omar eduardo’s blog

This past few weeks have been more eventful than my entire life, and I’m not talking about the Olympics anymore. I’ll start with some good highlights. 

- I moved to a friend’s place temporarily until I finally move to my new apartment.  
- I found someone to take care of my cat for this period of time.
- I got my taekwondo promotion to black stripe, which is the assistant instructor rank in our club.
- I’ve been sleeping on a futon mattress on amazing tatami mats. That is simply amazing. 
- I got some of my furniture for my new apartment. Look at the pretty things I got [all at Ikea]:

The last two things (bed frame and bedside table) are things I’m planning on getting next time, actually. Have not yet been purchased. 

Of course, there are some not so great things that have happened this summer:

- I have to go to Ikea to change one of the things I got, cause the box I picked up was for the wrong color of the product I wanted. 
- My cat’s food got infested with ants at my friend’s place, which is just sad. I got some ant bait and raid which is solving the problem.
- And the thing that really really infuriates me, AT&T is charging me $704.20 for a month in which I was supposed to be charged $93.03 including activation fee. They are retarded to some extent and can’t simply understand that my account was transferred from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico, and they were supposed to cancel the first account immediately and prorate the charges on both accounts. They’re also doing the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen, they are charging me for an unlimited data plan, the one I asked for, but are still charging me for data use as PAY-PER-USE. They are doing the same thing for the text messages…

But nonetheless, I’ve been in contact with the AT&T people and they are ‘working’ on solving the problem. Apparently it takes forever to do so. 

Just to ease my soul I decided to meditate and write a report I have to turn in this Friday with respect to my summer progress in lab. Hopefully after taking a nap soon I’ll get an e-mail from AT&T’s customer service saying:

“Dear Mr. Fernández,
We realize we were just being stupid, so here, your account has been credited $611.17 and an extra $100M we give you for the stress we caused you. This stress probably took a few years out of your lifespan. We really appreciate your business here at AT&T and hope you have an excellent day!
Sincerely,
Person working for the retarded company” 

We’ll see how that goes,

-Omar

It’s 64 degrees outside, a few days ago it was in the 80s. The result of this temperature drop, I got a cold during the summer. Exciting, huh?  So today I’m in my room trying to get over it. It feels like I’m way too familiar with this routine. Get a cold, drink some meds, stay in all day, try not to die. With the frequency this happened to me last term, I may soon be recognized as an expert (or at least in the ‘advanced level’) at getting colds for no reason. My body doesn’t get used to non-tropical weather. 

The good thing is that I get to rest and play with my new toys. I got my bose headset this week and I also borrowed some photography equipment yesterday. I’m in my room using all of these things and trying to ignore the fact that I feel like I was beaten up in the north pole. It’s kind of cold up there (or so I’ve heard). 

The good news are that I’m almost done with one of my jobs this summer, and I’m moving in to my new apartment next month. Also, my birthday is coming up, which is really nothing exciting since there’s no point in turning 19, but it’s still kind of exciting. Who knows, maybe in the real world Hogwarts accepts their students once they turn 19 instead of 11 and I can just transfer there next week. If you stop seeing me in the fall, you can safely assume I’m hanging out with wizards.

Actually, I need to confess that I’m pretty sure my mom is not a muggle. Not with the skills she has shown. She’s been able to disappear money, thousands of dollars, by swiping a card with a magnetic stripe. She also guesses exactly what I’m thinking and what I’m about to do, and I even witnessed how she made her hair, and my aunts and grandma’s hair, look straight a few times. That, my friends, is magic. Also, since I was about 3-4 years old my mom started telling me and my brother stories about witches that she had seen as a young girl while living at my grandma’s. Apparently, she even saw two witches fight at night during a thunderstorm, each one of them was at the top of a different hill casting spells against each other. The one dressed in white, the good one, always won over the one dressed in black. 

I still look outside every time there’s a thunderstorm and I’m around hills.

