Strip mining in Chicago

While flying over to Midway Airport in Chicago, I saw a bunch of strip mining operations in places where it was immediately surrounded by housing areas. I thought to myself, there's gotta be a lot of crappy stuff going on down there. I mean, I hear about all sorts of environmentalists and people hating on strip mining. And when I looked around in the area, it seems like it's all low-income sort of neighborhoods with shacks, generally smaller homes similar to those that you see in the movies that have garages and long alleyways and the house front on the other side. If you've played Silent Hill, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. But, in any case, it seems like there were strip-mining in the middle of suburbia and that really bothers me.

So, I decided to look up why we need strip mining at all in the first place...after like using half an hour that I could've used towards studying, I went ahead and researched the topic. So...for the rest of us that don't learn about mining engineering at....I have no idea if they actually teach this sort of stuff anywhere. I think Cal has the Hearst Mining building, but that left me puzzled as to the major itself, but I digress. So strip mining is basically open surface mining in which a mining company goes in and starts cutting open the ground and digs out material for whatever it is that they need. Here's the important part, when they have to go back and refill the land, they usually use this place as a waste dump and then cover over it with some vegetation and hope that the land will take care of the rest of the problem. You can already start seeing problems after the fact.

We're already going to have this whole landscape being torn down for mining with this giant hole in the ground, but now we're going to have to just dump crap into that hole and fill it up. Of course, after a decade or two, no one will even notice that there was a ton of waste underneath it and then just build on top of it. Yay for superfund sites. Clearly, the poor will have to suffer even more after strip mining. I'm almost certain that the neighborhood that's surrounding the quarry/strip mine has grown into the region through suburban sprawl, but it's going to be the poorer and likely disenfranchised folks that'll end up living in these regions. So, it'll just spiral downhill from there for them as the property value pummel deeper into the ground, pardon the pun. So, boo to mining near major cities.

Maybe I'm just making a mountain out of a molehill (oh, I love clever use of words, you know it), but what do the rest of you think about the whole idea of strip mining?

Off to LA!

Yayyyy!!!! I'll be flying back to LA!!!! Woooooootttttt!!!

Okay, I'm going to bed.

The End of the Beginning

So, today marked the end of my second year as a medical student. Or the end of my basic science training and going to lecture halls all the time (or really, the lack of going to lecture halls 'cause I stayed at home to watch lecture videos 80-90% of the time by the end).

I kinda miss all that and seeing all of my classmates most of the time. Not that everyone went to class anyway, and even when people did, I don't think I really hung out with all that many people either. So it was like high school, but it wasn't really like high school either.

It was like high school because everyone basically knew what everyone else was doing. There were cliques, groups of people hanging out with exclusively each other, then those changed over the year, too. Think of it as an accelerated high school.

Honestly, these two years have gone by so quickly that I wish I had gone to class more often instead of sleeping in all the time. I've made some good friends and live with great housemates and gone out with college friends and their friends. People have come to visit me out in this cold and bitter weather. For all that, I'm very thankful for. Thanks everyone.

Having said all that, I worry a bit about the upcoming years of schooling. It's mostly because you hear about all of these things about backstabbing, people fighting to be the top dog in the group, pimping, getting passed over by attendings and residents. All of these horror stories of studying all the time and having no life and losing friendships, etc. But I'm also excited about all the new things I'll be learning about and all the cool things that I'll be able to see and maybe do. It won't just be looking at slides or reading books. It'll be....looking at people and reading research articles instead.... Yah, I realized that it doesn't ACTUALLY change that much, but at least I'll see things in action and participate in the whole process.

I still need to explore Ann Arbor some more. It's a nice little college town. Maybe I'll do more of that in my 4th year. At least, that's what we've all been telling ourselves. I'm hoping that I actually will. Because, honestly, I don't think I'll be coming back to this town after I get out of here. I need my big city and urban lifestyle with my group of people. So...that'll either be SUPER big city like NYC or my two favorite places in the country, LA and SF. This town's got its gems and Michigan has its beauties and charm. And how many of us from California ever actually come out to the Midwest and appreciate what it means to live in a Midwestern state? Especially a place like Michigan where we've got super huge unemployment rates, sub-freezing temperatures, 7 months of winter, apple picking, cider donuts, actual foilage, corn mazes, nice people, lack of fear of crime in small towns, and a generally different culture.

