Sam’s Blog

Today in quantitative analysis lab I learned a better way to transfer concentrated hydrochloric acid from a small beaker into a larger beaker containing water and unknown iron sample.  While holding a watch glass almost completely over the mouth of the larger beaker, pour the acid very VERY slowly for a couple of seconds, then gently swirl the larger beaker.  Make sure the watch glass is completely over the mouth of the larger beaker, and keep an eye on the little beaker full of acid in your other hand.  Foregoing the watchglass and stirring with a stirring rod instead of swirling results in the HCl vapor escaping and going up your nose (that burns) and condensing on your arms (that also burns).
I am not exactly sure which variety of acid tried to eat my shirt.  Fortunately I was not very fond of that shirt.

I really need to do laundry.

I found a lovely sunbeam in the Physical Science stairwell last week (remember this?).  It was there again this week, so I think that place will be my thinking spot while I wait for lab.  The hallway outside lab smells terrible because the organic chemistry labs are doing an experiment that involves boiling lots and lots of tea bags in very little water for hours.

I am somewhat baffled that my favorite class this semester is a statistics course.  I normally hate anything that has to do with numbers…
Today Dr. Mock introduced us to probability by teaching us to play poker.

Scrubbing your skin with a chunk of volcanic rock is a somewhat effective way of ridding yourself of silver nitrate stains, but does not work completely.  This is probably because scrubbing off your skin with a volcanic rock chunk is rather painful.

At least I got some of it off.  Now the speckles look like they were from a leaky pen, not a rabid Sharpie.

Be cautious when working with silver nitrate solution.  It is colorless, odorless, and rather poisonous.  It can also make your hands look like they were attacked by a cranky leaking fine-tipped black sharpie.

This is why I have lots of little speckles on my fingers and right palm that I can’t wash away or scratch off with my pocket knife.

The speckles just started appearing a few hours ago, so the effect is pretty delayed; I had my quantitative analysis lab yesterday afternoon (which is where I encountered copious amounts of the silver nitrate).

The TA mentioned during lab that skin stains would “probably” go away in about a week or so.

How much do you think Spiderman could charge OU to remove the unreachable-by-normal-humans-cobwebs in the Physical Science building stairwell? They’re in the very top corner of a 4 story open area that surrounds some stairs and I don’t think you could reach them with a normal ladder.

Perhaps a very long stick.

Or a mutant superhero that clings to walls.

Either one would work.

This semester’s schedule

Quantitative analysis is much less scary if I just think of it as General Chemistry III (which it originally was until course numbers were switched around). We’ll see how the lab goes.

I rather like Quant Bio, partially because Dr. Mock is amusing. I also know that I’ll use the basic statistics I’m learning once I’m a zoologist and this makes me pay more attention than I would otherwise.

Spanish Composition is… Well, it’s Spanish. The prof is nice, so it’s better than it could be. I always start out hating Spanish classes for some reason. Luckily my anti-Spanish class attitude mellows out as the semester goes on. I am less motivated to finish my Spanish minor now that I’m going for a PhD instead of the previous pre-med plan, but I’ve already gone through several more semesters than is required. I might as well take the last 3 classes I need to finish up the minor.

Principles of Physiology lab is horribly painfully boring so far. Katie told me it would be, but I did not realize how horribly painfully boring it would be. Pleh is all I really have to say about it.

Honors research still = Love, even though I spilled a great deal of water on my stomach today while cleaning out fish tanks. At least it was hose water, and not the icky water I was removing. (Non-potable water is still moderately gross, but is better than non-potable water that a fish has been using as a toilet for a couple of weeks)
Tonight I shall battle the first half of my data into submission and shove it into the appropriate spreadsheets.

HES Study: Free access to a personal trainer 5 days a week and $200 at the end of the semester? I think yes. I had to drop yoga to participate in the study, but I am not too disappointed. The single yoga class I attended was fun, but not worth missing out on the study.

