| Sunday, April 16th, 2006 |
| 2:18 pm |
Done... For Now
I *think* my traveling is finally done for the near future. Now all that is left is to wait and see how things play out. Well that and to make a life defining decision on what direction my career is going... A brief summary of the previous 3.5 months:
- 12 trips,
- 8 states,
- 2 countries,
- 4 time zones,
- ~32,000 frequent flier miles,
- ~2,500 miles of driving,
- ~31 nights in hotels,
- ~47 days on the road,
- 6 talks, and
- 100+ individual interviews.
|
| Friday, March 31st, 2006 |
| 11:33 am |
Fortune Cookie E-mails
Recently, I have noticed an increasing occurrence of quotes at the bottom of e-mails. I don't mean the standard contact information, but rather a nice little dollop of culture for the day. Sometimes I find these quotes enlightening or thought provoking. I have spent many an hour pondering the merits of "taking the road less traveled" that were pointed out in the most recent request for a bug fix. Or said "Yes, that is so true!" to both the scheduled meeting time and the relative importance of "the journey" versus "the destination". Unfortunately, the pairings sometime strike me as a bit strange. It makes me wonder what Gandhi would think, if he knew that his statement of "A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes" was accompanying a one line discussion of the merits of a certain type of cat food. Admittedly, I myself have often fallen into the trap of tagging quotes where they do not belong. However, in a recent discussion with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) regbug, we decided that these quotes are vital to disseminating knowledge. Thus, I have decided to start including a new quote in my correspondence: In every man's life, the area of a circle is pi times the radius squared. |
| Wednesday, March 29th, 2006 |
| 3:00 pm |
Peanuts
Coming back from my most recent trip to CA (yesterday), I had decided not to waste an entire day traveling. Instead I took the red-eye. Being a 4.5 hour direct flight, I felt there was a good chance of getting at least 4 hours of sleep. However, 30 minutes into the flight (and roughly 10 minutes into sleep), I felt a tap on my shoulder. The teenager sitting next to me is apparently having trouble opening his bag of peanuts and would like me to try. Since when did this become a valid reason for waking someone up? What is wrong with people? |
| Monday, March 13th, 2006 |
| 3:21 pm |
Frozen Bananas
This weekend, regbug and I decided to make frozen banana desserts. This decision was the direct result of watching 10 episodes of "Arrested Development" in the span of 2 days... but that's another story. Here is the vital lesson we learned from our experience: 1) You need to peel the bananas and add the stick before freezing 2) More chocolate adds more thermal mass and thus makes cover the bananas easier (also chocolate is good) 3) Chocolate/walnut covered frozen bananas are good |
| Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 |
| 2:05 pm |
Hectic is a fair description
When last we left ri_cube, he was bemoaning his job search. As I was presenting a relatively pessimistic view, I figure that I will give a bit of a more positive update: Starting next week, I will be visiting schools to interview for a couple of faculty positions (yes, this may mean that I will be bugging some of you to listen to the 80th version of my job talk). I also have at least 2 more industrial interviews in the works (which will require flying across the country). Unfortunately, this means that there will probably continue to be no movie night for the foreseeable future. |
| Saturday, February 4th, 2006 |
| 10:16 am |
Stories
I feel bad about not posting anything in a while. It's not that I don't have stories... it's that I don't have stories that I would feel comfortable posting on LJ (even in locked post). Anyway, I apologize for the fact that this means I am an utterly useless source of entertainment and/or procrastination. |
| Thursday, January 19th, 2006 |
| 9:01 pm |
Sick
Right now it is about 80 degrees and perfectly blue skies... and all I want to do is crawl back to my apartment and go to bed. Bad: Being sick Worse: Being sick in Hawaii This post: Being sick in Hawaii on the day of my talk |
| Thursday, January 5th, 2006 |
| 1:23 pm |
Silver
I just made silver status on my friendly neighborhood airline. On the plus side, I now can board early while shouting "See later you suckers!" And do I get more peanuts? Or a second soda? That would be great! On the negative side, this seems to be the start of a worrying trend. Only half my flights in the past 12 months were on said airline. That means I have been doing a lot of traveling. Maybe if I can plan my trips better, I can hit gold status... you have to have goals. |
| Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006 |
| 1:04 pm |
The Big To-Do List Item
I think my day is completely ruined if I have a major to-do list item that I finish early. It just zaps my productivity for everything else. I feel like I have accomplished something major and deserve a break. The problem is that this holds even if it doesn't take a long time. As long as it is important, my day is shot. Today I turned in an important form... time to check fark. |
| Monday, December 19th, 2005 |
| 2:36 pm |
Thesis Pie
Done... The committee has a few recommendations for my document (but no required changes). As soon as I turn the document in, it will become official. However, I am now going to take an afternoon off. And regbug made me a thesis pie (pecan pie). |
| Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 |
| 3:43 pm |
E-mail
Ever reach a point where you hear a sound that indicates that you have e-mail and you reflexively shudder. Over the last three days I have gotten several hundreds of e-mails that are *very* important that I read. Also roughly 5% of those result in more work. There are some interesting stories that I will have to post, just not right now... I've got more e-mail. |
| Monday, December 12th, 2005 |
| 1:30 pm |
No... Bad Spam Filter