I even wanna head out to Canada once in a while to take advantage of my super close distance to the border. And, little known fact, Detroit is the only city that faces South on Canada. Now, that's gotta count for something. Yah, I need more people to visit me so I can find excuses to cross the border and show them the wonderful city of Toronto. I've likened Toronto to LA, but on a lake instead of an ocean and a million times cleaner. Hell, Toronto is probably more tolerant than LA. It would be an ideal city for me if it didn't have evil winters like Michigan. Vancouver's another city on my list, but I think I'll end up in either the Bay Area of California or the Greater Los Angeles area. That'll be another topic for another day when I decide to reminiscent about my traveling days. Now I just sound old, huh?

Until next time. =o)

So not looking forward to studying....

Just so you know, the other blog mentions that I'm gonna go crazy with 12 hours of studying and have no life. So, my life will be filaments of whatever moments of not studying that I'll have. And this will be the place for me to put that. =oP

So, I'm going to cut out all virtual related chatting from my life and focus on real human contact and blogging. That basically means that my continuous and incessant chatting will all be compressed into 30 minute segments each day where I will answer all my emails and blog. If you start seeing a pattern in terms of the time that I post my entries, it means that I have succeeded in reaching towards my full potential as a person that will rival the atomic clock in running like clockwork. So, let's hope that doesn't happen, 'cause I hate having my life turn into droning routine.

So yah, bottom line: personal humanity here, medical student on other blog. There will be days that the distinction won't be so clear. But this is supposed to let me sort that part out.

Now, onto updates: I'll be in LA for the upcoming month studyingforthatwhichshallnotbenamedinthisblog. But I shall be free in the evenings for a few short hours every couple of days. So book your "how much insanity can Ari handle before he explodes" appointments; call, email, txt, whatever it is that you do to contact me that is not through chatting 'cause that option is going to be gone in a few days.

Oh, and upcoming event for me is heading out to Vegas during the middle of thatwhichshallnotbenamedinthisblog. =o) That'll be awesomeness. I'm so going to enjoy my cousin's bachelor party 'cause he might have some close calls with the law or boundaries of human sanity and definitely the borders of social decency. ^-^ I know he's going to read this but it will be awesome.

Anyone want to place bets on how long I will last before I declare this to be insane and go back to logging back onto chat? =oP

Anyone actually miss the blogging Ari?

Baskin Robbins 31 Cent Scoop Night

"31 cent scoops* tonight at Baskin Robbins! =oD

*Limit: 10 scoops per person, per purchase.

PLEASE don't get 10 scoops, I don't want an extra case of Diabetes or Cardiovascular Disease..."

Yah...they actually limited me to THREE scoops....those bastards....but knowing the people in Michigan, thank you Ann Arbor store for not causing the medical system additional stress.

Acceptance

WOOOOOOOOOTTTTT!!!!!!

I got accepted to University of Michigan for Med School ^-^

Was quite fast in terms of a decision and quite awesome on how they did the acceptance notification. =oP

Ann Arbor, Michigan

A Crazy days in the life of a working med school applicant...

