i exceeded my own expectations for the evening, and i still have an hour and a half until the new year.
not only did i get my laundry done, unpack completely, and get through all the mail that's come in the past two weeks, i also:
* completely emptied out and refilled my closet, and got rid of a bunch of stuff to drop by goodwill tomorrow. if it's 4 sizes too big, it's probably safe to hand on, right?
* went grocery shopping so as not to starve tonight and tomorrow :P
* wrote all my christmas thank you notes
* changed out all the calendars in the house for 2006 ones
* fixed a hole in a pair of dress pants
things that make me smile
* the AARP (yes, the american association of retired persons) sent me an invitation to join over break... i realize it's for more than just retired people -- that you only have to be 50 years old to join, but isn't inviting 24 year olds a little extreme?
* ziggy -- my new 2006 desktop calendar is ziggy's living is the present calendar. he truly is my hero
* apple pie -- i actually have some for tonight before i go back to eating stuff that's good for me tomorrow. :P
hour and a half to kill until 2005 is over... probably a post on new years resolutions later. dude, i'm chatty tonight.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
by the way
top music picks for the week:
James Blunt -- Back to Bedlam
and
Kirk Franklin -- Hero
i got "back to bedlam" when i was in NY with josh earlier in december. i'd heard the first two tracks all over the radio and it seemed worth checking out... i don't think there's a bad track on the whole disc... it's an amazing CD... and if *you*'ve never heard of it, you are hereby required to look into it.
upon request, jenny gave me "hero" for christmas. i love all of kirk franklin's past albums, so it seemed this would be a good choice too even though i've only heard "looking for you" (track 2) on the radio before i got it... there are tracks i like more than others, but the ones i like less are still really good, and the ones i like better are simply AMAZING. my two current favorites are "hero" and "imagine me"
hero lyrics:
~~~~~~~~~~~
The heavens were silent
The earth weeped in pain
Nations were trembling and hope never came
A Terror filled the air
And it wouldn't go away
We needed a hero to come and save
Famine and hunger,
Disease in the land
The hatred the killing taking lives from your hand
Creation waits through the darkness we pray
Tell me where is the hero to come and save
Through the nails
Through the thorns
From the hill to the grave
Was a voice in the distance the lamb that was slain
My soul had no song and my debt I couldn't pay
When I needed a hero you came and you saved
To the homeless
The widow
The fatherless son
To the sick and the broken alone with no one
Lift up you head your hope is on the way
When we needed a hero you came and you saved the day
When the curtain had closed
And it felt like the end
When your blood caught the fall and took away every sin
Even though men deny
You're the only sacrifice
That loved us enough you loved us so much Lord
That you gave your life see you saved my life
Now I can see you I'm no longer ashamed
Your power I feel see our lives have exchanged
Every wrong is erased, Jesus
You are my hero you came and you saved (x2)
You are my hero you came and saved The day
~~~~~~~~~~~~
while the words are great on their own, if you haven't heard them coupled with kirk and a mass choir, you have no idea what you're missing out on... hero's my second favorite track on the disc though... it's a close 2nd to "imagine me"... lyrics:
~~~~~~~~~~~
Imagine me, loving what i see when the
Mirror looksat me 'cause I imagine me
In a place of no insecurities
And i'm finally happy 'cause
I imagine me...
Letting go of all the ones who hurt me
'Cause they never did deserve me
Can you imagine me?...
Saying no to the thoughts that try to control me
Remembering all you told me
Lord can you imagine me?...
Over what my mamma said
And healed from what my daddy did
And I wanna live and not read that page again
[Chorus:]
Imagine me, being free, trusting you totally
Finally i can...
Imagine me
I admit it was hard to see,
You being in love with someone like me
But finally i can...
Imagine me...
Being strong and not letting people break me down
You won't get that joy this time around
Can you imagine me?...
In a world where nobody has to live afraid
Because of your love, fear's gone away
Lord can you imagine me?..
Letting of my past
And glad I have another chance
And my heart will dance
Imagine me.
~~~~~~~~~~~
again, nice words on their own, but AMAZING when you put it altogether with the music.
summary: "back to bedlam" is rocks, and "hero" is spectacular.
check them out.
the end.
James Blunt -- Back to Bedlam
and
Kirk Franklin -- Hero
i got "back to bedlam" when i was in NY with josh earlier in december. i'd heard the first two tracks all over the radio and it seemed worth checking out... i don't think there's a bad track on the whole disc... it's an amazing CD... and if *you*'ve never heard of it, you are hereby required to look into it.
upon request, jenny gave me "hero" for christmas. i love all of kirk franklin's past albums, so it seemed this would be a good choice too even though i've only heard "looking for you" (track 2) on the radio before i got it... there are tracks i like more than others, but the ones i like less are still really good, and the ones i like better are simply AMAZING. my two current favorites are "hero" and "imagine me"
hero lyrics:
~~~~~~~~~~~
The heavens were silent
The earth weeped in pain
Nations were trembling and hope never came
A Terror filled the air
And it wouldn't go away
We needed a hero to come and save
Famine and hunger,
Disease in the land
The hatred the killing taking lives from your hand
Creation waits through the darkness we pray
Tell me where is the hero to come and save
Through the nails
Through the thorns
From the hill to the grave
Was a voice in the distance the lamb that was slain
My soul had no song and my debt I couldn't pay
When I needed a hero you came and you saved
To the homeless
The widow
The fatherless son
To the sick and the broken alone with no one
Lift up you head your hope is on the way
When we needed a hero you came and you saved the day
When the curtain had closed
And it felt like the end
When your blood caught the fall and took away every sin
Even though men deny
You're the only sacrifice
That loved us enough you loved us so much Lord
That you gave your life see you saved my life
Now I can see you I'm no longer ashamed
Your power I feel see our lives have exchanged
Every wrong is erased, Jesus
You are my hero you came and you saved (x2)
You are my hero you came and saved The day
~~~~~~~~~~~~
while the words are great on their own, if you haven't heard them coupled with kirk and a mass choir, you have no idea what you're missing out on... hero's my second favorite track on the disc though... it's a close 2nd to "imagine me"... lyrics:
~~~~~~~~~~~
Imagine me, loving what i see when the
Mirror looksat me 'cause I imagine me
In a place of no insecurities
And i'm finally happy 'cause
I imagine me...
Letting go of all the ones who hurt me
'Cause they never did deserve me
Can you imagine me?...
Saying no to the thoughts that try to control me
Remembering all you told me
Lord can you imagine me?...
Over what my mamma said
And healed from what my daddy did
And I wanna live and not read that page again
[Chorus:]
Imagine me, being free, trusting you totally
Finally i can...
Imagine me
I admit it was hard to see,
You being in love with someone like me
But finally i can...
Imagine me...
Being strong and not letting people break me down
You won't get that joy this time around
Can you imagine me?...
In a world where nobody has to live afraid
Because of your love, fear's gone away
Lord can you imagine me?..
Letting of my past
And glad I have another chance
And my heart will dance
Imagine me.
~~~~~~~~~~~
again, nice words on their own, but AMAZING when you put it altogether with the music.
summary: "back to bedlam" is rocks, and "hero" is spectacular.
check them out.
the end.
back to the daily grind... kinda
here i am back in jersey.
in the past few days, i've logged something on the order of 1300-1400 miles on the interstate -- i love it!
wednesday was memphis to just south of chicago where my grandma lives. along the way, there were dozens and dozens of pre-built houses on tractor trailers headed south (presumably to new orleans, there was a FEMA banner on the back of each one), so i was happy to be in the north-bound lanes (although it's a good thing there's houses migrating en masse to get there)
wednesday night and thursday both, grandma and i hung out at the mall. at 80 years old, my grandma is the posterchild for the ultimate mall shopper... well was the posterchild up until this trip. she still enjoys shopping a TON and there's nothing else she'd rather do, but this was the first time i'd ever seen her walk like she's old. the doctor says she has a completely clean bill of health even though her legs hurt her to get up and down and she hobbles noticeably, whereas as recently as when i saw her this summer she was the equivalent of the energizer bunny -- nonstop zipping around and always dressed in pink. as she commented a few times in the couple days i was there, "i'll get done with this somehow -- either i'll get better, or they'll take me out of here in a box... either way is fine with me". maybe because she's in pain, or who knows why, but she wanted to talk about dying and funerals a bit thursday night too... apparently she's been frequently having dreams about deceased relatives, and the nights i was with her were no exception. she commented that she's starting to wonder if dying will be like being stuck in a dream with the dead relatives that you can't wake up from. like i said... an interesting visit.
friday, after g-ma's and my tradition of going out for breakfast at the small diner in her town, i headed east to pittsburgh, and today made it back to jersey.
since getting home, i've
* paid bills/rent that are due in the next few days,
* gotten all my stuff up to my room
* reset the furnace, which turned itself off while we were gone, so instead of keeping the house at 55 like we set it at, it kept the house at outside temperature minus wind plus residual heat from downstairs... oh well... now that it's going again i'm set
* gone grocery shopping
to do tonight?
* open the 20 christmas cards that came for me while i was gone... this is in addition to the dozen i got before i left
* unpack
* do laundry
* figure out what the heck is wrong with my room -- i can sign the computer online, or watch TV, but not both at once... which is strange
* perchance, i'll watch new years eve festivities on TV... in case you haven't gathered, i'm purposefully minding my own business home alone for new years eve just getting crap done and not being irritated by large groups. :) i got myself turkey and dressing for dinner and i'm quite looking forward to that and hanging out with myself.
now to get on with that unpacking...
later dudes. :P
in the past few days, i've logged something on the order of 1300-1400 miles on the interstate -- i love it!
wednesday was memphis to just south of chicago where my grandma lives. along the way, there were dozens and dozens of pre-built houses on tractor trailers headed south (presumably to new orleans, there was a FEMA banner on the back of each one), so i was happy to be in the north-bound lanes (although it's a good thing there's houses migrating en masse to get there)
wednesday night and thursday both, grandma and i hung out at the mall. at 80 years old, my grandma is the posterchild for the ultimate mall shopper... well was the posterchild up until this trip. she still enjoys shopping a TON and there's nothing else she'd rather do, but this was the first time i'd ever seen her walk like she's old. the doctor says she has a completely clean bill of health even though her legs hurt her to get up and down and she hobbles noticeably, whereas as recently as when i saw her this summer she was the equivalent of the energizer bunny -- nonstop zipping around and always dressed in pink. as she commented a few times in the couple days i was there, "i'll get done with this somehow -- either i'll get better, or they'll take me out of here in a box... either way is fine with me". maybe because she's in pain, or who knows why, but she wanted to talk about dying and funerals a bit thursday night too... apparently she's been frequently having dreams about deceased relatives, and the nights i was with her were no exception. she commented that she's starting to wonder if dying will be like being stuck in a dream with the dead relatives that you can't wake up from. like i said... an interesting visit.
friday, after g-ma's and my tradition of going out for breakfast at the small diner in her town, i headed east to pittsburgh, and today made it back to jersey.
since getting home, i've
* paid bills/rent that are due in the next few days,
* gotten all my stuff up to my room
* reset the furnace, which turned itself off while we were gone, so instead of keeping the house at 55 like we set it at, it kept the house at outside temperature minus wind plus residual heat from downstairs... oh well... now that it's going again i'm set
* gone grocery shopping
to do tonight?
* open the 20 christmas cards that came for me while i was gone... this is in addition to the dozen i got before i left
* unpack
* do laundry
* figure out what the heck is wrong with my room -- i can sign the computer online, or watch TV, but not both at once... which is strange
* perchance, i'll watch new years eve festivities on TV... in case you haven't gathered, i'm purposefully minding my own business home alone for new years eve just getting crap done and not being irritated by large groups. :) i got myself turkey and dressing for dinner and i'm quite looking forward to that and hanging out with myself.
now to get on with that unpacking...
later dudes. :P
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
i lied again... here's the real last TN post
this story is short and too funny not to post.
dad had a nice gift certificate to bosco's (a restaurant in midtown Memphis with a quality microbrewery) as a christmas gift from someone, so the family decided to eat there tonight.
that's fine.
microbrewery means all 4 of us wanted beer with dinner tonight... mom and dad look sufficiently over 21, but both brother and i were carded, and while he had his on him, i had left my wallet and purse at the house, so they wouldn't serve me. my mom immediately commented "i'm her mother and she's 24, can't i vouch for her?", to which the waiter replied that while he didn't have a problem with it, he had a boss to answer to and didn't want to get into trouble so he couldn't.
the next time he came by the table, without warning, my mom pulls out one of my HS senior pictures and hands it to him, commenting "look, it's obviously her, and it says class of 1999 on it... can't they do they math and let her have a beer?"
the waiter brought my senior pic back to the manager, and came back to mom commenting "they're not buying it, sorry, but you do get points for creativity"
my mother... oi...
