end of summer session

Today was my last recitation for the summer. As usual it was undermined by what was going on in the class. Because the class is so time-compressed, some material just gets left out. This time it was ray tracing. I'm not entirely sure how you do an optics lecture without ray tracing, but whatever. I taught the basics of it.

I was supposed to get paid today, but I didn't see a pay stub or the money. I really hope I don't have to chase down every damn paycheck.

Tomorrow I have to wake up early and go proctor the PH 203 final. There is another PSM defense tomorrow, this time in Applied Biotechnology, so I am going to go check that out as well.

I started going through my Go books again. I have a Go computer program, but it is not much fun to play against. Some of its moves are almost demeaning, it thinks I am an idiot. I also can wall off one of its groups without enough space to make two eyes and it keeps putting more stones there. The computer is a absolute bastard about invading though, so I guess I can learn a little from it.

I've been reading my Steven Ambrose book about the Transcontinental Railroad. It's interesting to see how closely tied the Transcontinental Railroad was to the Civil War. I have to say it definitely provided inspiration for Atlas Shrugged. There are people who are Prime Movers doing the pioneering surveys, designing the bridges and figuring out how to forge the path. That's pretty exciting to read about. Then there is the fuckery of the second-handers. I don't know how the damn thing ever got built.

Although the book is interesting, it is definitely not as polished as the author's other books. At one point I got to a paragraph that looked extremely familiar. I thought the wind had blown the pages back when I wasn't looking, but it turns out that the author used almost the exact same paragraph eight pages ago. The first time it was a quotation, and the second time was the author's description (which was almost identical to the quote). It just seems like the author wrote his book in the same style the railroad was built - build it fast, worry about fixing it up later.

one string to rule them all

MSU's classes started today. Jim said he wore a physics shirt, and it seems that there is interest in another run of physics shirts. I thought I'd saturated the market at MSU, but apparently not. I'm talking to my people and gauging how much interest there is, so if you would be interested in an MSU Physics Shirt drop me a line. I'm not saying that MSU Physics Shirts III is definitely underway, but I'm starting the mechanism up and it's looking favorable. Perhaps the time has come. I told Jim to stir up interest for the shirts at MSU. I also told him to poke at the wreckage of SPS. Now that most of the old officer corps is gone (and by that I mean Sarah and her lackies), there may be hope for SPS yet.

I ordered an Audigy 2 ZS Notebook. The deal was just too good to pass up. It's coming extra slow shipping though. I should get it a couple days before I fly home.

It's raining today. It hasn't rained since I moved out here. That's a big sign that we're moving out of summer. The temperature also dropped quite a bit, it's in the mid 60's right now. I don't have recitation today so I am listening to Linkin Park and generally chilling.

n00b

I tried playing a bit of Counter-Strike: Source for old times sake. Yesterday I went about 1:2, which isn't too bad for being rusty. Today I completely sucked it up. I don't know why. I would get lost, wander around and end up being shot instantly in my one brief encounter with the enemy. I am just not in a gaming mood right now. I'm a little edgy, partly because I'm used to classes starting right about now and I still have four weeks or so left. This week is the end of my summer work though.

It cooled down quite a bit outside, I think it is starting to feel like fall. I might go for a walk on campus. I have to grade some homeworks sometime tonight, but I might be able to sit down and start reading my new Steven Ambrose book too.

return of the EVO

As you can see, the Lancer Evolution was back. I have no idea why there were no cars there last weekend, but the dealership is back in action. It seems they only have the one Lancer EVO now, but at least it was the red one. I only managed to take a couple pictures before they sent a salesman after me. He was pretty nice - he offered to pull the car out so I could take better pictures, but I was only swinging through while running errands. He asked me if there was a Lancer EVO in my future and I laughed at him. I told him I'm just laying the foundation for my midlife crisis, he was amused.

I watched Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World tonight. Between my pirate game, my pirate book and the Far Side of the World book, it was inevitable. Although I felt let down overall by the original book, I found that the book had a lot of small details that helped me understand the little things in the movie better.

I sorted through a great deal of paperwork today. My table is actually cleared off now. I got an email or two out but I have more to write tomorrow. I also might give some family a call to let them know how I'm doing (guess I'd better start charging my cell then).

I looked around for a good computer chair today but I didn't see any in my price range. Staples had a good one that I enjoyed sitting in for a few minutes, but it was $109 which is over twice what I'm aiming to spend.