2 days before interview
Find suit, iron and press suit & shirt, hang clothing, find shoes, find toiletry that fits in 1 quart clear ziplock bag, find clean clothing, read over publications, sleep early

Day before Interview
Wake up later for work, drive to work, work, print out boarding pass and all other documentation for transportation stuff
7 PM -- Head to Target to find mini bottles of mouthwash, toothpaste, etc.
7:30 PM -- Head to SFO
8 PM -- Arrive at Long Term Parking, park car, find that flight is delayed...
8:15 PM -- Arrive at SFO International Terminal, was quite the dazzlin' sight to behold (I <3 California and their big airports)
8:30 PM -- Finally figure out bearings and where to go to get to gate
8:45 PM -- Discover that wifi costs money, considered paying 10 bucks to get wireless for 24 hours, decided to read publications instead
9:30 PM -- Got bored and decided to take a nap
10:15 PM -- Couldn't sleep, went back to sleep some more
10:50 PM -- Flight still delayed, back to more sleep
11 PM -- Passengers from delayed flight unloaded off plane
11:10 PM -- Boarded plane
11:30 PM -- Adjusted for 4-5 hour flight in cramped couch seats

Day of Interview
Eastern Time
5 AM (2 AM Pacific time) -- After hours of restless sleep interrupted by periods of staring out the dark windows, I start to the sun rising slowly over the cloud cover, was quite the amazing sight...
6:40 AM -- Landing in Detroit Metropolitan Airport, lots of snow on roofs of buildings and chilly cold daybreak
6:45 AM -- Off plane (cutting cold air through the passageway) and rush to bathroom to switch into contacts and wash up, etc.
6:50 AM -- Rush through airport to reach the shuttle for car rental place
7 AM -- Car rental location
7:15 AM -- Got into a TINNNNY car, Chevy Aveo for those of you that want to know, great acceleration, horrible driving experience with a blind spot that is literally 25 degrees and poor mirrors, I missed my German car and its turn radius and peripheral view....
7:30 AM -- Sailing at 80+ on a 70 MPH highway through the crisp Detroit morning traffic (if it could be called such a thing given what we get in California) on the I-94W.
8:00 AM -- Arrive at the Michigan Medical Campus
8:15 AM -- After getting lost in the mammoth hospital maze that is the medical complex, I finally found the admissions office, greeted by friendly faces that have been waiting for my arrival 'cause I was the LAST one to get there -.-;; Got in through the backdoor for the welcome presentation and breakfast.
8:30 AM -- FOOD!! Goodness knows that I musta been starving at....wait, I was just damn tired at 5:30 AM PACIFIC Time! >.<;
8:30 AM - 10 AM -- Saw a presentation on the awesome resources that the campus offers its students, I mean, what? All the microscope slides online with annotations with up to 400X zoom?? I know I would've wanna those to study for my neuroanatomy class back out here instead of the black and white pictures and random atlases that point nowhere.....but I digress. The financial aid section points out that I will be spending more money than I currently earn at work, a very depressing thought..included with the extra loans and crazy stuff. I swear, I should just put down that I have 100% need somehow.....by pushing my assets overseas or something...and yes, if someone is reading this, please disregard that previous comment as a JOKE, please accept me into your med school ^-^;;
10-10:30 AM A much needed break
10:30 AM - 12 AM Interviews -- Dean of Admissions as my first interviewer???? What are these guys thinking?!?! Yay for that.... =oX Hopefully everything went well for the 3 interviews...
12 AM - 1:15 PM -- Lunch, I miss food at work...
1:15 PM - 2:30 PM -- Tour of the facilities, saw an anatomy class in progression with a mini-presentation on the dissected human heart, saw some lecture halls, study lounges, great views of Ann Arbor (the place is literally a city built next to a forest, think a cleaner Berkeley with the life of Westwood set alongside of a forest, what more can someone ask for? Actually, warmer weather like California...., but that's asking for paradise). Quite a nice place to be at if I get in, it's really random, 'cause the interviewers were basically, you can get in ANYWHERE, we just want to know if we will be the best fit for you, etc. I'm like thinking in my head, wait, are you saying that I'm accepted, but you're just putting me through interviews to ask if I want to come here?
2:30 PM -- Back to the Admissions office
2:40ish PM -- Got onto the web and chatted with Californian folks that have only been up for a few hours, you lucky bastards, but it's nice to know that I was missed at work, I <3 my coworkers =o)
3 PM -- Got lost in the buildings, saw some Radiation medicine facilities, more underground facilities, I swear, there was one in there that looks like it was a government built facility that you see in the movies, where all the tiles and walls are clean and brightly lit compared with the surrounding building...I didn't wanna go in to check it out 'cause I was a lil' scared I wasn't gonna come out of there...but that might just be me watching too many sci fi, conspiracy theory, and X-files type stuff.
3:10 PM -- Still lost, trying to get my bearings again by retracing my steps and using the maps (maps were pointless 'cause....I don't know where each building stands in relation to each other and I don't know what they're called...)
3:20 PM -- Managed to use the idea of going EAST and head for the 3rd floor as my primary goal.
3:30 PM -- Finally found where I was familiar with and got to my parking structure
3:40 PM -- Couldn't find my car, kept thinking I had my other car with me, which was retarded 'cause I just rented a car earlier in the day...this car doesn't have a remote, so I couldn't even make it chirp....so dependent on technology, I swear....
3:50 PM -- Tried to remember if I was even on the right floor....
3:55 PM -- Found car
3:57 PM -- Got out of parking garage after paying NINE dollars for parking.....I thought parking was bad in California, but NINE dollars for parking?!?! You kidding me??
4 PM -- Drove around Ann Arbor
4:05 PM -- Found a student store...no stuffed wolverines, I was quite sad.
4:20 PM -- Left Ann Arbor for the airport
5 PM -- Got to the airport to find out that the plane is delayed an hour...
5:30 PM -- Scavenged for food and looks for any souvenirs to take home, found nothing that wasn't quite junk, ended up just going up to the gate
5:45 PM -- Found that the Detroit airport does not offer internet
6 PM -- Tried to sleep
6:30 PM -- STILL trying to sleep
7 PM -- Restless sleep
8 PM -- Trying to figure out how much the airplane was delayed, no luck
8:30 PM -- Airplane still delayed
9ish PM -- Delayed flight passengers got off the plane and we finally started loading the plane
9:30ish PM -- Plane still at gate
9:40ish PM -- Takeoff combined with restless sleep
10-11ish PM -- Saw Chicago, was quite the beautiful sight at night...
??? -- ??? PM -- Restless sleep

