Caltech

Birthdays!

2012-01-27T08:34:00-08:00

I am sure every house has their own way of celebrating the birth of its members, but in Ruddock we have this tradition where on the night before a person's birthday we bake some cake or brownies for them, and then with as many people as are around we present it to them at 12 am. And last semester, my friend Sophie's birthday was coming up so two of her friends (Corwin and Sue) and I decided to make a very interesting cake. The idea was to create a flower out of cupcakes, as seen below, which is not the one we made.

Seems pretty cool right? We thought so too... but I don't think any of us anticipated how much work it was going to be.

We estimated that we would need to make about 35 cupcakes, so we looked up a red velvet recipe for 25 cupcakes and decided to double it. We kinda figured that'd be enough to ensure we would have a few cupcakes to eat along the way. It just so happens that my roommate Corwin is a really great chef, so he had this idea to make the icing we would use from scratch. However, he was the only one who knew how to make the icing and wouldn't be back from his cooking class until around 10:30. (The cooking class is only once a week, and it is rare that classes go so late, but some are available then if you want them.) At the time, he thought an hour and a half would be long enough to make the icing and then ice the cupcakes.

On the night before Sophie's birthday, after a few mishaps, Sue and I got all the cupcakes baked and ready to be iced. I don't think I'm that bad of a cook, but somehow I managed to waste about two sticks of butter; I mixed the butter with baking powder instead of with sugar and had to throw out the batch. Corwin got back a little later than expected, but he got started on the icing right away so we were still pretty confident we'd make the 12 o'clock time.

I'm not going to describe the process of making the icing, (I really don't even remember it...) but I can tell you it was very complicated... or at least time-intensive. Plus it kept slightly melting on us so we had to cool it down before we could use it. Corwin made two batches, one raspberry (pinkish colored) and one vanilla (white colored). And then we had to actually ice the cupcakes. It looked pretty awesome in the end! But we ended up finishing at around 1:40 am... it was a good a thing I finished all my work early.

Take a look:

As you can tell, they are all clearly impressed... and you should be too. I'm just kidding, if you're a master baker, this is probably simple stuff for you, but except for Corwin, we were just beginners. It was fun making it, but I highly doubt I'll ever spend so much time on baking here at Caltech again. Or even have the time for it.

The reason the title is plural is because I also wanted to talk about my roommate's birthday which was on the 17th of January. To preface it, I just want to say a little about Caltech.

Ever since I have come to Caltech, I have been amazed at the level of support that Techers show each other. From an upperclassmen explaining a math set problem to freshman staying up four hours later than needed explaining the chem set to their peers, people here really try to help each other, and not only on schoolwork. I had never expected to find this in college. Perhaps it's by necessity or perhaps it's by design, but I think it's really great that we have such a culture.

In that spirit of helping, several friends and myself pooled some money together and got Corwin an iPod nano with lots of music on it for his birthday. The reason we did this is because not only had he lost his bike when he got back from break (someone cut through his lock), but when he sent his computer in to get fixed, they wiped his hard-drive. It would have been a little much to try to get a new bike, so I thought the least we could do was replace some of his music content. He also runs a lot, so now he has the option of listening to music while he runs.

We also got Tom Mannion to take Corwin and a few other people out to Korean BBQ for Corwin's birthday. (Tom's official title is the Senior Director of Student Activities and Programs... I think. He is a really cool guy, you should get to know him if you ever come to Caltech. He also runs the cooking class, which is how he knows Corwin pretty well from first semester.) I think we all got completely stuffed from that dinner. It was an all-you-can eat thing, and I got to try cow tongue, kobe beef bacon, and even some intenstine (which was a little too chewy for me honestly).

The picture below is of the intestine cooking. It's burning because of all the fat released when you cut it open to cook the inside too.

Avery Antics

2012-01-26T08:41:00-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, when I was doing the calls to early action acceptances for the admissions department, the most frequently asked question was, “So, what do Caltech students do for a life?”

Answer: Meet the antics of Avery House. We are an eclectic mix of personalities and are proud to exhibit out personalities whenever we can (all in good humor, of course).

First, meet the honorary resident of room 138 (aka Bob’s Lair).

Bob in his awesome throne (a folding chair won at an athletics event). He rocks a time turner.

Bob has left his mark. We also have some Avery spirit.

