This entry is going to be a completely random collection of things because right now I'm a little too tired to do a coherent entry. The end of term will do that to you. But hey, I'm DONE (sorta).

I -- Apologies to any random prefrosh that have contacted me lately. I've been really hosed and have kinda been brushing people off. It's not because I hate you, it's because MIT hates me.

II -- Yesterday, while sitting in the kitchen, I decided that I hadn't roller bladed in a while and I missed it. So, like any spontaneous college student, I walked over to Boston and bought a pair of roller blades.

I forgot how much I really enjoy skating. I've been skating everywhere lately and I've been loving it! Tunnels + Roller Blades = awesome. Rumor has it that I can get a fine for skating inside buildings but nobody has yelled at me yet (well, except for CopyTech and LaVerdes) so I guess I'll just keep going until somebody complains.

This morning I woke up at 5:30 and went skating for a couple of hours. I went down to the Museum of Science, over to Boston, all down the shore of the Charles, back into Cambridge, and then back to MIT. I guess I should talk a bit about transportation at MIT. Things you'll see used are:

-- Bikes
-- Ripsticks
-- Roller Blades
-- Skateboards

If you want wheels then just bring/buy what you're most comfortable with. You by no means need transportation, walking works just fine, it's completely up to you.

III -- I saw geese the other day. Well, not just geese, but also baby geese! It's officially spring when you see bouncy little furry yellow things running around.

Seeing things like this just makes me happy. I tend to forget about all the crap that's going on around me and just think about what it'd be like to have no cares or worries. As it is, I can only pretend, but it's almost the same!

IV -- I walked by the dome the other day and saw a bunch of facilities guys doing something on it.

I have no idea what they were doing, nor will I probably ever find out (unless I ask them or I can dig around and find a hacker to ask but I don't think I care quite enough to go through all of that). All I know is that random people walking around on the dome isn't something you see everyday.

V -- 2.007 was the other day and, although I didn't get to stay for the whole thing, I got to see a couple of rounds of competition. Maybe some of you recognize what this guy is wearing from CPW?

I wish I could have stayed and seen more but I had to rush off to toy lab and work on my toy.

VI -- SHAMELESS PLUG: Toy Design PLAYSENTATIONS on Tuesday May 13th, 8 pm in 6-120. BE THERE!

In all seriousness, it's crunch time in toy land. I still don't want to tell you what we're making, but I can give you a picture and you can try to guess, how about that?

What is it? Guess in the comments.

VII -- I finally got a new hard drive for my laptop and am in the process of reinstalling everything, readjusting all of my user settings, and trying to get everything back to normal. PAIN IN THE BUTT. Even though I didn't lose much data, just getting all of my settings back to normal is a massive undertaking.

That's it from me, for now. I'll be slaving away on toys all weekend and then that's the last thing I have due before finals. After next week it's just three more tests and I'm done with freshman year at MIT, woo-hoo!

Finally! When you pick your athena name and e-mail address, please please please don't:

Use underscores _
Use numbers 0-9
Be a middle school girl with a new AIM account "qtpi314@mit.edu"

Be classy and you'll do fine. Remember, you only get to pick this name once, make it count.

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

Guess for the toy: one throws it by swinging it by one of the arms, and as it spins in the air it makes crazy sounds.

Posted by: Anon on May 9, 2008

Isn't that guy wearing those foam building blocks that link together?

Posted by: Albert Wang on May 9, 2008

"Finally! When you pick your athena name and e-mail address, please please please don't:

[...]
Use numbers 0-9"


OH NO!! PANIC!!! I already did! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Posted by: Ty'12 on May 10, 2008

is that a magnet attached to one of the toy's arms?

Posted by: christine on May 10, 2008

AHAHAHA...the middle school girl comment had me laughing for five minutes. I only wish that could have been my first AIM account back in the day (am I allowed to say back in the day?...i did just turn 18 but whatev).

Posted by: Omar '12 on May 10, 2008

What's wrong with underscores?

Posted by: 0 on May 10, 2008

@Snively
Where to "Pick an email address"?
In account or something else?

Posted by: Ziwei on May 10, 2008

Numbers are not a big deal, they're just not very common.

Underscores are kind of a pain because they require the shift key to type, whereas every other valid character for Athena names (a-z, 0-9) doesn't.

Posted by: Paul on May 10, 2008

What Paul said. Also, you'll probably start using your Athena username just about everywhere, because it's just easier, and most Linux distributions won't let you make a username with an underscore without extra effort.

Posted by: Evan '10 on May 10, 2008

And people might start calling you by your username, so be careful as to what you pick! My favorites: words or phrases like hereiam, thrive, mspiggy, etc., or other words you can pronounce easily. A few people with various chemicals/elements in their last names choose abbreviations from the periodic table for their usernames. Remember, you'll be giving this username to professors, companies, etc., so pick wisely!

Posted by: Sondy '07 G on May 10, 2008

Yeah, I know a guy with the last name "Goldstein" whose ID includes "austein" ^.^

And Snively, is it cheating if I guess what you're making? =D

Posted by: Piper on May 10, 2008

qtpi314!!!!!hahahahaha......I'm still snorting....Snively,was there actually somebody with an ID like that?!!

Posted by: Ahana on May 10, 2008

awwww baby geese!

