The test last night wasn't so bad. It would've been better if I had an additional 15 minutes to complete it (it was timed), but what can you do...?

The Rice Honor Code still flips me out. As a sign of respect for the students and trust that they will not violate the honor code, professors are never supposed to proctor an exam -- or even create the appearance that they are proctoring the exam. Each professor behaves differently when trying to avoid the appearance of proctoring. The start of a test typically goes like this Prof: "I'm not watching you or proctoring you or anything, I just want to stick around for 5 minutes in case you have any questions..." (10 seconds pass, professor looks nervous, I mean an engineering professor with any sort of normal social skills is about as rare as a three headed chicken) "Well, um, maybe I should just go to my office, you know where it is, just come get me if you need anything. I'll check in on you in about 30 minutes..."

You have to love teeny, tiny, over-priced private schools... the type of school when you call the registrar's number, you actually end up talking to the Registrar, not some flunky. Of course, the teeny, tiny, over-priced private school also can't manage to master online registration.

The engineering quad has these three enormous blocks. I kid you not. They are spread apart, and each is at a different angle. Its kind of like an oriental sculpture garden. Very minimalist. Occasionally I notice a student sitting on the flat one studying. I stare at them frequently, trying to figure out what their purpose is. Do they make me want to be an engineer? Are they a testament to the engineers that managed to erect Stonehendge without so much as a crane? As it turns out they are a monument to George R. Brown. Apparently the artist who set them up didn't feel that the standard statue was sufficient. There's a online tour here where you can see them (you have to keep clicking continue tour for a while until you get to them). Apparently they are made from Texas Pink granite. There's also a campanile bell tower over the quad. I think I'm destined to always take classes under a campanile (at Tech, we called ours "The Shaft"). This one used to be a smoke stack. That makes me laugh.