anfin’s Blog

Alright, so I need to book some tickets to get me from Gainesville, Fl to Philadelphia, PA from August 17 through 19. Price is not exactly an huge issue since I have no less than three sources willing to pay for all or part of said trip. What is important is that I have an extreme fear of getting stuck in an airport and not making it to Philadelphia which would then lead to me missing my first oral presentation at an ACS (American Chemical Society) meeting. That would be very, very sad. Thus, I would greatly appreciate some opinions on my options. Here they are:

1. $308 flying US Airways and connecting in Charlotte
2. $398 flying Delta and connecting in Atlanta
3. $692 flying United and connecting in Charlotte

Any thoughts?

Despite my recent lack of internet presence, I am in fact alive and here’s what I’ve been up to:

• For the past forever, I have been spending my weekends visiting grad schools. I think I’m going to Northwestern outside of Chicago. Chicago looks like this. I know that I’m not going to Stanford. Stanford looks like this. Pop Quiz: (1) Which place looks colder? (2) What am I thinking?
• I am finally using my iPod regularly. It’s nice. What’s not nice is that every time I plug it in to my computer, iTunes decides to welcome my “new” iPod and makes me go through set-up again. Any suggestions?
• I have just won two small chemistry awards, and both of them involve me receiving a personalized copy of the Merck Index which I’m not entirely certain is something I will ever need to use.
• I plan to try out for Little Shop of Horrors at GCT this summer. It’s not my favorite play, but the music’s fun. If I had a choice of who to play, it would be the evil, flesh-eating, world-domination-planning plant. Unfortunately, that particular part is meant to be played by a baritone man. However, this is not necessary to the script, and if I’m lucky, they won’t have a good baritone man try out. If not, I would be happy playing one of the back-up doo-wop singers. In related news, while trying to sing along with the CD, I discovered that I am completely incapable of doing the nasal New York accent of the leading lady Audrey (same accent as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls).
• I just got new Timberland Boots. This make me happy.

So that’s what’s been happening with me in the last while. And now for a post that I actually wrote last winter:

Today has been an unusually eventful day, and in fact the same can be said for this entire week. For one, I’ve synthesized at least three different products in high yields and am working on a couple more. Sad thing is (or is it?), one of the best of the products was not even one I was trying to make. I accidentally used the wrong reagent for a prep and ended up with a fantastic yield of ridiculously pure product. It’s not what I was going for, but it’s still a useful compound for our lab to have so I’m not feeling too bad about it. What I am feeling bad about is the fact that my computer has decided to go on strike until I finally yield to the demands it has been making since last winter term concerning replacing its faulty fan. This makes for a sad lack of internet unless I trudge to the library or rely upon the kindness of roommates. Sad day… In happier news, we had the 100 meter run for the Iron Man Competition this morning, and I came in fourth for the girls. This is a joyous thing, but it is now time to give you fine folks some explanation of the title of this entry. Imagine to yourselves that you are in downtown Greenville and see a mass of people all walking down the sidewalk and that each person in this multitude is carrying a loaf of Sara Lee Soft and Smooth Whole Grain White Bread. I personally would find myself rather confused. At any rate, this unusual phenomenon did in fact occur today after the Greenville Drive game attended by the Chemistry Department. It seems that the generous people at Sara Lee decided to give one such loaf to everyone at the game. Maybe it doesn’t sound so impressive to you, but all of us college students were pretty excited. I mean, it’s free bread! We’re not going to complain.

You may ask, “What is this cryptic message that you have given us in the title of your blog post? Is it some sort of secret code to solving some complex riddle?” Well, the answer is that, no, it is not. These numbers are in fact my bowling scores in the order I bowled them tonight at the first official Iron Man event of the summer: ten-pin bowling. Clearly, I did not start out strong, and I certainly didn’t hold any hope for scoring points for this event, but at least at the time I had to leave, I was in a strong third place. Expect further Iron Man updates in the future, and for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, check here. I would be more detailed right now but my space key isn’t working properly (as a side note, if anyone has a spare keyboard that they would like to graciously donate, I would be very appreciative). The End.

Well, the summer of Chemistry is over. The lab is clean (for once), the Iron Man competition is over, and all the little researchers have headed home. I had a grand time through it all, but I suppose a change of pace will be nice. Maybe after a few days I’ll even be able to cook without thinking, “So I’ve been letting this simmer for 15 minutes . . . Wait, I need to be writing this down. . . Shoot, I don’t know what mass of oregano I used. . . Wait a second. . . Right, I’m not actually in lab right now. Just cook, Sarah, just cook.” Not that I actually cooked anything more complicated than grilled cheese very often, but when I did I seriously would get momentarily confused. Anyway, this summer has been a lot of fun, and I’ve met a lot of cool people, and I’m really going to miss the experience. I very much hope that I’ll be able to do it again next year.

If I’ve done nothing else by starting this blog, at least I seemed to have spurred my good brother into actually using his again. I consider this to be a great accomplishment.

Speaking of accomplishments, I made something yellow in lab today. Yay! All you need know is that yellow is the favorite color of anyone doing chemistry of CrN6 chromophores (which, consequently, is what we’re doing). . . at least while they are in lab it is.

So how’s life in the wonderful world of Furman Chemistry you ask? I’ll tell you. We’ve been at it for about 2 months now, synthesizing, running spectra, having funerals/memorial services for compounds named Ernesto that didn’t quite live long enough to be published. You know the usual. Yesterday, some construction people outside broke a water line so there was practically a riot in the halls of all the sciency people up here. We basically had an hour where we pretty much couldn’t do any lab work at all. Who knew that we could be so dependent on running water? Anyway, everyone knows that the most important aspect of the Furman Chemistry Summer Research Program is the Iron Man/Iron Woman competition. I am sadly officially out of the running unless I can somehow beat a cross-country champion at the 1 Mile Run in two weeks. In other words, not happening. However, I did give it a good try. At the beginning, I was in the lead for the women’s competition due to an immense stroke of luck at the bowling event and then the ping-pong event. I also won the darts and horseshoes event yesterday. Anyway, even though the most athletic girl ever to walk the face of the earth who also happens to be a Chemistry major may win the Iron Woman, I shall at least be awarded the honor of being this year’s Aluminum Woman, and that, my friends, is something that not many people can say about themselves.