(so no, they didn't serve me beer, but between alternating between drinking out of brother's, mom's, and dad's, i probably had about a glass full anyhow, and i got to try 3 different kinds instead of just one... and dad only had to pay for 3 people worth of beer and refills instead of 4, so not a bad deal anyhow :P)
end of random story, (my mother is crazy but at least she tries hard ;-P)... now i'm really off of here for a few days... be parties one and all. :P
dad had a nice gift certificate to bosco's (a restaurant in midtown Memphis with a quality microbrewery) as a christmas gift from someone, so the family decided to eat there tonight.
that's fine.
microbrewery means all 4 of us wanted beer with dinner tonight... mom and dad look sufficiently over 21, but both brother and i were carded, and while he had his on him, i had left my wallet and purse at the house, so they wouldn't serve me. my mom immediately commented "i'm her mother and she's 24, can't i vouch for her?", to which the waiter replied that while he didn't have a problem with it, he had a boss to answer to and didn't want to get into trouble so he couldn't.
the next time he came by the table, without warning, my mom pulls out one of my HS senior pictures and hands it to him, commenting "look, it's obviously her, and it says class of 1999 on it... can't they do they math and let her have a beer?"
the waiter brought my senior pic back to the manager, and came back to mom commenting "they're not buying it, sorry, but you do get points for creativity"
my mother... oi...
(so no, they didn't serve me beer, but between alternating between drinking out of brother's, mom's, and dad's, i probably had about a glass full anyhow, and i got to try 3 different kinds instead of just one... and dad only had to pay for 3 people worth of beer and refills instead of 4, so not a bad deal anyhow :P)
end of random story, (my mother is crazy but at least she tries hard ;-P)... now i'm really off of here for a few days... be parties one and all. :P
so i lied
...here's one more photo post... enjoy :P
me and the doggie
me and misty
me and millie
jenny and me
mom, dad, and the girl parrot
brother, sticking out his tongue at the boy parrots
cinder, sticking out her tongue
me, and cinder not sticking out her tongue
my new and improved post-christmas wardrobe (4 shots)... what do you think?
farewell memphis :P
now, really, no more posts until after i'm done in TN, AR, MO, IL, IN, OH, PA, and back in NJ... until saturday, happy week to all y'all! :P
me and the doggie
me and misty
me and millie
jenny and me
mom, dad, and the girl parrot
brother, sticking out his tongue at the boy parrots
cinder, sticking out her tongue
me, and cinder not sticking out her tongue
my new and improved post-christmas wardrobe (4 shots)... what do you think?
farewell memphis :P
now, really, no more posts until after i'm done in TN, AR, MO, IL, IN, OH, PA, and back in NJ... until saturday, happy week to all y'all! :P
news rundown
here's the fun headlines i've discovered this morning...
* Naked in a freezing lake for good health
* New Jersey: Land without sarcasm -- we've got 5 finalists... so what'll it be?
* New Year's Day 2006: delayed by a second
* Yep, that sounds about right.. -- "Some Germans would rather spend Christmas with a tree than with their families, a new poll shows."
* Nun Bun on the run.. -- yay Nashville?
(... and the best one of all...)
* A spoonful of science.. -- interesting theories on the secret lives of teaspoons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in non-headline lara news, it's my last day in TN until may... on the to do list:
* get my car back... it's in the shop getting belts checked that got fixed in NJ in november but have been making funny noises... should be a free repair since both places are goodyears, but i can't load the car til i get it back
* pack... the amount of clothes i have here doubled over christmas, so it's a little more work than one might imagine
* figure out what to bring my grandma for a late christmas present tomorrow... dad promised to help
* dinner here with the family
tomorrow, it's off to chicago i go... thursday, still hanging out at g-ma's house, friday to pittsburgh, saturday to jersey... next update then unless something particularly entertaining happens later today.
be parties one and all!
* Naked in a freezing lake for good health
* New Jersey: Land without sarcasm -- we've got 5 finalists... so what'll it be?
* New Year's Day 2006: delayed by a second
* Yep, that sounds about right.. -- "Some Germans would rather spend Christmas with a tree than with their families, a new poll shows."
* Nun Bun on the run.. -- yay Nashville?
(... and the best one of all...)
* A spoonful of science.. -- interesting theories on the secret lives of teaspoons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in non-headline lara news, it's my last day in TN until may... on the to do list:
* get my car back... it's in the shop getting belts checked that got fixed in NJ in november but have been making funny noises... should be a free repair since both places are goodyears, but i can't load the car til i get it back
* pack... the amount of clothes i have here doubled over christmas, so it's a little more work than one might imagine
* figure out what to bring my grandma for a late christmas present tomorrow... dad promised to help
* dinner here with the family
tomorrow, it's off to chicago i go... thursday, still hanging out at g-ma's house, friday to pittsburgh, saturday to jersey... next update then unless something particularly entertaining happens later today.
be parties one and all!
Monday, December 26, 2005
misc.
* i was at Sun Studio today and you (probably) weren't (unless you're jenny). it was really cool. (apparently they let their web domain expire, hence the wikipedia link instead of their own site)
* i got the joy of making an insurance claim today... my car was scratched up cosmetically, and dad will cover it since he thinks it's at least partially his fault, but that means body shop time... last time that happened i didn't have my car for a month... we'll see how this goes especially since i'm headed back to NJ on wednesday and following
* i have the best brother ever. he went to bed and just left me his credit card with a $300 limit to spend (since stores this morning were out of ipods)... so i ordered this beauty... it'll arrive in NJ about when i do. :)
* chinchilla!
the end.
* i got the joy of making an insurance claim today... my car was scratched up cosmetically, and dad will cover it since he thinks it's at least partially his fault, but that means body shop time... last time that happened i didn't have my car for a month... we'll see how this goes especially since i'm headed back to NJ on wednesday and following
* i have the best brother ever. he went to bed and just left me his credit card with a $300 limit to spend (since stores this morning were out of ipods)... so i ordered this beauty... it'll arrive in NJ about when i do. :)
* chinchilla!
the end.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Saturday, December 24, 2005
yay!
so fall 2005 was good to me... dr. z. and me got our grant... my research is going well... etc, etc, etc.
here's an email i got this morning that went out to all the grad students, and further certifies fall 2005 went well for me :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 00:23:42 -0500 (EST)
Subject: The Votes are in!
Hello Anyone Interested in Pizza Seminar,
The polls have closed, and we have a winner for the best Pizza Seminar
talk of Fall 2005:
* Lara P-------: All about 1089 *
Happy Holidays to all,
Phil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this made my day... i had fun doing my pizza seminar, and my advisor told me that it was wonderful, but that's no guarantee that everyone else necessarily liked it, so it's affirming that they did.
(in case you're clueless about this, the rutgers math department runs many weekly seminars for every math topic under the sun. graduate pizza seminar is a hodgepodge seminar which is basically an excuse for grad students to eat pizza paid for by the math department. the only catch is that a grad student has to give a math talk each week. i was in charge of pizza seminar last year (it's always a 2nd year student) so i purposely didn't schedule myself. but this year, phil, the current pizza seminar coordinator, scheduled me, and alas, it went quite well. :) every semester they let everyone vote for best seminar of the semester, and there's a small monitary award plus eternal fame and glory if you win. :P it makes me happy that i can say i won once now. :) )
the end.
here's an email i got this morning that went out to all the grad students, and further certifies fall 2005 went well for me :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 00:23:42 -0500 (EST)
Subject: The Votes are in!
Hello Anyone Interested in Pizza Seminar,
The polls have closed, and we have a winner for the best Pizza Seminar
talk of Fall 2005:
* Lara P-------: All about 1089 *
Happy Holidays to all,
Phil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this made my day... i had fun doing my pizza seminar, and my advisor told me that it was wonderful, but that's no guarantee that everyone else necessarily liked it, so it's affirming that they did.
(in case you're clueless about this, the rutgers math department runs many weekly seminars for every math topic under the sun. graduate pizza seminar is a hodgepodge seminar which is basically an excuse for grad students to eat pizza paid for by the math department. the only catch is that a grad student has to give a math talk each week. i was in charge of pizza seminar last year (it's always a 2nd year student) so i purposely didn't schedule myself. but this year, phil, the current pizza seminar coordinator, scheduled me, and alas, it went quite well. :) every semester they let everyone vote for best seminar of the semester, and there's a small monitary award plus eternal fame and glory if you win. :P it makes me happy that i can say i won once now. :) )
the end.
Friday, December 23, 2005
the voyage of the dawn treader and other such fun
things accomplished today
* helped dad wrap presents for mom and decorate
* helped mom go christmas shopping for dad
* walked over 4 miles, and jogged for a bit of it for the first time in awhile without my gimpy knee killing me partway through
* read some math, but not a lot... posets of permutations sounds like fun, right?
* finished The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
all in all a quality day.
all this typed, if you haven't read them, i highly recommend (re)reading the chronicles of narnia. in preparation for the movie, i reread the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe over thanksgiving break. since then i read prince caspian, and now i've finished book 3, and have 4 left to go. my grandma gave me the boxed set of them when i was in like 4th grade. i read them all around 5th grade, but hadn't again since. the first one was very familiar throughout, as were parts of the 2nd, but after chapter 1, i totally didn't remember the voyage of the dawn treader, so it was a totally new adventure to me. even with what i do remember, i'm catching much more of the symbolism this go around than i remember catching before. they really are a beautiful set of books. there's no use spoiling adventures for you if you haven't read them... all this is just to say, if you want a quick and quality read, read the chronicles, they really are fantastic. :)
the end.
* helped dad wrap presents for mom and decorate
* helped mom go christmas shopping for dad
* walked over 4 miles, and jogged for a bit of it for the first time in awhile without my gimpy knee killing me partway through
* read some math, but not a lot... posets of permutations sounds like fun, right?
* finished The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
all in all a quality day.
all this typed, if you haven't read them, i highly recommend (re)reading the chronicles of narnia. in preparation for the movie, i reread the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe over thanksgiving break. since then i read prince caspian, and now i've finished book 3, and have 4 left to go. my grandma gave me the boxed set of them when i was in like 4th grade. i read them all around 5th grade, but hadn't again since. the first one was very familiar throughout, as were parts of the 2nd, but after chapter 1, i totally didn't remember the voyage of the dawn treader, so it was a totally new adventure to me. even with what i do remember, i'm catching much more of the symbolism this go around than i remember catching before. they really are a beautiful set of books. there's no use spoiling adventures for you if you haven't read them... all this is just to say, if you want a quick and quality read, read the chronicles, they really are fantastic. :)
the end.
fun in TN
so what have i been doing since i've been home for nearly 48 hours?
my many jobs with the family include...
* christmas gift consultant... apparently no one's sure if they got the others good stuff and i have all the answers... dad, for example, has a habit of taking mom's nice dishes outside and using them for animal dishes, so this year is the once every 5-6 years that he goes all out and buys her new nice dishes he claims he won't do that to, and he hopes she likes the color. i told him they're a good gift if he really doesn't take them outside this time... i also got the joy of unwrapping each individually wrapped piece (it's service for 8), taking off the price tag sticker, and then rewrapping them for him... mom, on the other hand, had found the perfect table lamp for dad at an antique store this weekend, but wanted a second opinion, and after an hour at the store yesterday we concluded it had been sold and she's back to square one... after helping dad today though, i have a list of backup suggestions to help her out when she gets home and is ready to shop again.
* christmas decoration assistant... in my family this is a little different than for most people. my dad is a horticulturist... moreover, he got his original college degree in floriculture. as he puts it, he's the closest thing to a professional christmas tree decorator that there is... so his tree has to look perfect, and you're only allowed to touch if you're doing something he asked you to do.... so it's not quite decorating in the sense most families do if you're not dad.
