Another Transformation

I've changed the name of my blog yet again!

The reason? Well...there are a few:

• I've been getting spam at my previous URL.

• I'm not sure I want people who know about this blog to read what I'm going to write (starting today). I.e. I'd like to write freely with no inhibitions and the only way to do that is if I don't tell anyone I know what the URL to my blog is. (I reeeally hope no one knows about this and all those who are getting feeds at the old URL are no longer getting feeds from this URL.)

• The purpose of this blog has changed. Originally, when I first started...in 2007(?), the purpose was for me to write about whatever I feel like writing about. Since it was when I went to college, a lot of the content dealt with college life and the issues associated with it. After I graduated, I changed the URL to reflect a new "identity" I took up. But the purpose of the blog stayed more or less the same--still me writing about my daily life and sometimes offering my opinion.

• Now, however, the purpose will be more academically focused and goal-oriented. I will use this as a way to track my progress to get to my goals.

Onto the new name! "Silly ether" is a pun on "Silyl ether". Silyl (pronounced "sigh-lil") ethers serve as protecting groups for alcohols, which means that they prevent the -OH group from reacting. In doing so they provide chemoselectivity.* Here is the wikipedia article on it. This wasn't covered in great detail in class, but I thought the word "silyl" was rather silly. :)

Before I go on any further, I should say that most entries in this blog are not chemistry/school-related, yet. It will start becoming so soon though. :)

Lastly, I would like you to know that my orgo lab instructor rewarded the person with the highest score in the class with the book, Molecules and Medicine.

Several thoughts on this:

• I think the last time a teacher rewarded a student with a prize was probably in high school...And even then it was more "recognition" than "reward". E.g. we were congratulated by the principal when we received high PSAT scores; we were recognized for our scholastic achievements by getting certificates. I'd have to say it's fairly rare, if at all occurring that actual rewards are given out based on merit.

• What does say about my instructor? On the one hand...I think most people would think he's weird for doing this. I mean, we're all adults here, do we really need rewards to push us? BUT (and that's a big "but"), I think this makes him even more awesome! I, for one, love to be encouraged and be recognized that I'm good at something. Also, the book he chose is incredibly interesting...at least from what I've read so far on amazon. It's a book about how organic chemistry relates to medicine in the development of drugs to treat diseases. It's broken down into sections by disease type and each type of molecule/drug gets 1-2 pages. The authors specifically wrote it so that you don't need much prior chemistry knowledge and a "lay person" should be able to understand. Pretty awesome. Heck, I'm probably going to get it and read it over break.

• Despite the fact that I am not the person with the highest score, I think I was pretty close. My score was already pretty high to begin with and there aren't many scores that can be higher than that. The fact that my score wasn't far off just makes me sooooo frustrated! I could have gotten it had I worked a bit harder, been more careful, studied more! Nothing motivates me more than being so close to getting something and not getting it. I'm definitely going to try to beat that guy next semester. He better watch out because he's going down! BOOYA! (Just watch my instructor probably will change his mind and decide to not reward/acknowledge the highest achiever next semester...-_-)

*In case you can't tell, I'm very into organic chemistry, or any chemistry for that matter.

Watch Update

Alas, I have called off my watch hunt due to the fact that there are no suitable watches on the market for me. I feel like the watch market is one area in consumer shopping where the choices men are vastly greater than the choices for women.

To be fair, I thought I did find the right watch for a brief period, but upon further research, realized that that particular kind was not the kind I was looking for.

Again, my main requirement is that it doesn't require a change of battery. There are 3 kinds of watches that satisfy this requirement--automatic mechanical, automatic quartz, and light powered. The automatic mechanical is a mechanical watch (no electronic parts) that winds itself via a pendulum that swings back and forth as you move. The automatic quartz is like a hybrid--it has a battery, but also a pendulum like that of a mechanical watch. The motion of the pendulum powers the battery, so you never have to change the battery. And lastly, light powered watches use light (any light -- sunlight, fluorescent, incandescent) to store energy that powers the watch.

The disadvantage about the automatic mechanical is that it's not very accurate, from what I read. Once you take it off your wrist, the watch slows down over a period of time. For example, it can lose as much as 10-20 seconds in one night. While this does not seem very significant, over time, it will accumulate. Thus, these kinds of watches are primary for watch collectors, who actually enjoy adjusting the time manually once in awhile. (They enjoy this "interaction".)

