Chamomile Motha' F****'!!!

Click here for a listen and a laugh.

I am waiting to post about the weekend until someone sends me pics.

Nothing else to declare.

I spike the internet.

I just defended my thesis.

This weekend I'm playing in a Halloween tourney and it's going to take all my willpower to not spike the disc.

I pwn PCBs.

Chemistry majors are ugly nerds.

Friday night was spent relaxing at Ollie and Angela's. Colin already detailed this evening including pictures that are all digital and stuff so go check that out. He's more articulate than I am anyway.

Saturday I went down to Champaign for Jay's Oktoberfest BBQ. Jay's parties are always amusing but follow the same trends. Most everyone there are chemistry grad students and divide into defined cliques. I mingle amongst those I already know and get along with and meet a few of their friends. Then we retreat and spend most of our time conversing among those of us who are outsiders into this world of U of I chemistry.

I had a good time and got to see Ross and Tom so that's always a bonus, even though Tom turned in early because he wasn't feeling well. Jay and I went 3-0 in Cornhole and only lost because we decided to throw for style (Jay went between the legs all game, I did KA-J skyhooks). We still managed to score points doing this, Jay will be the first to let you know that he scored more than me.

Tom gets the joke of the night. I was telling a group what I had left to do for my thesis. I told them that I still had to get my appendices together. Tom says "I thought you got that taken out last year." I hate you Tom.

Most significant aspect of the night was obviously the Cards win. Second most is my apparent ability to flirt and get noticed. At some point during the game I got hungry so I went outside to see if food was still on the grill. Most everyone is inside so the only one outside I know is Jay's girlfriend Val(erie)(p.s. that joke is funnier than I will get credit for). Valerie is talking to a girl I didn't know. I had to wait a bit for food and I hadn't really said "Hi" to Valerie yet so I began talking to her and this girl she is with. The conversation continues and Valerie's food readies so she leaves. I keep talking to this girl because I am not a prick and was being polite. Honest. Regardless, my food finishes as it begins raining so I advise her to seek shelter and enjoy the night if I don't see her again. I get my food and head inside.

Upon entry, I get berated by everyone I know if I enjoyed my half hour of flirting with this bird. I ignore it mostly but it comes up several times again throughout the night. Do I really not talk to girls that often and it becomes a spectacle when I do? Do I flirt that much? Is it me just focusing on this because it's about me?

Fun epilogue to this tale of heroism, I never say another word to the girl for the rest of the night. She ends up getting all handsy with one of the guys who lives at the house and puking her guts out outside in the rain for a solid fifteen minutes. I journeyed with Jay, Ross, Phil (Chem major), and two embodiments of the opposite of my fantasies to Mary Anne's for a stack at 3 a.m. Stacks are disgusting.

Thees ees my thesis.

Per request from Martha, the following is a sample from my thesis. This is the first paragraph from my introduction so it's supposed to hook the reader and keep them from putting it down. I will post something real on Monday after a weekend break from writing and I actually submit the thing to committee. Enjoy.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of synthesized compounds composed of two bonded phenyl rings with chlorine atoms located at any of the ten possible bonding carbons of the phenyl rings. Figure 1 shows the general structure of a PCB compound. From one to ten chlorine atoms may be present, at varying locations, resulting in a possible 209 different congeners. The congeners may be categorized by degree of chlorination (or homolog group), such as monosubstituted, disubstituted, and so forth. The highest degree of chlorination, the decasubstituted PCB, is properly named 2,2’,3,3’4,4’,5,5’,6,6’-decachlorobiphenyl. The use of proper names can be burdensome and more commonly PCBs are referenced using a naming system originally developed by Ballschmiter (Ballschmiter and Zell 1980). This naming system assigns a number to each PCB congener starting with the lowest degree of chlorination at the first possible substitution (2-chlorobiphenyl, PCB #1) up to the fully substituted PCB (PCB #209). Various numbering systems have been used since Ballschmiter’s originally proposed scheme, but most follow this order of naming and will differ in naming only a few select congeners (Table 1). Ballschmiter’s updated proposed numbering system (IUPAC) is used in this report.










Edit: I added the Figure to help clarify (maybe). It's my first picture on my blog. That is kind of depressing.

Stupid Survey

Still busy as hell working on the thesis. Expect sporadic posts until Oct 23rd when I hand the damn thing in.

In the meantime, I decided to post something a lot of you have read but I really like. This is a questionnaire sent to me by my brother's ex-girlfriend for some magazine article job she was trying to get (I don't really know or care). I got frustrated two questions in because I thought the questions were inane, in addition to grammatical and spelling mistakes. So I had fun. Hope you do too. My answers are bold.

1) Have you ever considered marrying someone, or been engaged? (How many times?)

Only to the sea, but she broke it off

2) How important is marriage to you (on a scale of 1-10, 10 being very important and 1 being you never want to get married).

