Dear Diary,
I'm exhausted. I'm going to continue doing something scientific, but not a science meeting.
I'm headed to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. It is great! And it's even better if you're a little kid (~12)! They even had an exhibit that was (sort of...not really) closely related to what we do: crystals from caves!
They have a lot of cool space stuff including a sand box that you shoot ball bearings at to simulate asteroid collisions. They're photographed with high speed cameras!
Lots of cool bones are around the museum too including one of a prehistoric whale hanging from the ceiling.
It turns out that I had just enough money to get there, but I was twenty cents short on a bus right home. So, I walked the four miles back to the hotel. My shoes were soaked in a beautiful, wet snow storm. I guess I was right about the twenty dollar loss, but I still feel like I did the right thing.
I read on the internet that cramming the ends of a towel into your shoes and wrapping the rest around the outside dries them out in 1.5 hours. Turns out it was right!
I have the plane flight tomorrow morning and I think I'll take a nap, read a little, and call it a conference well done.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
March Meeting: Thursday Evening
Dear Diary,
Later that day...
...some more DFT, etc. I wound up talking with Rudy about some similar things he had to do for Kieron and had some good suggestions. I only spoke to Adam Wasserman briefly. And then I sat in a session where I heard about a workshop on quantum Monte Carlo codes. I'll have to swing that by Kieron.
I saw Meghan speak, she did a good job. She got some questions at the end. I also went to Preston's poster and had a really cool conversation about SQUID noise!
I cornered Miles after his talk to get on the same page with the stuff we're working on. I also ran into Claire who, a few months ago at the regional APS meeting, heard my sales pitch for Irvine. It turns out that she got into MIT, Urbana-Champaign, and UC Santa Barbara, so she's deciding between those.
Some people make it look easy!
We also ran into a poor guy on the street who needed some gas money. I gave him twenty dollars since he was a veteran, and I felt like he deserved it. The only problem is that when I usually take money out of my wallet, I need it later...
But I think I did the right thing.
Later that day...
...some more DFT, etc. I wound up talking with Rudy about some similar things he had to do for Kieron and had some good suggestions. I only spoke to Adam Wasserman briefly. And then I sat in a session where I heard about a workshop on quantum Monte Carlo codes. I'll have to swing that by Kieron.
I saw Meghan speak, she did a good job. She got some questions at the end. I also went to Preston's poster and had a really cool conversation about SQUID noise!
I cornered Miles after his talk to get on the same page with the stuff we're working on. I also ran into Claire who, a few months ago at the regional APS meeting, heard my sales pitch for Irvine. It turns out that she got into MIT, Urbana-Champaign, and UC Santa Barbara, so she's deciding between those.
Some people make it look easy!
We also ran into a poor guy on the street who needed some gas money. I gave him twenty dollars since he was a veteran, and I felt like he deserved it. The only problem is that when I usually take money out of my wallet, I need it later...
But I think I did the right thing.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
March Meeting: Thursday
Dear Diary,
For five years, I have worked on the proximity effects without talking to an expert. My former advisor is a smart dude, but going up against someone who is heavily invested in the field without any backup is petrifying.
I held my own, and had a really productive chat with them. I'm very proud of myself, my former advisor, and I hope that I can become as confident with DFT under Kieron.
Afterward, I walked back toward the convention center. Aurora, Raphael, Justin, Attila, and Peter were there keeping an eye on me the whole time.
Thank you.
For five years, I have worked on the proximity effects without talking to an expert. My former advisor is a smart dude, but going up against someone who is heavily invested in the field without any backup is petrifying.
I held my own, and had a really productive chat with them. I'm very proud of myself, my former advisor, and I hope that I can become as confident with DFT under Kieron.
Afterward, I walked back toward the convention center. Aurora, Raphael, Justin, Attila, and Peter were there keeping an eye on me the whole time.
Thank you.
Friday, March 28, 2014
March Meeting: Wednesday
Dear Diary,
Today, Aurora chairs a session. That was real cool! She did a good job of remaining confident, keeping on time, and being awesome. Nice!
I went to see a professor from my Master's institution, CSU Long Beach. Professor Peterson is doing well; he has some new students. We discussed a few things.
Kieron has a rule where you must talk to three professors. I'm not sure if this one counts, but I sent an email to Caroline's advisor last night asking to talk. We're set for Thursday.
The talks this time were hard to get my head around only because I don't know enough. Adam Wasserman spoke about partitioning. He also had a student, Martin, who will be recognized here for "Kohnshamizing" everything. I vow, from this day forward, to always Kohnshamize wherever possible. I also enjoyed Neepa's students who did some interesting, accessible work.
Peter also presented, but my lack of knowledge in TDDFT is disturbing. I'll have to take a peak at it after I get my current work done. It seems useful.
Afterward, we spoke with Peter and Attila. They were really cool to get to know! They had a lot of nostalgic stories about working with Kieron! They really miss working here! I can't wait until I'm as cool as they are!
