2024/09/26 - Settled Back In

Back in H-Town for almost a month now, I'm getting into the groove of life here. Water polo season is going strong, with the first tournament coming up this weekend. My only issue is the team's lack of effort at times (hope you're reading this!) but whatever it's all for fun anyway. Cooper convinced me to sign up for the Houston Marathon, so I've been trying to run more... did four 5mi runs in the past week which is a lot for me. Only 21.2 more miles, easy. The house is good, the garden is fruitful (so much okra!) and I've been tearing through HunterxHunter with Anna and Nathan lately which is great. On campus, research is progressing slowly but surely, and I finally started bartending at Valhalla. Life goes on!

Cheers,

Big A

2024/08/17 - Final Week in Fukuoka

Only one more week here in Fukuoka! I'm gonna miss it. This past week I visited Hiroshima, Osaka, and Kyoto briefly, and while I really liked Hiroshima, Fukuoka has a certain quality to it that is unrivaled by any of those cities. It's a homey city. This final week I'll spend time with friends(-s), eat at my favorite places, do some gift shopping, hit the beach one more time, and wrap up in the lab! Then on to Tokyo for a few days before heading home. I'm sad to leave but super excited to be back with friends, family, and easily accessible hobbies like water polo and music. Yeah, I miss it!

Cheers,

Big A

2024/08/04 - Update from Japan

I've been in Japan for just about 7 weeks now. It feels so much longer than that! A little over 6 weeks in Fukuoka sounds realer for some reason. Life is good here - I don't have many obligations (including social ones, for better or worse...) and work isn't too intense, so overall I live quite the chill life. A guy I met named Parsa, who I dare to call my friend now, has made sure that I get out and socialize every once in a while which has helped me stay sane! We usually grab dinner or a drink and get into arguments over random geosocioeconopolitical bs until I get too passionate and he wins the argument. But it is fun. This past weekend I traveled to Kumamoto and Aso for a super cool hike, which I will have a longer update about in my travel section at some point. This week, I'll get some shit done in the lab before traveling to Hiroshima and Osaka for a few days for the Obon holiday. Then another week in Fukuoka before departing for a few days in Tokyo! I'm excited to go home - to see friends, family, etc. - but I know as the day gets closer I will start missing Fukuoka before I even leave. 

Cheers,

Big A

2024/07/13 - A Fukuokan Summer

That's right, I'm writing dates like a sensible person now. Probably because I'm in Fukuoka, Japan for the summer, and that is how we date things in the lab I'm working in. But also because it makes sense and is easier for organizational purposes. Japan has been nice! Everyone is quite respectful, if not overtly friendly (by Texan standards - although my grasp of the Japanese language surely plays a role), and I've gotten along well with lab members and strangers. Possibly my ONLY customary qualm is pedestrian sidewalk etiquette... there is no custom for walking on one side of the sidewalk or the other, which is very strange to me. Even in America, the worlds' pedestrian laughingstock, I feel like there is implicit understanding you walk on the right side, and when there approaches an incoming fellow pedestrian, both move to their respective right sides. Here anything goes! Other than that, everything you here about Japanese public transport efficiency is totally true. The subways, trains, buses are all impeccably on time, comfortable, and easy to use.

Cheers,

Big A

11/01/2022 - November Came Around

Of course, I was optimistic in my last post about all the things I'd be doing soon. I'll remain optimistic...

I feel like keeping this brief, so here's some life updates: 

Cheers,

Big A

10/12/2022 - Good Things Ahead

Despite shake-ups at work and lots of work to do, I'm feeling excited about the progress to come. Soon (Monday!) I'll have submitted what I believe to be a good application to the NSF GRFP, which I probably won't win but I will feel proud having applied. Exciting research is on the way - I'll be transfecting cells soon and possibly start actually looking at things under the microscope! I'm really excited to do something tangible, as most of my work till now has been reading, understanding, and planning. 

Personally, life has been good. The Dungeons and Dragons campaign is proceeding, I made a beer die table recently so I've gotten to play, and I'm feeling in-shape and ready for the next water polo tournament. This weekend is my buddy Evan's wedding, so I'm super excited for that. I also purchased my tickets to Italy to visit Auva over Thanksgiving! It's great to have things to look forward to.

