I Want to Meet People, I Really Do

Having just gotten back from lunch with some friends I noticed the seating arrangement compared to social interaction ratio and have concluded that a good group size is about 6 people. The seventh person just isn't within the group enough to be able to be a part of the conversation so just seems like a spare tire on a big rig. Even if someone does leave they still sit awkwardly on the side not really being a part of anything because they can't hear what's going on. An 8th person helps a bit, but at that point it's still worse than even two people eating together. One side of the table will be trying to pay attention to the conversation, but can't hear it very well. If a conversation gets striked up between the two on the lonely side, it doesn't last very long because they're still trying to pay attention to the main discussion between the center 6 people. So bring in a 9th and the equation settles itself out because three on one side will just start up their own thing because the one on the very outside can't hear squat.

While I'm on this topic, those of you who are going to college I have a suggestion, get one of the larger buildings. I'm in one of the small buildings, and people just aren't social at all here (it doesn't help that Drew just closes the door every time he's in). I know more people in even one of larger buildings than I know in my own building. In those buildings the floors have more people than my building even does. In that kind of environment floormates all know each other and do everything together. But in my pathetic little slice of the population people have their doors closed making you feel unwanted in the desolate hallway. In those larger buildings it's the exact opposite, all the doors are open, people just come and go as they please, just so much more friendly than in my gloomy den.

Salamanders, they're small cute and slimy. As well as numerous.

Today got an update from my research position, so I felt it necessary to make another post. As a bit of back story I am a part of a research group studying migration patterns of Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum). The morning after a rainy night we got out to the field and collect salamanders caught in traps. Now you may think, oh a salamander or two per trap, no no no, we're talking 10-15 per trap sometimes, it's scary. As I reach into the traps I feel the squirming. Reaching further there are layers of manders wiggling about. At a point it becomes a good trap when we only have 4 because the work was less. The whole processing consists of measuring, weighing and releasing. This can take a while because we find animal holes to release them in... THERE AREN'T ENOUGH HOLES!!! People could walk past and stare thinking we're completely retarded looking at the ground fumbling with these little slimy critters in our hands. When you find a hole you jump for joy and shove like 6 manders into it because there are still 6 more to deal with. But in the last 10 days we had one day with 250 or so, and the next day... 555. We didn't leave until 4:30pm after arriving there at 7AM. I got up at 5 AM that day to go out and deal with that. Even better there were FOUR of us. In the end we just counted them.. the remaining 180. But it is much fun as someone who enjoys field work more than lab.
For any of you out there considering getting a research position as an undergrad, I highly recommend it. Get to know professors, get better letters of rec that way. Also get to know people who have same interests, and you get to do something you enjoy hopefully.

MATH TEST GRR!!

So today finally got our calculus midterms back, only took them 2 weeks to grade it (compared to chemistry that finishes them on the day of the test), but got 104/140 due to curve I got like A-/B+, damn... should have done better. When I got it back though, I look at the problems I got wrong and then instantly see what I screwed up on and did them in 3 steps... HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS!! Don't you hate it when that happens? It feels like you're looking for your keys and remember they're in your room, but you can't find them. Coming back a few minutes later you see them right there on your desk. At that point... mm I'm gonna go hide away so no one see's that stupidity.
What I find even worse about these two is that I had to split it up in two points, to bring them together for the final answer. So I do one split and then forget to put in the second, which is in the same freaking style as the first split.... BUT, I guess it's not too bad overall. Still have the final so time to stu- procrastinate on YouTube.
Some may have noticed I'm keeping from swearing. Personally I don't care about swearing, but I know some people do, so for those who don't care, just replace the soft words with the real ones. Next time I'll just bleep them out and the message still gets across.

My First Post. Oh Happy Days!!

Hmm first post. This first one will determine in some ways just where this whole thing heads towards. Well in brief, this will be a place for me to get things I want/need to complain/rant/ponder about out. I'm an undergrad university student, so there should be plenty of those fun stories... yeah fun sure, let's just go with that. I'm in the evolutionary biology major, so there will be science posts, often biology related (bet you didn't see that one coming). Further, I am an atheist so I hope to post some fun things about emails or comments received, they always seem to have good comedic value.
Last thing I can think of at the moment, I have a research position, AS A FRESHMAN, its so much fun. After the rain, go out to the fields to catalog tiger salamanders. Recently we had a day with 560 manders (salamanders), it was INSANE. Stayed out for 10 hours processing them, and we still hadn't finished. We hope to set up a blog about that, let you know if it ever occurs.
OH, MOVIES. I watch those occasionally. Recently got back from Thanksgiving break with family and we saw Megamind and Tangled, both in 3D. I found the 3D to add very little, in fact it kind of takes away from the whole experience I feel. There are times when it just confuses me as to where some things are because they blend together. Other times it just annoys me because the images all look like they're on different screens in different positions, so they don't move together very well, its all just so gimmicky just to make people pay more for the same experience. Last thing to say about those, the bad 3D effects that movies have give me headaches, I get them somewhat frequently, but the glasses always seem to bring them on.
....BOOKS. Yes read them to. So I will probably post suggestions, reviews, cool shit I've read in them. Current selection - In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. Really enjoying it so far.
As a freshman in the dorms I have roommates... yeah them. Well they aren't all bad.. I guess. So officially have 3 others, unofficially have like 5. First there's Jay, really nice guy, culturally Hindu, but not religiously. Has a really interesting back story that I should get into sometime, but have the other 4 to get to. Next up is Sean. Also really nice, but bad about studying.. AT ALL. He skips class all the time to sleep, I swear he is a truly nocturnal person. His girlfriend, Katrina, would be a 3rd roommate (unofficial). She is here at least 70% of the time when Sean is here, sooo yeah basically living with us. NUMBER 4, would be "Trixie", quote marks because it is a ... nickname... she's one of those creepy blowup dolls that Sean and Katrina bought while in a sex shop, they have a very interesting relationship. Finally we arrive at Drew. Drew is a high school friend I've known for 4 years. A LOT of stories I tell about college life will be concerning Drew because of his many many idiosyncrasies. HE WATCHES ME SLEEP!! And that's a lower level of creepy he achieves on a weekly basis.
AHH This is so long already, but yeah. Those will all be very frequent topics on this blog because I have no idea what to do with this thing. I've never had a diary before so all of this is foreign ground. I feel like a short white guy in a group of asians, "I'm tall WTF!!" After that little bit of racism, I feel I shall end it.