The deliberations must have been pretty quick, too, because I got the news from my advisor almost twenty minutes before he was supposed to find out.
Archive for the 'memorable' Category
Well, that time has rolled around again. I’ve been assigned a new committee for my second shot at the qualifying exam. Tomorrow I pick up the problem I’ll be presenting on, so today is my last day to get any useful studying done.
Strangely, I have not done much studying. I don’t think that it’s because I don’t feel like I need to study; I think it has more to do with keeping my anxieties under control. If I spend too much time looking at notes, I will freak out about everything I can’t reproduce off the top of my head. Last time it was my anxiety that killed my performance. I’m hoping this time around that the confidence in my own research abilities that I’ve gained in the past seven months will keep me calm enough that I can reason things out as I know I would in a less stressful situation.
It’s probably also useful that my committee this time is made up of professors I am less intimidated by. And that I got an A+ this past semester in the course taught by one of them. And that I had a great presentation at APS a couple of months ago. This exam is just supposed to demonstrate that I know what I need to know to be a good researcher. I am already a good researcher.
I can do this.
For those worried about spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, let me assure you that there are no spoilers in this post. Any links to pages that may contain spoilers are clearly marked. You’re welcome.
Like much of the rest of the world, my weekend was saturated with Harry Potter mania. Since this was the last book, I figured it was my only remaining chance to experience the pure craziness known as a midnight launch party. And, hell, if I was going to go, I decided I should go all out. Therefore, I roped Stephanie into dressing up with me and going to our local Barnes and Noble on Friday.
According to their website, we were supposed to dress up as our favorite characters, but, seeing as I don’t know that I have a favorite–except maybe Neville, who, unlike me, is not a girl–I went with the character I most resembled physically: Bellatrix Lestrange (link contains HP7 spoilers). For those who do not know who Bellatrix is, she’s basically Lord Voldemort’s most loyal and deranged follower. Stephanie, we decided, should join me as Bella’s younger sister, Narcissa Malfoy (also with the HP7 spoilers).
We put a fair amount of preparation into it in the week beforehand, including an evening I spent carving our wands and another that was spent trying to make Stephanie blonde again. We also got ourselves marked by the Dark Lord. For authenticity. We dressed with plenty of black and green, and then, with some help from some Muggle bloke, we went a little crazy with the photo-taking. On the other hand, some may claim that I just went outright crazy:
After a bit, we headed over to the local Barnes and Noble for their Midnight Magic party and I got my bracelet. We wandered around admiring outfits for a bit and doing our bit for the trivia scavenger hunt, but the all the children with lightning scars on their foreheads were a bit much for us, so we walked over to Chili’s for margaritas and a bite to eat. We got back to the store in time to volunteer ourselves for the costume contest. I think, aside from one kid I saw dressed as a Deatheater at one point and one adult who appeared to be Snape, that we were the only evil-doers there. There were tons of Harrys and Hermiones, a Luna or two, and a couple of Tonks(es?). There were also a few who had cleverer costumes, including an older woman who had a wonderful handmade Professor Sprout outfit and another fellow who made a convincing Mad Eye with whom I had a mock duel. A young couple dressed up as Harry and Hedwig–the girl had white feathers and had tied a letter to her leg even! I think my favorites, though, were the girls who had dressed up as house elves–specifically as Winky and Dobby. They were dressed in stained pillowcases and had big elf ears attached to headbands. Winky wore a button saying “I <3 Mr. Crouch” and carried an empty butterbeer bottle while Dobby wore mismatched knee-high socks and a tall stack of ridiculous knitted hats. It was excellent!
None of us won the costume contest, unfortunately, but we knew that they would give it to a kid. The girl who won was Luna and had, among other things, a witch’s hat with a great, big stuffed lion on top! We did get lots of compliments on our costumes, though, particularly on our Dark Marks and wands. I had so many people ask where we got our wands that I half-wished that I’d made extras and sold them at the store. I probably could have paid for both of our books. Ah well.
Needless to say, it was a crazy, silly, and fun night. I’m very glad that we did it, despite the fact that I’ve since been a zombie since, what with all the sleep I didn’t get staying up and reading. But what’s that to a bit of fun?
