Wednesday, August 12, 2009

We're coming, Jae!

Get your towels ready. It's about to go down.

Alan and I were almost in bed (finally) on Monday night when we received a disturbing phone call. Jae, scheduled to leave from JFK airport early the next day, was stranded on a train! Apparently, everything was on fire. That's what I understood, at least. He asked if there were non-train modes of transportation between Stamford and NYC.

There was one. Alan and I immediately threw on our clothes, rechristened my car the Bromobile, and dashed out the door. We then reverse dashed back up the stairs and told Ben we were leaving. Bye, Ben! Despite my chronic sleep-deprivation, we flew down 95. Less then 10 minutes away from the Stamford train station, however, Jae called an abort. Apparently, everything was no longer on fire. Alan and I pulled over to mourn the irreversable dispersion of the 3rd floor denizins (Alan's next to go o_O). Hopefully, the gesture was appreciated regardless. After composing ourselves, we decided to go crash my mom's place near NYC.

I had to call her about 7 times to wake her up first. We pulled into her apartement building at about 3am, only to learn that she had ventured out to try to find milk. She's nuts! After enduring her incoherent ramblings (love ya, mum!) for about an hour, Alan and I finally got some sleep. In air conditioning! Yum!

We then woke up and went skydiving. (*ahem*check my facebook for pics*ahem*). Because we don't spend enough time together, we had decided to go on a bonding trip. The highlight of the preperatory events centered on Alan running around the airport's runway like a plane and then getting almost run over by a Cessna (an actual plane). There's something a bit overwhelming about finding yourself 10,000ft above the ground and moving very quickly. Neither of us went splat, so I declare maximal misson success. ^_^

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

We've Got Cabin Fever

Team, it's hot. It's really really hot. It was soooo hot last night, I went to Joe's mom's apartment to cool down.

Scene:

"Alan, don't make me eat it. I don't want to eat it anymore." Paul looked pitifully into my eyes, begging me to end him there. I patted his head. "Be strong, like Dumbledore. I knew you would say this, you told me so. But you have to keep on eating." Paul nodded weakly, and continued to shovel the cookie dough from Ben's bowl into his gaping maw.

With a burst of bassoon music in the background, which is quickly identified as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" Ben comes in, carry a plate of cookies in each hand. He is a man possessed, and the cookies overflow the table onto the floor. Paul groans.

"GET OFF MY PHONE! GET OFF MY PHONE! I'M GOING TO LOSE MY MIND TODAY!!!" Joe throws his phone out the window, hitting in the head the thief who stole Paul's bike and is currently sawing through my bicycle chain lock.

Finally, the heat got to me. I collapsed to the floor. "Water, I need water." Paul, scorching the sky with the fire from his wand, fully recovered from his sugar coma, stepped up. Reaching up, I gulped at the water from the sky.



BHOUSE is at half strength. Our mighty eight is reduced to 4. Yet morale is high... but we could just be delirious. No, no. We are delirious. We have Cabin Fever.





I do not know when I will be able to write again. If I am not heard from again, I wish you all well. Good night, and good luck.

The Best Evening in the World

So, it's been a while, folks. I just haven't been in the mood. You know, headaches and the whatnot. But now I will recount to you an epic, glorious evening.

It started with Tai Chi. I was exhausted, but went to Friday practice anyway. It was excellent, but upon it's conclusion I returned home. I was prepared to subsist on my usual diet of soup, but I had something different in mind. I was going to branch out. I went upstairs to change...and passed out.

When I came to, it was 9:30. 3 hour nap on a Friday night. Glorious. And then I cooked.

What did I cook, do you ask? Allow me to show you.
First I cut my veggies and fungi.

Then I sauteed them.
Then I cooked me some bacon. Wait, did I mention it's Smart Bacon? That's right, it's smart. And vegetarian.