Pacific Time
11 PM -- Landed in SFO, all the lights were so bright and beautiful, goodness knows I miss home...
11:15ish PM -- Got to car, I missed my car dearly...especially after driving that demon of a car Aveo....
11:50ish PM -- Home sweet home =o)

I think that was mostly me getting lost and confused in another city, I blame the lack of sleep for the delusional nature during that day... =oX

Updating for the sake of updating

Now I'm not even updating 'cause there's new developments in my life that I wanna share with the world. I'm updating to please one person, possibly two people, that actually read this blog. I think I just lost like at lease 90% of my reader base due to the switch from Xanga to Blogger.

So...Green Tea Penna Cotta, I think that's what it was called, pardon the poor spelling. So delicious. Started watching Heroes yesterday, was actually quite the entertaining show =o)

Other than that...my life is pretty chill right now, though I really should get crackin' on those med school secondaries, an interview is coming up REALLY soon and I don't think I'm even close to being 10% ready for that one. >.<;;

The weekend was nice, spending time with some old friends and some new. Getting to know a few people better. In all, nothing to complain about these days... except for my own lack of sleep and I can't blame anyone but myself for that one, haha...

Hopefully find something good to update about next time I update under pressure....and at work...

Since I probably SHOULDN'T be doing this at work...

So this person is bugging me to update my blog and I never seem to find time or remember to update my blogger, I'm going to do this while I still remember. I mean, seriously, I don't know what to say at work 'cause all of my images are at home so I can't upload anything related to NYC. So what to talk about...

Ah, yes, I'm gonna go to USC for the Cal game. Envy me =oP

j/k, I'm going with Thomas, Jess, and Aaron and we're funding this with scalping. Well, not scalping per se, but more like reselling our tickets or tickets that we buy from other people, basically....a secondary market, kinda like the stock market, something like that... I'm sure you've all heard of the many adventures we have when Thomas and I visit Aaron. If not, we do this, now turned tradition, ritual of Asian-izing Aaron with the UAE, or Ultimate Asian Experience and feed him with various horrid things that even some Asians fear to eat but others eat with relish.

