A lot of people who use iTunes.

What happens when you have a lot of people using iTunes on the same WiFi network? Shared libraries!

So many music choices!

That is all. Time to study for my test.

Your thoughts on Alaska are welcomed.

The announcement was on Tuesday, with MIT only finding out about the visit the weekend before. MIT went into scramble mode, which is always fun to watch. It doesn't go into scramble mode very often, the only other times I've seen it are immediately prior to CPW and before the Dalai Lama came and visited. Scramble mode, if you'll let me draw another comparison, is like when you have 10 minutes before your parents come upstairs to check to see if you cleaned your room. MIT was repairing buildings, pressure washing everything in sight, replacing windows, emptying stores of hazardous chemicals, and beautifying MIT just as fast as they possibly could.

All of this was fine and good, and I kind of enjoyed watching how MIT prioritized what was being cleaned where (you could pretty much predict the route Obama was going to take based on how clean the sidewalk was), but I expected that to be the most of my Obama-Visit-Experience. Word on the street was that MIT, as an entire institute, had received 200 tickets to allocate however they saw fit. That means all of the faculty, administration, undergraduates, and graduate students had to share 200 tickets. In the end, 50 of those tickets went to undergraduates, typically those who are doing some kind of work with energy or that deans felt would benefit the most from Obama's address. Needless to say, the MechE student who doesn't have a UROP and would rather build toys than wind farms was not chosen for a ticket.

So that was that, I'd stalk around and try to get some money shots of snipers and motorcades but in terms of actually seeing the president speak, it was a no go. That is, until I realized I worked for the Admissions office. Hmmmmm, I write for a website that prospective students read so that they can see what cool opportunities await them at MIT. This seems like a cool opportunity . . . I smell a PRESS PASS!

Turns out, Jess had a similar idea, and both of us e-mailed the powers at be (Dave) and asked if we could have press passes. 2 days and many strings pulled later, guess who had tickets to the address! WEEEEE!

Seriously. This was cool stuff. Everybody all over campus was abuzz about how only 50 students were going to be chosen and complaining about how more should be invited etc, and now all of a sudden I was going to see the President! On Thursday evening, the evening before Obama arrived, the Secret Service and Security had taken over MIT. All of the garbage cans from around Kresge (the auditorium) were trucked off, all the manholes and steam vents were welded shut (seriously) and tons of other invisible-to-me security measures were enacted.

Friday morning I woke up at 7:00 after having gone to bed at 4:30 (PSETs are brutal). I dressed nicely and headed to lab to get some work done before the big event. I made sure to bring my ticket with me:

On my way to campus I noticed that it was a little more difficult this morning, difficult enough that they provided signs.

and had everything blocked off with cones

I spent some time in lab, built some yoyos (my team is getting REALLY excited about these yoyos, they're actually coming out how we expected, and we're 2 weeks ahead of all the other teams), and then went to get in line. The ticket told me to get in line at 10:30AM. I got there at 10:00AM and what did it look like?

Yeah. I was like, last. Ok, I'm last in every line that I join, but you know what I mean.

Time went fast, luckily enough, because eavesdropping on people attending an Obama address is AWESOME! Let's see, the guy in front of me helped design Fenway park, somebody behind me appeared to know every single congressman ever, and so on and so forth. I was standing next to Julia '13, who also got a ticket (one of the 50, as a freshman!), and we chatted about how we were totally out of our element, about how excited we were, about security, about whether we were going to see Marine 1 or a motorcade, etc.

Oh, speaking of snipers, we spotted this guy chilling on the Z-center.

What's that black dot?

Ah. Sniper. Gotcha.

Eventually we wound our way into the auditorium (after three ticket checks) and towards the metal detector. The metal detector was relatively routine, until they saw my smartpen*. You see, the plan was to make a pencast of the address, taking digital notes and recording Obama's voice on my pen. Guess what the Secret Service had never heard of before. My pen. I had to explain what it did, let them pass it around (almost gave them a demo), and eventually they cleared it. I didn't beep so I didn't get frisked or wanded, and then Julia and I headed inside. We saw a bunch of empty seats up front that we immediately headed for, only to realize that we weren't nearly special enough to sit in those seats.

