As I sit in the learning commons of my college, blaring music on my headphones to spare my ears from the accented babbling of international students, I ponder all of the poor choices I had made during university. I have continued to make these same poor choices during this semester at college, choosing to read poker books or my facebook timeline instead of doing my assigned work or, God-forbid, exercise. So I have decided to come up with my new year's resolution a little sooner.
These resolutions are intended to set me on a course for consistency and hopefully foster productivity.
1. Start to develop an exercise regimen that does not involve me running down the stairs to get the door for the pizza delivery man. Just 15 minutes a day to start, and increasing intensity and duration as motivation allows.
2. Work on the procedure analysis sections of lab reports on the days that labs are performed. This will ensure that information about the lab is still fresh in my mind.
3. Do not use lectures as a place to dick around on my laptop. Even better than that would be to not bring my laptop to school at all.
Now, I resolve to finish up my work for the day.
Wish me luck.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Friday, November 1, 2013
Rebirth
It has been a while since my last post, so it is time for an update.
I finished up my first undergraduate degree in Honours Physics at Brock University. I guess in the spirit of this blog, I will give you an update on how well that went.
I spent the vast majority of time in the last couple of years in university doing things like you'd expect an upstanding young man, such as myself to do. I would sleep sporadic hours, become blackout drunk 2 to 3 nights a week, and sitting in the dark the rest of my nights, staring at various versions of brightly lit rectangles.
In spite of being a lazy piece of crap, in my 4th academic year of university; I had chosen to undertake a thesis in Optical Spectroscopy, supervised by Dr.David Crandles. For a number of reasons, this project took me about 2 years to finish, as opposed to the usual 8 months allowed for an undergraduate research project. Thankfully, Dr. Crandles is a very understanding man, and allowed me to take my time, so I could finish my thesis and be able to graduate. I presented my thesis in July of this year, and I apparently had done very well. My work has been included in some other work by Dr. Crandles, so somewhere out there, there is some research with my name included. (Ain't that some shit?)
The completion of my thesis corresponded to the completion of my degree, and as a result, I celebrated my graduation on October 19th.
At some point in between, I had managed to secure myself a lovely girlfriend by the name of Dorothy, who you can see in the above photo. She loves me, for whatever reason, and we have been together for about 2 years.
Now, I am continuing my education, by taking a post-graduate course in Advanced Lasers offered by Niagara College's Welland Campus. It has been...interesting so far. But that is a discussion for another post.
I finished up my first undergraduate degree in Honours Physics at Brock University. I guess in the spirit of this blog, I will give you an update on how well that went.
I spent the vast majority of time in the last couple of years in university doing things like you'd expect an upstanding young man, such as myself to do. I would sleep sporadic hours, become blackout drunk 2 to 3 nights a week, and sitting in the dark the rest of my nights, staring at various versions of brightly lit rectangles.
In spite of being a lazy piece of crap, in my 4th academic year of university; I had chosen to undertake a thesis in Optical Spectroscopy, supervised by Dr.David Crandles. For a number of reasons, this project took me about 2 years to finish, as opposed to the usual 8 months allowed for an undergraduate research project. Thankfully, Dr. Crandles is a very understanding man, and allowed me to take my time, so I could finish my thesis and be able to graduate. I presented my thesis in July of this year, and I apparently had done very well. My work has been included in some other work by Dr. Crandles, so somewhere out there, there is some research with my name included. (Ain't that some shit?)
The completion of my thesis corresponded to the completion of my degree, and as a result, I celebrated my graduation on October 19th.
Handsome, right?
At some point in between, I had managed to secure myself a lovely girlfriend by the name of Dorothy, who you can see in the above photo. She loves me, for whatever reason, and we have been together for about 2 years.
Now, I am continuing my education, by taking a post-graduate course in Advanced Lasers offered by Niagara College's Welland Campus. It has been...interesting so far. But that is a discussion for another post.
Friday, January 20, 2012
The Weather Lately.
