Weekend Again.

This weekend marks the middle of the fall semester, so the university was kind enough to give its students a day off. It's nice to have an extra day without classes and time to do other activities than homework, psets, and labs, but it's terrible at the same time. The extra day gives you the illusion that you have so much more time on your hands, when in reality you don't. I should spend the extra day studying for my calc exam next week. I know already that I won't.

I don't have ballroom practice this weekend, which is nice just because it gives my feet a chance to recover and my mind a chance to process the dances that have been crammed in it these past few weeks. It also gives me a chance to spend more time with my dormmates, whom I've been neglecting these past few weeks as well. We're planning to make pumpkin pie! Apparently my suitemate Jewel got some fresh pumpkins last week at a BAM outing. Pumpkin pie would help complete the illusion of autumn. The trees in front of the admissions building turned red overnight. It's lovely.

Hopefully I'll get a lot of work done, too. I plan to go to the library tomorrow morning to study before getting caught up in whatever ends up happening here.

Have a great weekend!

Greetings from the Library

I have yet to use any of the university libraries for books. I come to the library almost every day to use the printer, computer, or one of the desks to study. There are several libraries here on campus, but the only two I ever use are Hunt Library (the main library that is built out of aluminum) and the Engineering and Sciences Library.

Each library has its advantages. Hunt library has a quiet study floor in which the sound of a backpack zipping grates your ears like nails on a chalkboard. On the other hand, if you're not careful about where you sit, you end up facing the windows that look over the cut. There are few things more distracting from calculus homework than watching a cloudy sky.

That is why I prefer E&SL. Not only does it have computers more likely to be free in case you need one, it also looks and feels like a concrete dungeon. It's much easier to concentrate, despite the lack of a quiet floor. There is a quieter corner of E&SL full of desks, but you still occasionally hear the printers running and people talking on the other side of the giant room. All-in-all this is one of the best places to study, I think.

And now it's time to take advantage of that.

Saturday Night Salsa

Last night I went to a salsa dance social with Zahra, Andrey, and one of Zahra's friends (my suitemate, dance partner, and a grad student who has a car, respectively). I haven't been salsa dancing since about January. It was a lot of fun, and brings back some fond memories. The place we went to in Homestead seemed really friendly, so I hope to go back. Unfortunately that particular group only meets once a month. There are other salsa dances and clubs throughout the Pittsburgh area, though, so maybe I'll look into finding others.

That is, if anyone else is interested in coming. It's best to go to these places with a group, so that you always have someone to dance with but can switch partners sometimes. We were supposed to go in a larger group than four people, but most of the people who had expressed interest in coming backed out in the end. It was disappointing.

I still had a good time, though. I plan on going there again, even if it does mean going alone.

Rabbit Island III?

Calculus 21-122 was more entertaining today than usual. Professor Handron is by far my funniest professor this semester. I usually take down quotes from professors in notebook margins, but calculus has the most. This morning Professor Handron was having a field day. There's almost as much pencil in the margins as there are notes about today's lecture.

We've been modeling population growth using differential equations for the past couple lectures. Examples have been illustrated using, go figure, rabbits on an isolated island. On Friday we got through Rabbit Island I and II (after determining that "If there's no rabbits on the island there won't be a spontaneous generation of rabbits.")

Today class started with a Return to Rabbit Island.

Professor Handron: "It's like a bad summer movie."

I personally can't believe they made another movie out of Rabbit Island after Rabbit Island II.

Prof. Handron: "What will eventually happen on Rabbit Island with the exponential growth model?"

Matt: "Cannibalism?"

Prof. Handron: "Noooo...!"

A short time later we determined (i.e., Prof. Handron revealed, by use of another memorable and enthusiastic phrase) that the real answer was that "All matter on rabbit island will become converted to Rabbit! Then you really will have Rabbit Island!"

Calculus lecture has good times. Except when you copy down some equations and then discover that "Oops, that wasn't a letter at all!"

Happy Weekend

There is always something to do on weekends here at CMU. So far, my weekend has consisted of shopping at South Side Works and watching Ratatouille for $1 at the UC. I managed to find most of my dance clothes yesterday at the Good Will in South Side, which makes me happy. My shoes arrived this week, too, so I'm excited about dancing in them today.

The rest of my weekend consists of dance practice and homework. Someone wanted to go jacket shopping this morning, too, so I plan to go with her to find the clothes I'm missing. Otherwise I plan to spend a lot of time in the library.