A meal. An honest to god meal. This was such a great day.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Belated goodbye

Yo BHouse.
It's been a whole week since I left. I wonder if y'all noticed? :-)
Anyway, I'm chilling out in Baltimore now. My new place is starting to come together, and it's pretty much the exact opposite of BHouse. Where BHouse was filthy, this house is immaculate. Where BHouse was full of grossness, this one is gorgeous. Where BHouse was lively and full of people, this one is quiet and empty. The kitchen is big, and well stocked. Instead of surly and smelly stray cats, we have a nice house cat named Star who likes to keep me company when I'm reading, or waiting for the police. But it's a classy place. My room is starting to look really nice-- I have an antique brass bed and a hundred year old chandelier. I'm now only short a desk and a mattress (to replace the air mattress I've been using).
I'll be back up there next weeknd-- I need to collect the rest of my stuff. Hopefully I'll see some of you there? And if not, I may just sleep in your bed, because that's the true BHouse way.
Love from the Charm City,
Katie

Friday, August 7, 2009

Science Under the Influence of Fun

7:13pm
After 13 hours of data collection and 25 total at the synchrotron, I got 4 hours of sleep this afternoon. As I woke up and prepared to resume the madness, I realized that his post has lost all coherence. Dammit.


8:32am

In my sleep-deprived delirium, I just decided that it would be a good idea to go into the hutch to manually realign the ruby system (my sample was a bit out of focus). This idea was akin to deciding to spontaneously perform open heart surgery with a hammer. Good thing grad student Joe is quite competent. I may get to work the midnight shift again tonight. I can't wait.
Yay for sleeping during the day!

3:20am

Kanani (confused about our temperature measurements): "How hot is the cell?"
Joe (touches 250C metal housing): "hot. really hot"
(Joe catches on fire. Pointer finger burns for hours.)


1:36am

Alright, so we arrived at the synchrotron at 9am. We then spent 12 FREAKING HOURS aligning and calibrating various equipment on the beamline. Seriously, I can't believe I was messing with electronics for that long. Now, I'm finally starting my experiment. Initial results are quite good, although it's going to be a long slog. Grad student Joe returns at about 4am, after which I will work another 6 hour shift and then die. Hopefully, while I'm dead, I'll find some AA batteries for my camera so that I can upload some siiick pics.

Edit:

Hey, world. Part of my experiment has a webcam, woah. Point the internet at http://www.hpcat.ciw.edu/webcams and click on BM-D to view the madness. (It's a shot of the interior of the x-ray hutch, where you can see my cell and some associated electronics that we have spent the last 8 hours configuring). Who's going to be up all night collecting data? This guy.

Friends, I'm losing my grip on consciousness. What else is there to do besides write about science? If this post bores you, just scroll down and stare at me in a bra. And then finish reading, m'kay?

And then, GET OFF MY PHONE!

Anywho, as week 12 of my 10 week fellowship draws to a close, the madness is just beginning. I rolled into lab at 3:40am today to catch an early flight to Chicago. Now, I'm chillin in the Argonne National Laboratory guest house, where I'll live for the weekend when I'm not in the Advanced Photon Source conducting x-ray diffraction studies to determine the melting temperature of potassium at high pressures. Grand fun! I miss BHouse...

Of course, I didn't escape the Have without a requisite dose of epic. Last night, I had an amazing time watching DCI Quarterfinals - all 5 hours of amazing performances. I was especially impressed with the Blue Stars' meteoric ascent, Vanguard's untouchable musicality, and Crown's newfound domination. YCB peps should mos def check out Crown's arrangement featuring Sensemaya and Slalom. It was legenDAIRY. I planned on getting about 2.5 hours of sleep afterward, but SOME PEOPLE decided to come and harass me until it was time to pound down some Cinnamon Toast Crunch and evacuate. So, I pulled my third all-nighter in New Haven and slept through the entirety of my plane ride even though I <3 planes.

Expect this post to be updated throughout the weekend with pictures, etc - especially if my data acquisition goes well. w00t.