Staples also had the notebook Audigy 2 ZS for $80, when last I checked it was $100. I only resisted because if it is $80 at Staples it must be even cheaper online. Sure enough, a quick check reveals a going price of $65 at Buy.com...after a $20 rebate that ends Monday...hmm.

2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII

nothing like it in the world

I kind of meant to do productive stuff today but I am too unfocused. I am a little concerned about how well I'll be able to survive once grad school actually starts. I think tomorrow I am going to organize stuff. My apartment is not too messy except all my important paperwork takes up my whole table. I also need to sign up for classes. At least I paid my bills today. I also got my much-delayed July paycheck.

I did a bit of homework on what research is going on here at Oregon State. There is a physics prof that does a little bit of PV research, but it sounds like it is mostly on the side. She is part of a troika of PV research, the other parts are in Chemistry and EE. I think the EE research sounds the most interesting. On top of that, another EE prof researches alternative energy including windpower, ocean power, hydrogen, and hybrid vehicles. L, the other Applied Physics PSM student that is here, is also interested in alternative energy, so I think we can team up to find where some good internships are. The third Applied Physics PSM is not here yet, but it's getting close to school starting - maybe I should send him an email.

I was doing pretty good recoding my RSA helper programs until I hit a big data type problem. I might be able to fix it, but I think I might set it aside again for a while.

I broke my fifth LiveStrong bracelet the other day. I'm on my sixth now. It's the last one in my reserve, I need to get some more.

I went to Borders again today. I bought a Linkin Park DVD and another Steven Ambrose book (I'm becoming an addict). The book is about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. The DVD has some interesting stuff on it.

This weekend's exploring is just going to be limited to campus. I walked around campus a little bit to kill time between recitations the other day, there is still a lot I haven't explored. I found the building with the nuclear reactor, but I don't think I can just go in. I should find out if they give tours. Oregon State's new engineering building is almost complete and I really want to get in there and check it out - just like I did when MSU's BPS building was all but completed.

title

Well, I am done for the week. Tuesday's recitations went badly but Wednesday and Thursday were pretty good. The students have a midterm tomorrow, so I spent an extra 45 minutes or so after my last recitation to go over more material. I didn't mind, especially since nobody showed up to my 5:00 Wednesday recitation so I went home early.

I finished reading The Far Side of the World. It was alright for the most part but it suffers from the same problems as Master and Commander, the worst being a horribly anticlimatic ending. Another letdown. At least I only paid $3.00 for this book. Now I want to go back and watch the movie again because I thought it was done well. It took the good bits from the two books and threw out the bad stuff (like the endings).

I am hunting around for a good computer desk and chair now. Staples and OfficeMax don't really have anything good. IKEA looks like they have a good desk, but I can't afford IKEA. And nobody has a good computer chair for a sane price. I don't care how comfy it is, I'm not paying $300 for a damn chair. Guess it's time to make the rounds of the local thrift stores again.

I won at Hearts again today. The funniest part is that I can't shoot the moon. Everybody else does, but then half the time they get in each other's way and completely botch it. I'm getting better at strategy and screwing up other people's shooting, which is fun.

I got the latest issue of WIRED today. Apparently one of the contenders for this year's DARPA unmanned vehicle race is a joint MSU / UCSD team. I think Oregon State also has a vehicle. We'll see if any of them can get very far past the start line (unlike last year).

there is a new theory

Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

...sometimes it just takes a bit of sarcasm to put stupid things in their place.

D-FENS

I'm getting up early tomorrow morning - an unusual occurance. I'm getting up before the crack of noon to see a defense. In Plant Pathology. I was about to delete the email notice until I saw that it was a Professional Science Master's defense. (My track has no graduates yet, but there are three other PSM tracks here.) I'm still not entirely clear on the finer points of my degree program - apparently we need to defend too. But defend what? We don't write theses. I'm assuming it has to do with the internship project. I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning.

More recitations tomorrow. Shouldn't have any trouble coming up with material, but I'll be handing back homeworks which means the students may cry and whine about points. My favorite was the student who wrote a bunch of crap that was one step from saying 1 = 0 and then the following line had the right answers. I docked him quite a bit, which I am at liberty to do because I'm supposed to focus more on the method than the right answers. Let's see if he complains.

I went to the coast on Sunday. I did not go into town, I just sat on the beach and read The Far Side of the World. I'm finding it a bit more palatable than Master and Commander, which I did not like. I also got a little sunburned.

