While many people (presumably) headed out to shop this weekend, my girlfriend Lindy and I took a trip of our own to where many of these shoppers would be: San Francisco. Not feeling compelled to shop, however, we replaced debit and credit cards for helmets and bicycles. We had been wanting to take this trip for a couple of weeks now and luckily had an opening this weekend. Additionally, much to our delight, we had clear skies today and after a solid week of cloudy/foggy days, the sun was much welcomed. We rode over to the North Berkeley BART station with our gear--Clif Bars, Water, Cameras, and Jackets--in tow and took the 25 minute ride into the city.

The Route: We got off at the Embarcadero station and rode over towards the Ferry Building. We took The Embarcadero all the way up past Fisherman's Wharf (too many tourists!) and the beach in front of Ghirardelli Square. We then rode through the park around Fort Mason and down towards Crissy Field. We finally rode toward the Golden Gate Bridge on Old Mason Road before heading back.

Continue reading "Riding through the City" »

Posted by Juan at 9:08 PM | Permalink

oh joy. it's that time of the year again, holiday season! quick update:

1) i got pretty sick last week and lost my voice. i couldn't talk for a good 2 days. it was pretty annoying to not be able to communicate vocally, but as silly as this sounds it was pretty fun. being able to be act as soleley a listener gave a new twist to the day and a newfound apprecation for spoken sound.

2)turkey was yum. i'd never cooked turkey before but this break i helped my mum marinate a big fat ol turkey with salt, veggie oil, meat seasoning, n garlic salt. pretty darn tasty! at first i was a little disappointed my sister had chosen to spend thanksgiving with her boyfriend down in LA, but luckily she made it back in time to have dinner with us :) our tg meal was followed up with a late night showing of i, robot. it was a decent movie (at least the half that i saw before i fell asleep) but a bit too unrealistic for me so it was hard for me to take it seriously.

Continue reading "thanksgiving recap" »

Posted by Angela Hsu at 12:33 AM | Permalink

This article http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_on_re_us/toy_worries talks about how parents are writing to toy companies to try to get the companies to strop advertising to the children and to switch the target to parents. These parents say that it is unfair of the companies to make the children have the desire to have something that the parents cannot afford. Also, the parents are loathe to let their children feel different at school because they lack an item. I believe that these parents are strongly misguided. If the children are being made fun of at school because they don't have something, they should teach the children that its okay to be different. By simply delaying this lesson, the kids are only going to have a more difficult time adjusting when they hit puberty when life becomes so much more difficult. If the children are being made fun of because they don't have something, society should be stepping in and teaching them that material wealth is not what makes happiness. These parents are just as misguided as their children and believe that material things will being their kids real joy over the course of their lives. In the article, there is a example of a mother being willing to prostitute herself in order to afford certain toys for her child. What in the world!??!!! That's just teaching her child that prostitution is alright...indiscriminate sex is alright...for the sake of instant gratification. What happened to teaching about delayed gratification? It's... sad how our society is completely warped. Somehow...I just don't feel sorry for these families who can't buy as many toys for their children as before. They can still afford toys. If you're able to afford these excess items, you're still doing pretty well in comparison to the rest of the world.

Posted by K. Lee at 12:23 AM | Permalink

Have you heard of Taste of Himalayas? It's a restaurant ( Nepalian I think) that serves free meals on sundays, which is the staff's way of showing gratitude to others for sharing their kindness. You just walk in there, they give you a meal, and it costs zero dollars. The catch, or what they are aiming for, is that you in return, do something nice by giving back and continue to help others. This whole thing got me thinking- "pay it forward" is, you might have heard, a concept that people ideally, will spread the "gift of giving". I really find it misleading that it's a called a concept or theory or idea. I mean, shouldn't this act of generosity be natural and instinctive? Of course, there are many people/authors who disagree with my statement. But, if you want get the experience yourself, yea, you should go! It's on north side, next to party sushi. For me, Taste of the Himalays was a great experience and it made me feel really full and satisfied.

Posted by Casey Wang at 1:20 PM | Permalink

There was a recent blood drive...Cal vs. StanfUrd. The.. other school won. ::shakes head::

Anyways. Take this season to GIVE some blood. 1 out of 3 people has O blood, but the Stanfurd blood center is still low on O. You O people out there! Let's give some blood! Don't let those B+, A+ and AB+ people beat us. And you B-, A-, and AB- people, don't have an inferiority complex to those pluses. Come give blood. Check out the inventory here. http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/news/inventory.html
We'll have eaten lots of food and meat... high on nutrients, so we definitely have enough blood to give. Blood banks are open all this week. Just head in with your family and friends. Make it part of your Thanksgiving tradition. Go for it!!!!

