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Hi everyone.  They kicked us out of New House today and I'm currently sitting in Hayden with Rashed, because both of us have work we would like to get done.  You may comment that the fact that I'm blogging means I'm not getting work done.  I just want to say that I have glanced over in Rashed's direction a few times and he is on The You Tube.  I have been on The Gee Mail dealing with email backlog (thanks for being patient, Xiaoyue <3).

Sumin emailed me recently and said I should blog, and I said that I would wait to blog until I had pictures, because I like pictures and I don't like blogging without them.  Then I realized I have a bunch of pictures, so I'm going to post some of the things I've been up to.

Last week was the first week after finals.  It was also the week of Harvard's commencement.  I had a good friend graduating, so I spent a lot of time up there at various events.  Harvard's commencement is opened by the HIGH SHERIFF OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, which was pretty funny.  He strides on stage, strikes his staff three times and bellows, "AS THE HIGH SHERIFF... OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY... I DECLARE... THAT THIS... MEETING... IS IN... OOOOOORDERRRRRRRRR...." and does something pretty similar for declaring the meeting adjourned, but I've used up my capslock quota for this blog post.  Here's a picture of Oprah, who was speaking.  (At a certain point me and my friend's sister just had fun competing with each other to get better shots of Oprah).  Yeah, we were sitting pretty far back.  After Oprah talked, I ran into Adam, who was there because his brother was graduating, and it was hot so we got froyo together. 

In contrast, MIT's commencement was not very hot.  I took a bunch of pictures, some of which are on facebook, but here's one that I took of the stage through my poncho.  I was very glad to have a poncho.  It was raining a little.  I ended up moving closer to the stage because those seats didn't end up filling - they were reserved for people who didn't come.  So on that note I'll say congratulations again to our seniors!  Despite the slight muddiness of the day, it was truly a pleasure to get to be at your commencement, and I'm super proud of you and sad that you won't be around as much next year.

Other things I have been doing include watching Sherlock with Noah, UROPing, procrastinating on work, going to the dentist, and voice lessons.  I'm being introduced to vocal repertoire, which is an edifying experience.  I didn't know that Aaron Copland (of Appalachian Spring) wrote voice things.  If you're interested, I'm working on Long Time Ago by Copland right now.  That link is a very pretty baritone recording. 

I'm looking through the pictures uploaded to my computer for inspiration for things to write about, and this prompts me to say that I think there is a Wood Thrush living in the tree outside House 5.  I keep wanting to take a picture but I only ever have my phone on me so you can't really tell it's a Wood Thrush from the resolution.  I'll include it anyway since I mentioned it.  That little blob of a bird sitting on the left pedal of the blue bike is a wood thrush.  Male wood thrushes are able to sing two notes at once. :]

mmmmm... that's all from me for now.  In the next few weeks I'm going to be working, going to NYC with caitkw and alrashed, going to Chicago for ESP, going home for my sanity, and you know... other stuff.  Miss everyone and would like to hear about how everyone's doing. 

Mooooooose.

My parents told me they'll be here in 15 minutes, so I am going to try to write a post before they come since Alan and Zizzie both told me to blog this summer.

From Sunday to Tuesday, Laura, Rashed, Adrienne, and I went to Maine to visit Shaun. Here is what we did:

Sunday

9:10ish am - Leave LMF, head to Metro Rock but get slightly lost.

9:40am - depart for Maine after Laura successfully obtains her groupon

12:50ish pm - arrive at Shaun's house. Figure out where to park.

1pm ~ 5pm - make and eat sandwiches, play spoons, play BS, pet Shaun's cats (well, mostly Bentley the cat), play frisbee, play clue, etc. etc.

5:30-7:30?pm - make dinner. eat.

8:20pm - decide to go get ice cream at Cold Stone. Shaun's brother (who was trying to get to Dairy Queen which closes at 8:30 and was driving behind us) gets annoyed that Laura drives <= the speed limit.

After-ice-cream - Play cranium and play pictionary with a Webster's dictionary. Laura falls asleep.

Monday

10:12am - Sumin wakes up upon getting Bentley 'thrown' at her

11am - Portland! (not the other one in Oregon)

I'm not really sure about the timing in Portland, so here's what we did:

- find a cheap place that sells wraps on yelp and eat yummy wraps. Sumin is impressed by Rashed's eating speed

- eat ice cream

- walk around in loops, and at some point decide that we should take pictures

 Rashed does the bird-walk

I like this picture.

- go to Urban Outfitters (because I spilled ice cream and wanted to see if I could get a cheap shirt >_<)

- walk around more. Stop by stores so that Rashed can buy a moose and Laura can buy a postcard. Rashed finds a moose that's holding a lobster that says 'my maine squeeze' on it, but decides not to get it for his sister upon learning what a squeeze is.

- go to a bookstore! I had never been to a bookstore besides Borders and B&N, so this was really exciting. I've decided that used-book stores are awesome. 

- go to an L.L Bean store and the L.L Bean outlet. There was a large boot.

- play contact on the drive back

We did mad libs upon getting back. Here's an excerpt:
"You are extremely luscious and I text you! I want kiss your left knee 23 times. You make my ellipsis burn with desire."

Tuesday

10:30am - get up (without Bentley getting involved)

11am - make pancakes of various kinds and shapes. There was a bow tie pancake, a bear pancake, a panda pancake, and s'mores pancakes... Sumin is again impressed by Rashed's eating speed.

until 3pm - play Balderdash with a dictionary.  

