Midterms and food
Oct. 22nd, 2007 08:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sherryillkSo, two midterms down, one more to go. Potentially two more to go. Maybe. I still haven't heard ANYTHING at all about a midterm in Advanced Japanese I so I have no idea if I'm going to have one or not. But I've got two of my science midterms done and only my computer one left.
My Immunology midterm -- it's one of those that we will not talk about. My microbiology one, now that was nice. I procrastinated for both of them so I guess I deserved the Immunology grade... But it there was so much material and I misjudged what my professor would be asking us on the exam. She placed the copy of previous years' exams up like five days before and it was way specific. Considering the fact that Immunology is about twelve billion little things all very specific, it was really hard to study for. I studied concepts up until that point but apparently I needed to know structures and every single protein/cell of the immune system. *dies* I think we were all pretty screwed on that exam.
Microbiology, well, I tried studying for it over the weekend but Gena from high school came to visit New York and wanted to meet up. I gave her two afternoons so that cut into my studying a bit. I showed her NYU since she was considering it for her MBA and we had dinner. She was with her roommate and another of her friends so it was nice... They were awfully quiet though but I guess they just didn't have much to say to this stranger that they've just met... The next day, we did dim sum, finally at 88 Palace down on East Broadway. It was...mediocre. Personally, I liked Jing Fong better but 88 Palace is much better for a group of people to sit down and talk as its not as crowded or hectic. Well, I guess part of the reason was because we were there on a Friday...
I invited Janet and Xiao along so we could have a large table since dim sum really isn't something that's done with two people... Plus, Xiao being a Sternie would know the ins-and-outs of Stern better than I would so I asked her to talk to Gena. Plus, it was nice talking her again. We get along so well but it's a real pity that we're both so busy that we can't always meet up. :(
So, the Microbiology exam. I thought I was in somewhat bad shape for it but thankfully it was not the case! There were only a few questions in the multiple choice part that I was unsure of and for the essay questions, I totally nailed one of them and figured out the second one as I was doing it. I felt good coming out of it. It was one of those in which you choose two out of three and I read through them all, some of them several times before I started. I knew I knew the last question down pat so I did that first. And then I had to choose from the first or second question. I didn't know microarrays so well so I wanted to veer away from the second one but the first talked about localization of a protein as it moves from pole to pole of a cell and that I was really fuzzy on as well. But the first one had half of the problem that I just couldn't do so I decided to wing the microarrays.
While doing it, I knew how to find the bind site on DNA (RNase I footprinting!), how to find the specific amino acids responsible for translation activation (change them one by one and observe translation levels) but setting up a microarray experiment to find where else the TnrA protein binds in the genome was a bit iffy. I think I BS'ed something about knowing the protein sequence and from there, you can generate probes that fluoresce and using Affymetrix microarray chips with one mismatch, you can find where else the protein would hybridize and use that to do further screens and experiments to see if the protein really do bind those sequences. It should be okay, I think... Hopefully. :\ I feel like there were things I was missing, especially during the part where I measure levels of transcription based on the changes to amino acids. I mean you have to differentiate binding and activation; can bind but can't activate versus can't bind can't activate. I feel as though I've made a big mistake but I couldn't fit it in either way so I don't know what else I could have done... Ugh, now that I think about it, I think I'm going to lose points on that, on top of what I might have fucked on with the microarray part. :\
Now that that's over, I can relax a little bit. Not too much seeing as I still have one more midterm and 2-3 page essay for Japanese due soon. And a computer project. *dies* I want to slack off tonight but I still have to get ready for recitation for Micro tomorrow. That's going to take a good part of the night and I suspect the rest will be spent getting ready for Japanese. Joy.
At least I'm full. I made oyakodon tonight, as I did yesterday night. I'm trying to perfect it but I can't say I'm getting too far seeing as I know not what it really should be like. However it's supposed to be, the thing I turn out is mighty tasty and addicting.
