Vivek’s Blog

I have no poetry skills so I won’t even attempt to write this post as some sort of poem, as the title would suggest.  However, I will make every attempt to make this post enjoyable to read, maybe even include some jest.

If you go to Columbia or are one of the chosen few who already know what the word Mudd means, then the rest of the post is perhaps useless for you.  It might be interesting, but definitely nothing new.  For everyone else, this post will help clarify some of my away messages on AIM/Yahoo/GTalk/etc.

Mudd is the shortened name of the engineering building at Columbia.  It is tall and big.  It is divided up such that there are one or two departments per floor.  For engineering students, more or less, all classes happen in this building.  It also houses all the research labs, a cafeteria, a library, and a computer lab.  Which brings me to the reason for writing this post:  I spend several hours every day in Mudd.  Most of that time is spent either in the computer lab or in the library, and not in classrooms.  Almost every Monday, I’m there from 10:30am to 6:30pm (minimum).  I even go there on weekends.  Pathetic?  Maybe.

All engineering students feel a strange attraction towards Mudd.  It’s like a home away from home away from home.  Our dorms act as our home away from home, but Mudd is our home away from our dorms.  The library is well-stocked and the computer lab machines have all kinds of useful software for students.  Plus, there are printers for, you know, printing stuff.  I usually go there for group study fun times or when I’m solo, I just plug in my headphones and do my work.  Few distractions.  There’s food and drinks so you really don’t have to leave the building for anything.  Except perhaps showers.  You can totally find a place to sleep if you want to.  There’s WiFi everywhere (except that one room on the 11th floor) and ethernet jacks in several rooms.  Furthermore, the elevators are crazy fast, especially when not busy.  Also, we’ve got automatic sliding doors at the entrance.  Yep, we’re engineers all right.

I obviously spend way too much time in this building, but there are others who practically live there (you know who you are).  And did I mention the sky bridge on the 10th floor that connects Mudd to the building next door?  Pretty sweet, eh?

This week just doesn’t want to be done. There’s still one essay due before this week is out. Ugh. I’m currently chopping and changing my essay to make sure I say all that I need to in 1200 words or less. It’s very limiting - piezoelectrics just cannot be discussed adequately in four pages of double-spaced text.

Anyway, today was the second-last day of classes and my last two classes of the semester are on Monday. Then a study period of just under a week before finals start. My exam schedule this semester is simple: two exams on May 12 and two on May 15. The two on Thursday are back-to-back. Good times.

In other news, I need a new belt for daily use. Just thought I’d throw that out there for all you belt junkies.

So much work to do and not enough time to do it all in.  I have a presentation tomorrow, an essay due on Thursday, a homework set and as essay due on Friday, and one more problem set coming my way soon.  I was being lazy and unproductive for the last two weeks, but this current week is being a total bitch.  So I apologize for another meaningless post with a song lyric as its title.  But I have to rehearse this presentation and get enough sleep for the madness to follow.

At least I get to see The Verve!

Today I went to a special screening of the documentary, “The 11th Hour” that talks about global warming and related economic aspects as well as solutions to overcome not only our dependence on fossil fuels, but also problems with population explosion and our impact on the earth.  It was a good film and quite informative since it featured interviews with several scientists and experts working in this field.  I was perhaps a wee bit disappointed that the movie did not feature more data to back up the claims of the experts.  Still, I thought it was a good overview of the problem and what needs to be done to solve it.  A good Q&A session followed the movie.

I got stuck having to set up and maintain a booth for Engineers Without Borders when the others who were supposed to be with me couldn’t make it to the event on time.  But I’ll let that one slip.  What did piss me off was Sci-Fi’s decision to only air a preview of the new Battlestar Galactica episode online.  The website said it was going to be a preview but they never mentioned how long it was going to be.  Further, the stream started off like a normal BSG episode and continued until the second commercial break.  Then BAM! the episode ended.  Frak you scifi.com, frak you hard.  Did Intel not not want to sponsor the rest of the episode?

Perhaps some of you know about this already, but I’m staying in NYC for the summer to work with my adviser on research.  I haven’t settled on a project yet, but I have a choice of two groups that I can work with.  I can either work on solar cells or I can work on microelectronics.

Both areas involve electronic materials (mostly silicon) and the use of sequential lateral solidification to make better cells or microelectronics.  Both areas sound interesting.  If you’ve followed my epic quest that finally ended when I bought the N95 back in February, then you know how picky I am and how much time I spend thinking and researching before I make a decision.

Right now I’m leaning more towards microelectronics and I have until the week of May 26 to make a final decision.  For those not scientifically inclined, the two choices as follows:  I get to either save the world (no cheerleaders involved, sadly) or I get to do something that will eventually help the electronics industry tremendously.  And as of right now, I’m biased towards the electronics industry.

If you feel like it, leave comments.  Otherwise, sit back and wonder how I’m only two posts away from a full week of blog posts.