Sow the Seed

Yes, it's an epic title. Please, sow the seed of wisdom. Or, sow the seed of discord. But whatever you do, start sowing, because there are only 3 days left of Cosmos!

Been a long ride, and I hope Min had fun, because in the beginning, he sure was quiet(er).

Glad my roommate changed; he was a little on the shy side, but he got into the groove of things (and now jokes at my Chinese side *Sniff*).

And Mrs. Nicely stayed the same nice teacher. Weird.

Anyhow, thanks to all the people. I would like to dedicate my Emmy to the people that have been with me this entire time, roomy and science partner. Also, would like to give a shoutout to Amanda and Dylan, you incorrigible crooks.

Also Chantal and Amy, you artistes.

And I also GAF, out to Josh, Evan, and Jorge.

We just got back from our evening activities. Tonight there was a basketball tournament, a fashion show, journal decorating, and ice cream making. I first got my journal and then chose and glued on my letters. After that, I went to make ice cream. The mixture was pretty easy (sugar, half-and-half, and vanilla extract), but when it came to shake it in the ice, I wasn't very good with it. It was supposed to take about 5 minutes to shake it solid, but it took me over 20 minutes. After about 20 minutes, I switched bags, and it finally worked. So apparently there was no salt in my first one. It was really good though. I liked the ice cream a lot. Too bad there wasn't more...

So, now I guess I'm waiting for the food. We're getting Mexican food tonight from Roberto's. Carne asada fries and burritos, I think. There's a TapEx trip tomorrow (Tapioca Express) during free time, but I'm not sure if I'll go or not. Still, the food should be good. Hmmm, it'll be coming soon. Good night!

~CS

This morning we had our last Discovery Lecture. Today, Dr. Mark A. Brosmer spoke to us about space launches and launch vehicles. He started off with a history of man's space explorations and observations and then proceeded to talk about the basics of rocket functions and their various uses. Next, he discussed the launch vehicles used in the past and their inefficiencies (very specific and therefore inefficient in terms of infrastructure required) as well as today's launch vehicles and their improvements (more cost-efficient in being able to launch many different types of structures). Last, he talked about the planned space and launch vehicle programs for the future, such as NASA's Constellation program. I found his lecture very interesting. I had never known very much about space exploration and space launches, so I was glad to learn more about them, especially with his down-to-earth emphasis on the importance of reducing costs in building them.

After the Discovery Lecture, we went back to the computer lab where we spend our Tuesdays and Thursdays. We spent all of today working on our final projects. After working on a preliminary version of our final project PowerPoint, I went to lunch. Chantal and I went to a Japanese restaurant and then met Tiffany, Shannon, and Lily downstairs in Price Center. Afterward we went to the bookstore, and then Shannon and Chantal went to Jamba Juice. When we got back to the computer lab for the afternoon, we continued work. My group went up to EBU2 for a little bit to try to build a model for our experiment and then came back down. Hopefully Dr. Vera will come soon to help us a bit with our projects.

With nothing but final project work, the day was pretty uneventful (although much needed). Our biggest event of the day was the earthquake in the morning. We just felt a mild shaking. I wonder where the epicenter was and how strong it was... Hope everyone's fine!

~CS

This week has been a fun one. The Sunday night BBQ (which I forgot to mention) was very tasty. The desserts were excellent. Yesterday night, I ended up going to yoga. It was an enjoyable and relaxing workout. I heard that the roommate trivia game had everyone answering very strange questions, so in a way I'm glad I wasn't answering the questions. Anyway, I liked the yoga workout, although I wished that they would play some of the more advanced videos with possibly more challenging poses. Maybe that wouldn't have been possible for some things like a headstand, because the floor in Middle Earth wasn't very suitable for such things.

On a lower note, the game of Gotchya is over with no winners. Apparently, some or all of the 6 people left in the game as of yesterday showed such poor sportsmanship last night that the RA's decided to discontinue the game. I haven't heard the details, but I do know that the game became a bit too intense yesterday.

I'm going to go back to work on my final project PowerPoint, so good day!

~CS

Yesterday's labs were fun. In the morning our group fixed our tensegrity plate of 3-bar units, and then we constructed a tensegrity plate of 4 4-bar units. We didn't make a tensegrity plate for 6-bar units though. Daniel connected the entire cluster's 3-bar tensegrity plates, and we took turns lying on the "bed." It was fairly comfortable, but eventually one of the sticks snapped because the person hadn't distributed her weight well (she sat down on it instead of immediately lying down and distributing weight over the whole thing).

Afterwards, we worked on connectivity diagrams for the 3-bar Snelson prism and a tensegrity tower. In the afternoon, we learned how to actually build a tensegrity tower, which was pretty fun. One of our attempts failed. We were trying to build a 2-story 4-bar tower, and we accidentally used 9 sticks instead of 8. So we got a pentagon instead of a square on top. We successfully fixed it, though.

So those were our labs for the day. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to finish building and performing our tests. If not, I suppose we'll have to settle for just making a model instead of experimenting with our model. Have a nice day!

~CS

Less than A Week Left

I can't believe how fast it's gone by. I thought the month would feel a lot longer. I have to say I've really come to enjoy every aspect of COSMOS from the class labs to the programming time to discovery lectures. You have to give the RA's and everyone else planning this program credit for all their hard work.

In class, we are closing out the tensegrity unit while preparing for the final project. Tensegrity is a concept that really interests me, but I am really bad at constructing tensegrity models and it's driving me nuts. I can't visualize 3-d objects very well, and I'm terrible with my hands. Still I'm sorta glad I had the experience. Now I know for sure I can't go into a career that involves visualizing 3-d objects or using my hands.

What I've enjoyed most about cluster 7 is being challenged. There have been a number of assignments that force me to come up with something original or bring my own fresh perspective to an old topic. They are difficult and require a lot of thinking, but I've enjoyed them. I am a very logical and methodical person but also have creativity, and I think science needs both. Currently our group is trying to design a new mechanical test for RBC's, and I hope we can pull it off.

Min Lee

The Last Weekend...

This weekend's activities were fun. First, on Saturday afternoon, we went to the San Diego Zoo. Our group ended up seeing most of the zoo. My favorite animals were probably the pandas. The line was, surprisingly, a lot shorter than I remembered seeing it on past visits, and the pandas, also surprisingly, were a lot more active than I remembered. One was sleeping on its rock, another was ambling about, and the baby one (Zhen Zhen, who shares part of her name with me) was climbing around. The baby one was so cute!

We also saw basically everything else, except that the big cats (leopards, jaguars, etc.) were all hiding and we didn't get to see the elephants and giraffes until after nightfall (a good thing, apparently, I found out later). So the zoo was a fun trip.

Yesterday we went to the beach. The beach isn't my favorite place to be, but it was pretty relaxing. It was a little cooler, but I'd much rather have that weather than the heat back home. =D

Afterwards, Family Feud was fun. Our suite was the first to start off a Latin America winning streak. We lost in a close battle to North America, but in the end the RA's named us the winners for having good sportsmanship. Ultimate bragging rights, yay!

Tonight's activities are roommate trivia, yoga, guacamole making, and COSMOS murder mystery. Isabella and Rachel are representing our suite for roommate trivia. (I wouldn't have minded, but Shannon wanted to try yoga). I'll probably end up walking around to all of them and seeing what they're like. Gotcha is getting pretty intense. Only 6 people left now. Shannon and Michelle both died yesterday though... =(

Well, I'd better go start researching for our final project PowerPoint. Good night!

~CS

A few other things:

Thursday night's activities were fun. I was sad I missed the haunted campus tour, but Twister and fondue were fun too. I ended up winning Twister three times in a row for a few smaller games (4-5 people) on the second mat. The fondue was really good too. The chocolate fountain was soooo cool! And it was very delicious too. =D

Yesterday night's talent show was fun. It went for longer than I expected, actually. Everyone did really well. An added bonus was that we got extended lights-out time (12:00) for the weekend! Our suite played a game of Mao and just talked. A lot of people were trying to get ready for the roommate trivia activity, a test of how well the COSMOS students knew their roommates.