* court jester for the parrots... if you haven't caught on my now, my family has a zoo in the back yard... now there's an inside zoo too that i have to go through to get to my room, which includes a few iguanas, a few tortoises, 3 talking (correction, yelling) parrots, and 3 chinchillas... i definitely have a favorite out of the parrots (poncho), so i go entertain him periodically so he's not as bored... we bounce up and down and make strange noises together.
oh yeah, and technically i'm studying math too... i did learn what bruhat order and weak bruhat order are today at least... we'll see how much gets done later.
here it is 2pm and i'm still in pjs 6 hours after i woke up... i like days when i can run around in pjs half the day and still be productive... it might be time to get out of pjs and go to the park for a walk though -- 2 days til christmas and it's 60F outside right now... yay south? :)
later dudes... merry christmas to all y'all. :P
my many jobs with the family include...
* christmas gift consultant... apparently no one's sure if they got the others good stuff and i have all the answers... dad, for example, has a habit of taking mom's nice dishes outside and using them for animal dishes, so this year is the once every 5-6 years that he goes all out and buys her new nice dishes he claims he won't do that to, and he hopes she likes the color. i told him they're a good gift if he really doesn't take them outside this time... i also got the joy of unwrapping each individually wrapped piece (it's service for 8), taking off the price tag sticker, and then rewrapping them for him... mom, on the other hand, had found the perfect table lamp for dad at an antique store this weekend, but wanted a second opinion, and after an hour at the store yesterday we concluded it had been sold and she's back to square one... after helping dad today though, i have a list of backup suggestions to help her out when she gets home and is ready to shop again.
* christmas decoration assistant... in my family this is a little different than for most people. my dad is a horticulturist... moreover, he got his original college degree in floriculture. as he puts it, he's the closest thing to a professional christmas tree decorator that there is... so his tree has to look perfect, and you're only allowed to touch if you're doing something he asked you to do.... so it's not quite decorating in the sense most families do if you're not dad.
* court jester for the parrots... if you haven't caught on my now, my family has a zoo in the back yard... now there's an inside zoo too that i have to go through to get to my room, which includes a few iguanas, a few tortoises, 3 talking (correction, yelling) parrots, and 3 chinchillas... i definitely have a favorite out of the parrots (poncho), so i go entertain him periodically so he's not as bored... we bounce up and down and make strange noises together.
oh yeah, and technically i'm studying math too... i did learn what bruhat order and weak bruhat order are today at least... we'll see how much gets done later.
here it is 2pm and i'm still in pjs 6 hours after i woke up... i like days when i can run around in pjs half the day and still be productive... it might be time to get out of pjs and go to the park for a walk though -- 2 days til christmas and it's 60F outside right now... yay south? :)
later dudes... merry christmas to all y'all. :P
Thursday, December 22, 2005
teaching fun
i got my teaching assignment for the spring.
i get to teach calc 1 for math/physics people (this fall i taught calc 1 for non math/physics people). one difference is instead of a 55 minute period, i teach for an 80 minute period where 55 minutes works like last semester, and the other 25 minutes is a "workshop", where my students will work in groups on homework in my presence... should be interesting.
pros of this assignment?
* i teach on the same campus that the math building is on... actually just next door, so no exploring new places or running late between places, which is good
* i start at 10:20 rather than at 8:55
* i'm teaching for the same professor who i taught for this past semester... we got along wonderfully, so this is a good thing... he seriously made my job easy... and it makes it easier to teach for someone who the students like and respect too.
sounds like lots of fun, right?
only con?
* i'll teach on fridays and not get done until 4:40pm.
oh well, you can't win perfectly... and for all the positive aspects, i can be patient with the minor negative... you can't ask for too much nicer of an assignment. :P
the end.
i get to teach calc 1 for math/physics people (this fall i taught calc 1 for non math/physics people). one difference is instead of a 55 minute period, i teach for an 80 minute period where 55 minutes works like last semester, and the other 25 minutes is a "workshop", where my students will work in groups on homework in my presence... should be interesting.
pros of this assignment?
* i teach on the same campus that the math building is on... actually just next door, so no exploring new places or running late between places, which is good
* i start at 10:20 rather than at 8:55
* i'm teaching for the same professor who i taught for this past semester... we got along wonderfully, so this is a good thing... he seriously made my job easy... and it makes it easier to teach for someone who the students like and respect too.
sounds like lots of fun, right?
only con?
* i'll teach on fridays and not get done until 4:40pm.
oh well, you can't win perfectly... and for all the positive aspects, i can be patient with the minor negative... you can't ask for too much nicer of an assignment. :P
the end.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
greetings from memphis y'all
i'm here!
it's been a crazy long day though.
yesterday, i was on the road by 7:15am, so i could take leigh to the train station on my way out of town... that put me in pittsburgh around 1pm... since my aunt was still working (she telecommutes from the house), my uncle and i went up north of town to visit my step grandpa at his nursing home. he was in the best spirits i'd seen him in in awhile. he got upgraded to regular food (instead of pureed) last week, which makes him happy, and he had just had other visitors right before us who brought him cookies. we chatted for awhile before i went back to my aunt's house for dinner and to crash.
today i was up at 5 (eastern), and out the door by 6 for 12.5 hours of driving fun. i made awesome time though, and now here i am at my parents' place in memphis, TN.
it makes me happy to cross the state line into TN... it also makes my day when i pick up memphis radio again... while NY has the best christian station i've heard in the country, i am at a lack of good rock/pop/top40/country stations in NJ... we get the leftovers from NY and philly with strong enough signals... strong signals doesn't guarantee quality DJs though... then again, the first strain of memphis radio i caught today was tom prestagiacomo on FM 100 with "... so how many day's til christmas?! that's right... (cue hey ya, which starts with "1,2,3,...")" which is completely corny, but what the hey... some of the other songs they were up to there, and on the other stations were much better than some of what i've heard lately in jersey... and i like the DJs better here too... oh! and i love going through nashville and having my choice of a dozen country stations instead of the ... *none* i get in jersey... so yay for good music!
in other news, my dad hasn't seen me since may, so he was amazed at how much i've changed in size since then. also, tonight, while he took care of animals outside, mom and i went to church. people there flipped out over how much weight i've lost too. since i haven't lost any since before thanksgiving (not gained any, just stayed at the same weight), i've felt rather tubby and lazy. but for people who haven't seen me since may or since last december, they all get excited to see the change, and that's affirming at least. even if i drove 1200 miles in the past two days, i've not walked much at all... tomorrow i'm going to the park to walk/jog a few laps... i'm looking forward to actually moving! :P
mom and i went to dixie cafe for dinner tonight after church... jalapeno cornbread, sweet tea, and catfish make me happy too. :)
now, to hang out at the computer until dad puts the parrots to bed... i don't like going through their room to get to mine when they're out of their cages... oh! and the family has 3 chinchillas now... they're quite cute. :)
the end.
night y'all :P
it's been a crazy long day though.
yesterday, i was on the road by 7:15am, so i could take leigh to the train station on my way out of town... that put me in pittsburgh around 1pm... since my aunt was still working (she telecommutes from the house), my uncle and i went up north of town to visit my step grandpa at his nursing home. he was in the best spirits i'd seen him in in awhile. he got upgraded to regular food (instead of pureed) last week, which makes him happy, and he had just had other visitors right before us who brought him cookies. we chatted for awhile before i went back to my aunt's house for dinner and to crash.
today i was up at 5 (eastern), and out the door by 6 for 12.5 hours of driving fun. i made awesome time though, and now here i am at my parents' place in memphis, TN.
it makes me happy to cross the state line into TN... it also makes my day when i pick up memphis radio again... while NY has the best christian station i've heard in the country, i am at a lack of good rock/pop/top40/country stations in NJ... we get the leftovers from NY and philly with strong enough signals... strong signals doesn't guarantee quality DJs though... then again, the first strain of memphis radio i caught today was tom prestagiacomo on FM 100 with "... so how many day's til christmas?! that's right... (cue hey ya, which starts with "1,2,3,...")" which is completely corny, but what the hey... some of the other songs they were up to there, and on the other stations were much better than some of what i've heard lately in jersey... and i like the DJs better here too... oh! and i love going through nashville and having my choice of a dozen country stations instead of the ... *none* i get in jersey... so yay for good music!
in other news, my dad hasn't seen me since may, so he was amazed at how much i've changed in size since then. also, tonight, while he took care of animals outside, mom and i went to church. people there flipped out over how much weight i've lost too. since i haven't lost any since before thanksgiving (not gained any, just stayed at the same weight), i've felt rather tubby and lazy. but for people who haven't seen me since may or since last december, they all get excited to see the change, and that's affirming at least. even if i drove 1200 miles in the past two days, i've not walked much at all... tomorrow i'm going to the park to walk/jog a few laps... i'm looking forward to actually moving! :P
mom and i went to dixie cafe for dinner tonight after church... jalapeno cornbread, sweet tea, and catfish make me happy too. :)
now, to hang out at the computer until dad puts the parrots to bed... i don't like going through their room to get to mine when they're out of their cages... oh! and the family has 3 chinchillas now... they're quite cute. :)
the end.
night y'all :P
Monday, December 19, 2005
one of those days...
i was so proud of myself for being up early today and all productive and stuff... turns out that doesn't guarantee a smooth day.
when i went out to my car at 8 this morning, i had the fortune of having a parking ticket... for being parked outside my own house! apparently they thought i was too close to the intersection, even though i've parked there many times before, and the curb isn't painted, etc., etc., etc.... leigh's gotten a parking ticket there before, as has colleen's sister erin when she'd visited... but i never had, and i thought i was up far enough... apparently not... oi.
i don't know how much it is yet... the traffic violations office was closed when i was finally free to call, and it didn't work when i tried to look it up online.,... i have a month to work it out... we shall see.
anyhow, the rest of my day was delightfully spent in a calculus final exam grading party.
for those of you who have never TAed or taught a mass college course, here's how a grading party works. since there were 50 sections of 30 students each in calculus 1 at rutgers this fall, that makes 1500 finals to grade. to make somewhat of a uniform grading system across all the sections, all the students take the same exam, and all the TAs and professors grade the exams together in one day. each TA or prof is assigned to a particular problem, so somewhere in the ballpark of 15 people grade different parts of each paper before it's done. the curve (what makes an A, what makes a B, etc.) for the course is determined by how all 1500 students score on the final. about 1/3 of their final grade is determined by this test and 2/3 by the professor's exams/quizzes/etc. throughout the semester. so regardless of how hard or easy your prof is, you're required to demonstrate the same set of skills at the end.
nothing is ever a perfect system, but this works out all right.
all day (9am til 5:30pm), i was sitting at a table in a lounge of the building next door to the math building grading derivative questions. when i finished with that, nearly everything else was graded too, so i helped a little with some other problems, and otherwise we got to add a lot of numbers.
at least one student (not mine) turned in a totally blank exam, which is an automatic 0/200... one of my students had a 198/200, and i saw one 199 as well... no 200s though. it was a tough exam.
that basically sums up my day.
now, i'm packed to go out of town tomorrow, and am watching "deal or no deal". it's actually kinda intriguing. howie mandel, with his head shaved and just the tiny bit of facial hair makes me think vaguely of pastor mike -- my old memphis pastor... it's kinda funny.
the game itself is kinda like the monty hall problem complexified by a LOT.
(remember the monty hall problem is that you have a car behind one of three doors and like goats behind the other two. you pick a door, and then the host opens a door you didn't choose that has a goat. then, they let you either stay with your original pick or change to the other door. statistically you actually have a higher probability of winning the car if you switch to the other door, which totally blows people's minds... it is a little crazy even though it's true...)
i didn't plan to get intrigued, but really, this is an interesting game even if it isn't horribly complicated of an idea.
in other news,
colleen gave me craisins for the drive tomorrow as part of my christmas present... that made me happy. :)
where am i going?
tomorrow to pittsburgh and wednesday to memphis... getting up super early both days, tomorrow to get leigh to the train station by 7:30 and just driving off from there, wednesday to try to get to memphis in time for 7pm church. it'll be a *crazy* week.
in the meantime, happy break for real now... be parties one and all!
