Halloween Mayhem

Just wanted to post a few pictures from this past weekend's Halloween mayhem. Mal as innocent Snow White, Ben trying to look like a sexy vampire (though the vampire teeth sort of kill it), and myself as jolly Santa.


Mallory as a not-quite-so-innocent Snow White.


Meghan, Lyndsi, Michael, and I. You can't actually tell from the picture, but Michael was extremely proud of the fact that he fit into his sister's pleather pants .


On a completely different note, I spent a freakishly long day in chem lab making these metal complexes. Twelve hours for this? I was completely jipped.

Weird Self-Portrait

Although this is my last semester, I have unfortunately put off a couple of classes that I should have taken as a freshman or a sophomore. One of these classes is Physics 2 lab. Possibly the lamest class ever with the exception of Physics 1 lab. It doesn't help that I actually took Physics 2 about 2 1/2 years ago. But alas, I am forced to go for three hours a week and pretend that I really care about that class in the least. This past week we were doing an experiment with electrons inside a glass ball. I took this picture because we were trying to measure the radius with the mirrored ruler in the back. The picture didn't actually help with that, but I thought it was a kind of interesting picture anyway with myself reflected in it. Sort of a weird self-portrait.


A recent picture from the top of City Creek Canyon (one of my favorite places to go biking):

Question by the Old 97s

Ack! Today while I was making a cd for a friend, I was browsing itunes and came across a wonderful song that I haven't heard in ages and previously didn't know who it was by. It's called "Question" by the Old 97's. Sooooo good! An old friend used to play it all the time on his guitar but somehow I never found out who originally performed it. A very cute song that you should check out.

Those sexy little atoms

So while studying for my test tomorrow (uh, actually today I guess), I picked up some interesting tidbits about a few elements. Pretty sure none of these will be on the test.

1) Of all the elements, sound travels the fastest through Beryllium. A whopping 12500 m/s!

2) Roentgenium has never been seen by the naked eye, but theorists say if someone ever saw it, it'd be gold.

3) Group 5, also called the Pnictogens, got it's name from a greek word meaning to stifle or choke. Funny since nitrogen is in this group and it makes up the majority of the atmosphere.

4) When heated, arsenic smells quite a bit like garlic.

And now I am going home...

No more OChem! Ever!

First things first. Today I turned in my last lab report for my advanced organic chem lab. That means that after suffering through two OChem classes and three labs, I am finally done with it! Done Done Done!

Time to celebrate, I mean, errr... study for my inorganic test tomorrow. Sigh...

Yes, once again I am back at school. Since I was starting to fall asleep studying at home, I made myself come back. But let's look at the bright side. At least I'm in the chemistry building and not in the library again. I'm a firm believer that the library has full power to numb brains and devour souls.

Tonight as I was parking my car I think I finally lost my mind. I was actually contemplating spending the night here. In fact I still am. There's a wonderful room with very comfortable couches and I wouldn't have to waste time getting ready in the morning. If I was thinking of such things when I left my house, I would have packed a toothbrush and a change of clothes. But alas, I wasn't thinking of such things. I just don't know if I can actually bring myself to such a low, pathetic level.

No worries though, I'm sure to regain my sanity tomorrow after "Hell Tuesday" is over.

Let the Countdown Begin

After spending a great deal of my weekend in the library (and anticipating spending most of the next 48 hours in it as well) I have grown frustrated enough to calculate exactly how long I have until my last final of my undergraduate career is over.


Exactly:

60 days, 16 hours, and 24 minutes
Note: This includes daylight savings

The Many Virtues of Mix CDs

Just the other day, my fantastic friend Sarah Sossy decided to grace me with a surprise mix cd to help me through midterm madness. There are very few things in life that are better giving a mix cd and even fewer things that are better than getting a great mix cd.

Here are just a few reasons I get such a kick out of mix cds:
1) You get to "unwrap" the present for about an hour and a half
2) It's easy to put meaning or multiple meanings behind your gift. In the words of Wikipedia, a mix cd can be "a highly personal statement tailored to the tape's [cd] intended recipient"
3) Or it can have no meaning and contain pure randomness
4) Weeks and months later you can still enjoy the gift
5) Years later you can "unwrap" the present all over again. When I listen to old mix cds from a few years ago it puts me back in a different place and reminds me of people I love and miss.
6) I'm usually introduced to at least one new song or artist that I end up loving and playing to death
7) Mix cds are an optimal blend of low cost and high thought

One of my favorite mix cds I've made:
-House Carpenter, Nickel Creek
-Passage, Vienna Teng
-Comin' Home, City and Colour
-You Belong to Me, Jason Wade
-Pretty Dress, Rosie Thomas
-Goodbye My Lover, James blunt
-The Lighthouse Tale, Nickel Creek
-Shadow on the Wall, Brandi Carlile
-Empty, Ray LaMontagne
-Farewell, Rosie Thomas
-Annie's Song, John Denver
-Nothing Compares to U, Sinead O'Connor
-It Don't Matter to the Sun, Rosie Thomas
-A Case of You, Joni Mitchell
-When You Come Back Down, Nickel Creek
-Whiskey Lullaby, Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss

With all that said, it's possible I'm just easily amused and/or very sick of school...

Trip to Yellowstone

Since I lost my USB cable to my camera, I haven't really had any posts lately, but I'm working on ordering a new one from Sony. Hopefully I'll be able to start posting regularly again.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip to Yellowstone I made with my sister at the end of August.

The first three were taken in the early morning after a rainy night of camping. Yellowstone generally has a certain amount of fog since the ground let warm moist steam into the chilly morning air, but this was more fog than usual.



This one's a view from Upper Falls (Part of the Canyon Area of Yellowstone):

Amazing colors by a thermal pool:

A very tired looking Lizzie:

Woods at the end of an early morning hike: