Monday, September 22, 2014

Fail Mail

Dear Diary,

Mail is never good.  I have trouble thinking of pieces of mail that I've actually enjoyed if I didn't expect them.  Most often it's mail asking for a fee to be paid (the dreaded 'fee-mail').  Today I got the worst mail of all:  my grade from the workshop in Montreal!

Should I bother opening it?  Maybe if I just never know then it can't hurt me.  Maybe it's written in French and I'll have no hope of deciphering however they write their grades and numbers.  That's the advantage of getting a paper copy in the digital era.  There's no paper trail left on some server somewhere!  Oh, but what if Kieron or Steve gets the grades...ok, may as well open it...

A B+?!  What?!!

A disgrace.  I've really left myself down this time.  I have only myself to blame.  It is good for credit (oui).  But how will I explain this to Kieron, Steve, and the hard working taxpayer??  I tried everyone, really.  I thought I did alright on the test.  I figured out that you can't contract arbitrary tensor networks (it's an open subject).  Ok, maybe I guessed on some of the steps in DMFT, but I thought my homework was good enough for a A-.*  Maybe I could get a pass if I had a paper out, but we're still stuck on the thing I started on a year and a half ago!

Well, I did have a chance to get away and vacation.  Further, I got to learn about a few things that have come in handy very soon.  And I was in the middle of a review of a paper which required a lengthy answer to an angry reviewer.  I'll blame them.  Fie on you nasty reviewer for making me answer your uninformed questions and reducing my grade another .4 points!


*-Non!

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