In yesterday's morning class, Dr. Skelton came to give us a lecture. It was fun learning a bit more about tensegrity's practical applications as well as ways to maximize its efficiency. Afterwards, in the morning lab, we tested the pretension and stiffness of each individual string in a Snelson prism (three bars, six strings). After lunch, we had another twenty-minute lecture and then went back to the lab. We built some more Snelson prisms. I finally really learned how, and I also found out that using rubber bands makes building the structures a lot easier as well as adjusting the structures once you know how. We investigated the twist angle of the prisms (how much the top nodes are rotated compared to the bottom ones in order for the structure to achieve equilibrium). Finally, we practiced building plates out of three-bar Snelson prisms. Our group tried to connect three, but we faced several problems. First, our prisms were a bit too tall and irregular for easy connection, and one of them was also rotated incorrectly (clockwise vs. counterclockwise rotation). We did manage to get them connected, although the plate was a bit wobbly and not level. We'll fix it on Monday.

So, that pretty much sums up our activities in the last few days. I'm going to go get some stuff ready for our zoo trip. Good day!

~CS

It's the weekend! On one hand, I'm glad to be able to sleep in a little, but I'm also sad that the third week is coming to an end. We're starting to work on our final projects. The presentations are coming up so quickly...

Well, today we're going to the San Diego Zoo! It's going to be really fun. We get a good amount of time to wander around the zoo. I'm hoping to see the pandas, if the line isn't too long. Anyway, the San Diego Zoo is always nice to see, and I like going to the zoo.

Tomorrow is more fun activities. The beach in the afternoon, and then a barbecue and Family Feud! I'll have to start researching and working on our presentation PowerPoint though... and doing my summer assignments, which I've been procrastinating on...

Anyway, our last weekend is going to be a very fun one. I'd better go work on my PowerPoint a bit, though...

~CS

On academic matters...

Our tensegrity labs for yesterday morning and yesterday afternoon (and tomorrow morning, too, I think) involved learning about force and stiffness. In lecture, Daniel and Dr. Oliveira taught us about Hooke's Law (Force=ks where k is the stiffness constant of the material and s is the amount of displacement under the force).

During the first test of the lab, we clamped strings of different materials to a square rod using a C-clamp and then added weight to the other end (bags of marbles). We used a yardstick to measure the resting length (before the weight was added) and the stretched length (after the weight was added).

In the second test of the lab, we clamped increasingly large amounts of marbles (10, 20, 30, etc.) to a tensegritoy string and measured resting and stretched length in each case. For both tests, we used these data to calculate change in length and then converted that to an amount in meters. Next, we converted the weight of the marbles to kilograms and found the force (mass x gravity). Last, we divided the force by the displacement to find the stiffness constants for the various materials. After we had done all of these calculations by hand, Daniel taught us how to do it in Excel. In today's afternoon Science Communication class, in fact, we did the same thing on our own. We created a chart for all of our measurements in the second test and used Excel to do the calculations. Afterward, we created a scatter plot of the data and then found a line of best fit. The slope of the line was the stiffness constant.

Well, that basically sums up yesterday's classes and today's afternoon class. I haven't been exposed to much of this type of subject before, but it was a pretty interesting topic.

We're going to go over the structure of our final project now... the end of COSMOS is almost here... =(

~CS

So many fun recreational activities now! Gotcha is, of course, fun. Yesterday's safety was to hold two people's hands, so during the 8-10 activity time Sidra and I had to hold Michelle's hands almost the whole time. During one of the few times we let go, her killer almost got her except for Sidra's watchfulness. After that, his friends kept making some feeble attempts to get us to let go, like "Did you drop your phone?" and "Could you help me get these rubberbands off my hand?". It was pretty funny. During floor time, we spent some time making logos and headgear for Michelle and Shannon (the only two survivors in our suite), since today's safety is to dress as a superhero. It's fun seeing everyone's costumes.

Last night Sidra, Michelle, and I went to tie dye, which of course is almost impossible if you can only use one hand or no hands in Michelle's case. Cristina and Ami had to help us with a lot of it, and we took turns holding Michelle's hands. I wonder how our tie dye shirts turned out. We're supposed to get them today. I hope so!

Tonight's activities should be fun too. There's a haunted campus tour, which I can't go on because I didn't know there was a sign-up sheet. =( Oh well. There's also a dive-in movie (Surf's Up), a Twister tournament, and fondue making. I think I'll do Twister and fondue. There are too many fun activities to choose from, and I want to do all of them...

We have our presentation for the fantasy invention in half an hour. It'll be fun seeing everyone else's ideas. I'm sure they all came up with good ones.

I'd better get ready for the presentation. Good day!

~CS

If I could escape and recreate a place that's my own world

Hmm... Karaoke was okay. Not the best selection of songs (no decent Britney Spears or Nsync song and not even YMCA or Barbie Girl). I suppose most of us had a fun time overrall. I'm more used to karaoke parties where everyone gets to sing and not have to sign up. So, in the end, I only got to sing Sweet Escape with mah Cluster 7 peeps and I want Candy with my 1st floor. I totally forgot that I signed us up for those specific songs. =P Fun Fun Fun

Today there was a fire drill at the cafe. There was also baclava. Yum. Oh! And I found a dead mouse this morning at the cafe steps and alerted the staff about it. It's STILL there, and I hope they get rid of it. I don't care about the mouse personally, but you would think that a eating facility would be a tad more concerned.

We didn't work on sticks and bands at tensegrity lab today, so I'm overall content. I've been feeling unhappy lately ... =( It's probably the work load.

These two days have been pretty uneventful. Yesterday we went to our Tuesday Discovery Lecture as usual. The speaker was Professor Paul Linden, who spoke on Energy and Sustainability. It was an interesting topic, but most of the facts and information he shared were pretty familiar. His graphs and pictures were really nice, though, and he obviously knew his topic well. The end of his speech confused me. Oh well...

After that we had Scientific Communication class. For lunch we went to Price Center to eat. It was nice not having to walk all the way to and from Cafe Ventanas, but I prefer the free all-you-can-eat meals at Cafe V. Still, it was a nice experience. Tiffany, Lily, Shannon, and I had Rubio's; Chantal had Subway. Afterward, Lily ordered a milk tea while the other three had Jamba Juice. I decided not to get a drink. In the afternoon Scientific Communication class, we got our final project groups. I was happy to get one of the tensegrity projects; I was surprised that only two groups signed up for the tensegrity projects.

Today was another pretty routine day. Breakfast (waffles and hot chocolate), then class. Today we made a lot of measurements and did quite a bit of math. At lunch at Cafe Ventanas, though, the fire alarm went off and everyone had to be evacuated from the building. In the end, though, it turned out to be a minor alarm since we were allowed to go back in and finish our food. Afternoon was more measurement and math.

Well, I've pretty much finished most of my homework for tomorrow. I wrote my abstract yesterday and just have to proofread it tonight, and I did a preliminary version of our group PowerPoint for the fantasy invention presentation tomorrow.

It's dinnertime now (or has been for five minutes already), so I'd better go. Good night!

~CS

Computer Lab . . . once again

Sitting at a Computer. (period and end of story)!

Today's Discovery Lecture

As usual, we discussed the lecture today. Our outcome was - even through his glory through his status - was not as decent as the last few. His voice often trailed off in his monotone manner, for example, as it also often trailed off onto different, sometimes irrelevant. More so, he even contradicted himself in the end (for those of you who could read it, for it was not tested well and many images, words, and graphs ran off of the page) by telling us to use airplanes because they are safer, which is against the "leave a smaller carbon footprint" speech he gave us.

However, the information and completed/relevant graphs he showed to us were superb. If the graphs were made from his own work, then this guy is a genius. His work gives us - or maybe just me - some more hope to Earth's future, if that does not sound corny enough.

Back to COSMOS, I went to the price center today with a few friends as well as another friend from my school who happens to be at UC San Diego for a different science program. That was (spectacular) my first time there. I cannot wait to go back again and buy some things.

Even more about what I have gained from COSMOS, I am now getting fairly decent at spinning poi, which is great. I love the things I can do now =)

We must go now, I will return later.

Swing, Swing from the tangles of my heart

I had an emotional break-down yesterday. Yes, tensegritophobia is the fear of building giant geometric shapes out of sticks and rubber bands.

I have it.

