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Well, I'm back in Michigan. My flight from Portland to Chicago was boring (4 hours), and my flight from Chicago to Detroit was stupid. The second flight was tp depart at 2:15 PM local time. They started boarding at 2:00 PM. Surprise surprise, we didn't finish boarding by 2:15, so the flight attendent started getting pushy and telling people to hurry up. (At one point: "We were supposed to pull out of here 23 seconds ago!") So everybody finally gets boarded, when I look out the window and see...the luggage guys pulling up. Yes, they did not get around to loading luggage until after the scheduled departure time.

And yet, we still got into Detroit ahead of schedule. Padding time is fun and easy!

So, for the next week I am bumming around in Michigan. I am going to start by going out to the hot tub.

I got sick of MSU's email crashing so I had Fischer hook me up with some Gmail invites. My new email is shanks.jon@gmail.com. I may or may not start using that as my default account, we'll see how it works.

Edit: I messed up my internal clock so I may well be on Eastern time this week. However, it's hard to remember that everybody is on the same time as I am now, and not three hours ahead.

i am a katamari god

My big accomplishment today was getting the last of the 1438 items in 'Katamari Damacy' for 100% completion. Now I'm ready for the sequel.

I had a meeting with the PSM head this morning, where I confirmed I don't have to take the comps. We also talked about internship stuff a little. I saw the PSM roster and found that there really are only three Applied Physics PSM students (not counting the dude in Iraq).

I went over to the student bookstore this afternoon. They have a better selection of science and engineering books there. I found no less than three cryptography books. They weren't just simple substitution cipher books, they were actual hardcore textbooks (even had RSA attack strategies in them). They cost around $75 though, so I didn't get them.

The bookstore also had some interesting books on renewable energy, but they cost more than I had on me. This month's National Geographic also wrote about renewable energy - I read part of the story, but didn't finish it. Fortunately, we get National Geographic at home.

Tomorrow I'm going up to Portland to visit with some family, who are being kind enough to get me over to the airport Saturday morning so I can fly home.

non-comp

I emailed a PSM person last night and got some very good news this morning. I don't have to take the comps - the comprehensive exams. No oral exam either. That stuff is just for Ph.D students to have nightmares about. The biggest thing I have to worry about - besides surviving grad school in general - is my internship and future employment. I have done a little bit of basic research into renewable energy companies. I pulled up a list of exhibitors in the 2005 World Solar Congress and I recognized a couple companies just at a glance. The 2006 conference is a must if I decide to keep pursuing solar power.

U-M started up today, so I am pretty much the only person still on summer break. Kind of a bummer. The different time zone throws things off too. In a couple of days I'm coming home for a whole week though.

I think my Go playing is getting better. I can beat the stupid computer on a 19x19 board now. I went back to the 9x9 board and found that there wasn't nearly enough room. I guess I've been literally growing as a Go player.

superpower

incorporated

I watched The Corporation. I thought it was fairly well done. As for the actual content, I agree with some of their ideas but not all of them.

I tinkered with my RSA demo program a little bit, but the stuff I would like to add involve stuff I've forgotten how to do and would generally be a pain.

Overall I had a slow weekend. I am very excited to go home next weekend, but I still have things to do here before I leave. I wanted to take care of some stuff today, but I forgot it was Labor Day so nothing productive could get done. I did get a small fire safe today though, which makes me feel a lot better about keeping important documents out here. Fortunately, banks and stuff are open again tomorrow so I can start attacking my list of things to do again. My virtual Post-It notes are slowly obstructing more and more of my desktop.

I have usually kept Freeman docked at the desk over the past few weeks, but I have recently been taking advantage of the fact that it's a laptop to do computer stuff on the futon. I like my futon.

I haven't gotten out and about too much recently. It would be nice to go out to the coast again, but I am trying to put off filling up the car if at all possible. I am going up to Portland in a few days anyway (though my exact plans are not yet determined - another important thing to take care of). I will be home in Michigan all next week, but again my plans are not yet determined. I do know that I want to get up to MSU and over to U-M at some point.

I played a bit of Counter-Strike: Source over the past couple of days, and I regained some skill, but frankly I am tired of video games right now. I am more interested in becoming a better Go player than in becoming a better CS:S player.

I want to get a bike so I can explore Corvallis without wasting gasoline, but I don't know where to find a decent bike (for a sane price). One more item on my list of things I haven't gotten around to getting yet.

audigized

My Audigy came today. It's an impressive little piece of technology. Freeman finally has high quality audio - one more deficiency taken care of. The Audigy's delivery was the one event that prompted me to get out of bed. This was at 11:30 AM.

Now that my summer job is finished, I'm not sure what to do with my week before I come home. I'll probably pull up some side projects like RSA again.

I proctored the PH 203 final on Thursday with the other TA. It was not too eventful, but I did get asked a question so stupid I could offer no response. One of the student flagged me down and pointed to the last question. It expresses the power of a lens in diopters, which is the reciprocal of the focal length. Diopters are not used often though, so it generates a great deal of confusion when it appears. So the student points to the diopters value and says:

"Am I supposed to convert this to Watts?"
"Excuse me?"
"It says this is the power of the lens. Do I need to convert it to Watts?"

Moment of stunned silence.

I told the student that the equation they needed to use was on their formula sheet and went back to my post.

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.