Placement...

Not going to happen. Well, I did not expected much anyway. Today I had the first two placement exams in the Physics Department. I read and reread all the problems and ended up completing the first part (of three) of the second Classical Mechanics problem (of two). The E&M were about material that I had not seen yet, so I am looking forward to using Jackson. Now I am reading Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell. The cover of this book is where I got the idea for the title of this blog. Path integrals!

My name on SPIRES!

Finally my name appears in SPIRES! Celebration! This document is about my summer research project at SLAC. You can read the final report here (.pdf). Yay!

Physics Orientations 1

Today I finally stepped inside the Physics building! :-)

The graduate orientations are being held during this week, today was the first part of the Physics Department orientations. The director of the graduate program gave us a very warm and nice welcome to the department. We even had breakfast and lunch provided! Basically there were talks on lots of graduate issues including placement exams and teaching assistantships. I met many new students, mainly from China. Anyways, I already have stuff to do...

(Added - Something embarrassing happen during one of the talks: my belly made a really LOUD sound, like a fart. I am afraid this was my first impression on people... Oh well... I should not have had that piece of sandwich...)

The dark shower

On Thursday morning, while I was taking my clothes off, the light in the shower room flickered and died. I carried on, opening the door and looking where my soap and shampoo were and dialing a nice temperature for the water. I had no problem showering in the dark. I posted a work-order and it will take a while for it to be fix. Sadly the bulb is not accessible and it is one of those long tubes that nobody knows where to buy, so we cannot fix it on our own.

My other house mates are annoyed, of course. All of them are showering with the door open. Maybe I am to shy, but I have been showering with the door close. Basically I located the soap and shampoo and just make slow movements. Everything works fine. The weird thing is that I have found myself showering with my eyes closed! Somehow it just feels more natural. I guess I have a mental picture of the room, so I have an idea where things are an feel confident about it. I wont say that I have achieved enlightenment or something like that, but it feels different. I guess I'm the only one not looking forward for a new light bulb in the shower room.

Crap Sunday

I have enough reasons to write a best selling book on bad days.

Today I woke up and shower like always. Then I made a really yummy set of French toast. After breakfast I decided to go shopping but since I was not sure about the bus times, instead I watched a movie: Donnie Darko. It is a really good movie. Around 1:40 PM I headed to the bus stop.

It was a long wait, just like yesterday but this time under the rain. I had been sneezing occasionally during the morning and at this point the sneezing had become more frequent. At the bus stop there were a couple of new graduate students. One from India asked me if I was also from India. It is funny because yesterday two other persons asked me the same think. This time the guy said that from a certain angle I looked like a friend of his who goes to Stony Brook too. So now I have a Hindu twin...

An hour passed and the bus did not came. More graduate students came, these were Chinese. One of them was a new physics students, who told me he was called *insert name here*, but U (You) was alright. U and his friend took the other bus to the library and I stayed behind waiting for the Mall bus. My sneezing had become frequent and I had lots of blobs coming from my nose.

My girlfriend called at the worst moment. First she did not had signal so I could not hear her. Then she call me back and I was in the process of getting to another bus and learning what happen to the Mall bus. I talked to her but I clearly had to pay attention to where was I being drop off. I tried calling her after the bus dropped me but at the same time she answered another student asked me for "the quad" and the Mall bus showed up, while I was struggling with my umbrella. I really wanted to talk to my girlfriend. Instead, I was in the last row of a hot bus with all my sinuses angry at me.

I got off at the supermarket. I felt light and disoriented, but was able to get all the items in my piece-of-paper-of-a-list. With three bags of groceries in my hands and two in my backpack I headed to the bookstore. Of course, the way to the bookstore was a bit risky having to walk on the street in the middle of a rainy afternoon. But my search on the bookstore was short: I knew what I wanted.

My reward: The Feynman Lectures of Physics. Finally! Some physics in this blog! I have been reading Genius: The life and science of Richard Feynman. It is one of the best stories I ever read, and to think that it tells the life of a real person (who worked at the Manhattan Project and developed interesting diagrams for Quantum Electrodynamics among other things) makes it really amazing. But all the joy of celebrating Feynman almost vanished when the cashier's machine read $195. I bought it anyways, I had a gift card from my girlfriend's parents and the books really are worth the other part.

Another long wait at the bookstore. When the bus finally showed up and I got in driver told me that "there was no bus stop there". Oh well! I humbly apologized, but I really wanted to get back to my apartment and also did not felt like walking under the rain (again) with my new acquisitions. The ride back "home" was alright. I took a nap when I got to my room and then read some of the first volume of the Lectures. I am still feeling tired and congested but some Feynman will cure it...