And I was just upset that this was what we would be doing for two weeks under Dr. Oliveira. He's nice, however, and really enthusiastic.
Last night I won 1st prize at bingo. Hooray! Price Center money! I'm splitting it 50-50 with Tiffany because we both called out the numbers. XD. Then we thought the day was well accomplished so we stowed away in a dark corner and finished our anime.
This morning we watched a presentation about global warming. I popped the "global dimming" question, HA~!

*wonders what Dr. Oliveira looks like with his hair down*

Hopefully we can all be mature adults and learn to grow a pair of manners and be considerate to each other. What do you think is the point of Cosmos? We must extrapolate our intellectual creativity.

Anyhow, I loved the dance. Had the chance to dance with some nice ladies, including an RA (it was dark). She ditched me though because I had bad teeth.

Basketball is getting better. We're starting to learn how to do tensegrity structures (basically origami with sticks and string.

Peace.

J.M.

Today was the first day of Cluster 7's second part of the course: Tensegrity and Modeling of the Red Blood Cell Membrane. Mainly we were just playing around with sticks (with holes and slots), elastic cords, and caps. In the morning session we did some basic work with one stick and a few strings and then later tried to build a Snelson prism (three sticks with the strings attached in such a way that the structure was self-stabilizing yet the sticks did not touch). Our group (Chantal, Amna, and I) was unable to successfully complete the Snelson prism, so in the end Dr. Oliveira had to help us learn how. After that Amna and I continued to make prisms with four, five, and six sticks based on the same principle.

In the afternoon session we were given the manual for the Tensegritoys set and allowed to build anything we wanted from it. Amna and I both failed in successfully completing the tetrahedron, but we did build a nice icosahedron. Afterwards Amy and Rachel attached 6 icosahedrons together for a really cool structure.

So, tomorrow is our next Discovery Lecture. It should be pretty interesting, just like the past two.

Well, tonight's activities will start in half an hour. I know there's dodgeball and cookie making/decorating, but I don't know the rest of the activities. I hope I find out soon whether I'm in Gotcha or not. I don't mind either way (it would be fun to either watch other people tag and get tagged or to actually be involved in the game), but I want to know...

Anyway, I'm sure this week will be a lot of fun, with Karaoke Night tomorrow and Talent Show on Friday. Good night!

~CS

So, Family Weekend. As I said before, it's been very quiet and a little lonely around here with so many people gone, but it's nice to have the laundry room and dining hall so empty. Anyway, they'll all be back soon. I'm glad I got my laundry done already when there was almost no one.

Today was a really good day. Speaking of laundry, I was happy that I managed to get free drying for both of my loads. Yay! Plus the COSMOS residential life staff got extra tickets to Batman, so even though I was too late to sign up I still managed to go. Thanks Pat and everyone else! I'm really glad I got to go. The movie was very exciting and intense.

Well, now after a very relaxing weekend I have to restart on my work. My last assignment for the bioengineering part of the cluster. I'm happy to be starting the tensegrity part; it sounds really cool and really fun! We get to play around and build models of the cell membrane as a tensegrity structure.

It's sad that COSMOS is half over already... these two weeks have gone by so fast...

Halfway

So it's family weekend. It has been relaxing and stressful at the same time. I definitely got to catch up on sleep. However, I think computers hate my family. There's always problems with computers. Oh well. I cannot wait until I go back to COSMOS, I already miss the people and the learning (but definitely not the homework).

The dance was tons of fun. I had a great time, despite the technical difficulties. Hopefully the next dance will run a little more smoothly.

I cannot wait until we jump into our next topic, tensegrity. Building stuff is always fun. I do not know much about this topic either so it will be exciting to learn something I have not been exposed to before.

I cannot believe we are already halfway through COSMOS. I wish it could last longer, knowing after this is over I must go back to school soon. I plan to enjoy every minute of the next two weeks.

-Rachel Gurlin

Last night was the COSMOS dance. The food and drinks were very nice. Tiffany, Shannon, and I all didn't dance, so we sat at a table and played cards. It was still pretty fun, even without dancing.

So, this weekend is Parent Visitation Weekend. It was nice to go with my parents to Price Center just for a morning. We got a nice UCSD sweatshirt. =D It's kind of lonely now in the dorms, though. While everyone else was on the mall trip, for example, only Shannon and I were in our entire suite, probably floor, and quite possibly building. And right now we're the only two in our suite as well. In a way it's nice and relaxing, I suppose. No waiting for showers, at least. Still, I'll be glad once everyone comes back.

Mom and Dad, if you're reading this, thank you for all the food and the visit!!!

Good night!

Please don't stop the music

Whoot!!! Last night we had the Dance. It was crazy... except for the disfunctional music machine, grinding, and the monstrous B.O. Srsly boys... spare us...
But the dance scene is always fun if you have a bunch of friends. I couldn't drag Christina, Shannon, or Tiffany on to the dance floor (like teh Silver Bullet--*hem*hem I see a pattern here -_-). But at least I had fun >=D

I'll be home for the weekend so I hope the Cluster 7 people who stayed behind rock the boat.

Sayonara desuuuuuuuu~~!

Amazing Stuff

Today is the last lab with Dr. Vera, and I am very disappointed. He's a pure genius, and I've learned so much just by talking to him and asking him questions. He always answers my questions patiently and then points me to new questions, which is awesome. Today we learned something I thought was pretty incredible. I was aware that mRNA undergoes post-transcriptional processing which keeps the exons and removes the introns but I had not known the significance of this process. Dr. Vera explained to us that eukaryotic cells have an advantage because of this processing- it allows for specialization of cell functions and greater diversity of cell proteins by being selective. For instance, muscle cells may process their mRNA differently from brain cells to better fulfill their functions. Then this means a cell's DNA does not determine its destiny. Well, not directly. I think a cell's post-transcriptional processing is regulated by cell signals and chemicals... which are coded for by the cellular DNA. So the cell DNA regulates its own regulation... This is some amazing stuff. I am as excited as the time Lakers got Pau Gasol.

-Min Lee

Today is our last lab in the bioengineering part of this cluster, so it's our last day in the amazing high-tech lab with Ms. Green. We're running an agarose gel electrophoresis right now to analyze for wild type or heterozygous mice genotypes.

Yesterday was a good night. I ended up going to the Rubik's cube tutorial and helping out a few people. Later that night we got a nice warm Pizookie from BJ's and some good chicken burritos from Chipotle. Tonight we have a ton of fun activities. There's slip-n-slide, a picture scavenger hunt, and the COSMOS dance. And parent weekend is tomorrow. Lots of fun stuff... The activities the RA's have been planning this week have all been really good.

Have a good day!

~CS

Shoot for the Stars

I'm listening to Min do a Q&A with Dr. Vera. He's confirming everything I explained to him. I told him that the labs 8 and 9 weren't related. He seems intent on finding a link.

Anyways... water polo was fun. Rob G the RA dove in to "rescue" me and tipped me over. It was terrible, cuz' I had fallen, and I couldn't get up. Other notable events was that I threw the ball OVER the net, being extra excited to score.

Ice blocking didn't go as well. I had to scoot along like a dog after using the great outdoors.

Sincerely,
J.M.

Livin' la Vida Loca

Last day in lab with Ms. Green. It was funny watching her and Ms. Nicely argue. Ms. Green scolded a group for dropping their sample, but Ms. Nicely said that we were first-timers and mistakes happen.

Raizor Ramen: Positive attitude! HOOOooooo~!

Seeing parents tmrw. Wish I could go watch Batman. Looks epic.

Arrivederci

Jumping Hot Java

Lately, the hot (or iced) coffee area in Café V has been a favorite of mine. My friends and I seem to be increasing our java intake each day not because we have too much work at night, but simply because we have so much fun during activities instead!

For a quick academic update, the other day Dr. Vera showed us a NPR session from Dr. Benjamin Carson, the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Dr. Carson believes that "there is no job more important than parenting" and even though I didn't think of it first (I don't know why), I definitely agree. Note to self: must read Gifted Hands by Dr. Carson as a rec from Ms. Green. ABC actually has a new show called Hopkins which is a 6-part documentary about life inside Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. I've seen the first part and it was really interesting so I recommend this show to anyone interested in medicine or becomming a doctor, especially since Johns Hopkins is #1 in bioengineering.

