Art + HP = Wordle

You didn't even have to read the 22 pages and now you know all about my honors project :)

Spring Break? More like Spring Busy

This is my spring 'break':

March 17th - finish finals
March 18th - speak at a SPU science research fair for prospective students
March 19th - ??
March 20th - Fly to Rensselear
March 21st - RPI visit day
March 22nd - Take train to NYC, meet up with Hannah
March 23rd - stay with Hannah in NYC
March 24th - Fly to AZ (midmorning)
March 25th - AZ
March 26th - AZ
March 27th - Fly to CA for conference
March 28th - Conference all day
March 29th - Disneyand morning/early afternoon; fly back to Seattle in the evening
March 30th - School starts and Radiolab show!!

Anyone want to fill in the ?? on the 19th? Why not fill up everyday! :)

Also - super excited for Radiolab, espically since Zoe Keating is coming!!!
In case you missed the last time I posted on Zoe - watch this:

Weights

Picking a grad school is worse than picking an undergrad school. (this does not bode well for job hunting....)

what feature of grad school should weight the most in my decision?
- program
- time to PhD
- advisor choice
- group size
- program size
- research areas
- number of research groups I'm interested in
- US News ranking
- stipend
- location

toss 'em all in a hat and pick one out?

The UW was an interesting visit - not as organized as GT and I'm not entirely sure they have research that really interests me. I like how the path to your PhD is really geared towards your project, your pre-lim and general exams are all based on what you are researching. I met some great profs, but I'm not sure who I would work with.

Best part though, was meeting someone who worked in my NASA lab 7 years ago! It was great to hear some stories about the people I know now and to find out about this funky plaque that hangs on the wall in my lab. Apparently, a guy I met, a current UW grad student, made it and sent it to group after one of the summers he interned there! It is basically an inside joke, a plaque that reads something like "To the Nano Friends" and lists a bunch of nicknames: Mentor Man, Rotovap, Intern Boy, and the like. I never understood it, but apparently it was his research group! Made my evening.

And this is the beauty that I saw as left the UW today:

Don't you love the mountains? They're one of the best parts about living in the Northwest!

HP

No, not Harry Potter. Honors Project.

(Basically a mini-dissertation that I don't have to defend)

I finally got around to looking at the projects in the library.

Mine will soon be residing with the other 420-ish projects. Wow. That's a lot of UScholars!

I'm also off the UW tomorrow to check out their MSE program! They have a PhD in nanotech that I'm interested in, so hopefully I'll get a good look at that program.

This is why I love Seattle

I came back from sunny GA to a gorgeous day in Seattle. I couldn't resist a ride on my bike in the sunshine!

(excuse the shaky video with weird shadows - that's what you get when you shoot on your iPhone with sunglasses on...)


Enough said.

Oh, Atlanta

After an incredibly short flight (only 4 hours!) I made it to Georgia and met up with a friend I made a NASA last summer. I must say, being picked up by a friendly face is exponentially better than taking a taxi! (Is there anyone I know at Rice, UMaryland, Rensselear?)

With the time change, I missed lunch and as much as I love my homemade trail mix, it doesn't quite cut it for me for a meal. So, we hit up this place called Fat Matt's. It's a barbecue place:

And it's really small. That tiny picture above captures about all of the interior. They had a fantastic live jazz-ish band that was playing when we arrived, and with the size of the place, we decided to enjoy their tunes while sitting outside. The food was quite good - it was a spicer/less sweet barbecue flavor.

Menu - look at those cheap prices! Sometimes I regret living in one of the most expensive cities in the country....

After a stop at a coffee shop (I am from Seattle!) that I think I could quite easily frequent as a student here, we drove a bit around campus and stopped by the library. Even though GT has something like 35,000 total students, they only have two libraries! (I think the UW has like 40)

My body is still getting used to the time shift, but so far, I like the bit of GT and Atlanta that I've seen, now off to learn more about the program.

Also, I think my high heels confuse the poor engineers here. Good thing I only brought my shortest pair!

one goal achieved [twice]

Remember my list of goals for the quarter? I'm checking one off my list!

-Find a new coffee shop-

I've actually completed this one twice, as I've now gone to both Bustle on Queen Anne and Star Life on the Oasis in the University district.

Bustle was a very fresh feeling cafe and stocked the wonderful Harney and Sons tea! I love how they package their tea in silk sachets, which allows for the tea to fully unfurl when it is steeping and there is no paper-y taste in your drink. They also have sweet flavors like pomegranate oolong, which will always remind me of Christmas. (Christmas break my freshman year, my dad bought me like 48 bags of that tea which I subsequently drank before Winter Quarter was done and I'll forever associate with that time of year). They also have sweet mosaic tile tables and other ginormous wooden tables - excellent for studying.

Delicious Harney and Sons Tea

The other new shop I traveled to was the Star Life on the Oasis - thanks Nate for prompting me to go there! I actually biked there from SPU, it was only about 4 miles each way, but the going there had a decent hill up through the university district. As much as I love biking, I hate hills!

This is a picture from Star Life - forgive the yellow-ness of the photo, the lighting was really warm in there! But the tea was really good and the atmosphere very cosy with a few wing back chairs and converted-seattle-home feel!

The interior of the cafe. Apparently, they have the best vegan chocolate chip cookies. The bite I had was pretty good!

I wonder - are they many cities in the US that have as many coffee shops (and shops in general) in converted homes as Seattle does? I love the character that each home gives to a shop!