I have no idea why I am so addicted to honey roasted peanuts from Walmart. They are so tasty, and I know that they aren’t particularly healthy, but it’s hard to stop. I guess it’s better that being hooked on something more fattening like chips, fried food or desserts. It’s like I get hooked on something every year. Another thing that I love is the Strawberry-Banana nectar from Walmart and the Fuze Refresh Strawberry-Guava drink.
Okay, enough of trivial speak. I figured this was a good time as any to write something on my blog and web space that I am paying for. I just didn’t have the motivation to blog the past few months. It would come up in my head but I never got around to actually doing it. But, instead of blogging, I’ve been doing a ton of photography and uploading on flickr. I just cleaned up over 1300 images from my winter trip and uploaded them onto Flickr. Flickr’s unlimited upload limits are fantastic for my needs. The service is really worth the money I pay every year. I’ll start using Zooomr when they get the Flickr import tool integrated because I don’t have the patience to upload, and tag all the information that I already have on Flickr.
Best of India (352 images) | All the shots from India (1012 images) | Heathrow and Philadelphia International Airports (120 images)
It’s unbelievable that I’ve been at Penn State for 8 months already. I’ve been learning so many new things. All the reasons for grad school are panning out, and I’ve gained experience in more ways than one. Academically, I’ve been filling the holes in my education from a non-materials engineering background. So, an introductory glass course, surface chemistry, thermodynamics of materials, advanced glass structure, kinetics of materials and characterization of materials later, I’m starting to gain some theoretical insight and knowledge for my research. [warning: science content ahead 
] The big picture is to look at interface chemistry of Rohm & Haas‘ green Aquaset polymer and John Manville’s wool glass composition which make up the EPA award-winning new environmentally friendly formaldehyde-free insulation products (original pdf file). For now, I am making flat glas samples to check the contact angles of the polymer and its components on the glass surface. And then, do a time dependent contact angle analysis and surface composition after the solutions dry out using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). I will also do Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to look at surface morphology. This should give me some idea what to expect with the same tests on glass fibers. I’ll describe the fiber making process when I actually start making my samples for real.
Beyond school, swing dancing is going rather well. I pick up a few new moves every month. I also have 4-5 regular dance partners who mesh well with my style. I would mention names but I guess I shouldn’t. All I can say is that there is a girl who is an amazing follow who has an great style of her own. And then, there are three girls who picked up swing and Lindy so quickly, it’s still mind-boggling. They move very well, and can follow my lead style. And related to that, I’ve also uploaded several swing videos on Youtube, and found plenty of videos to pick moves up from.
Amnesty International (PSU Chapter) has been a great club and cause to be a part of. I’ve learnt a lot more about human rights, and have gotten more interested in such matters as the Sudanese genocide and terror war based human rights violations. I’ve also made some friends in this club which is pretty nice. The other one that I am involved in is the Penn State Public Issues Action Committee. I am trying to get a new fundraising idea off the ground that has the potential of raising several hundreds of thousands of dollars. The up side of this range is $1,000,000 and up if we get access to all the sources we need, and over 50% of students/staff/faculty participate. We want to use this money to support non-controversial sustainable projects in Third-World countries. We want to ask people to donate 1% to 5% of every transaction they make on campus towards this fund including parking. But so far, the Parking department is not willing to play ball and not giving us a reason. I am still to hear back from LionCash.
I have to start working out soon. I feel slow, and my stamina needs rejuvenation.
And I leave you with this candid of a girl with an iBook at Heathrow International. I like this shot.