I've also learned how to make okonomiyaki and miso soup. I like miso soup particularly seeing as it's incredibly easy to make and it's fast. And surprisingly filling. In the past I've had cravings for it and I could do is get delivery but now, I can have a hot bowl of miso soup within five minutes of actually starting to make it. I've been thinking about adding more stuff to it than just wakame and tofu but it's supposedly this science of what is hard or soft, what sinks or floats, etc and I have no idea how to balance what I add in or if I'm screwing it up by adding something but not compensating for it by adding another so I've thus far been put off on it.
What else? Ah! I roasted garlic today and made garlic butter. This time I bought some Italian bread and mozzarella cheese to make me some yummy garlic bread. It wasn't as garlicky as I would like so I think I might have to roast some more to put in it... :\ Oh well, tomorrow maybe, if I have time in between studying.
What else is new? I found a new torrent site, this time just for British shows. It's very...involved but I want Robin Hood (so loved the legend as a child) so I had to get an invite. I actually had to answer questions based on the FAQ and Rules of the tracker and they have these ratio limits in which you have to abide by if you don't want to be demoted or banned. Yay. I'm desperately trying to seed so my ratio at least gets to 0.4 (desperately!) but I don't seem to be succeeding. I can't seem to seed with Robin Hood and that's really all I want. So now I'm ending up having to download parts of some shows just so I can freaking seed. It's whacked I tell you. Hopefully I'll end up getting season one of Robin Hood before a week is up so I don't get banned before then... :( Their tracker is British shows only which kinda sucks because I can't upload anything else. Seeing as I have nothing, it's not really helping. Hopefully I'll find more shows that I can potentially seed and get that ratio to a comfortable level so I can download with ease... I never had this trouble with Demonoid but I guess it was bound to happen soon or later. I am a horrible leecher so this is really hard for me... *sigh* I really wish I were at home though. I know the router is kill me here at school in terms of being able to connect to people and I wouldn't have that problem at home... Gah, we'll see. It's not like it'll kill me to not have this place but I damn well like it so I want to stay... Hopefully a week or so of seeding constantly will help but considering it's only like 3.2 kb/sec now, I'm not feeling all too hopeful.
Okay, off to do a nine freaking page report on sigma factors in E.coli. What was he thinking assigning something like that the day after the midterm?! So not nice. It's not as if I had time to read this until now... *makes a face*
My Immunology midterm -- it's one of those that we will not talk about. My microbiology one, now that was nice. I procrastinated for both of them so I guess I deserved the Immunology grade... But it there was so much material and I misjudged what my professor would be asking us on the exam. She placed the copy of previous years' exams up like five days before and it was way specific. Considering the fact that Immunology is about twelve billion little things all very specific, it was really hard to study for. I studied concepts up until that point but apparently I needed to know structures and every single protein/cell of the immune system. *dies* I think we were all pretty screwed on that exam.
Microbiology, well, I tried studying for it over the weekend but Gena from high school came to visit New York and wanted to meet up. I gave her two afternoons so that cut into my studying a bit. I showed her NYU since she was considering it for her MBA and we had dinner. She was with her roommate and another of her friends so it was nice... They were awfully quiet though but I guess they just didn't have much to say to this stranger that they've just met... The next day, we did dim sum, finally at 88 Palace down on East Broadway. It was...mediocre. Personally, I liked Jing Fong better but 88 Palace is much better for a group of people to sit down and talk as its not as crowded or hectic. Well, I guess part of the reason was because we were there on a Friday...
I invited Janet and Xiao along so we could have a large table since dim sum really isn't something that's done with two people... Plus, Xiao being a Sternie would know the ins-and-outs of Stern better than I would so I asked her to talk to Gena. Plus, it was nice talking her again. We get along so well but it's a real pity that we're both so busy that we can't always meet up. :(
So, the Microbiology exam. I thought I was in somewhat bad shape for it but thankfully it was not the case! There were only a few questions in the multiple choice part that I was unsure of and for the essay questions, I totally nailed one of them and figured out the second one as I was doing it. I felt good coming out of it. It was one of those in which you choose two out of three and I read through them all, some of them several times before I started. I knew I knew the last question down pat so I did that first. And then I had to choose from the first or second question. I didn't know microarrays so well so I wanted to veer away from the second one but the first talked about localization of a protein as it moves from pole to pole of a cell and that I was really fuzzy on as well. But the first one had half of the problem that I just couldn't do so I decided to wing the microarrays.
