Spring!

Spring is kind of magical here in Boston. One week ago, it was still 45 degree sweater weather, and now it feels like summer. You blink, and suddenly everything is blooming. The grass, which had died over the winter is suddenly green and lush, and the world is more beautiful than I ever imagined. I studied outside all day, and I even got a little sunburned... Crazy!

We had our first crew race yesterday. We have been practicing hard, and we have come a long ways as a team. It was a time trial, so we weren't racing against other boats, but we thought it went well. We had a good tail wind, and we all were rowing together, going faster than we ever have before. Then, we got the results... Turns out we were a whole minute slower than the fastest team, which is pretty bad, considering they took less than 4 minutes. We came in last place by a pretty big margin. We are all laughing about it, and it has been a good season. I'll definitely do it again next year.

The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee

I was in the Kirkland Musical this year, one of the funniest musicals I have ever seen. The actual show was a couple of weeks ago now, but the pictures are just coming out. I had a small role, but a fun one, playing the sister of one of the characters, a boy who got into the spelling bee after the two winners from his local level couldn't go. He isn't the smartest crayon in the box, and his family is quite eccentric to say the least. I play his sister, a wacky but pretty girl, with whom another contestant, Chip falls in love. After a sexy daydream about me, he loses the spelling bee due to unfortunate circumstances... Hopefully the video will come out soon :)

The picture is of the contestant's family members, including two gay dads, a mom who is away on a spiritual journey in India, and an Asian mom with two red-headed kids.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Miss you all. I couldn't pick any flowers for you, Mom, so I took some pictures of some pretty ones :) I went Easter Egg Hunting this morning, and it is beautiful day here, the nicest one we've had all year. Hope your day is going great!

LOVE, Laura

When is the last time you hugged a lamp?

When is the last time you hugged a lamp? Because, I hugged one this morning. They need a lot of love you know :)

And we that non-sequetor... a hodge-podge of life updates..

I did interviews for my video on Wema, and all my classes are coming to a close. I had my last class ever for my sophomore tutorial for African Studies, and with a few exams and a paper, I will be done with my sophomore year and half way done with Harvard. SCARY TO THE EXTREME!!! I actually have to start thinking about what I want to do with my life.

Yesterday I decided Stanford business school would be nice... but when I read that they want you to take lots of math and economics classes as an undergraduate, I had second thoughts. Also, there are only 35% girls there! How strange (maybe good for me, though...)

In other news, it looks like we are finally getting a way to collect donations for Wema! We submitted a proposal to the Dean's office to use Harvard's NGO status for up to $5,000 collected. Hopefully, in a few weeks, we will be able to collect donations. We eventually will need to apply as a separate entity to achieve NGO status, but this will work for at least a year or two until we have been approved.

Bye for now!

Go hug a lamp!

Dairy Farm

I spent my day at a dairy farm in Massachusetts through the Food Literacy Project here at Harvard.

They are the only farm in Massachusetts that uses a robotic milking machines, and these machines were thoroughly impressive. You see the cow walk in, the door closes behind the cow, and then the robotic and come out with the suction cups. The machine starts blinking with red lasers, reading the cow's teats like a barcode at the supermarket. Its robotic arm brings the suction cup towards the utter, but the cow gets antsy and kicks the machine. However, Robert, as I will now call the robot, knows what to do. It immediately knows the cows has kicked it, and that the suction cup may now be contaminated. It cleans itself and tries again until all 4 teats have suction cups attached. It then records exactly how much milk comes from each teat, and using salinity test, it tests for mastitis. On the end, the cow gave over 12 pounds of milk, and cows are milked 3 times a day.

Calfs are so cute! We met one that was 3 weeks old and when I stuck my hand in its pen, it put my entire hand in its mouth and started to suck on it like a bottle. So cute, but super slimy!

A few facts about cows:

Cows weigh about 1500 lbs and a bull 2,000.

Each cow releases over 100 pounds of manure everyday.

A calf weighs abot 75 pouds at birth

Cows only live 10-15 years

Cows have no upper front teeth

It takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese

A cow doesn't bite the grass that feeds her, she curls her tongue around it

Here's a video I took of the milking machine in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVcqyDrHmFM

SHOWDOWN!!!

Hello Kirkland,

Good news! In the midst of the zombie invasion, the government helicopter is coming to rescue us! 4:00 pm, Tuesday, the final mission will begin in the Kirkland courtyard. The remaining humans will need to hold off the zombies for 15 minutes, before making their way to the helicopter. Here are the rules

1. Any human that is not in the Kirkland courtyard at all times from 4:20 pm to 4:40 pm will be immediately killed.

2. At 4:20 pm, the zombies will be permitted to enter the courtyard to attack the humans.Anybody that has ever been a zombie, even if they have been eliminated from the game, will be permitted to enter as a zombie. Zombies must identify themselves with a red headband.

3. Any human that is tagged with two hands by an unstunned zombie will be declared eaten and dead.

4. At 4:40 pm, the helicopter will arrive in the center of the courtyard. Any human that successfully makes his or her way to the center of the courtyard by 4:50 pm will be deemed survivors and will be rescued.

Our last radio broadcast. Our numbers have been running low but the tension has been running high. We brought out all our water guns, I brought out my sprinkler helmet, and it was go time! We had to hold off the zombies for 20 minutes, and there was no way my battery on the sprinkler helmet would last that long, so we went old fashioned. Squeezed together in a corner we all took our places, and then they came. The zombies ran at us, squirting us back with the very water guns they had stolen from us to distract us. 15 minutes in, a freshman looks the other way for one second too long as was grabbed. here were epic dives, sneak attacks, and zombies hiding in the bushes. Yet, after 20 minutes, we had only lost one man! I turned on my sprinkler helmet, and the other humans encircled me, each facing a different direction, squirting as we went, until we reached the center of the courtyard and were rescued by the helicopters!!

Check out the videos! (They are short and worth watching)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg2CnLo7oxU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjBIU1VMueM

Speed Dating for Ideas

I am helping my friend Serena start a new group on campus to support people with ideas to actually make their idea happen. So, our first event is a speed dating for ideas event, where you go and either listen to people tell you about their idea,or share your own, and if you like the other person's idea and want to work with them, you write that down on the paper. Then at the end, we let people know if there are any matches. It is going to be a good event, and here is the poster I designed for it!