1/4/16

1. Highlight: Went to the lifting section of the gym for the first time ever, with Brandon. Exhausted my out-of-shape arms fairly quickly on various machines, which are not as incomprehensible as they are initially intimidating. 
2. Other things: 
1. Classes look interesting. Physics math is straight-up Ordinary Differential Equations right now, which I've already learnt; but the pace is fast enough I hope to reach new material soon. Hardware lecture was a bit boring, broad overview, but I like the instructor.
2. Read some Death and Life of Great American Cities (Cities) over breakfast. Since my first classes are 10:30 I hope to have enough stability to make a tradition out of both breakfast and associated reading.
3. Researched and sent a big email about CSE study abroad.
4. Went to Ruzhen Mongolian Grill with Brandon! I'd never been before. It was pretty neat. You load your bowl with raw meat, uncooked veggies, noodles and different oils + garlic water/ginger water, etc., then the whole mess gets tossed on a grill, chopped and scrambled and steamed with water poured on the grill, and finally it is returned to you, so you can add yet more sauces. It's a very simple prep method, but the result is quite tasty. Good conversation with Brandon as well. He's reading the research-intensive Steven Pinker book Angels of our Better Nature, about the statistics showing a general decline in violence.
5. Watched Pulp Fiction, (I think the first Tarantino movie I've seen) with some floormates. Awesome movie, but NSF_. Tried a strange, Tarantino-cowboy inspired social experiment--I couldn't remember the pronunciation of a floormate's name, so instead of my usual apology-polite request, I said, "I been meanin' to ask you--is it ArIF or ARif?" Seemed to work really well. I'm always surprised at the effectiveness of swagger as a secret social sauce. 
3. Signing off! Take care y'all!