Random stuff

Happy Saturday-before-Halloween,
How are you all? I'm ok. A bit worn-out but otherwise ok.
It's kind of sad when I think back to what I've done since the last time I posted, and all I can think of is work.
Last night we had a first-year grad potluck. Since there's not one class that all of us are taking, we can't bond over mutual hatred of the homework, so instead we're left bonding over food and Ghostbusters. (Back off. I'm a scientist.) Probably better anyway.
Today I went to Ithaca's mall and saw that Christmas stuff is starting to emerge. That's pretty exciting. It's a bit early. I still abide by the rule-of-thumb that Christmas stuff isn't allowed to be displayed until Thanksgiving is over. Now they're pushing Halloween.
Now it's time to bitch about the weather. Here in not-so-sunny and not-so-warm Ithaca we're having highs in the lower 40's. This week in Germany it was the mid-70's. Granted this is not usual, it does make me wonder why it was that I left. Oh right. Grad school. You go where the money is right?
So here are some random interesting things that I heard/learned this week:

+The impedence of free space is 376.7 Ohms.

+This week a construction worker working on the German interstate system was digging and ran into a bomb from WWII that no one knew was there. It exploded killing him, sending debris flying over a third of a mile, and leaving a rather large hole. There were also several other reports of found bombs being safely defused. It amazes me that sixty years later they're still finding live bombs scattered throughout the country. The moral of this story: war sucks.

+For those of you who are mathmatically inclined, check out he Buckingham-Pi theorem.

Anyho! That's all folks!

Procrastinating

So the entire point of this post is to procrastinate. I should be working on my homework but really, really don't want to.
Last night I had the E&M exam from hell. Ok. So it could've been worse. It was only from the first ring of hell. Not the seventh. Or whatever. I didn't do so well. Pretty sure I got the lowest grade in the class. That's what happens when I'm competing with all of these Cornell physics grads. Funny how they're really good at physics. Whatever. Life goes on. And so does the homework apparently. Which I also can't do.
Otherwise things are good. I've got a couple concerts in the next couple days. I'm taking a day off this weekend and am really excited about that.

Hmmmmmm.....
Interesting thoughts fail me at the moment. As usual.


Ok...caffeine is kicking in. Back to work.

So ein Mist!

As they say in Germany..."So ein Mist!"
Iowa just lost to Indiana at Indiana. Indiana?! ::slaps forehead::
In addition it's Saturday. I've been doing homework and studying for the last six days. Tuesday is an exam from Hell, a.k.a. E&M, so I'll be spending the rest of my weekend working on that. Plus next week I have a couple extra rehearsals, a concert on Thursday, and a concert on Saturday, a project abstract due, and am getting a "particularly long" assignment for my stars class, guaranteeing that I'm getting no break in the foreseeable future. At least not until Thanksgiving rolls around, or more likely when the semester ends.
Oh. Did I mention it's cold? At least Ithaca didn't get hit by the huge snowstorm that buried western New York. Winter is coming. Run away!!!!

Ok. Enough of my bitching.
I hope you all are doing well.

Niagra Falls

Hallo!
So Andy and I made it back from Niagra Falls. The Falls are, of course, amazing. Something everyone should see at least once.
It was also the perfect weekend. The weather was warm and sunny and the trees were in their full fall colors.

Andy already has some photos up:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiashrub/

Here are a couple of mine:



America Falls in foreground, Horseshoe Falls and Niagra Falls, Ontario in background.



Horseshoe Falls at night. (Viewed from Canada.)



Horseshoe Falls by day.

Ahhhhh...

So I've finally reached it. Fall break. After a week of hellish homeworks, I can relax a bit. And the sun's even shining.
But amidst the clouds, rain, and evil problem sets, there were sunny parts to the week. The sunniest of which was a surprise visit from a friend and colleague from Germany. It was so great seeing her and her husband.
Tomorrow Andy and I are going to visit Niagra Falls, which should be very cool. The rest of the break I'll spend frantically trying to get myself ahead on work. I'm sure it won't happen, but I can hope.

As usual I have nothing terribly interesting to say. Sorry.