Minitab, Matlab or Excel?

After discovering the beauties of MATLAB during sophomore year of college, I never once looked back at Excel. Managing data was so much simpler, graphing was effortless, I simply couldn't see a reason to use Excel again (with the exception of one sad night involving three engineers and several forlorn attempts to graph a flat line in Matlab). The ability to write scripts allowed you to get exactly the information you needed saved you time by only calculating the values needed (whereas Excel recalculates the entire sheet every time you update a value). During grad school, a friend described Matlab as "Excel for people who know how to do math" and I scoffingly agreed and from then on described it as "Excel for Engineers".

My feelings toward Excel began to change after taking a statistics class, during which the lack of Statistica or Matlab on my new computer made me resort to Excel for data crunching. During that semester, I discovered that Excel had countless built-in functions and shortcuts I never knew of, thus making it a very capable data analysis software as well. A roommate told me that Microsoft engineers are constantly hounded by requests for features that have been in Excel for years, so I guess Excel's main shortcoming is that none of those features are intuitive or easy to access. My respect for Excel further increased after starting work in July, when I discovered the beauty and power of Excel Macros (and their tie-in with Visual Basic, the first "programming" language I learned in middle school), which allow the automation of repetitive tasks similar to Matlab's scripts. Alright, I thought, I misjudged you Excel, clearly you have power. But the amount of CPU and processing time it took to get through large amounts of data still peeved me.

And then I met Minitab. If Matlab was Excel for Engineers, then Minitab is Excel for Statisticians. True to its tagline of "Software for Six Sigma and Quality Improvement", the program is a lean, mean graphing machine. With hardly a blimp on your CPU, Minitab can spit out multiple, detailed and informative graphs in a matter of seconds, ranging from simple time-series plotting to two-sample t-tests, control charts, box-whisker plots to at least 50 other chart types I have yet to discover how to use. Graphs are easy to modify/label without the endless clicking and adjusting of Excel, entire projects can be saved together, and again, the software somehow manages all this without eating up your RAM. To be fair, I will admit that while it is a graphing beast, Minitab falls leagues behind Excel in sorting data (Excel's "Auto Filter" feature is by far the most useful, time-saving feature I have discovered).

So, while I used to say Minitab > Matlab > Excel, I now think each has its niche. If you're looking to graph simple one-line charts, I'd use Excel. If you plan on creating data with complex equations (i.e. third or fourth degree polynomials or solving differential equations), or vice versa, I suggest Matlab. Finally, if you plan on getting any statistical data aside from the mean and standard deviation, I think it is well worth your while to spend an hour learning Minitab.

:-)

My Biking Brethren

A friend whom I recently inducted into biking said "bikers are very unfriendly, they always look so angry", and I couldn't believe that perception existed. From my experience, and this has kept up richly while biking on the trails around Philly, bikers are incredibly friendly!

On almost every ride that I have been on by myself, I have had a positive encounter with a fellow biker. From my first ride to Manayunk, a not-so-amateur biker volunteered to lead me to the trail despite his having to slow down for me for a good 20 minutes. On my first solo bike ride to Valley Forge National Park, when I got to the park and rested, I ended up chatting with another biker, the silver fox Phil, for a good 15 minutes, and leaving with great tips on avoiding gnats in your eyes with safety glasses from work. Thank you Phil, I think of you every time I'm on that gnatty trail!

And most recently, I was riding up the Schuylkill River Trail (my lifeblood for outdoor exercise, be it running or riding) when I saw a stalled biker on the side of the trail. As is my routine, I slowed down to ask him if he was okay or needed help, and upon hearing that he was resting, I continued. He later caught up with me, thanked me for spreading the good will, and he accompanied me on my ride for a good 30 minutes until I met up with my friend. Finally, on that same day, when I was waiting for my friend on the side of the trail, a fellow biker also asked me if I was okay before proceeding.

After all these positive experiences, I can't help but think what my friend considered "anger" from these bikers must simply be intense focus and pain from pushing yourself to the limits. I really do love the biking community, and after reading this article, Heels on Wheels, I have a feeling the community is recruiting.

Peace, love and cycling!

:-)

Philly Living: One Year in Retrospect

Yesterday was my one-year anniversary with Philadelphia. Mind-fucking-boggling.

