Jess Rules!

4:54pm: oh my...
well, this is a sad state of affairs. life was crazy and i had other priorities this summer, then school started and by that time i was so out of the habit that i paid no attention what-so-ever to lj. anyway, i hope this finds everyone well. life is good for me. back in the cold of michigan, but after a wonderful break. i really enjoyed spending time with my family and my aunt's new house is gorgeous, and visiting vermont was really cool. i went ice skating on a frozen pond!!! :) much fun. but i just thought i'd say hi to everyone and maybe more next time. luv ya!

11:25pm: I'm still alive!!!
Ok, I realize I have not updated in a really, really, really, really... ...really long time. I have excuses!!! My internet in my apartment was disconnected on May 12th, so I had to go to school, and there were errands to run and things to pack and then in was graduation, and then mom and I were towing a u-haul across the country and then when we got to michigan my grandmother was in the hospital so we quickly unloaded me then drove all the way to texas where we stayed about 6 days until she was home and on her feet and seemed to be recovering nicely, and then we drove back to ABQ where I arrived yesterday...

ANNA~YOU'RE MOVING!!!! Wow, I'm so very happy for you! I will have to get all the details. I'm sorry I've been so completely incommunicado, life, as you can tell, has been rather hectic. I will talk to you soon dear!

Lisa~How was your weekend? You are not online like you always are at work which makes me wonder, but I will also call you soon and make sure you are still alive.

Jibbs~Hope all is safe and happy in Russia! Hope your other students are great! Smiles!

10:46pm: relaxing
so everything is basically winding down for me at hopkins. it's pretty cool that i have no final exams this semester, (yay senior option! that and doing mostly non-lecture-style classes this semester) so basically i have one oboe lesson, a rep-class, a recital (that i don't even have to play in if i don't wanna, but i prolly will anyway) and a little lab work... well, and then the actual ceremony-type-things like the one i gotta remember is tomorrow (yay outstanding materials science engineer of 2004 :)... then mom comes up and there is much packing... i really gotta start cleaning stuff out... i mean, i have all these different notebooks and i've sorted through a lot of them to get them into something resembling order (it's amazing how unsorted things become around finals and when you really don't care about the class... ::cough, circuits, cough:: but now that they're somewhat organized i gotta decide if i wanna keep them, ya know? i was talking to dad and he kept all of his initially cuz he didn't know if he was going to be teaching some day or not and if he was teaching physics he might find it good... my question is, why in the world would i EVER teach physics (at least above the high school level) so i'm still debating about getting rid of that notebook, as well as my materials lab notebook... i mean, while the charpy impact test was cool, if i'm actually using it in the future, i'm going to get tested on the machine i'm actually using and can look up the rest on the web/in my materials books...

as for my summer, wow that just keeps changing. the one constant is the very beginning. my lease is up in this apartment is up on may 31, and ann arbor is much closer to baltimore than it is to albuquerque, so the plan is for mom to stay around graduation and help me pack up life and then we'll trailer all my stuff to michigan and put it into storage. then we do a touch of apartment shopping and wonder our way home from michigan maybe finding a few cool side trips or a half-day or two :). originally after this i wanted to go to europe with people, but no-one had time/money, so then mom and i were thinking of a trip, and there were complications with places there that dad wanted to come on but didn't have time, and then the family vacation got reinstated, so mom and i are like, well do we really want to do a lot of traveling, if we're going to go spend two weeks on a beach at the end of the summer anyway? so we're just going to settle for the side trips on the way home and maybe some day trips from abq this summer and so then i'll be home for june and half of july with hopefully some fun projects (maybe i'll finally finish my scrapbooks from high school that i started ages ago and never finished and maybe get one together of college as well..., and mom said she'd help me make a halloween costume cuz it would be nice to have something that just lives in my closet as a permanent quick thing, ya know?) and then fun trips with friends and boyfriend and such... and that's my summer at the moment, and i'm currently thinking of going to ann arbor in august so i can spend some time with joanna before she leaves on sabbatical and maybe get a bit of a project of my own... that would be nice!!!! not that i'll have much time for lab-work my first year of grad school anyway.