If you feel like... oh.. you don't want to give so much blood.. then give plasma! then... by the time winter vacation rolls around, you'll can give again! yay!

Posted by K. Lee at 8:14 AM | Permalink

Much like everyone else, I can finally take a breath, even if only for a short while. Leaving a day early for a flight to NY, I'll be spending my Thanksgiving break with family and old friends. Aside from the traditional Thanksgiving Feast (the season of gluttony begins), I'll be catching up with friends from HS and attending one such friend's wedding.

If anything, the one downside is that I still have to do a paper that is due on the Tuesday we return. On top of an essay due on Wednesday and a presentation on Thursday. How deceiving...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Posted by Maria at 9:32 PM | Permalink

Well after a year, 2 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days, I finally made it to a Cal Football game. No, I'm not ashamed to admit that it's taken me this long and perhaps the wait made it all the sweeter! Last year, I never took advantage of the free first year transfer student season tickets. I guess that, in some respects, it was a bad decision considering how much fun I had at the game, but in others it was good since it took me a little while to acclimate to Berkeley. (A note for incoming Freshmen and Transfers: in case you didn't know, you get free season tickets during your first Fall Semester, but they are in short supply.) Having my first game be The Big Game was sweet! I had seen Memorial Stadium before from afar--from Gayley Rd. and Stadium Rim Way--but this was my first time inside its walls.

Continue reading "My First Game" »

Posted by Juan at 10:55 PM | Permalink

i have a roomate who likes to keep up with entertaining current events/ news. her latest find was this link:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=665808

apparently some guy tried to pay his rent with a digital drawing of a spider?! read the whole email (and see the picture) below:

Continue reading ""man tries to pay bill with spider drawing"" »

Posted by Angela Hsu at 7:19 PM | Permalink

I'm sure everyone's been feeling the crunch. Being bombarded with papers and research and projects and presentations galore! I've got to say, as much as all of this work makes me want to pull my hair out, I actually enjoy the challenge it presents. It's definitely different from the rigor of me education at a community college but I honestly believe it is better for me in the long run. At the same time, I look back on when I would stress out over minute things and realize, in retrospect, how ridiculous I was. I may want to complain but it's just going to get harder and that's a good thing. Good luck everyone and stay strong!

Posted by Maria at 3:27 PM | Permalink

So recently, I posted a blog about how great Berkeley's graffiti is, but I think that this appreciation only goes so far.

There's a black and white wall-thing that was recently erected in front of Dwinelle. I personally thought that it was a waste of resources (could we have funded another section of chem3al labs instead?!), and misrepresented UC Berkeley, whatever. But even though I'm not fond of this wall-thing, the defacing of it makes me very disappointed. Somebody (or a group of people) has decided to take paint (white, yellow, brown) and streak it across several people's faces. Okay, I get the humor in that this defacing is quite LITERAL (the faces are being... de-faced) but I don't think that this is what the vandals had in mind.

It's just really disrespectful to anyone who allowed his or her face to be photographed and get "published" on this wall, and this vandalism only contributes negatively to the community. Bathroom graffiti at least warms hearts, teases out chuckles, or at the very least makes "business" less boring. This defacing... is just disappointing.

Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 2:28 PM | Permalink

I have a job interview tomorrow. I'll be interviewing with the US Environmental Protection Agency, a federal agency charged with protecting our natural resources and preventing degradation of environmental and human health. I'm really excited! It's my first job interview (for a real job, anyways). I still need to apply for more jobs, but hopefully this turns out well!

Continue reading "Job Interview" »

Posted by Joel Kim at 2:14 PM | Permalink

Sigh...

I lost yet another match. When am I ever going to win? =(

My tennis life makes much more sense now though. I lose not because I don't have enough desire to win. I lose not because my opponents are way better. I lose because when a game starts I can't find my usual strokes and serves. I can't seem to hit the ball well and my serves won't go in. How do I deal with this?