September 1st, 2009, I flew into PHL with two stuffed suitcases, a box holding TDH (my bike), and the shiny new face of a soon-to-be graduate student. I came in with the mindset that I'd be "out in 10 months," and used that as fuel to get me over the hurdles of my new life. Even though I eventually began enjoying the vivacity of the city, I still had a light at the end of the tunnel, and constantly imagined myself moving back home. I made friends, we had epic (yes, I mean carving in concrete sidewalks with our keys epic) nights, I felt at ease, but even so there was a temporary quality to it all. My entire life at Penn felt like an extended summer fling or honeymoon. I was enamored by my first east coast fall, awestruck by my first (and second and third) Nor'easter, and my jaw dropped and spirits soared at the first cherry blossoms of spring. I had made it, I'd gotten through. Through all this, all the fun I was having, the novelty of my situation was what really made it exciting. I loved telling people "this is my first time ____" and "I've never heard of ___", it made me feel naive and innocent in the most positive way. I learned so much about Philadelphia's rich history, about the Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch of Lancaster Country, UPenn and it's place in the Ivy League and the city. Really, such an enriching experience.

All this being said, if someone had told me a year ago that I would soon be settling into Philly indefinitely, I would have laughed in their faces. Further, if they had told me that I would LOVE living here, I would have assumed they were doing hardcore drugs. But here I am, one year later, and I couldn't love my life more. I'm not much for anniversaries, but I honestly woke up with a huge smile on my face when I realized the date. I do love Philly, and I can feel it loving me back.

Peace, Love and Philly!

:-)

Welcome to the Working World

After two months of blissful free time on the east and west coasts, I have finally shed my responsibility-free college student skin and emerged with a fresh, clean corporate casing. I've been getting many questions about how work is, so I figured this means was best to avoid repeating myself. Also, I'm curious to see how my opinion changes as time progresses, so here it is, my digest after one week of work:

The Good:
1. The people! So far, I've really liked most of the people I'm working with, and my floor, along with the whole campus (of ~10,000 employees) is incredibly social. The amazing tradition that made my day: On my second day, my "buddy" or trainer brings in a box of donuts, leaves them on my desk, and sends out an email to my entire floor telling them to come meet me and grab a donut. It was great, I had people stopping by all day to introduce themselves and I got a great sense of who does what and where I fall in the big picture. Also, while walking around campus, people greet complete strangers all the time with simple "hellos" and "good mornings". This is a stark contrast from most research facilities. This lack of social barriers environment is my kind of place, where you can (and I did) meet new people simply walking back from lunch.

2. The work! The reason I was most excited about this position, and still am, is that it's real engineering. On my first day I sat in on a meeting with my team, and it was four people with laptops, sitting around a table and problem-solving. This casual brain-trust method of trouble-shooting is all too familiar from countless group projects in school, and it is my favorite aspect of engineering. Also, it seems like my position has a good balance of time spent on the computer, on the floor, and in the lab, which is perfect.

3. The routine! I'm a person who loves routine, and although I'm guaranteed to get tired of it, for now I like having a regular pattern to my life. It's especially nice after 8 weeks of sleeping in and not using my brain at all.

4. The clothes! After years of seeing awesome dress clothes in shops, I finally have a reason to wear them, and I couldn't be more excited. I've always hated how restricting and hot jeans are, and finally I don't need to wear them anymore, dress pants kick ass. And as superficial as it is, I feel powerful wearing them. Except the shoes, I've yet to find a comfortable pair of clack-clack-free heels, but I'm working on it.

5. Being one of the biggest Merck sites, we have lots of awesome club activities...a team for basically any sport you could want to play (including softball, which I'm getting back into!), and a great way to meet your coworkers.

6. Summer hours! I almost forgot...we have this amazing schedule where you put in an extra hour each day from M-Th, and go home at lunch on Friday! Its great because it gives me time to come home, gym, nap and then go out like college days.

The Bad:
1. The biggest, and only con so far, is the commute. I love my new place and wouldn't even consider living outside of the city, but that means I pay the price with a 1-hour train ride every morning. However, I am making the most of it- I've subscribed to the NY Times (yes, the hard copy, I'm old fashioned), and read that every morning, and do the crosswords on the ride home!

The Interesting:
1. While this isn't good or bad, it's definitely worth mentioning: there are lots of young, married people. Either I'm really bad at judging age, but for the most part people my age or a couple of years older were all married, something that struck me as odd. For all you working kids, is this trend specific to industry or company, or is it some general corporate feature?

Anywho, that's my work, one week in. I really hope the excitement keeps up and the 6 am wake ups don't ebb away at my vivactiy. Also, this website is due for yet another name change. Suggestions?

Peace, love and the working world!

Kiran

Berkeley, Revisited.