We ended up about 7 rows back and on the right side of the auditorium. It was 10:30. The speech started at 12:30. We weren't allowed to leave. We didn't know anybody. What's one to do? Take pictures and wander of course. I wanted to hobnob with the important people but I'm pretty sure they didn't want to talk to me. Professor Sadoway was a little less afraid, standing up at the front with the senators and mayors, presumably talking about his research.

I feel like this is the "Ok, which multi-millionaire can I tell about my battery research next?" look.

Then I took some pictures of the scene around me. The first thing I noticed, surprisingly, was the amount of room the news cameras took up.

No wonder they couldn't invite more than 200 people from MIT, 200 more seats were taken up by cameras! Sam Range '13 (my prefrosh for CPW last year) is a photographer for The Tech and was forced to hang out behind all of the video cameras in the roped off area. He got some good pictures though, I'll show you one later.

Next was the stage, all decked out for the occasion.

The flags all looked identical, and the lady next to me told me the trick. They put a coat hanger up inside the flags at the top to give them similar angles, and then tape the back of the flag to the flag pole so they all lay flat. Betcha didn't know that! The shrubberies were a nice touch, but we couldn't figure out what those black screens were for, flanking the podium. The nearest we could figure, Secret Service was just laying behind them, waiting for something bad to happen so they could jump up and go all ninja on everybody. Makes sense, right? Right.

After two hours of waiting, I made my way to my seat. A lady came out onto the stage, was introduced, and sang the National Anthem (very well) and we all cheered, remaining on our feet. We stood there awkwardly for about 2 minutes, completely silent, expecting the President to be announced, but nothing happened. Eventually the sound guys played the same classical music they'd been playing for the last two hours and we all laughed and sat down for another 15-20 minutes. Soon a man came out and put the seal on the front of the podium, and we all got quiet again, expecting something to happen. False alarm.

After some more waiting and more classical music (and talking about MIT Admissions with the woman next to me, who knows somebody applying this year), a side door opened and some bigwigs came in, including the governor and the mayor. Everybody clapped really loudly, this must be it! Then, from the other side of the auditorium, my side (like, 20 feet in front of me), John Kerry walked in.

So, the thing about John Kerry is that, well, he looks EXACTLY like John Kerry. No joke, it's like "Hey! That's the guy from JibJab!"

The gravity of this whole thing kind of clicked in when I saw John Kerry. He's an important guy, and he's just standing right there! Like, RIGHT there, in front of me. I could throw my cell phone at him and hit him (it'd be the last thing I ever did, but I could have!).

Then, all of a sudden, we heard it. A voice, as if from god, saying: "Now, introducing our speaker, the President of -- MIT, Susan Hockfield!" False Alarm AGAIN! No offense Dr. Hockfield, but you weren't the most important president in the room right then.

Susan Hockfield came up and gave a nice introduction, welcoming us, and then said "It is my great pleasure to introduce -- Professor Moniz!"

GAH! Another False Alarm! I couldn't take much more! Finally, FINALLY, Professor Moniz said "And now, the President of the United States, Barack Obama!" (not an exact quote, but you get the idea). The room roared and leaped professionally to its feet.

There he was. Barack Obama strolled across the stage. Our stage. The stage that we put a moonbounce on just for kicks. The stage that I've stood on dozens of times. The stage that was presently 30 feet away from me. The President. GAH! You can feel it, you know, when he walks on stage. For some reason it becomes immediately obvious just how important this guy is, he's in charge of our country. Country, as in all the people I've ever met.

He began his speech the way most do, and I'll save you the specifics because I took notes and you can listen to it yourself. I will take the opportunity to show you a picture I took of Obama with my very own camera. That's right, the President is in my camera.

and here's the picture Sam Range took.

His is, um, better. But mine looks more amateur (which = real).

So go ahead and listen to his speech, or at least the first several lines when he rags on Harvard and praises MIT hackers (score++).

You'll want to skip ahead to about 27 minutes into this pencast. I paused the pen during recording, which apparently just inserts silence into the recording, which a stupid implementation that Livescribe needs to fix. Anyway, wait for it to buffer about halfway and then either click the word "Introducing" in the top left or drag the slider to the 27:00 mark.

And like that, it was all over. Obama left on the left side of the stage and headed down the front row, shaking hands with all of the important people on his way out. This was going to be the chance when I could get closest to him, and I had a mission.

