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."