When anyone asks what the best aspect of my Berkeley experience was, I always say the people. Previously, this always meant my friends, those who I shared countless exhilarating and exhausting experiences with over the four years, and those who are like family today. Recently, however, my answer has changed. The people I met at Cal are still the most amazing part of my time there, but not just my best friends, and not just for the experiences we shared together.

Only a year after graduation, I look back at our class, and I am amazed at what people have gone on to do with their lives. It seems like every Bear I know can be deemed “an expert in their field” either now or in the near future. I feel like no matter what I may have a question about, I would have an expert to answer me within arms reach. From the innovative engineers toiling away at companies they founded, to the financiers who can tell you which start-ups are worth investing in. From those doing cutting-edge research (be it in cancer or energy efficiency), to those attending the top medical schools in the country. From those breaching cultural barriers by pursuing graduate school abroad, to those bringing basic health education to Indian villages. From those putting their own lives on hold to teach inner city children (Teach for America), to those who flew out to help victims in Haiti. Sure, the sixties made Berkeley famous for its proactive students, but if these handful (of many) examples are any proof, today’s students are making just as many differences in the world as they were half a decade ago. To you guys, thanks for proving that excellence can be self-perpetuating, and thanks for this feeling of inadequacy that makes me want to do more with my life.

Peace, love and making a difference!

Kiran

Men of Merck, Make Room for a Lady

As many of you have already heard, I recently accepted an offer as Staff Engineer with Merck & Co.'s Manufacturing Division in West Point, PA. Because bioengineering is the only engineering major with more women than men, I tend to forget what a male-dominated field engineering is. That veil was abruptly lifted during my visit to Merck. In the course of my six-hour interview, the only women I met were the secretary and the HR representative. Even during lunch, I saw a rare female face speckled in the crowd of men. I remember leaving the site thinking "this team really needs a woman"... lo and behold, three weeks later, I'm proud to say that it looks like that woman will be me. As the majority of my friends are males and engineers, it is needless to say that I am excited about my future working environment. Me strutting around in heels as the rare female on a floor of 80 engineers? And all of this happening at one of the top-ten pharmaceutical companies in the world? Let the good times begin. :-)

Pompous joking aside, I am actually very nervous about this position. Not only is this my first time working in industry, I am leaving behind my five years of training in bioengineering and trekking out into a completely different route: operations. Although it's a biotech company, the position I'm taking on has nothing to do with bioengineering. In short, I will be joining a team of internal consultants who optimize the vaccine sterilization process and fix it when something goes wrong. I'm a strong believer (and hopefully, practicer) of life-long learning, and I am sure my bioengineering education will always be there if I choose to call on it, otherwise I would never have accepted a position that is basically the ideal job for an IEOR graduate.

And finally, not to ignore the obvious, but my acceptance of this position does make me a not-so-temporary resident of Philadelphia. In January, I vowed to love Philly, and Philly has been loving me back. I finally feel at home, and Philly's food obsession has started to suck me in as well. For the first time, I will acknowledge, that there is the slightest possibility that I may never call California home again, but that chance is very small. And considering how wonderful winter and spring breaks have been, I must say I'm enjoying coming home and treating California like a tourist. Obviously not as great as seeing my loved ones on a regular basis, but great nevertheless. And the best part about having awesome friends in multiple places is that when something great like this happens, you get to celebrate many times over.

Peace, Love, and Biotech,

:-)

Slippery Slope to Socialism

My thoughts on President Obama's proposed healthcare reform are ambivalent. For all practical matters- having everyone insured, and preventing the rise of insurance premiums- I believe it is great. However, I simultaneously feel that government takeover of healthcare comes from a very relaxed reading of the powers granted in the Constitution.

Because the President's bold moves in healthcare and economic reform have philanthropic intentions, I have ignored the accusations of socialism he has been barraged with. However, an article I read in the New York Times today made me reconsider what (I realize I may lose many friends over this next statement) Glenn Beck, amongst others, have said about him.

The article, found here, was talking about the Obama administration's plan to reduce childhood obesity. What gave me trouble was this: "In legislation, soon to be introduced, candy and sugary beverages would be banned and many schools would be required to offer more nutritious fare." The strong language (banned, required) seems unnecessarily dictatorial. Again, like healthcare reform, this plan has a great purpose, but its implementation involves a restriction of freedom.

Don't get me wrong, I know obesity is a big problem in this country, and I applaud Michelle Obama for taking on this effort. But I believe education is the way to go, not legislation. Inform the public, inform the children, inform their parents. Countless times on subways I have seen teenage parents giving their children soda and fries, and it's all I can do not to bust out diagrams showing the progression of atherosclerosis and diabetes. Once the public has been informed, it is their decision to eat healthier or continue with junk food- it is their right. No matter how loosely you interpret the Constitution, nowhere does it grant the federal government the right to restrict our diets.