One day, it's rain. The next it's snow. The next? Probably 10+ degrees and sunny. I'm under the impression these days that either the world is coming to an end, or "Mother Nature" is bipolar...and on her menstrual cycle. Please, for the love of this pressure headache I've been getting due to the sporadic weather...Fuck Off, nature.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
People just don't understand hashtags.
I'm #prettysure that #hashtags are meant to identify #subjectmatter in your tweets on "Twitter". But most people just use it at the end of every tweet just to seem like they know what they're doing. It achieves the opposite effect. People are #dumb. =]
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Honours Project Fun.
For those of you who don't know, or don't really care what it is I study, I'm in physics at Brock University. Since this is my final year of study, I am doing an honours project under Dr. David Crandles, an experimental physicist at Brock. Probably the nicest guy ever, with a pretty kick-ass beard.
Anyway, I returned to Brock on the 2nd to begin the actual experimental portion of my project. My experiment consists of testing how well a thin film of material reflects radiation in the mid-infrared to infrared ranges, over many different temperatures.
The first day consisted of setting up some fairly intimidating equipment (at least to me, anyway). Everything was looking good, so we evacuated the system and waited for the next day to change the temperatures and all.
The second day, we hooked up a large steel container of liquid helium to the system, and pumped said helium to lower the temperature to around 4K, which is -269 degrees celsius. We did a test run for the data collection, but we found the data to be inconsistent, so we had to call it a day and troubleshoot.
The third day, we disassembled the apparatus and looked for the issues, which, according to Dr. Crandles, was an ice buildup on a detector. So we let it heat up to evaporate the ice.
The fourth day was a repeat of the first day, with me double checking everything this time to avoid any fuckups.
Today, we're trying to collect data again. I hope to God it goes well. This is getting really frustrating.
Anyway, I returned to Brock on the 2nd to begin the actual experimental portion of my project. My experiment consists of testing how well a thin film of material reflects radiation in the mid-infrared to infrared ranges, over many different temperatures.
The first day consisted of setting up some fairly intimidating equipment (at least to me, anyway). Everything was looking good, so we evacuated the system and waited for the next day to change the temperatures and all.
The second day, we hooked up a large steel container of liquid helium to the system, and pumped said helium to lower the temperature to around 4K, which is -269 degrees celsius. We did a test run for the data collection, but we found the data to be inconsistent, so we had to call it a day and troubleshoot.
The third day, we disassembled the apparatus and looked for the issues, which, according to Dr. Crandles, was an ice buildup on a detector. So we let it heat up to evaporate the ice.
The fourth day was a repeat of the first day, with me double checking everything this time to avoid any fuckups.
Today, we're trying to collect data again. I hope to God it goes well. This is getting really frustrating.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Procrastination at its finest
It's always so much more appealing to creep facebook, read tweets, or write in this blog than actually be productive. In particular, doing my homework. Do I really care about school? Probably, but not enough to do any work on time, even though it's my last year of undergrad. Ugh.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Irony.
I'm nocturnal. My parents make me sleep in the Solarium when I'm back in Brampton. For those that don't know, a Solarium is also known as a "Sun Room." That is, One wall is all window. So much sun in my eyes when I ought to be sleeping. Best of all? I will be working the graveyard shift yet again this summer. So this whole sleeping during the day...in a solarium, thing? Not going to be good. I'll keep you posted
Monday, April 25, 2011
Studying? What's that?
It's interesting how much my blog appeals to me when I ought to be studying for exams. I've always been horrible at studying anyway. When exam time rolls around, I find myself drinking more, playing more games, and just sitting around. It's fun. I deserve some fun, right? :P
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tire Repairs in the Winter
So, recently, my van has slight rips in the sidewall of the back right tire. Being the stubborn son of a gun that I am, I made efforts to fix it. Despite bitter colds and many failures, I persevered and managed to stop the leak as of 11am this morning. I almost managed to give myself frostbite about 8 times, and spent over $25 CAD in rubber patching kits. If you ever find yourself in a similar predicament, I imagine you'd like to know how to do such things in spite of winter weather. So I will outline steps and materials required to do such repairs.