Mission? Allow me to explain. The floor I live on at MIT has this silly little tradition of assigning units of measure to people, units that measure something that person is known for. For example, 1 Snively is equivalent to 1 byte wasted on the Internet. A Tang is a measure of orthogonality to normal conversation (meaning 90 degrees of Tang will sever a conversation clean in two, creating a really uncomfortable silence) and an Itani is the unit of negative tact (meaning if you are tactless, you get 1 Itani). You can read more about the origins of this tradition here. Several years ago, ex-blogger Sam Maurer '07 visited the set of the Colbert Report and decided that he should ask Stephen Colbert what his unit was. The fact that he actually asked Stephen Colbert, in person, is somewhat legendary.

Now, I was about to be in the same room as the President of the United States. There was no WAY I was leaving that room without asking President Obama what his unit would measure. I didn't know how it was going to happen, but it was going to, and it might involve scolding by important members of the audience and the Secret Service, but once in a lifetime opportunities only come once.

So, as I said, Obama was going to walk right in front of me. I pushed my way up to the second row of seats but was way too short for Obama to see me, so in the words of James '11, I went in "guns blazing." I climbed onto the armrests of the chairs and stood about 3 feet above everybody else. Obama was RIGHT there! I struck:

"PRESIDENT OBAMA!" I screamed, "PRESIDENT OBAMA!"

he looked at me.

"IF THE OBAMA WERE A UNIT OF MEASURE, WHAT WOULD IT MEASURE???"

he smiled and shook somebody's hand. Every around me laughed and told me it was an awesome question and that I should try asking again. Obama was getting closer to the door, I only had one more chance.

"PRESIDENT OBAMA!"

he looked at me and said "Hi!"

Totally unfazed by the fact that Barack Obama had just said "Hi" to me, I tried again.

"IF THE OBAMA WERE A UNIT OF MEASURE, WHAT WOULD IT MEASURE!?"

he just smiled again. And then he was gone. And then I got tapped on the leg. I looked down and a member of the MIT event staff looked up at me.

"Secret Service is going to ask you to get down." This I knew, so I got down off the chairs and stopped making a scene. Those people who have met me know that I can be very loud when necessary, so anybody within a 30 foot radius of me had heard me yelling at the President (and seen me because I was standing on chairs). I'm pretty sure I had instantly been flagged by Secret Service and they were on their way over. Sure enough, once I was on the ground, I was met by my favorite humor-less suited friends.

"Next time please stay on the ground."
"Ok." I said. Sure. Next time. Next time I'm that close to the President I'll make sure not to climb on chairs. Roger. is what I thought.

So, the verdict on Obama's unit? Unless he officially rebukes this and offers an alternative unit, the official unit of Obama is equivalent to "Smiling at somebody and subsequently completely ignoring them." If you hear somebody, smile at them, and then ignore one, you've earned 1 Obama.

The end! I mean, after that I grabbed some lunch and went to lab to crank out yoyos.

A once in a lifetime opportunity to be sure. It's not every day that you get to see snipers, the President, and he says hi to you while you make a scene and draw the gazes of all the Secret Service agents in the room. But it was a good day. A gooooooood day.

*According to new revisions to section 255.5 of the FTC Guides Governing Endorsements and Testimonials, I'm obliged to inform you that I'm currently employed as a marketer by Livescribe, manufacturer of the Pulse Smartpen. You are so informed.

So here we go! Right now I'm just waiting for it to start, people are all signing in on OLPC's (somehow the admissions office got a hold of two of them and use them for signing in now) with Mac keyboards (thank goodness, OLPC keyboards are AWFUL!).

1:56 -- I'm taking this opportunity to finish up my food, Chicken Makluba from Sepal (a restaurant in our student center)

2:04 -- I just led everybody through a game of MIT Hangman. I chose the words "Green Building" and "IHTFP." Both were guessed and the MIT student didn't die!

2:06 -- Most of the students here are seniors, some juniors, and poor little siblings drug here (not drugged, drug), from a variety of states (farthest being Texas).

2:07 -- MIT was founded in 1861 by William Barton Rogers who decided that people weren't being trained for life after college, so he created a place that would prepare students to adapt with the changing world and become leaders.