So, I’m in my room getting over my cold while pondering the idea of moving to Hogwarts instead of East Cambridge, MA in the fall. Meanwhile, just in case things don’t work out too well, I’m trying to decide what colors I want to paint the walls of my new room and I’m also trying to get to Ikea soon to buy furniture. I might get tatami mats for the floor and no bed (just a futon mattress). 

Exciting times ahead. 

-Omar

Bella, photo taken an hour ago

There are times in which all you want to do is lay down and relax all day. Today was one of those. I woke up in the morning, brushed my teeth and used my computer for a while. Later I watched episodes of Sex And The City until I exhausted all my resources (i.e. finished the last season). While watching one of the episodes I realized that I was really hungry, so I made a bowl of noodles that had sufficient sodium to satisfy my daily sodium needs for over a day. All because I didn’t want to get out of my dorm to get food. 

In between SATC episodes, and checking my e-mail, I also read a book I bought recently. It’s a self-help book that made me happy for the rest of my life. Now I’m happy. If you look at me, you’ll only think about happiness. Make a web search for “omar”, it will prompt: “Did you mean happiness?“.

Other than being happy, eat sodium, watch SATC, and learning some Japanese… I did one thing. To think ahead about days like today, in which I don’t want to do anything, and think about how to make them more enjoyable. The answer was, to have a nicer room, of course. So I got back online and looked at gorgeous furniture and room designs. I spent a few hours at Amazon.com and Ikea.com looking through furniture and thinking about how to make my room the place were I want to live. There are certain key issues I have: size and shape. I really need to see how to make a dorm room nice and comfortable. 

But at least my room next term is going to be bigger, so that will make things slightly better. I don’t know what I’ll do about the carpet, since I don’t really love it all that much, and I definitely have to paint the walls. Living in a white room makes me feel foreign to the room. So I’m trying to think about the right colors. The bigger problem is, I then got distracted with YouTube videos and ended up watching Lewis Black, rather than think more about useful things. 

Here’s the coolest video I’ve seen today:

Titanic Inspires All of Us

My mother ‘friended’ me on facebook yesterday night. It still feel like a foreign idea. My mom? Facebook? Why would that be? But it’s alright, we’re the coolest friends. She’s in my ‘top friends’ and everything. Imagine that.

I still needed counseling.

Of course, the only reason she’s got a facebook is to ’stalk’ me. So watch out! She might be reading that ‘wall post’ you wrote 2 years ago. ‘RUDE‘.

EDIT: After talking with some people about their experiences I realized it could be even more… awkward… What about your mother-in-law friending you?

-Omar

After two years and a month in Boston (that including three summers) I still find it quite peculiar how big 4th of July is here. But as a good Puerto Rican and US citizen I need no other excuse to embrace the holiday other than… it’s a holiday. That, of course, defeats the purpose. This time I am celebrating fourth of July with friends I’ve known for four years. It’s quite an event.

Two days ago I went out with two of my best friends from high school. We had dinner at Chinatown and then walked back to MIT from there, an approximate 3 miles walk according to google maps. We stopped at the new Apple store in Boston, because when I saw it I simply HAD to walk in. Not only because it was an Apple store, but because it is an amazing store. The building is gorgeous.

I looked around and was tempted to replace my laptop with a mac laptop.There was no logical explanation for this other than, I want it. I decided to just go play with the iPhone for a while and go home. That was enough to calm down my need for a new mac product.

Yesterday, fourth of July, my two friends and I went out to the Haymarket subway stop and visited a very interesting and historic catholic church in the area. It brought back memories. Right after that we visited a graveyard that was nearby, just to get the full picture of the attractions around. After that thrilling experience we went forward with our lives and ate an exquisite meal at Ristorante Saraceno, a great small Italian restaurant in the area. I highly recommend it to anyone. Right after we saw the Holocaust Memorial. This was completely by chance since none of us knew about it. As someone who hasn’t studied or heard much about the Holocaust, only a few remarks, I must say that the memorial really made an impression of me. It really sent shivers down my body and made me realize many things about this horrible event…

After a day of experiences in Boston, my friend and I decided to return to MIT. We spent the afternoon/night at Senior House, the MIT dorm in which I live during the term. We had a barbeque in the afternoon and, afterwards, we all went on the Senior House roof to watch the fireworks. If you Google Senior House’s address (70 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA) you’ll realize that the dorm is located right in front of the fireworks show. There is simply no better view. You’re jealous, I know.

