Test tonight! Dun dun DUN!

I have my second big Engineering Explorations test tonight.  I've been studying quite a bit, so I feel pretty prepared.  One thing I am not going to let happen this test is to let the nervousness of everyone else taking the test make me nervous.  Last time, I went in confident, sat down, and then there was some confusion with filling out our Opscans.  (I've grown up; those are called ScanTrons in elementary-high school, but Opscans here, for the most part).  Plus, people were talking about how much they studied and how much they wished they had studied more, etc.  I started to freak out and wasn't as focused for the test as I could have been.  In comparison, over the summer when I did the Student Transition Engineering Program, I went into our tests feeling confident, ignored other people's worries, and took the tests.  The first time, I got 94%.  The second time?  99%.  Of course, there was less pressure since those grades did not count, but still, if I can maintain the same attitude, I will probably be fine.

After the test, though, I get to watch a movie.  S was telling me last night how a certain friend of hers had never seen a certain movie, and I got a funny look on my face.  I think she noticed it, and then proceeded to ask whether I had seen it.  I said no; I always seem to be the person who has never seen any movie ever.  She got excited and said I have to go watch it with her and her friend.  I would usually avoid things on Thursday nights due to Stammtisch and Campus Crusade for Christ, but I'm not going to Stammtisch because it is right before my test, and Cru tonight is pretty much out of the question, since this test runs an hour and a half, which means it has more questions.  And that it ends at 8:30, 30 minutes after Cru begins.  So now I have a movie to look forward to.

In other news, I'm trying to think of non-orange and maroon Christmas/holiday gifts for my friends.  I think I'm the only one out of my little friend groups to come to VT, so I don't think the people going to UVA and Hollins and Mary Washington and other schools would appreciate orange and maroon.  Any ideas?  Especially for a college student on a budget?

...?

Ok, so those of you puzzling at my last three posts may wonder whether my blog got eaten by the dreaded Question Mark Monster or something.  Nope.  And as much as I would like to say a cute kitty decided to go to sleep on my keyboard, I don't have one.  The probable culprit:  I tried to blog from my phone earlier about the flurries and my flu shot.  (By the way:  We had a few flurries today, though not enough to actually show up on the ground.  And I got my flu shot.)  Why that posted three posts full of question marks and random letters, I don't know.  Though  I did get confirmation texts from Blogger on my phone saying that all three of my posts posted successfully...  Maybe instead of me getting the flu, my blog posts did?  

Anyway.  I can't decide whether I should delete them or leave them for the hilarity factor.  If you have an opinion one way or the other, please share.  In the meantime, I'm going to go hide from the dreaded Question Mark Monster.

^ I ??>?Ak?? B?????M ???? Tf??wtY^f??u:??.?? t?^ ??e7??v?A?4??.????\?.?Af?;LO?????]w?A???? ?? ::?^???r?d/???? ?6?Aa7 ?v?@a7 DG??e?=?f??

^ ???\ ???t???????x]??@ jx] ??a: ?v????[ ?

^ es?????y?? r?A?????????? ????? DG?Afv].O?? z]? ???7?\g?[fv?|.?As??? ??tP? ???l6? &?A?<? ??@ ?"?&????? j?Afv 4G??,???????2????Aby?????

Dorm Cookin', Part 2

Well, I tried to make the Macaroni and Cheese again, and with much more success.  First tip:  don't try to be fancy and melt little strings of mozzarella string cheese over this macaroni and cheese.  That probably accounted for a bit of the funny taste the first time around.  This time was much better.

And since my last foray into the dorm cooking world, I have acquired a glass bowl from a large superstore entity.  It cost less than four dollars, is pretty sturdy, and is just the right size.  The right size for the macaroni and cheese, you ask?  No, it is the right size so that when the water boils and the foam begins to rise ominously towards the top of the container, I can leave it for a few more seconds.  Last time, I made the macaroni in a one-cup measuring cup, and I'm sure my neighbors wanted to unplug the microwave after hearing "hrrrrrrmmmmm....." (that's the microwave) "Oh, drat!  Not again!"  (that's me) *shunk of opening the microwave door**stirring**shunk of closing the microwave door* *beep* (turning microwave back on) "hrrrrrrrmmmmmmm......" (microwave, again) "Oh, drat, not again!"... I'm sure you can see where this is going.  This time, all was well.  The only mistake was getting barmops at said large superstore entity instead of proper drying towels.  The barmops are good for leaving stuff out to dry on, but they do a halfhearted job of drying the dishes and leave little fuzzy bits behind.  Oh well; I'll know for later.