I spent most of this evening Photoshopping our photos into Harry Potter-ness (although Joe did a few them, too), so have some fun looking at the photos.
This is a piece that I’ve been meaning to put up here for quite some time. In the summer of 2001, I spent a month in Tanzania on a mission project, and, at the end of that time, I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. I was fifteen years old at the time, and it was probably one of the roughest periods of my life for innumerable personal reasons. There were many moments when I didn’t feel like I was ever going to possibly make it up the mountain, but I did.
Now is one of those times where I think it’s good to remind myself both of the difficulty of that final nighttime ascent of the mountain and of the fact that I made it in the end.
Well, this might take a while to figure out
So don’t you rush it
And hold your head up high right through the doubt
‘Cause it’s just a matter of time
You’ve been running so fast
It’s the seven day mile
Has you torn in-between here and running away
– “Seven Day Mile” by the Frames
It’s the final day of 2006, which means it’s time for me to engage in a bit of reflection. I must admit that I haven’t really prepared for this, and it’s tempting to paste a meme, even though I try to avoid doing that here. But here goes my year in review:
Continue reading ‘The Year in Review’
Cornell’s Fall Break occur(red) yesterday and today, and I chose to take a trip over to Cleveland to visit those of my friends still there as well as some of my former professors. I left early on Saturday and had a pretty nice, quiet six hour drive. The roads across most of New York were empty, and between patches of dense fog, I got great views of the leaves changing in the Alleghanies. I really wish someone else had been in the car with me–there would have been pictures then. Traffic got iffy once I reached the eastern side of Cleveland, but, thankfully, I made it to Megan and Tim’s place without any serious problems.
We grilled steaks and burgers Saturday night and ate them outside well after dark, which was rather entertaining. Chris joined us in time for coconut rum and Cokes and Firefly. And, being silly, silly people, Megan, Tim, and I were still up talking around 2:30 that morning.
Sunday was fairly quiet; I tried to stay out of their collective hair so that they could get some work done. Mark came up from southern Ohio–I’ve seen him twice in as many weekends, so, obviously, I’m getting spoiled. We crashed the biorobotics lab to chat with Brian and Rich for a few hours. Brian’s got quals in January, so he’s riled up about that. I told him that I’ve got them in May, so I feel his pain.
Megan, Mark, and I had a late dinner at the Turkish restaurant. I was amused when the host recognized me when I came in. I had my favorite, lamb saute and Turkish apple tea, and it was very welcome. Well worth the drive, ha.
Monday was an absolute whirlwind. I got to campus around 8:30 (the same time, unfortunately, as the ABET accreditors) and was pretty much busy visiting people from that point onward. While Mark and I were grabbing breakfast in Nord, one of the deans saw me and said ‘hi’ in a manner that suggested that she didn’t remember that I’d graduated. Mark seemed to find this unsurprising in my case.
My first swing through the EMAE department gave me a chance to chat with Prof. Alexander and to find that Jorge Cham is visiting Case later this month (can you say jealousy?). Unfortunately, ABET were closeted with Dr. White, so Mark and I wandered off to Allen Memorial to see Mano Singham for a bit. I popped into Guilford long enough to say hello to Dr. Ittner and to find that Brad was missing, the rascal. Back on the main quad, I got a whole crowd of professors in the Glennan hallway. Dr. Greber informed me that the ABET aerospace accreditor was very impressed with my class’s aerospace design projects. Ironically, not fifteen minutes later, Prahl came over to inform me that another accreditor had apparently asked him where the design was in that “moth pheromone thing” amongst the senior project reports. He knew that was my report and started in on the guy about it apparently. I guess instead of taking the direction of how I designed experimental procedures or software, he told the guy, “She’s one of our best students! She’s doing her PhD at Cornell now!” Ohdearlord. Also, while Prahl was recounting this again later, he said that my report was “very well-written”, so that’s good, I suppose.
One of the big reasons that I decided to go to Cleveland over Fall Break was because Dr. White, my advisor, is leaving at the end of the semester. So I spent about a hour chatting with him–he declared when I came to his office that he knew that it was “inevitable” that I was going to stick my head in the door, so he was waiting for me. The poor man has obviously walked around the corner too many times and found me sitting outside his door. I found it kind of funny that, as I was on my way out the door, he said, “Talk to you later” just like he always did when I was a student. Except this time, ‘later’ will probably be a couple of years down the line at a conference. Sadness.
