Now what's cooler than being cool?...

Last week was so freakin' cold. Even though I did see it coming when I checked the 7-day forecast on the website for the local news. It's still staggering for me to see 'bitter' as an overnight condition. Daytime highs in the 10s and overnights in the 0s. The observed record for my car's outside temperature gauge was -18°C. That's about -0.4°F for non sciency folk and 255.15K for übersciency folk. The bottom line is that it was cold, ass cold. It's not even winter yet, dammit. (And that's why this is only part 1.)

My car was even starting to act up. In the morning, the engine is starting to hesitate before firing up. This makes me wonder what other troubles I'll be running into as we progress into Winter. In unrelated (I believe) problems, my other headlamp died and the digital clock was freaking out. I should've anticipated the other headlamp burning out soon since these bulbs should have similar lifespans. Stupid daytime running lights. I'll have to replace these frequently, I suppose. At least it's easy to change the bulb. It's all about figuring out the proper lever to manipulate to eject the headlamp assembly out of the car. At least I fixed the first one before the second one burned out. I somehow managed to to fix the clock. For a day or so, it was cycling through the minutes as if the minute button was stuck. I pulled it loose from it's mounting and unplugged it, plugged it back in and it was fine. I hope that fixed it.

Anyway, I have proof of the coldness.

Guess what this is? It's a layer of ice that slowly crystallized to a pattern. Pretty, eh?


It's nice and everything, but it was on my kitchen window for about a week. Here you can see the point where crystallization started to happen. Yeah, cold.


Later in the week, things started to warm up a little. However, it's still below freezing outside. As soon as things started to get a little warmer, a winter storm showed up and dumped a ton of snow over us. Snow is great and everything, but not so much when you have to go somewhere in the morning.

Yeah, my car is in there somewhere. At least, I think it's my car. And if you noticed, it's still snowing in this picture. The snow is up past the clearance of my car, so wherever I went I was sorta plowing the snow from the roadway. The streets weren't plowed by this time in the morning. It was a fun commute. This is more snow than I would like to deal with in the morning. Having to get up and out thirty minutes earlier to warm up the car, brush off the snow and chip at the ice coating the car isn't my cup of tea. I need to invest in a dogsled and a pack of Iditarod Huskies. Pick up chicks Nanook style while sporting muktuk, bitches.


As I was saying, it's still party season and party I must.

For lunch on Friday, the Microbiology department had its holiday party. It was held at the Genesee Grande Hotel which is where I stayed for my interview for my grad school. It's a nice place. We had wine and cheese for appetizers and the subsequent lunch was really good.

I sat with Jeff, Christian, Stan and Terri.

Everybody wearing red grouped up for a photo

Pavi won the door prize: a gift set of chocolates

Jeff and Christian.

Renee enjoying the free coffee.

The Feuer lab with their outstanding happy hour award.

Pavi, Anandita and Renee.

It's me before wine.

It's me after wine.

Heidi, Jeff and Christian.

The Silverstone lab (team Estrogen) plus rotation student. So Jeff and Christian won an award at the party. The award is for "Outstanding Olfactory Achievement", meaning they won the award for being able to sniff out the free food in the micro department. That's awesome. I will someday learn from these two true grad students.

Jeff, Heidi and Christian.

That was fun. By 2pm, we were shuttled back to the labs to work our asses off. Later that night, a bunch of us went out to the bars.

I told everybody to meet at Darwin's at 9pm for some Happy Hour goodness. I got there first and the place was closed. Man, how do you explain that? So the next place on the list was Chuck's. It's alright, but the place was crowded since last Friday was the last day of finals for SU. I texted everybody most likely to show and we all converged at the new location. I was with AD, Christian, Jeff, Amber, Jeanine and Crystal. (At least that's what I heard her name was over the ambient bar noise.) We were downing $3 pitchers of beer, trying to keep our drinks steady as we were getting bumped by other bar patrons trying to pass through. Yeah, we had to get out of there.

AD and Jeff at Chuck's. We secured a spot next to the pool table which was a good idea at first... until people wanted to play pool. We were at the mercy of the pool players, having to divide and reform over and over between shots. We left soon after this. We went to the corner store, bought 22 beers between the seven of us and hiked over to Christian's place.