I put some pics of my apartment up at the Yahoo site. Now that I have a futon and proper bookshelves I feel better about showing other people where I live.

another reason i'm not going for my ph.d.

From CNN article "Big jobs that pay badly":

Academic research scientists

"A career with one of the most disproportionate ratios of training to pay is that of academic research scientist. A Ph.D. program and dissertation are requirements for the job, which can take between six and eight years to complete. Add to that several years in the postdoctoral phase of one's career to qualify for much coveted tenure-track positions. During the postdoc phase, you are likely to teach, run a lab with experiments that require you to check in at all hours, publish research and write grants – for a salary that may not exceed $43,000."

"The length of the postdoc career has doubled in the past 10 years, said Phil Gardner, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. "It's taking longer and longer to get there. You can't start a family. It's really tough." And it's made tougher still by the fact that in many disciplines, there aren't nearly as many tenure-track positions as there are candidates."

"So, to those who earn their MBAs in two years and snag six-figure jobs soon after graduation, your jobs may be hard, but maybe not quite as hard as you think."

o lancer evolutions, where art thou?

I went into town today to get a rice cooker because I suck at making rice. The Bed Bath & Beyond here is right next door to the Mitsubishi dealer, so I decided to stop there afterward and take some pics of the Lancer Evolutions. However, when I got to the store I couldn't believe my eyes. The entire Mitsubishi dealership had up and left. No cars. Nobody in the building. Nothing. I swear I saw them open as recently as Tuesday.

Fortunately the car watching was not a complete bust. Just down the street there was a used Honda dealer with an orange Acura NSX.

NSX 1
NSX 2
NSX 3
NSX 4

(My usual image uploading program is broken.)

I ended up going into Staples as well. They actually had a really good deal on bookshelves, so I got two. My apartment is no longer ghetto. Not like I was ever as bad as this guy...

I did not work on the RSA code today. I'm having some kind of problem compiling the library for the new data type I want to use, and I worked on it too much yesterday. Tonight I am going to grade the homework for my recitations, and maybe watch a movie. Tomorrow I think I am going back out to the coast.

Edit: Just finished grading the first of two homeworks. I laugh when I see someone trying to BS me, but then the fun fades when I have to figure out how much of their work is BS and what kind of comments to write. It's so much easier to grade the people that actually know what they're doing. 10/10 - next!

93 is not prime

I found the bug. It did not involve a 216-digit number. Part of my problem was some of my inputs. For example, I typed in 93 as a prime without thinking. There were also problems with actual primes though. I had Mathematica double check some of my program's numbers, and I found a disagreement in certain cases. I figured my program might be blowing out variables again and made everything an unsigned long long. I was right - everything works great now. My RSA keygen program can be very slow though, if anyone knows of a good algorithm for e * d = 1 mod phi, solve for d, let me know.

Edit: Never mind, I figured it out. The way I was doing it was horribly inefficient. My keygen is fast now and works most of the time, but I think I'm blowing out variables again. I am not going any further until I find a better data type.

I also remembered, I get paid tomorrow! About damn time.

generator

Today's physics recitations went much better than yesterday's. I used more of my natural teaching style today. Fewer people showed up today, which is a little discouraging, but at least the few people that show up probably want to be there. Small groups are easier to work with anyway. I collected their first homework problem today but I haven't looked through the stack of papers yet.

The math thing I worked out yesterday is used in the actual process of RSA encryption and decryption. Now I'm working on my RSA key generator, which is a mess. After I first coded it, I found there was some kind of nasty bug that made the keys not work. I replaced a chunk of code and checked my prime number generator, but the problem is still there (maybe even worse). If I can work out this bug it would be a good coding day.

I ran across an article today about a company that uses Stirling engines with solar collectors. That's pretty smart. So this morning I was looking at solar power stuff and coding RSA stuff, instead of preparing for my recitations.

need for speed

I had my first recitations for the new session's physics class today. It went pretty rough. The class is non-calc E&M. I think I like the calc-based classes better. I was supposed to go through three problems, but I got through one in the first recitation and two in the second. On top of that, I got the late afternoon sessions, everybody's already spaced out by then. Fortunately I only have six more work days for this session. One is tomorrow. Hopefully in the fall I can snag a calc-based physics TA spot.

