It’s been a while. Things have happened. Some were good, some were bad.
Managed an above average grade on my second Thermodynamics exam, which was a good sanity check after a below-average grade on the first one, but I’m not in the clear just yet. Need an above average score on the final to lock in that elusive B. Doing okay in my other class – just need to not screw up the final.
On the research side, things have been moving along at a canter. We created and characterized our first batch of samples and are currently trying to figure out the best fabrication approach to take in order to achieve better results with our second batch. I also did a literature survey recently and will be presenting to my subgroup on Dec 1. I’ve been through lots of training sessions and there’s more to come yet. On the whole though, I love being at MIT. Classes are brutal, but being constantly surrounded by smart people is great. I wish I could get to research directly without having to take classes, but it is what it is. Just need to survive. Getting used to being average took some time.
I won’t be going home this winter – first time in 5 years. I have to take a week-long microfabrication training course in January, so I decided to hang around for the entire break. However, I will be heading down to New York for the Christmas weekend and could possibly also make another trip to visit my cousin (and my nephew!) in West Virginia.
Since I got done with midterms recently, I’ve had time to indulge in video gaming. Picked up Left 4 Dead 2 after being persuaded by a friend and it is awesome. Really expands upon the original in several ways and makes the original look boring in comparison. Also picked up Batman: Arkham Asylum, Braid, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. courtesy of crazy Steam sales. Yes, the very Steam I’ve ranted about in the past. I have been converted. While I still like getting something tangible for my money (i.e., physical media), Steam is a great distribution platform and something that’s improving to the point of being as good as Xbox Live (although it still lacks several features compared to Live). Two games I’m eagerly anticipating are Bioshock 2 and Mass Effect 2, both releasing next year. Now that I know ME2 will run on my laptop, I’m going to get myself the Collector’s Edition. It will hit retail January 26, and I should have a week to blaze through it before the spring semester starts.
Well, that’s about it for now.