so i just found out about senior week at hopkins... they really do need to email or advertise these things better cuz i'm always finding out about things after the fact... this is one of the few times i found out before-hand. but most of my friends are at peabody and my friends at hopkins are, mostly, not seniors... except mike and josh... so mike and i are thinking of going on the six flags trip, cuz that would be fun. still can't believe that i'm actually graduating... it's kinda odd. oh well.

anyway, this is getting kinda long and rambling... it kinda reminds me of my time with jibbs last night... i walked her home cuz she was feeling not so good (GET WELL SOON!!!!!) and she's been having laryngitis (i know i misspelled that, but i'm too lazy to figure out the right way to spell it so i'm just going to leave it be.) and so she shouldn't be talking and so i tried to dominate most of the conversation and just babble. it's something i'm actually rather good at, babbling, especially when i'm hyper. and then i went to the mental notes party and lisa was so pretty! (i really want that top, it was velvet AND purple!!! so envious!!! but i do not have the boobs to hold it up, so oh well...) it was nice. i'm doing a lot of firsts now that i'm leaving hopkins... went to my first mental notes concert last night, going to my first lacrosse game next week, ate at one world for the first time... :) i find this rather amusing.

but anyway, i will leave of the babbling. btw anna, i'm rather hurt... you complained that no one asked you questions, and you have asked me none... :( do you not love me? and lisa threatened me and yet nothing from her either... ::sigh:: ah well! ;)

have a happy day!

4:37pm: awwwwwww
so, i was talking with lisa at lunch today cuz we'd gone off so that I could show her my lab and she was talking about her lunch buddy who is often too busy for us to hang out with and she said lunch buddy and i was think about last year when she and mike and anna and i would meet for lunch and i said, "yeah, i miss anna. she was my lunch bunny..." and it was really funny... but bye now!
(-=

12:54am: La La La
Ok, since everyone's doing it, I'll jump off the bridge too...

Ever wanted to know more about me? Well, here's your chance. Ask me any three questions and I'll respond with my selection of witty and not-so-witty answers. Feel free to ask more then three, but I'll only respond if feeling generous. (Of course, life is getting very simple with everything ending, so the liklyhood of me NOT feeling generous is prolly in the 0% vicinity.)

Good night moon!

11:49pm: yay for laundry
Ok, so I decided it's time to update. I'm not doing so well with this whole livejournal idea given the fact that i seem to rarely update. ah well, luckily people forgive me. so tonight i'm just going to babble. i'm sitting on my bed (yay for laptops!) and listening to chicago and waiting for my laundry to be done. i really like fresh laundry. so, anyway, my boyfriend said he'd call tonight, but somehow given that it's almost midnight i don't think that's going to happen. oh well. i did laundry and that was the highlight of the evening. that and sitting here listening to "Chicago" on my cd player. i really like that music. i have to get the dvd; i really liked it but just haven't gotten around to getting it yet, ya know? ah well... there's always time. so i'm trying to figure out what to do this summer, so i think i'm going to put up a poll. originally i was thinking europe with friends, but no one has time and/or money, so that was a bust. so then it was europe with mom, we thought maybe france and spain (since she speaks spanish) but then went, wow, we could go to australia and new zealand! so that was exciting, then she talked to dad and he was like "you want to go without me....?!?!?!" so that kinda fell through (cuz both australia and spain they've talked about eventually going to so he was feeling left out...) so mom and i could do england/france... but it just doesn't grab me as much (i think italy would be out as well) or we were thinking that when we drive me to ann arbor, well, canada is right there... come to think of it, we could maybe swing back and hit niagra... though that might be a bit far... or mexico and mayan temples or new orleans... so vote!!!
1 - Canada (suggestions as to good places to see?)
2 - Mexico and the Mayan temples
3 - New Orleans
4 - Completely different place (insert suggestion here)
i prolly won't listen to anyone, but i'm curious as to where you think would be interesting to visit. and no lisa, i'm not visiting dulin without you...