:P
when i went out to my car at 8 this morning, i had the fortune of having a parking ticket... for being parked outside my own house! apparently they thought i was too close to the intersection, even though i've parked there many times before, and the curb isn't painted, etc., etc., etc.... leigh's gotten a parking ticket there before, as has colleen's sister erin when she'd visited... but i never had, and i thought i was up far enough... apparently not... oi.
i don't know how much it is yet... the traffic violations office was closed when i was finally free to call, and it didn't work when i tried to look it up online.,... i have a month to work it out... we shall see.
anyhow, the rest of my day was delightfully spent in a calculus final exam grading party.
for those of you who have never TAed or taught a mass college course, here's how a grading party works. since there were 50 sections of 30 students each in calculus 1 at rutgers this fall, that makes 1500 finals to grade. to make somewhat of a uniform grading system across all the sections, all the students take the same exam, and all the TAs and professors grade the exams together in one day. each TA or prof is assigned to a particular problem, so somewhere in the ballpark of 15 people grade different parts of each paper before it's done. the curve (what makes an A, what makes a B, etc.) for the course is determined by how all 1500 students score on the final. about 1/3 of their final grade is determined by this test and 2/3 by the professor's exams/quizzes/etc. throughout the semester. so regardless of how hard or easy your prof is, you're required to demonstrate the same set of skills at the end.
nothing is ever a perfect system, but this works out all right.
all day (9am til 5:30pm), i was sitting at a table in a lounge of the building next door to the math building grading derivative questions. when i finished with that, nearly everything else was graded too, so i helped a little with some other problems, and otherwise we got to add a lot of numbers.
at least one student (not mine) turned in a totally blank exam, which is an automatic 0/200... one of my students had a 198/200, and i saw one 199 as well... no 200s though. it was a tough exam.
that basically sums up my day.
now, i'm packed to go out of town tomorrow, and am watching "deal or no deal". it's actually kinda intriguing. howie mandel, with his head shaved and just the tiny bit of facial hair makes me think vaguely of pastor mike -- my old memphis pastor... it's kinda funny.
the game itself is kinda like the monty hall problem complexified by a LOT.
(remember the monty hall problem is that you have a car behind one of three doors and like goats behind the other two. you pick a door, and then the host opens a door you didn't choose that has a goat. then, they let you either stay with your original pick or change to the other door. statistically you actually have a higher probability of winning the car if you switch to the other door, which totally blows people's minds... it is a little crazy even though it's true...)
i didn't plan to get intrigued, but really, this is an interesting game even if it isn't horribly complicated of an idea.
in other news,
colleen gave me craisins for the drive tomorrow as part of my christmas present... that made me happy. :)
where am i going?
tomorrow to pittsburgh and wednesday to memphis... getting up super early both days, tomorrow to get leigh to the train station by 7:30 and just driving off from there, wednesday to try to get to memphis in time for 7pm church. it'll be a *crazy* week.
in the meantime, happy break for real now... be parties one and all!
:P
Sunday, December 18, 2005
to clarify...
in the previous post,
the person i slugged in the stomach was eric. he was about to attack me with fingers dripping in red food coloring, and i didn't know i was going to slug him until about 2 seconds after i did it. the only witnesses were john, emily, and sarah, who have all seen similar things happen with me over the past few years, and eric left the incident laughing, so no major harm done. on occasion i do just "reflex" slug someone, and don't realize that's what i've done/am about to do until just after i do it. maybe i should work on that...
the kicking and screaming was scott's fault for sure. he's claimed for a bit that he's capable of picking me up, and i've told him right back that he's not capable of it and he shouldn't injure himself. he was in a happy mood when he came over to the house for cookies, and when he stopped in my room to see the super cool present i got for my brother for christmas, he decided to prove he could pick me up, and then proceeded to do it. but you have to realize, no one has even threated to much less tried to pick me up since i was like 5. not having to worry about your feet being off the ground for nearly 2 decades, it's a little unsettling to even think about suddenly being in the air.... my instant reflex was to curl up into a ball so he couldn't get me, but he managed to anyhow, hence the kicking and screaming... involuntary response to being startled.
scott realized that and wasn't hurt or bothered, but after i was calm again and commented "dude, you can't just do that, you really need to warn me first", he told me he was going to (a) re-prove he could pick me up, and even more so, he would (b) prove he could pick me up without freaking me out, so instead of just picking me up in one swoop, he convinced me to let him give me a piggy back ride around the house. that too was mildly disarming, but less scary than the first time.
seriously, no one has even tried to pick me up in 20 years, and with my propensity to slug people, it's probably safer that they don't. i'm quite used to feeling like i'm in charge of where i'm at and like the feeling of knowing my feet are securely on the ground, so it takes a quite a bit of convincing for me to peaceably do otherwise.
this has to be the most bizarre post ever.
for those keeping score from this post though, apparently 6b IS true.
for those keeping score in general, yes i'm a freaking lunatic.
good night.
the person i slugged in the stomach was eric. he was about to attack me with fingers dripping in red food coloring, and i didn't know i was going to slug him until about 2 seconds after i did it. the only witnesses were john, emily, and sarah, who have all seen similar things happen with me over the past few years, and eric left the incident laughing, so no major harm done. on occasion i do just "reflex" slug someone, and don't realize that's what i've done/am about to do until just after i do it. maybe i should work on that...
the kicking and screaming was scott's fault for sure. he's claimed for a bit that he's capable of picking me up, and i've told him right back that he's not capable of it and he shouldn't injure himself. he was in a happy mood when he came over to the house for cookies, and when he stopped in my room to see the super cool present i got for my brother for christmas, he decided to prove he could pick me up, and then proceeded to do it. but you have to realize, no one has even threated to much less tried to pick me up since i was like 5. not having to worry about your feet being off the ground for nearly 2 decades, it's a little unsettling to even think about suddenly being in the air.... my instant reflex was to curl up into a ball so he couldn't get me, but he managed to anyhow, hence the kicking and screaming... involuntary response to being startled.
scott realized that and wasn't hurt or bothered, but after i was calm again and commented "dude, you can't just do that, you really need to warn me first", he told me he was going to (a) re-prove he could pick me up, and even more so, he would (b) prove he could pick me up without freaking me out, so instead of just picking me up in one swoop, he convinced me to let him give me a piggy back ride around the house. that too was mildly disarming, but less scary than the first time.
seriously, no one has even tried to pick me up in 20 years, and with my propensity to slug people, it's probably safer that they don't. i'm quite used to feeling like i'm in charge of where i'm at and like the feeling of knowing my feet are securely on the ground, so it takes a quite a bit of convincing for me to peaceably do otherwise.
this has to be the most bizarre post ever.
for those keeping score from this post though, apparently 6b IS true.
for those keeping score in general, yes i'm a freaking lunatic.
good night.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
fun with people?
really, i think my hermit-ness, which keeps me away from more than a person or two at a time, is a good thing.
tonight, my roommates are hosting a christmas cookie party, and for the first time in the better part of a year and a half, i stayed out of my room and interacted with the people at large for more than half an hour.
problem is, i do things without thinking about them, especially since i don't hang out with more than one person at a time anymore and get myself into trouble.
tonight's a christmas cookie party (what's more harmless, right?) with math people and a few of colleen's catholic center friends, and yet i've managed to slug one person really hard in the stomach, and kick another while screaming like a banshee...
while there are perfectly good explanations for both, really, i'm not fit for interacting with more than a person or two at a time anymore... and this hermit business really is for everyone's good.
the end.
tonight, my roommates are hosting a christmas cookie party, and for the first time in the better part of a year and a half, i stayed out of my room and interacted with the people at large for more than half an hour.
problem is, i do things without thinking about them, especially since i don't hang out with more than one person at a time anymore and get myself into trouble.
tonight's a christmas cookie party (what's more harmless, right?) with math people and a few of colleen's catholic center friends, and yet i've managed to slug one person really hard in the stomach, and kick another while screaming like a banshee...
while there are perfectly good explanations for both, really, i'm not fit for interacting with more than a person or two at a time anymore... and this hermit business really is for everyone's good.
the end.
new hat
... courtesy of one of my students (christmas/thank you present for answering questions outside of office hours minimum once a week, sometimes more often for her this semester)... usually i hate how hats look on me, but this one i actually rather like... what do you think?
:-P
:-P
Friday, December 16, 2005
on the phone earlier...
dad: hello? this is rick.
me: hello rick
(pause, wait for reaction)
dad: who on earth is this?
me: who on earth do you think it is?
dad: (pause)... oh! lara!... why'd you call me rick?
me: why'd you answer the phone with "this is rick"
dad: that's how they make me do it at work... i forgot i wasn't there.
funny how you can screw with your parents' heads just by calling them by their first name :P
the end.
me: hello rick
(pause, wait for reaction)
dad: who on earth is this?
me: who on earth do you think it is?
dad: (pause)... oh! lara!... why'd you call me rick?
me: why'd you answer the phone with "this is rick"
dad: that's how they make me do it at work... i forgot i wasn't there.
funny how you can screw with your parents' heads just by calling them by their first name :P
the end.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
oi... 20 hours to go
as much as i understand what it's like to be a stressing out student the night before an exam (heck i've been there plenty, and as recently as 2 years ago), i never thought about what it's like to be a teacher the week before an exam.
office hours i don't mind. my students generally come during the scheduled time, so it's not a problem. i don't even think of it when students still have questions when my office hours are scheduled to end, and i stay another 30-60 minutes helping them out until all their questions are done.
what does get to me is that i have students who haven't turned in homework all semester, haven't showed up to office hours once, and at 7pm the night before the final start emailing me questions left and right... one in particular (who indeed hasn't turned in homework once, is usually late to class, and has never emailed me questions, or come to office hours ever before) asked for my IM name so he could ask questions and get answers more quickly and then requested i meet with him tomorrow. i responded that i don't have IM and that i check email periodically, but i've been in my office answering questions half the week already, and i have my own work to be doing too, so you can't just count on me to be there on demand last minute like that.
frankly, you get what you give... there's nothing that says i need to be writing fairly instantaneous responses up til midnight the night before the test, and yet i am. but if the students didn't show effort all semester until tonight, i really don't have an obligation to make a special case and give them tons more help in the final hours. i have a much easier time writing back nice responses to students who have asked questions all along and been respectful of my time.
i love my students, but i also only have finite energy, and the ones who want it last minute without trying to meet me part way first are not going to get special treatment.
really, it takes a lot of patience and energy to be a teacher (or even just a TA) during finals week.
oi...
office hours i don't mind. my students generally come during the scheduled time, so it's not a problem. i don't even think of it when students still have questions when my office hours are scheduled to end, and i stay another 30-60 minutes helping them out until all their questions are done.
what does get to me is that i have students who haven't turned in homework all semester, haven't showed up to office hours once, and at 7pm the night before the final start emailing me questions left and right... one in particular (who indeed hasn't turned in homework once, is usually late to class, and has never emailed me questions, or come to office hours ever before) asked for my IM name so he could ask questions and get answers more quickly and then requested i meet with him tomorrow. i responded that i don't have IM and that i check email periodically, but i've been in my office answering questions half the week already, and i have my own work to be doing too, so you can't just count on me to be there on demand last minute like that.
frankly, you get what you give... there's nothing that says i need to be writing fairly instantaneous responses up til midnight the night before the test, and yet i am. but if the students didn't show effort all semester until tonight, i really don't have an obligation to make a special case and give them tons more help in the final hours. i have a much easier time writing back nice responses to students who have asked questions all along and been respectful of my time.
i love my students, but i also only have finite energy, and the ones who want it last minute without trying to meet me part way first are not going to get special treatment.
really, it takes a lot of patience and energy to be a teacher (or even just a TA) during finals week.
oi...
apprentice aftermath
dude...
so tonight's 2 hour final just wrapped up. i've had mixed feelings all week about who should be hired... randal's been strong and likeable throughout, but rebecca's earned my respect too. after seeing their events they both made mistakes, but they were all generally fixable, and they both came away having been very strong leaders.
i talked to my mom for a minute halfway through the episode and she commented "i bet he'll hire both".
i was hoping for just that.
when he hired randal, i was happy, but waiting for the "but..."... then the ending was basically trump asking randal, "so should i hire rebecca too?"
randal's comment?
