Happy New Year!!

‎"For if we live year by year without improving ourselves we single-handedly seek to tear down man's progress."  2012: New Schools.New Friends.New Opportunities.....Best wishes everyone!




Note: The above phrase in quotations was a Romaine Morrison original :P

Feliz Navidad!

Though they seem like a life sucking abyss, t'is just a tunnel & once you get  near to the other side you realize how much brighter it is. Working on College Apps you tend to go through a period of self-dsicovery as many times questions posed to us force a degree of introspection that we've never done before. I'm Happy to say that I am almost through with my college apps and I feel as If I've left a little piece of me with every one. Looking forward to those Admissions Decisions 2012!

Btw....it also happens to be Christmas!!...Best Wishes :D

"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. " Charles Dickens

Enthalpy Change

The moment I consider most challenging of my school life is lower sixth form. This was because it was the first time in my life when teachers weren’t going to be always reminding me about homework. It was the first time I had to actually read in advance and study not when exams are approaching, but all the time. Along with these things I found myself taking on too many extracurricular activities - Yes there are a few that are no longer on the list - and being apart of too many extras classes. This disrupted the work-play balance that every student should have, and I found my work being sacrificed for my “play.”  The common misconception with extra classes is that once you are apart of an “extras” class you will automatically do better than someone who isn’t, for you are at an “advantage”. However this really does depend as many times the extras classes are not ahead of your normal school teacher, and sometimes the homework adds an extra burden to your work load. I found myself being caught up in this, and hence my weekends were split between the expensive extras classes I couldn’t miss and church that I would never miss. 

When I had realized what was happening to me I was already way into my second term and exams were only a few months away.The grade supervisor called me into her office and we had a semi-heated conversation about my grades and under-performance because she just couldn’t seem to understand what I meant by “I’m not managing my time properly.”  At the end of that conversation I felt stupid  and  mediocre. Not because of the talk I had, but because I knew I am capable of doing so much better, and would never have imagined that I’d be in that situation. I decided to shed a few activities and focus on the upcoming external exams. Though I did not achieve results that I should have, it could have been a lot worse. I made a decision to at the start of upper sixth form to make a radical change to my attitude and my involvement in activities (only focusing on the ones i have a passion for) and currently I am doing just that. My work-play balance I would say is now in a position of equilibrium and hopefully will never change.

The JPS Science & Technology Expo 2011

I have not had any paying jobs, as usually all the decisions come back with the same response..."Unfortunately you are too young....” But I did have a remarkable working experience when working on a project this spring with a comrade of mine. This project was for the 2011 Jamaica Public Service Science and Technology Expo being held in Jamaica for high schools and colleges. The theme of the expo was “From Natural Resource to Creative Enterprise.” Together with my friend and the help of a past student of my high school we developed a plan to take local organic agricultural produce and transform it into an almost non-perishable form. This would allow for long-term storage and greatly minimize the losses incurred by the agricultural sector whenever a hurricane would visit the island. The method also incorporated a way to cook the produce if necessary so the idea of also making nutrient-rich snacks, and dehydrated food packages that can be distributed to areas hit by disasters or persons who need to carry compact meals with them came about. What really made our project stand out was that there are no methods similar to ours being used in Jamaica and the equipment was all operated by using renewable energy sources.

Mr Chin was like a mentor to us - Though he could be a bit tough sometimes in terms of the amount of work he wanted us to get done in a given time - and this project allowed my comrade and I to be exposed to many sophisticated scientific processes such as the workings of vacuum and pressure systems, low-temperature cooking, plumbing and the set-up and operation of solar panel systems. We also got some business experience as we had to develop a business plan to go along with our project and try to pitch it to judges. Despite the fact that our project placed 2nd at the regional finals (No working prototype at the time), and did not place in the top 3 for the all-island finals...approximately 4th ( Our business plan needed more work.) it was an immense learning experience that was worth every drop of blood(on rare occasions), sweat( downside of working with something running on solar electricity) and tears ( when it worked for the first time). We certainly will be returning for revenge in 2012!

LIYSF: The Student Bazaar Ordeal

Usually if a student wants to enter a research project into the student bazaar, a form must be completed and submitted a month before arrival in London. I had passed up this opportunity despite having something I’m sure could be entered. However it was on the Friday afternoon several hours before the bazaar that a staff member had asked me if I had anything interesting I wanted to present. I did not want to say no, but wasn’t sure I could put together a good presentation in time. An hour later I decided to do it. I had all the material on my computer...but faced the challenge of getting it from soft copy to hard copy as I was not only at an unfamiliar school, but also in an unfamiliar city. I had started with my hall of residence’s reception area. I went to the receptionist and explained the predicament. Surprised at how understanding they were, they said they would allow me to print some brochures from the tiny printer they had available.

 “How many copies would you like?” ... I started to think about the 300 students at the forum...and the approximately 25 staff members-

“Hmmm…would 50 be alright?”

The receptionist froze and looked as if she was choking on the candy that she had been eating.

She then explained to me her doubts about the amount of ink she had. And that she couldn’t print them double sided from the printer they had.

“Try the library”

The library? Was this lady not hearing my accent...and realizing that not only was I not a student but a tourist?