Since I see COSMOS and UCSD students on Facebook practically every time I turn my head in the computer lab, I started thinking about my own online persona which I recently re-activated after I took my finals in June just to befriend other COSMOpolitans. In the midst of indulging the MnM's from the lab today, I realized:

0) It is much easier to cultivate one's profile than one's self. [Oh no, college apps!]

1) It is much easier to spend time on Facebook than doing other things, like homework and reading and cleaning one's room.

2) I miss coding in Java. I haven't opened Terminal since June 1. :(

Well, actually one of the main reasons I came to COSMOS was to find out if I liked biology more than computer science. I realized that I absolutely love this biology+medicine field, and yet I don't think I can bear leaving comp sci behind nor can I major in it. Bioinformatics isn't exactly what I'm looking for, but maybe I can still participate in comp sci activities in college. I still have some time to think anyways. [:

Off to ice blocking!

<3

PS - Connie just taught us how to cube up to the 3rd layer (for lack of time). SHE IS SUCH AN AMAZING RUBIK'S CUBE TEACHER. =D

spam.

I like M&Ms. Except we dirtied some tables today with M&Ms we weren't allowed to eat. That's all I have to say.

we just finished our m&m lab, it was fun, we even got to eat our data, today i have to finish two essays or homework or something like that....
ummm.... i am having fun and .......i have made a lot of friends..... i like it here a lot, i will be very sad when this month is over.

Aghh...;;

I have no idea what to choose for my individual project. =[
It's so frustrating!
Oh well - I'll think of something soon I hope!

The M&M lab today was fun, especially eating them!
There's supposedly a college/career fair today. I hope it'll be interesting.

We're eating M&M's and working with statistics.
The week is going really fast so far, compared to last week.
Uhh, so it turns our my parents are cancelling family weekend on me ;-;

Oh well. Were gonna watch the Dark Knight this week and go to the mall I hear.

uhh okay bye

Slam yer body down, a zigga~zig--ah!

Yesterday, I learned to salsa! Yay! *swishswish* We also ate salsa (lulz). My feet hurt because I danced barefoot. XD (I feel like I'm always blogging about where I ache).

Yesterday we also had lunch with Becky Hames and Dr. Tu at Middle Earth. Whenever I go near middle earth, I think of Lord of the Rings, but it is really just a lounge area (They should totally put LOTR wallpaper or forest-themed furniture).

Anyway, back to M&M lab.

Ciao

Yay, candy! It's for an educational purpose though. We're doing a statistical lab with M&M's.

So, yesterday we had lunch with Dr. Tu and Ms. Hames. It was pretty nice; I liked the box lunches (grilled chicken sandwich, Cheetos, cookies, and fruit salad in mine). I enjoyed getting to talk with them more individually, and it was nice finding out that ours was the most elite cluster (100 of the 305 COSMOS applicants applied to this cluster, and only 18 got in).

The activities that we have had and are going to have this week are pretty good. They all sound really fun; I'm not sure which ones I want to do! Monday I learned how to spin poi and saw the cakes that other people had decorated. Tuesday was movie night. Anchorman was funny, I guess. I'm glad I finally saw it; I've heard people talk about it many times without knowing what it was about. Yesterday I made a friendship bracelet, watched some people salsa dance, and ate salsa with chips. Today there's henna, swimming, Rubik's cube, and ice blocking. I may go see the Rubik's cube one briefly, but I already know how to solve it and I'm not anywhere near as good as the other cubers here. Maybe I'll get to learn some different techniques though. Anyway, I think I'll go ice blocking, which sounds really fun. There's a dance on Friday. I'm not really enthusiastic for it, but I guess it'll be okay.

Anyway, this week has gone by pretty fast; it's already Thursday! Looks like the rest of this week will be just as fun as the first few days, with the Batman movie and parent visitation weekend.

So, I guess I'll go back to my statistical analysis of the data. Have a good week!

~CS

Random posting

I never have time to blog during study time, but at least I can blog during "cluster instruction." Yesterday at the lunch with the director my entire cluster felt pretty special because we learned how many people had applied. 18 out of 100? Yay! XD

I think my suite--including me--is going through a friendship bracelet craze. My roommate (Amy also >.<) brought string with her. Mine are never that good, but they're relaxing to make. Julia's are absolutely perfect. I don't know how she does it.

It's so hard to be innovative, but I'm trying. I haven't had time to go on my own websites that much lately...I usually spend all my time on deviantArt. I am addicted. T_T -> link to my dA. It's mostly photography. Ignore anything that isn't, if whoever reads this chooses to go there.

MnM Lab?

Hello All.

It is currently 9:10 in the morning, and we are waiting a few minutes for Mrs. Nicely to load the computer and projector. Everything seems to be going well, and a lot of the computer and homework problems are dissipating, which is excellent. I am not saying we have no homework, but it is now reasonable and, with this next essay, enjoyable.

Last night's recreational activities were not as fun as they usually are.. We had Salsa Dancing, Salsa Eating, and Friendship making (however, a few people also started a poker game).

I can't believe it is already Thursday in the second week! I don't know if that feels fast or short, for many friends are being made (as well as many people trying to be more than friends) and everyone is very comfortable as it seems. I feel like I've already been here for a month, but I am glad to go homework for the day and a half I can.

Cluster 1 - the computer one - is completely beating us in the number of posts (though, I believe ours have much more quality). This has really sparked us to post more often, and we have been. We post during breaks in labs, in our rooms, in the computer lab... Everywhere is a possibility!

I must go, we will begin. Adieu~

The Future

Cluster 7 homework and projects are getting easier for me. Not having homework for the first time a few days ago was really relaxing. Although, I should have done some research for future assignments.

Not only have I learned so much about particular things in my cluster, but COSMOS has started my thinking about the future. College, science fairs, and my future high school experience has filled my mind. There's so many things I want to do, but there seems to be a shortage of time for me to do it.

There's another side of me that does not want to think about the future, and stay a kid forever. However, I know there will be some exciting things for me.

The activities have been absolutely amazing. Salsa dancing was great and glow-in-the-dark capture the flag was intense, although I did not do much. I cannot wait for tonight. I hear that ice blocking is the best. Hopefully I can go to the pool as well and maybe do a front flip off the diving board. :]

-Rachel

Learning More

It's like everyday, the walls of this lab are getting smaller and smaller
And the white coats and safety goggles are starting to suffocate me.
The various glass beakers are continuously reflecting the florescent lights
In strange directions and patterns that slowly bring my eyelids down.
Lab benches have this insatiable thirst for lysol and paper towels,
And my lab notebook is somehow filling itself with strange markings.
The stools have this habit of becoming the most uncomfortable place ever,
And the collection of viles with rancid contents all have crooked labels
Which my focus can't seem to escape from, crooked labels everywhere.
I love the information and knowledge, But the lifestyle that accompanies it,
I can't say I'm too fond of. It stretches beyond membrane shapes and structures,
To a place where reality borders the edge of a glass slide under a microscope.

So yeah COSMOS, it's honestly been really great and I know its just going to get greater with time. Just meeting new people everyday is so refreshing, and discovering things about the people I already knew is also equally refreshing. Just being engulfed in this world of laboratories has also been an amazing learning experience. I have this great interest in Math and Science, but by being in this lab, it's like I've come to realize more about who I really am and what I really like.

massive update.

So I just realized that I haven't blogged since...my first time last week. Oops. I'll try to blog more often now to make up for that; now that I finally have my laptop (still bitter about the liars at FedEx and having to wait over the weekend for UCSD central mailing before getting my laptop, which is when I needed it most...>:[ ) and don't have to try cramming cluster homework in the hour, I'll be able to have time to blog more. Yay.

A lot has happened over this past week/weekend. A lot of it has already been mentioned it in other blogs though - Knott's Berry Farm was freaking awesome! Silver Bullet, Xcelerator (0 to 80 mph in 2 seconds, awesomeness), Boomerang, and especially the PONY EXPRESS (yay for awkward positions). The weird train lady was hilarious. What else...the days here are so packed and full of activities/work that the weekend feels like such a long time ago. The beach was awesome (successful jumping pictures on the first try!, "tanning", a very REVEALING ten fingers), and the jello fight was as sticky and messy as I expected but very very fun (yay for getting a mouthful of jello thrown into my face). So that's basically the quickest recap possible of the weekend. Very very exciting. OH. Also, although almost everyone else has already mentioned this, cosmolympics was totally RIGGED, but it's still very awesome that we owned the relay race by at least a good 5 seconds. Oh right, the cake decorating contest was quite amusing (second place for piling random junk onto a cake ftw). I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life. Crack. Haha.