There are no major disadvantages in the automatic quartz and the light powered except that Seiko is the only company to make the automatic quartz (their Kinetic line) and they don't make it for women and Citizen is the only company to make light powered watches (their Eco-Drive line) and I didn't like any of the available styles.

Thus, I've come to a dead end. I would rather just change the battery on my old watch than get a watch whose style I don't like or a watch that requires me to change the battery.

Tick but no Tock

I'm searching for a new watch. I've had a few very reliable watches, but they all have one problem---having to change the battery. Call me lazy, but watches use button batteries, and every time they die, you have to bring it to a department store like Macy's to get it changed. Even though it doesn't happen often, whenever it does happen, it's very annoying.

Thus, I want a watch that doesn't require me to open it up from time to time to change the battery. There are a few options on the market:

• kinetic -- where the watch is powered by movement--movement of your wrist as you move about throughout the day.
• light -- powered by natural sunlight or artificial indoor light.
• automatic -- "self-winding". The mechanism is similar to the mechanism of a kinetic watch.

Excited about the prospect of buying a new watch, I jumped onto the soonest BART to Macy's. However, after spending a good hour there and having the sales rep show me their collection of watches, I was very disappointed.

It turns out, the automatic watches are very high-end (>$1000), way out of my price range. There are a lot of kinetic watches, but most are only available for men. So, basically, my only option left is the light-powered watches, which Citizen's Eco-Drive line is known for. Sadly, I didn't really like any of the Eco-Drives.

On the other hand, there are a ton of regular, quartz/Japanese/Swiss movement watches, some of which are very high quality. But again we encounter the problem of battery replacement. In looking at these, I was particularly biased towards one of Juicy Couture's watches (the one that had a pink alligator leather strap--it was very unique). In general, I also have a soft spot for watches with a tan/brown leather strap.

Like many things in life, it seems like I can't have the best of both worlds--style and functionality. I really feel limited in the number of choices I have--like a man in an evening wear store. The sales rep suggested I try online stores. Hopefully, I'll have better luck there...

Goals

I just thought of a new goal for myself: Read 5 books by the end of the year (2010).

In this information age, I feel like most of my time is spent on the internet. And I'm not sure what percentage of that time went to gmail and facebook and how much went to something that's actually productive.

I know I spend a good amount of time looking things up on the internet. But what do I look up? And are those things useful? According to Google web history, in the month of August, so far, I've made 789 queries.

The top 3 queries are:

1. dslr
2. canon d10
3. megan fox

Top sites:

1. en.wikipedia.org
2. answers.yahoo.com
3. wiki.answers.com

Apparently, I tend to search for answers to a lot of questions I have. But how useful are these answers? Is all learning useful? I can't really think of a reason why it wouldn't be useful. The reason I have questions is usually because:

• I don't understand something
• I want to find out more about something
• I want to verify something

So in that sense, finding the answer is useful, and helpful to me. Despite that, I feel like I'm lacking in the book-reading department. Since high school, I've honestly only read a handful of books. And I'm not saying the lack of the act of reading itself is a problem, but that I just feel like I'm missing out on so many awesome things by not reading.

Thus, this is my goal: 5 books by 12/31/2010. I don't think it's ambitious since I've started on a few. I guess we'll see how this goes!

Ahhhnold vs. Adrien

Decisions Decisions!

I think I might have written about this before but the issue has come up again--when purchasing something, what's the best way to go about it? Given that we literally have virtually an unlimited amount of choices out there, what should be the process that one goes through to arrive at a decision when buying something, particular something with great value, financially speaking?

In the past, I've always been an advocate of "do comprehensive research on your available options and then pick something". However, I'm not sure if that's the right way to go anymore. Advocates of this process make the assumption that 1) you will, in fact, arrive at the best decision and 2) time is unlimited.

There's no doubt that you want to spend ample time researching what is the best for you, especially if the item you're considering costs a lot. But there's such a thing as being too thorough. Intuitively, you would think that if you research all the brands, look up all the details you don't understand, read every review, etc. it would make the correct, or best choice, stand out to you.

That is not necessarily the case. Increasingly, I've found that due to the sheer number of choices we have for any given item today, learning about all of them in order to make up your mind about which to buy can be overwhelming, and even confusing, not to mention time consuming. One thing I noticed is that the more time I spend trying to decide which to buy, the more unsure I become when I make a decision.