I'll briefly mention some things related to this site. I finished the 5th book in the Dune series, so expect a post soon. There's also a movie or two I need to write about. Another popular science article is on its way as well - this time about the spatial organization of the genome. My aim is to have it out before the end of October, but I make no promises...

Cheers,

Big A

09/23/2022 - Semester So Far

A month into this semester, it feels like it's been both a very long one and yet passed by super quickly. The days go slow, weeks go fast sort of thing. Mostly because I've been so busy!

I've moved back to my childhood home in Friendswood, with my parents. Luckily my dad started a new job downtown (at his old job) so we carpool and suffer the mind-breaking traffic together, father and son, most days. This means I spend close to 2 hours every day traveling :). On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have class at 9am and water polo practice at night, ending at 9pm. So those days are long. But it isn't too bad, all in all, it just limits my free time at home - that is, my ability to chill and do nothing. On top of the busy weeks are filled  (but fun!) weekends. I've had my friend Evan's bachelor party where we got a house on the river in New Braunfels for a weekend, my grandma's 80th birthday party at two adjacent beach houses in Galveston for a weekend, and a concert in Dallas with my friends for a weekend, where we saw Thundercat, the Strokes, and Red Hot Chili Peppers in one show!!! It's been awesome, but I feel like I have minimal time to rest. 

This weekend I'm going to Austin to table for my PhD program at a UT undergraduate research event, then to A&M for the first water polo tournament of the year. It'll be, once again, fun and exhausting. I'm looking forward to the coming weeks where I likely won't leave Houston. 

Cheers,

Big A

08/26/2022 - End of an Era

Welp, my girlfriend has gone off and went to Italy. I'm joking (about the salt, not Italy), of course I am ecstatic for her and can't wait to see and hear about all the awesome things she does there. She's already made a bunch of cool friends rock climbing, studying, jumping in fountains, playing soccer (futbol?) and hackey-sack, and probably more. I miss her like crazy already, but we're getting through it and I'm working on plans to go visit. Exciting.

Relatedly, I spent most of my time this summer with Auva, getting as much quality time in as we could. We made a bunch of great food, went on a road trip, celebrated our second anniversary, hung out with friends. It made for an amazing summer, honestly, and I miss it already. Other than the fun stuff, I worked a lot in lab getting my research project moving - working on establishing a collaboration with another cool lab at Rice, starting to create all the components for my project. It's fun because I can break it down into three pretty separate modules. 1: The biological tool. 2: The microscope setup. 3: The algorithms for automated imaging and the subsequent processing. The modularization helps me enumerate what I need to work on, which is nice.

In terms of this blog, I finally finished my attempt at a digestible science post on DNA proofreading - check it out if you're interested :). I'm still working on the post to catalogue mine and Auva's latest road trip, but I should have that out soon so keep an eye out! (to my oh so many readers...)

Cheers,

Big A

05/08/2022 - Summertime

Woo, it's Summer. Not that this means too much anymore now that I'm out of college. Instead of summer as break, for a PhD student summer is the perfect time to go balls to the wall on their research! There aren't any of those pesky courses to get in your way ...

I'm still glad for summer though, of course. Getting to focus more on research will be nice, and hopefully I'll be truly starting up my research now that my project is more defined (I still need to write up something about it here ...). Another great part of this summer is that I'll be living with my parents and sister in a rental house right in midtown. I'm beyond excited to have them here and get to see them every day; I love those guys. The weather getting hotter is pro for me as well, although I'm sure many disagree. 

This summer I hope to play a lot of basketball and water polo, get my research project up and running, enjoy spending time with my family and Auva, and hopefully get back to updating this site more steadily! ^.^

Cheers,

Big A

04/05/2022 - Err... Quarter-Year Update

Dang it! I really fell out of the habit of writing once school and research and life got busier. Excuses, I know. This past QUARTER of a year just flew by. You may wonder what I've been up to the past few months - don't worry, I'm here now. 

School has been busy, both in lab and in class. I'm taking a decent amount of coursework this semester, and although not necessarily difficult the workload wasn't nothing. The time and energy (and mindspace) commitment to research has been the real change compared to last semester. Rotations are over; I joined a lab. And I love it! In many ways, I really do. I'm learning tons of interesting concepts, building friendships and mentor relationships, and forming an idea of what I want my future in research to be. I've had some delays in getting started on my project due to reasons outside my control, but I'm not too upset because that would've only made me busier.

