Happy November 1st!

Happy November 1st! Lots of people thanked me for my application advice, for which you are all very welcome. I hope it helped you chill a little about the whole thing. There will be plenty of time to go crazy and lose sleep once you get to college. =) Also, Sam asked: I just wanted to know how MIT handles research with freshman. Do they get to use the same facilities as graduate students? Have you or any of your friends started researching for any of the despartments? So UROPs are pretty cool, or so Im told, since I dont actually have one. I do know a freshman or two who has already secured one, and Im pretty sure they basically have the same lab space as grad students. The thing is, UROPs can be anything, really. Im sure sometimes undergrads and grad students work together on them. Right. Ill shut up now, since I dont actually know what Im talking about, but go check out Meliss UROP blog, which conveniently focuses on exactly what youre asking about. In other news, yesterday was Halloween, and I hope it treated everyone well! A couple of entries ago I told you all I wouldnt have amusing Halloween costume stories to share unless you gave me awesome ideas. Considering only one person responded, I only feel guilty towards that one person- because I have a really lame story to tell. In fact, Im embarassed just thinking about it. The thing is, most Halloween parties were on Friday and Saturday night, and, well, I didnt go to any of them, for one thing. Sorry to disappoint, but I guess I didnt really get into the Halloween spirit too much this year. Matt suggested that I dress up as an iPod, which was cool in a way, but there was no way that was going to happen. The suggestion about dressing all in black and holding an iPod, like those figures in the commercials, was pretty cool too.but also not going to happen. I decided to play it all very low-key for the actual day of Halloween. I basically dressed in an outfit that looked completely normal. In fact, it was completely normal. But I had an explanation for a hidden costume all worked out, just in case anyone gave me a hard time about not dressing up. Ready for it? I was a 5600 Mega-ohm resistor Plus or minus 10%. (Check out info about resistor color codes if you dont get it.) Please keep in mind that this wasnt an actual costume, I did not put considerable thought into this, and I didnt actually go around telling people Hey! Im a resistor for Halloween! What are you? It was more of a well-planned outfit that I could conveniently use to be a smart alec to anyone who gave me a hard time about my lack of costume. That said, let the tomato throwing commence.