Originally MIT was in downtown Boston until 1916. MIT used to be one building and everybody was near each other, something everybody liked (created relationships, encounters, collaboration, and friends). Current campus has the "Infinite Corridor," really really long hallway that connects many labs, classrooms, and offices, encouraging collaboration and "bumping into people" in today's campus.

2:09 -- "Use science and technology to benefit society." is the core mission of MIT. An example are the OLPCs people signed in on. OCW (OpenCourseWare) is also an example of benefiting society. MIT Publishes almost all of its courses (notes, problem sets, exams, lecture slides, etc) online for people to get a similar educational experience as at MIT (but not the same, nothing compares to being here). Additionally, the new cancer research center here is just being finished and will hope to find a cure for cancer.

MIT's motto is "Mens et Manus," Mind and Hand. It's important to get the theory and the smarts, but it's also important to get your hands dirty and get stuff done.

2:13 -- At MIT you don't learn facts, you learn to think. You will rarely ever spit out memorized information on a test. You will sit down for a test and see something completely new, something you have to apply your knowledge to and critically think your way through. It requires adapting to new problems and finding solutions.

Academics: An application to MIT is an application to the institvte as a whole, not to a particular major or school. There are separate "schools" here, but they aren't really distinct and are kind of a technicality. School 1 = Engineering, 58% of students. School 2 = Science. School 3 = Architecture. School 4 = Management. School 5 = Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (over 500 courses), 8 required to graduate).

Beyond those humanities requirements, there are other requirements, like the GIRs (General Institute Requirements). 2 physics classes, 2 math classes, 1 chemistry class, 1 biology class. Most are finished freshman year with friends and other freshmen.

2:20 -- There's a swim test that you MUST pass to graduate. No, I'm not kidding. There is also a PE requirement (snowboarding, hiking, yoga, pistol, soccer, etc). Your major is declared at the end of freshman year. Requirements in each major vary vastly so it'd be best to look up those requirements. The swim test is ~1/2 the width of the Charles River, ensuring that if you fall in and swim in the right direction you WILL survive. If you swim the wrong direction, well, you shouldn't be at MIT.

2:22 -- MIT is set up on a 4-1-4 schedule (4 months of classes, 1 month off (IAP) and then another 4 months of classes). MIT emphasizes working with peers and collaboration. Some problem sets ask who you worked with as one of the problems (this isn't actually true, but we'll let the people here believe it). "PSET Parties" often happen the night or two before the assignments are due (PSET = Problem Set, weekly homework assignments).

MIT has a Pass/No Record system for freshman year. As, Bs, and Cs all are recorded as a "Pass" on your transcript. A D or a F is not recorded and your transcript shows no record of you having taken that class. This tries to eliminate competition among peers and eases the transition to college without trying to get a perfect GPA first semester. You slowly transition into a normal grading system. Second Semester is A/B/C/No Record, just like Pass/No Record except you get letter grades (much harder to take advantage of). Sophomore year is a normal grading scale.

2:27 -- IAP (independent activities period) is during the month of January and every student gets to decide what to do. They can stay at home, travel abroad, spend free time on campus, or take fun/serious classes. Some students do research, others take classes like 6.270, glass blowing, MASLab, welding, ballroom dancing, EMT certification, charm school, Mystery Hunt, etc. The environment is much more relaxed and gives students a chance to do things they normally don't have time to do.

MIT also has one of the largest underground tunnel systems and can get you around campus during the winter without having to go outside.

UROP (undergraduate research opportunity program) is wildly popular with undergraduate students. It lets students work in just about any lab on campus and do research with professors and graduate students. Getting a UROP is as easy as checking the UROP website or directly contacting a professor and asking if they could take you on as a researcher. It's actual work, not just cleaning test tubes, so it's important research somewhere you'd enjoy working.

The Media Lab is one of the most popular places to UROP at MIT.

2:33 -- Internships are also very popular. MIT has connections with places around Cambridge, Boston, and the world. MISTI (MIT International Science and Technology Initiative) helps send students to other countries to do research with partnering businesses.

D-Lab (Development Lab) is a popular class at MIT that allows students to look at developing countries, think about resources available in those countries, and device solutions that address the issues they're facing. A recent class used a bicycle to cut the corn kernels off of a corn cob so developing countries no longer had to pick kernels off by hand. Wheelchair design is a spin-off class from D-Lab that designs wheelchairs for countries with limited resources. Students in these classes sometimes visit different countries during IAP or the summer.