other then that, not much to babble about... rooms clean, figuring out addys for graduation announcements, actually got into the lab today! (yay!), talked to Dr. Hufnagel and to Jonah and told them where I'm going. Oh, anna, did I mention that I got the outstanding materials person of 2004 award? i get to go to a ceremony on may 3rd. oh, and did you end up going to shell's dance thing? my family is there this weekend (aka mom and dad. oh and shell of course. jackie's in new orleans with the band. actually she called me tonight thinking i was in SLC and wanted to tell me they got there just fine. i found this funny because, well A) I'm not in SLC... and B) of course she got there fine... we would have heard from the band boosters if she hadn't... that's what the parent chaperones are for... ah well... but mom had given her a sheet of phone numbers and she just went straight down them and hit mine... ah well. (-= but things are finally winding down. i had a mock audition tonight that absolutely BIT!!! i completely screwed up one of the excerpts twice!!! (they gave me a second chance and i still bit the dust... ::sigh:: ah well. and i really don't quite know my music for the concert this weekend... i'm a bad oboist...) but i heard back from my dynamic earth profs today and i have an "a" so I can take senior option, so this means i'm completely done with u-grad exams!!!! which makes me happy. and starting on monday i'm done with orchestra so i'm not going to have anything to amuse myself with... kinda like the summer will be but i'm planning on filling it with camping etc. everyone keeps telling me to take the time off, so i don't think i'll work this summer. anyway, i'm going to quite babbling now.
Smiles!
(-=

12:09am: WOW! What a Whore!!!
So I saw this great, awesome, wonderful musical tonight. It was actually a lot better than I expected. The singers were on-key most of the time and the acting was pretty good. (It was in a little theatre that's more like a hole-in-the-wall right around the corner from my apartment.) But the best thing was this one blonde chick. She was such a DITZ! but she was soooooo good at it. She played this little school-girl-slutty-Bankok-whore and then this ditzy Vanity Faire reporter from Tennessee. And lemme tell ya. OH WAS SHE CUTE!!!! Anyway, I must go to bed. Sweet Dreams World!
Smiles!

11:44am: oh my... here we go!!!!!!!!!!!1
so, i'm going to michigan next year... talked with the prof that i'm so excited about and she said she's got a spot for me, so here goes nothing... wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now i gotta start on all those rejection letters... eep... and northwestern really wants me... ::sigh::

3:07pm: ::sigh::
Ok, so I know I've been completely awful about updating... Sorry Lisa. it's just that life's been so COMPLETELY HECTIC. I feel like I haven't really had a lot of time to breathe, and the one week I did was the week of my recital so I refused to do anything but breathe and am now behind... Anyway, I wanted to give people an update of life, and since most of life is grad schools here goes:

U of Illinois: I know I posted about this school when I got back cuz it was right then that Lisa was whining she was bored and needed more to distract her while at work. (Luv ya darling! ;)) So cuz of that, I'm really not going to say much more except that I don't think I'm going. Everyone was nice, but the school just made me feel overwhelmed by the amount of students they expect in their G1 class (I don't know where I heard that but I think it's nice cuz it's G for graduate and then the year so I don't have to keep writing new grad class or something long and convoluted like that) and the groups are mostly from 15-40. 15 is about my UPPER limit, so it's kinda hard. Also, I didn't like Urbana-Champeign all that much. Didn't DISLIKE it, but didn't fall in love with it either, ya know? so that's out.