I killed the time between recitations by going over the new modular exponentiation algorithm I found a couple days ago. It's really not so much the math that's the clever bit as the implementation in the code. I put it into my program and ran it side by side with the old method. I was expecting maybe Corvette vs. Model T results. It's more like the speed of light vs. a Model T. Probably worse. The new method is so fast that its processing time doesn't even register, even when I max out the new unsigned long long variables. Here is why the new method is faster:

Problem: 4353^(10^18) mod 13562
Number of operations required for old method: 10^18.
Number of operations required for new method: 60.

So I'm using the new method from now on.

I'm somewhat tempted to get bigger numbers, but I estimate that even the mythical thousand digit data type would take 3325 operations at most. Working that out proved that the algorithm goes as the log of the exponent. Somebody somewhere was very clever indeed.

I might poke at the RSA stuff a little more tonight, but more likely playing the pirate game and going to bed early.

mmm...donuts

I actually have to work today. I'm teaching recitations at 3 and 5, but I have to do most of the prep work yet so I'm up early. Fortunately I went to the store yesterday so I have donuts, which help ease the pain of getting up before I want to.

I really want to see another Hard Lessons show. Sadly, the week I am going to be back in Michigan they are going to be down South.

a pirate who doesn't do anything

Just woke up. Probably going back to sleep.

Don't know what I'm going to do today. Had enough of the C++ crypto math stuff yesterday. I think I need a break from the pirate game too.

I know I have to put together some kind of mini-syllabus for my recitations tomorrow. I'm going to be teaching recitations for PH 203, an entry level E&M class. I met with the prof and the other TA's yesterday. For some reason I am only counted as 3/4 of a TA, so they spent some time delberating this. One thing very different from my last class is the amount of structure. I got a sheet with all the problems I should do in recitation over the next 3 weeks. Another sheet has all the grading criteria - this took a full page. I am doing two recitations a day for three days a week, for the next three weeks. Except I have today off. I'm not supposed to help grade exams either - what a shame.

The class has 90-95 students in it, so it's like five times the size of my last class. Even so, this summer session is supposed to be four or five times smaller than the class during the academic year. Fun fun.

I think I might get out and about today, when I actually feel like getting out of bed. It seems like a nice day out. Maybe explore campus, or visit the Lancer Evos. But for now, I'm going back to sleep.

stop global warming - become a pirate

cypherpunk

And so another week begins. I spent most of my weekend in pirate-related activities, either playing my new game or reading my pirate book. Today I have a meeting with the prof I'm TAing for. Since this summer session is only three weeks long, I'll probably be pretty busy for the next couple of weeks.

I found my cryptological mathematics book and I've been flipping through it. Last time I got into this crypto stuff I wrote a couple short C++ programs to do the hard math stuff for the RSA algorithm so I could see how it worked. I looked at them briefly yesterday and I think they can be improved. I used a method from abstract algebra that will actually let the computer calculate things like 4353^53216 mod 13562, but there are always better ways. If you just tried calculating it directly, the number would blow up and wouldn't fit in any variable type. Using the abstract algebra method, it actually works and the processing time goes as 53216 for the above example. Wikipedia's article on modular exponentiation actually has a better way, so I printed the article off and I'm going to see if I can work through it. Wikipedia claims the processing time of this new method goes as log (53216), so I want to try it out.

(The answer to that example is 4059, by the way.)

Edit: After an embarassingly long time trying to calculate processing time (I'm no hardcore coder), I quickly showed that the processing time is indeed directly related to the size of the exponent. I kept adding zeros at the end, and the time went from 4.5ms to 4.5 seconds or 45 seconds. I might try for 450 seconds when I look over new method again, and 4500 seconds when I go to my TA meeting.

Edit 2: I tried for the 450 second run, but it turns out the required exponent was larger than my data type could hold. After blowing out several other data types I'm currently using something called an unsigned long long, which I'd never heard of but is capable of storing values up to about 18.4 quintillion. The unsigned helps with that, and for some reason it also runs faster than a standard variable. So basically I've been doing some data type optimization so I can run some serious benchmarks. Now that that's settled, I'm going to try for 300 and 3000 second runs.

odd man out

I just got back from the physics grad party. It was good, but also disturbing. By far most of the people there were married (or close enough). Not even just recently married, either - one couple for five years, another for three. It wasn't just a barbeque, it was a dinner party. They drank, but it wasn't anything at all like Wine & Cheese Night. Even just talking about video games it was clear I'm from a different generation - the guys all played Doom where I played Half-Life. Not only is everyone further along in grad school, but it seems like most of the grads took a couple years off before going to grad school. They're old. So I'm the odd man out.