Step 1: Supplies
You will need;
Rubber Tire Repair Kit(s) [I bought about 4, because I kept fucking it up]
Air Compressor [To (duh) reinflate the tire]
Tire Gauge [If you don't know what this is for, go eff yourself]
Hydraulic Jack [To relieve stress on the rim of flat tire]
Heat gun/Hair Drier [To accelerate drying of things]
Sandpaper/Rotary Tool with Sandpaper attachment
Extension cord [If you're not doing this in a garage]
Rubber gloves [To avoid mess on your own hands]
Bucket/Sponge [To clean tire]
Balls of steel [Because it's going to get f***in' cold out there]
Step 2: Preparation
If your driveway is covered in ice and snow that is fairly impossible to clear completely, I recommend laying down a tarp or a decent carpet to avoid electrocution while using the powered devices as listed above.
Raise your vehicle using the hydraulic jack, and completely deflate the affected tire.
Set up all your devices onto the tarp/carpet.
Wash and dry the affected tire to sufficient cleanliness.
Step 3: Preparation Part 2
You can follow the directions on the patching kit. But I imagine it's meant for ideal conditions, so following it will make your repair fail... numerous times. Use the sandpaper or rotary tool to scrape a good area around the tear, ideally, you want the rubber to be flat where you want to patch it. If the side of your tire has ridges, you will most definitely wind up with air holes in your patch, which is a waste of time and money.
Once you've sufficiently "buffed" the patch area, use the rubber cement in the patch kit and apply a decent layer of the shit wider than the actual patch. rub it in to the tear and around the tear using the rubber gloves (or your fingers, if you're a dumbass and want your fingers amputated later that day, which is funny, because you can't drive without fingers, so this whole method become moot). Dry the rubber cement with the heatgun/hair dryer until it is sufficiently dry.
Step 4: Break
You're probably really cold at this point, so take a short (or long) break in order to get the feeling back into your fingers.
Step 5: Patching
Remove the protective backing from the patch. Apply patch to the tear, pushing outwards to release air bubbles (I like to gently scratch the top of the patch to do this). I also like to put more rubber cement around the outside bits of the patch and dry it to ensure proper adhesion. Make sure the rubber cement is dry before continuing. I left it overnight.
Step 6: Reinflation
The patch kit claims the repair is completed once you've applied the patch, but in the winter, that's pretty much bullshit. It also says to inflate the tire to full capacity, which is also not true in the winter. The max on my van tires is 44psi. If I had inflated it any more than 33psi, the patch fails. So I inflated it to 30psi, and leaned in to listen for leaking. If it continues to leak, do the following;
- apply rubber cement to the outside of patch; look for bubbling.
- scratch outwards from center to bubbling area, hold at the end of the patch. Dry the rubber cement where the bubble is.
- Reinflate to 30psi
- Check for leaks again.
Step 7: Finished?
If you were successful, hooray. Maybe your tire will last a while longer. You'll still need it replaced at some point, but for now, you can drive it around and not worry TOO much about it. Keep checking the tire from time to time. If the patch gets fucked up, replace it.
This is a lot to read, but it's better to know what to do, then struggle to figure it out the hard way. Hope this helps.
Step 1: Supplies
You will need;
Rubber Tire Repair Kit(s) [I bought about 4, because I kept fucking it up]
Air Compressor [To (duh) reinflate the tire]
Tire Gauge [If you don't know what this is for, go eff yourself]
Hydraulic Jack [To relieve stress on the rim of flat tire]
Heat gun/Hair Drier [To accelerate drying of things]
Sandpaper/Rotary Tool with Sandpaper attachment
Extension cord [If you're not doing this in a garage]
Rubber gloves [To avoid mess on your own hands]
Bucket/Sponge [To clean tire]
Balls of steel [Because it's going to get f***in' cold out there]
Step 2: Preparation
If your driveway is covered in ice and snow that is fairly impossible to clear completely, I recommend laying down a tarp or a decent carpet to avoid electrocution while using the powered devices as listed above.
