The Internet Works! (explosions, overheads, and Robby's printer)

Thoughts from the first day of school - the yays and the nays:

• After a week the internet from the wall in my dorm started working on my desktop. Now I don't have to do all my online homework on my tiny netbook. Resounding yay :) 
• The chemistry teacher carries a tennis racket around on his back and set off four chemical explosions in the lecture hall - yay :)
• The calculus teacher is Indian and incredibly intelligent. Almost so much so that he expects more from the university's resources. He wanted a white board - they gave him an overhead and a marker. Yeah...  he called it "primitive" but we taught calculus teacher how to use an overhead -yay :)
• Tennis at the IMA on purple tennis courts - yay :)
• 3 hours of projected homework a day - nay :(
• Robby's printer got a permanent paper jam - nay :( 
• Okay we have to end on a bright note. All my classes ended completely at 12:20pm today - yay :)

Changing landscape - An Introduction

Hello home. Things have changed, changed very much indeed. Out the window I hear the city, out the window I see the city, and when you go outside and walk around, (surprise surprise), you have access to the proper nightlife of a city -meaning hanging out at the Jimmy John's sandwich place until 1am on the first night. But before that, the whole day was really a microcosm of the of the college social experience. Lots and lots of social experience. First of all, DAWG Daze welcome week is the real deal. It's not some soft welcome day/week even as crowded and overpopulated as it seems. When they say there are free root beer floats for EVERY FRESHMAN in the quad before movie night on a 200' screen, they mean every bit of it. When secrets go around that there are free sunglasses in the microsoft booth and there are free Dawg Pack spirit T shirts at the athletic shop, free stuff will abound. There's the big world effect, where concerts for Macklemore and The Axis of Awesome attract massive audiences. Then there's the small world effect. Every 10 minutes walking around campus, you run into one of your old friends who ended up actually being a friend of the friend walking beside you or vice versa. EVERY bright kid you competed with and remembered from other high schools went to this school (that being said, the Bothell high population here is still pretty predominant). You chat, hang out, alternate which group you hang out for which meal, and take turns having people to your dorm. Speaking of dorms, Robby and I agreed that Poplar Hall is the most ridiculous thing we've ever seen for a residence hall. The whole thing looks like it came out of IKEA. Neither of us lofted our beds but we still have more than enough floor space for our crap. Every floor has 2 study rooms, a 52" flat screen TV lounge, and the third floor has a terrace where BBQ's happen supposedly every saturday. WIN. Good view of red square, good location, good building, good private bathroom and this place begins to feel like a hotel. Good food? So far yes. It's at Terry/ Lander and for having names like Paggliaci's Pizza, a $3 meal is about the most reasonable thing they have here. Athletics are pretty great here as well. The football games here are completely over the top and your ears almost blow out after a touchdown - we had four. The spirit is contagious and for as good as this school is at research, they have the sports down. The stadium is nice, but what I care about is the stuff I can use. The tennis courts are lighted and super nice. There are lots of soccer fields and the fitness center is spectacular. My general impressions of the school I had before I got here have been confirmed. This is a school with nothing to be ashamed of - everything was done right. It feels like college. I expected everything to be an upgrade from high school. Classes haven't started yet but it is safe to say that UW has been an upgrade in every way. Let's see if that stays that way when class resumes tomorrow.

UW v. Cal Football Game 31-23
from the student section

Chalk Walls W/ Alison & Khuntia

Initial Assessment?

Class doesn't start until next Wednesday. That means home free from thinking right? Alas, peace wasn't to be. My chem professor sent me an email today (the day before move in) that made me purchase a $90 access code (aka charging me for homework) AND said I had a 30 question chemistry and math preliminary skills test due by next Friday. At least its not for a grade but here was my thought process before taking it this evening. I...

1. Haven't had a chemistry class since sophomore year
2. Haven't had a math class for two years
3. Haven't done ANY schoolwork for three months

That being said, I got 70% on it. I'll take it. The sheer fact that I retained 70% of this stuff means that the Bothell chem and math teachers did a better job than I first imagined. In that respect kudos to high school - it worked (err.... 70% worked good enough).

Welcome To Newness

As of today, The Poplar Pal has moved from www.thepoplarpal.blogspot.com to this page. Why? I linked the account of my last blog with my university email. It should have worked with that email like any other random yahoo one right? Nope, wrong. UW actually managed that account and limited oodles of functionality. Me being a person who enjoys both authority and functionality would much rather have an account not "managed" by my school. Wouldn't you?

Your Room Is Never Big Enough (ARCHIVED - 9/14 12:27PM)

The "Crap" Corner

Since the beginning of time, the corner of the room in front of my bed has been devoted to storing random junk and tidbits, and since the beginning of time, its storage capacity has more than sufficed. Turns out that that's not the case anymore. Between the new chemistry lab apron, the goggles, the coffee machine, the desk lamp, the bedding set, the memory foam bedding pads FOR the bedding set, and the other necessities of college I have blown my summer paychecks on, the stuff in "the corner" has started encroaching into the stuff "in the middle of my room". My temporary solution? Toss stuff into random closets throughout the house in the hopes I actually remember where I put it by the time I actually move out. But I do stress this as merely a "temporary solution" as the minifridge is set to come in the mail next week... garage perhaps as the next course of expansion?

First Post (ARCHIVED 9/13 10:33AM)

9 days and 21 hours until move in.
Sorry Bothell, I can't wait to leave :-)

Hihi blogger world. Here is the almighty first post - something people will initially will think is hugely important before they realize its really the post no one ever sees because you have no followers. Anyways, I'm still stuck in Bothell - a week and a half until move in and final college preparations are being made. Among them, of course, was the imminent creation of a blog. What will I post here? Pandemonium with the Robby the roommate? Campus thoughts? The best pho shop on the Ave? Photos from the BBQ's in the brand new Poplar Hall I'll be residing in this year? Perhaps a combination of all of the above. But one thing is for sure - I'll have sold my soul to another technological evil: Blogger. Oh well, there's enough of it to go around between facebook, google, microsoft, youtube, and amazon. Stay tuned.