Alright, moving to the more academic stuff. The labs have been interesting, and I am really enjoying how the labs here give us access to some top-notch equipment and resources, and that the assignments/basic environment of the labs require us to think outside the box and apply what we know with outside knowledge to come to conclusions. I'm sick of the structured, basic labs in school with lab questions that basically ask you to recap the lab. This is definitely a nice environment.

Hm..don't know what else to say. Can't wait for our boundaries to be extended - the trip to the campus bookstore was fun. Yay chlamydia! I'm pretty excited about the two final projects coming up, although they definitely require creative thinking. Playing with blood is still fun. PCR was very cool today, and the results from the Western blot were pretty exciting. Yeah. I think this is getting way too long. It's probably going to look intimidating on the blog site after I post it. This is what happens when I don't blog periodically. I tend to type too much. Okay bai.

Still missing a certain someone. But my friends here are very awesome :].

Dandelions make me laugh.

-Connie

New Pictures

We visited the lab upstairs today, we needed to put our samples in a PCR machine. While up there I got some pretty great pictures.
Amanda

PCR

Hey everyone!

Current situation: chilling at my lab bench with my lab mate Jorge, prepping for the biography on Pierre and Madame Curie that we're going to present in an hour. Ms. Green, one of our teacher fellows, is really cool. She's very laid back but also knows her stuff. We had a nice hour long advice session from her this morning.

We just put a microliter of knockout mouse DNA into a PCR eppindorf tube to prepare for PCR. This is some pretty intense stuff no lie. I found that our cluster is one of the more intellectual, challenging, but rewarding clusters out there. We were just told that us 18 kids were picked out of a good 100 applicants, talk about elite!

Anyways, were going to centrifuge our DNA now, so I'll catch you later..

Cluster 7 we gotta win the blogging award! If you're reading this, BLOG NOW

Ev

Lab Time

The labs today and Monday were pretty cool- we got to denature proteins, load our samples onto electrophoresis, and use antibodies to isolate actin. I think tensegrity stuff will be pretty interesting as well.

The beach trip on Sunday was nice. I fell asleep for two hours on the sand but it was nice hanging out by the water. The coolest thing was seeing these two girls draw cartoons on the beach boardwalk with charcoal. They were drawing characters like Wall-E and Spongebob just from their memory, and a long strip of the boardwalk was just full of these awesome drawings. You don't get to see something like that often.

I hope everyone's enjoying the second week so far.

-Min Lee

I'll Make A Man out of You

=D I'm happy I can come up with essay ideas right on the spot.

We watched Anchorman last night. It was funny/stupid comedy. Most of the guys have seen it. Girls... nah.

Guys are really strong btw. Dylan has no martial arts skills but is trained in the art of sibling wrestling so he's just big and strong. Lena's really smart at kung-fu. Isaac (sp?) is experienced. lol... my arms feel sore.

Ta.

Pickup Lines (:

I'm currently waiting in the computer lab where we just played the classic Pickup Line game. It was so much fun, and I hope that our cluster will bond over more theatre improv games. Last night after my friends and I finished decorating every millimeter of chocolate cake with some sort of candy, we joined in the capture the flag game without glowsticks :(. That game was so intense. It felt like we were on the border of Mexico. Anyways, our group won second place in the cake decorating contest which was pretty impressive. We went upstairs to eat it in our Suite and had a good laugh. =] Anyways, time for lunch!

Who's Line is it Anyway?

Today in class, as another "break the ice" / Enjoyment / learning to speak even if embarrassing game, we did an act from "Who's line it is Anyway." We all wrote three ridiculous lines lines on shredded pieces of paper and piled them in a chair and we each had to use at least three in our story (which began as a party, then rum, then pregnancy, then hospital, hitting on girls, losing and finding the baby, and having it all end with a challenge form a police officer). Wow, that was quite fun, and we will hopefully do it again in the common rooms some evening. Who would like to join?

-Dylan

<3 COSMOS!!!!

I must say, COSMOS has really grown on me. Honestly, I was not happy the first couple days, being assigned essays and not knowing many people. But my cluster is BOMB. I love everybody in it and all the other kids I've met at COSMOS. Plus, the programs are so much fun. I'm really excited to go ice blocking and get a henna tattoo. Capture the flag was a disappointment, all of the self-dubbed A-team were a bunch of cheaters but hey it's all good, I got to eat cake after :)

We have yet another essay due on Monday, in which we are asked to design a novel device that will analyze the mechanical properties of a red blood cell..funnnnstuffff

We just played a quick game of one-liners, and it made the environment a lot more relaxed. I'm going to try to think of more Who's Line is it Anyway games for us to do some cluster bonding with.

Discovery Lecture was a lot better this morning, Mr Goldstein knows his stuff..

Mom dad and andy i love you

Ev

A Thousand Words

Who's Line is it anyway: Cosmos Edition!!!

We just played improv so we can work on our public-speaking skills. To sum it up, drunken/bleeding people hit on girls, people partied with rum, a baby was born and then lost, and there was a hold up. hehe.

We so have to play this again.

Lab Time

The labs today and Monday were pretty cool- we got to denature proteins, load our samples onto electrophoresis, and use antibodies to isolate actin. I think tensegrity stuff will be pretty interesting as well.

The beach trip on Sunday was nice. I fell asleep for two hours on the sand but it was nice hanging out by the water. The coolest thing was seeing these two girls draw cartoons on the beach boardwalk with charcoal. They were drawing characters like Wall-E and Spongebob just from their memory, and a long strip of the boardwalk was just full of these awesome drawings. You don't get to see something like that often.

I hope everyone's enjoying the second week so far.

-Min Lee

Coconut posicles have a lot of calories

HI THERE.

OKAY BYE.


just kidding! cosmos has been a blast! i really like my thuper cool friends and i learned a lot about them over the weekend! knotts was really fun; i liked that there were rollercoasters that were different from the amusement park i have where i live. a lot of them are the same too though. that's cool too! jello fight was a real experience of its own. now i can tell people that i've been in one! i ate some of it though. it got splashed into my face. that wasnt very appetizing.

beach:
jumping pictures
10 fingers (WOAH x])
sand in EVERYTHING
i heart you!

coooool beans.


i dont like latex gloves. they're really sticky.

gel electrophorosis is fun! =)

by the time i leave camp i will know how to solve a rubik's cube.

okay NOW bye!

ps. i hope my friend finds her swimsuit so that she can go swimming! =)

jellooo!

So the first week of cosmos is over. Despite having more homework than I expected, it was a pretty fun week.

I've never been to Knott's Berry Farm before. It's a small theme park but I liked the rides. The Silverbullet was an intense roller coaster. Then on Sunday we went to the beach. The water was freezing and there was hardly any sun, but it was nice to just relax. And then there was the jello fight. It wasn't exactly jello though and it did not taste good. I cannot wait until next weekend...sleeping in is always nice.

~Amna

My Thumb Hurts

Dear Cluster 7,

Sorpreeze! I'm glad we are looking at some experiments that have actual value, instead of looking at meece and porcine blood through microscopes (although the camera microscope was chill).

Just a little anecdote: I hurt my fingy playing volley and I got so saddie. It throbs so awfully. Then, to make it all worse, a camera crew came up to me and interviewed me because they thought I had a broken finger. OCEAN FORCE! It was the dratted documentary crew that interviews others on their appreciation of the lifeguards.

I said the stupidest thing: "Yeah, some of these lifeguards save lives like doctors ... " (that's good so far).

J.M.

... "and some of them are, like, Olympic swimmers".

D'oh.

Have a good rest of week cuz' I'm not gonna post.

I Just Wasted 10 Seconds of Your Life

Christina says I should post just in case I don't have time later. We are going to have two essays soon. I wouldn't mind all the assignments if they gave us more computer time. I mean, I have a lot of free time to worry about when we can use the computers. We voiced our complaints, so hopefully things will change around here.

LAB!!