Since Auva has been back in Houston we've gotten to see each other a lot. In fact, most of our weekends are spent together along with significant weekday excursions to one or the other's home. It's lovely, and we are taking advantage of this temporary proximity. She got accepted into a billion different graduate school programs for a ~masters in public/global affairs/policy~ or something of the sort. Right now it's looking like she may end up in Italy next year. Beyond the sadness of missing her over a distance, I'm ridiculously excited for her and all of her opportunities. Go Auva!

My non-Houston weekends have been frequent. I went to Austin twice, once for a water polo tournament and once for my buddy Han's birthday. I flew to Michigan to visit my family and grandfather, shortly before he passed. Auva and I went camping a few hours away for her birthday (but it was just as much for me hehe). Okay, maybe not as frequent as it felt like, but still a significant amount of traveling. 

I haven't been running much. Water polo and basketball are here and there. Guitar has been picking up once again. 

Here's to the next three-quarters of the year, and to me being more faithful to this blog!

Cheers,

Big A

01/13/22 - Progress

A week after formulating my New Year's resolutions, I can confidently say I've done them and can move on! Kidding, of course, but I have followed them fairly well so far. We'll have to see what's to come. 

I've also been making progress academically; classes have started smoothly and I'm getting closer and closer to being able to really start my first project in the lab. The biggest inhibition there is simply wait times for things to arrive and me getting COVID and not being able to go into the lab! Other than that, it's great. I've been doing a ton of reading, and really feel my grasp on certain scientific topics (namely optics) strengthening - I like the feeling. 

The final progress I'll mention is about the website! I figured out how to make a quasi-comment section for my thousands of active readers to participate and provide feedback (source). It's kind of janky but works so don't hate. Additionally, I have set back out on my attempt to write up something scientific. My first piece will be about DNA proofreading, and I found it really hard to do that without writing a lot of background, so... write background I did. It may be rather long but hopefully will be digestible to readers of all knowledge levels :).

Cheers,

Big A

01/06/22 - New Year 2

The second annual new year's post! I'll take this time to reflect on last year (and its post) and to once again talk about the upcoming year :)

Looking at last year's blog post, it's quite funny that I say "the end of COVID at least somewhat in sight," because I am now awaiting a COVID test result after a possible exposure last week. It seems this is the virus that may never end. Although, 2021 was much better than 2020 in terms of what I was able to do; Texas opened up pretty early and I was able to have some fun in Austin; Rice opened up in the Fall for a part of the term and we even went maskless in the lab; my family was able to have a typical gathering during Christmas. Yet due to Omicron we are entering a new age of the virus :/.

On the whole, 2021 was an amazing year. I graduated, I entered grad school at Rice, I went on two insane road trips, wonderful adventures to Oregon and Tulum, and one interesting trip to Amsterdam with Auva, made new friends and had a great water polo season. It honestly feels like a super long year, like so much has happened. I like that feeling.

Now to address my resolutions. I successfully read 12 books - in fact I read 14! It was awesome, and I learned a lot and read some great books. Dune, Desert Solitaire, and Slaughterhouse-5 just to name a few. A semi-successful resolution was to run a consistent 6-minute mile, as I did this twice by March and then kind of stopped running... but I'll count it. My last resolution was to spend less time on my phone. I think I did well on this one largely, but lately I've surely been slipping back into way too much time on Reddit. So, I may repeat this resolution in the upcoming year's list:

Cheers,

Big A

12/26/21 - Procrastinating

I have a lot to write about to update this site, so I chose to procrastinate and start with the blog post.

As a quick recap on the rest of my Netherlands trip: Amsterdam was great, the last day we went to the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, and did some typical exploring. On our fourth day in the Netherlands, on a train to The Hague, we received word that the country had just entered nationwide lock down due to the coronavirus. Starting that exact day. Upon arrival to the new city, the reports were confirmed as we walked around finding essentially every store closed. The front-desk man at our hostel confirmed as well. Pretty heartbroken, we debated what to do with the rest of our trip - excluding the upcoming night in The Hague, we had three more nights before our flight, and options discussed included continuing as planned but with nothing to do, taking a train to Brussels where restrictions aren't in place, or try to move our flight up three days to the next day. We chose the latter, and thanks to some clever persistence on Auva's part United changed our flights free of charge.