In other news, I just discovered that the forks I brought (donated by my awesome Mom) can be used on my tablet's trackpad instead of my finger.  (Don't worry; it was clean and the computer and fork are both just fine.)  Not that I'll make a regular practice of that, but it's good to know.  Just in case I have to... use a fork to move my computer's mouse.  How useful.  That should be the method of saving the world in a movie someday... it's pretty epic!

Well, I should get to that German homework I have to do.  I get to write a review of Goodbye, Lenin.

Chef Laura signing off!  Until next time!

Yay! And, housing arrangements.

I got to spend yesterday and the day before with my oh-so-awesome parents.  They are probably home right now, asleep and tired from the car trip, but I'm glad they came, despite the (non)-fun of long car rides.  We hung out, shopped, talked, saw Wall·E, saw 1964:  The Tribute performed in Virginia Tech's own Burruss Hall (which was a LOT of fun; I haven't seen my parents both singing along with music at a concert until last night), and just generally had fun.  It was awesome.  It was only icing on the cake that they brought me food, a suitcase (to make coming home for breaks easier), and other stuff.  Thank you, Mom and Dad!  xoxo!

We also discussed something very important:  where I am going to live next year.  I have to decide before Winter Break whether I am moving off campus next academic year or not, so my parents, S (the fellow woman engineering student with whom I will more than likely be rooming; she's awesome), and I met and talked apartments.  S had obviously done much more research than I had had time to do, so she knew most of the details about housing around here and had already focused on a couple nice apartment complexes.  We both want a quiet community, and we both miss having the privacy of our own rooms (or at least a near 100% guarantee that there will be somewhere in our living space where we can "recharge" alone, as we are both introverted).  We discussed stuff we need to be sure to ask while taking tours of the candidates, and we will be working on priority lists for what we can't live without soon (aka as soon as I get my dormwork done, I'm doing mine).  However, I don't think we've entirely removed the possibility of staying on campus.  But, if we do go off, Virginia Tech has an excellent bus system, and most of the apartments we are looking at are within easy walking distance too.  I wouldn't have to drive unless I had a giant tri-fold board or prototype model to transport, pretty much.

But Virginia Tech is having a bit of a housing crunch.  More and more incoming freshmen means less and less upperclassmen housing, so we may be "strongly encouraged" to do our bit to help next year's freshmen not have to live in study lounges or room with RA's (because some, over halfway into the semester, are still being forced to do that!)  I've been thinking about the possibility of going off campus for a while, and while it is nice to live right in the middle of everything, it would also be nice to have a room or quiet space of my own, and to live with someone with a similar sleep pattern.

Anyway, if anyone has any sage advise for apartment hunting or a definite reason to stay on or go off campus, please let me know.  I would definitely appreciate it, especially since I don't know everything involved or what to take into consideration.

Brr.

It's cold here.

Except indoors.

Slusher Wing, along with most of the other buildings here, is very good at retaining heat, and that seems to mean that the radiators have to come on in order to make it even hotter.  Right now, the thermostat in my room says it is about 78 degrees F in here.  That is perfectly fine with me, though.  When I'm just sitting around doing stuff and not doing any kind of exercise, I love it.  I always seem to be cold, so it is kind of nice being the perfect temperature for a change.  It gets uncomfortably hot when one of my laptops has been on my lap for a while, or I come in from walking from class outside with a coat on.  But right now, it's perfect.

But my sense of logic says that that makes no sense.  I think it makes perfect sense to say "I would rather be cold, because you can always put on another layer of clothing, whereas when you are hot, there is only so much clothing you can take off and go out in public," but for some reason, I like being on the warm side of room temperature.  Unless it gets up to heatstroke levels and I can't get out of the sun for a long time, I'm quite happy being hot.  (I'll probably alter my opinion when it gets warm again, though!)  Being cold?  I can't stand it.