Finally, BHouse will start to significantly empty out in a week :( I hope that some of the maddness carries over into the school year (sorry, everyone else). The fruit flies can die, though. DIE!!!!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Paying It Forward

I left the house this morning with a bag full of recyclable cans and bottles, with the intention of recycling them as soon as I found a bin. As I walked down Elm, I passed a man with a shopping cart full of the very same items. Mine were in a bag, so he couldn't see what they were and was paying little attention to me, but as we neared each other, I said to him, "You can have these cans and bottles." He nodded, I dropped the bag into his cart, and he replied, "Thank you." Then I continued to the library, and he continued to wherever he was going.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

monkey fight!

So, I woke up today with my throat burning and now I'm really really lethargic and sore everywhere...gah.

Anyway, there was a huge monkey fight at the lab today. Basically, all the monkeys ganged up on Auric (oldest monkey in the cage...also possibly the stupidest...) Anyway, his hand got cut by other monkeys scratching him, so he started dripping blood everywhere. btw, monkey blood looks like typical fake blood: really bright red and not all THAT viscous.

We had to get him into a squeeze cage so that the vets can knock him out (VALIUM!) and then stitch up his hand. It kept bleeding though, and all the monkeys in the cage recognize the vet, so the entire cage was going absolutely crazy. And that when he was waking up, he looked just like drunk. Kinda tragically funny. Anyway, during that time, it was like someone put multiple adrenaline shots in me because of all the monkeys screaming and blood, because I was hyperactive, and now I'm kinda feeling like Auric. I can't even sit up or sit without my head just swaying everywhere. Ugh.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Thursday, July 23, 2009

HARRY POTTER!!!!!!

We went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at midnight!! And it was great. Joe went all out.


Paul stocked up on the goods.

The team assembled.And Joe got caught on film.

Notes from the D.C. Underground

So, sometimes I have neither the desire nor the time to post to the blog. These past two weeks have been those times. But, now I'm ready to blog about what the BHouse and I have been up to.

For the Fourth of July, Marcus, Jae, David, Taylor, and I went to Marcus' place.

The boys strike a pose.

We walked around the same part of the Mall over and over again. I passed this statue multiple times. Jae was only on it once.
Jae wanted to get as close as possible to this hunk of a man.

Loving all things free that can be found in D.C., we descended upon the zoo, where we saw the cutest thing ever.

Jae continues to get it on.

Oops, wrong picture. Let's try this again.

Awwww.... soooooo cute!

This is a very rare picture, where the panda eats a ball of energy!!!

After the zoo, we moved on to the Georgetown part of town, after stopping to see a bad-ass pacifist.

These sandals are made for walking,
and ...one of these days these sandals
are going to stand by side as you do
what ever it is you want.

And then we ran into something amazing! Some of the creatures from Jae's lab had escaped!



The next day, I went to the parade. It was the first time I had actually seen one of those huge floats you always see in the movies. And guess who it was.

No, not Jae again. It was Arthur!!!!


Unfortunately, this was no mere float. This fiendish creature was actually the cousin of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man! We thought all was well, until the fireworks...



I need say no more. We fled the spectacle and broke through the crowds to the metro, where we sped through the underground of Washington to safety.

P.S. For all you How I Met Your Mother fans, I licked the Capitol. And it tasted like freedom. And gridlock. Nom nom nom.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Six Flags

If you know me, then you know I love roller coasters. I. really. really. love. roller. coasters. And having lived in New Jersey for like four years, I love Six Flags Great Adventure. And I'm pretty good at convincing people that they should go with me. Just like last deadweek, I convinced Chris, Elliot, Julia, and Ally to go, and we had a blast. I was so bummed that I couldn't go during this deadweek.

But, as some of us are sitting Criterion, waiting to see HP6, in our massive fatigue, Joe, Alan, Gonzo, and I spontaneously decided to go to Six Flags that Sunday (yesterday).

If you don't know this already, you should know that I'm a hardcore amusement park person. I get to the park at least an hour early so that we can get tickets without having to stand in a line, be one of the firsts to get through the security, and get on one of the most popular rides without having to wait in stupid lines. That is what we did.