It was a lot better away from the bar.

I kept giving Jeanine beer. She probably thinks I was trying to get her drunk. Now, why would I want to do that?

Crystal, AD and Jeff.

Stupid autofocus thought I wanted a picture of the wall.

Jeanine and Crystal.

Ma-ma-ma My Corona.

More breathing room than the bar

So we just hung around, watched a couple of episodes of Happy Tree Friends, and MST3Ked the Tomb Raider movie. Angelina Jolie looks like she has ape tits in that movie with the fake boobies making them so far apart. That was the main conversation. I think she has a mannish face. Me no likey even though she is a very handsome woman. I got home at three in the morning.


The third year students had their holiday party yesterday at Thien's apartment. I brought my camera but only took pictures for like five minutes one after the other. The party was a potluck. Thien and Nikki made a turkey and ham. Everybody else brought some food as well. I made some chicken wing adobo. There was a grad student at the party that came to Syracuse straight from the Philippines (culture and cold shock) that said that she would be my Adobo critic. Great. It was a little too vinegary. I agreed. Since I was making a large batch, I wasn't able to sauté the chicken that well so it absorbed more vinegar than I wanted. Oh well, the others thought it was great.

Anyway after eating a lot of food, we just hung out, watched the game, and watched Thien criticize music videos for the rest of the night. Good stuff.

We were so full of food and sleepy. Yeah, turkey was a great idea.

Peace. It's not just for the Japanese.

Azns in the corner.

Thien in mid squat.

Thien and me.

Hangin' out.

Jesse.

Adam.

Gathering for a group picture.

Still gathering...

Alright, ready.

First you get the beer, then you get the power, then you get the women.

Crashing.

Thien and Nikki, the two hosts.

So I got home at 2am. I was there a while, considering I got there at 7pm. Good times. I have at least one more party before I fly, fly, fly, and fly again to Seattle.

After the exam, we're having a potluck dinner over at Amber's. I'm planning on experimenting with food again. It'll be a Japanese, Chinese and Italian fusion. I've only told Que about it, but it'll be a secret until I find out if it's a success. (She's not really 15.) Alright, paper due tomorrow, exam on Wednesday, fly on Friday. I'm pumped!!


It's nice to know that Halo-halo still exists in the 26th century.

music: Jimmy Eat World - My Sundown
I need you to show me the way from crazy.
I wanna be so much more than this...

before i forget: the uw bookstore has alumni motorcycle license plate frames now. doesn't look like they're online yet tho
-Kristen - 051219 - 0926EST



That's awesome. I'm going to have to check them out. I already have a UW motorcycle license frame, but not the alumni one.
-rich - 051220 - 1141EST



I believe the answer to your question at the beginning is: ICE COLD!!!
-Brian - 051223 - 2305EST



Is it basashi alfredo w/ramen noodles?
-Chan - 051224 - 0900EST



ass cold, bro.

Bukkake spaghetti with leeks.
-rich - 051224 - 2222EST

Lately, I've been feeling antisocial. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's just the fallout from last Tuesday that's keeping me inside my apartment. Or maybe it's the snow and the freezing cold that's keeping me from venturing outside. Whatever the case may be, I just want to stay inside for a while. I don't know what's wrong with me. It's not even warm in here. heh.

Thursday was the GSA Christmas party. It was held at Chuck's. I'm not sure why they picked that location. That bar is pretty dark and dirty in my opinion. It's not a bad place to go for a drink, but I don't think it sets the appropriate mood for a Christmas party. I mean, the walls and tables were decorated by anybody who happened to bring a sharpie to the bar. On the wall, adjacent to where I was sitting were three artistic renditions of penises. Yeah, nothing gets me in that Christmas spirit like penis. No siree. Honestly, I think they could've picked a better location.

At the party all the food they had were bar food, not surprisingly. Since it was all free, I went to town with the nachos, nacho cheese, chili and chicken fingers. Pitchers of Miller Light were $3 and Jeff and I had one pitcher each. Man, is Syracuse making me ghetto or what? I used to be a beer snub. The only beer I'd drink were Mac & Jack's, Henry Weinhart's, Hale's, Pyramid, Red Hook... great NorthWest microbrews. Now that the monkeypiss beers are cheaper than water here, I'm drinking them all the time. What have I done? What have I become?