"this is the apprentice, not the apprentii... no, there should only be one apprentice"
trump's reply was that he probably could have been convinced to hire both but since randal said no he'd leave it at that.
screw that.
they've fired many more than 1 several times this season, which is against the expectation; they totally could have hired both this time too. for once there wasn't a clear leader on the final task... they both did amazingly well.
for the first time all season, randal's final comment really irked me instead of making me proud of him.
what's done is done though. randal earned his job and will be an amazing hire. i just feel rebecca got a bit gipped too. he totally could have shared the honor with her and both been amazing hires. the thing about there can be only one is a bunch of bull... extreme circumstances call for extreme decisions that may break the standard. on the week when the teams worked at sports stores and one team actually decreased sales by 30 some percent, instead of one, they fired 4 candidates, that was an extreme result from an extreme circumstance. never before had there been two final contestants whose final task performance didn't leave an obvious choice. two unprecendentedly strong competitors should have earned an unprecendented double hire.
so it goes. i'm irked.
the end.
so tonight's 2 hour final just wrapped up. i've had mixed feelings all week about who should be hired... randal's been strong and likeable throughout, but rebecca's earned my respect too. after seeing their events they both made mistakes, but they were all generally fixable, and they both came away having been very strong leaders.
i talked to my mom for a minute halfway through the episode and she commented "i bet he'll hire both".
i was hoping for just that.
when he hired randal, i was happy, but waiting for the "but..."... then the ending was basically trump asking randal, "so should i hire rebecca too?"
randal's comment?
"this is the apprentice, not the apprentii... no, there should only be one apprentice"
trump's reply was that he probably could have been convinced to hire both but since randal said no he'd leave it at that.
screw that.
they've fired many more than 1 several times this season, which is against the expectation; they totally could have hired both this time too. for once there wasn't a clear leader on the final task... they both did amazingly well.
for the first time all season, randal's final comment really irked me instead of making me proud of him.
what's done is done though. randal earned his job and will be an amazing hire. i just feel rebecca got a bit gipped too. he totally could have shared the honor with her and both been amazing hires. the thing about there can be only one is a bunch of bull... extreme circumstances call for extreme decisions that may break the standard. on the week when the teams worked at sports stores and one team actually decreased sales by 30 some percent, instead of one, they fired 4 candidates, that was an extreme result from an extreme circumstance. never before had there been two final contestants whose final task performance didn't leave an obvious choice. two unprecendentedly strong competitors should have earned an unprecendented double hire.
so it goes. i'm irked.
the end.
quote of the day
my students have their final exam tomorrow.
one of my students came in to my office hours this afternoon to ask, "so a couple of my friends are worried about the test tomorrow and totally don't understand their professor... i told them i absolutely love my TA... can they come in and ask you questions too?"
i told her sure... so besides my own students i had a few students who belong to a different TA who genuinely doesn't care to do a good job (he'd tell you as much himself). it made me smile that my students like me enough as an explainer to want to bring their friends. :)... another student brought friends too without asking... as long as they're not disrupting i don't mind at all.
office hours for the week are done... now the joy of proctoring a 3 hour exam tomorrow... tons of fun, right?
later dudes
one of my students came in to my office hours this afternoon to ask, "so a couple of my friends are worried about the test tomorrow and totally don't understand their professor... i told them i absolutely love my TA... can they come in and ask you questions too?"
i told her sure... so besides my own students i had a few students who belong to a different TA who genuinely doesn't care to do a good job (he'd tell you as much himself). it made me smile that my students like me enough as an explainer to want to bring their friends. :)... another student brought friends too without asking... as long as they're not disrupting i don't mind at all.
office hours for the week are done... now the joy of proctoring a 3 hour exam tomorrow... tons of fun, right?
later dudes
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
attention firefox users
if you haven't updated in awhile, now might be a good time to do it:
Bug Attack Targets Old Version of Firefox...
in other news, orange craisins make me think too much of fruitcake... they're not bad, but original (plain cranberry) flavor ones are definitely tops.
:-P
Bug Attack Targets Old Version of Firefox...
in other news, orange craisins make me think too much of fruitcake... they're not bad, but original (plain cranberry) flavor ones are definitely tops.
:-P
mathing it up
with my big exciting proof explained to dr. z. in our last meeting of the semester yesterday, and me turning in my combo final at the last class today (even though it's not due til next week), all i have left between me and the end of the semester is office hours for my students (tomorrow and thursday), proctoring their final exam (friday), and grading exams all day on monday... exciting, right?
but the math news doesn't end there.
(1) dr. z. and i had been working on an application for a supplement to his NSF grant earlier this fall. today he forwarded an email that NSF accepted our application and we get the grant. this gives me a semester off of teaching next fall, which is fantastic. there was also the proviso though that even though i did this application, if i also get the fellowship i was "interviewed" for earlier this month (find out in may), then eric gets my NSF grant money and i get the other fellowship so that we both get time off, even though i did both applications. technically the NSF money is through dr. z. anyhow so he can arbitrate as he chooses, so this isn't a problem... just it's super exciting that at least one of the two non-teaching funding sources came through for next year. :)
(2) i have a "final" version of my orals syllabus together. it's actually a little intimidating. once i turn in a printed version to the grad director tomorrow and he signs off on it, i have like a month and a half to know all the stuff here forwards and backwards... not excited. but hey, at least there's nothing of my own work for me to do *except* study for this between now and the test, so at least timing it with a break is good for that.... a month and a half of studying h*ll though... joy, joy.
done babbling.
later dudes.
but the math news doesn't end there.
(1) dr. z. and i had been working on an application for a supplement to his NSF grant earlier this fall. today he forwarded an email that NSF accepted our application and we get the grant. this gives me a semester off of teaching next fall, which is fantastic. there was also the proviso though that even though i did this application, if i also get the fellowship i was "interviewed" for earlier this month (find out in may), then eric gets my NSF grant money and i get the other fellowship so that we both get time off, even though i did both applications. technically the NSF money is through dr. z. anyhow so he can arbitrate as he chooses, so this isn't a problem... just it's super exciting that at least one of the two non-teaching funding sources came through for next year. :)
(2) i have a "final" version of my orals syllabus together. it's actually a little intimidating. once i turn in a printed version to the grad director tomorrow and he signs off on it, i have like a month and a half to know all the stuff here forwards and backwards... not excited. but hey, at least there's nothing of my own work for me to do *except* study for this between now and the test, so at least timing it with a break is good for that.... a month and a half of studying h*ll though... joy, joy.
done babbling.
later dudes.
Monday, December 12, 2005
quote of the day
*after i spent an hour showing my advisor what i proved this weekend*
dr. z. (my ph.d. advisor): "wow lara! this is beautiful! i'd be happy about math for a year if i were you! this is even more beautiful of a proof than i expected, and now that i've seen your maple program and your explanation, i believe in it 200%! i'll be happy when you get done with orals so they're not there to distract you from continuing to make beautiful results. don't even study too hard... even if the rest of the committee doesn't want to pass you, i'll twist their arms and bribe them just based on this result, so you will pass for sure. of course it would be nicer if you passed because you know the stuff, not because i pay them. yes... this proof is absolutely beautiful. you have made my week! what a wonderful mathematical christmas present for our last meeting of the semester. this is really beautiful!"
of course he wouldn't *actually* bribe the other professors to pass me, but it's exciting to hear him be so positive about my work... yeah, i'm in a good math mood this week. :)
now to write up my combo "final" by tomorrow (i have all the problems solved, just haven't been motivated to write them up), and study for this darn oral exam all throughout my christmas break.... but even if those two tasks are much more boring than research.... my advisor thinks i'm clever, and *that* is a wonderful feeling. :)
dr. z. (my ph.d. advisor): "wow lara! this is beautiful! i'd be happy about math for a year if i were you! this is even more beautiful of a proof than i expected, and now that i've seen your maple program and your explanation, i believe in it 200%! i'll be happy when you get done with orals so they're not there to distract you from continuing to make beautiful results. don't even study too hard... even if the rest of the committee doesn't want to pass you, i'll twist their arms and bribe them just based on this result, so you will pass for sure. of course it would be nicer if you passed because you know the stuff, not because i pay them. yes... this proof is absolutely beautiful. you have made my week! what a wonderful mathematical christmas present for our last meeting of the semester. this is really beautiful!"
of course he wouldn't *actually* bribe the other professors to pass me, but it's exciting to hear him be so positive about my work... yeah, i'm in a good math mood this week. :)
now to write up my combo "final" by tomorrow (i have all the problems solved, just haven't been motivated to write them up), and study for this darn oral exam all throughout my christmas break.... but even if those two tasks are much more boring than research.... my advisor thinks i'm clever, and *that* is a wonderful feeling. :)
Sunday, December 11, 2005
misc.
my mom called me yesterday to have the following conversation:
mom: lara! does your brother smoke?
me: yup
mom: how long have you known?
me: at least a year... he told me back then that you knew too... did you forget?
mom: i must have... last night as he was falling asleep he had a horrible smokers cough, and today i found cigarettes in his truck when i borrowed it. it worries me... what should i do?
me: um, you're the parent, and you're the one who used to be a smoker. if it bothers, you actually relate to him and have a chat. i just tell him it's yucky and not to do it around me, so certainly you'd be better at that game than i am.
in other news.... teaching tip # 13513412
if you're pretty sure your students don't like you much and want to seal the deal, plan a review session for a few days before their final exam, and then forget you scheduled the review and go to a christmas concert instead....
(one of my fellow grad students inadvertently did this today, and i happened to be working in the math building when all the students showed up confused, and shortly later annoyed... said grad student felt extremely horrible about it... it wasn't intentional... but dude, that is one way to make a sizeable group of college students angry fairly quickly.)
in other other news...
i bought cherry and orange flavored craisins tonight... we'll see which of the 3 flavors (these two and original) is best. :) seriously, i'm hooked... i can't stop eating dried cranberries.
the end.
mom: lara! does your brother smoke?
me: yup
mom: how long have you known?
me: at least a year... he told me back then that you knew too... did you forget?
mom: i must have... last night as he was falling asleep he had a horrible smokers cough, and today i found cigarettes in his truck when i borrowed it. it worries me... what should i do?
me: um, you're the parent, and you're the one who used to be a smoker. if it bothers, you actually relate to him and have a chat. i just tell him it's yucky and not to do it around me, so certainly you'd be better at that game than i am.
in other news.... teaching tip # 13513412
if you're pretty sure your students don't like you much and want to seal the deal, plan a review session for a few days before their final exam, and then forget you scheduled the review and go to a christmas concert instead....
(one of my fellow grad students inadvertently did this today, and i happened to be working in the math building when all the students showed up confused, and shortly later annoyed... said grad student felt extremely horrible about it... it wasn't intentional... but dude, that is one way to make a sizeable group of college students angry fairly quickly.)
in other other news...
i bought cherry and orange flavored craisins tonight... we'll see which of the 3 flavors (these two and original) is best. :) seriously, i'm hooked... i can't stop eating dried cranberries.
the end.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
quote of the night
eric: "dude, this job (listening to me explain my new conjectures and proof ideas) is a lot more fun than the 'eric, i feel stupid, why am i in grad school?' job!"
i think dr. z. is going to be the happiest ever with me on monday. :)
the end.
i think dr. z. is going to be the happiest ever with me on monday. :)
the end.
one of them crazy days...
so you read about the snow (which was had school in spite of)... there was class, there was pizza seminar, there were errands, there was realizing during pizza seminar that i have to tweak the bijection i found last night to really make it work, and i haven't fixed it yet, so that's tomorrow night... but then there was some fun.
my friend jessica is a grad student in philly. we know each other from HS so we hang out periodically either here or there. this was the first we'd gotten together since the 4th of july. anyhow, the plan was to go up to NYC to see this show
you'll notice from the title (walking in memphis) it already has hometown draw. what you probably don't realize is that jon, the guy performing the one man show, was one of our HS classmates. not someone i saw outside of school. i think the extent of our interaction was that he and i were in the same homeroom for 4 years and we might have had science class together in 9th grade. but he was a class officer, voted class favorite for the yearbook a few times, in all kinds of theater productions, and just generally involved in all kinds of things around the school and a friendly guy. since i saw him every morning in homeroom and that's about it, i figured maybe if there was time afterwards, we'd say hi and see if he recognized names, but didn't really expect anything more than that.
anyhow... jessica and i headed up to the city early... saw the rockefeller tree... ran by a quiznos deli... then went to the theater. half an hour early, we were the only ones in the theater... 20 minutes, still the only ones... 10 minutes, still the only ones... 2 minutes til 8, jon came out and beelined to me and said "you're lara p-------, i recognized you! what are you doing in new york these days?!", and then turned to jessica with "hi, i'm jonathan, and you are?" (he commented that 5 minutes into the performance he remembered her name too and it all came together... i was totally impressed he knew who i was without any prompting off the bat).