I hit the biorobotics lab, looking for Mark, and instead got into a conversation with Andy and Alex, a couple of the grad students there. Case is gearing up for the DARPA Urban Challenge since they just got a vehicle, and certain persons (who shall remain unnamed) tried to get me to funnel them information about Cornell’s car, especially since DARPA announced last week that Cornell is one of about a dozen teams to get a $1 million grant for the Challenge. Oh my poor, torn loyalties!
After finding Mark, we went to the SAGES cafe for lunch before I stuck my head into Peter Whiting’s office to say ‘hi’. Sounds like SAGES is doing very well, which makes me happy. I think it’s only going to improve from this point forward.
I stopped by Prahl’s office next and was quite amused when his first question was not about how graduate school was going but about how well my car handled the drive. There’s an engineering prof for you. He got onto the subject of ABET again when Dr. Davy stuck his head in, and Prahl suggested that the accreditors interview me since I happened to be in that day. Luckily for me, they weren’t in the room to take Prahl up on the offer.
Mark and I swung by Dr. Ritzmann’s office in biology next, ostensibly to tell him that he was right about me loving Cornell. Then we hiked one more time up to the eighth floor so that I could see Quinn in more than just passing. We ran into Christian while up there, too, which was excellent. He got onto the topic of graduate school applications (which both he and Mark need to be working on right now) and mentioned that Cornell is one of his target schools, so I made it clear that he was expected to come visit. He took us down to Bingham to visit Dexter, Case’s DARPA UC robot, and told us quite a bit more about the team. From the sound of things, quite a few of the graduate level classes in EECS and EMAE this year are being aimed toward work on the Urban Challenge. It sounds like Case has a strong group to work on it; the real problem is a lack of funds 
We got back to Megan and Tim’s only to find that a water main had burst, so there was no clean water. Mark and I skipped out to Heinen’s to pick up a couple items (yummy bread, yay!) while Megan made taco soup for supper. ‘Twas very good. After dinner, we called up Kate, Chris, and Christian and met them at La Gelateria, because Mark and I simply couldn’t leave town with some gelato. I’m happy to say that the coconut and cinnamon gelatos are as excellent as ever. The real highlight of the day, though, was the conversation. We must have sat there for an hour-and-a-half or more talking about everything from Monty Python to jobs to ECIV 310. To sit around with friends I haven’t seen in months (and may never have together like that again) and share that dynamic was just fantastic. Also, Kate made me cry with laughter, and everyone needs a bit more of that in their lives.
The drive back to Ithaca was a bit more stressful, I think, partially because I was leaving Cleveland during the morning rush hour, but I made it alright. I had to stop for food this time–or more exactly, for the Coke I got with my food–because I was having trouble staying alert. Clearly I missed my morning tea this time.
All in all, I’m extremely happy that I went to Cleveland over break. It seemed a bit silly to go back less than six months after graduation, but, on the other hand, the longer I stay away, the fewer people I’ll know there. And the thing that surprised me about the visit is that, once the people are gone, there will be little familiarity or comfort left in visiting. Sure, I may get to have some of the food I can’t get in Ithaca, but University Circle doesn’t feel like home anymore. Walking across campus felt familiar, but it definitely didn’t feel like I belonged there the way I did a year ago. I hadn’t realized how much Ithaca and Cornell have become home to me. I didn’t really want to leave Case not that long ago, but, looking back on it now, I wouldn’t change a thing.
I’ve asked myself several times what it is I should say and feel today. I could look on the media’s sentimentality with distaste, or I could mourn the freedoms America has lost in the last five years, or I could mourn all those who lost their lives on 9/11 and those who have lost life and limb since in conflicts both justified and unjustified. But when I look back on that September day five years ago and I remember what I felt that day and in the days that followed, I do not simply remember fear. Yes, I was afraid–the U.S. border had closed behind my classmates and I on our field trip to Stratford, Ontario, and we didn’t know what was going to happen or when we would see our families again. But overwhelmingly, what I felt that day and in the weeks afterwards was a sense of togetherness.