Throwing a shout out to everyone at home and at COSMOS from here in the lab where we are loading gels with Blood cells. The essay that was due this morning literally killed me, no lie. And now we have yet another one due Friday, except this one is more than straight info so I may actually have to use my brain. GASP! Now it is my turn to load and I am afraid that I will be the first person to royally screw up and spill over the gel, or puncture it.
More to come,
Amanda Albi

So we're onto the second week! We're getting more independent now since we're no longer escorted by our RA's to class. I can't wait for the campus tour. Last weekend we went to Knotts Berry Farm and the beach. I used up one whole bottle of suscreen since we spent many hours in the sun. We ran into many UCI COSMOS students and I even ran into my friend Valerie from Harker. (: The best part of Knotts was riding the Pony Express to intense Western music and having Dippin' Dots all while bonding with my friends. At the beach, we did even more intense bonding, jumped waves, and played a couple of games in the shallow water. We also took cool pictures of us jumping in mid-air. [: Hopefully when I find my swimsuit amongst my luggage we can go swimming next time. -_- Okay, it's time to load our sample into the well now. Goodbye!

PS - I really like my random lab partner. =)

So, the second week of COSMOS is starting. Our first weekend was pretty fun. We went to Knott's on Saturday. Chantal tried to make Tiffany, Shannon, and me go on Silver Bullet, but we were all too cowardly to go. =D So we ended up going on Sidewinder, Jaguar, Perilous Plunge, Bigfoot Rapids, and Ghostrider. We saw RA's everywhere, and we also got to see some of the UC Irvine COSMOS people. I saw my friend there, so I'm happy. Ghostrider was pretty fun. We got in a really long line for the two back rows (our RA's who had lined up behind us went two rounds before us), but I guess it was worth it! The drops were really intense and unexpected, especially with Chantal telling us it was a REALLY slow ride with absolutely no drops. It turned out to be the opposite. Anyway, Knott's was fun, and we got to stay a good hour and a quarter after the Irvine COSMOS people until 9:45.

Yesterday we went to the beach. I didn't feel like going all the way in, so I waded in a little bit with Shannon. It was still fun anyway. Maybe next week I'll go all the way in...

I'd better get back to work now. We're restarting our lab work. We're going to be analyzing our ghost membrane samples from last week for the membrane proteins, which will be pretty cool. We're going to be loading our samples into the gel for the SDS-PAGE.

Have a good day!


~C.S.

5

Today we are doing a lab that involves gel electrophoresis, which is pretty interesting. Some people in other clusters are complaining about the lack of interest, but what we're doing now is fun. The subject is for what I got on the AP bio test. I'm really happy. XD I worked so hard for that, completely self-study. I'm so glad I didn't pay for that $700 class some of my friends took to prepare for it.
Knott's was really fun, I went on Silver Bullet three times! The lines were long and the food kind of bad with those vouchers, but I still had a good time. The Bigfoot Rapids wasn't worth it, the line was so long and I got really wet. I screamed a lot, as I hate being wet, and Dylan didn't even get wet at all (he told me he wanted to). Nevertheless, I had a good time.
i'll write more later, I guess.

One Week Down, 3 Weeks To Go

So the first week is over. It has definitely been a roller coaster, like the ones at Knott's Berry Farm. I did not go on any, although I did have a good time. My legs were very sore though. Anyway, there has definitely been some up and downs. The homework is killing me. I'm glad I was able to obtain my laptop from my mom, however it does not have Microsoft Word which is a pain. I hope next week the homework will be lighter although I just learned we have another paper due Friday. This does not seem like it is getting any easier. I am learning a lot though and that is the purpose of COSMOS. Whever was grading the COSMOlympics must have been crazy. Cluster 7 should have won, or at least get 3rd! The beach and jello fight were lots of fun. I can't wait for this week, hopefully there will be less homework.

Forever Young

Hey there!
Never got to talk about how we lost (yet so totally WON) the cosmolympics. Yeah. ROCK THE BOAT! I was our pie eater, but it was actually really gross pudding and I felt really sick afterward.
We went to Knotts yesterday. Christina, Shannon, and Tiffany were so chicken. I couldn't get them on to the Silver Bullet, but we ended up going on Perilous Plunge and Ghost Rider. Instead of pictures, the Ghost Rider ride has a video camera now so we could see me on scream perfectly pronouncing, "Oh, there are no droppps---OH SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!" as the coaster dropped us like an egg. Seriously, Ghost Rider is x10 as fast at nighttime for some reason.
Today I went to the beach. Shannon and Christina didn't want to go deep in to the water but I was able to go with Tiffany and we had fun stringing seaweed together. I realized how mature cosmos people are. Min has a inner child of 40 so he just slept at the beach (he says he is going through a middle age crisis and we were all very childish). My advice to cosmos peeps: We are teenagers! We are californians! GO TO THE BEACH AND GET IN THE WATER!
Bye.

Sunday Post

I think it goes without saying that our cluster should've placed in the Top 3 at Cosmo Olympics, if not won it all. But it was more fun than I expected, and we all did great. Knott's Berry Farm was boring for me because I live a couple blocks away from the park- I wish we had gone to Wild Animal Park or Sea World. I'm looking forward to going to San Diego Zoo, though.

The workload for our cluster is heftier than I thought. I hear a lot of people saying that our cluster has the most amount of homework. I can't really complain because I at least have a laptop. For the people who have to check out laptops, it really sucks. Hope we get some time off this week. Peace.

First Week: Done

This first week was beyond full of homework for us. It was mostly because Amanda and I went first on the scientists report, so the research report got pushed back to the next day, and then the lab questions got pushed back to the last day. Come to think of it, I suppose this is pretty good practice for in college and - actually - my next year of high school.


Well, that is all for now, Daniel broke his toe, so I am waiting for him to return and see if he needs any help.

It's Getting Warmer

Hey guys

An academic week has already/finally passed and I think I'm really beginning to get absorbed into all of the stuff we're doing. Everyone here- especially in my cluster- undoubtedly has a lot of potential to be the next nobel prize winner. no joke! The work is substantial I guess; it's just really difficult because of how little time we're given to do it. Time is precious here! But i'm looking forward to getting a chance to swim and get a few laps in today; it's really hard to get some exercise in!

That's excluding the four 15 minute walks we have to make from ERC to the bioengineering building.

Knotts tomorrow, beach the next day. It should be really fun if its not too crowded everywhere

Catch ya laterr.

WTH

hay, I'm writing so i don't get in trouble, nothing to report, other than the cosmos Olympics was RIGGED, we should have at leased ranked.... uh, that's about it, the bonfire was AWESOME, but mostly because i was with my friends. other than that it was unorganized and too short.

Thank goodness it's almost the weekend! I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow and on Sunday. I might go to the bookstore during Free Time today to get a UCSD sweatshirt. Going to the beach on Wednesday was definitely a fun experience. I've never felt such fine sand or lit a marshmallow on fire (literally) before. Last night's COSMOlympics was so intense. =P Dressing up and screaming were probably the best parts. I'm glad our cluster is bonding well. [: This morning we got to work with blood again so the labs are still part of the highlights of the day. I'm still getting used to the showers that randomly turn from hot to cold and vice versa, but I really like our Suite. I'm surprised (in a good way) that we get In-N-Out tonight and I'm looking forward to it! The walks to and from class are tiring but an excellent form of exercise, especially on the hills. Hope Knotts Berry Farm tomorrow is as good as I remember it was!

I love Fridays

Yay!! It's finally Friday..the end of the week.
I am looking forward to tonight and tomorrow.
Of course I'm excited to go to the pool and Knotts, but also sleeping in.
I've been waking up too early;;
I hope the Lab 5 essays does not take too long, because our study time is very limited.
So far, I am enjoying myself here at UCSD.
All of the people I've met so far are really cool. =]
Almost a week has passed, and I've pretty much adjusted.
The most difficult part is walking uphill to the classes, but at least I'll be in shape for season.
Hope everyone else is having fun too!
Knotts tomorrow!
Woot woot!!
-Hyungju Kim

First Week is donee

Hey all!

