Paper woes

Turns out neither of my papers from last semester were accepted.

If you are interested in reading the latest one, you can find it here.

Cheese on cheese with a side of cheese, please.

Here I sit. I'm eating crackers that I bought at the lunch cart downstairs. They are cheese crackers with cheese spread between them. Pretty tasty. Pretty bad for me. They are also very hard to eat quietly. *CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH*

If I would have bought food when I intended to, maybe I would have gotten a good salad or something. Unfortunately, I ran in to my adviser today. I would say this is the first time I've seen him in almost a month. He was wearing his usual leather jacket. The sleeves are slightly too long and he always hangs his arms at his side like they do not work. He looked tired. Hell, he always looks tired. He wants to meet with me. I said sure...

What am I going to say?! I need a brainstorming session. I need... ugh. I need sleep. And maybe more crackers.

In the mean time, I will continue to work on my math exam. I'm debating whether or not I should try to catch the professor in his office today. There is one question that is giving me particular difficulty... and I think everyone is having the same troubles. I'm going to be up all night. Maybe I'll actually go to Al's Breakfast in the morning. One things for sure, the meal I have there won't be as delectably cheesy as these crackers. Unless you can breed cheese and get eggs from it.

Ok, I'm done talking about crackers. I promise.

Burning Anguish

I have a confession to make: I've never burned a DVD. That's right. I spend the majority of my waking hours in front of a computer, and I've never burned a DVD. This weekend, I made the resolve to learn how and burn something to try on the DVD player in the living room.

I recently got a new computer, at least, almost all of the parts are new. I had to switch from my normal IDE drive to a new SATA drive. I found a Nero disk in my box-o-computer stuff and installed it. For some reason, there were no DVD options. I chalked this up to the fact that it was a watered down version they send out with new drives. I grumbled and struggled further with the program.

I finally found a really great program called DVDFlick that is amazingly easy to use. I put together the necessary files and embarked on the long process for properly encoding it to be played in a DVD player. For a half hour, I sat and scratched my head about why it wasn't giving me the option to choose a DVD drive, why my drive wasn't working... basically what was going on in general.

I bend down and look at my drive. DVDROM. MY DRIVE... IS NOT A BURNER.

I feel like a moron. I'm going to have to install my IDE expansion card and install the other drive, or maybe just order a new SATA burner. It's not like they're expensive. I wasted a lot of time for nothing. Well, what's new?

And that is my story of Burning Anguish.

This campus is just too big for the both of us.

Given an opportunity, I call or text my sister and ask her if she'd like to get food with me. Today, I had an opportunity, and plans were made. She had 30 minutes between classes, and I suggested that I buy some pita chips and hummus and we eat them together by her classroom. This sounded like a fantastic idea. I purchased some of the aforementioned ingestables from the sandwich-cart/thing at the electrical engineering building and also bought a bottle of Pibb Xtra. Little did I know that the next 20 minutes would be filled with absolute confusion and mayhem.

"Yeah, my class is in third floor ...aaake"
"Where? Tate?"
"Yeah."
I shrugged, thinking That's not very far from here... but continued over to Tate, the physics building. I didn't see her, so I called and asked which side she was on.
"Oh, I'm over by the ...in..amn..."
"You're by the Tin Man? Well, come over here, I'll stay where I am by the bike rack."
"Ok"
I stepped outside the physics building. I could practically see the tin man from where I was standing, how could I have missed her? I called her back.
"Where the heck are you, I haven't seen you walk by"
"I'm up on the third floor."
"Of Tate?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'll head over there... but I'm staying on the phone with you"
"Kay."
I walked back to the physics building, mumbling to Tara about how I didn't see her. I walked through the WHOLE third floor of the physics building.
"You have a class up here?"
"Yeah in the computer lab."
"Uhh..."
I paused. There is nothing but OFFICES on the third floor of Tate.
"Tara, are you sure your class is in the physics building?"
"Physics building? No, my class is in ... aake"
"Tate?"
"No, PEIK."
"Gaaaah. I thought you said Tate. You're all the way across campus"
"Well, I've got 10 minutes, head over here."
"Nooo we wouldn't get the chance to eat anything, it takes almost that long to walk over there."
"Okaaay. When are you going to be home?"
"NEVER."