In previous episodes, we've had stinky tofu, durian (which he loves, btw), fermented tofu, fermented stinky tofu (which he couldn't actually stomache and none of us would dare touch), pickled alien pod like eggplants, etc. It's hard to beat what we've already presented, perhaps we should give him dog? monkey? I'm not even sure if there's any other crazy stuff that's actually legal out here...

I'm open to suggestions, please let me know what types of things we can put this madman up to. =oP

Each passing day

It seems that with each passing day, I grow a lil' older and a lil' wiser. Or maybe, it's not really getting wiser, but not getting more foolish. Perhaps I have gotten a lot more foolish and dumber over the years and not have known, because...you wouldn't really know if you've gotten more foolish, right?

But this past week, even the past month has opened my eyes up to who I am, who my friends are, where my place in the world is, even what I want in my life. Sometimes, it just takes that extra push over the edge, that smack upside in the head, even the kick in the butt to realize that it's all gone wrong and it's going to be bloody hell to fix it all.

Sure, life's got its troubles, people have their complaints, everyone's got their own set of problems. I'm fairly certain that my problems are the last things on the minds of people in developing countries. Hell, they're probably not even issues that people out here would even care about when their bills go unpaid, their dreams go unfulfilled, their lives in shambles. It's a slap in their faces.

For those of you that stuck around, thanks. For the rest of you that have moved on, best of luck on everything. For those of you that are kind of in between, let's catch up. And everyone else that I have yet to meet or yet to know better, I say cheers. For the future, let us all work for that.

New York City - Part 1

8/14/2006

So I drove down from Berkeley to LA a couple of days before to enjoy the weekend in LA. Taking an early morning flight out of LAX, so early that none of the coffee shops were even out in LAX. Makes you wonder how those crazy businessmen do it all the time.

Hours later, we flew into JFK. It has been years I have been to this metropolitan. My memories of New York City were not fond back then. It was HOT, HUMID, and smelled REALLY bad . But then, I was only 13, what did I know about the multicultural diversity, the fashion explosion, the rapid urban lifestyle, or even the stock market. All I remembered back then was the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Phantom of the Opera, Time Square (and this crazy Japanese group harassing one of the kids in our group), and some pizza from the chain restaurant (you know the one, red with white lettering, italian food place, found in all the malls). That time, travelling along the east coast was an interesting experience.

This time, I came into NY in a completely different way. Granted, we came by air, I've grown a lot older, and I have a college degree, a job, and some pocket money. But this time, New York has changed, hell, the whole world changed on my 18th birthday. Even that hasn't changed New York that much, or so they say.

For me, New York City has become a much bigger place, it was no longer just Broadway and Wall Street. It was Chinatown, South St. Seaport, Central Park, Washington Square, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, Midtown, Harlem, SoHo, etc. It has become Manhattan, a world in of itself, a world that could not be explored fully in a week or even a month. But 5 days is plenty for any tourist in NYC, you eventually run out of fun tourist locations and begin looking for special places that even locals visit.

But this is not all of the culture and wonders of NYC, there's Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, etc. There's just so much more to NYC than just Manhattan. As a visitor and a guest, I don't know enough about the area to say much anything compared with the NY Times and the tens of thousands of writers that have written about NYC and everything in it.

We'll just walk through this together, I'll go through my memories of NYC again, and you can come along and see.

Tonight, I'll just leave you with a picture from South St. Seaport lookin' up the river at the Brooklyn Bridge (which is not lit due to energy conservation concerns).

Starting fresh

So I'm going to phase out my Xanga blog and start fresh with Blogger. Phase out the past and bring in the present and the future, at least, that's the intention anyway.

Here goes nothing =o)

My First Real Blog on Blogger

I work at Google, therefore I must have a blogger account, too. ^-^