UW Update Wednesday 4/22/14

1.     UW Update Wednesday 4/22/14

a.     Physics: quantized energy -> spectra in box, harmonic oscillator, and hydrogen atom systems.

b.     Linear: matrices as linear transformations on vectors, and useful definitions wrt these transformation functions.

c.      Physics lab: pretty short, basic optics. Afterwards spent an hour talking with the TA, Sander, and another student Eric. Sander, a PhD student, is doing plasma physics, and he showed us the design he and his classmates had worked out for a fusion reactor, which had been acclaimed as the most practical “sphere-a-mak” design (as opposed to the Soviet-originated, toroidal “tokamak” reactors) yet designed.

d.     CS: pretty straightforward stuff with modular arithmetic, intro to how it’s used when storing binary integers.

e.     Ate lunch with Johan and two other guys, Vivic and David. Hung out with them for a bit, then walked to Lander, checked on 2104 House. All full L.

f.      Returned to dorm, grabbed soccer stuff, headed to IMA fields. Played a fun game. We still lost, but did pretty well (on defense at least—our offense couldn’t get coordinated.)

g.     Went to CSE building for a short coding competition. It was pretty neat, put on by a part of Microsoft research. There was lots of Qdoba to be had, as well as a t-shirt.

h.     Returned to 8 with heaping bowl of Qdoba. Intended to eat with Tina and talk about study abroad in Asia, but turned out there was an Honors floor event at the same time. So I ate quick while reading physics and went to the 5-6N kitchenette, where people were mixing cake mixes and baking them. I hung out mixing cake and talking to Troy, who I learned was deep into physics. I convinced him to come to a lunchbox seminar. I also got in a good conversation with Alanna (who is also a physics major. Had no idea!), and met Troy’s friend Jawwar.

i.       Returned to room, read physics. Xin wanted to talk about housing (room selection opens tomorrow) and so Brandon, Xin, and I went on a walk. We kicked around the soccer ball for a while. Xin sprinted so hard trying to steal the ball from me that he almost threw up. Then, after a R&R in my room with some grapefruit juice, headed up to the 8^th floor, the Global Experience community to be. We milled around the corridors, looking at the floor plan, and found this odd-looking triple that comprised two rooms. As we were talking, one of the 8^th floor residents asked us if we were scouting housing; it turned out the crazy triple was his room. So we got a full tour! The room looked amazing. Two times the area of a double for three people at the cheaper double rate. Great view out towards the lake, with two(!) windows. And, this is the craziest part, an internal bathroom! The only room in Haggett with one!

j.       We walked back to the 6^th floor, hashed out housing priorities (crazy triple/2104 House, then double/single on 8^th floor). Speculated a bit on how we could move the furniture around. Good camaraderie and banter—I’m looking forward to living with these shmids next year.

k.     Brandon went back to McCarty, and Xin and I retired to our rooms. I sent an email, wrote this log, and went to bed.