Attack of the Grocery Shoppers

Today I tried grocery shopping again... I decided to walk to the bus stop around 11:20 AM and the bus ended up arriving after 12:15 PM. It was packed! I was the last person to get, and I rode standing just before the steps and the front door. The bus driver was nice and introduced me to a fellow driver who was riding along to learn the route. They spoke Spanish and we had a nice long chat about Puerto Rico and the town I used to live, Lajas. It turned out his wife was from Lajas. Friendly Spanish was a nice smelly breeze inside the sweat smelling bus. It was PACKED!

I got off at Path-way or something, a super-market. Prices were OK, although I ended up paying more than $80 again. But this time I got the baking pan, a real frying pan and a measuring cup. I also got brownie mix, which I had craved during the week. After I finished shopping I waited the bus for another hour and met other graduate students. Sadly none were physics students but that is alright, I should not be an elitists. From the store up to getting to my apartment I met students from (gasp for air) Turkey, India, Israel and Poland (thinks there were not that many places... but continues typing). The bus was surprisingly empty when it came, but it got PACKED again on the next stop. We ended up waiting like five minutes until everybody settle down. It was nice to be back in my apartment.

Not much physics is going on now, but I am reading Feynman's paper on the path integral. Feynman was (and still is) just awesome.

First trip!

The rain finally cleared by 3:00 PM. At that time Justin and I decided to take the bus down to the mall to see if I could get my phone working and to get Justin a phone. We were 10 minutes early at the bus stop and of course took the wrong bus.

So we got off in Port Jefferson, to the north-east of Stony Brook. Heck, it was a nice opportunity to explore around and the bus driver charged us the student price (50 cents less). I got an iced tea at a nearby bakery in order to get change for the bus. Port Jefferson looks nice. Lots of restaurants; seafood and pizza mainly. I think I also found the Ferry port.

Without a watch or clock we headed to the nearest bus station and waited for the bus again. It came soon, but this time we had to pay the full price ($1.50) :-(.

Alas, we got to Smith Haven Mall! Sadly we got off the bus to early and had to walk to the "real" mall. At this point I really needed to return the iced tea I had earlier to the place that saw it grow. Walking inside the Smith Haven Mall a mid-east-looking guy in a kiosk asked Justin "if he knew about the war in Israel". Apparently Justin has a hard time being rude to people so he agreed on trying a hand lotion.

We walked in the direction of the restrooms but those were out of reach because of construction. Finally I got to relief myself in the Food Court, that is, in the bathroom close to it.

We got to the Sprint store and each of us got what we were looking for. So everything was worth it.

Today I learned which bus stop takes you to Port Jefferson and which one takes you to the Smith Haven Mall. Tomorrow, groceries again...

Rain

It has been raining all morning. Now it looks like finally it has cleared up a bit so maybe I will take the bus to the mall and try to fix my cellphone.

Laundry

Yet another day here at Stony Brook University. My cell phone finally decided too die. It does not charge it's battery and claims that it is charged. But when you disconnect the phone from the jack, it powers off. So sad. And annoying...

I got some laundry done today. Well all of what I had, even the blanket that was left on the couch by the previous students of the apartment. Washers and dryers were $1.50. I had lots of change, but most of it was not in quarters. The stupid idea to use the soft drink machine nearby as a mean to get quarters actually worked. I even was able to convert $1.00 into four quarters! It is annoying that laundry machines do not accept dimes or nickels. Oh well, now I used all my change and I do not have any for the bus tomorrow.

I am eager for classes to start.

50 cents

Yesterday I went to the campus post office and sent my SLAC roommate his badge. The SLAC badge has a dosimeter, and that is the only thing the laboratory keeps after you finished. I guess without a dosimeter you cannot get into the radiation hazard areas. So my roommate gave me his to return because he was leaving early. At the post office I had to fill a US Customs form estating the value of what was inside the envelope.

An ID badge from one of the most famous and important laboratories in the nation: priceless. I quickly jotted down $0.50.

Dumb

Agh! I have been going through the first problems of Warren Siegel's Fields and I just feel dumb. Hopefully it will just take a while to regain my rhythm. If not... I am doomed.

(My girlfriend calls me a drama-king for a reason...)

First exploration...

Today I decided to finally stop resting and go out to wander around the Stony Brook campus.

My first destination was Stony Brook Union, trying to find the ATM. I approached from the east, so I only had to walk to the entrance. But I did not knew this. So I entered the building through the "top" floor. Classes have not started, so there are not many around. Still, the Union looked so scary! Even the insides. I wander and wander until finally I found the ATM.

Then I headed to the main quad. I found the bookstore, which was not that bad. My Mechanics book was in, but QM had not arrive. It really did not matter because I ordered the online. I continued on my way. The Student Activity Center seemed really nice so I went inside.