This campus is too big, with too many buildings with similar sounding names. Especially when using a big smart phone with poor reception.

At least these pita chips are tasty.

Andrew Bird - "Tenuousness"

"Tenuousness" is from Andrew Bird's new album Noble Beast. This video is great, the song is great... Much of the lyrics don't make sense(hell even the title is a weird Andrew Bird contraction, see Imitosis for another example), but that's normal for Andrew Bird. Also, great video (albeit not official).



Tenuous at best was all he had to say
when pressed about the rest of it, the world that is
from proto-Sanskrit Minoans to Porto-centric Lisboans
Greek Cypriots and and harbor-sorts who hang around in quotes a lot

Here's where things start getting weird
while chinless men will scratch their beards
and to their minds a sharpened axe
is brushed upon the Uralic syntaxes

Love of hate acts as an axis
Love of hate acts as an axis
First it wanes and then it waxes
So procreate and pay your taxes

Tenuousness
Less seven comes to three
Them, you, us plus eleven thank the heavens for their elasticity
And as for those who live and die for astronomy

Know when to stand or when to sit
Can't stand to stand can't stand to sit
Now who would want to know this

Click
Click
Click

Who wants to look upon this
Who wants to look upon this
Pray tell

Who wants to look upon this
Who wants to look upon this
Pray tell
Pray tell

Tenuousness
Less seven comes to three
Them, you, us plus eleven comes just shy of infinity
and as for those who live and die from numerology

Epigenetics and Memes

For my seminar today, the speaker is going to be lecturing about "epigenetics" for two hours. Now, this is a word I probably hadn't heard before reading an insightful review on the topic.

Basically, epigenetics asks the questions about both nature and nurture when determining a phenotype. Epigenetic inheritance is when the experiences of parents directly affect the expression of genes in offspring. Also, the initial definition of the word "meme" comes in to play here. It was thought that memes explained epiginetic inheritance.

However, findings in the field of epigenetics hold little clout, as there is not enough evidence to back up the claim of gene rememberance. The article also brings up Lamarckism, the concept that we all remember from high school biology, in which Lamark thought that giraffes had developed long necks due to generations of giraffes stretching their necks to reach food, thus affecting DNA. Instead, epigenetics inheritance does not rewrite DNA, but modifies the gene expression in offspring. This must be where the whole "If your maternal grandfather was bald, you'll be bald too" thing comes from.

I like this stuff. I can't wait until my seminar later.

Obligatory wikipedia links:

• Epigenetics

• Meme

Found in a file on my phone

Once upon a time, I sat on the warm pavement of my parents' driveway on a summer evening. The sun was setting, and for some reason I couldn't stop typing horrible metaphors and other nondescript descriptions. These entries got saved in my phone. I will share them with you now:

Melon colored twilight
Somebody else's pillow
Cat created blindness
Still except for the airconditioner
Downtown blues flow
Pay parking forever
Concrete train car
Fluffy white panther
Smile on your back
Bruised earth knee
Polka in stripes

---

That is all.

Fire and Ice

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost is one of my favorite poems. This comic is great.

That's all I have to say.


http://cowbirdsinlove.com/450

Sufjan Stevens- Chicago

For some reason, this song popped in my head. I am not a huge fan of Sufjan Stevens, but I have to admit that his Illinoise album is pretty awesome. I like his music, but I don't really like his voice.

Anyway, this is one of his hits from 2005, "Chicago."



