docs/umich/f23_winter_break.md


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# Fall 2023 winter break wrapup

2024-01-11

This winter break I did a few things.

## Things I cooked

- Made potato soup with mushrooms and broccoli

<details markdown="1">
<summary>Three attempts</summary>

![Potato soup with mushrooms](img/f23_winter_break/mushroom_soup.jpg)

▲ First attempt with mushrooms

![Gooey mixture of potato and
broccoli](img/f23_winter_break/broccoli_goo.jpg)

▲ This hardly looks like soup

![Potato soup with broccoli](img/f23_winter_break/broccoli_soup.jpg)

▲ Refined attempt
</details>

Note: I imitated the "cream of mushroom/broccoli soup" in dining halls but
mine was less creamy, probably because I used milk instead of cream.
I made it like four times in giant portions until I got sick of it and
just cooked pasta.

- Tried mixing corn with flour and frying a crispy "corn cake" but just
  resulted in very greasy corn (also caused kitchen sewage pipe to break
  because I poured hot oil down there)

![PVC pipe under garbage disposal breaking at a 90 degree
connector](img/f23_winter_break/broken_pipe.jpg)

- Roasted tomatoes, carrots, and bell pepper, as well as leftover potatoes
  and mushrooms I couldn't cook because the pipe broke

## Things I learned

- How to ice skate
- Rust
- How the `fork` and `dup2` syscalls work
- How to open a pipe (POSIX, not physical)

## Things I saw

- A bunny

![Grey bunny chilling in the grass](img/f23_winter_break/bunny.jpg)

- Steamboat Willie
- Tom Scott's goodbye video

## Things I gained

- FCC ham radio license

I talked with a person over the W8UM repeater and later participated in
the net. I was nervous as fuck but handled just fine

- A free eggs coupon, when I came back home with a carton of eggs I just
  bought at full price
- A jug of tea for $1 despite the $3 price because the barcode was missing

## Things I lost

None to my knowledge so far.

## Things I played

- [Shenzhen I/O](../random/shenzhen_io_review.md)
- Bass

## Things I read

- Lakoff, George. _Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories
  Reveal about the Mind._ U of Chicago Press, 1987. Probably chapter 8-14

## Things I wrote

- [hamrs](https://git.sr.ht/~fkfd/hamrs)
- [shenzhen_solitaire](https://git.sr.ht/~fkfd/shenzhen_solitaire)
- A couple blogposts (one)

## Conclusion

I fulfilled a few life goals this winter (e.g. ham radio license). While
some friends did, I never went out of town. Mostly I stayed at home and
only took the bus to the supermarket or to the ice rink. I did absolutely
nothing festive on Christmas or the new year. However, when winter break
began, I cracked open a soda because I am not yet at drinking age.

__Overall rating: 75/100__