2:37 -- "Do you need a perfect GPA to get into MIT?" short answer, no. long answer to come.

All undergraduate courses are taught by professors, not graduate students. Graduate students often run recitations (smaller subsets of students that are all in the same large class), but lectures are run by professors. Standard Eric Lander plug (man who mapped the human genome teaches freshman bio, 7.012). Student/Faculty ratio is ~6.8:1.

"Can students start their own research here?" Yes, but you need to get a faculty advisor/mentor to work directly with. It's less common, but can happen.

2:41 -- Social Life: Housing is guaranteed all four years. All dorms are coed but one, all freshmen have to live in the dorms. All the dorms are different (suite style, hallway style, kitchens, cats, murals, etc). After freshman year you can a) stay in your dorm, b) move dorms, c) move into frat, sorority, or independent living group. Many FSILGs are on campus but most are across the river in Boston, accessible via foot, bike, free shuttle, etc). 20% in FSILGs, 70% dorms, 10% off campus.

MIT has over 450 student clubs and organizations (newspaper, radio station, knitting, MITBeef, cultural, religious, performing arts, a capella, MIT chocolate science lab, and underwater hockey club). Boston and Cambridge also afford a lot of exploring opportunities, food, and theaters/shows.

Lastly, athletics. MIT has 33 varsity sports (division 3 except for crew, division 1). 25% of students are in varsity sports, there are also club sports (75%-80% of students are involved in some kind of sport).

MIT is like drinking from a fire hose (so much to do, not enough time to do it all).

2:47 -- Now it's just a Q&A session, which I'll skip, in favor of you all asking questions in the comments and I'll get around to answering them (probably sometime tonight after swimming).

2:50 -- Psych! It's time to talk about admissions and applying. MIT uses "MyMIT" for applications. EA is due November 1, Regular Action is due January 1. EA is non-binding and the only real difference between EA and RA is the date it's due. EA applies sooner and finds out sooner.

MIT has an optional interview as part of the application, conducted by alums who live all over the world. Seniors are assigned an interviewer to chat with. It's not a math test, it's just a chance for an alum to get to know you and report back, think of it more as a conversation. Interviews MUST be scheduled by October 20th. You will be responsible for contacting the interviewer to set up the interview.

2:53 -- Parts: Essays! Now MIT has 3 short essays now instead of one long essay. Students were doing too much story telling and meandering with the long essay so MIT shortened them to get more direct and focused answers to the essays. For the "End of the world" essay, note that it doesn't need to be a life-altering experience. It can just be a time where things didn't go quite as well as you wanted. Don't stress out about having a relatively boring and lackluster life, this doesn't need to be extreme, just some time when you failed or something didn't go well.

2:56 -- What do you enjoy? Stuff like Mythbusters, Red Sox games, Chess, etc. What department are you considering? It's just so they can learn about you, they don't have a quota and they don't make this binding.

Activities: They want to know what you enjoy, what makes your eyes light up, what's most meaningful to you. NO RESUMES! What's meaningful to you now.

Recommendations: Math/Science teacher, Humanities teacher, and counselor.

Academic Record: Which class have you taken (difficulty level), GPA (does it match up with the difficulty and courseload?) and what's your background.

Standardized Testing: SAT I or ACT with writing, with SAT IIs in math and science. "Score Choice" is supported. MIT pulls out the top sections from tests taken multiple times in order to get the best possible scores (Reading from Sophomore year, Math from Junior year, writing from Senior year, for example).

3:01 -- Admit rate ~10%, so it's not easy, but it is possible.

Financial Aid: Need blind admissions (they don't care how much money you have). Scholarships are only given for need, not for academics or sports. Loans are also a big part of financial aid, in addition to work study (UROP, on-campus jobs, etc).

OK, I think that's it. Thanks guys!

MIT has always bragged about its motto, "Mens et Manus," or "Mind and Hand," because we're constantly creating, building, and getting dirty. I've done my fair share of building since I've gotten here (plastic bottle pirate ship, 4 robots, an Olmec, etc) but all of that used skills that I really already had. This last week, however, I learned something new. I learned how to use a CNC lathe and a CNC mill.