8.3145

Explain your rating:

Its the Gas Constant in the Ideal Gas Equation PV=nRT

3) How important is having a relationship with a significant other to you? (on a scale of 1-10)

5

Explain your rating:

It’s the number of times I have had sex this year plus five

4) Do you consider dating a) an elimination process to find a person you would like to have a longterm relationship with b) a fun way to socialize c) as involved with the other gender as you with to get.

d) Wish is misspelled

5) How do you define "marriage" ?

By looking it up in the dictionary and then reading what it says

6) What is the point of marriage?

42

7) Do you consider marriage a positive thing or negative, and why?

Positive because it repels me

8) Are pre-nups a)absolutely necessary or do they b) illustrate a lack of faith and fidelity?

The real question is why a lack of faith is necessarily indicative of a lack of fidelity

9) Are your parents married/divorced?

They are both widowed

10) What do you like better 1) being in a relationship or 2) being single.

1, because you shouldve put "1) being single" for aesthetics

11) Do you see yourself getting married someday? In 5 years /10 years/ 15 years/ or more?

Yes, as soon as legislation is passed allowing man to marry monkey

12) If yes, will you 1) elope 2) be married in a church/temple/mosque 3) be married by a justice of the peace 4) be married somewhere else, outside of a religious institution but by a man of the cloth.

4) At Universal Studios when Jaws pops out of the water

13) Ideally, do you think marriage should be a pre-requisite to having children? Why?

No, it should be a post-requisite

14) What do you think is the main reason people get married? a) to have children/start families b) desperation c)it makes financial sense d) start a new live with shared dreams and goals e) societal norm/obligation?

None of those seem mutually exclusive

15) What is a "deal-breaker" for you in terms of relationships: a) religion b) class c) racial/cultural differences d) education e) location f) political leanings g) Other

c) if fat is a race

16) Order by significance from 1-10 (one being most important, 10 being least) what qualities are most important to you in a potential partner

1 Honesty

1 Respect

1 Shared interests

1 Shared political views

10 Shared religious beliefs

1 Education

1 Sense of humor

10 Open mindedness

1 Value-oriented (high moral standards)

1 The unexplainable "gut-feeling" or "CLICK" factor/chemistry

17) What do you bring to your relationships with people in terms of traits/characteristics:

Lack of a conscience

18) When is the last time you were in a relationship you considered "serious."

The restraining order was filed last July

19) Is the seriousness of a relationship determined by a) the amount of time invested or b) the intensity of emotion invested

a) because b precludes sex with robots

20) Do you think there is a correalation between the "problems" in society and broken homes? (violence, drugs, low test scores) Yes, no or maybe

Yes, faulty foundations are the source of all social problems

21) Age: 25

What's new is what's new

I realize I didn't really update at all this week. The reason for this is that I am defending my thesis shortly (2-3 weeks) so that kind of takes priority. After this, I should have more time and be a lot less stressed.

A little update on the past weekend. The week passed without incident and I made it through alive so chalk one up for me.

Friday night I stayed in and watched Brick. That isn't entirely accurate as Cassie, Jay, and Colin forced me to walk three miles beforehand. I don't mind walking, but I had just sat down and opened a beer. Brick, for the record, is the best movie I have seen this year. Go see it and see if you can avoid the urge to drop into lingo. The peanuts were good but I still had to push.

Saturday was eventful. I had intended to stay in and work on my thesis but I got only a little work done and lost focus. I'm not sure why but I couldn't get on track and then it was time for the Cubs game. I hadn't been to a ballgame this year and Jay acquired free tickets on the up-and-up. Myself, Jay, Colin, and Nathan sat in Wrigley Field for just shy of five hours. A rain delay and fourteen innings of baseball takes time. The Cubs rallied from a 8-0 deficit to force the extra play but couldn't find a winning stroke in the additional lanes on the scoreboard. Still enjoyable overall.

While not our initial plan we left the stadium at perfect time to head straight to Leslie McScrapheap's housewarming party. A short pitstop to purchase spirits at the CVS nearest the stadium and we were on our way to the loving new home of said hostess and Ruthstess. A few things about the party:

-Cassie is a lightweight and kind of a cutesy drunk.
-KO and Ruthless are cementing their place as what is hot.
-Leslie and Ruth are wonderful hosts.
-Colin, as seems to be the norm, narrowly avoided fisticuffs with some ruffian. I suspect only the surroundings prevented a physical exchange.
-Chuck showed up with novelties in tow. If I ever attend a party with him again and he fails to do this I will be sorely disappointed.
-Lastly, and most important because it is about me, either everytime I speak to a girl I am flirting or my friends are just assuming I am. I was accused of devoting social time to the pursuits of Allison. I am not offended by this accusation per se, but I don't consider myself to be overly flirtatious except when intended. A brief version of this last point entirely is me shrugging and being all like "whatevah."

Sunday was spent watching football while lying on the couch. I wasn't hungover but I wasn't ready to go watch a parade or anything either. I did help Jay with schoolwork by participating in an interview partially concerning my blogging experience. The wonders of new things. Also had practice today again. My posts barely support. I'm swimming but the water's troubled.