Lyrics:
I fell in love again
all things go, all things go
drove to Chicago
all things know, all things know
we sold our clothes to the state
I don't mind, I don't mind
I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go

I drove to New York
in the van, with my friend
we slept in parking lots
I don't mind, I don't mind
I was in love with the place
in my mind, in my mind
I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go

if I was crying
in the van, with my friend
it was for freedom
from myself and from the land
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes
I made a lot of mistakes

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
all things know, all things know
you had to find it
all things go, all things go

you came to take us
all things go, all things go
to recreate us
all things grow, all things grow
we had our mindset
(I made a lot of mistakes)
all things know, all things know
(I made a lot of mistakes)
you had to find it
(I made a lot of mistakes)
all things go, all things go
(I made a lot of mistakes)

LAN PARTY WEEKEND

It is officially Spring Break. I have approximately 10 days without class. I am spending three of them at a LAN party and the rest of the time at my parents house, keeping a watchful eye on my father. It will be an interesting week.

First off, I am at a REAL LAN PARTY right now. I've been here since about 1pm and it is now 7:45 am the next morning... I haven't slept and I don't know if I will for a while. There are about 50 people here in a stinky smelly basement... huge CRT monitors on long tables facing blue-painted concrete walls. Almost everyone that is still up is playing World of Warcraft. So far, we have played WoW, Warcraft 3, and Left 4 Dead. It has been an interesting experience so far it has been pretty fun. I'm getting very tired. However, there are only so many stinky smelly couches in this stinky smelly basement. At this particular instant in time, all of the couches are taken by stinky smelly sleeping nerds. I'd sleep on the floor but it is dirty and stinky/smelly.

I'm thinking about replacing my CPU fan yet again. Earlier, whilst running WoW, my computer topped out at about 80 degrees celcius. This problem was fixed by removing my new power supply from the case and setting it on top of the computer. Right now, with no games running, I'm at 46 degrees celcius. *sigh* I think it's time to invest in a new case instead of worrying about it. When I spend time in Duluth with my father, I will put it in a new case. I believe that I also need to help my father install a video card.

I have a feeling this blog entry will become rather long and rambling... so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead. Perhaps I'll write another post later today. But, yes, LAN parties are alright.

You are obviously very intelligent...

It have come to realize that people tend to tell me:

You are obviously very intelligent...

What does this mean?

Do I appear unintelligent but because people know I have completed a bachelors degree and am in a graduate program, I must be intelligent and they are just reassuring themselves that this is the case?

Or do I actually appear intelligent and people are so in awe of my brainpower they must say it out loud as some sort of compliment?

I vote for the first one.

Best webcomic about grad school... ever.

Piled Higher and Deeper is the best comic about the graduate student experience. Not only is it funny, but it almost always nails what it's like to be a grad student. I might have to buy one of the books just to put on my coffee table.

Check it out at phdcomics.com

A sampling of my favorites:

Reflections (sans grad school bullshit)

I'm sitting in my new home in Minneapolis. I have my own, rather luxurious room. I have my bed and my computer and my bean bag and my desk... I have my books and clothes. All the essentials are here with me. Over the last five or so years, I've accumulated these things. Some of my possessions have moved with me several times. This is my fifth place of residence in Minneapolis... not including the apartments I semi-inhabited with my ex-boyfriend.

This is the first time I've lived in a house. Not a duplex, or a dorm, or an apartment, but a house. As I have progressed in years, my dwellings have also progressed. From a dorm room to a shared room in a "cookie-cutter" apartment building to sharing that same apartment with my ex and my sister to my own room in a duplex shared with men to the anomaly of the crappy one bedroom with my sister to my own room in a full house. Where am I going to move to next? Will it continue to be to bigger and better things? Will I continue to spend my days in this mill-worn city?

Life is a long and arduous journey. I sometimes ask myself... why can't I settle for mediocrity? Why can't I just get a crappy 9-5 job and be content with myself? When will I stop pushing so hard? I feel like the kid in that ubiquitous Far Side cartoon, pushing against the pull door at the school for the gifted. How hard to you have to push on a pull door before it opens? Shall we calculate the force required to break a hinge? How hard to you have to push before you give up and walk away? How long do you push before you realize you're making a mistake and need to pull instead?