The Seawolves Marketplace was salvation! I bought frying pans, a fork-spoons-knife set, a bowl, two dishes, some other kitchen stuff and most importantly: a PILLOW! I am so happy! For the past two nights I have been sleeping without one, and it has not been that bad. But I felt lost and incomplete without a pillow. Not anymore!

I also learned about a bus that goes to the shopping mall, and got train tickets for my first Boston trip. Definitely I accomplished a lot. (A Cumrun Vafa sighting might have taken place, but I am not sure...)

First groceries

Today I got to explore around a bit and got some groceries. I met one of my house-mates, Jacob. He is a cool guy, majoring in Political Science. There is Nicholas, but I have not seem him yet.

So around 1:45 PM I decided to go and take the bus, after Jacob's information about the whole shopping thing. The bus came after a few minutes of waiting and the ride to the shopping place was OK. I think I bought to much, having a hard time with the bags and loosing a jar of concord grape jelly. Oh well. Could the use of big paper bags made this easier? Next weekend I should try getting less stuff.

I also need a couple of things besides groceries including a frying pan, a pillow and maybe a wastebasket. Also some notebooks for classes... This week should be interesting.

Stony Brook!

The summer program at SLAC ended. My final report was submitted, my talk was delivered, my checks picked up.

Around 7:30 AM I was already on my way to the San Francisco Airport. Breakfast was fun and yummy. Security checkout was better than I thought. My flight took off around 12:00 M (pacific time) and landed just after 8:00 PM, I think... (eastern time). It was a surprisingly long walk from the terminal I got off to the baggage claim room. Then the bags were delayed a bit, maybe because of the fact that there were other flights at the same time. I think I got to Airtrain around 9:20 PM. It was really confusing and it turned out that I got into the wrong train once. After a quick change in direction (a tad annoying with all my heavy suitcases), I got to Jamaica Station. Kind of annoying that you have to pay ($5) to actually get out of the station and transfer to the other train systems. When I finally got to the train tracks, I got even more confused and desperate about which train to take. It was 9:44 PM and there was a train on track 7 (or 6?). For some reason I thought it was the one I wanted and rushed to it, jumping down the stairs with my own luggage train. I missed the train, for a good reason: It was not. I went up, this time using the automatic staircase, and asked around for the correct train. It was 9:50 PM and the guy at the information office told me that the next train would be at 11:03 PM. I was depressed :-(.

I remembered that to get to Stony Brook one had to transfer in Huntington or Hicksville. The next train that was coming was headed to Huntington so I took it around 10:04 PM. It was quite a long ride. I got to Huntington at 10:45 PM and had to wait until 11:51 PM for the next train to Port Jefferson. While I was there I met a guy called Steve who spent most of the time writing on a piece of papers. He seemed really concentrate, so I figured not to ask. Also, something along the train tracks catch fire. After a couple of minutes it was put down. The train was on time, and Steve helped me find a less empty train car and also helped with my heavy bags. I got to Stony Brook but did not bother to check the time, it was late enough for me, and for such a long day. Steve came to help, but I already had the bags outside the train. He was heading to Port Jefferson. Thank you Steve!

Many got off at the Stony Brook station, but none seemed to head in my direction. I checked a map, compared it to the one I had and decided to start walking. I had a hunch I was heading the wrong way, and gave a second look to the map after a couple of steps. I turned 180 degrees, and started walking toward the Schomburg apartments. Another fellow, I believe he was called Frederick, help me as I got closer to the apartment complex. We went to the quad office, but the person waiting was in the commons. She is really nice. I finally got into my room. After settling down, I took a shower and finally crashed on the bed, without a pillow :-(.

Welcome to gradschool :-).

Summer at SLAC

I have not posted in ages! Sorry for that. I have not being that busy. I just did not felt like it.

Anyways, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is awesome. I am working with a very interesting problem: making water samples. My mentor is interested in the study of the molecular structure of water using x-ray pulses. For a certain type of experiments one needs a thin layer of water, around 500 nm. I came up with a simple setup to make these water samples. So far we have test them down at Stanford's campus and the Advanced Light Source over at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Now I have tons of data in my computer and have been procrastinating about analyzing it. Oh well.

Physics (and Science in general) is a bit different at SLAC. I spent the last summer at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD. There I worked building an optical trap to study single molecules. I guess most of my complaints are about the materials. The stockroom at NIST was like a shopping mall. Here at SLAC is more modest. But I guess it is like comparing an orange to a bottle. SLAC is just one big machine, while NIST is like hundreds of small machines. Still, I am very happy of being able to experience research in both of this great facilities.

I am liking my research at SLAC. It is far from my main interest: String Theory and fundamental physics. In about three weeks I'll be flying to JFK International Airport in NY. I am excited about starting graduate school. Let's see how it goes and what I end up doing...