For those of you who are unacquainted, a lathe and a mill are tools used to machine metal/plastic/anything that needs to be shaped into a part. A lathe is for radially symmetric features and spins your part really fast, letting you touch it with sharp tools to cut grooves, pockets, round edges, so on and so forth. A mill is essentially the lovechild of an etch-a-sketch and a drill press. Using two dials you can move your part around on a table (like an etch-a-sketch) and then when you pull a lever you can lower a drill bit into it (like a drill press). The main difference is that you can move the part around while the drill bit (actually called an "end mill") is in the part, cutting grooves, notches, and all sorts of neat shapes into it. The "CNC" means that these tools are computer controllable. Come on, you know how hard it is to make a circle on an etch-a-sketch! CNC lets you design parts in SolidWorks, import them into a program called "MasterCAM," and then load them onto the mills/lathes. Then the tool does all the work for you, spitting out a finished part in just a few minutes. Neat, huh?

Later in the semester we'll be using these to create aluminum molds to injection mold yo-yos with. Until then, we were assigned a "Learn to use the equipment" project of machining a paper weight. Each of us was given a piece of aluminum stock, 1.5"R with a height of .625". We were allowed to do pretty much anything possible, but we had to use both the lathe and the mill. We designed our paper weights in SolidWorks first, the easiest way to bust out a 3D part.

I didn't want my paper weight to suck. This had the potential to be a really nice product, something that I could keep forever, so I got a kind of intricate with my design. I decided to machine the great dome, with some special features. Here's what my finished SolidWorks file looked like

As you can see, I added some footsteps to the top of the dome, because I'm pretty sure there are some. I also put the "Inscription Hack" around the perimeter of the dome. Awesome, looks good in SolidWorks, how's it going to look in real life?

The first thing to do was to "turn" the part. Never say "lathe" the part, it's called "turning." We put my aluminum stock in the machine, closed the doors, and checked through my code using the control panel on the outside. If there is anything more intimidating I have yet to encounter it. It was the scariest thing ever, but luckily shop guys are VERY good at what they do. Please note that that hand is certainly not mine.

Once it was all set we hit "GO" and off it went! The part spun and the tools cut into it. There was a lot of coolant splashing everywhere so it was hard to get really good pictures, but here are a few I managed to get.

I made a video of the final run of the paper weight so you can see the lathe in action.

Without a CNC I dare you to get that kind of curve. Consider yourself dared.

So, I had a perfectly shaped little dome, next it was time for the mill. The mill was programmed to etch the writing and the footsteps into my paper weight, one at a time, using an engraving tool with a tip only .02" in diameter (TINY!). I popped the part into the vice, set my zero at the top of my part, and pushed "GO!" ~20 minutes later (lots of etching) it was all finished, but while it was being etched it looked like this

Finally it was all done! Well, sort of. I cleaned it up with a rag and some hot water, then I took it over to a normal lathe (not CNC) and let it spin while I touched it with some fine grit sandpaper to polish it. When everything was all said and done I had this lovely before and after picture to take

Isn't that awesome!? But, there was an issue. Well, there were two issues. I realized shortly after polishing it up that there was a "u" missing "Industry." The space was there, just no letter, so it looked like "Ind stry." Not good. Then I noticed that I spelled "science" as "sceince." Those of you who know me know that I am WAY too obsessive compulsive to be ok with this, so I ended up re-machining the whole thing after making the changes on the computer.

When everything was all said and done, I had a beautiful paper weight that I was really proud of. Will I make another? Potentially, the code is all there. Will I make many awesome things in the future with my newly learned skills? Absolutely.

1) I no longer have swine flu
2) I am now 21 years of age
3) Spectrum wrote an article about me
4) The New York Times wrote an article about us
5) The Livescribe company blog published some instructions I made on how to build a loft.

ANFSCD

This last weekend I attended "CollegeFest 2009" at the Hynes Convention Center, just across the river in Boston. It's basically an excuse for companies to give out tons of free stuff and market to the college crowd. Alas, I didn't attend as a college student, I was there for Livescribe, demoing and handing out "Dumb Pens." MIT students certainly attended though, several people recognized Chris and I there and we got the usual "Hey! Are you that blogger guy?" a couple of times. But, I mean really, who wouldn't recognize this face (especially now that it's plastered onto the New York Times)?