Now I'm in Tennessee at my cousin's lovely home in Sewanee, enjoying the holidays with family. Unfortunately I awoke with intense back pain this morning, and consequently have been laying low all day. This, in part, contributed to the procrastination I mentioned above because I just watched a movie with my dad, meaning I now have EIGHT movies I have to add to the movie section. The long international flights coupled with lock-down greatly aided my recent movie-watching ability. Oh, also I had to go see the new Spider-Man. 

On top of the movies, I finished A Plea for the Animals yesterday; there's a lot to discuss there so that write up may take much effort. I like writing about the books I read but sometimes it is overwhelming, especially since I don't take notes during my reads. Perhaps next book I'll try.

Cheers,

Big A

12/17/21 - Made it to Amsterdam

Yesterday, Auva and I made it to Amsterdam! The flight was easy and we were able to check in to our VRBO - cute and in a great spot - early yesterday. After getting settled, we went exploring, taking in the city and getting some tasty vegan eats. So far, Amsterdam has definitely been vegan-friendly. Our jet-lagged day ended with an early bedtime of course, as we hoped to reset and be ready for today. It worked well enough, and today we had a great time walking around what felt like most of the city (and getting good vegan eats again!). We also went on a nice canal tour to expand our explored territory. Got a beer in a fun pub; went to a "coffeeshop" for an easy joint. Since businesses close at 5pm due to COVID restrictions, in the evening we went on a walk through a nearby park and enjoyed the light decorations among the city - Amsterdam is very pretty at night, it gave me Hallmark Christmas movie vibes a little. 

The next week has a lot more adventure in store, and I'm excited to experience more of the Netherlands. :)

Cheers,

Big A

12/05/21 - End of Semester

Last week was the final week of classes, woo! I also got accepted to my lab - I'll be joining Dr. Anna-Karin Gustavsson's lab to do some super-resolution imaging and single-particle tracking on some cool mammary acini systems, which I'm super excited for. I'll write up an in-depth post about the science eventually. In terms of finishing up the semester, I have three final exams (one of which, biochemistry, I'll have to study A LOT for) and two final reports due. Still a lot but very manageable. Without classes I'll be able to really get into the lab and do some intro learning which will be great. 

On another note, I made it to Austin this weekend for Auva's and her roommate Megan's graduation party. We started dartying around 2:30 on Saturday, made it the nearby bar for some darts around 7:30, and then eventually went downtown later that night! I didn't think the whole squad (17 people fit in our Fetii to downtown!) would make it to be honest; usually some bail or get too tired. But no, the party just kept going :). Honestly the perfect party day.

Cheers,

Big A

11/22/21 - Life is Fun

Despite some angst in my previous post, life is really fun! I think I've been doing better about enjoying every day as best I can. It takes a conscious effort, for sure, but over the past couple years I have spent way too many days in a mood worse than what was possible. I've been listening to this podcast called Philosophize This! for a while now; I'm about 80 episodes in. First of all, let me go ahead and say it's an amazing podcast! If you are a philosophy expert it may be a bit watered-down for you, but for someone like myself it is the perfect intro to getting interested in philosophy. There was one episode where the host (Stephen West, he's funny and fun to listen to) was discussing how much awe he has at the world, and how he tries to have that awe every time he can. Basically carpe diem, I know, but to me at the time it really made me think "what am I doing, waking up and being upset that I get to go to school to learn about cool shit, I get to practice guitar, I get to go play water polo.." and the list could go on. So, from then on I have been trying to apply this thought process to anything I do. I can't really tell you what's fun about doing the dishes, but I can tell you that it can be enjoyable if you just focus on enjoying it! 

