semester’s over now

1. Northern Water Snakes
2. Enemy at the Gates
3. Robert Downey, Jr.
4. Book sale
5. Modeling clay
6. Window envelopes
7. Scrambled eggs
8. Nimbus clouds
9. Callithump
10. Twelve-hour airplane flights
11. Five hundred dollars
12. Science fiction

seasons and characterizing factors

1. Winter (December, January, February):  At least 6″ of snow.
2. Spring (March, April, May):  Melting, rain, and sprouting.
3. Summer (June, July, August):  Sun.
4. Fall (September, October, November):  Wind and leaves.

trouble

1. Dell
2. American health care
3. Valentine’s Day
4. Dell Customer Care
5. Dentists
6. Money
7. Dell
8. Social conservatives
9. Ice
10. Dell Customer Care

winter means…

• Thick, quiet blankets of pure white on pine trees
• Cross-country skiing on forest paths
• Sledding down the orchard hill
• Hot chocolate and soup
• Crackling fires with board games and books
• Snow forts
• Bundling up (and then unbundling again)
• Snow days!

the way things used to be

1. Rock
2. Jetpack
3. Swiss Army Knife
4. Garthim
5. Sun
6. Swadesh list
7. Q

where did they go

1. Summer
2. Frisbees
3. Cinnamon buns
4. Woodsom
5. Cribbage
6. Walden
7. Bocce balls
8. Boggle
9. Driscoll
10. Snack bar smoothies

pesto!

• “I’m a Believer,” covered by Smash Mouth
• The number 36
• Ten thousand ping-pong balls (and one bowling ball)
• Ebonics as its own langauge
• Fountains of Wayne
• Powdery snow
• Spot the grammatical error: “I’m going to go lay down.”
• Gen. Wesley Clark (ret.)

the things I did yesterday make me happy

1. Finish the last problem on the last exam of the semester
2. Turn in the very last I will ever see of MAE 521: Theory of Linear Systems (or, Abstract Mathematics in Disguise as Engineering)
3. Speak to the undergrads about the forklift palette stacked with satellite building materials, the tool cabinet, and the stop sign that appeared in the middle of my lab
4. Walk outdoors in a t-shirt
5. Move a combuter into my lab
6. Finally move that 5DOF robot arm into my lab!
7. Go out for Mexican food and margaritas and stroll about the Commons
8. Go watch ‘Finding Neverland’

lizt

1. Seattle, WA
2. Ithaca, NY
3. Milk
4. Wonderwall
5. Cider
6. Angel’s Landing
7. Esa
8. Sand dune density flows
9. Oghura Karat
10. 30-pound takedown recurve

these are a few of my favorite things

• Walking across the Science Quad, behind the bleachers set up on the lawn
• Physics snacks
• Parker and the marshmallows
• Foliage and music on Mountain Day
• Sneaking a dump truck into Lisa’s room
• Walking across Mission to visit Dave
• Running barefoot in 12″ of snow
• Killing as an organized sport
• Braving -30°F wind chills to build an R/C glider
• Watching Erika in hockey games
• Spending time in Greylock
• Chatting sci-fi authorship with Joe
• What a Feeling
• Working wild quantum problems with Creston
• Losing every ultimate frisbee game but completing our explicit objective of having more fun than any other team
• Emsa the wild and crazy JA
• Poking Jonaya to make her giggle
• Lessons in Go
• Watching Alden fiddle
• Pajama parties
• Spectating at the final match of a pro squash tournament
• Woodbridge dance mixes
• Meditating on the form of a still-life
• Broomball games
• Professor Adams making bets
• Learning to give technical physics talks
• Applauding Prof. Bolton on the last day of class
• Wine and cheese and the Rite of Spring at Tanglewood
• Dave Brubeck
• Oh Hell and Hearts
• Occasionally swing dancing
• Laser safety goggles as sunglasses
• Running from Morgan to the squash courts
• Water-feuding with Lisetta
• Watching Alden take pool shots from atop the table
• Inventing our own Hall-Ball
• Listening to Ashleigh go on about chemistry
• Having a sister around
• Cranking out some of the most difficult, intellectually challenging writing I’ve ever done…for planetary geology class
• Playing boggle
• Combo Za does “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
• International dinners in Dodd
• Baxter Hall
• Purple mountains majesty
• Best mascot ever
• Security officers joining us to look for meteor showers on Cole Field
• Throwing and making the most nail-biting, zero-to-no-chance-of-success, long-shot hammer for a touchdown in the annual math-versus-physics frisbee game
• Spring peepers sounding on my way home
• Struggling with thesis research between problem sets and papers
• Hiding in the nest under Lisa’s bed
• Justin and the Nerf Wars in Bronfman
• Papa’s Delicate Condition
• Cinnamon buns an omeletes for brunch
• Carmina Burana
• Grilled honey buns at the Snack Bar
• Taking the long shift tutoring in the Resource Center and watching the kids succeed
• Running into students of all disciplines on the sidewalk
• Anti-caterpillar chalkings
• The pumpkin hunt
• Getting locked in Lisa’s closet
• Pulling music over the network
• Pet crayfish
• Rooming on the science quad
• Putting up “wanted” posters for Esa
• Watching SNL with almost the entire entry at lunch
• Playing against a French TA at the badminton club
• Linguistics
• Losing “betting units” to Dave
• Playing poker for pennies
• Make your own pizzas in Mission followed by pool above
• Curtis the custodian
• Telling everyone fifteen times about my upcoming Southwest vacation
• Sam igniting a napkin
• Cookouts on lawns and quads
• Concerts in Goodrich Hall
• Bouncing a tennis ball against Lisa’s wall
• Watching the mystery of What is Alden’s Door Combination get solved in spectacular fashion
• Just watching Ross
• Where’d You Get That?!
• The Eyes
• Hanging out with Sparky
• Professors who know exactly how to impart versatile problem-solving tools
• Getting seven out of eleven acceptance letters
• The Islamic Blanket and the Courtly Bow
• Analyzing a lunar eclipse
• Episodes of “The West Wing” with matzah in my room on lazy Sunday mornings
• Lying in the sun on my bed in Currier
• Tossing Frisbees on the Odd Quad
• Hearing Dean Roseman call my name at Ivy Exercises
• Getting the thesis to work out beyond my expectations when I was in the doldrums
• Climbing trees for no reason at all
• Building the world’s least cohesive snowman
• Dinners with Alden, Lisa, Teresa, Esa, Dave, and Erika in various combinations
• Greetings from Ducky on the way into Mission
• Working EM problems in Schow
• A capella groups outside making noise
• Baxter mailroom in mid-day
• “The Mountains, The Mountains!”

Too much else to remember.  Why should this all hit me at 2 am last night?