Hockey or Hackey as they say in Chicago

We got our jerseys on Tuesday! They're freaking sweet. Picture below. I'd show you my away jersey, but it smells like crap since I wore it on Tuesday. Speaking of which, I scored my first goal on Tuesday! It wasn't pretty, the goalie gave up a huge rebound and I backhanded it over him, but hey I'll take it. I also had an assist off a 2 on 1 play so that was pretty cool. I think we lost that game 13-3 or something, but we only had 5 skaters, and they were pretty good. Fortunately it was just a practice game. We have 4 games this weekend. Hopefully we can pull wins in 2 of them.


^one at a time ladies...

Awkward Observation

This is kinda awkward but warm headphones are really nice... I left my Shure headphones next to the vent for my laptop so when I grabbed them and put them in my ears I noticed how awesome warm headphones are. uh yea now I'm feeling awkward... but seriously try it sometime.

A Little Gem from Chem Class

While looking through toxicity data for a particular chemical, I found this gem (this is an exact quote):

Oral

Woman

420 UL/KG

LDLO

Remarks: Behavioral:Excitement

Full info:

Oral

Woman

420 UL/KG

LDLO

Remarks: Behavioral:Excitement. Cardiac:Pulse rate. Kidney,

Ureter, Bladder:Hematuria.

That's hydrochloric acid btw...

Depressing Reminder of Reality

We ate lunch in the Central West End today which is a pretty nice area that's got a fair number of good restaurants and the like. We were walking back from an incredibly satisfying lunch. Walking towards us was a young man in military uniform accompanied by his parents. On the side of the street was one of those random slightly crazy guys who seem to be around in big cities. As the young man passed by, the guy pointedly asked him, "how's it going soldier boy" with a mocking tone. Without pause, the young man evenly replied, "it's alright, I'm still alive." Wow. That's not something you hear everyday as a response to the question of how are you.

Near Midnight Contemplations

While I read about the fascinatingly complicated biochemical pathways involved in DNA transcription and translation, I can't help but appreciate my good fortune. There are a near infinite number of ways to be absolutely screwed over genetically. For example, one unfortunate mutation in the part of the genome that codes for the active site of the threonyl-tRNA synthetase complex would be absolute gg for your body (no I didn't make that up). There are an absolutely insane number of various enzymes that must function relatively perfectly in order for your body to function normally. If I were to type up the manner in which just one molecule is digested, it would probably be longer than this whole post. So who do we thank? Some may say God, some evolution. I'm still unresolved on the question of a higher power, but that doesn't stop me from truly appreciating my good fortune at being relatively healthy.

Some think that science destroys beauty as it reduces everything in nature (the color of fall leaves, the birth of a child, the stunning display of a meteor shower) to its most basic explanation, dissecting macro phenomena to their bare elements. I respectfully disagree. Understanding the underlying concepts and processes behind these phenomena only makes me appreciate all the more the sheer elegance of the world around me. An absolutely astounding number of processes need to work with inhuman precision for me to type this very human blogpost. I realize that this might make little sense, but the next time you're trudging through that required 100 level science course, think about it, you might just see your perspective change too.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you President Barack Obama

Here they are:

^There were at least 10,000 people there. It was crazy.

^yes I still look like a little kid. yes I was freezing.

Time

This is a much needed update. Time. In high school, I had what seemed like infinite prep time. Yea I debated and stuff but past that I didn't do too much. College has basically turned that on its head. Between classes, hanging out with friends, newspaper, hockey, and a myriad of other responsibilities (like this blog) that I generally neglect until the last second, I really don't have that much time to just bum around and if I do I normally spend it sleeping. This isn't a negative. I really enjoy the fact that my days are packed. I feel and know that I'm actually getting stuff done. 

There's no way I can detail everything that's happened since my last post but I'll try to hit some salient points.

Politics

I went to an Obama rally @ Mizzou. Funny story. I was lounging near the dolphin fountain on campus, enjoying the rare day of 70 degree weather, taking photos of the fall beauty when I get a phone call "the Obama rally bus is leaving at 4." 4? It was 3:50, frick. First of all I thought it was leaving at 5. Secondly, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go. But hey, it was a once in a life time opportunity so I made the split second decision to sprint to the bus. Fortunately I had the newspaper camera with me at the time which led to the following shots (I took 225 photos so these are just some random ones I've grabbed, anyone who wants to sort through them all with me is welcome to):

oh jk blogspot is being dumb and won't let me upload at the moment. sorry folks

We had a ton of people in our room on election night as we tracked Obama's quest to victory. It was pretty epic. I frankly was shocked that they called it so early 10-ish here. We celebrated with sparkling grape juice. No alcohol of course. Oh and naturally I voted.

Hockey

We went 1-3 our first game weekend. Sadly, I didn't get any play time but hey I'm a freshman and honestly I haven't been playing so hot lately. It's frustrating. I'm screwing up the most basic stuff like passing.

I'm gonna lump working out here as well. In an effort to get in shape for hockey, as well as to get the ladies, I've been working out a fair amount. This regular exercise has actually paid off. I've significantly increased the amount of weight I can lift in just a few short weeks. I'm eating like a pig but burning it off just as fast which is pretty cool. 

Newspaper

Finally got an article published. For some reason, everytime the assignments I take always seem to become extremely complicated and involved, even the most innocent ones. Oh well, it's fun. I'm working on an article about minority representation in student government right now, pretty fun stuff. I'd just like to note that being involved in a weekly newspaper really gives me a whole new perspective on the world of journalism. It's a nightmare enough trying to get articles done on a weekly basis. Interviewing multiple people, many of whom don't respond to your calls, writing, etc is quite an undertaking. I can't imagine how people get this stuff done on a daily basis. 

Oh and I get courtside seats to St. Louis U basketball games (or any sporting event for that matter) for free. Just gotta ask for it as my photography assignment, grab a press pass, and voila.

Studying

Nothing interesting here, I have A's. Not failing any classes. Trying to decide whether to take 18 hours (max) or 15 next semester. 

Random update:

I have a license. Rohit you fail at life in this respect.

So yea that's my update. I'll try to be more regular in the future now that I've brought my blog back to the present.