Raise your vehicle using the hydraulic jack, and completely deflate the affected tire.
Set up all your devices onto the tarp/carpet.
Wash and dry the affected tire to sufficient cleanliness.
Step 3: Preparation Part 2
You can follow the directions on the patching kit. But I imagine it's meant for ideal conditions, so following it will make your repair fail... numerous times. Use the sandpaper or rotary tool to scrape a good area around the tear, ideally, you want the rubber to be flat where you want to patch it. If the side of your tire has ridges, you will most definitely wind up with air holes in your patch, which is a waste of time and money.
Once you've sufficiently "buffed" the patch area, use the rubber cement in the patch kit and apply a decent layer of the shit wider than the actual patch. rub it in to the tear and around the tear using the rubber gloves (or your fingers, if you're a dumbass and want your fingers amputated later that day, which is funny, because you can't drive without fingers, so this whole method become moot). Dry the rubber cement with the heatgun/hair dryer until it is sufficiently dry.
Step 4: Break
You're probably really cold at this point, so take a short (or long) break in order to get the feeling back into your fingers.
Step 5: Patching
Remove the protective backing from the patch. Apply patch to the tear, pushing outwards to release air bubbles (I like to gently scratch the top of the patch to do this). I also like to put more rubber cement around the outside bits of the patch and dry it to ensure proper adhesion. Make sure the rubber cement is dry before continuing. I left it overnight.
Step 6: Reinflation
The patch kit claims the repair is completed once you've applied the patch, but in the winter, that's pretty much bullshit. It also says to inflate the tire to full capacity, which is also not true in the winter. The max on my van tires is 44psi. If I had inflated it any more than 33psi, the patch fails. So I inflated it to 30psi, and leaned in to listen for leaking. If it continues to leak, do the following;
- apply rubber cement to the outside of patch; look for bubbling.
- scratch outwards from center to bubbling area, hold at the end of the patch. Dry the rubber cement where the bubble is.
- Reinflate to 30psi
- Check for leaks again.
Step 7: Finished?
If you were successful, hooray. Maybe your tire will last a while longer. You'll still need it replaced at some point, but for now, you can drive it around and not worry TOO much about it. Keep checking the tire from time to time. If the patch gets fucked up, replace it.
This is a lot to read, but it's better to know what to do, then struggle to figure it out the hard way. Hope this helps.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Personal Grooming...TME
So I'm trying to grow a chinstrap. Being an "asian" male makes it slightly difficult to grow facial hair, with the exception of my father and my uncles who grow pretty sweet mustaches. My chinstrap is lame thus far, but I will be diligent and continue to trim it until it HOPEFULLY grows in decently, else I'll just shave it off, no problem. :)
Maybe I'll grow a mustache. A perv-stache. I would be a dirty mexicano, mang. :P
Maybe I'll grow a mustache. A perv-stache. I would be a dirty mexicano, mang. :P
Monday, January 24, 2011
I'm in class, yet this is the most productive thing I could think of doing.
I have 2 fewer upper level math and physics courses this term, and I find myself going to lecture with little to absolutely no intention of paying attention to the actual lesson. More like, doing other class' homework, doodling, or, as I'm doing right now, dicking around on a computer.
I should really rename this blog "The Art of Doing Stupid Stuff while I'm supposed to be Productive"... But that's TME to say. So whatever.
I should really rename this blog "The Art of Doing Stupid Stuff while I'm supposed to be Productive"... But that's TME to say. So whatever.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Winter driving can be dangerous...ly fun!
