frozen atlanta

i woke up today, getting ready for the housing staff interview and witnessed a sight i didnt quite expect to see in atlanta.

field full of whiteness. i thought it was snow. to many, it is. technically, it isnt.

georgians tell me it hardly snows, maybe once or twice a year if they're lucky. but usually they melt away fast. never settled down like this. well, the thing was, it was raining last night, and due to the cold, everything just froze. i mean, everything. the leaves, branches are all covered in ice layer, so much that when u brush past it, it cracks like glass. its a sight to see big trees hunching down coz of the extra weight its carrying. and its not pretty sight when i was walking to skiles and saw a bunch of ice fall from the top of the atheltic building. wouldnt wanna be the guy standing there when it falls. luckily no one was hurt. and as i was walking back from brittain just now, i witnessed bunch of ice pieces falling from the small sitting area just outside of towers. just imagine if all that pieces fell on your head.

well, i woke up thinking that the interview was still on, since the last email i received last night said that the interview will go on as scheduled. i dont check my email until after my caculus class on weekdays and i thought of checking the mail before i left, and i probably should have done that.

because, as you would have guessed by now, it was cancelled due to what they called 'inclement' weather. if you ask me, it was way colder yesterday. our section was having a steak cookout in the freezing weather (which i found out later was 0 degrees celcius) where i had gloves on but my hands still went numb. the steak was excellent though.

so you can imagine how pissed off i was when i saw a piece of paper stuck on the door outside of skiles 1st floor. i was cursing to myself, because, i noticed that when you have ice or snow, the temperature does not feel as cold. i swear it felt much colder when i went for breakfast and subsequently to calculus lecture last morning. and given the same temperature range, today felt rather pleasant.

so i wasted my friday night for this cancelled interview. i could have stayed up longer, catching another movie (we watched 21 grams last night) and going on with my usual weekend lifestyle. but it wasnt to be.

as i was walking back, i saw gopi, shardul, satya and their friends walking up, so since i thought im already up and awake, dressed up, why not just go along and walk around with them? we played with snow for a while before we headed back for a late breakfast. i had lost about 4 hours of sleep i badly needed from the week's rigour, so i went back to sleep after that.

most people were happy that the ice settled and didnt melt away, which i guess is good for them. someone even made a snowman, well, snow-woman to be exact, complete with tits and bush right outside glenn lounge, which i thought was a work of art.

i should be studying for material science test thats on monday. i have yet to go through chapter 3, and cant help but procastinate. i better start once im done blogging.

as i was waiting to get into my material science class, i noticed a flyer that mentioned something about a minor in material science. i considered material science as a major, but wasnt too keen on it due to chemistry. i even thought of doing a double major once i was done with industrial engineering, which would have taken 3 additional semesters. but with a minor, i might not need to do that. and what was really interesting on that flyer was that we could use our free electives to complete part of the 18 hours. i initially wanted to get a minor in management or japanese but for them, the 18 hours was completely separate from the ones required from the major, which means 18 additional hours that would have taken quite a bit of time. i sent an email to dr. carter, asking him if engineering electives could be used together with free electives. if that is the case, then im going to minor in material science engineering. i have 6 hours left in my engineering elective and 4 more in free electives, and the current material science class that i am taking counts towards the minor, which could mean that i just need to take 6 additional classes to complete the minor, if what i suspect is correct. why not do it then? i wish i had known this earlier, then i would not have taken the japanese class, and then i would have been left with just 3 extra hours for the minor and still do 9 extra hours to complete my finance certificate.

i had a pretty lenghty talk with sandesh after class, and as we were discussing, if we really work at it, it is easily obtainable. and for me, since im skipping a whole semester, i can probably afford to spill into the extra summer semester if i feel like i need to spread it out, if thats necessary. i think that would be a plan. a degree, a minor to top that off and a certificate. im re-considering the certificate bit, since thats something i can learn later on, if i really go on to do my MBA. it will probably just help me out a little then, but not significantly. but material science is not something that can be earned later on. plus, i think it will really complement my industrial engineering degree, and specialize in materials selection or manufacturing.

and from the career advising, if i am really catered for international trade specialist, then i think i found the right MBA school - Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, located in arizona. it seems clearly the best in its field, much like how georgia tech is for industrial engineering.

i know im thinking so much far ahead, but when you're presented with massive opportunities that you can turn your way, how can you not be excited? its early planning that always gets you through.

but every big step starts with numerous small steps. and right now, one of those small steps will be to start studying for my material science test on monday.