I encountered a Cornell tradition today. The Friday before spring break is “Dragon Day”. Freshmen from the College of Architecture design and build a dragon, which they parade around and burn. It’s quite a spectacle. Apparently there used to be rivalry between the architecture and engineering students, so the engineers build a phoenix every year to compete with the dragon. 
The event dates back to the early 1900s, and there are some pretty neat pictures on the Wikipedia page 
Tag Archives: Cornell
Updates
House
We’ve officially decided to stay in the same house next year. There are some drawbacks (mostly temperature related), but we generally like the place and none of us really wants to deal with moving again. It’s also nice to be in a house as opposed to an apartment. I think we are going to try and plant a vegetable garden in the spring.
Summer
I’m definitely going to be in Ithaca for the summer, continuing to work on the games project. There were a couple of weeks there when I was trying to deal with applying for internships, but I think it will work out better to be at Cornell. It will be nice to have some good quality research time, and I’m looking forward to the chance to explore Ithaca and its environs in more hospitable weather.
Courses
Logic is pretty tough, but I suppose I should have expected as much from a grad level math course. I think I’ll make it through the course just fine, but I’m going to have to revisit my decision to minor in math. I like learning math, and I can certainly find other math courses I would like to take, but I’ll have to balance that with the extra work and stress that they tend to create.
Databases is also tough at the moment, though the work isn’t as intense. We’re starting with some very theoretical material, which is interesting but dense. Still, I’m enjoying the opportunity to work through some of the foundational material in my research area.