Normally I could care less about what the average American eats, as long as I eat healthy, and teach my friends and family to do the same. If someone wants to eat McDonald's to their fast-approaching grave, they can knock themselves out, it's just natural selection at play. Now here's the catch: if healthcare is government-funded, and my tax dollars are paying to give Joe Krispy Kreme multiple balloon angioplasties, suddenly the diet of 304 million people becomes my problem. Socialism is self-perpetuating.

So, it makes me rather unhappy to say, that I do believe the Obama administration is heading down the slippery slope to socialism. I don't believe it is intentional or ill-minded, but I acknowledge it is happening. If a few administrations of strict governmental regulation are what we need to get the economy back to Clinton years, then it might be a welcome change.

Politics and the Destructive Power of the Internet

As scandalous story after scandalous story unfolds about politicians caught on camera in compromising situations, all I can think is how lucky the current thought leaders of our nation are. Most of their young adulthood, i.e. the time in life they were likely the wildest, was pre-internet, pre-commercialization of digital cameras, and pre-Facebook. The only way they would get pictures in digital format, and thus susceptible to the viral spread of Youtube videos, was if someone cared enough to scan and send them.

Our generation, on the other hand, was raised with .jpgs, not negatives, and emails, not letters. With the ease of sharing information, be it forwarding an email or clicking the "Upload to Facebook" button now ubiquitous on smartphones, who really knows how far their personal information has spread? A young parent uploads a picture of their newborn minutes after the birth, and thus begins the digital documentation of that child's life.

But think about how screwed we are. Media will do anything for a juicy story, and opponents will do anything to debunk you. But how vigilant can we be about the whereabouts of our information? Sure, you can block people from seeing your pictures on Facebook, and you can change your email password on a weekly basis if you want. But what about the other end? Who's to stop that vengeful ex-lover from spreading compromising pictures? Or that bitter colleague who you got promoted over from sharing out-of-context bits of conversation?

It doesn't even have to be that drastic, the simplest things can bring you down years later. Imagine you're in college, meet a friend of a friend in a bar, you each knock back a couple of drinks, and by the end of the night you're best friends and posing for pictures together. You go home and forget about this person. But 20 years later, when you're a successful lawyer and running for a state congressional seat, your opponent finds this old picture, and points out to the world that your "best friend" from college is now an active member of the US Communist Party, and there go your ratings. The most inconsequential acts can have catastrophic repercussions. It's a frightening thought, isn't it?


While Massachusetts voters have shown that posing nude for a Cosmo center-fold doesn't exclude you from senatorship, this is definitely an exception- nude photos and politicians generally don't go over well. My advice for all you aspiring politicians and world leaders: run the other way every time you see a camera.

Full-Fledged Philadelphian

Four months I’ve lived in Philadelphia. I’ve biked miles around, bar-hopped night after night, eaten at the finest and crappiest local diners, yet still I feel no connection to the city. The streets of Philly are devoid of sentiment, and the relationships formed there, though valuable, are ephemeral. This is partly due to the nature of my stay. I’m only here for nine months, why bother getting attached? However, I know I will regret it if I leave this city without ever having lived in it, so I’m making changes. No more looking back, no more yearning for home, no more dreaming of beaches.

After a soul-soothing month at home, I’m en route to Philly again, and the minute I land, I am a full-fledged Philadelphian. I will eat hoagies, hate the Yankees, put Cheez Whiz on everything, and ride my bike on the sidewalk. That is, if Penn leaves me with time to spare.

The Frat Boy, Dissected

Despite four years of partying alongside them, it is now, six months post-graduation, that I finally understand what defines a fraternity brother. Throughout college I threw around generalizations about "frat boys", most of them negative, without really understanding why this was the case. Only to add to my confusion, many of my best friends were in fraternities, yet displayed none of the characteristics assigned to their collective group. How could I love these guys so much individually, yet despise everything they stand for as a group?

Turns out the individual-to-group transition was the answer. Alone, a frat boy is merely a boy. Your lovable male friend. Put two together, and a sense of competition (be it in drinking, sports, sex, etc.) begins to creep in, creating a slow escalation of unhealthy and/or immoral habits, but they retain most of their individuality. At three, they egg each other on, and the competitive streak spikes as three individuals slowly blend into one entity. At four, critical mass is reached, and the group morphs into an unstoppable, self-destructive machine. Testosterone is raging, everything is a competition, and once a suggestion is made ("lets take 3 shots each!"), it will never be turned down for fear of looking weak. This pattern of behavioral change is most commonly seen in riots, and we call it mob mentality.

