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.
No comments:
Post a Comment