I talked with one of the Ph.D. guys about MSU's cyclotron. In some detail. He knew enough about NSCL to visualize the N4 experimental chamber where I worked. His research has something to do with neutron-emitting properties of neutron-bombarded uranium, which not only has weapons applications, but also no other applications. He doesn't mind. I've already vowed to not work for the government - especially not our current government - so I contrasted his work my own desire to break into industry. I think the others think what I'm doing is kind of interesting. However everyone ended up talking about working out and doing triathlons and the Tour de France (snobbily) so I got left out. I had an OK time overall though.

If you're waiting for the next update on my iTunes top ten (which I know all of you are), don't hold your breath. I wiped the track playcounts and disabled all views that show those numbers. I like listening to the same song looped for hours and when that's reflected in iTunes I feel stupid. My music reflects how I'm feeling and I don't change how I'm feeling every four minutes. What's the current song? Well, it's by Linkin Park, but not one of the ones I usually listen to though. And I'm listening to it on iPod, in iTunes, in the car, everywhere. Even typing this entire post.

Here's an analogy question for you: book on ancient arms races is to playing Empire Earth as book on pirates is to ____. I've been reading my new pirates book and I got an irresistable urge to play a pirate game, so I went out and got Sid Meier's Pirates! It's awesome. I played it so much last night that when I finally shut it down, it was 4:30 AM. I spent all afternoon at this dinner party thing, so immediately after I post this entry I'm going to play until 4:30 AM again and then sleep until noon. Spanish treasure galleons, be advised: the brig-of-war Defiant is coming for you.

yar

I bought a new book today. It's about pirates. Yar!

I just got the pirate book because I like pirates and I'd been meaning to get this one for quite a while. I kind of wanted an engineering-techie book, but the engineering section at Borders is 95% books about making battling robots. None of the science or history books really grabbed my attention either. So I got the pirate book.

I only went on campus a little bit today. I got utterly hosed at Hearts. Kind of a funny scene outside Weniger Hall today - one of the newer profs got some huge optical tables delivered, and everyone was hanging around watching as they tried to get them inside. Part of the buildup of Oregon State optics, I guess. The tables weigh a ton - literally - and were in crates that must have been 8' by 5' by 1'. I watched for a couple minutes because I had to give my final summary to the prof I TA'ed for, who was out there because the prof getting the tables is his girlfriend or something. I don't know.

By the way, I found out I'm teaching non-calc E&M next session. More details Monday after a TA meeting (3 other TA's!). Also, I should be getting paid soon. The department office accidentally listed my start work date as 8/18 and not 7/18, so they have to correct some paperwork to make sure I get paid for July. They said I'll also be paid 'for the first half of September' - even though the last summer class ends on 9/2. Then I'll get paid later for the second half of September at a higher rate for the beginning of the academic year. Stipends are so much better than wages.

Today I decided to clean up a little instead of playing games or watching a movie. I did have a pile of T-shirts, so I got to practice my new shirt folding technique on them. I also found my cryptological mathematics book, and I am tempted to find my RSA demo code and play with it some more. It's pretty complicated and I remember my Abstract Algebra class helped a lot with the math, the only thing it was good for (besides proving 3 + 5 = 3 * 5). I remember I got that crypto book from Amazon.co.uk because it's so rare. It came over here with the Pi soundtrack, which I also had to order from England. Both were worth it.

The weather has been cooler here this week, which is very nice. No rain though. I don't think it has rained since I got in my apartment. I have assured it will rain until I'm sick of it in the winter though.

It's going to be a busy weekend. I got the lowdown on the grad party on Saturday, and I might also try and squeeze in another exploring trip. This time, east. I've already been an hour north and an hour west. An hour east is Foster Lake, a recreation area made by the Army Corps of Engineers. Then I still have to see if I can swing a trip up north to meet Fischer somewhere before he goes back to Michigan. At least I won't be bored.

what day is it, thursday?

Tuesday was the last lab for the class I TA. They're taking their final today. I still have to figure out what class I doing for the last summer session.

I ran across this on the Piled Higher and Deeper site, and I think it's pretty clever.

How to Fold a Shirt

I finished my book on wonder weapons. It was pretty fun reading about ancient arms races, but the tone of the book kept changing as it moved closer to the present. It almost seemed like the author was stumbling over himself to get to his main point. I think he's pretty mad at science for coming up with nuclear weapons. Yeah, the whole nuclear war thing is not cool, but I think the atomic bomb was a necessary move to end WWII. It saved American lives and it demonstrated to the world how horrible nuclear weapons really are. The author also said some things about Alan Turing that told me he hadn't fully done his research. Maybe that's true for the rest of the book too, I don't know. Anyway, when I finished the book I didn't really care for it anymore. Thankfully I only paid $4 for it.