There we go, stereotypical "frat boys" are nothing more than normally civil, moral people subjected to mob mentality. And I can't blame them. I am no less susceptible to this behavioral change than any one of them. After only a week of cohabitation with fraternity brothers, I noticed obscenities creeping into my language, and felt myself reaching for beers at 2 pm, and that's without ever experiencing hazing. While I can't promise not to use the term "frat boy" disparagingly ever again, I will at least acknowledge that individually, most of them are fun, decent people.

The Importance of Stupidity and Sunshine

Not necessarily simultaneously.

I read two completely unrelated but very interesting articles this week, both of are which I thought are worth passing on.

The first, I would suggest every scientist read, is "The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research" by Dr. Schwartz. It was published in the Journal of Cell Science in 2006, and the article talks about this constant feeling of "stupidity" when doing research, and how this feeling is necessary for good science. When you're in lab, completely stumped, and you have no higher knowledge to refer to, it is then that you know you're doing good research. If you're asking the questions no one has answers to, you are by definition the cutting edge. That feeling of frustration has been felt by everyone who has worked in a lab, and this short article lets you rest assured that you are not alone, and that feeling is not in vain.

Having spent more than half of my semester reading Science, Nature and Cell papers, I understand what feeling Dr. Schwartz is referring to. The older papers read like a good detective novel: there was a question about basic science, the authors conducted a series of experiments to answer them, and in the end they had a definitive, conclusive mechanism or result to show for it. You left the paper with a satisfied feeling. However, as we began reading the more recent papers, published in 2008 and later, the conclusive detective novel transformed into a Goosebumps "choose your ending" storyline. The authors had a question, they conducted experiments to attempt to answer them, but the final meaning was open to interpretation. That satisfactory feeling was gone, as the papers raised more questions than they answered, and often left me wondering "so what?" and "how did this paper get published in Science?". That's when it hit me, these papers aren't conclusive because we are now at that cutting edge. This feeling of unsureness is a result of that same stupidity Dr. Schwartz is referring to. We are doing good science.

The second article, "Bright Ideas for Treating the Winter Blues" was something I came across in the Wall Street Journal this week that simply answered questions I've had for years. I've always joked that I must be a rare, photosynthesizing human because I found myself so much happier and more energetic in the sunshine. The article goes over the link between depression and the seasons, and ways to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder, which they suggest results from lack of sunshine throwing off your circadian rhythms, which in turn affects your mood. As I'm diving into my first winter on the east coast, I'm glad to know this information beforehand, and if things get too dark and depressing, I can always try some light therapy. Ahh, as if there weren't already enough reasons to live in California. :-)

Fall Colors

If there's one thing California is missing, it is a real fall. This is my first time living (year-round) in a region with real seasons, and even though I prefer milder temperatures, the past few weeks in Philadelphia have been absolutely gorgeous. The weather has been fluctuating between warm and refreshingly brisk, and even though sun has been scarce, the gray weather only adds to the vibrancy of fall. I really wish I had a camera to capture this, sadly I haven't bought one yet, but I will share my friend Heather's pictures of fall in Fairmount Park to give you an idea.


One memory I will always cherish is ambling through Penn's Locust Walk (lined with trees and gothic brick buildings), wrapped in a scarf, kicking up piles of orange-red leaves and laughing at Landscaping Services' futile attempt to clear all the leaves as hundreds more fall.

:-)

Religious Promiscuity

After what has been a physically, mentally and emotionally trying three weeks, today I inadvertently found solace in a house of worship. Well not just a place of worship, but three distinct places.

The first was completely spontaneous. While at Biketoberfest (an outdoor celebration of bikes, beer, brats, and bands), we spotted a beautiful church behind the stage and decided to amble through between bands. They happened to be having a service, so we sat in for a bit.

After Biketoberfest, I went to a Diwali celebration by Penn's Hindu Student Council. Here I witnessed and participated in my first puja and arti, very exciting!

Finally, since Diwali is a festival celebrated by three different religions (Hindus, Sikhs and Jains) in India, they proceeded to the Sikh celebration as well (singing hymns, or kirtan).

At each and every event today, I felt this amazing calm fall over me, especially while listening to the choir or singing hymns with everyone. While I had no particular affinity to the content of any of the prayers, the soft singing and sense of a community bound without ulterior motives was very soothing. I don't know if this makes me more or less atheist, or more or less Sikh, but it was a good day.