Anyways she gave me directions to the library and off I went. So I got to the library and saw a man at the front desk. He was of the same ethnic group I was but I thought nothing of it as I saw a few blacks in the city. I explained the situation to him, and told him I was from Jamaica...This seemed to ignite a fire in him…

“Jamaaaaica!” he asked

“Yes” I said with a little chuckle.

“Man I’m from Jamaica!”, he then went on to ask where I went to school and told me that he had gone to a traditional high school just down the road from mine. He was now ready to help out big time. So after the little chat, He gave me a pass to the computer room and I was able to go there to print.

After getting into the computer room and looking for the print station I realized that it wasn’t what I was used to -which was normal computers hooked up to a printing network- At Imperial, there are two computer kiosks that allow you to save a file to your imperial account. Then go to any of the ALL- in - one machines access this file from the log in on the machine and make the desirable prints. I thought this was pretty amazing. But one problem, I had no Imperial account. I went back to the front desk and explained the ordeal. The man at the counter then directed me to the IT department upstairs and said I was to see if they could make me an account. I went and after a long chat a worker there, he explained that he could not make an account for a visitor. I went back downstairs to the front desk worker, and told him. He said “Honestly dude I don’t know what to do” It was at this point that I felt like I didn’t have to be doing that...and that I should just leave all of this and go hang out with my friends. However I did the opposite…I asked the worker if he knew anyone who could help. He then directed me to his superior, and after a chat with her I found the solution. Every visitor who signs up for an Internet passcode gets an account on the imperial network. This username and password was given to me on the first day of forum. I walked back the 10 mins to my dorm, grabbed the paper, and in another 10 mins I was speaking to the superior again. She then told me that what she can do now is to put money on my account that I can use for printing from the machines-Perfect!- So she did this and in no time I was spawning copies of my two-sided brochures. *Looks at watch.... realizes I only have an hour to get my affairs in order*. After collecting the brochures I went back to the front desk of the library and immensely thanked the worker and his superior. They wished me good luck and i went on my way. (I was even invited to my country’s Independence Day celebration that he apparently was involved with at the embassy not too far away.) After getting back to my dorm and telling my friends and our chaperone about my ordeal, they laughed and said it would be worth it. We went off to dinner as a group, and I ate swiftly and left ahead of them to go get ready for the bazaar. When I got there I realized I was a bit early as they were still labeling spaces. I got a pretty nice space. Then I asked a staff member.

“So when are you guys going to bring up the tables?”

He replied, “Tables there aren’t going to be any tables.”

My head started to hurt immediately.  I then proceed to explain to him that because I decided to do this at the last minute. I hadn’t printed any material to put on a backboard. My presentation was centered on a slideshow I had in iPhoto and my brochures. After much pleading and my constant badgering I managed to get a laptop stand. But still had the problem of an empty backboard. So what I had done was to run down to the reception hall of the building we were in - this was Beit Hall, I stayed in Southside, so I did not know these receptionists- and put together some material for the backboard, like the title of the project etc. I ended up getting these printed and I ran back to the Bazaar room. I set up using some double-sided tape. Got my slideshow running...started attracting passers-by and I felt accomplished. What had happened after all this wasn’t that important to me  - Though I was selected to be in the top 10 research projects, of 50 students; and a renowned professor said that the work my partner and I did was amazing and had very great implications...even suggesting that I should skip undergraduate studies and go postgraduate...but I guess that one was for my ego...haha - It was the fact that after all the hard work, and though it seemed as if it wasn’t going to be feasible. Things worked out for the best! It was Spryte Loriano who said, “Every great story on the planet happened when someone decided not to give up, but kept going no matter what.” And I believe this more and more everyday.

"It is not the critic who counts"....

 Hey guys it New Years Eve and umm i've been thinking alot lately. Over the Christmas Break i recently started watching this really cool tv series. And it might seem paradoxical to few but i actually learnt quite a bit. 
 One of the things i learnt is that people dont always get what they deserve, no matter how hard u work towards a goal it is possible that even the smallest thing might derail you.But however the only thing we can do is to work hard and to push through and if we do get obstructed in some way to try to recover from it as soon as to possible and in recovering to be better than we ever were before. So although i said in my last post that many people make resolutions and don't stick to them past the first week of January we must not make this so for ourselves.And i will not make this so for myself. My New Year's resolution for 2011 is to be better than i ever was at everything i do, a better student, a better person. This is a quote from the late Theodore Roosevelt 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” 

   I hope that for 2011 we will all strive to be better people and that it will not only be one of those things that we do for as a formality but that all year round we will remember this. Have a great one and Happy New Year.

The Inaugural Blog of Murray

Welcome toooo the inaugural blog of Murray!.... i really haven't found a focus yet as to what my blog will be about but i was just surfing the 'net and said hey i think i should make a blog and i thought about how cool it would and voila' here i am.

Its now the season for many things College apps and decisions(MIT E.A. decisions out in two days!!!...though i'm about  a year from applying to college), Christmas, just over a week from now and with the new year approaching with all convenient speed it'll be the time when we all make those resolutions(that we don't keep :p). With all this going on unfortunately i still have one last exam, but i mean thursday'll be here in a flash.... I guess thats it for my very first post... btw check out the MIT blogs its awesome...it kinda gave me the idea of having my very own blog. http://www.mitadmissions.org/

Quote of the day: Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.


Read more:http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins106192.html#ixzz188fjQrvl