Blog of Eternal Stench

Oh, baby!

2006-04-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

Hey! Check it out! My sister had a baby and the baby's name is Miriam! I want to buy lots of things for her! I can't wait to fly home in two weeks! Here is a picture of the happy family!

When I showed the picture to my coworker, Lana, she said, "Which is the baby?" meaning which gender, but I thought she meant which of the three people in the picture is a baby, and I laughed because I thought she was joking.

These are things I'd like to buy for the baby:

Soft stuffed animal
Boston shirt
Beth suggested bibs because babies drool and puke a lot, so I think that's a good idea
Some beer for Lisa, because it's been so long without beer.
Cow costume, because Steve has a cow costume he wears for Halloween, and it would be cute to have Dad and daughter cow costumes.
Pretty much all of H&M's baby section

Any other suggestions?

Egg hunt!

2006-04-04T15:45:00.000-04:00

Last Easter, Rachael and I secretly hid candy-filled plastic eggs all over our friends' apartment and then waited for them to notice one of the eggs and begin to look for more. However, they didn't notice any of the eggs! Impatiently, I surreptitiously called their house phone, hoping that they would notice the plastic egg we had hidden next to the phone. But when I called, Ben ran to the further phone instead of the one with the egg hidden by it! I couldn't believe it. Finally we had to tell them that we had hidden the eggs, and to Rachael's and my shock and dismay, our friends DID NOT CARE at all and we had to pretty much force them to search for the eggs! I think this year, I will ask Ben and the others to hide the candy-filled eggs so that Rachael and I can have fun finding them.

Kali is coming to visit this week because she's interviewing for some jobs! I hope she gets the job of her dreams and can live in Boston permanently!

What a state we're in, part deux!

2006-02-23T16:02:00.000-05:00

Sunday night was the night of the President's Day party! We wanted to watch 1776, but that was not available, so we watched my little brother's school play about the constitutional convention instead! My brother played George Washington! It was great! We also played a giant game of Taboo! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

This one was taken at the fancy Beacon Hill party we went to:

This is Bethany, Ben and Sammy at that same party:

Here are Sammy, Rachael and Ben at the President's day party. Sammy is dressed as Chester A. Arthur: the college years. Rachael has a tiny stovepipe hat on her head, and Ben is just your average statesman. Sammy just finished microwaving those peeps and Rachael didn't like the look of them. She is saying, "they look like barf!"

Here we are dressed up for President's Day! Andrea gave me that vest, and I was really glad to be able to use it! Rachael T made the buckles for my shoes. Jeremy has a faux-hawk for some reason.

Here is a really bad picture of Andrea and a good picture of Sammy and Jeremy! Andrea normally looks very nice!

What a state we're in!

2006-02-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

This morning I had an eye exam because I'm working with lasers and they want to check on my eyes in case I damage them. Now I can't see anything, and my pupils are gigantic, and it's a really sunny day outside. I was covering my eyes because my sunglasses were not shading enough, and I came really close to running into lots of things. Boston has too many people and poles. They should have planned the placement of the optometrist's office better. Also, right next door to the ophthalmological building, there's another eye-related building with a big glass eyeball outside, so even though I knew the address of my eye doctor, I passed it and walked into the building with the big glass eyeball outside. The lady at the front desk knew what had happened immediately; I bet that kind of thing happens a lot.

Anyway, while I was waiting for the eye doctor, I suddenly remembered something from when I was younger: one of my first times at the optometrist, the doctor said that he could figure out what I had eaten for breakfast that morning. Up until this morning, I thought that it was a secret eye doctor trick. Well, I hadn't really thought much about it until this morning, really. Anyway, I wanted to ask Tracy, since she's an ophthalmologist, but I decided to ask the eye doctor instead:

Me: Oh, have you heard of this before? When I was little, my eye doctor knew what I had for breakfast without me telling him.
Doctor: Ah, that's a good trick.
Me: Oooh, there's a trick??
Doctor: No, he probably just guessed.

Apparently it was just a trick to make me distracted or something, but it seriously worked. And I bet my eyes were open really wide too, because I was completely awe-struck at the time.

