Statistics on statisticians.

This post has absolutely nothing to do with CAKES or cakes.  The closest it gets is fried bananas on ice cream.

Last night, I had the pleasure of dining with some professors, GSIs, and fellow readers in the Statistics department.  I learned some things.

100% of instructors know the names of at least 10% of their students.  This familiarity is a good thing only 50% of the time.

Food that is not on the menu tastes approximately 70% more delicious than food that can be ordered off the menu.

Students cheat on exams.  If you, dear reader, are a student, please do not cheat on your exams. It undermines the integrity of academia and society.  Spend your time studying rather than concocting a clever plan to succeed dishonestly. Your future employers, advisers, and spouses will appreciate a mediocre mark in one of your courses 1000% more than an expulsion.

Very few students die or have mental breakdowns during exams. But it happens. Please take care of your physical and mental health!

-E

Note: Statistics reported in this posting are observational in nature.  For more accurate data, please conduct your own properly-planned, randomized, controlled experiment.  For more details on how to develop such an experiment, pay attention in your statistics course.

Consider a spherical raccoon

Today I considered a spherical raccoon when I confronted one shortly after leaving home at 9:44am.  Confronted is a strong word.  Perhaps I did not confront said animal.  Encountered? Observed as he ran across the sidewalk only three feet from where I stood? Had I left home at 9:43:30, I may have stepped right on him.


I considered this raccoon for the following reasons:
1. Size.  Though the raccoon was only approximately spherical, he was unequivocally large.
2. Diurnal behavior. I am aware that urban raccoons are not strictly nocturnal. They should be.  It is creepy to see a large, approximately spherical raccoon running across the sidewalk of a high-traffic street in broad daylight. 

And so, dear world of internet users, consider yourself warned against the large creepy mammals of Berkeley.  Our only hope is that Lucy the neighbor dog (who may be a large creepy mammal herself) will eat or otherwise eliminate this disturbing intruder. 

-E

Summer Time

Hello loyal CAKES fans! (special shout out to Jenna Lee and Melissa Adams!)

Here is an update as to what the CAKES gals are all up to this wonderful summer of 2012.

C - Cindy is having a Brainy Bake-tastic Bobby-Bangy Berkeley summer. She's studying hard through the summer sessions at Cal and baking a lot of fun things, so I hear. And she got the CUTEST hair cut to a short little bob with bangs! Gotta love Cindiva. Way to go, girl!
A - Attrace is practicing her Spanish skillz and learning about biodiversity in Costa Rica! Que fabulosa! Sounds like a lot of fun. And her host family has three dogs and they really like her. Or at least I presume they would.
K - Kelsey is in good ol' Ptown (that's Pleasanton) this summer and interning in Sunnyvale where it is, in fact, sunny. Most days.
E - Emily Rose Gilson is doing an amazing internship research thing in Berkeley. It's the Short Term Educational Experiences For Research in Environmental Health for Undergraduate Students. Aka STEER. In the Division of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health. BASICALLY SHE'S A GENIUS. Nothing new about that.
S - Sadie is engaged. Did we mention that?! YEAH SHE IS. And she is in her home-town SLO-town this summa. She's interning with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for SLO county! Sounds like hecka GTs (good times) from what she's told us!

We hope you all are enjoying your summertime! Can't wait for all da fun timez to come in the Fall!

God Bless you and America,
~K

apartment meeting

tonight CAKES had an apartment meeting, perhaps the first one of the semester. certainly the first one in a while. I am glad we had one. we talked about all sorts of things, from summer logistics to apartment aesthetics to what next year will potentially look like. it was good to hammer things out, and honestly, just to have some time where we are all together. it is rare. one fun thing, we recently implemented the "jingle jar" (just made that name up). we put loose change or coins we find randomly in the jar and when it fills up, we will go get a treat together. cute, right? so that's that. a glimpse into our collective life. OH! and we cleaned out and organized our freezer and i found food i didn't know i had!! like Christmas morning!!

-S

He Put a New Song in My Mouth

As we (minus A) sat around in the living room, some studying, some not (S)

We rewrote the lyrics to Break Every Chain//Jesus Culture

You know, just your typical Sunday night.

Enjoy (:

"There is flower in the name of Cindy

To smell every chain

To smell every chain

To smell every chain

(mine was the first, so not as creative)

There is ice cream in the name of Sadie 

To freeze every brain

To freeze every brain

To freeze every brain

There is studying in the name of Emily

To ace every test

To ace every test

To ace every test

There is sleeping in the name of Kelsey

[Emily: NOOOO!]

There is absence in the name of Attrace

To miss all the fun

To miss all the fun

To miss all the fun"

21!

Things I can apparently now legally do, among others, according to Sadie and the internet -

• purchase alcoholic beverages
• buy a gun
• rent or buy an apartment and/or house without a co-signer
• buy a car without a co-signer
• gamble in vegas

How exciting a life I can now lead. Be right back - got to go buy a new house...

~A

and the soul felt its worth

Happy Christmas! Since the CAKES Christmas blog-post is quite a responsibility, I am going to make this short. I hope you all are having lovely Christmas seasons and enjoying time with family and friends. I pray that the joy of this season is drawing your hearts closer to Jesus and stirring up awe at His grace. Last night at the Christmas eve service, my pastor opened the closing prayer with this:

"Heavenly Father, what a privilege it is to be Yours."

This is so simple, but such a beautiful truth to remember. My prayer for you is that during this season you are remembering that you belong to Him who sent us the greatest gift that could ever be given. How sweet it is that "the most wonderful time of the year" can last all year because of its true and marvelous meaning.

<On a more shallow note: roommates, I got a Kitchenaid mixer (not the stand kind though)! Yay! Now we have a mixer!>

-S