Like my cluster mates below me have said, we dominated the Cosmolympics and I'm being absolutely honest, we should have won, or at least placed. Everybody was incredible and the spirit was fun. I'm glad we have such enthusiastic kids in our cluster, I know my roommate said nobody in his cluster was really into chants and competing, which sounds boring. Our relay race was awesome, we finished a good 5 seconds before anybody else so kudos to all those in the race with me.

We got through the first week with no problems really. I'm really tired though and I'll admit it, I've zoned out a couple times when it's really dark. Everybody complains about the homework load but really, what else would we expect. I'm not too bothered, I know it could be worse. Plus I'm learning a lot of new stuff, it's not just review anymore. The post-lab questions are pretty tough and stretch out my mind, but I like the stretching. I should be working on my 4 PAGE SINGLE SPACED ESSAY now so I'm going to switch gears. See you all on the flip side..

Ev

P.S. Mom, Dad, Andy: If you're reading this, I love you guys! And call me as soon as my AP scores come in!

Cosmos Poem

Mouse blood and pig blood and many pipettes,
Moving liquids from one container to the next,
Essays about diseases I've never heard of, I study
Instead of getting much needed rest.

My eyelids fall heavy, and my chin falls flat
Good thing Ms. Nicely is there to wake me up
With a small pat on my back.

People here are very interesting
Socially awkward perhaps, but so am I
So it all works out somehow; a great dynamic.
More people to meet means more things to learn,
Funny how that works.

But buildings are nice, and air conditioned
The chairs are comfortable and the food is good
I'm working hard and trying to listen
Twenty some more days of this, I'm down.

Josh Denogean

400 Block: It's better on top! ; )

Porcine Blood

Good job everyday. It's almost the end of the week and we're closer to the prize? What prize you ask? The Prize.

Really liked that olympics, even though I lost the balloon toss for us. I'd like to give a shoutout to Evan and Josh for growing a pair of wheelbarrows and owning the race.

Also, thanks to Min and Christine for getting all those tough questions.

Nice job on the Paris Hilton question, Min.

J.M.

At Least Twice a Week

They said post at least twice a week, so I am. I only ever find time to post while I'm in the lab, as computer access is limited without my own laptop. Labs two and three were more interesting than the first one, and this lab we're working on now is pretty interesting as well. I have to go now--bye!

'ELLO POPPET

this is my second blog, yesterday was tons of fun, we participated in the cosmos olympics. All ihave to say is that it was RIGGED!!! i mean like everyone knows cluster seven should havewon. We were pirates, we shoulda had first place, its kind of ridiculous how we dint even make it in the top 3. We had the best costumes(i was Jack Sparrow) and we won 2 of the events. By far i htought we had the best cheer so i dont know how they decided we werent worthy of top3. The way i see it, we shouldhavewon, but oh wellits just a cluster party.im signingout now bye.


North Side KR3W 4 LIFE!!!!

Yay, it's Friday! I'm looking forward to getting to sleep in tomorrow instead of having to get up at 7:00. The bonfire on Wednesday was pretty fun though. My first s'more was good. The COSMOlympics yesterday were also so much fun. Min and I did better than I expected in the Knowledge Bowl, and Cluster 7 totally won the relay race! I have no idea why we didn't even get 3rd place though...

Anyway, no research paper or Scientific Communication homework from yesterday, so this weekend I only (hopefully) have lab questions and reading/prelab for Monday's labs. We're going to Knott's Berry Farm tomorrow, which should be pretty fun. So this will be a fun weekend, if all goes well.

Today's lab was cool. We were lysing red blood cells and collecting ghost membrane pellets, which required a lot of centrifugation. At least there are only 2 lab questions to answer for this one. Unfortunately we have an essay for homework for the afternoon lab.

At least I'm getting more used to the walking. And we took a quick tour of the Biomedical Library yesterday, which was nice. The food is fine, too.

Hopefully this will be a good weekend!


~Christina

This is my firs blogg ever!!! so watheveri i guess cosmos has been fun except for all the homework were expected to do and only one hour a day to do it. Trying to get a lap is becoming a hassle and this is the first day i got one. Well i have met a lot of cool people(except for all those Nor Cal haters!!)and i guess the food is pretty good sometimes. Now i gotta go check in my lap so maybe i will blog next week.

North Side KR3W for LIFE!!!

C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G song! (it would help if you just sing along)!

Hello there! =D
I have to type quickly because Ms. Nicely will lecture us soon. She's very cool and nice (ha ha). I wish I had her as a chemistry teacher because she is so enthusiastic!
Cluster 7 has been fun. Yesterday we looked at mouse blood samples (both as a smear and as a drop under a cover glass). Smearing was hard because you have to get the hand technique right.
Unfortunately, we have a lot of homework and projects to do. Half the time I am worried silly about whether I can finish them on time because there is so little computer time available to us. The RAs make our evening activities exciting. Yesterday we went to a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. The fire was super-hot, but I was able to just stick my marshmallow stick in the sand in the fire pit like I see them do with fish in animes.

I wish my cosmos peeps would go near the water with me =(.

fun fun fun!!!!!!

COSMOS has been so fun, I have a lot of homework and am very busy, I have made many new friends and have brushed up on my biology. now I have to go because I am still doing my homework.

Last Person to Post

I'm posting this late because I discovered that my lab questions which I had finished earlier somehow didn't get saved... so I did them all over again. But today was a pretty cool day at the lab- preparing blood smears and looking at them with Dr. Vera's high-tech computer/camera was pretty fun. The amount of homework (and walking) so far is indeed a bit surprising, I admit. But I'm optimistic that things will be better. I'm looking forward to going to the zoo.

A few notes from Adam

Hey Cluster 7, I've got a few things now that you've all started posting:

• If you are going to use your name to sign your posts, go ahead and just use your first name and last initial. You can change your displayed name by clicking on the Blogger Dashboard up at the top of the page (when you are logged in), then clicking the Edit Profile link. There is an option there to change your display name. Don't worry, we'll still know who you are. :)
  
• This is your blog, so if you want to change the layout or color scheme, let me know and I can help you with it. Decide amongst yourselves what you want it to look like, then go ahead and meet me in my office and we can work on it. Blogger has a number of ready-made templates, and although we can't get too complicated, if you have some html skill you might be able to turn it into something great!
• If any of your classmates/roommates/friends haven't received their invites, please send them my way. Thanks!

Cluster 7 Adventures

Well I've been at COSMOS for four days now, and already I have three lab reports due tomorrow along with a three page essay on a blood disease that randomly caught my attention yesterday. It's not going to be an easy walk in the park, that's for sure. The people in my cluster are all pretty chill so that's a plus side to this whole thing and one of my roommates is in my cluster so that's also another big help. I'm still having difficulty immersing myself into this world of molecular biology. To me its a really impersonal and detached field of study, but nonetheless many of the main concepts we've gone over have really interested me. I understand how biotechnology and the things we are learning are continually affecting people's lives for the better, but it just seems so irrelevant to my life. Otherwise I'm having a good time, meeting new people.

Hi Cluster 7!
I'm looking forward to learning more about bioengineering and blood cells. The first lab was a bit tedious, but labs two and three were more interesting. I didn't expect to have to write a research paper this early on. But that's ok; at least we'll be able to explore a new topic.
I felt really sleepy during today's lecture, but that's because I didn't sleep well last night, not because it was boring!

Excited for the bonfire tonight!

~Amna

Blood! XD

Hello everyone! I am currently in the lab, typing with gloves on (which is quite a challenge) and waiting for the microscope to be available. I'm practically forced to type this blog, but that's okay as I'm used to it. Let's see, "honest but nice" they said. Today's labs have been pretty cool, looking at mouse blood. Yes, blood. XD The first lab was just transporting water from one beaker to another with pipettes, which wasn't that cool but I guess it was good practice. Tonight I have to write a 2-3 page double space report on a topic concerning blood, so I chose sickle-cell anemia over hematopoiesis (yes, I know it's a big word). I presented an article on it, and learned what they didn't tell me in school. I took an honors course so it's kind of frustrating when they don't tell you the simplest information. Anyway, the people here (for the most part :P) are pretty cool. Most people in my cluster are going into senior year, and I'll only be sophomore. I guess that's good in a way, meaning that I'm smart enough to get in. But I still feel pretty stupid compared to a lot of people here. Everyone in my suite just happens to be Asian, except the R.A. I know that was random, but that's how my thoughts go. I really wish I had more computer access; there's not enough laptops and not enough time to finish all my homework. I need time to write a whole research paper and do all the lab questions. There's 150 people here and limited computer access. We can only go in the computer lab for an hour and a quarter, which is not enough. I wish I had a laptop, but I don't and the laptops are only available from 6:30-8. The office is in the boy's building and though I ran there at 6:30, all the boys got there first. Not fair! I don't know what to type anymore, so I'll just go wait in line for the microscope now. Bye!

