Alright, long haul with work and finally it's thanksgiving break. My sensor lab kit arrived on the 16th and I began tearing it open. I found a workbook, the machine itself, countless wires and resistors, capacitors and LEDs, and the various "add-on cards." It was daunting at first, but not so much once I looked at the work book and saw that it's actually a really simple circuit and there's no soldering, but I figured I'd save it for thanksgiving break.
Nov. 22 Time to go back home later today. I have my Organic Chem exam on nomenclature, IR Spectroscopy and Acid/Base reactions (which we haven't talked about for over a month...) We also have the questions for Ch 5 and Ch 12, plus the naming lab, a ton of problems that make me feel like I never want to name something again. After the exam we got to leave and I didn't have any classes after then until 6:30, so I went back to my room where my girlfriend, Jess, was still asleep, and cuddled back up with her and fell asleep until 12:45 (when my lab would have ended, if I had it that day) It was a glorious sleep yet I think it set me up for the failure of sleep that is to come... Band was shorter then usual and I felt great for going. My mom came by to pick me up around 10:30 so i packed up everything I wouldn't need and we even moved my room around a little. On the ride home we talked, as usual, and my mom kept mentioning how Biotechnology is such an ethically charged field, and she thinks I'll be good in it. Who knows, all I know is I'm more and more excited for this field.
Nov. 23 I looked at the kit and followed it's directions exactly "put a wire in slot J5 and spring 15" etc. Still no good, so I fiddled around with the wires and eventually I got something to work. Don't know exactly what I did but it started reading. It mad eme happy and Dean, my good friend was mystified at how it worked. A photo resistor, as I'm now slightly more familiar with, decreases the resistance based on how much light is present, meaning a read of 7 (on the 1-10 scale) means that there is quite a bit of light. There's also a potentiometer on it that I can adjust to increase the sensitivity of the resistor, giving me a higher or more precise value.
Nov. 24 The lab I used as a reference recommends attaching a multimeter to it to get a numerical read-out, which I am planning on doing. I also have a few glow sticks in my dorm room, so I could assemble my jar full of black-out and put the glow stick in it and basically do the lab they recommend to familiarize myself with the process. This will hopefully give me an idea on what I would need to do to improve the sensitivity of the resistor or how to actually quantify my data. We also had thanksgiving which was a welcomed moment of food, peace and family, even though most of my family isn't in this part of the world and the family me and my mom live with aren't necessarily our "family" I felt connected and important all over again. It made me think of what I'm thankful for in life and get all reflective.
Nov. 25 I have also began building piñatas for MCLA's Computer Society. We're having an event at the end of the semester based on smashing a computer-shaped piñata and playing videogames that are based around computers etc to get frustrations about finals out. It will be awesome I'm sure and exciting too. Two more members of this "family" came up and played with everyone/ thing, Samantha and Chase both quite young and quite fun to play with. Samantha is apparently an expert at crafts so my mom pulled me off Skyrim at a good point to ask both of us if we wanted to make the piñatas, which both of us eagerly did. It was fun, I haven't paper mache'd for quite some time.
Nov. 26 It's been a difficult time waking up these past few days, my bed at home is so comfy compared to the rock I sleep on at college. I wake up at 6:00, open my eyes briefly to check my watch then fall asleep before I even know- I close my eyes, then every hour I wake up again and fall asleep until 10 or 11. It's gonna be a horrible transition, but hopefully I can make it. Today me and my mom are going to Jo-An's Fabrics to get some paint for the piñatas, I'm also getting some sequins for one of my friend's christmas presents I will be making him over the next vacation.
Nov. 27 Home time, played Skyrim last night which was fun and I managed to wake up at 9:00 which is a little better... this bed is still too comfy. I now journey back to MCLA for the move-back-in and eventual relaxation time before Monday's classes.
Not exactly short, but whatever it was a 6 day rest.
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