With that in mind, the Clog has compiled a shortlist of events that are – indeed! – worth the investment of your oft-wandering attention. Get ready to roll up your sleeves and get in touch with your inner child at the Archaeological Research Facility. Or you could make a pot. A lot of the museums on campus will be open to the public too, so maybe dropping a live tarantula down the shirt of a loved one at the Essig Museum sounds right up your alley. The options are endless!

* 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Cal Massage Therapy – Need a break? Pamper yourself with a complimentary 10-minute massage, offered by our certified massage therapists. Also on site, the San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology will be offering free beauty makeovers.
RSF

* 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Library’s $1 Book Sale. What a deal, and who knows what treasures you’ll find on Cal Day, when everything in this room is just $1!
303 Doe Library

* 9 a.m. -11 a.m.
Play With Clay. Learn how to make and decorate your own ceramics the way people did in the past. Clay available — bring your own kids!
Archaeological Research Facility, 2251 College Ave.

* 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Rock-Art Painting. Try your brush and hand — literally — at making paints and helping paint a rock-art mural.
Archaeological Research Facility, 2251 College Ave.

*11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Throw a Pot Near Sather Gate. Just steps from Sather Gate, try your hand at throwing a pot at one of six potter’s wheels. All ages are welcome!
Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, Art Studio, lower level

* 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Got Bugs? We Do! See the Essig Museum’s display of amazing insects and arachnids from its research collection, and take a look at live arthropods.
Wellman Hall, 2nd floor

* 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Centennial Celebration! The MVZ is 100 years old this year, so it’s time to celebrate! The museum is a research facility — open to the public only one day a year. Take a look inside, learn how it’s evolved, and see some of the rarest, most fascinating specimens from a century of collecting. It’s fun for all ages: children can be field adventurers, touch live animals, play games, and see a puppet show; students learn how to get involved in research and museum programs. Museum staff will be giving presentations every half-hour. See the 1:30 p.m. presentation on “Bloods, Guts, Bones, and Flesh-eating Beetles.”
3101 Valley Life Sciences Building

* 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Marine Science Demonstrations. See live marine animals at the entrance of McCone Hall. Plus, in the lobby, watch demonstrations by Berkeley students of beach-bucket science and other projects.
McCone Hall, entrance and lobby

* 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Biological Science: Activities and Displays. See a touch tank with live sea animals, and discover other animals that students learn about at Berkeley. Don’t miss the games and activities for kids!
Valley Life Sciences Building courtyard

* 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
GamesCrafters: Undergraduate Game Theory Research. Play some of the games that freshmen and sophomores have created and added to the ongoing GamesCrafters research project.
310 Soda Hall

* 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Automated Robot Racing Cars. Student made vehicles race a 100-meter course under computer control, avoiding obstacles and staying on track.
Cory Hall, 2nd floor entrance

*3 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Having Fun With Robots. See small robots that make their own decisions, without benefit of remote control. Help set up obstacle courses, and find out how clever these robots are.
3108 Etcheverry Hall

* 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish in One Easy Lesson. Learn the language of Viggo Mortensen, Lordi, a-ha, and ABBA — or, if you prefer, Kierkegaard, Sibelius, Ibsen, and Bergman. In half-hour mini-sessions you will learn to communicate in short sentences, ask questions, and carry on a basic conversation. Come for one language, or stay for them all! (Level-appropriate for young adults, too.)
33 Dwinelle Hall

11 a.m.: Danish, Lecturer Karen Moller
11:30 a.m.: Finnish, Lecturer Lotta Weckström
Noon: Norwegian, Graduate Student Inger Nordhagen
12:30 p.m.: Swedish, Graduate Student Carl Olsen

* 10 a.m. -3 p.m.
Physics Poster Session. This poster display demonstrates the hard work and research being done by Department of Physics undergraduate students.
251 LeConte Hall

(What’s up with that last one? Did the physics department really feel the need to enter their poster display as an actual Cal Day event? Seriously now.)

For more information, check out the Cal Day site. If you’re feeling especially masochistic, feel free to browse through all 41,124 pages of the official program PDF. We lifted all our information off of it, anyway.

Cal Day 2008, UC Berkeley [Cal Day]