Heroes, Poems, and Electric Fields

Busy, busy week!! Busy, busier weekend!

The semester is in full swing and the honeymoon period is over – it never lasts long enough!

Works and Days was not my favorite thing to read.  Coming up with discussion questions was not an easy thing.  We are reading a selection of lyric poems for next week, so let me share!!

Here I lie mournful with desire,

feeble in bitterness of the pain gods inflicted upon me,

struck through the bones with love.

Romantical, right?  I have to tell you, dear Reader, I am a little nervous.  I have a response paper due on Tuesday and I can’t remember the last time I actually had to write a paper.  Its only 3-5 pages and I know what I am writing about (In the Odyssey, Odysseus was only helped by females.  Why?  And discuss the idea of masculinity and the hero).  Its not novel or anything, but hopefully it will turn out alright.

We have moved on to derivatives and integrals of vector functions in Calculus and studied electric fields and Gauss’s Law in Physics.  In lab, we had to find and diagram equipotential lines for six different drawings done on slightly conducting paper with a conducting-ink pen.  Making adequate diagrams on Microsoft Paint is going to take forever!  WHY DO I HAVE TO LOVE BEAUTIFUL LAB REPORTS??!

Other news! I have all of my paperwork signed to do a dual degree.  I am still waiting to hear from the Honors college – I am still pretty nervous about it, but hopefully they will get back to me soon.  All of this makes me realize that I must be slightly masochistic!  But! There are worse things!!

On a more personal note, it has kind of been a frustrating week.  I have been pretty tired, upset I haven’t done as much as I should, dealing with people [and allowing those people to bring out a negative part of me - I know better and I am disappointed in myself for sinking to a snotty, miserable level].  I am also really missing my sbf (super best friend) and my other friends.  I don’t know…  Anyway, not every week can be the best ever, but I think next week will be better!

Alright, Reader, I have dawdled enough!  There is some vector calculus that needs my attention!  Have a lovely weekend!

 

Saturday Mornings and Einstein on the Beach!

Good Evening, gentle Readers!  I hope you have had an enjoyable…uh…10 days (sorry) since we last spoke.

It has been a very busy ten days.  I turned in my application for the Honors program (super nervous about it!!).  I had my first Calculus III exam.  Finished reading The Odyssey and have now moved on to Hesiod’s Theogony and Work and Days.  We are discussing electrostatics in physics.  Big guy from this week:

 oh yes!  Lovely, isn’t it? I dream of physics constants…k=8.99e9 N m^2/C^2…

In other exciting news, my SPS (Society of Physics Students) group went to Ann Arbor today and met up with the SPS group from the University of Michigan.  We went to the Saturday Morning Physics lecture series.  It was a great panel with Sean Carroll (CalTech and Cosmic Variance [see blogroll]), Michael Turner (University of Chicago), and Philip Glass (Einstein on the Beach) about Einstein as a cultural figure.  It was very delightful!  The SPS group from the U of M was really fun and I look forward to socializing with them again and organizing outreach opportunities!  Also, Sean Carroll is much taller than I thought he would be.  I don’t know why I am so stuck on this fact (or why a twitter photo of his face would give any indication of his height…) but in addition to being taller than expected, he was also a very engaging speaker.  It was very interesting hearing Philip Glass’ take on science from an artistic point of view.  And Michael Turner was very well spoken and interesting as well.  Overall, it was a very successful day.

If I may complain for a minute, Reader, I have to admit I am a little frustrated about my SPS group.  I feel like we have the potential to do so much, but it is really difficult to get people to come to meetings and agree to do things as a group.  One of the reoccurring complaints is that people don’t feel welcome.  Now, scientists aren’t necessarily known for their social skills, but I think that I am rather good in most social situations.  I went to several classes last semester to get people to let people know about the group and to gain more members.  It went very well.  But, the people I spoke with last semester haven’t really shown up so far this semester.  I just feel like if I could get people to a meeting, they would be hooked and as excited about our group as I am.  Please observe the gif below for an adequate expression of my feelings about this situation:

 thank you to the tumblr friend responsible for this!

If any of you lovely people have suggestions on how to people wrangle, I would be very grateful.

In closing, I would like to leave you with a teaser.  I may have some good news regarding summer plans in the near future.  So! Keep your fingers crossed for me and I will update you as soon as I have information!

And A Happy New Year!!

I still don’t know exactly what I want to do with this blog.

I feel like if I post articles and such I will be doing the same thing here that I do on my tumblr.  I mean, I think my tumblr is pretty rad, but it seems silly to post the exact same things in two places.  Also, I can express enjoyment about the articles I post, but since I am still a MS-i-T (Mad Scientist-in-Training), I don’t feel that I qualify yet to express a scientific opinion.  So, maybe I will write about school things?  School things are something I feel extremely qualified to discuss…I am a professional student after all!!

(my desk – definitely a professional student space [with glow in the dark stars and everything])

So!  Three days into the new semester!  I am taking Calculus III, the second half of Calculus based Physics, and a Survey of Greek Literature.  This week I have studied vectors, heat engines and the second law of thermodynamics, and The Odyssey.  This semester is funny.  I can’t take any upper level astronomy classes until I take Modern Physics and Differential Equations.  I can’t take Modern or Diff.Eq. until I finish Calc III and the second half of Calc Based Physics.  It makes me feel like I am fourteen and feel like I am old enough to do grown-up things but still have to sit at the kiddie table at Thanksgiving.  I am meeting with my advisor tomorrow to discuss applying to the physics honors program.  I am not sure if this is a good or bad decision.  I mean, honors always look good, but the idea of it is kind of nerve-wracking.  But, the extra work would keep my head occupied and writing a mini thesis would be good practice for graduate school.  We’ll see (and I will keep you posted).

I also have been getting very interesting reactions when I mention that I am taking a Greek Lit class.  My initial response is “WHAT?! I know how to read!!”.  I was a history major in a previous life.  I feel like people think if you are a scientist you must like science and dislike reading and arts and if you are a humanities person you must despise science and math!  I feel that it is ridiculous to make that assumption, and to be completely blunt, to feel that way.  I like what I like.  I also feel that having a strong appreciation (I wouldn’t necessarily say understanding because most days I don’t feel like I understand most things) for history and classics makes me a better scientist.  I don’t know.  I may be completely off in this, so if anyone feels like discussing it with me, please do.

So, dear Readers, this is where we are.  I apologize for my lack of decision making about the purpose of this blog and ask that you hang in there while I am trying to figure it all out.  If you stick around I promise you will be privy to riveting discussions about partial derivatives, magnetism and electricity, and hear me bitch about Plato.  Good times!