Today afternoon, I opened my email, and there was an email from Scott suggesting that we go watch a baseball game this weekend. It's not too expensive (about $15 for decent seats, compared with about £30 for a ticket to a Premiership match), and it's part of the American experience. However, my Spanish flatmates are flying in this Saturday, so it would be best if we go on Sunday (there are games on both days). I clicked the 'reply' button, and I was about to type in my response when I remembered....Scott was sitting right behing me. Ah...the joys of modern technology :P.
Speaking of modern technology, I can proudly announce that I, too, have managed to crash a Unix machine. It's was on a program that my mentor co-wrote, which models the way radiation from a star travels and gets scattered through a clump of dust surrounding it. I had to select the parameters with which to do the calculations, and I guess I must have chosen something too big for machine to chew on, so the machine just hung. Having said that, I learnt later that even while running properly, it takes absolute ages to run through the calculations. Apparently, even with a blisteringly fast Apple G5, it can take up to a day to crunch its way through complex simulations...
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Monday, June 21, 2004
My first weekend as an intern! On Friday night, it was suggested by Scott that we rent a DVD, order pizza and watch it at him and Tom's apartment. I had to go buy groceries from Giant (no, NOT the Malaysian one) supermarket nearby, so I decided to pass. I bought an enormous load of groceries, and when I walked out the supermarket exit, it was raining! Bereft of any other option, I simply walked the kilometre or so to my apartment in the rain, straining at the bags of groceries (the plastic bag handles have an incredible tendency to bite into my hands).
The next Saturday, I just woke up late, and fixed myself breakfast (and lunch barely half an hour later). Apart from cleaning up my apartment a bit more, I didn't do much until I met up with the gang at a nearby restaurant (I had my first American meal here, in fact) for dinner, before going to watch Harry Potter. The dinner was alright, although the portions were just a bit too small for my appetite and the prices involved. There were bottles of various sauces at the table, and among them was a bottle of chilli sauce labeled 'Predator', with a Jaw-style picture of a shark. I dripped a drop of it on my plate, dabbed a piece of chicken with it and ate. As I chewed it, I thought it wasn't that bad....until I swallowed it. It BURNED like hell going down, and it took me all my effort to keep a straight face. Several pieces of chicken (WITHOUT Predator sauce) and half a glass of lemonade later, my tongue was still burning!
After dinner, we took taxis to the Senator Theatre. This was one of the old-fashioned cinemas which had only one screen, and the decor was definitely retro, right down to the attendants' uniforms and the tickets (the first ones without a magnetic strip I've seen in ages). The men's room was labeled 'Men's Lounge', and there literally was a lounge attached, with armchairs and fireplace. The cinema even has a dog prowling around, as their mascot! As for the movie itself, as one of the six people in the world who haven't read any of the books, I shall not say much except that it's so-so.
The next morning, we met up at 10am to catch the bus to the Inner Harbour area, to go to the National Aquarium. It was a really beautiful day, without a single cloud in the sky, yet wasn't too hot either. After getting tickets, we went to see the Dolphin Show first of all. It was held in a indoor tank, and there were the dolphins doing tricks. It was fairly interesting (I wonder what is it with dolphins that makes us love them so much), although I reckon I would have enjoyed it even more if I was 15 years younger. As most of us didn't have breakfast, we went to grab brunch immediately afterwards. Bonnie brought us to this burrito place called Chipotle's. For the uninitiated, burritos are tortillas filled with beans, meat, and veg, and the burritos served at this restaurant are HUGE. As Scott put it as he picked it up to eat, it's the first time he ate something that was HEAVY to pick up. Having said that, I had no problems whatsoever finishing my burrito off obviously, and was still feeling peckish afterwards.
After brunch, we went to the aquarium proper. It's a pretty good aquarium, although nowhere as good as Osaka's aquarium IMHO. It was rather crowded, and it wasn't easy to get a good view of the exhibits. The highlight of the tour was probably when divers went into the stingray tank at feeding time to feed the rays. The shark tank was quite interesting as well, although I earned a few strange looks with my comments about sharksfin soup.