While doing it, I knew how to find the bind site on DNA (RNase I footprinting!), how to find the specific amino acids responsible for translation activation (change them one by one and observe translation levels) but setting up a microarray experiment to find where else the TnrA protein binds in the genome was a bit iffy. I think I BS'ed something about knowing the protein sequence and from there, you can generate probes that fluoresce and using Affymetrix microarray chips with one mismatch, you can find where else the protein would hybridize and use that to do further screens and experiments to see if the protein really do bind those sequences. It should be okay, I think... Hopefully. :\ I feel like there were things I was missing, especially during the part where I measure levels of transcription based on the changes to amino acids. I mean you have to differentiate binding and activation; can bind but can't activate versus can't bind can't activate. I feel as though I've made a big mistake but I couldn't fit it in either way so I don't know what else I could have done... Ugh, now that I think about it, I think I'm going to lose points on that, on top of what I might have fucked on with the microarray part. :\
Now that that's over, I can relax a little bit. Not too much seeing as I still have one more midterm and 2-3 page essay for Japanese due soon. And a computer project. *dies* I want to slack off tonight but I still have to get ready for recitation for Micro tomorrow. That's going to take a good part of the night and I suspect the rest will be spent getting ready for Japanese. Joy.
At least I'm full. I made oyakodon tonight, as I did yesterday night. I'm trying to perfect it but I can't say I'm getting too far seeing as I know not what it really should be like. However it's supposed to be, the thing I turn out is mighty tasty and addicting.
I've also learned how to make okonomiyaki and miso soup. I like miso soup particularly seeing as it's incredibly easy to make and it's fast. And surprisingly filling. In the past I've had cravings for it and I could do is get delivery but now, I can have a hot bowl of miso soup within five minutes of actually starting to make it. I've been thinking about adding more stuff to it than just wakame and tofu but it's supposedly this science of what is hard or soft, what sinks or floats, etc and I have no idea how to balance what I add in or if I'm screwing it up by adding something but not compensating for it by adding another so I've thus far been put off on it.
What else? Ah! I roasted garlic today and made garlic butter. This time I bought some Italian bread and mozzarella cheese to make me some yummy garlic bread. It wasn't as garlicky as I would like so I think I might have to roast some more to put in it... :\ Oh well, tomorrow maybe, if I have time in between studying.
What else is new? I found a new torrent site, this time just for British shows. It's very...involved but I want Robin Hood (so loved the legend as a child) so I had to get an invite. I actually had to answer questions based on the FAQ and Rules of the tracker and they have these ratio limits in which you have to abide by if you don't want to be demoted or banned. Yay. I'm desperately trying to seed so my ratio at least gets to 0.4 (desperately!) but I don't seem to be succeeding. I can't seem to seed with Robin Hood and that's really all I want. So now I'm ending up having to download parts of some shows just so I can freaking seed. It's whacked I tell you. Hopefully I'll end up getting season one of Robin Hood before a week is up so I don't get banned before then... :( Their tracker is British shows only which kinda sucks because I can't upload anything else. Seeing as I have nothing, it's not really helping. Hopefully I'll find more shows that I can potentially seed and get that ratio to a comfortable level so I can download with ease... I never had this trouble with Demonoid but I guess it was bound to happen soon or later. I am a horrible leecher so this is really hard for me... *sigh* I really wish I were at home though. I know the router is kill me here at school in terms of being able to connect to people and I wouldn't have that problem at home... Gah, we'll see. It's not like it'll kill me to not have this place but I damn well like it so I want to stay... Hopefully a week or so of seeding constantly will help but considering it's only like 3.2 kb/sec now, I'm not feeling all too hopeful.
Okay, off to do a nine freaking page report on sigma factors in E.coli. What was he thinking assigning something like that the day after the midterm?! So not nice. It's not as if I had time to read this until now... *makes a face*