I need to play more sets instead of just rallying (I was playing rather quite well with another friend right after my match today). Most people tell me I'm pretty good for someone who's been playing tennis for just 1.75 years. I think I should stop demanding too much and give myself some credit. For now I'll give myself a break, but win or lose I don't think I'll never stop playing this sport (as long as my body permits) =D

Posted by John Cortez at 9:35 PM | Permalink

There is so many volunteering opportunities open right now in case you have free time. I know all these midterms and homework can suck up all available time, but volunteering will give you a good sense about yourself, especially if you need quick recovery from a bad midterm grade. I signed up to do Berkeley Project; however I didn’t go and just slept. I know it seems bad but hey I had a heavy week and I was just incapable of waking up at 8 am on a Saturday. I felt so bad that I didn’t go and on top of that I heard that it was a lot of fun. So to compensate for my selfishness I decided to donate at the blood drive in the alumni house and it was great. I wasn’t painful at all and the nurses made me laugh, which was nice of them. Not only did I feel good that I have potentially saved a person’s life, but they let me pig-out on snacks and juice afterwards, which was awesome. I am totally going to donate as much blood as I can from now on and so should everybody else.

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 9:12 PM | Permalink

I'm not even at the courts, yet I already feel nervous for tomorrow's match!!!

It's been a year since my last tournament. I've been horribly losing my matches recently (actually I lose pretty badly most of the time). Probably because I don't care enough about winning, I lack practice, or I've been playing against better people. Possibly all three.

It's weird, but I feel guilty of winning 0_o
It's really awkward that I feel bad for beating my opponents
(maybe that's why I keep losing, -_-" )

Anyways, I'll post again tomorrow after my match =D

Posted by John Cortez at 9:47 PM | Permalink

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~hmap/HSI/hsi.php
Reflecting on this past semester which is almost coming to an end( finals :( .....) I am very grateful that I chose to do this internship. It is part of the HMAP program and provides an experience that usual undergrad students cannot see in a research or hospital environment. Since HSI's mission centers around public health in different communities, I had the chance of learning about non-profit organizations and their roles in addressing the different issues in a community. For my internship site, I am working with EPIC, which focuses on prevention and education about youth conerning alochol and tobacco issues. Furthermore, I got to shadow another intern during the semester to understand the wide range that public health encompasses.

Continue reading "HSI-Health Service Internship" »

Posted by Casey Wang at 11:23 PM | Permalink

berkeley project is tomorrow! i heard about it last year, but did not get around to signing up. i'm excited to get some hands on comm service though, i haven't really done that since high school. my site is James Kenney Park. I'm going to be helping out with things like sand sifting (so the sand is more comfortable for kids to play in), kill some ivy, clean up the park in general...fun stuff! This is the schedule:

8:00--Registration (free breakfast and free t-shirt provided!)
8:30--Depart for projects
9:00--Arrive at Site; Safety/Education Orientation
9:20-9:30--Work begins
12:00-1:00--Lunch will be delivered within this hour and will last for
forty minutes
~1:00--Back to work
2:00-3:30--Work ends
2:00-5:00--Celebration: closing ceremony with jump house, DJ and a chance
to win prizes

i'm pretty stoked about the free t shirt...and the closing celebration (how often do you get to party after doing comm service?) oh and of course, the outreach :) it feels good to give back to the community, and i hope to join a community service club sometime this semester

for more info: berkeley project: http://bp.berkeley.edu/

Posted by Angela Hsu at 12:37 AM | Permalink

I just took my last midterm of my undergraduate career today! No more! Now I just have papers, projects, and finals to work on! Whoo!

Posted by Joel Kim at 2:45 PM | Permalink

I came back from the Society of American Foresters national convention last week. There was a lot that happened, but suffice it to say, I had an awesome time. I met some really cool people, learned a lot about forestry, and got some questions answered about career paths. I also handed out a bunch of resumes (hooray, job search!) and collected a lot of business cards. I also got to look around Reno a bit (although I didn't get to do much sight-seeing).

Continue reading "SAF Convention" »

Posted by Joel Kim at 2:27 PM | Permalink

Yes, I know it seems a bit earlier to start thinking about summer plans, but a lot of internship programs actually start recruiting now. I really don't know what I'm going to do this summer. My dad wants to bring me and my siblings on a tour of China, but I really can't afford to slack off the entire summer. Maybe I can convince my dad to bring us to Arizona for a few days, instead. He's always talking about bringing us to see the "beautiful rocks" there. Anyways, here are my tentative plans for summer:

- Take MCB 102
I know a lot of advisors say summer school isn't always the best way to spend your summer, but in this case I think it's valid. MCB 102 is one of the hardest classes here at Cal, but I heard that it's much more do-able over the summer. I'm just going to take this one class, so even if it's killer, I only have to concentrate on that one course. MCB 102 is an eight-week course over the summer and for the summer of 2009, it's going to be from June 22nd to August 14th. Since spring semester ends on May 21st, I'll have an entire month before plunging into more school work! :) Also, next fall semester doesn't start until August 20th, so I'll have about a week to relax.

