I took my Physics GRE Subject Test yesterday.
Reviewing classes you took over a decade ago is not a fun task, so I took a few weeks off of work to
prepare. Last time I took the test I had just come out to Chicago, so I didn't have any
of my textbooks, all I had was GRE Physics
- The Best Test Preparation for the Graduate Record Examination Subject Test by
REA. This time I bought a new copy of the book
to see if they corrected the two mistakes I found last time. This
time I found at least 20 in the review materials and at least that many in the
practice tests / answers. (Which means I knew the material better at least, since checking the old book showed they were there in that edition as well ;) )
Another problem with the REA book is their tests aren't as carefully prepared as the
real test. The real GRE
is designed so a calculator isn't needed for the most part (or allowed), but the
REA questions, while using the same type of questions, don't select their
numbers carefully enough to be able to avoid bringing out the calculator to
calculate the square root of 5730948. Also, their solutions will often go the
long way to solve a problem. (i.e. using kinematics to solve a problem
that is MUCH simpler to solve using energy equations.)
So yesterday morning, in order to make it to the test site by 8:30, I woke up at
4:30AM. Yep... before the sun I was up. I had arranged for a cab with Regional
Taxi the night before. (Last time I had lived at Argonne and used Universal
Taxi. When I took the General GRE, the cab driver had been so late I was forced
to have him drive me all the way to the Loop... More on Universal later.) The
cab was here on time and waiting when I got downstairs. *whew* I had called
for a pickup at 5:00 because the previous day had been snowing bad, so I had no
idea how long it would take to get to the train station. The roads were clear
and the weather was nice so we were there in no time... Unfortunately, this
meant I had 35 minutes to wait for the train in the cold and it started snowing.
(METRA started locking up the stations at night / weekends this last year for
some reason, so there's no longer any place to get inside out of the weather.
*gripe* I WILL be writing a letter.
(Fortunately I was prepared... I had fixed my oatmeal to go so I could eat it at
the station to keep warm.)
So the train arrived relatively on time (shock) and I got downtown at around 6:40.
I walked from Union Station over to State Street to catch the Jackson Red Line station.
(Yes, there is a subway entrance in the picture. Isn't the picture pretty?
You'd better click on it so you can look at it. You know you want to. Nice
dark blue sky at sunrise and Christmas decorations. Awwww.. c'mon... click it
already! The story's not going to move on until you do. That's the whole
reason this paragraph is here.)
For those who don't know the Chicago train system, the Red Line is a subway
downdown then pops up to be an El. as you go north. It was quite beautiful to see the snowcover. We got up to
Loyola (Lake Shore
Campus) around 7:45, giving me 45 minutes to relax before the test. It was
in the same building as the last time I took the test, so I had no problem
finding my way. (Damen Hall is the big building on the right. The view on the
left is looking out of the window from my seat in room 530 -- i.e. 5th floor.)
In our room we had Physics, Chem and Biochem. There were I think 5 other
classrooms being used for other subjects. More than half of the people in our
group was there for physics. (One guy was a jock type, who
even forgot to fill out his information before he turned in the test. I'm just
saying...) I think I did pretty well on the test. Much better than the last
time at least. My time management was much better this time, so I answered
probably double the questions I answered last time.
Since my CTA card had expired (I lost about $20), I had to use a day pass that
morning, so after the test I decided to ride the rails a bit. I went up to Evanston and had lunch (ok, so I ordered breakfast) at
The Lucky Platter Restaurant.
I used to go there often for breakfast after I had been wandering the streets or
at a blues club all night. The thing that originally brought me in was they
make homemade cream soda there. Yummy. I order a different thing each time I'm
there. This time I got the 'Scramble' with cheddar, apples, and andouille
sausage. Yummy. (The potatoes in their 'scrambles' are roasted potatoes
instead of the fried / hashbrowns you usually find in breakfast places.) Got
the Apricot Cheese Flakey with it. It's a REALLY good place to eat, but I have
a hard time recommending it to people because while the food is excellent,
people often complain about the servers. I'm low maintenance... I judge a
restaurant on its food, not its service usually, but I have too many friends who
are picky about service, so I rarely recommend it. (And for the friends who
aren't hung up on service, the menu is too much for them. The
term "funkalicious post-Hippy eclectic world cuisine" is as far as they can
get.) (BTW: those dots on the ceiling in the internal picture are aluminum foil
balls stuck to the ceiling...
if that tells you anything about the kitschy art in there.) Anyways, I've never
had a bad meal there, this time was no exception. Across he street is Belgian Chocolatier
Piron, so I decided to get dessert there. Those who know me know I'm not
big on chocolate. This didn't change my mind :D (Although their English Toffee
was superb.. but at $20/lb I couldn't get much of it.)
After eating lunch, I went up to the Bahá'í House of Worship (webcam) to unwind from the test.
(I often go up there to unwind, but this is the first time I've been there in winter.)
Of course physics was top on my mind, so as I admired the architecture, an old
question came back. The Bahá'í symmetry is 9-sided, but an odd-
sided dome is inherantly more unstable than an even one. (If one half-arch
is damaged, two opposing half-arches have lost half of their support rather than just
one.) But as I looked at the dome I realized the trick. The dome is actually
made up of 36 segments! (9*4) So how do 9*3=27 internal columns support 36
segments? Every third column is larger, and actually spans two segments.
(Effectively giving 36 columns.) Anyways.. I spent quite a bit of time in there.
The thing I really like about the building is the lengths they went to for illusion.
The building is a sturdily built steel framed dome, but the decoration makes it
look like lacework that would never stand up. The columns are designed to look
like the building floats an inch above them. The alcoves are really stable
Romanesque arches, but they're made to look like unstable Arabesque arches.
(Anyone who knows me knows I like watching magic shows to try to figure out the
illusions.) When I went downstairs to the museum, one of the greeters had seen
me upstairs and talked to me a bit.
We discussed string theory and some other stuff a bit and she gave me a
(photocopied) book on the architecture. It got as close as anyone has ever come
to proselytizing while I was there -- she gave me the
address for the construction of a new House on a brochure about becoming
Bahá'í. (I like that they're generally low key on that.)
The new house of worship in
Chile looks like it will be stunningly beautiful.
(And in the Andes, couldn't ask for a better backdrop ;) )
It looks like it will top the Indian one.
So I talked to a few of them for a while and left around 5:30. On my way back, I had to ask this question: WHY DO WOMEN WEAR (SPIKED) HIGH HEELS IN THE SNOW???? Haven't they ever heard of physics??? Higher pressure -> easier melting of ice (snow) -> lubrication -> slippage -> fun for everyone around them. (They're taking the principle of ice skates and localizing it to a single point.)
Anyways, so I get to Union station and call Universal Taxi for a pickup in an hour and a half at the Clarendon Hills station. Why did I call them? I have a toll-free number for them to call from the pay phones. I get to Clarendon Hills and they aren't there. It's night, snowing, windy, bitterly cold, no place to go inside... and they're not there. I call the dispatcher and they haven't even assigned a cab to get me yet, so it'll be at least an hour before they get me! I called American and they had a cab there in less than 10 minutes! Universal Taxi is now joining Sony/BMG on my boycott list. I've given them plenty of chances. They've made me miss trains twice when I called the night before. They've made me wait over an hour at the station when I called ahead of time at least 4 times. I'm usually pretty forgiving, but this is the final straw for them.
00:08 - 2005-12-12
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