Oh, and when I download my camera's pictures eventually, maybe I'll remember to post the first frost I've seen this academic year, taken early in the morning sometime this past week.

So, to my lovely parents who will be visiting this weekend:   Bring a coat.

I never thought I'd be so happy to hear that a Windows computer was working again!

My tablet should be ready to be picked up!  I could have picked it up today if I had gotten the voicemail before the bookstore closed (oops; I had my phone on silent) but I can get it tomorrow at 9AM!  Finally!

=D

Yay mobile blogging!

Ooh! I just realized that with the unlimited texting plan my awesome parents decided to get, I can blog from my phone! Yay!

A fire drill at a normal time? No way!

#6, and yes way.  We had the sixth fire drill of the year at about 12:45.  It was COLD.  But at least it was not at 2 AM.

I wouldn't be surprised if it frosts soon, though.  I keep forgetting to pull out either of my warm coats, though, since the dorm is very good at retaining heat AND they turned the radiators on.  I was considering changing into a t-shirt earlier before I turned the fan on.

Ok, enough ranting.  Back to homework.

BTW, I can't wait to see my parents this weekend!  Major <3!

Stammtisch macht Spaß!

Every Thursday evening, anyone who speaks German and feels like eating out or just sitting around and talking goes to Stammtisch, which means going to Gillie's (very good restaurant,  by the way, and cheap) and speaking German.  Always the big rectangular table on the left as you walk in, starting at 6PM and going until a bit after 7.  It's fun.

Yesterday, there was pretty much no one there.  My professor and one other person showed up, but we still had a great time talking.  I discovered that the other guy (M) is fairly involved in Intervarsity, so we told Dr. M (my professor) about IV and Campus Crusade for Christ, which was really cool.

And, as always happens when speaking a foreign language, hilarity ensues from trying to find the right word.

M the student mentioned a time in his German class that he didn't know the word for "deer" in German, so in a class discussion, he called in a Waldkuh (forest cow).  Makes sense, doesn't it?  The professor corrected him, but the entire rest of the class period, his classmates were using the word Waldkuh just for fun.   During Stammtisch, he and I noticed that the words we don't know in German always seem to translate directly from English with very little spelling or pronunciation difference.  "Deer" in German is actually "Reh," which makes sense if you think of the word "roe" for deer.

But etemology isn't as funny as what happened later.  I was trying to explain what I usually have for breakfast to Dr. M, as she has never really  tried the campus food (which, if you are looking into coming to Virginia Tech, is very good!).  I could explain that I got coffee from Deet's, but then I tried to think of the word for the food I usually eat.  The dictionary I had with me did not have the word, and I was at a loss and about to ask her for the word when I realized that Google Translator might have an answer, and I could text message Google SMS and access the translator.  (By the way, Mom and Dad, thank you for the unlimited texting!  I put it to good use, as you will see!)  So, a few seconds after my inquiry, my phone vibrates and I get the translation:

"muffin" in English is "muffin" in German.

Oh.

I read the text aloud, and we all burst out laughing.

Stammtisch is usually a lot of fun, and sometimes there are nearly a dozen people there, speaking German and hanging out.  But this time, I stayed longer than I usually did.  Somehow, I broke through my "I don't understand social dynamics or the art of conversation" problem and enjoyed myself.

Well, I actually have German class in 30 minutes.  And then, I get to go to the Health Center to verify that I don't have tuberculosis.  Oh joy!

Dorm Cookin'

So.  I bought some 75% organic Macaroni and Cheese (individual serving packets) on Thursday, and I finally decided to try one.  After buying a little tupperware-ish bowl from the general store, I set to making the pasta part of the M&C.  I used the measuring cup my mom so graciously lent me to take to college to make the pasta.

But, the microwave, so enthusiastic to actually help make a meal, was extra hot.  After about a minute, I had to stop the thing because the water nearly boiled over (glad I was watching it!)(And so, yes, watched water can boil.).  I took it out, stirred the al crunchy pasta, and put it back in to try again.  About ten seconds later I had to stop it, as it was boiling over again.  But the pasta wasn't done yet.