Continue reading "Planning Ahead for Summer" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 10:10 AM | Permalink

So I finally followed up on my 15-minute career counseling session with a 45-minute session - actually, though, my counselor and I ended up talking for an hour and a half!

The truth is that it really wasn't all that helpful. People go the center expecting answers, when all of the answers are really inside yourself.

So yes, I was unable to judge myself well enough to really feel comfortable. Remember quizilla, or whatever? The assessment is sort of like that, and you kind of know the profile types before you get your answer.

So basically, my counselor ended up quoting inspirational quotes and we touched on the meaning of life and what drove certain people. At times, I felt like I was talking to a philosophy professor during office hours. I'm not taking any humanities courses right now, but that feeling motivated me to go to my professors' office hours more often, just to talk about anything (it took off the pressure I had to think of some mind-blowing question before entering). That's the one downside of sciences and the objective; office hours are usually more "structured" for these subjects.

Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 4:52 PM | Permalink

Today in my Thursday Math16A discussion class, my gsi mentioned that we only had two more discussion sections left! I was shocked. Granted, we have thanksgiving break, but I only have one month till finals hits! The fact that finals is close doesn't make me sad; what makes me sad is that soon I won't be a first-semester freshman, and then soon I won't be a freshman at all anymore!

I like being a "fresh face" because all the bumbles I'm making right now are "okay," but I'm so worried about the time where everything starts becoming "important" - I bet Berkeley seniors look at us freshman the way that I looked at high school freshmen last year - "Look at those cute, confused, stressed people! HAHAHA, they have no idea!"

Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 4:46 PM | Permalink

Thanksgiving break is just around the corner! I hope you guys are going home for break. I just feel like Thanksgiving should be spent with your family.

I'm flying back on the Thursday morning...because I ordered my tickets a bit on the late side...oops. Anyways, instead of having a whole gigantic 20 pound turkey this year, my mom decided that we should each have our own Cornish hen. They look like miniature chickens. We're each going to season our own Cornish hen with whatever flavors we want. I'm still trying to decide whether to go for an Asian taste (ginger, scallions, hint of sesame oil) or an herby lemon with root vegetables.

Continue reading "Thanksgiving Plans!!!" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 8:21 AM | Permalink

:) I'm finally done with my second round of midterms!!! I can finally take a breath and feel completely relaxed. I hope everyone else is close to finishing his or her midterms. Good luck!!!

Yesterday, after I got home from the Bio IB midterm (6-7pm), I was surprisingly productive. Well, after failing at trying to make some sense out of my organic chemistry lab for my write up, I gave up and decided to clean my studio. I chloroxed the entire kitchen and bathroom and threw away a bunch of junk! XD Throwing away stuff just makes me happy for some odd reason.

Anyways, even though midterms are over, finals are looming just around the corner. My

Continue reading "Over and Done With" »

Posted by Victoria Eng at 7:46 AM | Permalink

In order to make my life easier, I use esc to schedule all my classes and frankly I am glad I do because it makes it a lot easier. However, what esc can’t do is leave spots open or open up new sections. I don’t know why, but it seems like all the courses came together and decided to put all discussions at 8 am. I signed up for ESPM 50AC and the class was not full when I signed up (on Nov.3), however 6 out of the 9 sections start either at 8 or 9 am with the other three options already full. So I thought, “well if I am going to sign up for an 8 am discussion I should make it close and wheeler fits the bill.”

Continue reading "Tele-bears is not a perfect world….please don’t mention O-chem" »

Posted by Fabian Collazo at 12:48 AM | Permalink

Our 44th's president has been elected. =) . I guess we have an interesting 8 years to look forward to. (and I say 8, because as long as I can remember, the president's has always been re-elected. .. I guess that also shows my youth. hahah)

Posted by K. Lee at 12:45 AM | Permalink

Isn't it just awesome when family crises coincide with peak times in course curricula? I have just spent the past 5 days in Colorado for such an event of which was emotionally, mentally and physically exhausting. What's worse is that even though I'm now separated from it by 2 other states, I still feel like I'm back there. And as much as I want to focus on my upcoming midterm and various research projects and papers, it's proving to be the most difficult feat at the moment. I don't mean to be selfish but my education is important to me, especially since this is my first semester and I'm just getting the hang of things. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gone through this and similarly everything probably worked out just fine for them. I'm hopeful that it will turn out the same for me.