So Chris and I (along with Kirsten and Hawkins) spent all day Saturday and Sunday chatting with college kids and showing them this smart pen. That doesn't mean we didn't take some time to have fun. I made a point of demoing to every mascot I saw. First was Wally, the Red Sox mascot.

I'm perfectly well aware that it looks like I'm about to swallow my pen

And then the chicken from the PETA stickers. You know, the ones that say "I am not a nugget!"

Look, I understand that you're not a nugget, but have you seen this pen?

In addition to that, I also spent some time being angry at the live band. They were SO loud that I was having to shout everything I said. It got so bad that I, in all of my frustration and infinite wisdom, decided that shooting an elastic foam rocket at the band would be a good idea. You know, one of these things:

What I forgot was that the Aflac booth was between me and the band, but it shouldn't have mattered because I was shooting over the Aflac booth. Turns out, I'm a terrible shot, and ended up shooting into the Aflac booth. This wouldn't have been a big deal normally, I'd have hit a stuffed duck or two and everybody would have been ok, but that day it wasn't ok. You see, Aflac was hosting the Red Sox and some Red Sox memorabilia, including the 2004 World Series Trophy.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what the rocket hit. I stared, not quite believing what had just happened. I turned to Chris,

"Did that just hit th--"
"Turn around and pretend it wasn't you!"

I quickly wheeled around and busied myself with organizing some pamphlets and straightening the table cloth. After a while I checked to make sure I hadn't snapped a flag off the trophy and was relieved to find it was all in one piece. They had confiscated my rocket, though, but I figured it would be inappropriate to ask for it back.

Now I'm mostly all caught up in my work I missed (just some lab stuff and a PSET to do) and I'll be working all weekend on more work. No rest for the weary, except for right now, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap.

Yesterday a video, made by a bunch of people from Baker (one of our dorms), was uploaded to the internet. The instant something hits the tubes it becomes fair game, so now it goes on the admissions website.

The link has been sent to a couple of dorm lists and is popping up here and there on Facebook. My guess would be that this doesn't represent ALL of Baker, but I can't imagine many dorms other than Baker coming out with something like this.

Enjoy, or cringe, or weep, whichever comes the most naturally.

This is what I look like today.

Wonderful. I suppose it was only a matter of time, but now I'm running a fever of 101, my stomach is hating me, and I keep getting chills. MIT Medical isn't actually testing for H1N1, so there's no way to know if I have it, but considering all the likely cases I've been around, I'm feeling pretty piggish right now.

So, how's MIT dealing with the H1N1 "issue?" There are signs all over campus telling people to wash hands, be clean, and avoid class if you have flu like symptoms. MIT Medical has sent several e-mails to the entire campus telling them symptoms and how to react if you exhibit them. They even have a website deemed "Flu Central", which is where I went to figure out what to do. I called a phone number they listed, they told me what steps I should take (self-quarantine, Tylenol/ibuprofen, fluids, rest, etc), told me how long it'd last (~4 days), how long the cough would last (~2 weeks), and told me to avoid class.

Skip class!? At MIT!? Absolutely, especially with my bio professor co-chairing Obama's Council on Science and Technology. We're threatened daily with horrible and gruesome consequences if we come to class with the flu. In order to prevent everybody from skipping and in order to allow people to reschedule exams (like my exam on Friday potentially), the Dean of Student Life sends a list of flu cases to Student Support Services and then students can e-mail professors.

So for now it's up to me to just hydrate, chill (literally and figuratively), and wait for this to go away.

Awesome.

Instead I listened to the new Muse album (go buy it now) and found a solo in one of the songs ("I Belong to You") that I really liked, so I sat down with some paper, a pen, and my clarinet. A while later I had transcribed it. Technically it's a bass clarinet solo, but with an octave shift and some creativity when notes dip below my playable range, I got it to sound pretty good. I printed some staff paper and actually wrote it out with ties, accents, and other notation so it'd be easier to read and play. Then, Mason '10 busted out the Sibelius and wrote it all out "officially," resulting in a nice piece of sheet music.

I looked around on YouTube to see if anybody else had covered this on clarinet and, sure enough, somebody had.

Eh, decent, but I knew I could do better, so after some misadventures with my Macbook's built-in mic (note, don't use for instrument recording) I made a video of myself playing my little transcription. Now, for your enjoyment, a video of me playing the clarinet solo from Muse's new song "I Belong to You," along with the sheet music.