Mayfest

As I look back on the past 3 years in Syracuse I realize that mayfest marks a day in which I have lost a good friend of mine... consecutively. I didn't partake in the festivities this year (mayfest in syracuse generally involves getting sloshed on euclid ave with a bunch of 'bros' and scantily clad females)... but I was not productive as I had intended to be.

The past two years mayfest marks the last days I had seen or heard from two very good friends of mine. It seems that this year is slightly different... where mayfest 2011 was more of a realization that I am, again, losing a friend but it is a slower and more painful process... So rather than spending the day drunk and hanging with my friends and eating bbq... i was wondering what is wrong with me. =\

don't misunderstand... no one has been physically hurt or anything. it's just losing a friendship rather than the physical person. the person still exists but my life and theirs no longer intersects.

I really need to learn how to get over these types of situations with more ease. 

.... and on a happier note I took some photos on a lovely day in syracuse. sometimes we get really lovely weather so i took some shots of my favorite buildings at Syracuse University. Hopefully I can take some shots of ESF on a nice day as well :)

I took a lot of shots of this building... it is the crouse audtitorium where various SU preformances take place. i've been there to see various orchestral pieces preformed by music students and the acoustics in the auditorium are really great!

I have learned a few things in my plants class... such as my favorite tree, the magnolia, is actually one of the most ancient angiosperms!

surprisingly enough this building was designed for astronomy studies but the Syracuse University's staff cartographer works here and creates maps for grad students, faculty, and various campus maps and such. i'd love to meet him but on the few days i've tried to wander in the door was locked :(

and i took a few shots of the quad. lol. i should take some pictures of SUNY ESF soon :D

my room!

So I've been living in a two family house with Heather and Caitlin since August 2010. I started with a semi-large room with no furniture aside from my bed... our upstairs neighbor gave me a bookcase and i've made decent use out of it. the following is a room tour; I'll tour the rest of the house as it gets cleaned (my books are not kept in my room for the record...i do read). The following is almost a 360 degree turn around the room. sorry if it's uninteresting... mostly posting this for my mom cause she might never actually see the apartment.

I especially like this side of the room because I have a USGS topo map!!!!!!



The year is wrapping up... I'm almost excited for finals because studying for exams is slightly more manageable than all of these major projects I have due >.<

Hello interwebz! right now this 'blog' looks pretty shitty. I fully intend on fixing that as soon as I get more familiar with 'blogspot' and all that jazz.

Right now I have quite a bit going on. My plants class keeps kicking my ass (a course that focuses on the evolutionary history of plants from their protist (algal) cousins to modern angiosperms)... I really want to understand everything but it all seems so superficial to me, like I'm just trying to memorize these facts to pass these exams and I'm not really internalizing it.



Very frustrating =\



On another note -- I'm really starting to get more involved in my contaminant hydrogeology course. My consultant team is working for Ononodaga County and we're trying to prove that the county is not responsible for salt contamination in the wells of the accusing citizens. Yesterday we had a breakthrough and decided that it is likely that the contamination is not from the county’s salt storage facility but is the result of deep upwelling of salt from natural formations in the north. I do not want to divulge too much in case the enemy consultant teams happen to find this… (although this is not likely at all!)



I find that rainy days like today are better for me in terms of being productive. It has been beautiful outside and it is so hard to stay in and work on equations of groundwater flow, or study when it is 70 degrees and sunny outside. At least the majority of the year the snow and rain force me to be a decent student. ;)



That’s all for now: Today I’ve been listening to the OST for ‘Where the Wild Things Are’. Which was written by Karen O and The Kids. It’s a pretty fun album, kinda makes me think of what Karen O would sound like if she started playing with the dudes from Animal Collective.