Fall Formal 2006

Last weekend was the fall formal! Simmons, Next House, MacGregor, and McCormick put it on for the entire campus, so we got a few dollars off of the tickets since Simmons was a sponsor. The event was held at the Hyatt, just a few blocks from Simmons, so it was a short (but very cold!) walk. Inside the hotel MIT students had a large room all to themselves. Plus there was food, a live band, a DJ, and dancing of course. All in all it was an awesome party and Gus and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The weekend was actually rather momentous for Gus and I, since we went to the formal last year together, and it was one of our first dates :-).

Pumpkin DROP!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween and ate lots of candy. Each year at MIT around Halloween, pumpkins are thrown off of the tallest building, the Green Building (Building 54 in MIT-speak). A huge crowd showed up to watch the event. Police are there and the whole building is roped off so no one gets crushed by the falling pumpkins. They threw off about 20 or so pumpkins and other forms of squash, which splattered onto the pavement below. There was even music in the background to make it more dramatic. Here are some pics of the remains of the pumpkins and Building 54:

Simmons also had a Halloween Carnival the same afternoon. Some of GRTs dressed up as characters from Nintendo’s Mario franchise, and their costumes were very creative. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics. I didn’t dress up, but I do have a picture of me looking frightened underneath a giant spider.

Random Fun Stuff

So, here's some random things I've been meaning to mention.

Think invisibility cloaks only exist in Harry Potter? Think again. Some researchers created the first cloaking device! http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/scientists-create-cloak-of-invisibility/20061019095109990046?ncid=NWS00010000000001

One of my friends was on the front page of slash dot (a very popular, and somewhat nerdy news website about cool things). Dheera has a bunch of awesome stuff on his website, including a description of how he made a giant LED display in the windows of Simmons.http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/10/21/1249200.shtml. Being mentioned on slashdot is a big deal, so congrats to Dheera!

And, lastly, a really amusing Doonesbury comic because it captures the “spirit” of MIT. (And don’t worry for those of you applying, it really isn’t this bad here, you’ll probably only have a few days like this).

Meet the Parents: Parents Weekend at MIT

We had a four day weekend at the beginning of October, and I went with Gus’ parents to Rhode Island. This was my first time meeting them, so I was a little nervous, but after the first few minutes I felt comfortable with them. We stayed with some of their relatives in Rhode Island, and did some sightseeing (although, not as much as I would have liked, since I had to do a 6.001 computer programming project). During one trip, we went to see some of the famous mansions that go along the Rhode Island coast. All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I’m glad I was finally able to meet Gus’ parents!

A few days later, it was Parents Weekend, and my parents came to visit! They sat in some of my classes, went to lectures, and hung out with me in general. They got to meet Gus’ parents too, and fortunately for me, it seems that our families are compatible with each other. On the weekend, we went to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at the Museum of Science, which was cool, but also disturbing (they are real bodies!). Check it out here: http://www.bodyworlds.com/index.html.

It was great seeing my parents, I’ve missed them over the past few months!

Zoo!

A while ago, I went on a Simmons government retreat to the Franklin Park Zoo. The zoo was quite small compared to the ones I have visited, but it very quaint and cute. It was a nice break from studying, and we had a picnic in the park beforehand. During this retreat, we talked about how to improve social activities, dining, and many other things. I’m not officially part of the Simmons government, but anyone from Simmons could attend the retreat. Here are some pics (including a goofy one of Gus and I):