Amazing Egg Fact

I found out something very interesting the other day. You cannot crush an egg by wrapping your hand around it the horizontal way and squeezing. It is impossible for people without super-strength. Isn't that amazing?! I tried it and it is true. You should try it too - maybe over a sink in case you have super human strength. :)

Funny cat pictures

I saw these picture and thought they were funny. Enjoy!

UNC Basketball Game

Saturday we went to a UNC Basketball game. It was against Oral Roberts University and we won 100-84 and rarely fell below a 20 point lead since a little while into the first half. UNC is undefeated and top-ranked so even though it was a blowout it was still really fun and crowded.



Jeran liked seeing all the banners they have received from being ACC Champs, NCAA Final Four, NCAA National Champs, the retired numbers, etc.


GO TAR HEELS!

Is there any beer left?

So Jeran and I went to the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Christmas party the other day. It was held in a group gathering room in the Carolina Brewery. We got some food but skipped the drink table, knowing what was probably in all those pitchers. It was pretty crowded so we were sitting in the only open chairs at the end of this group of tables. We were talking to some people Jeran knows and after a while, one of the guys sitting tucked against the wall with his back to the drink table asks "Hey Mindy, is there any beer left over there?" because I had a clear line of sight. "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," I said as I look at the table (it was a very long look), before Jeran turns around to glance at the drinks and says, "Yes there is. Sorry, I don't think she knows what beer looks like". True that. I thought those pitchers with lemons on them must have been Coke or something but apparently not. I also learned what that funny smell in the place was when I asked Jeran about it afterwards. Yet one more thing to add to my list of things that smell really bad, along with coffee, cigarettes, and eggs. Anyways, it was funny and I'm glad to say I wasn't ashamed at all to not be able to tell if there was any beer left.

I couldn't resist...

I was at Target and they had these silly little pet costumes for really cheap. I got a penguin with a bow tie and a Santa's elf costumes for the cats. The penguin head thing is super smal and won't even fit their heads. I think these were meant for a Chihuahua and cats are a bit bulkier than that.

This one of Toby makes me think of Toby from The Office. I love that.

I think this last one is my favorite. "Bond - James Bond" he says.

I finally finished my cross stitch!

I did it! After over a year working on it, I finished my biggest ever cross-stitch project. It is a tropical underwater scene with lots of colorful fish. Being finished came very abruptly- I was working on this and that hole in the design and suddenly -wallah - there were no more holes! I did the finish work which went very quickly and now here it is:


The dimensions are 12" x 16" and it has about 30 colors in it. I plan on framing it but after that I am not sure what to do with it. Probably it will go in either the bathroom or spare bedroom if it doesn't go well in the bathroom.

Strategies of Academic Success

I was thinking back on my college days and trying to decide what general tips I would give to students both in college and high school. I came up with a few pretty simple and easy ones that I think made a difference for me:

Make a Semester Calendar. Create a one page calendar covering the entire semester. Write down important dates (tests, due dates, holidays, etc) in a different color for each class so you can see at an instant what you have going on. I usually kept mine in the clear front of a binder or else as the first sheet.

Use white-out strips. It got so much easier to make assignments look good and stay neat when I had white-out strips - you know, the kind that are in a little roll on dispenser. If you make a mistake, instead of scribbling something out or starting over, simply white it out and write over it. It makes life so easy!

Make copies. If you use your book in class but you don't like to carry it, make copies of the relevant parts. For example, I copied all the math problem sections from the end of the chapters and never carried my book to class again!

Make flashcards. My preferred study method was to cut a bunch of papers into 8-12 pieces and write all the terms and things I needed to memorize on them. This method forces you to re-read your notes to find the important info, condense that info into memorizable tidbits, and then re-write the tidbits on the cards. By the time you actually get around to studying the cards, you've already done half the work of studying by just making them! And they are super portable - bonus!

Use the book. Skim through or even (dare I say it?!) read the chapter you will be discussing in class before you go. Simply familiarizing yourself by taking a few notes or highlighting section headings, keywords, etc. can make more of a difference than you expect. The exception to this is Math. In my opinion those books are for getting the math problems from only.

Get to sleep! For most people there is really no very good reason to stay up past 11:00 pm more than once or twice a week. It will make a big difference in how you feel the next day and will help you do better in class. It is said that having 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep is essential to improving and solidifying a task you learned or worked on that day. You can do it!

Well, that's it. Good luck to all you students. As you all know, I'm fuuuull of good advice if you ever need some. :)