We first explore Alley 3.4 (my home since September 18, 2011) and get a taste for the different types of people.

Our neighbors to the left: Grace and Vivian

Our neighbors to the right: Pinting and our UCC Julia.

The two other frosh in our alley (represented by their colorful door and innovation): Cedric and Copernicus (Nick).

Cedric and Nick’s neighbor Eric, represented by his culinary flair (yes, he made all of that, and it is vegan).

Julia, Winnie, Jeppe, and Ishan, who is the other alley UCC.

The people in Alley 3.4 whom I see the most. George and Jeppe (the two in the front) are foreign exchange students from England and Denmark. In the back is David, a graduate student from Australia.

The above two pictures were taken on our trip to the mall in Santa Anita, about a 20 minute ride by bus and a 1 mile walk from there. Our alley used the tickets we won from the pumpkin carving contest and watched The Adventures of Tin Tin (which was awesome).

We all are kids at heart. George decided to express himself while “no one” was looking.

The outing was extremely welcomed because I had a pretty exhausting week. Grace, Cedric, many other frosh Averites (and non-Averites) and I were up late Thursday night working on problem sets and lab reports, and, when in deep slumber after a night of intellectual toil...

“WAKE UP FROSH! IT’S DITCH DAY!!!!” <insert banging of pots and pans>

Well, not really. It was a “fake ditch day,” and the seniors set up a “stack” <read: puzzle/game involving collaboration and creative inspiration> in each alley to do in an hour before classes generally start.

Seniors administer the stacks. Wesley (facing forward) and Vivian (facing back) had many underclassmen to deal with.

Some stacks were quite sweet <read: picking out Craisins from whipped cream without your hands>.

Others went a little wild <read: lack of inspiration to associate rubber duckies to something>.

Ours was quite striking <read:finding mini bowling balls and pins in the bushes/trees/flowers of Avery, the fire house, Steele House, and Annenberg>.

We needed extra precaution for this mission, as Cedric demonstrate the safety protocol for the stack.

Our alley was pretty groggy searching through bushes galore for bowling pins, as none of us really completed the prescribed number of REM cycles. The moral of Fake Ditch Day, “Go to bed, frosh! Tomorrow’s Ditch Day!”

The overall moral of our antics: Caltech students have a pretty sweet life (even without the whipped cream).

Quote of the day: 新年快樂! <Happy New Year!> CDS had another themed dinner for Chinese New Year. The next few blogs will exhibit the wonderful fortunes they bequeathed upon the Caltech community. Mine was, "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."

Hair Pins? Nah, Lock Picks!

2012-01-25T11:21:00-08:00

I brought my guitar case with me to Caltech (and my guitar too, inside the case) when I flew back from Maryland. After settling back in and packing everything else away, I wanted to see how my guitar had fared over the flight. Turns out that on the journey between the airport in MD and my dorm room I had somehow misplaced the case key. Darn.

At first I was a little flustered, but then I thought what a good opportunity to try my lock-picking skills! I mean, how complicated could a guitar case lock be? Besides, it was my first day back to school, and there weren't any sets due soon.

After about ten minutes attempting to work it open with a paper clip and failing, I thought I might need some help. To be honest, I had never picked a lock before and had only the slightest clue about pins and whatever else goes into locks. At around that point, my friend Katherine walked by my open door and suggested that I go ask one of the upperclassmen with lock-picking sets if they could help, advice I was inclined to take.

Unfortunately Melissa couldn't open the lock either before she had to go finish her work, which amounted to about 5 minutes of effort. She left the lock-picking kit with us and as I began to fiddle with the lock, more people began stopping by to see what was up. At this point I tried fashioning the paper clip in the shape of the key, which was simple enough otherwise I wouldn't have remembered it. Eventually I got the shape right! But then the paper clip metal was too weak to apply enough force...

One of the girls left to get a u-shaped hair pin, which is different from a bobby pin since instead of the two ends pressed down together, the two forks of the pin are like a spring and want to stay apart. As we waited I let Katherine give the paper clip and lock pick set combo a shot. And she got it to turn! Only a little bit though.

When I got the hair pin, I was wondering if should simply give up and just ask if anyone else had a key for their guitar case that might match, or take it to a lock place and have them get it open for me. Then again, how cool would it be if I picked my lock though?! So I decided I might as well give it one more shot. Again, I fashioned the hair pin into the shape of the key. I had a good feeling about it since it did apply more pressure to the pins on account of its springy feature. After several minutes of re-shaping the pin into the right size, it finally fit into the lock.