In any case, I need a new book. Just in time, Borders sent me another coupon. They've got my number.

I spent a while sorting through my music from PJ. I finally integrated some of it into my main music collection. Then I accidentally messed up my iTunes library settings, so I have to add everything to my iPod again. When I reloaded it, I came up about 7GB less than before. I think part of the problem is that earlier I just wanted to see the iPod full, but now I'm more in favor of putting music on it that I'll actually listen to. I want to redo my playlists though.

While going through all this music I found again that Freeman's onboard sound card is not fantastic (probably my last complaint about moving from desktop to laptop). However, while reading this month's WIRED I saw an ad for an Audigy 2 for notebooks! I'm definitely getting one of those - think I have to wait for Christmas though...

Today I'm going onto campus for physics grad Hearts and to see what I'll be working on next week. Tomorrow I'm supposed to go out for pizza with the other TA and the instructor, and Saturday is some kind of grad party - ostensibly for someone's birthday, but I think they just like having a BBQ and hanging out.

damn it feels good to be a gangsta

I just finished watching Office Space. I love that movie.

It's about 11 PM local time. The space shuttle is supposed to land around 2 AM local time. Since I don't have to work tomorrow, I'm going to try to stay up for it. No promises though. I haven't bothered to get cable TV yet (no CNN), but I found a webcast.

Since I have some time on my hands before then (and I finally graded those prelabs I had been putting off) I am thinking about crazy stuff. Like how I hate batteries. It just seems to me there's got to be a better way to store energy. Unfortunately my background is in physics, not chemistry, so I really have no idea how batteries work, or what a better alternative would be.

Then there's my professed interest in solar power, photovoltaics and whatnot. My physics background SHOULD be able to make all that clear, but semiconductors were not gone over real well. Hell, I know less about transistors now than I did before physics tried to explain them (I took some EE before that). I'm not entirely happy with my undergraduate education. To improve this, my grad classes are going to be heavy on Solid State Physics. I think Oregon State is trying to go big time in optics, but they do have a good Solid State program here, so I'm in a good position. I get the impression that's going to be important in whatever I go into.

(sooner or later I'm going to have to stop saying "whatever I go into" and go into something.)

I've also been sentenced to a year of Quantum Mechanics. They don't think I have deficiencies in anything, they just feel QM is good for everyone to have. I also managed to talk them into giving me E&M as well. At least I kind of like E&M. Then I've got my business classes, and a bunch of seminars on the side. I'll be busy.

Dr. Warren recommended I take a stupid physical activity class to round everything out. I agree. I like the looks of the Badminton class. I remember Badminton fondly from my required high school gym class. I teamed up with another band geek in that course. We sucked at everything except Badminton and swimming, but we didn't care. Basketball was especially painful. People assume that because I'm tall I can play basketball, but I have no talent for it. On top of that you've got all of basketball's ridiculous rules, and you've got a recipe for failure worthy of Emeril. BAM! Consider it kicked up a notch.

There's also a 'Relaxation' class. No Wallyball though. Or archery. I got to the longbow part in my book of wonder weapons, and now I want to try archery.

Edit: Now they're saying the shuttle is supposed to land around 4 AM local time. To hell with that, I'm going to bed.

let's give them an air show

I read through my new issue of WIRED today. Not too much in it, except I saw an ad for an Audigy 2 for notebooks. One of my regrets in moving to a laptop was giving up my Audigy. The card is $100, which isn't too bad as computer components go, but I'm trying to be fiscally responsible so I think I'll have to put it off for Christmas or something. I still have my Monsoon speakers though.

I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark last night. That movie still rocks. I found out that at the beginning of the movie the South American that Indy goes into the cave with ("Throw me the whip!" "Throw me the idol!") is Alfred Molina, aka Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2. Who knew? For some reason, getting the futon has made me movie-crazy. Tonight I have an urge to watch Office Space. Well, I guess it's about time I started getting into my expansive - yet never watched - DVD collection. If only I could afford Band of Brothers.

I did not go out exploring today. I made a big trip to the grocery store and that was enough for me. I am still not up for cooking much so I got a frozen pizza for dinner, but I'm going to cook decent meals again this week.