Today, Aurora chairs a session. That was real cool! She did a good job of remaining confident, keeping on time, and being awesome. Nice!
I went to see a professor from my Master's institution, CSU Long Beach. Professor Peterson is doing well; he has some new students. We discussed a few things.
Kieron has a rule where you must talk to three professors. I'm not sure if this one counts, but I sent an email to Caroline's advisor last night asking to talk. We're set for Thursday.
The talks this time were hard to get my head around only because I don't know enough. Adam Wasserman spoke about partitioning. He also had a student, Martin, who will be recognized here for "Kohnshamizing" everything. I vow, from this day forward, to always Kohnshamize wherever possible. I also enjoyed Neepa's students who did some interesting, accessible work.
Peter also presented, but my lack of knowledge in TDDFT is disturbing. I'll have to take a peak at it after I get my current work done. It seems useful.
Afterward, we spoke with Peter and Attila. They were really cool to get to know! They had a lot of nostalgic stories about working with Kieron! They really miss working here! I can't wait until I'm as cool as they are!
Thursday, March 27, 2014
March Meeting: Tuesday
Dear Diary,
Tuesday rolls around and we take the slow way in by walking again. I used to have a reliable walk into work and this reminds me of it. Maybe I should start walking more...
The sessions for DFT started a bit late, but that gave me time enough to find a professor I ran into at the proximity effect session yesterday. We went to get lunch and had a really good chat about some ideas. I think my former advisor is well suited to calculate what needs to be done, so I'll forward my ideas that way.
Right now, I need to get back and speak with people about DFT and learn as much as possible.
In watching the talks, I noticed that my ABC of DFT is really coming in handy. Really all these functionals make educated guesses about what modifications need to be made on existing exchange-correlation functionals. I'm glad I'm finally getting it!
I ran into a few more alumni: Neepa, Peter, Attila, Adam, Rudy, and a few of their students. Normally, I just interact with them through looking at their alumni profiles, so this is a real treat!
The amount of Burke alumni make it seem like the Chronicles of Narnia where all the previous heroes from previous adventures come back to fight evil!
But there's not a terrible amount of evil (that I've seen at this conference yet). I look forward to meeting everyone.
Tuesday rolls around and we take the slow way in by walking again. I used to have a reliable walk into work and this reminds me of it. Maybe I should start walking more...
The sessions for DFT started a bit late, but that gave me time enough to find a professor I ran into at the proximity effect session yesterday. We went to get lunch and had a really good chat about some ideas. I think my former advisor is well suited to calculate what needs to be done, so I'll forward my ideas that way.
Right now, I need to get back and speak with people about DFT and learn as much as possible.
In watching the talks, I noticed that my ABC of DFT is really coming in handy. Really all these functionals make educated guesses about what modifications need to be made on existing exchange-correlation functionals. I'm glad I'm finally getting it!
I ran into a few more alumni: Neepa, Peter, Attila, Adam, Rudy, and a few of their students. Normally, I just interact with them through looking at their alumni profiles, so this is a real treat!
The amount of Burke alumni make it seem like the Chronicles of Narnia where all the previous heroes from previous adventures come back to fight evil!
But there's not a terrible amount of evil (that I've seen at this conference yet). I look forward to meeting everyone.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
March Meeting: Back to the DFT
Dear Diary,
I returned to the DFT to meet some people. By now, I'm exhausted. My legs ache from so much standing.
Maybe I'm not getting up and moving around enough at work...
Lots of the alumni complemented me on my talk. Hopefully Kieron agrees. Some in the group suggest that I misheard the questions. That's entirely possible, I was under pressure.
I'll try and learn from this for next time.
There was a Jazz band playing an a welcoming reception. They were good and I got to meet a lot of people. Sometimes it only takes going to a whole new city to meet someone who's just down the hall. Julia, a graduate student almost across from me, brought a friend. We all had a good time.
Went to dinner with Meghan and some other people and then back to the hotel...and that was just Monday.
I returned to the DFT to meet some people. By now, I'm exhausted. My legs ache from so much standing.
Maybe I'm not getting up and moving around enough at work...
Lots of the alumni complemented me on my talk. Hopefully Kieron agrees. Some in the group suggest that I misheard the questions. That's entirely possible, I was under pressure.
I'll try and learn from this for next time.
There was a Jazz band playing an a welcoming reception. They were good and I got to meet a lot of people. Sometimes it only takes going to a whole new city to meet someone who's just down the hall. Julia, a graduate student almost across from me, brought a friend. We all had a good time.
Went to dinner with Meghan and some other people and then back to the hotel...and that was just Monday.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
March Meeting: Session switch
Dear Diary,
I went back to have lunch with Caroline and Chien-te. We had a really good time and discussed a lot of physics. I think I made some friends.
I went back to have lunch with Caroline and Chien-te. We had a really good time and discussed a lot of physics. I think I made some friends.
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