U of Michigan: Distinct possibility. Joanna MM (don't even aske me to write out her entire name without looking it up... it's something like Mirrecki Millunchik because the first is her maiden name and the second is her married name but she doesn't hyphenate and it's just hard to write) anyway, she's recruiting me it seems and I would really enjoy working with her. She's sooooo energetic and she just got tenure and she seems to be an upcoming person in mat'ls and I really liked the people at the school, and... :) And ann arbor is a cute town and it's near detroit airport so i can actually get in and out without too much trouble...

Harvard: Ok, I got into Harvard and am actually turning it down... Was I dropped on my head as a child? Eh, I had fun, but just didn't quite click with the students and profs as much and I'm not entirely sure I have a good research match and Boston is expensive as hell to live in, and most students there take about 6 years to graduate compared to the 5 at most of the other schools I'm looking at, so... Just seems like the negatives out-weigh the plus of being able to say, "I go to Harvard" (and you gotta add the snooty accent on Harvard.) Also I think some of the female grads here feel a bit overwhelmed by the number of guys cuz it's the one place where, when I asked about what it's like to be a girl in the department I got a slightly not positive answer. In some of the groups if you're the only girl it's like being in a boys club, cuz the groups are quasi led by the post-docs who are foreign and a few years older and just aren't used to girls in science yet...

Cornell: Shocker, I think Cornell is falling off my list... I LOVE the people and think the city is great and they're offering me prolly the most of any of the schools and I have money so I can work with anyone for the first year as long as they think they can get funded by the next year, but there are really two people that I"m really interested in in the materials dept and one of them (who wasn't there over the visit cuz he was at a conference) just emailed me and said he isn't planning on taking any new grad students next year cuz he feels like he's stretched too thin... Which is really a shame. There are some people in ECE that could be interesting as well as applied physics, but I'm almost afraid to go to a school that I really don't have a clear-cut idea of who I'm working with, ya know? or at least an idea of 2 or 3 professors that I'm pretty darn sure I'd be happy with or could chose between.

Northwestern: I just got back from my Northwestern visit today and I think this school has made it to the top two. Nice location in Evanston, IL right next to Chicago and friendly people. They do all sorts of intermurals and just seem like a really interesting department to be in. They have a lot of music opportunities and such and there are 2 or three profs that I think I could be happy with, though they really prefer you don't chose now and instead wait until everyone presents at the beginning of the year, but this doesn't scare me as much cuz I'm pretty sure I'd be happy with any of three profs though I have a distinct first choice. I also have a Cabel fellowship (university wide) which means that the likely hood of me getting my first choice prof is very high. The class is larger, they're expecting 25-30 next year, but most of the groups are down around 8-10. The group I'm most interested in is Hersam who has about 10 grads and 3 post-docs and is looking for 2-3 more grads next year, but the group won't grow beyond that cuz he'll start graduating people and so it's going to hit the steady state point at about 15 people... 15 i think is do-able especially since he's young and seems really involved in the group. He's still really in touch and what I'm most afraid of about a larger group is losing touch with my advisor, cuz I'm choising that advisor for a reason, ya know?

Stanford: It seems like for every good thing I hear about stanford I also hear a luke-warm or bad thing, so I think stanford is prolly not on my list even if I go and love it there (I leave tomorrow to visit) because I'd prolly still have reservations and there are other, equally good schools that I think I'd be happier at because I wouldn't be worrying about these little bad things I've heard about.

Ok, so there's that... let's see, other news, well as Lisa knows, but anna doesn't my recital went really well last weekend. I was quite pleased. I was just up there having fun. (-= yay fun!!! I must say I'm a fan. Haven't listened ot the recording yet and am a little afraid to cuz I'm afraid the little things that didn't bother me while playing I'll obsess about while listening to it, but overall it was a fun time.

Other then that, I'm finally having a little time to get back into the lab, or at least I did last week... and I think I'll spend most of Friday in the lab cuz I finally will be able to. Not much else going on. Anna, you have to help me figure out where to go, k? But for now this is prolly quite long enough so I'll sign out.
Smiles!
(-=

12:36pm: hmm....