I had a lot of fun playing more Generals today. I mostly used aircraft. I tried experimenting with Stealth Fighters, but they just don't get the job done (it takes four or five to blow up something one Aurora Bomber can take out). I ended up adding some Raptors to my usual contingent of Aurora Bombers. They can take out dozers and AA units better than the Auroras. (I tried playing as Air Force General, but I hate the standard U.S. base defenses. I have to have those Laser General turrets.) I might play a different game soon though. I've been reading my 'wonder weapons' book. I'm up to the use of iron to counteract the dominance of chariots. All this ancient tech makes me want to play Age of Empires II or Empire Earth.

This is the last week of the PH 211 class I TA, so I should have plenty of time to get out later this week. Hopefully I'm also getting paid. I should find out what class I'm TA'ing for the last summer session too.

the futon

Got it for $93 - a hell of a deal.

post number 2^7

Didn't get too much done today. I was hoping to get to the store, but it's getting late now and I don't feel up to it. I am making a shopping list though, so that's better than I did last week. Part of the holdup is that I need to expand my repetoire again (which I didn't do last week), but I'm not sure what the new recipe(s) should be. I made Jell-O today, but that doesn't really count. I've also been bad about cooking in general all week.

I played Generals: Zero Hour a bit today so I could try out the new 1.04 patch. (Technically, most of the new stuff is from the 1.03 patch, which I never got.) I also started the first chapter of my book on 'wonder weapons'. It's pretty interesting learning about arms races of the past. I need to finish grading all the PH 211 prelabs, just so I can get them out of the way.

I moved some stuff around so the futon fits better. I think I'm going to break it in with a movie - probably Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Tomorrow is supposed to be my exploring day. I'm not feeling up to driving anywhere, so I might just spend some time exploring campus and taking pictures. I also have to do all my grocery shopping, and I might start hitting more thrift stores for stuff now that I'm not worried about getting a futon. I think the next big thing is a desk for my computer, which shouldn't be nearly as hard to get a good deal on. (Also have to do something about my broken computer chair...)

futon

I got my futon today. I went over to Weniger Hall to try and find some help for moving it, but there was no one to be found. I had to get a damn U-Haul and move it by myself. The grand total for my futon came to about $93, which is a bargain for a futon this nice.

That was my major victory for the day. I spent the rest of the day reading the rest of Band of Brothers (yes, I'm done already) and playing a little bit of Katamari Damacy. Come to think of it, I put off trying out the new Zero Hour patch to finish that book. I also corrected some homeworks, but I am too lazy to actually assign points for them right now.

Tomorrow I'll finish off the homeworks, hit the store for supplies, and maybe clean / rearrange my apartment (the futon takes up a ton of space). In any case, it's the weekend and I'm going to sleep in tomorrow.

now playing

My top ten most played songs in iTunes currently are:

10. A Low Frequency Inversion Field (Pi Soundtrack) - 37 times
9. Air (Paul Oakenfold, Global Underground: New York) - 40 times
8. In The End (Linkin Park) - 47 times
7. Milk and Sugar (The Hard Lessons) - 51 times
6. Anthem (Pi Soundtrack) - 53 times
5. Every Time I Look For You (Blink-182) - 58 times
4. Leaving Planet Earth (Paul Oakenfold, Global Underground: New York) - 65 times
3. No Man's Land (Pi Soundtrack) - 68 times
2. Somewhere I Belong (Linkin Park) - 82 times
1. Cure For The Itch (SI) (Linkin Park) - 129 times

In a stunning move, "A Low Frequency Inversion Field" overtook a Linkin Park song and two favorites vying for its place to become the newest member of the Top Ten. My laid back mood of late has resulted in a major boost for chillout songs, especially the Pi soundtrack.

victory is mine! (sort of)

I bought a secondhand futon today. It's way better than the new ones I was looking at. It's actually made of wood instead of metal, and the mattress is super thick so I can't feel the bars underneath it. Unfortunately, it is also way too big for the Malibu. I had to leave the futon with the previous owner while I come up with a way to transport it. I will see if I can scrape anybody up from the physics department, but I don't know too many people yet and a lot of people are out of town. I will probably have to get a little U-Haul truck and move the futon by myself. But once this ordeal is over, I will have a kickass piece of furniture for my apartment.

I am also thinking about taking my broken computer chair back to Staples (sans receipt) and demanding a chair that works. Hell, it might even work.

