Monthly Archives: January 2008

Today I picked my topic for my Preliminary Qualifying Exam (PQE). The PQE is none of the above. It is not preliminary; in fact, it is the last requirement in the program before dissertation. It is not a qualifying exam … Continue reading →

Tomorrow morning is the first lecture for the class I’m TA’ing. We (the instructors) will get our first glimpse of how many students are taking the class, and try to determine things like when we should hold sections and office … Continue reading →

Tonight was Bush’s last S of the U. It was very well planned, and well-delivered. If I weren’t familiar with the full debate on these topics (guest worker programs, border fences, warrantless wiretaps, telecom immunity) I might well have been … Continue reading →

Last night, after Darwin’s Nightmare at the Civic Defense Film Festival. It was astonishing. The movie is a documentary about the Tanzanian fishing industry in Mwanza City on Lake Victoria. It is composed entirely of camera-forward interviews; the production staff … Continue reading →

At least, by the time they come our way. The folds are especially blue, and much of the surface is also gray or brown. There’s a surprisingly wide range of sizes, and one can easily get a sense that certain … Continue reading →

This morning, after a meeting with the professor for the course I’m TA’ing, I saw a funeral procession go past. As I was leaving work in the evening, one of my coworkers walked by with a big cooler. I inquired, … Continue reading →

I went out to dinner tonight at Grasshopper, a vegan restaurant in Allston. This is my second time there, and I have concluded that their trick is to make their food enticing by adding a huge amount of sugar syrup … Continue reading →

I went out to dinner tonight with a bunch of nerds. It’s a regularly scheduled event, and fairly open. It’s almost like attending an official meeting of nerds. Anyway, lots of fun. Of the eight people at dinner, one was … Continue reading →

How do you get white cat hair off a black sweater? EDIT: With my roommate Simon’s rolly thing. Thanks Simon! How do you get dayshifted, so as to wake up before noon? EDIT: I got to work before 11:30, which … Continue reading →

Yesterday was another OLPC demo day. I brought in my software to show it off to all the visiting dignitaries from foreign countries and such. Unfortunately, the distance measurement didn’t work, due to an unknown, mysterious technical issue that I … Continue reading →