Cheers,

Big A

11/15/21 - I'm 23

On Thursday I turned twenty-three years old, and the day came with a dim view of my mid-life crisis far out in the horizon, like when the lost seamen finally see land in the movies. I'm kidding of course, it wasn't that dreary, but thoughts do start to become weird when you dwell on age and the progression of time for too long. Although, why a birthday should bring this feeling more than any other day is illogical; I'm getting older every day (every minute, every second, every... what do you call it when the discretization of time approaches zero? I suppose I'm getting older all the time). What is "getting older" besides your personal progression through time, anyway? To some readers I may sound like I'm attempting to be "woke" here, yet I would argue that this really isn't that deep of a thought, I know, and that I simply found it interesting how one labelled day can impose onto you specific but non-unique thoughts.

Anyways, celebrating your birthday is always fun. Especially when you have someone like Auva to help out - she loves birthdays I'm pretty sure. Friends were seen, donuts were eaten, fires were lit and enjoyed, and nights (actually just one) were spent camping under the stars.

On another note: I'm so ready to be done with the "prerequisite" courses I am taking this semester, and to be able to focus on interesting, provocative research and learning next semester. It is simply a bummer that around the top of my most time-consuming activities are the undergraduate physical chemistry and biochemistry course that I'm taking. Yes, I only have to Pass/Fail them, but there are so many assignments in Pchem, and in biochem you have to memorize a billion things just to pass! I'm 23, dammit!

Cheers,

Big A

11/04/21 - I'm Alive

Long time no write. Quick recap of the past 4 months: Summer was fun, Auva and I went on an amazing camping trip that took us to some of the most rewarding hikes I've ever done. I started grad school at Rice, I'm in the midst of my third rotation, simulating chromosome structure in Jose Onuchic's lab. My first two rotations went well; I came a long way from not knowing what a pipette was thanks to Yafet in Laura Segatori's lab. I also decided to join the lab of my first rotation, and initial interest, Anna-Karin Gustavsson's lab. The project I'll be working on is super cool and I'm excited to do science - I'm sure I'll update here with an overview of the project eventually. I've been thinking about writing little science articles and posting them here, because I learn some pretty darn cool stuff here at Rice.

So yeah! Things have been swimming along. I miss my UT friends: Drew, Han, Dylan, Jason, Nagle, Max. Of course I miss the older ones like Evan and Nate and Aidan too but they left awhile ago. I miss Auva, but at least I've been lucky enough to see her pretty much weekly - much more often than I think our worst fears were when we began this "long" distance relationship!

Cheers,

Big A

06/03/21 - Disney World

Currently writing from the Riviera Resort at Disney World. It's a pretty strange place here - completely surrounded by Disney stuffs and all the materialism and capitalism of the parks. Some rides are extremely fun (the Aerosmith, Avatar, Millennium Falcon, and Mt. Everest rides to name a few) and certain attractions are genuinely heart-warming or nostalgic (I can't deny the huge impact Disney media has had on my life). It's also super nice to be here with my family and be able to experience all these things with them. However, the glorification of all of it, how expensive things are, and the hectic nature of the parks make Disney World just not my scene. Many people love it, though. Last night I talked to a family who has been coming here every year for 17 years. I don't get it! But hey, I am glad I was able to come and witness it, because it surely is a feat of imagination, ingenuity, and planning.

Cheers,

Big A

05/15/21 - School's Out

I turned in my last assignment over a week ago, so I think it's safe to say "school's out." Ending my undergrad during COVID times is a weird feeling - I've talked with many of my friends about how it's anticlimactic, and we all feel like we're missing something like a forgotten assignment or university hold that won't let us graduate. But that's (hopefully) not the case, and I'll be officially graduating next week! Woo. 

Looking back at my "Final Semester" post, I do feel accomplished. Yes, I was right - I once again did not wake up at 8 and exercise every day. However, I was also right in other ways: the tea brewing system for senior design and the Boba Factory went well, and it was fun to get hands-on assembling experience and actually MAKE something; I have read a lot, despite a recent lull; I've narrowed down a guitar technique practice routine that I do probably 5 days a week; the research with Dr. Porter (and her group) has been fun and engaging, and is set to continue over the summer. I also managed to have lots of fun experiences with friends and family, and with many of them and myself vaccinated, the end of COVID is ever-nearer. 

Next up is summertime :)

Cheers,

Big A

04/08/21 - An "It's Been Too Long" Update

Dang, I am bad at keeping up with the blog portion of this site. I also need to flesh out the stories about my "travels", and put the carrot cake I made for Auva's birthday on here!