So, the next five minutes or so were spent stopping the microwave, stirring the pasta, and starting it again, stopping just before the white foam reached the top of the measuring cup.  I hope I didn't drive my neighbors nuts.  But eventually, the pasta was al dente the way it was supposed to be, and I could stop babysitting the microwave and actually add the cheese part of Mac&Cheese.

That is probably the brightest yellow cheese sauce I have ever seen.  It was pretty good taste-wise, but it looked almost radioactively yellow.  I suspect the dorm room lights; the cheese powder looked perfectly normal to me.  Or maybe they went a little food coloring-happy.  (Maybe that was the 25% non-organic part.)

But all in all, a successful food venture.  Except for the one poor noodle that landed on the floor and ended up in the trash.  Poor little guy.

So tune in next time on Dorm Cookin' for more adventures with Laura and her roommate's microwave.  Fun for the whole hall!

Cookies, Hair, and Bruce's Fossa

Today wasn't exactly a norm day.  Even though I usually only have one Friday class (and it gets cancelled every Friday on which we have a take-home quiz, like last Friday), today was different.  Maybe it just felt that way because we were dedicatedly getting classes off, and a large percentage of the campus population was elsewhere.  A friend of mine and I spent the day together.  We went to Crumb and Get It (see last post), which was amazing, even though we didn't do custom cookies.  We split a chocolate-chocolate chip cookie (chocolate dough and chips) and a chocolate-Andes cookie (chocolate dough with Andes mints), which were delicious.  She then showed me the public library, which was pretty cool, and then we did some homework, ate at Hokie Grill, and hung out for a couple hours.  And now I'm back at my dorm room.

Researching hair styles.

I don't know what I want to do with my hair, exactly.  And I have until November to decide, but it's still bugging me.  I want it significantly shorter, that's for sure.  Mid-neck length or so.  Long hair is a hassle, especially since I don't always blow dry my hair.  And even when I do, it frizzes and the front parts start doing their crazy little curvey-wavy thing.  So I guess I should look for a messy hair style.  Or should I get a perm?  How do those work?  And how long do they last?  I'm sick of my hair looking good for only a couple hours at a time…

On a completely unrelated note, I just discovered the name (and the function) of that weird little dip right under your nose and above your lips:  the philtrum, infranasal depression, or Bruce's Fossa.  I've always wondered.  Apparently it allows the lips to make a wider range of expressions than would otherwise be physically possible.  Which is pretty cool.  God thinks of everything, doesn't He?

Fall Break!

Today is the official start of Fall Break (aka we get today and today only off of school).  A lot of people on my hall went home, and while that would have been nice, I felt that driving ten hours round trip would take too much of a giant chunk out of the weekend for me to really be able to enjoy the weekend at home.  I want to be able to go home, shop, hang out with my parents, hang out with friends, play with Radar, sleep in my own bed, get a haircut… and one weekend wouldn't cut it, or at least not this time.  I'm waiting until Thanksgiving, since Virginia Tech is nice enough to give us a week off plus weekends.  Plus, I'll get to see my awesome parents on Parents Weekend, for which I am very excited.  So I'm saving gas and staying here right now.

By the way, to all of you fashion-conscious people:  I want my hair cut short, but I'm not sure what I want done with it.  If you have any suggestions (shorter than shoulder length), please tell me.  I want it short, easy to maintain, and cute, but I'm not sure what I can get away with with my crazy hair.  (humidity = frizz)

Well, I'm probably going to go try out Crumb and Get It pretty soon.  It's like Coldstone ice cream, but with cookies.  Very excited.  I've decided to try out the local off-campus cuisine this weekend.  So… I should go do that.  Yeah.

In the meantime, does anyone want to make any guesses as to how many fire drills I will have this month?  No prizes if you guess right, but the knowledge that you won, of course, is always a terriffic prize.  I'm guessing five.

Fire Drill Count

#5  (View the time stamp, please.  I got a very pleasant wake-up call of BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH after being asleep for a while.)