So, we'd agreed to leave at 6, which meant 5 a.m. morning call for some of us. Joe, our masterful driver, after waking up at like 5:15, powered through CT, NY and onto New Jersey. With empty coke cans in our hands ($15 off during weekends!), we got to Six Flags Great Adventure around 9.


It was a beautiful sight. Anyway, we managed to get on the third Nitro car in the first row, screaming "legen-wait-for-it-dary" 230 feet above the ground. It was legen-wait for it-DARY.

Though, I must say, the best was El Toro. It was my first time riding it, and oh man, it was soo freakin' awesome. The first drop looks pretty much like a 90-degree incline (decline?), and the negative G from that first drop is simply impossible to describe in words...You simply cannot capture such amazingness properly in words.

Our last ride of the day was Nitro, one of my now two favorite rides in Six Flags. We made YPMB in American sign language for our on-ride photo, but Joe was too enthusiastic like a little freshman that he is (well, he's not a freshman anymore, a little sophomore) and failed to align his hand with ours. it was like... ypmB!

Anyhoo, so we left the park around 7 (basically spent 10 hours there), exhausted of course, but decided to go to Princeton for dinner. We went to Tiger Noodles, the best Chinese restaurant I've come across in the Western Hemisphere. Hell, no one can make General Tso's sauce like they do. Srsly. Ask Alan, Joe, or Gonzo. Even Gonzo, who was not a fan of the Chinese dinner idea at first, loved it. After that, we went to Thomas' Sweet for ice cream.


I'm sorry, but Ashley's got nothing on Thomas'.

Now the fun part begins.

We drove up the Turnpike to get onto G. Washington Bridge. We had a minor freak out that woke up everybody in the car because we stayed in a wrong lane that was for Lincoln tunnel instead of G. Washington Bridge. Unlike Joe the Chill, I freaked out. I hate hate hate going to the city in a car. Driving there is a freaking nightmare. But, with Joe's GPS, we managed to turn around and get back on our way toward G. Wash Bridge.

Normally, I'd avoid this route, but it was Sunday around midnight. No need to be worried about traffic on the bridge, right?

Wrong.



There were hordes of trucks and cars, trying to cross the bridge...and it took forever. By the time, we got back, it was around 2:15. Joe and I were pretty much effectively up for more than 20 hours.

I was so lethargic at work today, that my project head just sent me home, saying I look like I'm about to collapse. Joe apparently had a productive day, though. It must be the age difference. Then again, he began to go mad as we neared New Haven, terrorizing everybody in the car, especially Gonzo.


What an epic weekend. Oh yeah, and we're thinking about doing a road-trip to Cedar Point at some point. I'm serious. Whether Joe, Alan, or Gonzo were serious, I have no clue. They'd better be though.

Still, I love Six Flags. AAAHHHH Alright bed time, because I'm still reeling from all the exorbitant amount of adrenaline pumped through my body yesterday.


Oh yea, and of course, an obligatory rides-in-the-background picture. I really like this picture.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

A Wenzel by any other name...

One time, Antonella was making chicken cutlets. That time was tonight. Coincidentally, today is "Try-to-make-a-Wenzel-Thursday", so I had to seize this opportunity. I purchased some bread and of course some

and then I was ready to go. They dain't got no lettuce or tomaters at G-Heav, so I decided I would go with what I could get. Once the chicken was prepared, I put it in a bowl, and emptied half of the bottle of hot sauce in, and stirred it around, just like they do at A-Delt:

I deftly threw some cheese on my baguette and slid it in the toaster oven. Having witnessed the naissance of The Wenzel hundreds -- if not thousands -- of times, the process was practically second nature:


Unfortunately, it was granulated parmesean cheese, so it didn't melt on in proper provel fashion. Oh well. I slapped the chicken on, and hoped for the best -- it was time to feast....