Anyway, March was a good month. I accepted admission to Rice, and I'm really excited for that. I saw my family for a bit over spring break, and went camping. Me and my bud Juan have been assembling our tea brewing subsystem for the Boba Factory (and senior design), and it's super nice to actually get out of the house and work on a physical thing! I've improved my picking on the guitar, I think. Basically, things are just going smoothly over here in the Alex world :). 

Cheers,

Big A

02/26/21 - Winter Storm and Grad School Updates

If you're from Texas, snow is a rare, beautiful, and extremely fun form of precipitation. At least it was for most of us for most of my life, until last week. Texas was hit by a snow storm of the likes that belongs in Michigan (at least to my small snow brain, I'm sure it's actually even crazier up there). I think six inches of snow fell Sunday night into Monday, and it was awesome at first - my roommates, Auva, and I went sledding through Austin, walking around in the middle of streets looking for the biggest hills, everything was shut down, school was cancelled, it was a winter miracle! Except it wasn't, and Texans throughout the state started losing power and water. In my house we started burning furniture to keep the place warm (bad idea btw). My roommates in the back house have now gone a week and a half without running water! I'm sure some have it much worse than us, and my heart goes out to everyone effected by the storm.

In other news, I received an official offer from the UT Electrical Engineering department. They want to pay me to come get my PhD there, which is still a mind boggling concept when I think about it too hard. I would be working with Dr. Chowdhury, who does some awesome work in computational microscopy, pushing the limits of what we can visualize especially in biological systems. Needless to say I am ultra-excited for this opportunity. I have now finished my interviews with Rice and UTMB as well, and I think they went well so hopefully I'll get an official offer from them soon! Sadly, I was rejected by both Stanford and NYU, but alas, I'll get over it.

Cheers,

Big A

01/24/21 - Final Semester

Last week marked the beginning to my last semester as an undergraduate - hopefully not my last semester ever, as I am aiming to get accepted to at least one PhD program next year. Although this semester is certainly low in coursework, the beginnings of semesters are always filled with excitement and new goals. Each semester I always think "this is the year I wake up at 8 to exercise everyday," and I've never really been successful with that. Yet progress comes anyway, and that's why I like the beginning of semesters so much. Now I'm just imaging what I'll have done by the end of this semester:

I'll have (hopefully) decided where I'm going to school next year. I'll have a working automated tea brewing system. I'll have read a few more books, watched a couple movies, and improved on guitar. I'll perhaps have a paper written with Dr. Emily Porter on the dielectric properties of urine. I'll have GRADUATED.

It sometimes seems like you aren't going anywhere, but if you take a second to look at the bigger picture you can see huge steps.

Cheers,

Big A

01/03/21 - New Year

Although I'm a couple days late, Happy New Year :). 2020 was a tough year for everyone. The pandemic sucked - for me, luckily, the main cons were online school, which I did not perform well in; too much tie in my room (partly due to online school) which contributed to a decline in my mental health; the disability to see friends and family like I would want; and of course actually getting the virus. I'm sure many people were hit way harder by 2020, and my heart goes out to all. 

Yet 2020 managed to provide some amazing things as well. I "found" my awesome girlfriend Auva - I say found because we've known each other for a long time, but I think this year is when we actually found each other. I participated in engaging electromagnetics research over the summer, while getting paid and learning. I completed my second to last undergraduate semester, and submitted (in my opinion) great applications to six Ph.D. programs. I got better at guitar every week. 

This is why I'm so excited for 2021. With the end of COVID at least somewhat in sight, this year can be all the good of 2020 and little of the bad. I'm going to write out some of achievable resolutions for the new year:

Cheers,

Big A

12/17/20 - Beginnings

As I belabor to create a site that well encapsulates who I am, I've realized it's simultaneously more work than I expected and easier than I thought. At first, I spent a couple hours learning HTML and CSS with the aim of implementing my own site without the aid of a CMS (Content Management System). After that, I realized deploying a site this way with the goal of dynamically updating it, having many pages, etc., probably wasn't doable for my skill level and so I settled on using Google Sites. This is much easier. However, there is just a lot of information I want to have on here, and that is where the "more work than expected" comes into play. 

I'm excited to see where this goes and I hope I keep up with this site!

Cheers,

Big A