Oh well, I saved my hunger that day to fill up on junk. Nothing but junk. I felt so gross afterwards. Well, it was Jess' birthday dinner right after that at King David's restaurant. I was so stuffed with free bar food, I was about to pop. I had some soup to avoid being socially awkward by having nothing to do but watch everybody else eat. I went home and just crashed. Man, I shouldn't have ate so much. But it was free. FREE, dammit! I should tattoo 'Do Not Top Off' on my belly. That'll teach me.

Friday was a hardcore day in the lab. I needed to enrich mouse bone marrow to co-incubate with adherent cultured cells with subfracions labeled and fixed for flow cytometry. It was nonstop activity until 7:30pm. I skipped lunch that day so by the time I got out, I was sooo hungry. Well, I convinced Jess to come with me to check out the Spaghetti Warehouse since I've heard a lot about it and haven't been there yet. That restaurant is so similar to The Old Spaghetti Factory, I swear it's borderline copyright infringement. (Which one was first?) Well, it's the decorations and furnishings that make the two restaurant chains doppelgangers of each other. Everything's the same right down to the freakin' caboose in the middle of the restaurant. They both have comfy chairs, stained glass vintage light fixtures, vintage posters,... everything's the same. Even the building which does look like a converted factory for that brick and mortar industrial motif. Everything but the menu.. where it counts. The Spaghetti Warehouse is a little more expensive than The Old Spaghetti Factory. It also doesn't have spaghetti with clam sauce. Man, I'm missing that. Anyway, I tried their 'famous' sauce. It was too sweet in my opinion. It was like eating candy for dinner. I wasn't too happy with it.

The weekend was soo lazy. I stayed inside for the most part. I left the apartment for a bit on Saturday to attempt to build a snowman with Amber and Brandy. It was still too cold and dry for a snowman. The snow wasn't packing at all. After that sad attempt, I bought a couple of things from Target and Wegman's and came back home to play Ninja Gaiden. Good stuff. And today was spent doing nothing but play Ninja Gaiden. I even beat Alma (first form) without taking damage. I'm not sure how I pulled that off, but I'll just assume I have MAD SKILLZ.

I said that I was going to go and revise my essay this weekend. That didn't happen. Well, it's due on the 19th. I've got time.

Alright, I'm back. I just ended up feeling real tired last night. I decided to 'screw it' and post anyway. As I mentioned, I haven't been sleeping well. This happens whenever an exam rolls around and my last was on Monday. I can't believe we're just an exam away from winter freedom even though it may just be 11 days long. I have so much to do once I get back to Seattle. It's overwhelming just thinking about it. Party on, Wayne.


So I have hot friends. I've been told this on several occasions and by both genders, so I've got my ground covered. So if you're my friend, then congratulations, you're hot. Oh sorry, 'Hawt!' Apparently, I don't roll with uglies. I'm not sure what it is, I guess I don't really see it. Friends are friends and should stay friends or else you're just going to wreck up a good friendship, ya know? Na'a mean? So I don't really look at my friends that way. Anyway, I hear it about half the time I whip out the pictures. I just figure I should say something about it. Good job, hottie friends. Keep it sexy.

Well, it also may be because I'm the town man-DUFF and everybody else looks hot by comparison. It's just a theory, but it's the strongest one so far. I don't know, you tell me.


I've also been told that I'm one of the hardest people to shop for... evar. I have a ton of crap so it's hard to determine what I own and what I want. Truth is, if I want it, I'd go out and get it. At least, that's how it was during my undergraduate tenure. Thank you, awesome job at ISB. And some suggested I should make an Amazon or Buy.com wishlist or something. Well, I've usually pick off the cheaper things that I want right away. I just bought the third DVD box set of Family Guy. Good stuff. I could think of a couple things but they're all $80+ and requesting something like that is not cool in my book. So, I'd rather say nothing and tell people to be creative. Like last year when I got Kris a crate of apples and bananas... with Katamari Damacy buried in there somewhere. Yeah, that was funny. Too bad Kris wasn't there to open it, dammit. Well, I'm not sure what the Seattle guys are doing for Christmas. I'm not hearing anything about it. I guess this is what happens when nobody plans anything, na?


