day one

Today was my first day as a graduate student. The math diagnostic test this morning was not so hot. Then again, some of it was there just to see if people knew what to do with it. I wasn't about to solve a PDE or a Fourier transform. I knew Vincent had to leave early, so I waited for him and left at the same time. I told him later it's like how herds form so predators can't pick weak individuals off.

Quote from lunchtime:
KC: "I wish I had a $65M yacht like [celebrity]. It has 12 bedrooms, a helicopter, a 24' fishing boat attached to the back and it can go 32,000 miles on a tank of gas."
Lisa: "You're in the wrong business then. Try being a porn star."
KC: "Porn stars probably don't make as much as you'd think."
Me: "Somewhere, there's a porn star saying, 'If you want that yacht, you're in the wrong business. You should be a physicist.' You know, someone in...porn grad school."

No quantum or E&M today. My TA seminar looks iffy. I don't want to get into touchy-feely teaching philosophy stuff, I just want to teach. My badminton class is pretty hardcore. The teacher was talking about how she had some badminton scholarship to Oregon State once, and she brought the captain of the badminton club, and went on and on very seriously about badminton. I'm like, it's badminton. We did get to practice a bit today, it was fun, everybody worked up quite a sweat.

My communication class looked like it was going to be painful. We had to arrange our desks in a circle, and they want lots of participation. However the class seems like it will be fun. Everyone in that class is a PSM - the first time I'd seen that many in one place. As such, the class is going to deal with things we actually care about. I don't remember off the top of my head but it sounded worthwhile. The teacher knows this class is required, but doesn't want it to be a waste of time. It was pretty easy to jump in and join the discussion. Some of the activities look like they are going to be a pain in the ass, but I will probably do them happily (or at least without complaint). The teacher ended class by showing a clip from Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's like a million bonus points right there.

Tomorrow I have...nothing. Next week I have two labs on Tuesday, but they haven't started yet. I have a bad headache and I'm tired so I'm calling it a night.

back to school

I turned in my PHY 492 term paper on April 27th. That was the last thing I had to do to graduate MSU. Tomorrow is September 26th, and after five months off school is starting back up for me. My physics classes don't start until Wednesday, but I have to go in tomorrow morning to sign up for office hours and take a math diagnostic test. My business cohort meets tomorrow so I should meet the PSMs from the other tracks.

Fall 2005 schedule:
PH 651 - Quantum Mechanics
PH 631 - Electromagnetic Theory
PH 607 - TA Seminar
PH 507 - PSM Seminar
COMM 512 - Communication and the Practice of Science
PAC 113 - Badminton I

I am also going to be TAing three sections of calc-based physics lab. I am working for the department chair and a guy who used to teach high school physics that our department picked up, and the other TAs are grizzled veterans. I was lucky to snag this spot instead of getting non-calc physics lab like most of the rest of the new grads. I think I got picked because I have experience from MSU and I worked over the summer. It should be interesting.

It took seven attempts to make PB fudge for the department picnic. Even after seven tries it looked funny, but it tasted OK and it held together so I went with it. The picnic was alright, pretty informal and lots of food.

Last week was very long so I spent Friday night eating pizza and playing Final Fantasy VII, and Saturday I bought We Love Katamari and played that all day. Today I have been getting things in order - I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen left after the fudge disaster, did laundry, got groceries, and figured out where my books and other supplies are.

Edit: After looking over the list of covered topics, I believe I am going to completely bomb tomorrow's math diagnostic exam.

Edit 2: Math oddity I ran across while making sure my TI-83's batteries work: 10! = the number of seconds in a day * The Ultimate Answer.

miscalibrated

I am not in a good mood. Today I had to sit through 2 1/2 hours of TA training stuff with the crazy prof I can't stand. It wasn't a total loss though. During one of the touchy-feely group learning sessions I said "My name is Jon, and I drew a pirate." That's what they get for giving me markers.

When I got back to the apartment I became suspicious of my new cooking thermometer. I went out and bought a better one and was suspicious of this one too. Indeed it was off as I incinerated an experimental half-batch of peanut butter fudge, turning it into some sort of powder. So I have to figure out how to compensate for retarded equipment before I make fudge for the department picnic. Fortunately I have lots of supplies.

Yesterday was OK. The other grads seem alright. We have a lot of TA training stuff to do, it is kind of a pain. Happy birthday Erin.

laissez-faire, bitch

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life signs

Move-in week for Oregon State started today. Corvallis is a busy place now. All the frats in my area have suddenly come to life.

Tomorrow I start my grad student orientation. I have already signed up for most of my classes. I need 1 more credit though, and the seminars I was recommended conflict with classes I need. I wanted to take EE's cryptography class, but it seems to have been cancelled.