10:22am: :-p
So, I got home from Michigan yesterday and actually tried to update cuz I was tired and didn't feel like being productive, but livejournal did not want to load on my computer so it just didn't happen... Now I'm still tired (I think I might have caught a cold, I'm so sleepy and I got like 10 hours of sleep/rest last night) but I thought I'd update rather then be unproductive in the lab. I had a really great time in Michigan. I think I like the town a LOT better then I liked Urbana/Champaign and the grad students were just awesome. (Though I liked the grad students at Illinois too). As for profs, there are three that Jonah (my advisor) recommended I talk to and I really like them. The two women are my favorites. (Wow, working for a female prof, go figure! especially, since the ratio of guys to girls seems to be going from 60/40 to about 75/25 or worse... of 9 people visiting this weekend, there was only me... but six are supposed to visit the other weekend and three of them are girls, so that's a bit better... :)) But I really like Joanna Mirecky-Millunchick and Rachel Goldman (If Anna feels like checking them out I thought I'd give her names cuz she would understand a bit of what they do, though I'm sure I spelled Joanna's name wrong) but they both work with semi-conductors. Rachel is implating N in GaAs and making GaN which is a LED and trying to figure out how to pattern it etc... :) Joanna just got a FIB to attach to her MBE and wants to use to to pattern a Ga surface and thus preferentially deposit As or Antimony on the surface and thus change the band gap or have a patterned band-gap material. (-= The third guy works with femto-second lasers and studies material properties based on iteractions with the laser. It's all really cool. And I think I just like the town better. Draw-backs, Rachel can be hard to work with, and Joanna doesn't always work as hard as she could to help you get a job when you graduate; both just got tenure and are going on sabbatical for a year within the next year... but then again, you don't do much other then get classes out of the way first year anyway. Most of the research you do just goes to finalize your project and determine where you want to go... I love the town... There are good restaurants (cuz Detroit big-wigs move there and commute) and the music school there is excellent and there's dance... I don't know, I think I'm just more excited about Michigan. Now I just gotta sit down and figure out whether that's because I was more interested going in, or cuz I like it better, or cuz I just visited there more recently. Illinois, the guy I'm most interested in working for is a hard worker and pushes his students, but said I was the most promising (or something like that) of the students he talked to so I think I could get into his lab, but I need to check cuz it might grow to like 30 people... Joanna has around 6. 5 grad, 1 post-doc, 1 u-grad. Rachel has ~18, but 10 or 12 are u-grad and one is a post-doc. Also, Illinois is expecting about 40 new grad students next year, and Michigan about 7. Illinois has harder quals, not that I'm really concerned about failing my quals. It's prolly a bit more expensive to live in Michigan, but they're offering me about $4,000 more then Illinois anyway... Well, I think that's about all I wanted to say... I have this week off, then next week over spring break I visit Harvard and Cornell... Yes, I'm six-for-six. Got admitted in all six schools, though Harvard hasn't said anything about the money yet. heck, the only reason I know I'm admitted is that I got an email saying, "Hey admitted students, come to our open house!!!" but no one has told me details or anything. When I called to see if I'd missed paperwork or anything all they said was I might have missed a phone call and the official letter would go out in 2 or 3 weeks... A little suspect in my opinion... Why couldn't they have emailed me my letter like the other schools did... And who hasn't called? Meep... Makes a girl feel unloved! ;) But I think I'm going to sign off. Have a happy day!
(-=

9:40am: Illinois
Well, I've now returned from my first college grad trip. It was very overwhelming at times... Illinois has a gigantic MSE department. (40 grad in each year and lots and lots of faculty) but the faculty also have large research groups (~15) which I'm not sure what I think about. Though because they're a large school they have lots of resources at their disposal. But I can't write much more then this because I have to go to class, but more about my trip later. (-=

1:06pm: Well, here goes
Well, Lisa, this is for you. (-= Have a good weekend and I'll try to update this so people know what's up with college visits as they go. Smiles!