Cluster 7 So Far

Hi,

My first post on this blog, since we have some free time in the lab right now while everyone looks at their blood samples. Anyway, COSMOS is pretty good so far. The classes are pretty interesting, and the labs are pretty cool. We've actually been looking at blood cells today, making blood smears, etc. The labs are getting more and more fun; the first one on pipette handling was necessary but not as interesting. The bad part is that there's a lot more work than I would have expected, getting homework morning and afternoon. The activities are fun though; we have a bonfire tonight which should be really fun. The food isn't too bad either, just standard college dorm food. Anyway, I'd better get back to work now!

Good afternoon COSMOS! I'm currently finishing up Lab #3. Can you believe it? I've never been in a lab for so long, but I'm loving every minute of it. Working with blood today was a treat. Our lectures with Dr. Vera and Ms. Nicely have all been interesting and taking AP Biology last year has definitely come in handy.

Yesterday's lecture by Jeanne Ferrante was one that I really enjoyed because I have been taking advanced computer classes for the past 2 years and understood most of it. I would love to ask her to present to my high school if possible.

Dorm life is mediocre. There isn't much independence and the schedules are pretty strict and don't resemble real college living. However, everyone in my suite is extremely cool. (:

COSMOS has been an excellent experience so far, as it is packed with homework AND fun activities. The choices for RA activities are great, but I wish there was more time to work on homework (maybe if we actually had our Free Time...). I never expected this much work, but I'm glad that I am learning how to write a technical paper because it will be useful when applying to science fairs with two very different research projects in the fall.

Looking forward to the beach bonfire!

Bioengineering and Homework

Hello,

I'm looking forward to learn more about our cluster and the different branches of bioengineering. The labs are very interesting as well.

There is much more homework than I expected. In addition, it is very difficult to complete because I do not own a laptop.

The walking is not getting any easier, it is a far way.

I am always busy, there is always something need to be done. I feel like time is shorter here.

The night activities are always a blast. Yesterday I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

I look forward to the future.

Rachel Gurlin

Yay blog :]

Hi,

So I'm sitting at my station in the lab right now and it's down time, so I figured I might as well type up a blog. Today's labs were very cool; we got to work with blood and make blood smears! So that was exciting - getting to look at actual blood cells. The first lab wasn't as interesting but it was still nice that we got to work with some very professional-looking tools like the micropipettes, and it was also necessary to learn the skills needed in upcoming labs. The future labs look very cool and I am excited about them.

The food here is alright - typical college dorm food. I am living off of cereal, muffins, pasta, and pizza. I've also met a lot of people from my floor, cluster, and elsewhere. Tonight is a bonfire - pretty exciting. The only downside so far is the overload of homework both from my clusters and from the science communication course. It is difficult to complete these with limited computer access for short periods of time each day. Yesterday we all sprinted to the laptop checkout line at precisely 6:30 but the guys were all in line already and they ran out. I'm glad I get my laptop soon (hopefully tomorrow). Anyhow, this is getting kind of long, and I need to go look at the blood samples soon. Cya later.

-Connie

Meece Blood

Was excited for the first real lab (other than shuffling water back and forth), and was relieved to hear about meece blood. Could not control my excitement, as it was probably church meece, the species of meece with the largest red blood cell count in the world.

Joking asides, learned a lot about the various procedures to do when confronted with such an assignment. Now know what the neutrophils, eosiniphils, and whatnot are. Staining a slide will surely come in handy for the medical profession. I'm typing from my lab bench, and some of the lab taskmasters are getting near me. Must retire from my typing. Wish you all well in your intellectual journeys! Mice rule!

Sincerely and Most Respectfully,
Jason

Pineapple

Hello

COSMOS has been pretty fun so far; I've met a few cool people. I'm really looking forward to going more into depth about our cluster/subject and just experiencing college life/freedom. Tonight there's a bonfire; all 150(?) of us around one pit should really be fun. I've never had s'mores before!

Or on a ferris wheel.

There is a LOT of homework-more than I expected! We get new assignments every morning AND afternoon. It wouldn't be so bad if we had more time to do it. I'm a slow reader! Everything is so busy.

I've been living off of salad and ice cream. I think that's how it's gonna be when I really go to college too.

Catch y'all later =)

Andrea

My first!

I have had an amazing first few days, so amazing that it has been hard to find time to blog. I have met a ton of cool people: Evan, Eric, Dylan, Rachel, Annie, Josh, and a bunch of people who's names are either unknown to me or that I just have not yet learned. The first to labs have been awesome!!!! I like using pipettes so that might have something to do with it, plus getting to see blood cells on a computer screen instead of looking through the microscope is pretty awesome! I am very hungry so I am going to leave for lunch now.


Amanda Albi

Cluster 7 !

Hmm, the days are passing by surprisingly slowly.
I can't believe that it's only wednesday. x-x
Well, I'm definitely looking forward to our fieldtrip tomorrow.
I'm just not all that excited about our tons and tons of homework assignments.
It's all pretty overwhelming !


looking forward to the bonfire tonight,
Sanlie :]

Bonfire tonight! =]

Hey everyone.
I didn't know that we would be having so much homework!
It seems as if there's one assignment after another.
Other than the homework part, I'm enjoying everything.
The recreational activities are great;I had fun playing badminton, frisbee, and board games last night.
Oh! And I'm really looking forward to the bonfire tonight at the beach!
I hope there will be marshmellows and etc.
Hope everyone else is having a great time as well...=]

What Day is it Again?

Wow, the time seems to be going by so fast now - well, not fast at all, but comfortably. I am getting used to/memorizing the time schedule, which is good, but I really dislike the mandatory free time. Today I must finish the biography of a person, which is simple enough, and start the research report because I have other things to do tomorrow.

I am very excited for tomorrow's lab, though. Ms Nicely and Dr Vera are very good instructors on the information level as well as the actual instruction. Though difficult with the spanish accent, I can pick up on the basic things he says and fill in the rest. I also Love working with Amanda as a lab partner.

Though, as a last note, I believe we should be able to go in the water tomorrow at the bonfire...

-Dylan Herbst

First Day

Hey all,
Today was fun, a typical first day. Quite a few safety and policy lectures, but that's expected. Everybody in the cluster seems real smart, I think it's going to be a rewarding cluster and course, especially with the caliber of the kids in it. The instructors know what they're talking about too, that's obvious. Played a good game of soccer just now and it was intense. Looking forward to the upcoming week..Have a good one.

-Evan Shih

Cluster Seven Rules!

Today was okay, but from what I'm hearing, most of the students in here are really smart and took AP Biology already; so most of the stuff being discussed was a review. I don't like the question time because I have memory bordering on ADHD.

Our counselors asked the highs and lows of the day. Highs were that I got to use a micropipette to get water into a beaker. The low was I had to use that same pipette to put it back again.

Hope you all are having as much as I am. GTG. Am using a friends computer.

Sincerely,
Jason

Welcome to the Cluster 7 blog!

Hello students, parents, and guests, and welcome to the official blog for UCSD COSMOS Cluster 7: Bioengineering - The Amazing Red Blood Cell. The intent for this site is for the students to use it as an online journal to keep the world up to date with everything they are learning and doing here at COSMOS. Parents, check back often to see what your students are saying! Each student in the cluster will post to this specific blog; if you would like to check out the other clusters, we have links to them on the right side of the page.

Students, you aren't expected to post every single day, but we'd like you to try to post at least twice a week. The posts themselves don't have to be too long and detailed, but you should try to write at least a paragraph. You can also post pictures if you'd like to. Please keep in mind that these blogs will be monitored by staff and you are expected to uphold the COSMOS standards as outlined in your student handbook.

If you need any help posting, Blogger's help site is here or you can come ask Adam in the COSMOS Office.

Have fun!