Last Sunday we had a President's day party and I have some pictures to show you, but I forgot to upload them, so you'll have to wait!

Yay snow!

2006-02-12T17:44:00.000-05:00

There was a lot of snow today! Click the picture to see more!

We love Barack!

2006-02-07T10:58:00.000-05:00

Rachael made some Barack Obama shirts!

Saturday in the park!

2006-01-22T10:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday in the robotics lab, we got the turret to move according to where the camera was pointing and the shooter design worked, sort of, so we celebrated by kicking and hitting a mostly deflated soccer ball around for about an hour.

Then Sammy and I met at Back Bay station and we walked to a restaurant to spend the gift certificate he got from Mom. Our waiter was in training (after he told us that, Sammy and I both looked at each other and said, "great"). Then a family with a baby came and sat near us, and Sammy and I looked at each other and said, "great" when we noticed the baby. Then we ate tons and tons of food!

After dinner, we spent a lot of time in Barnes & Noble and then we went home and watched Remember the Titans because Rachael had it on. I hadn't seen it before; I had thought it was just a generic football movie. All I had seen of it before is the trailer where they were all singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" together.

Then I played World of Warcraft and my normal server was full, so I went to an RP server, hoping to hear some crazy talking, but nobody was doing anything cool. I did make a druid and named it Artoo, because I used to think that druids and droids were the same thing. No one got my little joke, but I laughed anyway.

Bogspot

2006-01-11T13:46:00.000-05:00

Down the hall, there was a big meeting that left free sandwiches for everyone. While I was loading my plate, a woman was standing there talking about how much bacteria there must be on these sandwiches. I guess she was hinting that I should not be eating the sandwiches, but she wasn't directly talking to me. Besides, the sandwiches were probably not sitting out very long. If I start feeling sick, I won't go running to her.

Back from Wisconsin!

2006-01-09T12:02:00.000-05:00

Wellll, I'm back from my trip to Wisconsin, which was a truly magnificent time! And then I start my job and robotics! Click on the picture below to see more pictures!

2005-12-09T15:01:00.000-05:00

There is a wicked blizzard/thunderstorm going on right now! I've never seen such a thing!

I am NOT a loser!

2005-12-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

I just left a message for my sister, talking about what I've been up to lately, and at the end, I said, "if you wanna know the rest? Hey, buy the rights" (which is one of the lines in this song) and then hung up and laughed and laughed.

Today we had our senior luncheon. It was pretty fun, and at some point, this website will have a whole bunch of pictures from the capstone presentations. Hooray!

Almost done!

2005-12-05T13:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I almost had perfect attendance for my final semester at Northeastern, but today I have a dizzy flu so I stayed home. So I have perfect attendance just up until the last week of classes.

Last Thursday we presented our capstone project and it went really well. We didn't win anything, but I'm happy it's done! Now we just need to write the 20-30 page report! And I just have one more big paper, and one more homework assignment, and one more final exam and then I'm done! I can't possibly wait!

I'm so excited to go home to Wisconsin! It's been a long time, and I like it there and I miss my family! I had a dream last night that I went to the family christmas party (which was being held outside V. Richards in Brookfield for some reason), and I forgot to get a gift for my person, and I forgot to wear nice clothes, and everyone else was really "dressed to the nines," and I was really worried. Luckily, Kim gave me nice clothes to wear, and the person I was supposed to give a gift to wasn't even there! Perfect!

Some Harry Potter freaks

2005-11-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

My sister is going to have a baby girl, so I've been thinking of names. Lisa and Steve mainly think my names are too "old-sounding." Some of my favorites are Pearl and Georgia. Here is a message I left for her today:

Me: I've been doing some thinking, and I have a great suggestion for your baby. How about Hermione?

While I was tutoring today, Lisa left a message saying this:

Lisa: Thanks for the suggestion, but we're pretty set on either Ginny Weasley or Professor McGonagall.

I really hope they name their baby Professor McGonagall. How amazing that would be!