anyhow, he did the whole production for just me and jessica... comments about HS teachers were especially entertaining since i could picture the people he was talking about,... places in memphis were vivid too even though i have different memories... basically, it was his life story, interwoven with bits of the song "walking in memphis"... he really pulls you in while he's going... after talking about his grandmother's and his mother's deaths in the past few years, his last segment talked about how someone's smile, or smell, or laughter fades from memory over time, but stories never fade, they go on, and need to be told so they can keep going on. it was quality.
not to fear -- jon also told us that although we were the only two in the audience tonight, last night he apparently had a packed house... that it kinda goes up and down with the night and there's no telling how many people he'll have around... go figure.
totally didn't expect a personal greeting or such an intimate show. how bizarre would it be to perform a one man show for two people you vaguely remember from HS 7 years ago and that's it? from my point of view, though, not only was it a fabulous show, and well worth seeing (if you're around NY look into it while it's still running this month and a little into january), but it was also really cool to see what's become of someone who had a lot of talent in HS (and still does).
post jon's show, it was back to jersey where jessica and i paged through our HS yearbooks and chatted about how bizarre of an era that is, and about other such fun before we both dozed off while watched garden state... waking up again during the end credits, now it's time to crash for real.
anyhow, yeah, it's one of those "go figure" kinda days. (but in a good way)
really, now, time to crash.
later dudes. :P
my friend jessica is a grad student in philly. we know each other from HS so we hang out periodically either here or there. this was the first we'd gotten together since the 4th of july. anyhow, the plan was to go up to NYC to see this show
you'll notice from the title (walking in memphis) it already has hometown draw. what you probably don't realize is that jon, the guy performing the one man show, was one of our HS classmates. not someone i saw outside of school. i think the extent of our interaction was that he and i were in the same homeroom for 4 years and we might have had science class together in 9th grade. but he was a class officer, voted class favorite for the yearbook a few times, in all kinds of theater productions, and just generally involved in all kinds of things around the school and a friendly guy. since i saw him every morning in homeroom and that's about it, i figured maybe if there was time afterwards, we'd say hi and see if he recognized names, but didn't really expect anything more than that.
anyhow... jessica and i headed up to the city early... saw the rockefeller tree... ran by a quiznos deli... then went to the theater. half an hour early, we were the only ones in the theater... 20 minutes, still the only ones... 10 minutes, still the only ones... 2 minutes til 8, jon came out and beelined to me and said "you're lara p-------, i recognized you! what are you doing in new york these days?!", and then turned to jessica with "hi, i'm jonathan, and you are?" (he commented that 5 minutes into the performance he remembered her name too and it all came together... i was totally impressed he knew who i was without any prompting off the bat).
anyhow, he did the whole production for just me and jessica... comments about HS teachers were especially entertaining since i could picture the people he was talking about,... places in memphis were vivid too even though i have different memories... basically, it was his life story, interwoven with bits of the song "walking in memphis"... he really pulls you in while he's going... after talking about his grandmother's and his mother's deaths in the past few years, his last segment talked about how someone's smile, or smell, or laughter fades from memory over time, but stories never fade, they go on, and need to be told so they can keep going on. it was quality.
not to fear -- jon also told us that although we were the only two in the audience tonight, last night he apparently had a packed house... that it kinda goes up and down with the night and there's no telling how many people he'll have around... go figure.
totally didn't expect a personal greeting or such an intimate show. how bizarre would it be to perform a one man show for two people you vaguely remember from HS 7 years ago and that's it? from my point of view, though, not only was it a fabulous show, and well worth seeing (if you're around NY look into it while it's still running this month and a little into january), but it was also really cool to see what's become of someone who had a lot of talent in HS (and still does).
post jon's show, it was back to jersey where jessica and i paged through our HS yearbooks and chatted about how bizarre of an era that is, and about other such fun before we both dozed off while watched garden state... waking up again during the end credits, now it's time to crash for real.
anyhow, yeah, it's one of those "go figure" kinda days. (but in a good way)
really, now, time to crash.
later dudes. :P
Friday, December 09, 2005
lara's theory on snow...
1) lara loves snow
2) God knows lara loves snow
3) consequently, snow must be a sign that God loves lara
4) therefore, we can never have too much snow!!! =)
5) remember that some days the snow is invisible... (i.e. just because snow melts or it gets to be summer it doesn't mean God loves you any less)
6) if you are currently anti-snow, this does not imply God loves you any less.... God has many different signs of how much He loves us... I just particularly like this one. =)
(this was written in a past life where i was quite a bit more prone to be silly,.... but waking up to "big snow" that is supposed to be going for a few hours yet made me think of it...
5 was written after my friend nicole who told me 1-4 weren't good enough because then that means God doesn't like to show us he loves us in the summer
...and 6 was added to the canon when she pointed out people who don't like snow could still take offense at 1-5.
but no matter how you slice it, i love snow and it makes me happy :) )
2) God knows lara loves snow
3) consequently, snow must be a sign that God loves lara
4) therefore, we can never have too much snow!!! =)
5) remember that some days the snow is invisible... (i.e. just because snow melts or it gets to be summer it doesn't mean God loves you any less)
6) if you are currently anti-snow, this does not imply God loves you any less.... God has many different signs of how much He loves us... I just particularly like this one. =)
(this was written in a past life where i was quite a bit more prone to be silly,.... but waking up to "big snow" that is supposed to be going for a few hours yet made me think of it...
5 was written after my friend nicole who told me 1-4 weren't good enough because then that means God doesn't like to show us he loves us in the summer
...and 6 was added to the canon when she pointed out people who don't like snow could still take offense at 1-5.
but no matter how you slice it, i love snow and it makes me happy :) )
year in review
Go to your Calendar and find the first entry for each month of 2005. Post the first line of it in your journal, and that's your "Year In Review".
January:
in the last 24 hours
*lots of math
*a little packing
*drove to philly
*saw "reality bites" for the first time (and highly enjoyed it)
*went through a "family size" box of kleenex to keep up with the marathon my nose is running this week
*drove back from philly and dropped off film
*unpacked
in the near future?
*get my film back
*do a freakin lot of math
happy new year! :-P
February:
last night, i finished reading the case for christ... it's an... interesting read.
March:
as per www.weather.com
Winter storm along the Eastern Seaboard
8:30 P.M. ET 2/28/2005
Tom Moore, Sr. Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
Snow moved rapidly into Southern New England and Upstate New York on Monday evening. Parts of eastern New York, northeast Pennsylvania and interior sections of New England can expect six to ten inches of snow....
as a result, check out leigh, me, and leigh's first snowman ever :-P
April:
first terri schiavo's death after so much controversy and now it appears that the pope has at most the weekend... it's a crazy week in the universe.
May:
ode to the weekend...it was a good one....... you can't tell me my head isn't a very very strange place.
June:
days like today are fantastic.
jessica and i hadn't hung out since new years, and now, being BEFORE the REU, moreover today being one of the rare times jessica had an afternoon free from both of her 2 jobs, i drove down to philly and met up with her when she got off work after 2.
July:
this is the picture for july on my wall calendar. yay for escher :-)
August:
life goal #2013857 accomplished: last night i had a shot of absinthe with mike richter
(the goal was to try absinthe, not to drink with richter)
the end
September:
have you watched the news this week?
surely you're aware that hurricane katrina obliterated parts of louisiana and mississippi over the weekend. i was shocked yesterday when talking with friends that they knew hurricane katrina existed but they didn't realize how bad it was and hadn't looked at the pictures online or on the TV news.
every morning, after i work out, i eat a bowl of grits while watching msnbc for 15-20 minutes to catch up on what's going on in the world.
watching the video from new orleans this morning literally made me cry.
October:
most of today was spent grading... boring and didn't let me get to my own math. my students told lots of lies on their quizzes too.
November:
so every morning, i have a rule.
i don't care how much i'm in a hurry or how much i don't want to. my rule is: i'm not allowed to get out of bed and do anything until i've pulled the scale out from under my bed and stepped onto it.
doing this EVERY morning doesn't sound like it's that hard. it's less than 10 seconds of my day.
but i dare you. try it.
if you're at all not perfectly happy with your personal size and shape, some days it can be a lot more of a mental challenge than you would expect.
the end.
December:
how cool is this?
January:
in the last 24 hours
*lots of math
*a little packing
*drove to philly
*saw "reality bites" for the first time (and highly enjoyed it)
*went through a "family size" box of kleenex to keep up with the marathon my nose is running this week
*drove back from philly and dropped off film
*unpacked
in the near future?
*get my film back
*do a freakin lot of math
happy new year! :-P
February:
last night, i finished reading the case for christ... it's an... interesting read.
March:
as per www.weather.com
Winter storm along the Eastern Seaboard
8:30 P.M. ET 2/28/2005
Tom Moore, Sr. Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
Snow moved rapidly into Southern New England and Upstate New York on Monday evening. Parts of eastern New York, northeast Pennsylvania and interior sections of New England can expect six to ten inches of snow....
as a result, check out leigh, me, and leigh's first snowman ever :-P
April:
first terri schiavo's death after so much controversy and now it appears that the pope has at most the weekend... it's a crazy week in the universe.
May:
ode to the weekend...it was a good one....... you can't tell me my head isn't a very very strange place.
June:
days like today are fantastic.
jessica and i hadn't hung out since new years, and now, being BEFORE the REU, moreover today being one of the rare times jessica had an afternoon free from both of her 2 jobs, i drove down to philly and met up with her when she got off work after 2.
July:
this is the picture for july on my wall calendar. yay for escher :-)
August:
life goal #2013857 accomplished: last night i had a shot of absinthe with mike richter
(the goal was to try absinthe, not to drink with richter)
the end
September:
have you watched the news this week?
surely you're aware that hurricane katrina obliterated parts of louisiana and mississippi over the weekend. i was shocked yesterday when talking with friends that they knew hurricane katrina existed but they didn't realize how bad it was and hadn't looked at the pictures online or on the TV news.
every morning, after i work out, i eat a bowl of grits while watching msnbc for 15-20 minutes to catch up on what's going on in the world.
watching the video from new orleans this morning literally made me cry.
October:
most of today was spent grading... boring and didn't let me get to my own math. my students told lots of lies on their quizzes too.
November:
so every morning, i have a rule.
i don't care how much i'm in a hurry or how much i don't want to. my rule is: i'm not allowed to get out of bed and do anything until i've pulled the scale out from under my bed and stepped onto it.
doing this EVERY morning doesn't sound like it's that hard. it's less than 10 seconds of my day.
but i dare you. try it.
if you're at all not perfectly happy with your personal size and shape, some days it can be a lot more of a mental challenge than you would expect.
the end.
December:
how cool is this?
Thursday, December 08, 2005
!!!
i think i maybe just found the bijection i've been looking for all week!... now to prove it, and to program it... but those are definitely tomorrow and saturday jobs.
in other news... several inches of snow expected in the morning... will lara even have to go to school? we shall see...
in other news... several inches of snow expected in the morning... will lara even have to go to school? we shall see...
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
ode to craisins
leigh bought me another bag of craisins today to replace the bag i finished between sunday and monday.
seriously, i've heard of these things before, but never tried them before 3 days ago and i'm totally hooked.
you can blame it on msnbc... really. when i was in pittsburgh for thanksgiving, they did a short spot on health benefits of cranberries (e.g. see here: http://www.cranberryinstitute.org/emerging.htm or in more plain english: http://www.alderlakecranberry.com/healthonfo.asp or http://www.uscranberries.com/eng/consumer/health.cfm). apparently that, coupled with the ocean spray commercials they played right during the report stuck with my subconscious, so that when i went to buy a snack for the week i ended up with a bag of the aforementioned craisins.
now i can't stop eating the darn things. -- if you haven't had them, they're quite tasty.