With the aid of some tools from the lock-picking kit, I got the lock to turn about 90% of the way- but I just couldn't get that last little bit for all I tried. With no other hope I gave it to Katherine to see if she would have any more luck than me. And what do you know, she did!

It just took a little determination- and about two hours- and the help of friends- but I got the lock open! Now whenever I travel with my guitar case again, I think I'll leave it unlocked.

-Teo

Nostalgia for sun

2012-01-24T09:04:25-08:00

I was looking through the photos I uploaded from my camera, and, with the recent groggy weather, this somehow perked my spirits.

The Monday before classes my family drove down to sunny Pasadena (although when we arrived it was 11 PM) to drop me off for the winter quarter (we enjoy long road trips, and it was the first time we had four drivers). Tuesday, the day before classes, brought in two surprises.

First, the weather. From anywhere in the US (save for Florida and Hawaii), Pasadena was in summertime. At around 3 PM it struck 87℉, and I had to take off my jacket during the day (a first in about two months). It was a pleasant but startling change...I mean, it’s January.

Second, the Rose Parade (and Bowl). Because January 1st was a Sunday (and collegiate football is never played on Sundays to respect religious schools like TCU), the parade and football game were moved to Monday, 1/2. When my family and I came to Pasadena Monday night, Colorado Boulevard was extremely littered with food wrappings and the likes (and the dirtiest I ever saw Pasadena), and bleachers were in random places on the sidewalks and in PCC (Pasadena City College). Booking a hotel in Pasadena was also pretty difficult because of the football fans from Oregon and Wisconsin (we were relocated to Arcadia).

However, by Tuesday afternoon the roads were packed with travelers, and, while wandering in Old Pasadena, my family had the opportunity to see the floats from the Rose Parade. Note that these are no ordinary floats. These floats are decorated with plants, from roses (hence the name of the parade) and flowers to beans, corn husks, and fruits. For $10 we walked the 2-mile exhibit, watched dogs surf (this is not a typo) on the world’s longest float (although it was more of the dog holding onto a surf board for dear life), and marveled at the beauty of the floats’ details. I really liked the public viewing of the floats because we could see both sides of the float (compared to the one side you see at the live parade), and it complemented the TV experience (aerial view of the floats) pretty well, although flowers were wilting from the heat. I have some pictures below. The pictures are larger than normal so that you can see the detail.

A flower made of flowers.

Indonesian float. The figure is Garuda, a Hindu eagle that is the transport of a deity. This was one of my favorites.

Dole's entry into the Rose Parade. It won "best of show."

The theme of the parade was "Just Imagine". I will let you figure out what Trader Joe's was thinking about. :)

Quote of the day: We never knew there would be public viewing of the floats (we were in Old Pas to find a Best Buy). But it has always been a dream of ours to see the floats live, and it came true on Tuesday. To quote Swami Chinmayananda, “What you meet in life is destiny. How you meet it is free will.”

Flora, Fauna, and the Beauty of Caltech

2012-01-22T08:44:00-08:00

When I first visited Caltech, I was first fascinated by the sheer beauty of the campus. As pictures tell a thousand words, this picture blog with captions will tell you about the flora, fauna, and beautiful life at Caltech.

Ah...Millikan serves me well (a campus tradition).

Pretty Caltech sign...roses galore!

Olive trees are populous on campus and dot the grounds.

The egret (see Wikipedia) that sits in front of the chemistry lecture hall in the early mornings of the weekends.

Koi in Throop Pond.

Turtles sunbathing around noontime at Throop Pond.

In the early mornings, I hear parrots in the trees near the chemistry lecture hall (look carefully).

And, of course, the most populous species at Caltech in a special Chandler dinner...which was Kazoo Night with Southern food.

The obligatory food picture. Grits, beans, green tomatoes, okra, and a sweet potato biscuit.

My friends Daniel and Eric trying to play octaves on the kazoo.

Kevin rocking “Careless Whisper” by George Michael on the kazoo for passers-by.

Quote of the Day: My friend Hannah Klion, in response to Caltech students during Kazoo night: "I really have no idea what to think of Kazoo Night. CDS, you never cease to amaze me."