Piper, tell us!

Posted by: Aditi on May 10, 2008

That's not the <a>Grumpy Fuzzball</a>, is it?

...All joking aside, yeah, please do be careful when you choose your Athena name. Mine is kdrinkwa because my last name is Drinkwater... to my eternal regret, because it was pointed out to me I could have had drinkh2o or similar.

It is possible to have people contact you at other email addresses, by setting up a mailing list that only has you on it. But that's only marginally useful because not many people think in terms of lists, so they'll look up the name of your list in the <a>People Directory</a>, see "No Results", and give up rather than running "blanche listname" to see if it's secretly a list.

Posted by: Alioth on May 10, 2008

qtpi314 is still available...

Posted by: Photon on May 10, 2008

hahaha ya snively, way to give advice AFTER half of us have already made them! of course mine is extremely classy... so i'm not worried.

Posted by: kayla on May 10, 2008

my guess is that that bit of metal on one of its arm is a magnet, that turns on and off with a switch/button in the back. and then there is another switch/button that makes mr. grumpy swing in the air (like that cow in random) as if its trying to grab/hit you because he's so grumpy.Or better yet, the toy climbs metal walls, or railings. or maybe its a clock, with the face on its back, and the alarm involves it swinging its arms hitting you, though that doesn't explain that bit of metal on its right arm...

Posted by: Lauren '12 on May 10, 2008

@Toy Guessers
Yes, there is a bit of metal (or a magnet?) that is significant to the play value of the toy. Continue the guessing, this is fun!

Posted by: Snively on May 10, 2008

Actually, my first thought was totally an airbag for a bike. Because seriously, what cool kindergartener wouldn't want a fuzzy creature of questionable origin riding on their handle-bars?

Posted by: Shannon '12 on May 10, 2008

erm... is it an angry fuzzy-battery, or something of that sort? looks like a button-cell or something. of course, i could be cheating... BWAHAHAHA*coughcapacitorcough*HAHAHAHA

hooray for roller-blading! and hooray for getting schtuff done.

Posted by: moose '12 on May 10, 2008

also, sorry for the spacing on that last post, i have no clue what happened...

Posted by: moose '12 on May 10, 2008

Yeah, when I made my username, I was told that EVERYBODY does first initial+last name if it's available. I didn't know any better, so now I'm stuck with something that could potentially be slightly awkward (hey, I was named before the main internet revolution). Most people so far haven't noticed anything unless I commented on it, so hopefully it won't turn out to be an issue at all. *crosses fingers*

Posted by: Lainers on May 10, 2008

Could it be an electromagnet. Ok crazy guess, but it's like a dart game. You have a metel target and the kids have to toss the fluffy, evil looking thing at the target.

Posted by: Burst on May 10, 2008

So what is this "mailing list" with only you on it, of which you speak?
Where do you make the said list... I am quite bedazzled?

Posted by: Ty'12 on May 10, 2008

Is there a difference between athena usernames and email accounts? I thought they were the same...

Posted by: 0 on May 10, 2008

@Ty - So you can make MIT mailing lists - basically you can put other emails on this list, so that if you email one address it will send to all the people associated with that address. But if you start a mailing list that ONLY you are associated with, it will only send to your email and effectively become a second email (you can use Thunderbird or Google to send from that address).

@Anon - yes, your username is your email =)

Posted by: Piper on May 10, 2008

@Anonymous

Username: Snively
E-mail: Snively [at] mit [dot] edu

Kinda the same, accept for the suffix. I know, I'm being dumb and nitpicky, I blame the epoxy fumes (but these toys will be AWESOME!)

Posted by: Snively on May 10, 2008

Aditi - Sorry, Snively will reveal it to you in time =D

Alioth - Have you made the mailing list? That'd be super cool. (My last name, unfortunately, is rather boring and not-elemental...)

Posted by: Piper on May 10, 2008

Melissa must be posting at the same time as me.

Posted by: Snively on May 10, 2008

That toy thingy reminds of a

Wackywavyinflatablearmsflallingtubeman

or should I say

Angrywavythrowablearmsflallingfuzzman

Posted by: Judy '12 on May 10, 2008

"It's not because I hate you, it's because MIT hates me."

Like the way you put that.

Posted by: Jess '12 on May 10, 2008

Is it an alarm clock? That thing looks like it might be able to wake me up...

Or is it more harmless than it looks?
Or a hidden camera?
Or a spoof of Saddam Hussein?

Posted by: toy guesser on May 11, 2008

Snively, there's nothing wrong with middle school girls with new AIM accounts...

Posted by: qtpi314 on May 11, 2008

The toy looks like an almost exact rip-off of a character called a "dust sprite" from the Anime "My neighbor totoro".

Posted by: jeff on May 11, 2008

@ Jeff - now that you mention it... it see it too

they are also like the soot balls in Spirited Away

Posted by: Judy '12 on May 11, 2008

an angry furry squishy thing. that flies. on its own. well, maybe not the flying part. but it is angry.
an ipod pillow! no, not really.

Posted by: MiniPocketsized '12 on May 11, 2008

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Posted by: Sauza 11' on May 13, 2008

at my school you know its spring because of the whales on the ground


a science teaches class draws full sized whales in the courtyard

Posted by: 0 on May 15, 2008

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