(oh, and in case you're wondering why leigh magically appeared to replace my food... (a) she knows my wednesdays are exceedingly long and tiring, and (b) she feels guilty when she makes fudge (or anything else i've basically cut out of my diet) while i'm home to witness and be tempted, as she did on monday night, which is kind of funny, because whether i'm home when she bakes or not, the results are still in my kitchen the rest of the week anyhow... but mostly (c) leigh is just plain nice.)
to summarize: craisins rock -- you should try them too. :P
seriously, i've heard of these things before, but never tried them before 3 days ago and i'm totally hooked.
you can blame it on msnbc... really. when i was in pittsburgh for thanksgiving, they did a short spot on health benefits of cranberries (e.g. see here: http://www.cranberryinstitute.org/emerging.htm or in more plain english: http://www.alderlakecranberry.com/healthonfo.asp or http://www.uscranberries.com/eng/consumer/health.cfm). apparently that, coupled with the ocean spray commercials they played right during the report stuck with my subconscious, so that when i went to buy a snack for the week i ended up with a bag of the aforementioned craisins.
now i can't stop eating the darn things. -- if you haven't had them, they're quite tasty.
(oh, and in case you're wondering why leigh magically appeared to replace my food... (a) she knows my wednesdays are exceedingly long and tiring, and (b) she feels guilty when she makes fudge (or anything else i've basically cut out of my diet) while i'm home to witness and be tempted, as she did on monday night, which is kind of funny, because whether i'm home when she bakes or not, the results are still in my kitchen the rest of the week anyhow... but mostly (c) leigh is just plain nice.)
to summarize: craisins rock -- you should try them too. :P
yay :)
i totally (and literally) made one of my students light up and jump for joy at understanding the fundamental theorem of calculus this afternoon.
she came in to see me today and commented "i know this is huge and important, but we did it so fast in lecture yesterday and i totally don't get it"
when she suddenly clicked with what was going on while i explained it, she totally lit up and then commented "wow! that's what we've been working 12 weeks to get to -- that's sooo cool!"
after 3 recitation sections this morning that did get increasingly better (but the first one was rough... i can DO riemann sums... they're just hard to explain in more than one or two different ways), it made my day to see a student totally get excited and think a big theorem was cool instead of more annoying work to do.
anyhow, that makes me smile.
tired, and will be glad when today is done... seminar in half an hour.. later dudes.
she came in to see me today and commented "i know this is huge and important, but we did it so fast in lecture yesterday and i totally don't get it"
when she suddenly clicked with what was going on while i explained it, she totally lit up and then commented "wow! that's what we've been working 12 weeks to get to -- that's sooo cool!"
after 3 recitation sections this morning that did get increasingly better (but the first one was rough... i can DO riemann sums... they're just hard to explain in more than one or two different ways), it made my day to see a student totally get excited and think a big theorem was cool instead of more annoying work to do.
anyhow, that makes me smile.
tired, and will be glad when today is done... seminar in half an hour.. later dudes.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
random thoughts
* chili's strawberry margarita cheesecake is quite tasty
* so are craisins
* i'm tired of teaching... it's a good thing tomorrow's my last day teaching for the semester or i'd go nuts. the good students are generally a lot of fun to work with. (good being defined as the ones who actually try, regardless of their grades)... but the ones who aren't doing well and don't care to fix it make me sad and i'm running low on energy for them, and that makes me sad too.
* i really wish i knew how to prove the conjecture i showed dr. z. yesterday. research is much more fun than studying for quals, but it's incredibly irritating when you get to a sticking point.
* while i don't really mind my "recent" (ok, i mean for the past year and a half) trend of hanging out with people in groups of one, or max two besides myself, i really wonder sometimes how, if i don't ever change this trend, i'll make friends in the future whenever i'm done at rutgers. i guess i'll cross the bridge when i come to it, but sometimes i analyze these things, and i really have become quite the hermit over the past months.
* see the 3 europe trips in the "super exciting upcoming events" column on the sidebar? only one is officially confirmed, but the other two are increasingly likely. two of my favorite places on earth to go to again, airfare paid by the university... and possibly a new country to visit, again paid for by various academic sources -- i like that. :)
* the longer it runs, the more i ask myself why in the world i make time to watch "the office" every tuesday. it's getting increasingly ridiculous and stupid. i think i only watch it to see what's happening with jim and pam, but they've been dragging that one out since episode one. oh bother.
* many more thoughts in my head, but i think i'll stop while i'm ahead. night y'all.
* so are craisins
* i'm tired of teaching... it's a good thing tomorrow's my last day teaching for the semester or i'd go nuts. the good students are generally a lot of fun to work with. (good being defined as the ones who actually try, regardless of their grades)... but the ones who aren't doing well and don't care to fix it make me sad and i'm running low on energy for them, and that makes me sad too.
* i really wish i knew how to prove the conjecture i showed dr. z. yesterday. research is much more fun than studying for quals, but it's incredibly irritating when you get to a sticking point.
* while i don't really mind my "recent" (ok, i mean for the past year and a half) trend of hanging out with people in groups of one, or max two besides myself, i really wonder sometimes how, if i don't ever change this trend, i'll make friends in the future whenever i'm done at rutgers. i guess i'll cross the bridge when i come to it, but sometimes i analyze these things, and i really have become quite the hermit over the past months.
* see the 3 europe trips in the "super exciting upcoming events" column on the sidebar? only one is officially confirmed, but the other two are increasingly likely. two of my favorite places on earth to go to again, airfare paid by the university... and possibly a new country to visit, again paid for by various academic sources -- i like that. :)
* the longer it runs, the more i ask myself why in the world i make time to watch "the office" every tuesday. it's getting increasingly ridiculous and stupid. i think i only watch it to see what's happening with jim and pam, but they've been dragging that one out since episode one. oh bother.
* many more thoughts in my head, but i think i'll stop while i'm ahead. night y'all.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
yay snow!
look what i just woke up to: :)
... NJ's first snow of the year. :) i like snow. :)
unfortunately it's gonna be in the 40s all week (even today), so it'll go away fast... but it sure is pretty while it lasts!
later dudes :P
... NJ's first snow of the year. :) i like snow. :)
unfortunately it's gonna be in the 40s all week (even today), so it'll go away fast... but it sure is pretty while it lasts!
later dudes :P
Saturday, December 03, 2005
new york, new york
what a day
i've been up since 6, was out of the house by 7:30, and just got home within the past 15 minutes... jealous, i know, right?
here's the scoop. my friend josh is working in jersey city until april (since college he works with an IT company that sends them out around the country for projects for months at a time). since he's all of 40 minutes north of me, we agreed back in like august that we should hang out for a day in NYC sometime.... so today was finally that. here's the catch though. josh was a commuter at college and i wasn't. i basically saw him in classes and hung out with him a little more at math conferences. we've kept in touch, have fun, and get along well,... just like today, after about 2 hours was the longest by far i've ever hung out with the guy.
it wasn't just me and josh though -- he flew his younger brother ben out to see the city this weekend too. ben is probably about my brother's age.
it was a crazy long day, but lots of fun -- we even managed to do touristy things that i hadn't done yet.
*6am : up and about, breakfast, etc.
*7:30am : out the door to park my car and get train tickets
*8am: on a train to NYC... worked on math hw the whole way
*9am: in penn station, got a snack, and then headed down to the WTC train station where i was supposed to meet up with josh and ben... camped out in a corner and did math sitting on the floor for half an hour -- it was great, especially since i actually solved a few problems on the combo "final"... when you're just sitting in a corner scribbling on a piece of paper, people stop and look over your shoulder as they pass -- when they saw *what* i was writing, they tended to look at me really strangely before moving on... heh.
*10am: ben and josh show up (i arrived early b/c if i had taken the *next* train from my part of jersey into the city i would have been late)... even thought it was FREEZING, we walked our way down the battery park, via wall street and walking along the east river in order to maximize famous things to see along the way.
*11:15am: we buy tickets to take the ferry to liberty island. actually going inside the base of the statue is free, but requires advance tickets they hand out at 8:15 so we weren't planning on doing it; HOWEVER, the people in front of us had just showed up to turn their tickets in because they didn't have time to do it anymore, so completely by chance, the cashier handed us 3 tickets to go INSIDE the statue, which i totally didn't get to do the other time i was there.
*12:45pm: after waiting an hour in line, going through ridiculous security (since we were all wearing so many layers to fight the cold, taking off all the required items to put through the scanning machines was like stripping then redressing for all of us... it was a bit of work), and then going through even more ridiculous security (there was one set of stuff to go through to get on the boat to liberty island,... then there was an even more high tech set of security to go through in the base of the statue before they let you on a tour), we were set to see the inside... a park ranger gave us a talk on the history of the statue, then we went through the museum in the base of the statue.. at the top of the base, they turn on lights and let you look through a glass ceiling into the inside of the actual statue (which has been closed since 2001 and still hasn't reopened mostly because it doesn't meet code for being able to evacuate people quickly)... it was majorly cool. also, when the security guard marked my ticket to indicate i'd passed security and already entered the statue for the day, he drew a smiley face on the back... i didn't see him draw than for anyone else... it made me laugh. :)
*3:30pm: after getting food on liberty island (i got surprisingly fantastic bread-bowl chili), we headed back to mainland manhattan... it was 4ish before we were actually off the boat again.
*4:30pm: done with lady liberty, we headed uptown... when i watched the local news when i was up at 6:30 this morning, i heard that the small book publishers group was having their 18th annual book fair today and tomorrow, and josh thought it sounded really cool, so we scoped it out... they had a panel from 5-6 about "is blogging dead?" that we went to too... ben slept.
*6pm: we fought our way up 5th ave. to the rockefeller tree, and got caught in the worst people traffic jam ever... the tree is gorgeous as always though.... josh and his brother periodically burst out into random songs, some of which i knew, and others which i didn't but were just plain amusing... it was an entertaining walk.
*7pm: after wandering some more, we made it up to planet hollywood and waited in a killer line for some food
*8:30pm: happily full we did some random shopping and spent quite a bit of time in the virgin records megastore on times square... i ended up with the new james blunt CD which i'd been pondering getting for awhile, and now, after hearing it out, i'm glad i did get it... i also ended up with a johnny horton CD that josh picked out and said i needed, and i helped him pick out some johnny cash for himself.
*10pm: at long last, caught a train home and was stuck next to a loudly snoring narcopleptic guy most of the way... oh well.
anyhow, super long day, and now i'm really ready to crash.
i bet *you* didn't see the inside of the statue of liberty today. :)
night y'all!
i've been up since 6, was out of the house by 7:30, and just got home within the past 15 minutes... jealous, i know, right?
here's the scoop. my friend josh is working in jersey city until april (since college he works with an IT company that sends them out around the country for projects for months at a time). since he's all of 40 minutes north of me, we agreed back in like august that we should hang out for a day in NYC sometime.... so today was finally that. here's the catch though. josh was a commuter at college and i wasn't. i basically saw him in classes and hung out with him a little more at math conferences. we've kept in touch, have fun, and get along well,... just like today, after about 2 hours was the longest by far i've ever hung out with the guy.
it wasn't just me and josh though -- he flew his younger brother ben out to see the city this weekend too. ben is probably about my brother's age.
it was a crazy long day, but lots of fun -- we even managed to do touristy things that i hadn't done yet.
*6am : up and about, breakfast, etc.
*7:30am : out the door to park my car and get train tickets
*8am: on a train to NYC... worked on math hw the whole way
*9am: in penn station, got a snack, and then headed down to the WTC train station where i was supposed to meet up with josh and ben... camped out in a corner and did math sitting on the floor for half an hour -- it was great, especially since i actually solved a few problems on the combo "final"... when you're just sitting in a corner scribbling on a piece of paper, people stop and look over your shoulder as they pass -- when they saw *what* i was writing, they tended to look at me really strangely before moving on... heh.
*10am: ben and josh show up (i arrived early b/c if i had taken the *next* train from my part of jersey into the city i would have been late)... even thought it was FREEZING, we walked our way down the battery park, via wall street and walking along the east river in order to maximize famous things to see along the way.
*11:15am: we buy tickets to take the ferry to liberty island. actually going inside the base of the statue is free, but requires advance tickets they hand out at 8:15 so we weren't planning on doing it; HOWEVER, the people in front of us had just showed up to turn their tickets in because they didn't have time to do it anymore, so completely by chance, the cashier handed us 3 tickets to go INSIDE the statue, which i totally didn't get to do the other time i was there.