Well, it was fantastic.

My friends and I lingered around and had a quite good night, which culminated with a few burgers and the three of us walking back home.

What will I do today? I do not know. What I do know is that I am getting a much needed haircut. A $50 one that is, but may I tell you it is worth it.

I’m still waiting for the iPhone 3G to finally start being sold so I can change my two and a half years old Nokia 6020.

There is nothing much more I can talk about. My job as a chemistry teacher assistant is very satisfying, and my research at the MIT Langer Lab is exciting. My summer is going pretty well so far, I just need to get my small injuries healed so I can go back to taekwondo practice.

-Omar

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.

J.R.R. Tolkien

As logical as it might sound, Tolkien’s quote pretty much describes the state in which I currently am, and I don’t only mean literally as in lab work. Getting through the day doing one thing after the other, being ‘productive’, I always stop at some point and wonder about my future. What am I to become in the next five years? ten years?

I’m in a constant state of wonder, questioning every aspect of my life and every action I take. And I do this just because I’m sure that if I keep thinking about things, if I keep looking for more, I’ll find something. Something that will make every step I’ve taken meaningful and will make the future much more clear.

I should join some sort of religion, that’s what people do. But there’s no need, I’ve got bacon.

-Omar

I went home for three weeks after finals week, gained 10 pounds and got completely sunburned up to the point in which I spent a week recovering at home. That’s how you know I had a good time. My sunburn was so great that I had to put cold gel with aloe and several other ingredients on my back and shoulders and I still felt like an oven. Now I know what it’s like to go to hell, thank you Jesus.

After that fantastic experience I got back to MIT, but on the way here I had to go upstairs with my suitcase and backpack (over my sunburned back) for what seemed an eternity, simply because a train station was closed and the station at which I had to get off had no elevator… (it was broken).

I finally made it to the MIT Saturday night (that’s last week’s Saturday) and was settled in my room by midnight. I am yet to unpack and completely settle in, but that’s something you don’t care about. Sunday was a relaxing day, I had an exquisite dinner at Suzanne’s place and went to bed by 1am.

This week I spent doing the following:

1. Training for my job as an Interphase TA
2. Finishing up training for my summer research
3. Practicing taekwondo
4. Lifting weights with René
5. Eat, sleep, socialize, have a life.
6. Working on the taekwondo club’s websites.

I got a bike from René, so I have been able to go back and forth from places without wasting too much time. One exciting thing was that my celphone fell off my pocket while I was biking on Massachusetts Avenue, and thanks to some sort of miracle I could recover it without it dying or a car killing me. I had a fantastic week indeed. Now, however… I feel like a piece of disposable human.

Thanks to the amount of exercise I did combining taekwondo practice and lifting weights this past week, when I woke up this morning my body was in pain. Severe pain. God forgave all my sins since my last confession (several years ago) because he thought I was in enough pain now. Even now when I walk to the door I have to do it as if I were an 80 years old man, arching my back and moving slowly.

I hope this pain goes away soon because the Interphase students (my students for the summer) started arriving today and I’ll be working 6:30am-5:30pm tomorrow receiving the rest. Shall be fun. I guess it would be great if I receive them sitting on a chair and not being able to move.

Okay well, I’m going now to make things worst because I’m a masochist. I just got a call from people who just convinced me to play Ultimate Frisbee with them… because apparently that’s all that taekwondo folks in the club do during the summer. I can barely move, but they don’t care, so we’ll see if I survive. I’m also very hungry… I could eat a cow.

-omar

Even with a full time job… or 50 hours a week of work… I can still train at Taekwondo constantly, lift weights, and, more importantly, write. I socialize too, of course.

Blog entry about my life coming up soon, but for now, here’s a good youtube video to watch.

Consent