:-)

Our Rockstars Aren't Like Your Rockstars*

I love engineers, this is no news, but here is a story that made my night:

I went downstairs to the TV lounge to watch the season premier of Big Bang Theory last night. There were five of us there, we laughed, enjoyed the show, and at the end we all got into the elevator to head to our respective rooms. As we get in, I noticed only "10" was pushed on the elevator. Odd, I thought, 5 strangers watching a TV show out of a 22-story building, funny that we're all from the same floor.

Oh wait, 10th floor is the science and engineering floor, that explains it.

:-)

*If you don't get the title, here's a must-see ad by Intel. If you don't like it, please let me know so I can immediately remove you from contact.

Things to Note

People here smoke a lot.

Drivers here honk a lot.

Too many people wear too much perfume/cologne (they're probably the smokers).

Learning How to Fish

I had heard that classes in graduate school had a different dynamic than undergrad, but I wasn't aware how contrasting they would be. The most noticeable (and welcome) change is that classes aren't textbook-centric anymore, but are literature-centric. Two of the three classes I've attended so far (because we started on a Wednesday, haven't had Monday or Tuesday classes yet) have over 30% of the class grade based on in-class discussion and presentation of research articles. Also, by allowing us to bring in papers we find interesting, we can gear the curriculum towards our personal interests. The goal of classes isn't to lecture at you, but to teach you how to find and critique the most relevant, up-to-date literature so you can teach yourself. My professor this morning described it in the best way "we're not going to give you the fish, we're going to teach you how to fish."

Being treated like an adult at school makes me feel more like an adult. Having swapped out my jeans for khakis and my backpack for a Penn tote bag, I really feel like a graduate student. And I must say, it feels great.

:-)

Philly, to the power 24

In my last post, my sentiments about this city were lukewarm. There was culture, but no crazy. There was personality, but no pizzazz. Turns out we were just looking in the wrong places. After the busiest and most fun 24 hours in the city of brotherly love, all of my reservations about this move have been eliminated (well, except for the winter, we'll see about that in a few months). Let me take you through my day.

Saturday night, the ladies and I Yelped "Philadelphia nightlife," threw on our dancing shoes, and headed out on the town. First stop was this new place by campus, The Blockley Pourhouse. Opened recently, this place is shiny and spacious, and although the crowds are missing, it has great potential. Because it's new, the bartenders are all trying to buy loyalty and a crowd of "regulars" with free drinks galore. Needless to say, we liked. Buzzin' off of free booze, we hopped into a cab and told the cabbie to take us to the party. He did just as asked, and took us to THE place to be on a Friday or Saturday night, meaning 2nd @ Market. This two block strip was spilling with people coming in and out of the 10-15 bars, clubs and restaurants to fit every need. There were the grungy Irish pubs, the swanky clubs and upscale cocktail lounges. We found our place at the perfect combination of these 3, called Plough & The Stars. It was casual bar meets club, with two levels of dancing, and packed to the brim. Hours of dancing and meeting the locals = night of success.

Sunday morning, with a few survivors from the night before, we headed over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is free on the 1st Sunday of every month. Getting to the museum involved walking along the beautiful bike/run trail along the Schuylkill River. The museum itself was nothing short of grandiose (and actually more impressive than The Met), and located in the lush green Fairmount Park, it was the wow factor I had been missing.

After the art museum, we found ourselves on a spontaneous, self-guided tour of the Parkway, i.e. the Museums District of Philly. This is essentially the culture center of the city, housing several museums and libraries, city hall, and the stately Cathedral Basilica of Saints Paul and Peter. Even walking around, this is the most safest, most beautiful, spacious part of the city, with historical buildings, water fountains in every direction, and the flags of the world lining Ben Franklin Parkway. I can see that I will be spending many weekend afternoons exploring this district.

We got back to campus just in time for the Graduate Student Center's "Gnome Hunt/Happy Hour". I can't say enough how much I'm love the GSC. They have this ridiculous obsession with gnomes, which seemed absurd at first, but after this event, is very impressive. The entire GSC building is sprinkled with gnomes in the most random places, and they have pictures on the wall of the gnomes all around the world with them (Rome, Paris, California!). Our goal was to run around campus finding all the hidden gnomes, in the mean time, forcing me to go to many important places on campus I would have never known about otherwise: Fine Arts Library, Botanical Gardens, Penn Museum (which houses the 2nd largest collection of Egyptian artifacts after Cairo), Penn Bookstore, etc. Running around campus sweating profusely for an hour, and ending with an exquisite banquet and happy hour! :-D

Banquet ended just in time for Brittany and I to scuttle over to the first ever Philly Naked Bike Ride! I am officially a part of this city's history. I thought I'd done my fair share of crazy things, but this surpassed anything I'd done before. We collected at the Schuylkill River trail again, only to see hundreds of bikers and LOTS of flesh!