*12:45pm: after waiting an hour in line, going through ridiculous security (since we were all wearing so many layers to fight the cold, taking off all the required items to put through the scanning machines was like stripping then redressing for all of us... it was a bit of work), and then going through even more ridiculous security (there was one set of stuff to go through to get on the boat to liberty island,... then there was an even more high tech set of security to go through in the base of the statue before they let you on a tour), we were set to see the inside... a park ranger gave us a talk on the history of the statue, then we went through the museum in the base of the statue.. at the top of the base, they turn on lights and let you look through a glass ceiling into the inside of the actual statue (which has been closed since 2001 and still hasn't reopened mostly because it doesn't meet code for being able to evacuate people quickly)... it was majorly cool. also, when the security guard marked my ticket to indicate i'd passed security and already entered the statue for the day, he drew a smiley face on the back... i didn't see him draw than for anyone else... it made me laugh. :)
*3:30pm: after getting food on liberty island (i got surprisingly fantastic bread-bowl chili), we headed back to mainland manhattan... it was 4ish before we were actually off the boat again.
*4:30pm: done with lady liberty, we headed uptown... when i watched the local news when i was up at 6:30 this morning, i heard that the small book publishers group was having their 18th annual book fair today and tomorrow, and josh thought it sounded really cool, so we scoped it out... they had a panel from 5-6 about "is blogging dead?" that we went to too... ben slept.
*6pm: we fought our way up 5th ave. to the rockefeller tree, and got caught in the worst people traffic jam ever... the tree is gorgeous as always though.... josh and his brother periodically burst out into random songs, some of which i knew, and others which i didn't but were just plain amusing... it was an entertaining walk.
*7pm: after wandering some more, we made it up to planet hollywood and waited in a killer line for some food
*8:30pm: happily full we did some random shopping and spent quite a bit of time in the virgin records megastore on times square... i ended up with the new james blunt CD which i'd been pondering getting for awhile, and now, after hearing it out, i'm glad i did get it... i also ended up with a johnny horton CD that josh picked out and said i needed, and i helped him pick out some johnny cash for himself.
*10pm: at long last, caught a train home and was stuck next to a loudly snoring narcopleptic guy most of the way... oh well.
anyhow, super long day, and now i'm really ready to crash.
i bet *you* didn't see the inside of the statue of liberty today. :)
night y'all!
students here, there, and everywhere
when i was younger, it was always funny to run into my teachers outside of school. probably different for me since my mom was my 2nd grade teacher and my k-8 teachers were all her friends and coworkers (and still are)... shoot half of them get christmas cards from me to this date... so in elementary school it was a common thing to see my professors "in the real world". in high school if it happened, since i was already used to seeing the elementary teachers, again it wasn't a big deal. nonetheless, i remember other classmates of mine commenting how weird it was to run into teachers someplace where you don't expect to run into them.
this has been a week of running into students past and present.
while in the student center on thursday, i saw a girl studying in a corner, and as i did a double take i was trying to figure out "what section do i see her in on wednesday mornings?".. as she looked up and smiled at me with "hi lara", it dawned on me "none -- she's one of your REU students from this summer!" and we stopped and talked for a bit. that was fine since she and i got along in the summer and she was a good student, and it was good to run into her.
when i went to pizza seminar yesterday, another of my REU students was there. i could place him immediately since he was in my combinatorics class last fall and his REU project mentor was another grad student with an office down the hall from mine... nonetheless, he's kinda nodded at me throughout the semester without much to say -- he was a student who skipped a lot of things he was supposed to attend, and it was my job to "remind" them of their responsibilities to attend things this summer, so he looked a little startled when i said hello to him, but whatever.
last night, tired, cold, and in sweat clothes, i walked into riteaid to buy a steno pad and new pens for working on the train to NYC this morning... immediately i ran into one of my students from this semester -- (half of riteaid is a liquor store and it's the only one i know of in my neighborhood and he was buying beer)... it's one of my students who asks a lot of questions during class, but sits in the back and doesn't talk to me much before or after class, so when we both saw each other and both said hi, he looked a little startled to have run into his calculus TA while buying beer.
all this said -- it was never weird to me to see my teachers because my life was a special case (i am, after all, a teacher's kid!). but now that i'm on the other side of the coin (being the "teacher" whose presence startles the students who don't expect to see you) it's moderately entertaining to gauge reactions.
...................
in other news
* i had dinner at eric's house last night with him and his housemate laurie... tofu with mushrooms, brocolli, and every possible kind of spice from the spice cabinet... surprisingly good
* i wrote 50 out of my 108 christmas cards last night... yay lara!
* since i bought so many christmas cards at hallmark, they gave me a free book about snowbert and snowbelle the snowman family. :)
* in case you're wondering, i'm up so freakin early on a saturday (check out the time stamp) because josh, one of my valpo friends, and i are hanging out for the day in NYC today... and i have to be outta here by 7:40 to catch the right train and have time to get on the subway to where i'm meeting him and his brother. since josh is working in jersey city these days, he just has a 5 minute train ride, so he can *wake up* at 9:45 and still be on time. oh well... at least i can do hw on the train? other than freezing cold weather, it should be a fun day.
breakfast time... later dudes!
this has been a week of running into students past and present.
while in the student center on thursday, i saw a girl studying in a corner, and as i did a double take i was trying to figure out "what section do i see her in on wednesday mornings?".. as she looked up and smiled at me with "hi lara", it dawned on me "none -- she's one of your REU students from this summer!" and we stopped and talked for a bit. that was fine since she and i got along in the summer and she was a good student, and it was good to run into her.
when i went to pizza seminar yesterday, another of my REU students was there. i could place him immediately since he was in my combinatorics class last fall and his REU project mentor was another grad student with an office down the hall from mine... nonetheless, he's kinda nodded at me throughout the semester without much to say -- he was a student who skipped a lot of things he was supposed to attend, and it was my job to "remind" them of their responsibilities to attend things this summer, so he looked a little startled when i said hello to him, but whatever.
last night, tired, cold, and in sweat clothes, i walked into riteaid to buy a steno pad and new pens for working on the train to NYC this morning... immediately i ran into one of my students from this semester -- (half of riteaid is a liquor store and it's the only one i know of in my neighborhood and he was buying beer)... it's one of my students who asks a lot of questions during class, but sits in the back and doesn't talk to me much before or after class, so when we both saw each other and both said hi, he looked a little startled to have run into his calculus TA while buying beer.
all this said -- it was never weird to me to see my teachers because my life was a special case (i am, after all, a teacher's kid!). but now that i'm on the other side of the coin (being the "teacher" whose presence startles the students who don't expect to see you) it's moderately entertaining to gauge reactions.
...................
in other news
* i had dinner at eric's house last night with him and his housemate laurie... tofu with mushrooms, brocolli, and every possible kind of spice from the spice cabinet... surprisingly good
* i wrote 50 out of my 108 christmas cards last night... yay lara!
* since i bought so many christmas cards at hallmark, they gave me a free book about snowbert and snowbelle the snowman family. :)
* in case you're wondering, i'm up so freakin early on a saturday (check out the time stamp) because josh, one of my valpo friends, and i are hanging out for the day in NYC today... and i have to be outta here by 7:40 to catch the right train and have time to get on the subway to where i'm meeting him and his brother. since josh is working in jersey city these days, he just has a 5 minute train ride, so he can *wake up* at 9:45 and still be on time. oh well... at least i can do hw on the train? other than freezing cold weather, it should be a fun day.
breakfast time... later dudes!
Friday, December 02, 2005
hurricane epsilon
check it out!: Epsilon Becomes Record 14th Hurricane
i'd been crossing my fingers for this one -- don't worry it's not expected to make landfall anywhere and hurt people... it's just a hugely ironic name.
do any of you non-mathematicians out there get the joke?
seriously, this totally makes my day.
the end.
i'd been crossing my fingers for this one -- don't worry it's not expected to make landfall anywhere and hurt people... it's just a hugely ironic name.
do any of you non-mathematicians out there get the joke?
seriously, this totally makes my day.
the end.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
apprentice -- the final two!
this was probably my favorite episode of the season.
last week, i was sad when adam went, mostly because felisha and alla get on my nerves, but the reason he left made sense -- he made a bad decision with the budget and it was time for him to go. good guy, just still a little young and lacking in experience.
anyhow, this week:
rebecca and randal (my favorite two for quite some time) vs. felisha and alla (the two cliquey catty girls i haven't been able to stand all season)
when randal and rebecca kicked butt on the video advertising project and felisha and alla screwed up i was already pleased to see one of the annoying girls was going home and my two favorites were safe.
here's some telling statements. rebecca didn't say anything that overly stuck out at me tonight, but randal's reaction at seeing his wife as part of his reward for winning was him saying in an all excited high pitched voice "i got to see my wife!!!" with the biggest grin on his face was really sweet. btw, here's something random. randal is a '94 grad of rutgers... check out our website this week: http://www.rutgers.edu/... he's still who i'm pulling for to win.
here's telling statement #2. alla was right when she commented early in the show that felisha's game face had totally changed this week and that felisha was suddenly insecure and lacking confidence in herself. the whole tasks felisha was concerned that enough of her effort was evident in the task in case it came to the boardroom.
but when felisha was emotional at dinner with alla, and alla's comment to the camera was "i don't relate at all to people who get depressed, all i can do is sit there and laugh at them"... and she's saying this about her "best friend" of every week previous... there's something just plain wrong about that. it's one thing to be strong and tough and not show your own emotions. it's another thing to be completely callous and so into the game that you lack compassion.
i loved the way the boardroom played out. going in, everyone, including felisha and alla seemed certain that felisha was going home and alla was safe, when really things got directed at alla and her attitude. when felisha was in tears after alla *falsely* accused her of lying about their roles in the task, donald rightly commented "you're a talented and smart woman, but i don't think you're tough enough for this town... felisha, you're fired".
alla, immediately got up beelining for the door, when donald told her to sit, and fired her too for being unmanageable. for all her cockiness, she got what was coming to her. i can't imagine wanting to work with a person who is quite that callous... to turn around and say about someone you've worked closely with and appeared to be friendly with "i can't understand stress and frustration, i'm just laughing at her because she's weak and i'm strong" was horrid.
anywho, rebecca and randal are it, and that makes me happy. i'm still betting on randal to win, but both are worthy competitors and next week should be entertaining to watch... we shall see!
the end.
last week, i was sad when adam went, mostly because felisha and alla get on my nerves, but the reason he left made sense -- he made a bad decision with the budget and it was time for him to go. good guy, just still a little young and lacking in experience.
anyhow, this week:
rebecca and randal (my favorite two for quite some time) vs. felisha and alla (the two cliquey catty girls i haven't been able to stand all season)
when randal and rebecca kicked butt on the video advertising project and felisha and alla screwed up i was already pleased to see one of the annoying girls was going home and my two favorites were safe.
here's some telling statements. rebecca didn't say anything that overly stuck out at me tonight, but randal's reaction at seeing his wife as part of his reward for winning was him saying in an all excited high pitched voice "i got to see my wife!!!" with the biggest grin on his face was really sweet. btw, here's something random. randal is a '94 grad of rutgers... check out our website this week: http://www.rutgers.edu/... he's still who i'm pulling for to win.
here's telling statement #2. alla was right when she commented early in the show that felisha's game face had totally changed this week and that felisha was suddenly insecure and lacking confidence in herself. the whole tasks felisha was concerned that enough of her effort was evident in the task in case it came to the boardroom.
but when felisha was emotional at dinner with alla, and alla's comment to the camera was "i don't relate at all to people who get depressed, all i can do is sit there and laugh at them"... and she's saying this about her "best friend" of every week previous... there's something just plain wrong about that. it's one thing to be strong and tough and not show your own emotions. it's another thing to be completely callous and so into the game that you lack compassion.
i loved the way the boardroom played out. going in, everyone, including felisha and alla seemed certain that felisha was going home and alla was safe, when really things got directed at alla and her attitude. when felisha was in tears after alla *falsely* accused her of lying about their roles in the task, donald rightly commented "you're a talented and smart woman, but i don't think you're tough enough for this town... felisha, you're fired".
alla, immediately got up beelining for the door, when donald told her to sit, and fired her too for being unmanageable. for all her cockiness, she got what was coming to her. i can't imagine wanting to work with a person who is quite that callous... to turn around and say about someone you've worked closely with and appeared to be friendly with "i can't understand stress and frustration, i'm just laughing at her because she's weak and i'm strong" was horrid.
anywho, rebecca and randal are it, and that makes me happy. i'm still betting on randal to win, but both are worthy competitors and next week should be entertaining to watch... we shall see!
the end.