Just made the trip back to St. Catharines, and let me tell you how enjoyable it is to not have to worry about staying within the lane on the highway... because you can't even see the line! The trade is that you can only drive like... 80km/hr without...you know...sliding all over the place. Oh well. Still fun. :)
I also enjoy drifting on winter roads. Nothing too adventurous. Just turning on suburban streets. It's fun to lose control once in a while. But no worries, I remember driving school's teaching... STEER IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SKID. :)
I also enjoy drifting on winter roads. Nothing too adventurous. Just turning on suburban streets. It's fun to lose control once in a while. But no worries, I remember driving school's teaching... STEER IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SKID. :)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Trilogy Marathons = I don't have a life.
Sometimes you're so bored you want to watch a movie you've seen a million times. Better yet, a trilogy you've seen a million times. NO, EVERY SINGLE TRILOGY YOU FUCKING OWN.
I say "you", but clearly, I'm referring to myself. Because that's what I've been doing for the past couple of days. Really, I'm only half watching, because I'm also playing "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" at the same time, and possibly watching/listening to porn. Yeah, I watch porn. Get over it.
I kinda wish school started again sooner. But whatever. I'll just go comatose until then. =]
I say "you", but clearly, I'm referring to myself. Because that's what I've been doing for the past couple of days. Really, I'm only half watching, because I'm also playing "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" at the same time, and possibly watching/listening to porn. Yeah, I watch porn. Get over it.
I kinda wish school started again sooner. But whatever. I'll just go comatose until then. =]
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Christmas Holidays: A typical day in the life of me.
After winter exams, the majority of people are all, "Whooooo! Christmas!"
I suppose after a long semester of assignments, midterms, hangovers, and regrets; it's probably nice to make the trip back home in order to indulge in meals that don't involve kraft dinner, oatmeal, meatless spaghetti, or McDonald's (YUM).
I, on the other hand, don't really give a shit about winter holidays. Well, sure, it's nice to not have assignments to do. But without plans to do anything, most days look like this.
6:00am: Wake up. Put on sweatpants (maybe). Check fridge. Check freezer. Check fridge. Fuck, there's no food. Back to sleep I go.
9:30am: Wake up again. Did Dad make food yet? If yes, rejoice. If no, go back to sleep.
9:30am-5:00pm: If I'm not eating or pooping; dick around on the computer.
5:00pm: Text someone to hang out.
6:00pm: Bail on plans. Too lazy to put on pants.
7:30pm: Sleep?
2:00am: Yeah, I didn't sleep, I was on the computer still.
4:00am: What the fuck am I still doing awake? Sleep-time.
Yeah, holidays are boring for me.
I suppose after a long semester of assignments, midterms, hangovers, and regrets; it's probably nice to make the trip back home in order to indulge in meals that don't involve kraft dinner, oatmeal, meatless spaghetti, or McDonald's (YUM).
I, on the other hand, don't really give a shit about winter holidays. Well, sure, it's nice to not have assignments to do. But without plans to do anything, most days look like this.
6:00am: Wake up. Put on sweatpants (maybe). Check fridge. Check freezer. Check fridge. Fuck, there's no food. Back to sleep I go.
9:30am: Wake up again. Did Dad make food yet? If yes, rejoice. If no, go back to sleep.
9:30am-5:00pm: If I'm not eating or pooping; dick around on the computer.
5:00pm: Text someone to hang out.
6:00pm: Bail on plans. Too lazy to put on pants.
7:30pm: Sleep?
2:00am: Yeah, I didn't sleep, I was on the computer still.
4:00am: What the fuck am I still doing awake? Sleep-time.
Yeah, holidays are boring for me.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
I always complain about feeling like shit, physically and emotionally. People always tell me I should go to the doctor. When, exactly, dear sir/madam, will I have time to go to the doctor when my life is consumed by school? I appreciate your interjection, but you clearly don't know what it's like to be a physicist.
Thanks for coming out, though.
Thanks for coming out, though.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
How to slowly go insane.
By no means do I recommend this behaviour.
- Sleep approximately 3.5 hours a night for 3 weeks straight while drinking excessive amounts of caffeine.
- Eat infrequently (~once a day), or eat at awkward times (1am-5am).
