Not a good time to talk.  Tomorrow might be a better day - or it could be worse.  Who knows.  This last week of the semester is proving to be hell in more ways than one.

Countdown to D-Day:  2 days

*GASP*

I almost forgot to post an entry today, thanks to all the cramming I’m having to do. I mean, not like anyone’s reading all these blog posts.  What certainly does NOT help is the fact that my first exam on Monday has a take-home component that is proving to be a bitch. I’ve spent countless hours trying to figure it out - hours that could’ve been spent studying for my other finals. I feel like I’m getting somewhere with it though. I have a bunch of calculations to do however. Then there’s the fear that I might not get summer housing or that I’ll get stuck in a double room with someone I don’t know and/or like. And as if things couldn’t get any better, I have a cold. Brilliant.

Countdown to D-Day: 3 days

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?

Wow. I totally forgot what I was going to talk about today. I’m certain it was interesting and no, it wasn’t filler material again. I just saw the clock and it said 11:50pm so I had to start typing this up. But as soon as I logged in, I forgot my intended topic. I don’t think it was music because I did the post on PT yesterday. Sure as hell haven’t seen any new movies recently, so it wasn’t about that. No, it did not involve Rock Band or any other video game.

This is embarrassing. I’ve gone two paragraphs now, and I still can’t remember what it is that I wanted to say. OMFG! Now I remember, my post was about the weather.

So a couple of weeks ago, the weather was beautiful - warm with a hint of a cool breeze. For the past few days, it has been chilly and overcast - something you’d expect to see in the UK every single day of the year, but not here in NYC. While the weather was nice, all my work required a computer. As finals approach, I have one more set of written homeworks that I could do outside. But, the weather had other plans. It’s not even pleasant outside. Apparently tomorrow will be better, but who knows.

You know what, I didn’t make up the fact that I had forgotten my blog post topic. It was good in a way though. It gave me two extra paragraphs to write and was useful practice for finals.

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.