Across America and around the world, people were united then. While my classmates and I gathered around televisions to hear the latest news, the Canadians around us offered us food and shelter while we couldn’t get home. In New York City, firefighters and police officers and emergency workers showed a kind of courage I could barely imagine when they rushed to Ground Zero to help the survivors. It didn’t matter what color you were or where you lived or what language you spoke or what God you worshipped that day. We just helped one another.
It seems to me that, five years later, what we should do is not publicly mourn those we didn’t know, nor should we simply mourn what it is that we have become since then in the name of so-called security. What we should do today is take a moment to celebrate what it is that we did that day, when we were a nation undivided by color, race, or religion and united in caring for our fellow human beings.
Here’s the end to the great car-shopping saga. Of course, it’s been more of a saga for me than for any of you because I haven’t written down every niggling detail. But in any case, I’m now the very proud owner of a new 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT:
After some online searching and a fair amount of luck, my father and I located a suitable model about 70 miles west of here. Actually, the two models I’d specced out online were sold the night before Dad called to ask about them. But an identical one had just come in on the truck, and that’s the one that I got. Dad (and I) got the insurance and financing worked out–and I spent Mark’s last couple of days here and the rest of last week struggling with my excitement.
On Saturday we drove down I-40 to sign the papers and pick up my shiny new car. I’ve put about 100 miles on it since picking it up, and, to borrow a phrase from McDonald’s, I’m loving it. It’s quite nice and comfortable without having a ridiculous load of bells and whistles (although I’m still scratching my head over the beverage cooler). And it’s somehow just the right size, especially the driver’s wheel. Every time I sit down to drive somewhere, I find myself enjoying more than the previous time.
It’s gotten a good reaction from everyone else, too. My mother seems more comfortable in it than in her van–although part of this may have to do with her not having to worry about me wrecking her vehicle. And, to my amusement, one of my little sister’s friends just poked her head in my room to inform me that I have “a really pretty car”. How funny!
I’ve started doing a few little things to personalize it. I’ve got a Case School of Engineering sticker in the back window, and there’s a Case license plate holder waiting for my proper tag to arrive. I’ll have to swing by Cornell’s bookstore when I’m up in Ithaca to get a Cornell sticker, too. There’s something of a debate raging in the household as to what the car’s name should be. The current two choices are Remy and Rigel. Remy is based on the fact that the car is a Dodge Caliber–think Remington rifles–and Rigel is, well, the brightest (blue-white) star in my favorite constellation. The aerospace engineer in me leans toward Rigel, but Remy is an easier diminutive. Yeah, I know that anthropomorphizing my car is sad.
My sister and I went a little crazy with the picture-taking today, but I consider that an effect of having waited so long to take them. The guilt got to me. It’s been raining here a lot lately, which makes it tough to get pictures. But I have them now, so go take a look.
Now that graduation was ten days ago, it’s really about time for me to say something about it. I’ve got just about all of the photos I have from the weekend uploaded.
The weekend was a complete whirlwind of activity. On Friday night, after my parents and grandparents made it in to town, we went out to dinner at Anatolia Cafe with my advisor, Dr. White. That was a lot of fun. My grandfather could not stop saying how thrilled he was that I’d gotten into Cornell. I think he went into that topic about five times over the course of dinner.
We had rehearsal on Saturday morning, and, in the afternoon, my family and I went to the Honors Awards Ceremony where I received a 2nd place prize in engineering for my poster at the research symposium as well as a departmental award for a student who “shows promise in professional leadership”. That was quite a surprise. The other student who received the prize was a much more obvious choice than I was: he’s been president of the Case student chapter of AIAA and has led the Design, Build, Fly team nearly every year. I, on the other hand, never even joined one of the professional organizations associated with our department. The only excuse I can come up with is that I showed leadership in class and such. Even then, though, I feel like that’s more perceived leadership on the part of other students rather than actual leadership on my part. In any case, I was flattered.
My family had a chance at the rehearsal afterward to meet Dr. Joe Prahl, the head of my department. Prahl is perhaps best described as “a character”. My parents still remember meeting him when I came to visit campus the first time. I think they were a little less freaked out this time around. Maybe.