Last Tuesday spun me into a bitter mood. Ever since I moved, I've had the smoldering feeling of separation anxiety. I'd constantly wonder why I had to leave everything behind. I had everything I've ever wanted: a great job, my family and hot and supportive friends. Tuesday was so retarded that it made me snap and I saw it was just stupid to leave. Yeah, real miserable day. I guess I just don't find Syracuse to be as comfortable as I find Seattle. Maybe I'm just kicking myself in the ass for comparing apples to oranges. I'm living here for different reasons from living in Seattle, it all boils down to things that don't really compare very well. I guess for now I'll just bottle up my bitterness and keep it deep inside next to my anger. Now onto those gamma radiation experiments...


Friday was a lot better. I got stuff done. I think it's because I finally got to go out that night for a drink after so long. I went to Darwin's with Christian, Jeff, Amber, Jess, Michelle and Dave. We were downing $5 pitchers of Bud Light and having a good time. I brought up what happened earlier that day in lab. I think it was hilarious, but I'm not sure if I could tell it right. It might have been one of those 'had to be there' scenerios. Anyway, I gotta try. So there's this student from Syracuse University that's interning in the lab. She's a junior interested in medical school and is in the lab for a bit of laboratory experience. Anyway, we're both working on the same experiment. So, at the end of the day she tried to ask if I was going to come into lab over the weekend.

Intern: So, what're you doing this weekend?
Rich: Well, I have a test on Monday so I need to study. I'll probably be busy all weekend.
I: Well, uh, about the experiment.
R: Oh...
Christian: What? You thought she was asking you out or something?
R: No idea.
I: ::turns red::
Jeff: (mocking voice) Well, there's this movie I kinda want to watch...
I: Hey!

I didn't know she was asking about the experiment. Oh well. It's funny though. That did end up being my weekend in a nutshell. Studying. Fun stuff. I'll be in school for-evar.

Well, for some reason Amber, Jess and I got bit by the Karaoke bug and we all made it towards Amber's with Karaoke Revolution in hand. Fueled by beer from the bar and subsequently, Red Bull and Vodkas, we belted out tunes well past midnight. Unfortunately, it was snowing that night and about six or so inches had accumulated on the roads. Driving in the snow with little to no visibility... now that's excitement. I dropped off Jess and made it home without incident. However, I passed three accidents in the six miles between Amber's and my apartment. One was pretty hardcore with two firetrucks and three police cars at the scene. Yikes. And some asstard wouldn't get off my ass on the freeway. We were driving on snow, dammit! Jerk.

On Saturday, sleep was my downfall. So I started studying in the afternoon. I remember getting through five lectures and the next thing I knew it was five hours later and I was getting up off my notes. I passed out while studying. Maybe I didn't pass out and just had an aneurism, who knows? Strangest thing ever. Well, I couldn't get a minute of sleep that night. I just stayed up all night and studied through.

On Sunday, I had to get out of the house. I ran out to the mall, BJ's and back to the lab. I brought my camera and took a couple of pictures. #33 is off the ninth floor of Weiskotten Hall of the Syracuse University Campus. #34 is another one off the ninth floor of a factory painted black next to I-81. I'm not sure what gets processed or is made in there, it just releases a lot of steam. At least, I'm hoping it's just steam. #35 and #36 are just off the street I live on. I wanted to cover more of the city but I did have that test the next day. #30 and #31 were actually taken a couple months ago at UW while the cherry blossoms were out. I loved those pictures and I've never made them into a header, so I thought "Why not?" And thus, it was done. #32 is what some may call a 'filler picture'. I haven't taken any pictures in a long time and threw it up there just because. Blah.

So the test yesterday was pretty decent. There was one question that I didn't know what the hell it was asking for. Oh well, four points. Lab was intense that evening. Christian and I made this. (Shitty phone camera.) We made a replacement for Jeff since he left the lab for 10 minutes and we missed him that much.

So I'm trying to get some stuff out of the way because tomorrow the party season officially kicks off. Tomorrow the GSA (Graduate Student Association) is having their Christmas Party tomorrow. And Jess is having her birthday thingy tomorrow. I should bring my camera, right?

music: Yellowcard - Back Home
Everybody here is living life in fear of falling out of line.
Tearing lives apart and breaking lots of hearts just to pass the time.
And the eyes get red in the back of your head.
This place will make you blind.
Put it all behind me and I'll be just fine...

