vocation

I just accepted a position as a research aide in the computer science department at UIC. Looks like it should be interesting, and hopefully developmental. I guess getting a paycheck is a good thing, too. Not sure how much or what exactly it will entail, I have some hints, but we'll see. I also don't know how large of a team is working on this problem.

Glenwood disaster area

This is the side street by our home. Mostly little antennas sticking out of snow banks. Reminds me of a Norwegian commercial where a guy spends all morning digging his car out of the snow, hits his key fob to open it, and the car in front unlocks.

Snow removal

This is our task force at work! My having the camera makes it look like I didn't do any of the work, but I assure you it was quite the opposite.

Christmas

After bailing on our planned expedition to Omaha at the Iowa border, we had a very relaxing Christmas day. We went in the early afternoon to catch the first showing of Black Swan, which was incredibly intense. I understand why some reviewers accuse Natalie Portman's acting of being passive, but the visuals combined with the music kept us both on the edges of our seats.

We went back that evening to see The Fighter, which was a good movie, but not a surprise, since you rather expect things to go the way they do. The sisters had to be the best part of the film, sitting on the couch, complaining and organising trouble...

This has to be the first Christmas in years we haven't been up to our ears in family members. I don't expect to set a precedent, but it was a welcome change.

Grades

For anyone who found this and is concerned, I managed to get a 4.0 this (Fall 2010) semester at UIC. In the words of the internet:

Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.
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So now I am dying to see what it can feel like when I'm in over my head. Registered for 16 credits again, and informally auditing another 3 credit course. So I should be set with Intro to Adv Math, Linear Algebra I, Macroeconomics, Programming Tools, Intro to Probability, and Financial Mathematics. That's 2 graduate level courses and 4 undergrad. Hope it all goes as well this time

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Project Euler

I just advanced to level one on Project Euler, after solving the 25 easiest problems. (Actually, 1-23, 25, and 48).

I'm pretty happy about that, and will be calling it a day right now. I need time to digest these amazing bit-field sieves, where membership is binary. That is way faster than my naive listing of all members and their values...

Latest Readings

Shame on me for stumbling on something wonderful. I sure am a sucker for koans. (I'm especially a fan of ones where Sussman is the apprentice). But these are fine, too:
Zen Stories to Tell Your Neighbors