So I've amended my process:

1. Decide on what you need/want. What are your requirements for this item? (Size? Color? Brand? etc.)
2. Rank your requirements in terms of importance. (Is brand more important or color?)
3. Decide on a budget. (What's the maximum amount you would be willing to spend on this item?) <-- Note: don't be too lenient with this one. If you only have $100, don't make the budget $300 (and think that "oh, I'll manage")! What will end up happening is you might see a lot more items that you like, but in the end still lean towards the less expensive option because the reality is: you only have $100.
4. Research only on the items that fit your requirements and budget. (I would say 3-5 options to delve into details should be plenty)
   
5. Make a decision and execute! (Buy it! Don't wait.) <--If you wait, you might change your mind (but not necessarily for the better). Also, the deal, if there is one, could be gone. Lastly, I find that if you waver too much between options, the option that you finally decide on will not seem as good to you.

Hm...I guess overall, my process is still the same. But the main emphasis is:

1. Research only what your requirements and budget dictate.
2. Make a decision quickly after doing the research.
   

The Institution of Marriage

It disappoints me to learn that one of my friends just recently became engaged and he's not excited about it. I repeat, he's not excited. Not excited about getting married. Every time he mentions it, he seems to be down. In fact, I believe he used the word "stressed" every time I asked him about it (and no I didn't ask him that many times...only twice).

It's normal to be stressed about a big event that you're looking forward to -- that's good stress. But whenever my friend speaks of this, he makes it sound like a chore, almost like he doesn't have a choice.

I've never really thought about how people feel about getting married. What's there to think about? Wouldn't they be excited? Happy? Isn't that obvious? Only recently have I started to realize that that's not the case for MANY people. Only recently did I learn that, yes, people really do get married for reasons other than having found "the One". And frankly, I'm shocked.

Most of these reasons can be largely grouped under one category: societal pressure.

"All of my buddies are getting married, I don't want to be the only one that's not."

"I'm at that age."

"She's pregnant."

"We've been dating for a really long time, what is there to do next? Oh--let's get married!"

Am I surprised to hear these reasons? No. But I am surprised that there are actually people out there justifying their decisions to get married with these reasons. I can only imagine how these marriages will turn out. I guess only time can tell.

On the other hand, I'm starting to think maybe this another one of my idealisms that I've never tapped into and brought back to reality (I've had to do that with many of my other idealistic tendencies). My whole life I was brought up to think that you were supposed to marry for love and happiness. You were supposed to "marry" the person you love and will bring you happiness. I probably sound like a naive 6-year old right now, but it's honestly what I've been brought up to believe. And don't get me wrong, I have heard of these reasons being used--just not by people close to me. People that I interact with everyday.

And I realize that not everyone get married due to societal pressure, but I'm starting to realize that a greater amount of people probably do than I have previously thought. And this, to me, is a little depressing.

The Birthday List

Current Thoughts

• There's a disconnect between what I know about guys who are my peers, and guys who are my senior. I know a bunch of things about guys who are around my age, and guys who are a lot older than me--with family and all. But what I don't know is how my peers (guys) will turn out later in life? And how my seniors were when they were younger (i.e. my age)? I feel like the answer to this would provide me a lot of insight in terms of what kinds of guys I'd be good with in the long run.
• When/If I have a child, I'm never going to neglect him/her or allow them to be raised by someone else.
• It's rude to not RSVP. If you're not coming -- RSVP "No".
• Why can't wedding ceremonies be less formal and so planned and proper??

Life Goals

• Swim with dolphins/observe them in their natural habitat
• pull-ups

Future Travel Plans

• Egypt
• Bali
• Italy
• Greece

Actors

• John Corbett (Aiden from Sex and the City)
• Liam Neeson
• Hugh Jackman
• Sam Worthington

Actresses

• Kristen Stewart
• Megan Fox
• Emma Watson
• Leighton Meester
• Whitney Port
• Dakota Fanning

Baby Names

• Aurora
• Morgan
• Natalie
• Lily
• Molly

• Ian
• Ryan
• Jaime
• Jonathan
• Evan
• Eric
• Nathan
• Justin

Stores

• American Eagle
• Urban Outfitters

and finally...(and I'm know you're looking forward to this one!!),

The Hills' Winners and Losers:

Losers

• Lauren Conrad
• Audrina Patridge
• Jayde Nicole
• Justin Brecia

Winners

• Kristin Cavallari
• Whitney Port