Speaking of Harry Potter, I saw the latest movie, and it was great! Well, it was great for me because I already knew what was going to happen the whole time, but I imagine it was really tough for those who hadn't read the book several times. Also, there were tons of things that got cut out, which is understandable because the book was hundreds of pages long, but there are things I would have liked to see.

Be cool, babies!

2005-11-16T20:35:00.000-05:00

Today, I took my last midterm as an undergraduate Northeastern student! Weird!

...and that's pretty much it!

I see color bars

2005-10-31T14:36:00.000-05:00

Wow! It's so beautiful out today that even my impending GRE's of doom aren't getting me too nervous yet!

Friday night we had our halloween party! We realized too late that "safari" is not the best theme. It was a great theme for an invitation, though: check out Sammy's handiwork! And also, Rexford ended up in a shark costume! He looked menacing, to say the least!

Saturday it was snowing! I know, right? I was planning on staying in all day (especially after my late night Friday night), but I ended up going out shopping in it. It was actually pretty fun, though, because Sammy and I listened to music together while we were walking, and Hall & Oates were playing, and Hall & Oates is kind of the musical equivalent of this nice sunny day. I was pretty happy. Plus I bought new pants for the first time in months! And they're good sturdy corduroys; perfect for winter!

The monster mash!

2005-10-25T12:55:00.000-04:00

After seeing this picture, we're trying to think of some good Halloween costumes for Rexford. We tried making a shark fin for him, but we made the fin too big, and he looked more like a sailboat. We'll have to think of something really great for him.

I've been tutoring a lot more lately, and it's pretty fun! I have started to tutor a guy named Dave who is severely sight-impaired, and that has been a real challenge, because I'm tutoring in Electronics, which is a very visual subject. Dave is also about 45 years old, too. It's kind of a strange situation, but he's a really nice guy and I really admire him for attempting an education in a field that would be a real challenge even for a person with full eyesight.

My early session of tutoring was cancelled, so I got to sleep in a little, but I ended up laying in bed watching the storm outside. I think we're having what's called a "Nor'easter." It's really windy and cold and raining. It was nice to sit and watch it, but now I must trek out!

Burger Cop!

2005-10-10T00:59:00.000-04:00

I would just like to say this: I am the WORST at not laughing when someone gets hurt. Unless it's a truly horrendous accident or there is a lot of blood everywhere, I cannot stop myself from a little giggle when someone suffers a minor injury. For example, a couple of years ago, my mom was walking across the room and snagged her little toe on the coffee table. I'm sure it hurt like hell, and I wouldn't have laughed about that, but when she hurt herself, she yelled, "son of a biscuit!" and I couldn't help myself--I laughed a lot. I tried to keep as quiet as I could, so she wouldn't hear me, but it was no use. She became furious that I would laugh at her for getting hurt; I wanted to tell her that I was laughing because she said "son of a biscuit" and not because she was injured, but I was laughing too hard to utter a word.

Just a few minutes ago, Sammy somehow hit his head on the door frame. I was thinking about the logistics of how his head banged into the frame of the door and I started laughing a little, and he got mad too. Man, he and my mom are made for each other!

The Hunt for Red October

2005-10-01T17:05:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty sure there's a gas leak in here. Rachael and Sammy are both sleeping soundly. What losers!

Last Saturday we threw a surprise party for Rachael Sansom, and it was the greatest time ever! Sammy bought some cap guns to shoot off when she went in, but he forgot about them when she actually did go through the door. The girls all took her out for dessert at Finale, so they didn't have a birthday cake for her; instead, Ben just rigged a cup with 24 candles (one for good luck) and she blew out the birthday cup.

Sammy's birthday gift to Rachael was this moustache:

I've mainly been spending my days studying, watching TV, tutoring, and rabble-rousing. I am shocked that it's October already, but I'm getting excited for Halloween. I have to start thinking of possible costume ideas!

It's almost October!

