I feel like every time I sit down to blog I want to start off with “Sorry I haven’t updated in awhile, my life’s been crazy busy.” Well I’m doing work week now, got rush coming up, a whole yearbook to run, and school’s about to start, so let’s assume my life will be crazy busy until further notice and my posts will be accordingly erratic.

I took a much needed break last weekend and went to visit some friends in the bay area. One day for lunch we went into this tiny little sushi place in Mountain View only to find… (dun, dun, DUNNN) a chain of sushi boats! There’s a moat around the central sushi bar with a ton of wooden boats all chained together that continuously rotate.

The color of the plate indicates the price of the item, so at the end you just stack them all up and they calculate your bill from that. Pretty sweet.

Today we herded sheep. Details will come later, just thought you ought to know.

Step 1: Order some of Starbucks’ “perfect oatmeal” and some coffee

(this is a tall, I think it works with all sizes)

Step 2: Place the oatmeal on top of the coffee

Step 3: Marvel at the perfect fit and how easy it now is to carry

Tomorrow morning I am leaving my computer and camera at home, putting my phone in airplane mode, and GOING ON VACATION.

I will be completely unreachable from about 4pm on the 22nd to the afternoon of the 26th, so if you really need to tell me something do it before/after then. You have been warned.

I just want to give some MAD props to the foofshop for the customer service they’ve shown me recently. I’d been shopping around for some kind of case for the new Mac I’m buying soon, and I came across foofbag.com. Their products are basically exactly what I was looking for, and oh-so-pretty as well! Unfortunately, their website only listed a single type of fabric available for the laptop I’m getting. (The bags are all super-custom fit to the size of the laptop model) I didn’t like the pattern, so I emailed them asking if they had any others available.

They emailed me back 3 hours later saying they use to have other styles but they weren’t big sellers and asking which patterns I was interested in. I emailed back giving my preferences, and they again emailed me back within 4 hours – saying they would do a run of bags in the size/pattern I wanted!!!

Well, needless to say I was incredibly impressed with this response from them. This morning I got another email saying the bags were ready and I could order them through the website. The entire process from my first email inquiring about their stock to them having my request ready to ship took 8 days. Fantastic!

My house’s rush starts tomorrow and I’ve been putting a looooot of effort into preparing for it. I’m putting together most of the postering and also revamped the website, which is nice looking but not exactly finished, so maybe check it out now but definitely again in a couple of days. :p

I’ll be blogging the poster designs on here as the events draw closer, so check back for pretty pictures AND info on awesome things you should go to if you’re around MIT. :)

This has been a super fun process and I’m really psyched for this year’s rush! A big ol’ shout out to our awesome rush chairs for everything they’ve done this year, including being my willing, if giggly, models. <3 you guys.

I may be laid up in my room with a cold today, but I can still peel a Clementine in a single piece. Boo-yah.

Saw this parked outside the Miracle of Science restaurant on Mass Ave. Love it! Subtle, witty political commentary expressed not through wordy statements but simple, easy-to-understand, language-independent, graphics. As it should be.

…and while it does involve a pencil on paper, it has more lines and shading than letters and math. Check it out:

Yes it’s a really boring room, but it’s a REAL one and it’s to scale! I’m really liking this architecture studio. It’s so very very different than any classes I’ve ever taken and it’s both technical and arty. Here’s a picture of my workstation:

And one last picture of the studio in general:

Awesome. :)

The Aqueon fireplace is quite possibly the coolest piece of home decor I have seen lately. Possibly ever, actually. Everyone loves fireplaces, for roasting marshmallows, warming your feet on a cold day, gathering around to laugh and drink beer, or to light other things on fire. But this, my friends – this is not just a fireplace.

This is a fireplace that burns water.

The Aqueon uses electrolysis, the same process used in hydrogen powered cars, to seperate the hydrogen and oxygen from the water. The hydrogen is ignited immediately to create the flame, and then some of the oxygen gets injected for color and brightness. The excess oxygen is released into the room.

Over all, this so-called “fireplace” is actually 3 useful appliances in one:

1. A fireplace (well, duh)
2. A humidifier (burning hydrogen creates water vapor)
3. A plant (it oxygenates the air)

And it consumes only water and, I assume, a small amount of electricity to spark the flame. What’s not to love?

(interestingly enough, when I went to poke at their website I couldn’t find a link back to the Aqueon page. This might have something to do with their “fireplaces” section being broken down to gas, wood, and electric. :D )