It's my time to shine!

Dear Diary,

Kieron has deputized me in the quest to put out a paper by the end of the month.  It is to be my top priority.  But, as they say, first is the worst--second is the best--and third (in my priority list this would be working on a separate paper) is the one in a polka dot dress.

My first task was to set up the appropriate folders for the draft.  This involved finding all the references Lucas had put into the paper...all 86 of them!  So, I went through each of the references, found their pdfs and then renamed them all to the classic Burke short-hand.

The last letters of each author (up to four) appear in capital letters followed by the year.  If two such papers are named identically, the second earns a "b" at the end of it (and so on through the alphabet if there are more).

As an example, if Drs. Who and Hyde appear on a paper from 1901, then the shorthand would be WH01.  As a further example, for hyphenated names where you could have two possible choices, you only retain one of the letters.  So, for Gori-Giorgi, you obviously take the "G".

March Meeting: Registration

Dear Diary,

 Consider the following:  people will want to register for the conference.  If you don't have a  badge, you can't get in.  So, why not register today and beat the rush?  Well, there's no good reason not to.  We did before the conference started!

Then we went back to the hotel restaurant, ate, and went to sleep.  Not much to do.

I've decided to keep my receipts in a pocket of my laptop holder so I can get reimbursed later.  Ok, too exciting.  Gotta wake up early.  Night!

March Meeting 2014: Getting There

Dear Diary,

I'm headed to the March Meeting!  Li's wife graciously offered to drive us to the airport. We have a good airfare, but I should have read ahead to see there was a fee for the carry on bag. For now, it's just a lesson for next time.

At the airport, you could see the snow, but not the mountains (too much fog).  We took a taxi in to our hotel.  One of our compadres from the department, Preston, is staying in a hotel closer to downtown.  We decided to join forces over some Pho downtown (recommended!).

Preston brought a postdoc with him from the group.  He used to work with Jain, a big name in the fractional quantum hall effect for coming up with composite fermions.

We're not supposed to eat with other group members, but the conference hadn't really started yet, so we'll give ourselves a pass today.

The Machine is Learning!

Dear Diary,

I just started an epic odyssey of calculation.  I submitted 400 jobs that take between 60 hours and 200 hours to complete (each).  I have to wait until they're done before sending the data to Li.

To make matter worse, there is a small bug in the code.  An error will randomly be thrown based on how the matrices are called through a random number generator storage.  This is more likely to happen the longer the code runs.  I'll have to check back periodically to see if everything runs smoothly.

Another reason is that I need 8 cores (or spend a crazy amount of time computing), but a lot of jobs in the queue need just one, so my priority goes down.

Ok, well, now that I have all this free time...I guess I'll go do that pen and paper thing Kieron gave me. Oh, and buy cookies for the group meeting.

Jury Duty!

Diary!

I got served!

On May 5, I have to go to the Orange County court to serve jury!  Somehow the forces of Irvine are conspiring to prevent me from getting my degree by keeping me in Irvine and throwing something in my direction every five days or so!  This is the clearest example of random chance targeting me!

The court is ten miles away and I don't have a car!  There aren't even buses that run that early.  It's an hour bike ride at least.  I know, I've been managing to get by around here not having a car!  In Orange County!  This is some cruel fate, diary.  Kieron will be most displeased that I am attending to my legally binding duties as a citizen.  Destiny is mandating that I purchase a car for what will probably be exactly one use when they don't even want me for the trial.  Ok, wait, let's be calm and look at the disqualifications:

1)  Am not a citizen.
Nope.
2)  Am under eighteen years of age.
Now I regret registering to vote.
3)  Am not a resident of Orange County.
Aha!  A reason to move!  But my lease doesn't end until July!
4)  Do not have sufficient knowledge of the English language.
I did get a C+ in English once.  Fue a Espana y Colombia.  Por supuesto!  Hace llueve!
5)  Have been convicted of a felony or malfeasance.
Claro, no.  No tengo un problema con la policía.
6)  Am currently serving or will be serving another jury.
We're running out of options!
7)  Am subject of conservatorship.
You mean, like the future of humanity via research?  I guess not if we've made comments in this space about our work being possibly meaningless...Does managing the group count?  (I don't think I can pull that one off...)

Ok, onto the online registration:

1)  Yes, I'm single.  Rub it in.
2)  (Not) Employed (?)...that's a tough one, computer.  We'll go with 'yes'.
3)  Government Employee:  Yes?  That's another tough one...
4)  Number of days employer pays during jury duty...pi?...e?...I don't know but it's irrational...
5)  Would you like to waive your travel fees to the court?  I'm gonna really change things around with that $15, diary.  We'll never look back!

On the bright side, I can bring my own lunch!  And parking is validated!

Yes

In an NPR interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson (from Fresh Air: 2/27/2014), Dr. Tyson laid it down.  He has a Cosmos thingy that started last night, but that's only useful if you have a TV.  So, I'll be catching it on the internet once it drops.  Instead, I went fishing for some words of wisdom and found that Neil considered himself a non-standard student:

TYSON: I just know that throughout my life, at no time did any teacher ever point to me and say...he'll go far...he's someone you should watch. You know, I had some OK grades...I had some high grades in math and science, and medium grades in other subjects, and slightly lower grades in other subjects.

He also notes that students who consistently get high grades

You've got to remember, the school system is constructed to praise you if you get high grades. And if you get straight A's, you're the one that everyone puts forward, and they prognosticate that the straight-A person is the one most likely to succeed, because that's the way the school system is constructed and conceived.

But Neil really credits himself with persevering and having "grit".

And there I am, getting grades all over the place, but I...taught myself astrophotography, took classes at the American Museum of Natural History at Hayden Planetarium, [and] advanced classes for adults in modern astrophysics. I did all this, but none of that showed up as a high grade on an exam in school...Teachers [were] complaining about my social energy, as though that was something bad...

I often wonder what it would be like to get famous and then be asked back to speak at a graduation.  I might even be edgy!  However, a more noble path is available

So my elementary school wanted me to come back...I said no...I would say I am where I am today not because of what the teachers said about me or did for me, but in spite of it. And I don't think that's what you want, so I will decline.

...and some food for though about what a great teacher is:

The greatest teachers are the ones that turn a B student into an A student, or a failing student into a B student. Then let's talk about your teaching talents.

NPR agreed:

Having done some teaching, I completely agree with what you say there.

And so do I.

Housing Survey!

Dear Diary,

Today, I got an email from the local housing office indicating I need to renew my housing.  Otherwise, I'll have to look elsewhere and probably end up with a big commute.

Right now, I live about five minutes away from the office which is both good and bad.  Good in that I'm five minutes away from the office, but bad in that I'm 30 minutes away from the gym.  I'm literally living in the office!

Now, it's difficult to move your housing around.  There's a big waiting list, people with families get priority, and moving is tough without a vehicle (which I don't have).

Hopefully my roommate stays and we can carry on being clean gentlemen types with more just a jar of ketchup in the refrigerator!  But I need to remember to fill out the "re-up" survey before the 25th or I'll lose my spot.