That evening my family went out with Mark and Jessica’s families at Peking Chinese. As predicted, the puns were rolling. It was another one of those dinners that I honestly didn’t want to come to an end.
As I mentioned the morning of graduation, the day started out rainy. We all got our regalia on and headed down in the rain with umbrellas for the procession. While we were waiting in the line-up, the sky cleared and the sun came out. It turned into a gorgeous day not long before the bagpipes from the law school reached us. For the procession, all of the graduating students (undergrads, graduates, and professional students) start out at their school on campus, fully decked out in ceremonial garb. Different schools fall in together as they make their way in lines across campus. From Adelbert, the platform party, which includes the President, Provost, University Marshall, etc., leads the emeritus faculty and the faculty. These groups, followed by students from the law school, management school, and the school of applied social sciences, processed (also in full regalia) through lines of undergraduates. We had to applaud the entire time they passed, which really does a number on one’s hands. Eventually, we fell into step behind them and all the groups made their way into Veale, parading past rows of parents and family members who were held back by ribbons and volunteers. Having waited four years to participate in one of these procession, I was thrilled and grinning the whole time. Video cameras were strategically placed along the way so that the procession outside could be broadcasted within Veale. All very exciting.
Veale itself was pretty decked out. We made our way through the formalities: the giving of honorary doctorates, the key note speech from Julie Gerberding, and such. Hundert conferred degrees upon each separate batch of students, and we got to cheer a lot. There was a recession where the graduate and professional students left, and soon thereafter the undergraduate diploma ceremony where they actually gave us our degrees began. It was somewhat disappointing that I received my diploma from Dean Savinell rather than from Hundert, but such is life. They also didn’t read my major–it was in the program–but they did note that I graduated magna cum laude, which thrilled my family to no end. I was the only female aerospace engineering graduate, and one of only two aerospace majors to graduate with honors!
They had people stationed at the bottom of the stage’s stairs to catch people in case they tripped. The person waiting on my side happened to be the professor who was my freshman advisor way back when. He’s an accounting professor, so I hadn’t seen him in quite awhile. I had just enough time to tell him that I was glad to see him again and give him a quick hug before dashing back to my seat.
After that ceremony–and its haphazard recession–we had a reception in Adelbert, which involved lots and lots of pictures. In fact, most of my Commencement photos are from then. I got to see quite a few people one last time, including Dr. White, Dr. Alexander, Dr. Prahl, Dr. Ritzmann, Chris, Tim, Lisa, Christian, and Michael. Of course, there were also lots of pictures with me with Mark and Jessica and my family. Really, I’m shocked at how many good pictures we got!
The whole weekend was a pretty bizarre experience. We were all quite happy, of course, because we were graduating, but, at the same time, it was terribly depressing because we knew time was running out. My family ended up going back to the Turkish restaurant with Mark’s folks that evening and having our fill of excellent food and company. We got back to the apartment completely stuffed, but nonetheless, we had to pack. I think my family may have been surprised at how quickly I managed to get things packed and ready to stow in the U-Haul they rented. Having done this routine a few times now, it’s getting familiar. They left later, and I got to spend one last night with my suitemates and friends.
I stayed up far, far later than I ought to have, given the early start my family had planned for the next day. But, as I was hanging out with Christian and Brooke and Mark and Jessica for the last time, I couldn’t resist. It was my last night living in a college dorm, and there’s nothing like that atmosphere for making friends and having fun at any hour. I didn’t regret staying up until the wee hours of the morning, even when my cell phone alarm went off the next morning. At that point, I packed the last of my things and stowed them in Mark’s car while he drove me to my parents’ hotel. We both cried.
My family piled into the van and drove off, making it back to North Carolina early in the evening. All of my things got stacked along the walls of the garage, and most of it has remained there. I’ve taken over the guest bedroom and have done a few things to make it my own: putting my own sheets on the bed and hanging my framed degree on the wall, etc. Mark is coming to visit for the weekend and is expected to arrive tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve spoken to Jessica online once or twice. Today she left amusing comments scattered throughout the Commencement gallery. Good times.
All the same, I miss college and my friends and Case. Even though I look at the degree every day, I can’t believe what it says. I’m officially a rocket scientist now.
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