Normally my scheduled stuff is supposed to fit between eight and five, but tomorrow and the following two Mondays I'll be in the computer lab for Fluid Dynamics from five to nine in the evening. There's not really much to say against "this is compulsory, be there or fail". Not that I really have anything against putting the lab in the evening, but putting it there because our schedules are too full during the day seems a bit excessive. If the schedule is full, that's a fair indication we're plenty busy anyway and probably won't get much out of a lab placed after a full day of lectures. I'm whining, I know. It's just that I'm not looking forward to the 8-21 day tomorrow.

The weekend weather has been good, cold and sunny (these are from Friday: pic1, pic2), but I haven't been out much in it. I've managed to study a fair amount and have also learned how to change to winter tyres on a car.
I installed Matlab on my computer Friday, but it turned out to mess with Blender so after considering my options for about a day I uninstalled it again. I can use Matlab at the uni and I need Blender for recreation, I don't really have any other hobbies left.

Listening to: King Crimson - Lizard
Feeling: Hungry

Yesterday I hadn't seen any snow at all this winter and it was already mid november. But tonight the weather decided it had to make up for lost time all at once. It started snowing sometime around midnight, just around when I was going to bed. It's pretty to watch the snow fall past the streetlight below my window even if I know I'll have to bike through it in the morning. Of course I had a morning lecture today (here that means 8:15, I'll have to explain whe we always start a quarter past sometime), so I had to get up early... for me anyway. A little after seven. It was still snowing heavily and quite windy. I took my time waking up as usual and had to rush breakfast since I wanted a few extra minutes to bike to my lectures.
I knew it had been snowing alot, but was still a bit surprised to find over a decimeter of snow when I got out. The road still hadn't been plowed, but it was possible to bike (fresh snow isn't nearly as much of a problem as refrozen snow). Actually it went well enough that I biked home on my lunch hour as usual.
The snowfall finally let up around one, after over twelve hours and more than two decimeters of snow. It looked for awhile like it'd clear up, but the weather changed its mind and it started snowing again between three and four and it still (18:30) shows no sign of stopping. Now I hope we'll get some continued cold weather so the snow'll stay dry and pretty.
Take a look at these pictures from today, yesterday the ground was dry and bare and the sun was shining:
Behind the Ångström laboratory around nine in the morning
My bike behind the house during lunch. The table behind the plum tree in the background should give an idea of the amount of snow at that time.
Some trees don't like the weight. This is a small one next to our garbage can. A large fir tree that I rather liked that stood out by the lab actually broke in the storm last night, the snow combined with the wind can put a lot of pressure on a lone tree.
When it stopped snowing, snowfights broke out of course
Finally a picture of when it looked like it'd clear up. At three in the afternoon it's starting to get dark, but the snow makes it much better.

Listening to: Rush - Time Stand Still

A new version is out! Read This! So much neat new features.
And I haven't even had time to learn the new stuff in 2.34 yet. At this pace Blender will not only catch up with the big commercial apps out there, it'll leave them in the dust. And at a download size of 4.5 MB there's no reason for anyone not to have it on their computer.
All I can wish for now is more time to play with it, I haven't really improved any over the last year and a half or more. There's just not enough hours in the day (something I've been feeling in the mornings lately, I'll need to start going to bed at sane hours again), nor enough days in the week.
I won't say that I'm not happy with my life though, studying physics is great brain food. I've reached the point again where I feel smart at least occasionally (the year in Japan was a great experience, but it's taken me 'til now to get back into the flow of things here). That is, when dealing with physics of course. I've probably regressed a bit in my social life, but I can live with that for the year or so it'll take me to finish my studies here. And anyway I'm sure this thing called 'a life' can't be as good as people make it out to be.
On the other hand if I could live my life again I'd do everything different. I often hear, especially on TV, people say they'd do it exactly the same. That'd just drive me crazy with boredom while waiting for the good parts. I'll read a good book two or three times, but I can definitely do without a full replay of my life. If there was a fast forward button it might be fun though.
I'm tired and slightly hyper at the same time, can you tell?
It's been a while since my last post and I've thought of some stuff I wanted to mention. Well, whatever interesting things I had to say disappeared in the noise, maybe I'll remember them until next time.

Listening to: The Pillows - Funny Bunny

... I can't say I care that much. And I'm glad not everybody's written their election rant yet, I've enough to read anyway.
I don't like Bush, but I can't say I've ever liked an american president. It seems likeable people either don't ever get to the point where they might become president or they become unlikeable long before then.

We've gone over to wintertime so there's light when I wake up in the mornings again. On the other hand the sun starts to set 'round three or half past in the afternoon, so I can't say it really helps any. I have to sit down with a homework set for nuclear physics this weekend. I've forgotten most of my numerical methods classes so I'll have to relearn alot of stuff to even get started. At least Friday is a holiday.

Tomorrow is UTNarm, lot's of companies looking for engineers and scientists will have representatives there. It seems that every year I've too much that needs to be done in the present (or quite often the past even) to spend much time breaking way for the future. I suppose I'll go there for a bit, but I haven't asked for any interviews or anything so I won't be able to accomplish much.

Listening to: AC/DC - Breaking the Rules