace the screen you have to literally take the entire computer apart. What a pain.

It was fun, though.