Posted by Maria at 4:07 PM | Permalink

This week, I will be heading to Reno, Nevada, for the annual Society of American Foresters National Convention. 32 members of the UC Berkeley Forestry Club will represent our major and our school at the convention, which will be held at the Grand Sierra Hotel. The convention runs from Wednesday to Sunday, and features all sorts of speakers, tours, workshops, and networking events.

Continue reading "Society of American Foresters Convention" »

Posted by Joel Kim at 11:32 AM | Permalink

So it's 10th week already, and this is my first blog post of the semester. Once again, I must apologize to my loyal readers (anyone?) for the dearth of updates. I have been busy with school, but that is not the right excuse. I've just been avoiding writing on this blog for a while. I saw it as an obligation, a duty, and so kept on putting it off. I told myself that I'd do it later, that I'd write when I had some amazing insights to put to words. I wanted to appear profound. Instead, I remained silent.

Continue reading "10th week..." »

Posted by Joel Kim at 11:17 AM | Permalink

Tele-bears is proving to be a headache for me. I'm absolutely confounded as to why I do not meet the enrollment requirements (basically, being a Freshman) for the freshman seminars. Tele-bears is not letting me enroll! ROARRRR! I really like the seminar I'm taking now, (MCB 90: Introduction to Insulin), and I was hoping to branch out by taking something as out of my element as Linguistics. But there are only two spots left in that class and they're probably going to fill up by the time I figure out what's wrong! I don't get it; is it because I'm not Letters& Sciences? I don't think that's it, because I got into a seminar just fine this semester! And it seems to be working for others, because there ARE people enrolled in the seminars! grrrahhh, on the freshman seminars page, it mockingly tells me to sign up during "tele-bears phase I because seminars fill up fast!"

Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 8:07 PM | Permalink

Some of you may not like coffee (I'd be in this category). Some of you may not even like Starbucks for a multitude of reasons. I assume, however, that you do like free stuff. This being the case, I came across an add and figured you might want to know about it.

Presuming that most of us will be voting tomorrow, if you like coffee (especially not paying money for it) here's your chance for a free fix.

[Update]....

Continue reading "Freebie!" »

Posted by Juan at 12:50 PM | Permalink

I confess: I've always had a soft spot for graffiti (the two exceptions to this would be the recurring graffiti that appears on my neighbor's fence; and gang-related graffiti, because gangs just don't conjure up soft spots in my heart). One of my friends in high school used to draw the funniest (and slightly vulgar) graffiti all over our bathroom stalls, and it was awesome and entertaining.

But I have to admit that Berkeley's bathroom graffiti steps it up a notch, just because it's such a collaborative effort.

Continue reading "Berkeley's Bathroom Graffiti" »

Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 2:31 PM | Permalink

I found this article, It's Time, on The Economist website (www.economist.com). I thought many of you might enjoy this. You have probably (hopefully) already made your decisions regarding which way you'll vote next week, but this is a good read nonetheless.

Continue reading "" »

Posted by Juan at 1:36 PM | Permalink

happy halloween! hope yall are having a great night. i saw some pretty awesome costomues on campus today; a few superheroes (lots of super(wo)men, tigger, and a mime to name a few). my halloween was quite uneventful to be honest. i was called in to work since my boss had stressed that we were short of staff members on that day (i wonder why..) originally i wasnt planing to work, but since no one else stepped up I decided to take one for the team and worked on the night when everyone else went partying. it wasnt that bad though, my shift was shortened becaues another staff member could take my place.
on a completely random note, i realized i made a stupid mistake and didnt sign up for chem 3b lab for next semester. i searched "chem 3b" thinking that the lab would automatically appear on the schedule, but it turns out you have to specifically request "chem 3bL <---make sure to include that "L" its very important). since i forgot to do that, i made the mistake of thinking that for some reason chem labs were not open for sign up...big mistake. by the time i realized i had made a mistake, there were already >100 people on the waiting list just to get in the lab. i couldn't even get on the waiting list because it was full. bummer, huh? i guess its physics for me next semester.

Posted by Angela Hsu at 1:56 AM | Permalink