Done

Sigh.

It took upwards of 40 hungry college students to finally kill this cake 

A birthday cake to remember 

Louis and I on the last day of physics class 

Professor Feld, trusty physics professor and Mr. Magoo lookalike 

Thumbs up for the physics TA 

Leading our robot toward the light 

Professor Leslie Kaelbling of the AI department and I 

A demo for the final class of 6.099 

Afternoon bike ride in Boston 

A bridge over the Charles 

XX

You don’t get many bragging rights when you’re 20. If anything, this milestone serves only to mark the way for my golden birthday. To make matters worse, finals start tomorrow and gruelingly extend through Wednesday afternoon. It hasn’t been a bad birthday by any means, in fact quite the opposite, but the real present will come when I turn in my last paper and stride purposely from the lecture hall, completing my first year at MIT.

Caught by the flash 

Rooftop view of the city 

A red moon hanging low over the city 

Silhouettes over Boston 

Back stairwell to the Hyatt 

Home Stretching

The final day of classes has come and gone, which leaves only finals to trudge through before the summer is upon me. Last night my accomplice and I took to the streets of Cambridge on bikes for an exploration mission.

This morning I awoke to rain falling from a cloudless sky. The sun is out and I have work to do.

Let the games begin 

A large showing for the 2.007 Design Competition 

The original design, a pulley with a weight on the end dangled over the Enter key 

The pulley system suspended over the computer 

Schrock installs the solenoid 

The finished product... 

Projects

It’s been two semesters since I came to MIT, so I feel qualified enough to draw a few cursory conclusions. I had a preconceived notion that MIT was full of kids who love to build crazy contraptions in their spare time. In reality this is not too far from the truth, but the workload placed on most students during the week keeps many of the more time consuming projects from coming to fruition.

A case in point:

Ken Schrock and his roommate Francis love cartoons. Futurama, The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, and Seinfeld are on constant rotation on their TV, and the Theta Chi server is full of countless seasons of comedy favorites. Ken and Francis also happen to be very lazy, a quality in which they place a good deal of pride. Ken and Francis often have trouble deciding which episode and show to watch, and don’t want to get off their couch to change the computer to the next episode when one finishes. In the spirit of laziness, Ken, who is a senior, spent the last two days coding a random show selector that will arbitrarily pick a show off the server and start it playing on the computer. Tonite he took a solenoid off a robot I built over the summer, placed it over the keyboard of his computer connected to the TV, and attached a large switch on a length of wire. When you press the switch the solenoid fires into the Enter key on the keyboard, a show is randomly selected, and the episode begins to play. Don’t like the show? Just flip the switch again. Genius.

In other news, today was the 2.007 Design and Manufacturing robotics competition held in the Johnson Ice Rink. More students attended this competition than any sporting event I’ve attended all year. The goal of the game was to create a robot that could move balls down a series of platforms into a goal at the bottom of the field. Two robots square off head to head to see who can score the most point. Qualifying rounds were held today, and the competition winners will be determined tomorrow evening.

A late night at the studio 

Bill, feeding a granola bar to a parrot 

Still Life: Fruit Snacks, Microphone, Parrot 

DJ BillMag 

What ultimately controls 88.1 WMBR 

Jenny, Austin, Myself, Zach, Michael, Ricky, Bill, and David crash the radio show 

AM Radio

Last night, after editing the final issue of The Tech, I moseyed on over to the radio station around 2AM to broadcast the show. An hour into the show with Bill, a large portion of Tech staffers crashed into the studio to spread their lies over the airwaves of Boston. Stories were told, skill questions were answered, and meatball subs were consumed.

The men of Beacon Street 

Triumphant 

Working in the garden 

MIT Baseball 

An interesting photo from Ante, Christian Science Center reflecting pool 

From a Boston roof... 

Bill and Amy under a tree 

Boston in spring 

Bill, before the semi-formal 

Theta Chi Rave Pubnite 

Gattis with sticks 

G is for George 

Ray and Ante: Green glow 

Glow 

Madness! 

A Semi-Formal Weekend

After weeks of planning between Bill and me, the semi-formal was pulled off with without a hitch. Dinner at Vinny-T’s followed by a risqué comic was the fare for the evening, after which folks came back to the house for a little get together.

On Thursday Theta Chi hosted Rave Pubnite, fulfilling a dream I’ve had since childhood of purchasing 200 glow sticks. Being social chair this semester has been fun but I’ll enjoy having Thursday nights free in the future.

Saturday night I watched Pride and Prejudice at Wellesley, which made for an exciting movie-viewing adventure. Watching a movie at Wellesley is like going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show minus the ridiculous costumes. Everyone shouts at the screen, whole sections of the movie are drowned out by nervous giggling, and at least half of the theatre’s patronage theatre walks out crying. Needless to say I had a fine time.

On Sunday Bill and I replanted the small, but now robust Theta Chi garden. At the garden store I informed the owner that we needed plants that would survive neglect and occasional watering with beer. He told me no such plant exists, but did make some good recommendations for alternative watering methods. Some hostas, random perennials, and six bags of mulch later we have a decent looking front lawn.

A shot taken by a visiting professor from Cambridge, just to prove that yes, I do a reasonable amount of work in college.

Brentan says something really funny to Ante, who just can't seem to control himself 

No comment 

The black cloud of smoke that mysteriously appeared over MIT's campus on Friday 

Cake! 

Leading up to something illegal 

Lawlessness on the OX roof

Strangers in the Night

Yesterday I was elected News Editor for The Tech starting next semester. Today I got a call from a good friend asking if I wanted to attend the Red Sox/Yankees game tonight but I had to turn it down because I’m editing The Tech this evening. Ironic? Yes.

In other news, the bands Cake and Matt Pond PA came to MIT for Spring Weekend. I got an Arts interview with Cake which involved attending the 2 hour sound check (read: personal concert) and chasing after band members following the set. I got a good 20 minutes with the trumpet player, Vince DiFiore. We talked about life on the road, touring abroad, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

There never seems to be enough hours in the day, although the last time I checked the number has stayed constant at somewhere around 24. I wrote an article concerning an OpenCourseWare site that was taken off MIT servers after drawing controversy from the Chinese community. You can read about on The Tech’s site.

In case you've forgotten, I still stay up until 4 AM every Tuesday serving a hot selection of tasty beats and treats. Listen live at WMBR.org