When do I make a move? A move that doesn't involve packing and boxes and UHaul rentals... but one that involves the position of the swinging door in my mind that allows me to be content. In all my pondering on grad school and life, I still haven't made up my goddamned mind.

It's time to get the Magic 8-Ball and leave my happiness to the hands of fate... or, in the case of the Magic 8-Ball, a buoyant dice roll. As Einstein said, God does not "play dice." Good thing I'm human.

Andrew Bird- "Fitz and the Dizzyspells" music video

I would have to say this is my least favorite song on Andrew Bird's new album Noble Beast. This is mostly because it is considered "the single" of the album. It is most "commercially viable" or something like that.

However, this music video made with a marching band and non-album cut has made me think more of it.

Andrew Bird with Mucca Pazza - "Fitz & The Dizzyspells”



He even performed it live on Letterman:


In any event, here are the lyrics:

Comes and goes,
Like in fitz and dizzy spells
Like the weather
And it blows
Like it knows what's going wrong
Like it's clever

Has a name but the name goes unspoken
Weather wanes were all twisted and broken
So soldier on, soldier on
Soldier on, soldier on

Flailing to the whir of a snack machine
And muted screams of an old regime
And then oh something gets in
The nightshade gets in
We were all fast asleep
Were all so fast asleep

But you woke us
You woke us from the strangest dream
that an aubergine could ever know
Would ever know
Would ever

Lava flows over crooks and craggy cliffs to the ocean
And explodes in a steam heat fevered cyclical motion
Has a name but the name goes unspoken
It's in vain cause the language is broken
So cast your own, cast your own (Soldier on)
Cast your own (Soldier on)
Cast your own (Soldier on)
Soldier on, soldier on

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon excerpt

I've been reading Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. I'm about 2/3 of the way done. One particular passage struck me as poignant and interesting. I will share it with you.

" If patterns of ones and zeros were 'like' patterns of human lives and deaths, if everything about an individual could be represented in a computer record by a long string of ones and zeros, then what kind of creature would be represented by a long string of lives and deaths? It would have to be up one level at least -- an angel, a minor god, something in a UFO. It would take eight human lives and deaths just to form one character in this being's name -- its complete dossier might take up a considerable piece of the history of the world. We are digits in God's computer, she not so much hummed to herself to a sort of standard gospel tune, And the only thing we're good for, to be dead or to be living, is the only thing He sees. What we cry, what we contend for, in our world of toil and blood, it all lies beneath the notice of the hacker we call God. "

Busy couple of weeks

It has been a busy couple of weeks in my life.

I had my birthday (including rainbow cake, a drunken evening, and a weekend at home with a lovely crab dinner and fancy cake).

Then I had a week in which I was just plain crazy, capped off by a wonderful weekend in New Jersey with Keith. We went to the ocean, saw Lucy the Elephant, and had some tasty cheese in Philadelphia. We also watched a fair number of action movies and played some fun video games.


Whilst I was visiting Keith, I received a number of emails from a possible subleaser and set up a meeting with her that Tuesday. She came and viewed the apartment and decided she wanted it. I think this was mostly because she HAD to have an apartment for March 1st and Florence Court is only a half-shit hole. (If I were optimistic about it would I say half-best-place-ever?)

Last week I finished setting up renting our new place of residence: a lovely house up in the Como neighborhood. This involved many phone calls, scraped-together bank checks, and of course, MOVING. This Friday, my sister and I managed to move all of our belongings (save for a few boxes). This involved a full 9am to midnight run at it. Luckily, David, Moose, and Mat were there to help us out.


Now I'm back to normal Adriana life.... troubles with my adviser, problems with grad school, etc.

I'm going to post a link so that I have it for later. It may interest anyone who actually reads my blog as well: History of Computability

That's all, folks.