The school's spam filter has been having some issues lately. In fact, it seems to think ALL of the e-mail coming from schools to which I have applied are spam. That and most e-mails coming from regbug. So if I don't respond to your e-mail, just blame it on the spam filter. Although, I am probably just ignoring you. Current Mood:  annoyed |
| Friday, December 9th, 2005 |
| 1:56 am |
Pretty
First off let me just say that Vancouver might possibly be one of my favorite cities. Admittedly my sampling was very limited (I only wandered for about a 5 block radius and peered out of cab windows). And maybe it is just me coming off of a very good trip. But regardless, I like Vancouver. |
| Saturday, December 3rd, 2005 |
| 5:56 pm |
Taxi Issues
At 8am I had someone at the office book me a taxi. My flight was at 12:30 so the taxi company said they would pick me up at 10:30. It is about 30 minutes to the airport, so it seemed reasonable. At 10:45 I called the taxi company to find out where the taxi was. Of course there was no record of the reservation and I was an idiot for even thinking it could be their fault. They could send a taxi now, but they just wanted to let me know that I was inconveniencing them. At 11:05 the taxi arrived. The driver found out my flight was at 12:30 and asked why I was leaving so early. I mumbled something and pretended to look out the window. At 11:10 the taxi's transmission died and we drifted into a parking lot about a mile from where I was picked up. The driver called in for another cab and then complained (in detail) about how the company was going to try to screw him over for this. I mumbled something and kicked a pebble around the parking lot. At about 11:30 the replacement drive showed up and I was on my way again. The driver then proceeded to give me his view on the NFL, in the process insulting every race and religion possible. I was uncomfortable. I mumbled something about "Go Steelers" and pretended to look out the window. At 12:00 I arrived at the airport. Although I made my flight, I had been planning on catching lunch at the airport. So I ended up on my flight without food. It was sad. |
| Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 |
| 6:46 pm |
Like a Kid in a Candy Store
This week I am in Tucson for a project update meeting for one of the astronomy groups that I am working with. Overall very few of the talks have anything to do with my research. You might think that this means I am bored out of my mind. The problem is... so many of the topics are so shiny. It just seems like there is a ton of really cool projects out there. I have to keep resisting the urge to say "If you send me data I would love to look at that problem." However, I just don't think I will be able to resist buying a few textbooks on astronomy... Does this make me a geek? |
| Thursday, November 17th, 2005 |
| 11:16 am |
I Know
I have not updated in a while... but there is a good reason. I am defending in a little over a month. So most of my time has been spent writing the thesis and beginning the search for jobs next year. Unsurprisingly, both seem to be very time consuming activities. |
| Saturday, October 29th, 2005 |
| 10:34 am |
I Want to Talk to a Real Person
This morning I spent 20 minutes arguing with an automated UPS computer voice. I just wanted to see if I could pickup my package today... that was all. But, like an idiot, I followed all of their little menus and ended up changing the ship date until Tuesday. I hate automated call systems, however as an AI sorta guy, I was very impressed by the voice recognition and conversation abilities. After 15 minutes I was frustrated enough by their menu structure to start "going freestyle." The computer managed to follow me and provide the correct responses. It even detected the breaking point (where I actually shouted "I just want to talk to a human!") and kindly informed me that: although it could let me talk to human, the human would not have anything more to say. Did I still want to talk to a human? OF COURSE!!!!! And guess what, the human was helpful! Only a little... but still helpful. Current Mood: frustrated |
| Thursday, October 27th, 2005 |
| 10:47 am |
I Still Have My Moves
It has been many many years since I worked the donut/coffee industry, but it seems I still have some of my moves. After a few months working for a certain donut/coffee chain I had gotten quite good at doing things fast. I could usually empty and reload a coffee machine with a few short movements. One flick of the wrist would send the filter (and grounds) sailing into the trash. This morning while making coffee at school, I found myself in my old rhythm. It made me a bit nostalgic. |
| Thursday, October 20th, 2005 |
| 11:29 am |
Be more productive... eat less... and work from home!
What do all three phrases have in common? Well, all three have appeared in my spam mailbox within the last 24 hours. But more importantly all three are true and I cannot figure out why. It seems that when I work at home (as I am this morning) I really am more productive and eat less (err... well forget to eat altogether). It seems weird, because I am surrounded by both distractions and food. Maybe it is just the change of scenery... or maybe I am just strange. Current Mood:  productive |
| Monday, October 10th, 2005 |
| 3:07 pm |
I Think I Am Making Things Worse
When I first got my projector I had a defective bulb that I had to replace. Ever since there has been a small bright spot in my image. I had always figured that it was just due to putting in the bulb slightly askew. Regardless, it was only noticeable on black images, so I ignored it. This weekend I decided to see if I could take the bulb out and put it back in straight. I was also motivated by tepui's story about dust buildup in the system and I thought taking the projector down might give me a chance to check out the dust situation. So I took the projector down, opened it up, took out the bulb, and put the bulb back in. There was no dust to be seen, so I was very optimistic. But now things are worse... There are a bunch of bright spots now. After a little research, it seems that they are caused by dust in the optical path (the same dust I could not see). I have no idea why it got so much worse or how I am going to clean it. I looks like I will be spending the night on the phone with tech. support. |