After the aquarium, we decided to go to walk to a hill overlooking the harbour, called Federal Hill. It was on the other side of the harbour from the aquarium, so it was a rather long walk. By the time we got to the foot of the hill, the girls had already thrown in the towels, so it was only us guys left to carry on the fight. The hill had a large American flag at its centre (still at half mast for Reagan), and it offered a stunning view of the Inner Harbour area as well as the financial district (enlarge the picture to get a better view). There was in fact a beach volleyball site at the foot of the hill, and I itched to play...
After that, we went back home and I had a jog around the Hopkins campus. It is a bit smaller than I'd expected originally, which is a good thing because I'm definitely out of shape.
On another note, I'm constantly impressing my two Colombian friends Esteban and Rafael with my comprehensive knowledge of Spanish obscenities and insults. Oh, and all my pics from Baltimore so far are here.
The next Saturday, I just woke up late, and fixed myself breakfast (and lunch barely half an hour later). Apart from cleaning up my apartment a bit more, I didn't do much until I met up with the gang at a nearby restaurant (I had my first American meal here, in fact) for dinner, before going to watch Harry Potter. The dinner was alright, although the portions were just a bit too small for my appetite and the prices involved. There were bottles of various sauces at the table, and among them was a bottle of chilli sauce labeled 'Predator', with a Jaw-style picture of a shark. I dripped a drop of it on my plate, dabbed a piece of chicken with it and ate. As I chewed it, I thought it wasn't that bad....until I swallowed it. It BURNED like hell going down, and it took me all my effort to keep a straight face. Several pieces of chicken (WITHOUT Predator sauce) and half a glass of lemonade later, my tongue was still burning!
After dinner, we took taxis to the Senator Theatre. This was one of the old-fashioned cinemas which had only one screen, and the decor was definitely retro, right down to the attendants' uniforms and the tickets (the first ones without a magnetic strip I've seen in ages). The men's room was labeled 'Men's Lounge', and there literally was a lounge attached, with armchairs and fireplace. The cinema even has a dog prowling around, as their mascot! As for the movie itself, as one of the six people in the world who haven't read any of the books, I shall not say much except that it's so-so.
The next morning, we met up at 10am to catch the bus to the Inner Harbour area, to go to the National Aquarium. It was a really beautiful day, without a single cloud in the sky, yet wasn't too hot either. After getting tickets, we went to see the Dolphin Show first of all. It was held in a indoor tank, and there were the dolphins doing tricks. It was fairly interesting (I wonder what is it with dolphins that makes us love them so much), although I reckon I would have enjoyed it even more if I was 15 years younger. As most of us didn't have breakfast, we went to grab brunch immediately afterwards. Bonnie brought us to this burrito place called Chipotle's. For the uninitiated, burritos are tortillas filled with beans, meat, and veg, and the burritos served at this restaurant are HUGE. As Scott put it as he picked it up to eat, it's the first time he ate something that was HEAVY to pick up. Having said that, I had no problems whatsoever finishing my burrito off obviously, and was still feeling peckish afterwards.
After brunch, we went to the aquarium proper. It's a pretty good aquarium, although nowhere as good as Osaka's aquarium IMHO. It was rather crowded, and it wasn't easy to get a good view of the exhibits. The highlight of the tour was probably when divers went into the stingray tank at feeding time to feed the rays. The shark tank was quite interesting as well, although I earned a few strange looks with my comments about sharksfin soup.
After the aquarium, we decided to go to walk to a hill overlooking the harbour, called Federal Hill. It was on the other side of the harbour from the aquarium, so it was a rather long walk. By the time we got to the foot of the hill, the girls had already thrown in the towels, so it was only us guys left to carry on the fight. The hill had a large American flag at its centre (still at half mast for Reagan), and it offered a stunning view of the Inner Harbour area as well as the financial district (enlarge the picture to get a better view). There was in fact a beach volleyball site at the foot of the hill, and I itched to play...
After that, we went back home and I had a jog around the Hopkins campus. It is a bit smaller than I'd expected originally, which is a good thing because I'm definitely out of shape.
On another note, I'm constantly impressing my two Colombian friends Esteban and Rafael with my comprehensive knowledge of Spanish obscenities and insults. Oh, and all my pics from Baltimore so far are here.
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