- Then, do large amounts of homework day in day out, all the while preoccupying your free thoughts with things that annoy you or cause you mental/emotional anguish.
- On the weekends, get drunk and do stupid things (e.g. drunk texting/dialing/driving)
- empty your wallet on unnecessary purchases.
- Surround yourself with people who annoy you.
- Sleep approximately 3.5 hours a night for 3 weeks straight while drinking excessive amounts of caffeine.
- Eat infrequently (~once a day), or eat at awkward times (1am-5am).
- Then, do large amounts of homework day in day out, all the while preoccupying your free thoughts with things that annoy you or cause you mental/emotional anguish.
- On the weekends, get drunk and do stupid things (e.g. drunk texting/dialing/driving)
- empty your wallet on unnecessary purchases.
- Surround yourself with people who annoy you.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Buying Things at the Dollar Store.
There is this way that our mind plays tricks on us, where we're much more inclined to spend $20 in twenty $1 increments, rather than spending the full $20 on one thing. It's why people spend so much money at the strip club: it's just so darn easy to lose track of how many dollar bills you've shoved down that stripper's panties (in the US, anyway).
The same is true for people who shop at the dollar store, myself included. You just find so many things you're willing to spend a single loonie on something you didn't think you needed. You convince yourself that you need it, and since it's so cheap, you just HAVE to get it. Today, I bought Tarp. You know, that big blue sheet you use to cover your car or boat so rain doesn't get in there. I didn't just buy one. I bought two. Two 4x6ft tarps...for no real reason except that they were only 1.25+tax each. I also purchased a microfibre cloth, fine-tip markers, epoxy glue, and very nearly purchased myself another laser pointer. Eventually, I stopped looking for stuff, because I didn't want to spend TOO MUCH money. But yeah, I still have no real use for the Tarp(s). Tablecloth? Floor runner for my student house? Probably the second one, since one of my roommates has a dog that before I decided to live there, defecated and urinated in my room on a regular basis. The poo is gone, but the stains remain...as a reminder that I'm getting shafted on this deal. I'm pretty sure my room was like... a workout/utility room for the rest of the house converted into a legitimate bedroom. I don't mind though, the shelves in my closet are already labelled for my weights. :)
Anyway, this is getting to be a little tl:dr. So I'm done.
The same is true for people who shop at the dollar store, myself included. You just find so many things you're willing to spend a single loonie on something you didn't think you needed. You convince yourself that you need it, and since it's so cheap, you just HAVE to get it. Today, I bought Tarp. You know, that big blue sheet you use to cover your car or boat so rain doesn't get in there. I didn't just buy one. I bought two. Two 4x6ft tarps...for no real reason except that they were only 1.25+tax each. I also purchased a microfibre cloth, fine-tip markers, epoxy glue, and very nearly purchased myself another laser pointer. Eventually, I stopped looking for stuff, because I didn't want to spend TOO MUCH money. But yeah, I still have no real use for the Tarp(s). Tablecloth? Floor runner for my student house? Probably the second one, since one of my roommates has a dog that before I decided to live there, defecated and urinated in my room on a regular basis. The poo is gone, but the stains remain...as a reminder that I'm getting shafted on this deal. I'm pretty sure my room was like... a workout/utility room for the rest of the house converted into a legitimate bedroom. I don't mind though, the shelves in my closet are already labelled for my weights. :)
Anyway, this is getting to be a little tl:dr. So I'm done.
Friday, August 20, 2010
man, i suck at posting in here. too busy with the porn and the cigarettes I suppose. who knows? maybe i'm just trying to live my life or something, and not spend all my time on the computer.
that's a lie, i'm on the the computer all the time, i just can't figure out what the fuck to write in here sometimes. I hear funny things all the time, but I always forget them by the time I get back to my apartment and login to the blog. Sad sad life.
that's a lie, i'm on the the computer all the time, i just can't figure out what the fuck to write in here sometimes. I hear funny things all the time, but I always forget them by the time I get back to my apartment and login to the blog. Sad sad life.
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