Monday, February 23, 2009

What is a cryostat?

He's blond, tall, does weird eyebrow movements, make funny faces/sounds, crazy, currently on his laptop, stalk me from time time, and moves his head to his music. These are the ingredients required to make the perfect roommate.

Yes.
He helps me make thin sections of cricket ganglia. Which is uber cool. Uber.

His name is Zach. And he is from Massachusetts.

So I have to be careful, because he holds a very sharp blade. The ganglia is frozen onto a circular disk that attaches to a cylindrical knob. Turning the wheel on his side causes the cylindrical knob to advance forward 18 microns per revolution. Yes, it's a slow process.

He is currently staring into his laptop and bobbing his head up and down. I'm assuming that he's listening to music. Oh wait, I can see the facebook screen on his laptop...not that I'm looking at him or anything. Nor am I sitting right next to him...I wondering who he's stalking...

He's pretty white. A white, rectangular machine about two-thirds my height. The small chamber inside is kept cold - 25 degrees to be exact. Every liquid must stay frozen.

Did I mention that he's silly? He does goofy things to make me laugh. God bless him.

The ganglia he cuts originated from adult crickets. It is frozen in a little container with a slimy liquid. Yes, the frozen liquid is sliced along with the ganglia. So he's always covered with ice shavings.

"Does it work?" said Dan.
"Don't think so...it's failing," said Zach while singing.

He's cool. Get it? HA!
Oh him and his 25 degree attitude.

A cryostat.
My roommate.

~Dan

P.S. Don't be confused. I'm describing two separate entities here. :)

Monday, February 16, 2009

Blog Fail. Seriously Dan.

Hey Everyone,

OMG. Dan, blog fail. Way to keep a journal.
Sorry guys.
Speaking of failing, please visit http://failblog.org/ for some entertainment!

So semester two started a month about a month ago. I am taking more math/science oriented courses this time:

Biology 109 (introductory biology--all jammed into one semester)
Math 171 (integral calculus)
Computer Science 101
Religion 216 (the new testament in its world--which fulfills an Exploring Social Differences requirement)

A lot of work each week. But still manageable. For now.

So rooms and housing became one of the big topics recently. I want to live in a chem-free (no drugs/alcohol allowed) dorm next year. Howard Hall is the best choice for me.
How housing works at Bowdoin is that all freshmen has to live in a freshmen dorm. All upperclassmen has to enter a lottery. And being a future sophomore, we have abysmally small chances of being drawn first. However, being one of the current chem-free kids (for living in the chem-free dorm Hyde), our chances are slightly higher than those who are not chem-free. Woo!

Maine weather you ask? Quite warm. Unusually warm. Even NH wouldn't be this warm during February. It's been above freezing for a few days now. Crazy.

Anything else? I don't know. Ask a question about Bowdoin college, and I will try to answer it to the best of my ability.

Cheers,
Dan