Oops I forgot Mayo:


That's more like it. And feast, I did. It looks pretty damn legit, right? Overall reaction.... *drumroll* ... It tastes like a wenzel! The hotsauce brand was a little off, and the parmesean definitely changed the taste... and lettuce and tomato would have probably made it more authentic as well. Oh well. It was frikin awesome. Half way through the meal, I looked under the table and thought my eyes decieved me --Beneath the table was a bag of Lay's Potato chips! This must have been a sign from the Wenzel Gods! Everyone knows that the Alpha Delta Wenzel comes with a bag of potato chips. My wenzel was real, and my night was a success. And the sea rolled on as it had five-thousand years ago.

Monday, July 13, 2009

back in eastern time

Well. It's been a busy July so far, having been to Mexico and Chicago in the last two weekends. It's the most time I've spent in Central time in a while, but now, I realized, I'll be in Eastern time continuously for probably 5 more months.
And maybe I'll even spend some time in BHouse! The last few weeks have meant that I've only spent a few hours a day awake and in BHouse. But now I am going to be starting to pack, and also spending my last full weekend in New Haven this weekend. (Though AJ is coming down, so not fully normal, I guess).
Yeah. Sorry this isn't super coherent. I'm not super coherent. I got back late last night and have had my brain frazzled by my superawesome and totally brain-challenging job.
<3

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Miscellany!

Hi readers! I am a bad blogger, as you all know. I blog only slightly more often than David, and, more often than not, I avoid Bhouse-specific antics and tend to write about whatever the fuck I want. So I'll keep it up! At least until people start throwing things at me.

I just spent a week in Texas! San Antonio is a wonderful place, where the temperature is always above 100, no significant rain has fallen since about 1996, and an army of deer have taken to hatching anti-human revolutionary plots in my front yard (but the fawns are so cute!). (One of these facts is true, guess which one!) I won't relate too much about San Antonio, except to mention an already-blogged-about-in-the-'09-blog delightful visit from Rita! (I have no pictures for you, because she took all the pictures since I always forget to bring my camera everywhere.) I may have dragged her around downtown San Antonio until she nearly got heatstroke. That makes me a bad person, I think? And the world should also know about the extraction of my wisdom teeth! That's right, there's a faux-Greco-Roman temple somewhere that can get new columns on the cheap, because these dental colossi can act as load-bearing pillars certifiable to between two and three metric tonnes. A hippopotamus somewhere with horrible oral hygiene can breathe a sigh of relief, for he can easily spruce up his decaying grill with gargantuan molars. What I'm saying is that I've already stolen four of the rocks from Stonehenge, and replaced them with my teeth; nobody'll ever notice the difference.

The corollary to this fact (the fact that my wisdom teeth were actually small planetoids in disguise) is that there is a staggering amount of empty space in my skull at the moment. You know how greasy, unlikeable men with scraggly beards sometimes store food for later in their facial hair? I could store a fourteen-course banquet in these. I'm half-expecting to bump into a confused hobbit on the street, trying to destroy his Ring of Power in one of the yawning abysses at the back of my jaw. I'm fortunate I got these removed in July, because if I'd done it in the fall I'd have to worry about bears taking up residence for winter hibernation (and I don't think grizzlies appreciate being flossed). One particularly insightful person even went so far as to compare the gaping holes to the Sarlacc, the immense spiny maw that Jabba tries to drop the heroes into in Return of the Jedi. Except just as the Sarlacc was defeated by Luke's Force powers, so too were my sockets defeated by the sprinkles on a donut, standing in as hapless Jedi prey.



Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Pantry

When people complain about Twitter, they often cite the fact that they don't really see the necessity of knowing what people are doing at all times. Those who really get the power of the medium, however, use Twitter not for posting "at the gym" and other schedule updates but instead for sharing funny and thoughtful insights that otherwise would pass and fade, never to be read or heard by anyone else. (I haven't gotten an account yet, but if I do, it will only be for the sort of witticisms that demand being spread to the masses.)

