10/27/16: A Concert to Remember

1. 10/27/16
1. E&M: Finally, some new material! I’m so psyched. We exploited some neat vector calc from 33x to calculate the induced charge on a conducting surface.
2. Quantum: Talked about free particle. Most of the stuff was in Griffiths but I managed to figure out some personal questions I had about Fourier transforms while sitting in class. Sat next to Judith, who told me about a concert later that night, right after Glee rehearsal.
3. Went to gym to play hoops! Got into a good game. My vertical is really back, I can solidly touch the rim now (though my ‘bounding degrades way faster than my running as a game wears on).
4. Back to 2104, shower and a snack, then Creating a Company. Some fun exercises and class logistics. At one point Alan asked if anyone needed a break (no) if anyone needed to do calisthenics (me: yes) so Alan grabbed me and had me lead a few stretches :P I tried to do a warmup we did in Glee called “Alive, Awake, Alert, Enthusiastic” but couldn’t quite remember the stretch sequence :)
5. Worked stuff out with my team, delegated responsibilities. A productive session. Damir has good focus.
6. Busted out a list of name ideas because we need the name for tonight so Damir can print business cards.
7. Went to Glee, did a quick “interview” thingy with one of my Glee mates who wants to do computer science. He mostly asked me about the admissions process, but at the end I found out he was also more on the theoretical vs dev end, and I told him there were few like us and the research profs needed us, so if he could go pitch himself to a research prof and get work in a lab that would look great on the CS application.
8. Rehearsal was good, conductors were a little more stressed than normal, but we sang well.
9. Ran to string quartet concert in Meany. Plunked down $10, wasn’t sure what to expect. Judith was running late so I set up in one of the front rows.
10. The quartet was INCREDIBLE. Their tone was amazing, their synchronization was truly astounding (lots of passages where the different players would hand off solos or duo lines with terrific accuracy). I thought more about Fourier series :)
11. Walked out into Meany for intermission, ran into Judith. Talked for a while, met her friend cellist Isabel. (Happy birthday Isabelle back at home by the way!)
12. Second movement was also really cool. After that, went with Judith and Isabel to talk to the performers (who they’d both met in a music department seminar yesterday, even though they were from New York). Ended up going to the reception, where the amazing free food made up handily for dinner. Got into a discussion with a really friendly older fellow, a biochem professor working on gene injection via viruses. Talked about physics, which he was enthusiastic about. He recommended I visit a chemistry lab managed by a fellow named David Baker (what the frick?! Remember Rachel Park from Go Club a year ago, the one who busted into lunchbox to tell the professor about a new research tool developed in her lab? Well, she worked in Baker’s lab and really loved his research!)
13. So maybe I’m meant to check it out! The professor, who incidentally is the uncle of the Seahawks kicker Hauschka, said there were students there from all branches of science, trying to figure out protein folding. (They did the FoldIt citizen science project).
14. Walked back to 2104 singing a merry tune. Helped the Entre team figure out a name, registered my new bike lock, worked on organizing SPS pickup frisbee, wrote this log, and hit the hay.