3pm - say bye bye to Shaun and leave :(

We played more contact until people got sick of it, then Laura started singing Les Mis, which led to the Les Mis showing that night :) 

So... I am now out of things to talk about. I guess I could also tell you guys that we had baked breaded chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy while watching Les Mis.... :P (seniors + zizzie + rashed: there's still some left in the drinks fridge).

My parents are now here. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Wonderfully boring

So I think Anna said something like "If you have nothing to blog about, go out and do something exciting, and then blog about it!". But that sounds like too much work so I'm going to just tell you about all the nothing I've been doing.

Here is a list of the cool things I have done so far:

• ate some stale bagel bites
• watched True Justice with my dad (a terrible TV show about my relative, Elijah Kane). Basically Steven Seagal wrote, produced, directed and created this TV show for himself.
• went to a SF Giant's game (we won)
• started reading Moby Dick
• lost my phone and then found it (x4)
• drove my sister to her finals
• ate burgers for 4 meals in a row
• went to the beach. Got sunburned. 
• got 11 hours of sleep a night on average

Yeah. That's about it. Here are some pictures from my non-adventures for you to enjoy.

I left for 30 seconds to get more water and my dog stole my towel.

Capitola Beach: by far the best beach in my part of Northern California (in my opinion). These are the beach houses for rent and not what the water looks like mostly because the tide was coming in and it seemed like the whole kelp forest was washing up on the beach.

creeper shot of a coin slot at In-n-Out burger. 

So it should be clear that I just posted all the vaguely relevant pictures from my phone.

Personally, I love doing nothing, so if you are the same way, I wish you a summer as boring as mine.

See everyone in Boston in ~1.5 weeks!!

Maggie

Let There Be Internet

I started work on Tuesday.

First up: one of the most decisions any summer intern can make. Which desk do I pick?

This year, there are 15 summer students split into three offices: one with four chairs and nice pictures hanging on the walls, one with three chairs and a window, a third with eight chairs and no window or pictures.

So: pictures, a view outdoors, or lots of company?

Turns out that my decision was made for me, since a computer in the three-person office had a sticky note on the screen that said "Anna Ho --Ransom" (Scott Ransom is my advisor.) Um. Okay? No other computers had name tags; apparently Scott told the IT people that I need some special version of Red Hat (Linux). Still don't have a clue why, but it did make my decision much simpler.

Jared (my roommate for the week) also picked the three-person office, since he likes the window. The other two summer students who arrived this week - Adrian and Aara'L - picked the eight-person office. So, this week it was Jared and I at home, then Jared and I in the car, then Jared and I at work, then Jared and I in the car, then Jared and I at home...seriously. I spent 22 hours/day with this guy. The only reason it wasn't 24 is that he goes running or biking for like 1-1.5 hours every day, and we don't shower together (surprise!)

Fortunately, we get along well, and struck a nice combination of leaving each other alone, and talking over cooking and dinner and in the car. He introduced me to Uncle John's sorghum, which is this delicious syrup-y stuff made in Kentucky (where Jared is from). This particular brand, Uncle John's, is named for a kid who went to High School with Jared, who apparently started a sorghum business. One day, I would like to see one of your names on a jar in my pantry!

I have also learned that there are lots of thoroughbred horses in Kentucky, and a guy called Turtle Man, whose teeth are in horrible shape.

On Thursday, Adrian (one of the summer students, who goes to UVA) invited us to play volleyball with his local friends. We played for something like two hours, and my legs felt it the next day. More than once, I found myself in the position right in front of the net (which means it's your job to jump up and block) -- directly opposite 6'2'' Jared, which just didn't seem fair at all.

After work on Friday, Adrian Jared and I went to Fridays After Five, which is one of my favorite things about Charlottesville -- there's a live, free, open-air concert in the pavilion downtown, and it seems like the entire town comes out to walk along the pedestrian mall, sit (and play, if you're a little kid) in the grass, eat at the restaurants. There are street musicians, tables and chairs outdoors, big sun umbrellas, colorful dresses and quaint shops - and SO many people. The three of us ate at an awesome burger place, then found a spot on the grass outside the pavilion and talked and relaxed for an hour and a half. I took out my camera and recorded a very short segment of it - this is something I would like to do more, because you can capture SO much of an atmosphere in a tiny clip. When I watch it, I find myself right back there on the grass. And then the moment is ruined when I hear how weird my voice sounds when I say "I am ALL ABOUT playgrounds! Swings!"

View of the pavilion -

Adrian (left) and Jared (right) -- my two new friends! :D

If the remaining summer students turn out to be half as nice as these two, my summer will be fantastic.

Yesterday was a less fun day - I moved from Jared's to my official summer home, and helped my friend (a male new UVA graduate student) and 7 other male UVA graduate students (+ Jared, who stayed to help) carry heavy things from a moving truck up the stairs into the apartment. This friend I'm living with is an ex-NRAO summer student; he and I worked together last summer. A second resident, Molly, is also a new UVA grad student, in biomedical engineering. Haven't met the third yet. I'm taking the fourth's room for the summer, since he doesn't arrive until late August.

But yeah -- unpacking. Not fun. I learned very quickly what the necessities are in a house, that I take for granted.

Trash cans.

Trash bags.

Utensils.

Toilet paper.

A desk. Chairs.

Shower curtains (seriously. The previous residents STRIPPED the house.)

Internet. INTERNET. There was no Internet access until about half an hour ago. I spent most of the day in the NRAO building, so that I could check my e-mail and study for the GRE, because otherwise I'd be sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes, in an Internet-less apartment.

But now there is Internet! And slowly but surely, the boxes and floors and walls are magically transforming into a home.

And now to sleep, because it's 11:30 and I'm an old woman. Sorry if this post was a little incoherent - I am TIRED.

Love you all!