The department picnic is Friday. That should be fun. I told the other grads at lunch I make a mean pan of peanut butter fudge, so I signed up to bring that. I need to get the supplies from the store though - I don't exactly have superfine cane sugar in the kitchen.

payback

I replaced all the lightbulbs in my apartment today with CFL bulbs. The store had them for a buck each and they are compact enough to actually fit in the socket, so I went all out. I'm keeping the old bulbs in a bag to swap back when I move out, because the CFL bulbs are supposed to last for years and they're too neat to leave behind.

I got the latest issue of Car and Driver. They had some cool stuff about the new Corvette Z06 and the Pontiac Solstice. However, there was an article I took offense to. The guy was talking about how hydrogen isn't a primary energy source, which is right. But then he said that solar cells don't make back the energy it requires to make them, and ripped on wind power too. I'm still very new to the renewable energy scene, but I've heard this energy payback rumor several times now. It's FALSE.

Even if it were true, do these people think it would stay that way? All you have to do is increase lifespan, increase efficiency, or decrease input cost, or some combination of the above. It's called technological progress, morons.

I'm probably going to finish rereading The Idea Factory tonight. Parts of the book hit a little close to home. The most depressing part is still ahead, so I'll be bummed out later. After this book I think I'm going to reread William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy - after Ghost in the Shell I'm hungry for more cyberpunk.

I'm recuperated from all my travelling and now I have too much energy. I wish I had a bike to burn it off. I should look into that before classes start.

summer's end

refit and resupply

I slept for 11 hours. It was called for.

My apartment is a dump and there's nothing in the fridge. Today will be spent correcting these issues.

I read half of The Idea Factory last night. It is good, but depressing. My undergrad view of grad school basically came from that book and Piled Higher and Deeper.

Fortunately, grad orientation starts on Tuesday so I have one more day left to myself. One week left until my classes start.

the seasoned traveler

I've had more than enough traveling for a while. I got up at 4:15 AM today. 1 hour drive to the airport. 4 hour flight. 2 hour layover. 3 hour flight. 2 hour drive. And when I pull into my apartment complex, I find that some dumbass has sprawled his huge Ford pickup across my parking space. After all that travel made me cranky, he's lucky I didn't slash his tires or something. Fortunately the owner drove off and I took my rightful place in parking space #5.

So, I'm back in Oregon. I certainly brought a lot of books with me. I think I am going to bed now because I was on something between Eastern time and Pacific time and today's travels have further confused things.

re-strung

I went to the print shop today to talk physics shirts. They told me they'd send details in a day or so. I started looking at colors as well - there won't be blue shirts in this run, but all the other popular colors are making a return. I have been convinced that red shirts would be a good idea (all you, Mikey) and of course green and orange are back. I liked the looks of the yellow and grey shirts last time as well. All of the shirts will be 100% cotton this time - I wasn't happy that last time some of the shirts were 50/50 polyester. This time I'm probably going to replace my 50/50's with full cotton shirts because I like the feel of the cotton shirts better.

I suppose that on today's news I can confirm a third run of Michigan State Physics T-shirts will be made, I don't have specific details yet though. I have to work out a timeline and get the production end running, and Jim has to start working some marketing magic. I'll throw up a website or something when I'm back in Oregon and have details. We're not taking orders just yet, but definitely drop me a line if you're interested.

Tomorrow I'm going over to Ann Arbor to hang out with some friends. I'm going to wear a Michigan State Physics shirt, of course. Tomorrow is also my last full day in Michigan before I fly home. It's very fortunate that I flew Southwest Airlines this time, because Northwest and Delta both went bankrupt this week.

After I return from Ann Arbor I have to pack everything up and get ready for another day on airplanes. I certainly did a good job of raiding my bookshelves - I won't have a shortage of things to read for a while. I'm wondering if I took full advantage of my week back in Michigan, but I think I did all I could for only having one week (especially for only having a car a couple of those days). I kind of want to hang around in Michigan some more, but my five month long summer is over. It was good to hang out with friends at MSU again, but it also felt clear that it's not for me anymore. Time to move on.

I finished watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I thought the series started off good, then got a little slow in the middle. Then the run up to the climax was pretty awesome, but the final episode was confusing and not quite satisfactory. I enjoyed the series overall though. Now I am trying to find Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. I found out the English version won't be out until November, but I can probably find a Japanese version (subtitled in English) to watch. Penny Arcade claims Advent Children is pure condensed awesomeness. I am inclined to believe it.

I am flying back to Oregon on Saturday morning. Next week is orientation week at Oregon State, and then my classes finally start. It's been a whole five months since I had classes - I am not sure if I am ready, but it's coming anyway. The next time I'll be in Michigan will be December.