I enjoy tutoring in ZAP, and it’s good practice for future lecturing. The $500 a semester is also a good incentive to keep it up. This is the start of my 6th semester as a tutor.

So that’s this spring. I’ll be pleasantly busy, I think.

I am very happy to be back in Honors, as evidenced by this morning’s church doodles (doodles = I’m paying attention. no doodles = I’m asleep). That is StickSam, hugging my bed and emitting hearts. StickSam is my favored drawn representation of myself, so she pops up in quite a few of my scribbles.

Time to welcome the new RAs. :)

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My favorite pair of jeans finally bit the dust today. I’d already patched them in 5 different places, but the size of the patch required to cover a giant rip in the bum caused even my fashion alarm bells to go off. (Like grammar, I have only a tenuous grasp of fashion. This can cause some interesting clothing choices when laundry day is approaching.)
Fortunately, Norman has a mall that contains an acceptable clothing store (read: the jeans there fit me) and they were having a sale. After 20 minutes of searching through piles of jeans and trying on about 10 pairs (plus an additional 5 minutes of chatting with the store clerks) I left with 2 new pairs of jeans and a $15 off my next $30 purchase card. Fastest fashion-related trip ever. :)

On a somewhat related note: Google Maps is smarter than the average clothing store website. There was definitely not a Maurice’s in that residential neighborhood north of my church. But no harm done; I simply took an unplanned sightseeing tour of northeast Norman and figured out a new route from church to the mall.

On another somewhat related note: I did not start on moving today, but I did get my laundry done. All 50 bazillion of my t-shirts (mostly free ones, courtesy of Housing and OU’s marketing department) are clean and arranged by color in my closet.

Not related at all: I am not going to miss the trash chute when I move. Once you get over the novelty of throwing your garbage down a bottomless pit, it’s really just an incredibly stinky room that happens to contain a garbage-eating bottomless pit.

I always seem to find what I’ve lost right after I’ve given up hope on finding it and have purchased a replacement. This is how I’ve ended up with 2 drivers licenses and several rulers.

Fish lab is going well. I tracked a 27mm fish today. I can also estimate the size of a cave molly to within 3 millimeters. Quite frankly, I’m both a little proud and a little weirded out by this ability.

I managed to get algae on and off of my pants today.

I still love research and still do not want to get medical experience. I have, however, finally started studying for the MCAT. I suppose I can quit my medical experience volunteering in disgrace if I hate it that much. I do not need their recommendation letter if I hate it. (Norman Regional requires a 2 semester commitment) I will start volunteering at the Norman hospital this spring, and will continue there this fall if I can stand it.

I’ll move back to Honors tomorrow and Saturday, and this pleases me. The next occupant of my temp Couch room arrives Sunday, so I want to have the room completely empty and clean by Saturday night. Tomorrow will also involve 3 weeks worth of laundry.

This business of having neither a meal plan nor a kitchen is annoying. I do not like eating out this often, but a girl gets really tired of ramen and cereal.

Preliminary schedule:  Click Here
This schedule only shows classes and does not include RA duties (10 scheduled hours per week), ZAP tutoring (4 hours per week), or lab time (whenever and however long I can squeeze in). Perhaps I can do my medical stuff on Saturdays…
Yes, I am really taking yoga. Why not? I don’t pay tuition, so I might as well take a free yoga class. Having it on my schedule as a class is the only way I’ll get to the gym regularly.

Goals for this spring semester:

1. All A’s again
2. Finish honors project
3. Mop the floor with the MCAT and the GRE
4. Don’t do anything too stupid, especially while getting medical experience
5. Make at least one friend in each class. Class-only friends are acceptable, but eat-lunch-with-’em friends would be preferable.
6. Try not to have more than a couple 6 hours of sleep or less nights in a row. Immune system does not appreciate many low-sleep nights.
7. Yoga-specific goal: Stick feet behind head. Perhaps lose weight

I don’t really do New Year’s Resolutions, so a list of goals for the semester is all you’re getting. (The listing of Sam’s Goals is not bound to the time of year)