In some ways, I feel like the Twitter critics when it comes to this blog: who reads this, anyway? And why do they want to know what we're doing? For that reason, I never found the need to post about what we're up to, unless there were ever a really funny or amazing story to share. Even when those funny and amazing things have happened, two things have kept me from posting: others in the house have posted about them already, and in some situations, the stories are best kept private.

What's prompting me to post today is a curiosity about how much people care about our having fun. It's late afternoon, and it has already been a great day. On a day of firsts, I went to The Pantry for the first time. We all left stuffed, after each downing our own meals (I would highly recommend the salmon benedict) and splitting the pancake special of the day (cherry garcia). We came back to the house, where we realized that we all wanted to see Bruno. So off we went again, first stopping at Target to load up on movie candy.

The movie is as you would expect. There were times we were all laughing, times we were all shocked, and a few times when we were all mortified. Of course, they weren't mutually exclusive. It's not Borat, however: Bruno lacks the element of storytelling that made Borat what it was.

Brunch also provided a few interesting topics of conversation. Here are two good, but very different, conversation starters for your next brunch/dinner/date: 1) What probability would you assign to the likelihood that years from now, people will discover that atomic theory, as we understand it today, is wrong? 2) Under what circumstances is it acceptable or normal to use an aphrodisiac food?

We're planning a picnic for tonight, to be had as we watch the New Haven Symphony on The Green. What an ideal summer day!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Aditya

Look! A puppy!

Jae is being lame

I'm not technically in BHouse anymore, but I feel the need to comment on this recent increase in lameness (which I would like to point out directly correlates with my departure). If you haven't read Jae's post and the pacifist, alfalfa-munching cuddlefest Joe posted in his comments, go do that right now. I didn't know Care Bears were allowed to use Blogger.

"Health issues and gargantuan ethical problems"? What are you, gay? This is America, bitch. If your meal doesn't kill some corn-fed antiobiotic-sucking meatsack and doesn't cost enough ancillary resources to feed Ethiopia, you're fucking doing it wrong.

It's 2009, we live in the best country ever, we shoot shit, cut it up, and eat it, and then we go drink beer and watch pageants and vote and shoot Mexicans. Get with the program already.

Christ. Kids these days.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Back!

I'm back from an awesome trip to Mexico! Since most of the house was gone all weekend it isn't in terrible shape, but it's been better. Oh well, I guess I have to do some more shopping and such.
Also, going back to work sucks after an awesome vacation.

Dear world, I'm turning to the dark side

I have an announcement to make.

I am, as of today, a (pesco-)vegetarian...at least for the summer. (though I probably should finish all that marinated stuff in the freezer). Hopefully this public declaration will actually help me power through this...endeavor, if you will.

I used to say I'll never give up meat...

And yes, declaring on Facebook and Twitter was not enough.



Also, in other news, Marcus, David, Alan, and Taylor went to DC, stayed at the Parrish residence for a few nights, for the Fourth of July weekend. Happy belated birthday, Amurrika. Thanks for not deporting me yet.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

An unspecified virus thing

One of the joys of BHouse is constant exposure to communicable disease. Because of everything from moldy curtains to swarms of fruit flies to the entire third floor, the little Joes inside of me must perpetually toil to repel myriad invaders (some of my friends talk about white blood cells, but cells aren't in the Bible -- my geophysics research has convinced me of the merits of Young Earth Creationism). Despite the best efforts of my diminutive counterparts, I was mercilessly assaulted in my sleep after the midnight showing of Transformers 2.

Incidentally, in a fatigued delirium, I may have told some of you that it was a good movie. This is true in the sense that leprous rats are a tasty and nutritious afternoon snack. That is, unless you have a special fantasy about vapid dialogue and irresolvable combat scenes (or an exploited Megan Fox, I suppose), it would be better to go research medieval intergalactic communication techniques or something.