Entered the body-painting tent, stripped down and started painting! Once we were all decorated, it was 90 minutes of riding through every neighborhood of the city, yelling and screaming whilst being naked. The best way to describe it is a Critical Mass where everyone's naked. The reactions of unaware people on the streets were to die for, some of my favorites being the wedding happening along the Schuylkill, the hundreds of people having outdoor dinners at the upscale Rittenhouse Square restaurants, and a random guy on the street "this is the best f*****g day of my life!" Finally, the city has personality! I rocked a map of Cali on my back, and thus met many people from California, which is always great!

Finally, I got home, finished off the night with painful yet hilarious karaoke and salsa lessons with the building, washed off the paint, and passed out.

:-D

A Moment to be Pennsive

Although not quite done with my first week in Philadelphia, I have done enough exploring in the past few days to give me a sense of what I've gotten myself into. I now feel I can give a rudimentary judgment of several aspects of my new life.

The School:

Classes haven't started yet, so I can't say anything about the academics, but the campus itself is gorgeous. Taking my afternoon strolls to and from orientations have always left a big smile on my face. With the tree-lined cobblestone paths and the rustic red and gray brick buildings, I found myself thinking several times "ahh, its good to be back on the east coast." With art displays all over campus (notably the Peace, Love and Broken Button), and well-maintained landscape, you can tell it is an Ivy League.

I got my first exposure to Ivy League brats when my professor warned us, as TAs, to "watch out for the donor kids." Yowza, if children of donors are significant enough to mention during a TA meeting, this must happen often. On that same note, EVERYTHING at Penn is sponsored or donated, from entire buildings down to a stairwell in the BioE (here called BE) building.

My favorite part about the school so far is the Graduate Student Center. It is an embarrassingly well-funded organization that puts together very fitting events for graduate students (happy hours, city tours leaving you to do your thing downtown, "gnome hunts", salsa nights). With so many Master's students, it makes it a blast!

The City:

I was warned about Philadelphia's safety before coming here, but I brushed those warnings off thinking "meh, I lived in Harlem, how much worse could it be?" Turns out, a lot. UPenn, like several other schools located in crappy cities, has its own bubble in the middle of West Philly, which is the second worst part of town (coming in after South Philly). Inside the Penn Bubble, life is great. Students and upscale shops all around. Ten blocks east and west of where I live, you don't want to be caught alone. While every school warns you "never to walk alone at night," here doing so would mean risking your life. Luckily, we have been doing group tours and exploring the sketchier neighborhoods of town in safe numbers. Just two days ago, two women were raped (by the same man) two hours apart in Fairmount Park, which is immediately east of us. Today, two of my friends were followed around a Kmart by a sketchy man who purchased nothing and was just browsing for girls out alone to attack. Needless to say, I am on my guard, and very happy staying inside my Penn Bubble.

Safety issues aside, during the day and in groups, Philadelphia is a pretty cool city. It's no New York in culture, but there are several cool districts with lively restaurants and bars. And of course, the history isn't lost of me, although I was more impressed with Boston in that aspect. But everytime I pass by a food cart or walk into a subway station, I am happy to be living in a city again.

The Liquor Laws

Not that this defines my lifestyle or anything, but the peculiar liquor laws of Pennsylvania are worth mentioning. For starters, grocery stores don't carry alcohol at all. Beer must be purchased from special "Beer Distributors" where it's only sold by the case, and wine/hard alcohol from "Wine & Spirit Distributors." However, one AWESOME side effect of these prude laws is that, because liquor licenses are so difficult to obtain, many upscale restaurants are Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB)! I haven't tried one yet, but I am excited to.

My Housing

Ahh, my biggest disappointment so far, and the reason I broke down into tears on my first night...my housing. I signed up for university housing because I figured it would be the safest, cleanest deal, based of course on Cal's on-campus housing. I am living in Sansom Place East, the graduate high-rise apartments, or as we like to call them, the Graduate Student Projects. The apartments are tiny, the building is grungy overall, and I think I was just cursed with the worst apartment. My walls are dirty, my kitchen has obvious marks of a huge fire, the previous resident was a smoker, and worst of all COCKROACHES come creeping out at night! Ugh. After 4 days of serious cleaning, and asking the facilities repair for an exterminator, I am finally getting comfortable in this shit-hole. Never again will I take on University housing blindly. My quality of life has definitely dropped, from my awesome, well-stocked apartment this summer to eating soup and most-likely a dining plan at Penn.