Out hotness spurs only from yours, dude. As far as Seattle goes, possibly a Sound Ninjas show, just need to see who'd be able to make it.
-Brian - 051208 - 0147EST



Dude, a Sound Ninja's show would be too awesome. I'd say 'do it!!!' Well, that's only if you're all up to it. I don't want to be pushing you guys or anything. But man, that would be real sexy.
-rich - 051208 - 2209EST



Songs are sounding good right now, we're still in the decision process. how many people can you conjure up if we did the show?
-Brian - 051211 - 1253EST



Yes, you do have hot friends
-Chan - 051211 - 2017EST



Yes, you do have hot friends
-Chan - 051211 - 2017EST



Whoops, double post
-Chan - 051211 - 2017EST



I can gather up the usual suspects except for the guyses that're spending the holidays in better locales (ie. Japan). Well, it is harder to gather a group around New Year since some spend the holiday with their families. Let me know what's up and I'll make some magic happen.
-rich - 051211 - 2131EST

Snow is god's bukkake.

I'm not sure where I heard that before, but I can't take credit for it. Even though I really want to.

I know that I previously mentioned that Syracusians (is that right?) never really talk about the snow. Since I'm still Seattle-fresh, I guess I'm still free to express my opinion on the matter. There's just another difference between here and there that I have noticed. In Seattle, when it snows it's like magic. That's because it only snows four inches a year and it actually sticks every three years or so. As soon as the snow starts falling here, it's like "Dammit, it's snowing again!!" Ah well. So far since the weather got cold enough, it has snowed more than two feet here. Well, there's been a cycle of freezing and some thawing, so right now there's about two inches in untouched areas. I'm not sure if you can call it snow anymore. Its just white ice. It's like when ice cream thaws and gets frozen again, that's not ice cream. It's a disgusting, sticky mass of crap. Well, it looks like snow but it's really a very porous ice cube.

I'm still waiting to spot a private snow plow with 'Mr. Plow' sprayed on the side.


Last week, I was so unmotivated for classes. I waited until the last minute to study for the test, register for classes or pick a spring lab rotation. Last Tuesday didn't help either. Real shitty day.

So last Tuesday I decided to get some things done. I found a replacement bulb for my headlamp and I replaced it. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You actually don't really need tools to pop out the headlamp assembly for a new beetle. A fact that scares me. I would've been totally confused if I hadn't found that online 'how to' pictoral guide. It's just a mass of plastic folded onto itself with a main lever keeping the whole thing together. Once I had extracted my car's 'eye', I took it back into the apartment to quickly swap the bulb. I would've done it outside, but it was starting to rain. As it would turn out, it was like the rainiest day ever.

Tuesday was a warm day. It was stupid warm being 60-something degrees. Compare this to the day before which was somewhere in the 30s. Since this was a breif period between snow and more snow, I decided to winterize the bike. I needed to take the thing to Amber's since she has a garage with extra space. It didn't take long before this becamse the worst idea ever. The rain started to pick up hardcore. I was dodging puddles bigger than my bike. I think I rode through one and my shoe was actually in the puddle. I got there and I was a saturated, sopping mess. It felt gross. When I got home, I hung my jacket on my computer chair. I noticed an hour later a giant puddle on the floor behind me under my jacket. This thing was supposed to repel water too. Gawd, that was miserable.

Sometimes I still question myself as to why I had to move all the way out here. The answer gets fuzzier every time I think about it.

Que's out of minutes. I have my evenings back, heh.

Getting tired, haven't been sleeping well. I'll pick up again later.

music: Green Day - 2000 Light Years Away
I sit alone in my bedroom staring at the walls
I've been up all damn night long.
My pulse is speeding. My love is yearning.

I hold my breath and close my eyes and...
Dream about her
'Cause she's 2000 light years away
She holds my malakite so tight so...
Never let go
Cause she's 2000 light years away
Years Away!

I sit outside and watch the sunrise, lookout as far as I can
I can't see her, but in the distance
I hear some laughter, we laugh together

...