2005-09-24T09:40:00.000-04:00

We went to the screening of the movie Thumbsucker, which I liked, and we also made a new friend while standing in line! We swapped phone numbers with our new friend Leilani. So now we have to start doing fun things to make our new friend like us.
I had my first tutoring session! I tutored three guys in Electronics, but these three students were really good and they already had a lot of the homework done so tutoring was a breeze! Before the session, I asked the lady in charge what I should do, because I was a little nervous, and she said that I should take some time to get to know them. So here's what happened:

Me: So, where are you all from?
Them: [telling me where they're from]
Me: Well, I'm supposed to take some time to get to know you all, but I think we're pretty much best friends by now, so we can probably start talking about Electronics.

We finally fulfilled our destinies and went to the bar around the corner called The Midway Cafe. They say it's different every night, but last night was amazing! The main event last night was something called Nerd Nite! First, a woman talked about hidden bat diversity in the paleotropics, where she showed strangely cute pictures of bats and talked about the frequency of their tone used in echolocation and the size of their forearms and some funny interesting things that one wouldn't expect to hear when going to a bar. Then a guy did a bunch of awesome physics tricks! It was pretty much the best night of my life!
Today is Rachael's birthday! We're going to go to Finale to celebrate her almost-golden birthday! It will be the best time of our lives!

I wish I were a Sim

2005-09-20T12:52:00.000-04:00

My roommate Rachael is really bad at loading the dishwasher. She always puts the plates where the bowls are supposed to go and the bowls where the plates are supposed to go, and she puts the tall glasses where the short glasses are supposed to go, and she doesn't allow room for more dishes later, so the dishwasher can't hold as many dishes. I wonder if she grew up using a dishwasher. She must not have. I thought I was just being really anal retentive, but Sammy agrees with me about Rachael's lack of dishwasher-loading prowess. However, he, unlike me, didn't take the time to rearrange the whole thing.

Tonight we're going to a free screening of a movie called Thumbsucker! I have no idea what it's about, but I hope it's delightful!

Confrontational + email = possible oxymoron?

2005-09-19T17:37:00.000-04:00

The other day I left my bike at the train station overnight, and it rained that night. My bike was underneath an overhang, but it still got wet enough to make the chain a little rusty. When I rode it this morning, the bike decided to get back at me by launching a shard of acorn at my eyeball. Then, the bike rack was completely full at the station, and I had to squish in to lock it and I got dirt all over my shirt. That darned bike.

ALSO, I had to write a really confrontational email! I called someone "delirious" and said that [the robotics team] would prefer not to be associated with her. That was the most confrontational I've been in a while, and it was somewhat exhilerating, but mostly I was just shaky and sweaty.

A reading from the book of Emily

2005-09-15T23:57:00.000-04:00

I asked Professor Silevitch, my old electromagnetics professor, if he would write a recommendation letter for me so I can start my job as a tutor. He told me to write the letter and he would "massage" it if he felt like it. First I was delighted, but now I'm just not sure...what do I say? It feels weird to write out all these nice things about myself. I think I'm just going to copy down some of the psalms or something, but I'll substitute my own name wherever it says God, or Jesus or whatever. For example, I can write something like:

Emily is my shepherd. I shall not want.

The heavens declare the glory of Emily; and the firmament sheweth her handywork.

Emily so loved the world, that she gave her only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in her should not perish, but have everlasting life.

That reminds me, remember how people used to hold up signs that said "John 3:16" at sports events? Does anyone do that anymore?

woe

2005-09-11T02:04:00.000-04:00

I'll never have drunk posts like Jeejeen has drunk posts because I am too obsessed with perfect spelling and grammar. 'Tis a shame! Hers are fun to decode. Sorry, readers!

Llama guys

2005-09-06T23:00:00.000-04:00

I laughed myself silly while watching this: http://www.mega64.com/. The paperboy video is the best.

Also, go here for two scenes from my weekend: 1 (gross) and 2 (hilarious)

Where did the summer go?

2005-09-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

Arg, what am ah doin'? It's sad that the summer is over! No white after labor day! And tomorrow school starts, and I need a job or some way to pay the rent, such as selling all of my belongings. That's cool, right?

And now I unveil the pictures from my weekend on Lake Ontario. Now all I need is a trip to Lake Huron and I'll have been to all the Great Lakes!