However, aside from the actual apartment, the building has great amenities. There are group activities regularly, where I have met most of the people I now hang out with. There is a computer facility, free laundry, and this amaaazing view of downtown Philly on one side (I am the 10th floor), and phenomenal sunsets on the other.

The advantage of shitty housing is that it encourages you to stay out, which is pretty much what I've done all week. The weather has been beautiful, the people and events great, it's pretty much been a mini-vacation. I'm sure this euphoria will die quickly once school starts and the weather heads toward winter, but I am enjoying it now!

Peace, Love and a Broken Button,

Kiran

At the Intersection of Birth, Residence, and Religion

As a child, I read a fair share of books about second generation immigrants facing culture clashes and identity crises (the prototypical example being The Joy Luck Club). Even though I am a second-generation immigrant myself, I never faced any angst about my identity, and hence couldn’t understand what these books were aiming at. Even throughout high school, as I fought my parents for freedom and independence, I never really felt like that reflected on my identity, it was just my parents’ way of raising children.

Self-awareness slowly began to rise in college, as I realized how much American pop culture I was clueless about, and when I was first asked if I was American. In answer to the latter, I said ‘no’, mostly because I have always thought of myself as Indian, and I don’t identify with many inherently American traits (I read somewhere that the average American is obese, monolingual, and doesn’t hold a passport). However, upon hearing my reasoning, one friend challenged me with “well would you identify more with an Indian girl your age or an American one?” A great question, and obviously I would identify more with an American, which finally made me concede that I must be American after all.

The third prong of my identity comes from being born in a Sikh family. I was raised as a devout Sikh for more than half my life, until I realized I believe in science more than supreme powers, and declared myself an atheist. At this point, in my mind, I completely shed my Sikh identity. This is all old news, however, so why bring this up now? Last month, my parents held a Sikh prayer recital, called an Akhand Paat, in honor of my graduation. After spending two entire days with my extended family volunteering and listening to prayers at our local church, I realized that I will always be a Sikh, whether or not I believe. I found my lips automatically moving to the hymns that defined my childhood Sundays, and despite being Atheist, I got a great sense of peace, community and family bonding by being there.

So finally, at age 22, I can understand what an identity crisis is, and say happily, that I have solved mine with the below pie chart.

Yes, I am that bored at work.

:-)

My tête-à-tête with Miss Austen*

Of the three books I picked up with my “no internet after 9pm” rule, my instincts drew me to Pride and Prejudice first. I could sense the drama and taboo locked between those covers, and I was sure I would appreciate it. With my limited knowledge of the book beforehand, I expected the entangled “love”** stories to appeal to the romantic in me, however the book surprised me when I found myself engaged on several other levels.

The first and foremost was the intense pride and feminism evoked by every one of Elizabeth’s unorthodox actions. Admittedly, the desire to prove female independence and equality were a factor in my decision to become an engineer, but aside from that, I don’t feel any strongly feminist emotions on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, I often find feminists rather irritating, mostly because I believe a proactive, doing mentality goes leagues farther than the passive, complaining route in promoting equality. However, this was all thrown aside as Elizabeth, with a strong will and love for her sickly sister, ran the five miles to Netherfield in the storm, despite the impropriety of a young woman doing such a thing. One of my favorite lines from the book is when she arrives at Netherfield, with the bottom of her dress covered in mud, and Mr. Darcy notes that she looked beautiful, despite her face being “flushed with glow of exercise,” where a footnote then explained that exercise was considered improper for upper class women, as it indicated working in the field. I felt this great surge of pride in Elizabeth, and Mr. Darcy himself gained brownie points for shunning society’s expectations and admitting (if only to himself) his attraction to such a rebel.

This leads me to my other point of surprise. There was something incredibly attractive in the defiance of taboo in such a repressive culture, where simple gestures, such as Mr. Darcy’s uninvited visits to Mr. Collins’ parish, raised eyebrows. As Mr. Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s relationship progressed, I found the conversation during their racy rendezvous as exciting as a sexual encounter, and was often nothing short of turned on. Besides a very enlightening look into my own sexual psyche, this book let me rest assured that even in the most repressed of times, people had no trouble getting their yayas.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and will probably continue down this line with Sense and Sensibility someday, if not soon.

*Upon researching, Jane Austen was the only (and hence oldest) sister, so would have gone by the name Miss Austen, according to the rules stated in her book.

**I use this word with caution, because I do not believe that any girl in this story actually loved her suitor/husband, with, of course, the exception of Jane.