I finished my Lewis & Clark book (Undaunted Courage, by Steven E. Abrose). It just kept getting more depressing. For example, Lewis commits suicide. Even so, I thought it was a very good book and I recommend it. It was amazing how different the world was back then. They didn't even have trains, steamships or the telegraph yet.

I found out that Band of Brothers was written by the same author, and I knew instantly it was my next book. I think I'm hooked on history books now. I went over to Borders and picked it up...but I was bad, and got other books too. (The clearance rack was too tempting!) At least it's cheaper than video games. The clearance rack books were The Far Side of the World (which the movie was partially based off of) and Science Goes To War: The Search For The Ultimate Weapon, From Greek Fire To Star Wars. They were $4 each. How could I resist? So I've got plenty of reading material to keep me occupied for a while.

Today's PH 211 lab was way better than Tuesday's, but it took a lot out of me. I guess I use a lot of energy when I teach. They only have one lab next week, so I think I'm going to take it and make the other (currently absent) TA do both recitations. Hard to believe this class is almost over already. I am supposed to be reassigned to an even shorter class for the final summer session. At least these summer classes are a good warmup for the big fall classes.

Tomorrow, the primary goal by far is to get my futon moved in. Then I can call it a weekend and laze about reading.

don't you want to know how we keep starting fires

I went over to Albany to see if their stores had anything good, but they didn't. Also, everybody starts closing at 7 PM. I did find a local classified ad selling a pair of futons, so I am going to call about them first thing after work tomorrow. They only want $50 for each futon, which is awesome. If I buy a new one it would be $200 or more.

I am tired and ready for it to be the weekend. Fortunately I just have the two labs tomorrow, and looking at the lab procedure it should be much easier than Tuesday.

I added a bunch of Newport and Mary's Peak pictures to the Yahoo site. Enjoy. Also new Facebook picture up.

I'm going to be home from 9/10 to 9/17, so if people at home want to visit me that's your chance.

I sorted a little more PJ-pirated music today. Somebody had Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six. I actually saw them live, but I didn't like them too much. That song is great though.

my program is CURSED

Just got back from meeting with Dr. Warren about my Professional Science Master's program. I feel a lot better now. I had been telling the other grads I came here for the PSM, and they just looked at me funny. It is a two year program after all, so I don't have to worry about trying to get everything done in one year. I think I even have summers off (though I still need to make money, and TA'ing in the summer is as good a way as any to get it). I'm glad I got this taken care of now because Dr. Warren is going away for five weeks on Friday.

My program does not have any graduates from it yet. Dr. Warren was hoping to have two by now. One guy was called up to Iraq...twice. The other was hit by a car and he's still recuperating. Hopefully I have better karma than them. With those guys out for now, Dr. Warren says there are going to be all of three Applied Physics PSMs in the program. I'm one of them. A second is one of the guys I met during the open house last spring, he seemed pretty cool but he is not here yet. The third is a second year physics grad who defected from the Ph.D. program. She's got some core physics classes done already, but still needs to start the business core. That sounds like the full roster for the Applied Physics track. There are three other PSM tracks at Oregon State though, and those people will be taking the same business core we take, so there will be others in the same boat.

ugh

Lab was painful today. It was an astronomy lab, so everything was on the computer (which is always a harbinger of doom). In addition, the students had to do a ton of number crunching and I had to hold their hand every step of the way. They would make the same mistake (like forgetting to square a quantity) over and over. They screwed up units left and right even after I told them they had to be converted. One guy in the afternoon session tried to get ahead by ignoring what I told the rest of the class, but he ended up being the last one to leave because he had no idea what he was doing. I tell these guys I'm not talking just to hear the sound of my own voice, I'm not writing up on the board just to amuse myself, but they ignore me anyway. The few students that did know what they were doing weren't showing their partners how they got the right numbers.

A lot of the grads are not here for some reason, so there weren't enough people for hearts for the second day in a row.

The next lab is on work and energy, a concept they should have an easier time with. The lab also has hands-on stuff, which I think helps them learn better. We'll see how things go on Thursday. Tomorrow I'm going in to meet with Dr. Warren for advising about my Professional Science Master's program, so hopefully I'll come out with a clear idea of what I'm going to be doing for the next year.

I am done teaching for the day so I am just going to read my Lewis and Clark book.

2008 Pontiac GTO

Is this a hot car or what? Apparently GM's Zeta platform has been delayed/cancelled though, so don't get your hopes up (at least for 2008). But still - daaaaamn.