Anywho, for the last week, swallowing has been more painful than reading anything written by William Kristol (owie!). On Monday, I succumbed for the first time in my Yale career to the pains of illness and dragged myself to DUH. I walked out with a negative strep test, a pricked arm, a bottle of penicillin, and a pamphlet about mono. OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE! Using that excuse, I spent the rest of the day at home, perfecting my abilities to blend in with the perpetrators of the inevitable zombie apocalypse (muuugghhhh). This morning, though, I received word that my blood test was normal, and I'm probably suffering from, "an unspecified virus thing" and that the penicillin should provide, "some relief." So, that's why I'm taking antibiotics for a viral infection.

I'm feeling much better, and before the SummerBuds field trip to the New Haven library, I should be ready to BRING THE RAIN!

BHouse is going to be empty

This weekend, every resident of BHouse is planning on being away. Personally, I think I win, since I'm going to Mexico! Hurray!
It's not bad timing, though, because we've recently discovered some unintentional guests: fruit flies. Tons of them. We're kind of hoping that we can starve them out by throwing everything vaguely edible out before leaving the place high and dry for 3 or 4 days.
Anyway, expect nothing more from me until sometime next week. Yeah!

Monday, June 29, 2009

We need to call animal control again

So I have successfully identified one of the things Alan found. It's this thing.
Can you guess what it is? Here are some hints: it's about 2.5 meters tall, subsists mainly on hoarfrost lichen and various fungi, is endemic to the planet Hoth, and sounds kind of like AAAARUUUUUOROUURRGHAAAAAA!!!

That's right! It's MOTHERFUCKIN' TAUNTAUN GUTS!
Compare them. Closely. That's right -- they're identical.

Other fun Tauntaun facts: their thick layers of fat and fur allow them to survive plummeting night temperatures on Hoth and Coruscant's polar ice caps (where they have been exported by the Rebels for use as beasts of burden and -- fuck yes -- tourist attractions). God I wish I lived in Star Wars. Oh wait, I do! We have a Tauntaun in the motherfucking BHouse! WOOT!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Oh such wonders, oh such horrors.

So, Saturday, it was CLEANING DAY!!!!!

We did the upstairs (Yeah we did). And, once again, the BHouse produced a wonderous assortments of terrors.


Wigs. What the hell, team. Wigs.
A nook of horror. We think that furry thing is dead.
Yes, that is a phallus. And a gun behind that. And a phallus in front of that. And a gun behind that. What?
You may not believe it, but that is Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, together.


Oh, such wonders, oh such horrors.

Guests from Afar

This weekend, we received many many visitors from afar. Aditya's friend Lawson visited for the night, and so did the recently-dead Rachel Homer. But we didn't get pictures of either of them.

But we also received visitors from Cold Spring Harbor, Julia and her friend Natalie!


Julia proceeded to make a series of faces at me.

She told us a story about she met Jim Watson...


... and how he touched her on the waist, creepily.


Her friend Natalie is her roommate, and will be a senior at Carnegie Mellon...

...and has adequately learned how to continue the tradition of her roommates...
... and terrorize her silly.
We had Mexican night. And then watched South Park. The next day, before they left, they brought us 50CENT DONUTS!!!!1!!!!!!

(So, the stories don't really go along with the pictures, but we do what we can do).

Friday, June 26, 2009

New Haven, I'm Yours

So, New Haven gets a pretty bad rap. I mean, Chief Perrotti sends us emails on a regular basis about the dangers of the city. But, actually living here for the summer, I've tried to make an effort to get out, and actually see the city. So I started going on the Arts & Ideas bike tours, which is affiliated with Elm City Cycling. And it's been great. I have gotten to see parts of the city I would never see otherwise. This is a bridge with a Art Deco New Haven symbol!

Maybe if I were from New England I wouldn't
think twice about this picture, but I just really find this picturesque.



I'm going to go ahead and assume this is East Rock. Regardless, it's pretty.


New Haven has something no other city has: JJJ!!!

This is a pretty street, right off of Wooster Square. Yay New Haven.

It makes me think of the Decemberists song, "Los Angeles, I'm Yours." Only instead of Los Angeles, it's New Haven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e41ygKJ3ABk

I am starting to really like this town.