Though I'm sure it isn't on purpose that all our fire "drills" end up in the wee hours of the morning.  I think either some not-so-well-meaning prankster pulls the fire alarm, or someone decides he or she really really really  needs popcorn at 2:30 AM.  And burns it.  I really think the dorms don't bother to schedule fire drills; they just happen on their own.

Key Lock

Ok, so you know how phones that have buttons on the front have a key lock that keeps you from accidentally calling someone while the phone is in your pocket?  Apparently, something managed to thwart the key lock on my phone.  I just discovered that I sent this text message:

Dkjag.

to a 13-digit telephone number.  It was sent at 12:38 pm, around lunchtime for me.

Some things just can't be explained.  I would try to make witty commentary, but I think this one needs to stand alone.

I never thought I'd be so happy to see a non-Mac computer...

I finally got a loaner tablet from the nice people at SoftWare Assistance Triage.  (SWAT.  Silly me, I thought it meant "Student Workers Applying Technology in Elementary school...)  So I can do my homework by hand instead of having to figure out how to type the least squares regression equation or how to do any work I would usually do by hand with a mouse.  Yesterday I discovered a lab that had the software I needed, which was awesome and got me off to a great start.  But they didn't have tablets, so I was stuck trying to either type all my mathematical work or writing with an external mouse.  But now, I have a tablet.  And I will hopefully get mine back soon. I'm so relieved right now--sometimes the way things work out is unbelievably amazing.  God is way awesome! 

My tablet is insane, part 2

So.  Since my tablet refuses to boot properly, I probably won't see it until Thursday, and it will probably be wiped and I'll get to spend next Friday refilling it with programs.  Oh fun.  I get to borrow someone else's computer (or something… I dunno) to do my (OneNote format exclusive) Engineering homework, which is LAME.  Why isn't there something for Windows that allows you to boot off a disk, dig around in the hard drive (because sometimes it's possible to save a computer without wiping it clean, even if you can't start off the drive!  I think I've done it before on my Macs!), save important stuff, and then reinstall the system?  For Macs, all you need are the system install discs.  They do all of that, and sometimes you don't even need to reinstall the system.  Much less wipe the hard drive.

Argh.  I have to admit that Windows, when it works, is bearable to use.  It has useful software that won't run on my (ancient) Mac.  But it is certainly hard to perform diagnostics on something that won't start up off the nonexistent system install disk and is not user friendly when broken.

I miss being able to use my Mac for everything.  (And no, don't say that it's nice that now I get to use my Mac for everything.  Half the software I need does not come on a Mac, especially not one as old and as non-Intel as mine.)

Sorry if I sound non-professional here, and I'm sorry if I'm offending your favorite computer platform or something.  I'm just frustrated and would rather rant in text than scream, punch a pillow, etc.

My tablet is INSANE!

So.  I am writing this from my Mac (which I love) instead of from my school tablet (which, up until a few hours ago, hasn't been too bad) because… well, you know how the definition of insanity is that you do something over and over and over again just the same way, yet you expect different results?  Yeah.  My tablet is trying to start up.  Over.  And over. And over.  I've changed what settings I can without actually being able to get to the operating system, yet it still hangs at one particular point in startup.  If I try to boot from a CD, it is either a CD that will wipe my hard drive (BAD, since I have taken some important notes since I last backed up my computer) or… it is a CD  that tries to start me up in a version of Knoppix.  A very limited text-only version of Knoppix, I might add.  Open source OS's are cool, but not when I don't know how to use them, and the commands I find for them online don't actually work, or at least not with the version on the CD.

Might I mention that I am spoiled, since my Mac rarely acts up, and if it does, I have the system install CDs which WON'T try to wipe the hard drive and will let me start it up and try to get stuff off the drive before wiping it?  I wish such  things existed for Windoze.  I am sick of being frustrated.  Some things just make sense.

Right after I finish my Vector Geometry test tomorrow, I am so going to one of the Computer help people.  Argh.

Fire Drill Count

#4
Ugh.  Just got back in a few minutes ago.  Really, who needs burnt popcorn at 12:20 AM?

And poor R got caught in the shower... again.  And had to come out in her bath robe.  Hasn't happened to me yet, but who knows what the future will bring, right?  =)