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Academic year= DONE
YAY, classes are done for the semester. Once this thesis insanity is over, I’m freeee! Which may be another few months, unfortunately.
But whatever.
Sorry for the short blog. Long day. April’s always the least exciting time of the year for me.
My current level of frustration can be expressed as follows:
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A Red Sea and its Better Half are Soon Parted
So I’ve made my decisions.
Thesis defense will, if everything works out, occur sometime in May (the earlier in the month, the better).
I will then be done with my program here and have decided to move east to London, Ontario to pursue a PhD in philosophy (particularly the philosophy of science, more particularly the philosophy of statistics) at the University of Western Ontario.
Yup. Finally getting off the west coast.
The fantastic road trip across the continental US will occur sometime in August, for which my mom and I shall rent a van and drive the suggested Google Earth route, which involves passing through as many states as possible:
It will be wicked.
Here are some fun facts about London, Ontario:
– It sits on the Thames River. Not kidding.
– Population of approximately 350,000 people.
– Halfway between Toronto and Detroit.
– More southern than Boise.
– Affected by thunderstorms more than any other city in Canada (AWESOME).
– Home to the most technologically advanced Kellogg’s plant in Canada.
– Not Vancouver, and therefore not a rainy hellhole.
And a few fun facts about the University of Western Ontario:
– 20,500 undergrads, 4,500 grads.
– Ranked 164th university in the world (UBC is 44th).
– The philosophy of science program is ranked as a second tier program according to Philosophical Gourmet.
– Second largest philosophy department in Canada (largest is University of Toronto).
Yayzorz.
Claudia’s Trans-Canadian Adventures: Day 2
Dear University of Western Ontario,
You are a creepy hybrid and I think I’m in love with you.
Seriously, both the campus and town are some sort of freakish, almost impossible combination of Moscow/UI and Vancouver/UBC.
I like it here. The bus system seems reasonable, it’s not raining, people actually have their own senses of style instead of all wearing the same coat, the same boots, and the same scarves, and…oh yeah: THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT FREAKING RULES.
It’s the second largest in Canada and has a tier 2 ranking for philosophy of science (which is pretty awesome, considering there is only one school in tier 1). There’s also a special institute called the Rotman Institute of Philosophy to which you can apply and get a special office in a separate part of the building with a bunch of other phil of sci dorks. How awesome is that?!
Other bonuses:
- It’s not raining.
- The rec center. Holy crap, it’s amazing.
- You can RENT AN OFFICE IN THE LIBRARY. Your own library home. Holy Jesus crackers.
- Prices! They’re reasonable!
- There’s a Pita Pit here. There’s one in Vancouver, too, but it’s downtown and too far to go for sexy pitas.
- It’s not raining.
- The local stations seem to really like Futurama.
- You’re encouraged to take classes outside of the phil department if they apply to you.
- They have a marching band!
- The layout of the grad student housing rooms is almost identical to the layout of my apartment here.
- Did I mention it’s not raining?
It was a good day.
It looks like it can be a good future.
Every time you fail to staple your homework, God kills a TA.
Dear undergraduates of the world:
So there’s this cool little invention I’d like to tell you all about, ‘cause I think it could really improve your life and the lives of those around you. It’s called a staple and it’s here to reinvent the idea of a cohesive set of homework pages belonging to a single individual.
Let me lead you now through the thought process of an overworked TA as they truck through the grading of 100+ intro stats assignments.
1:23 AM: Only ten more assignments to go, this shouldn’t take much longer!
1:24 AM: Oh look, this group of papers is held together by a folded corner. What genius thought that type of binding would hold up being shoved around in a box with 200 other assignments?
1:24 AM: Surprise surprise, there’s only a name on the first sheet.
1:24 AM: And the sheets are all done in different colors of pen (seriously, this really happens).
1:27 AM: Now that I’ve wasted precious minutes making sure the handwriting looks similar enough across the pages to assume that they came from the same individual, let’s get down to grading.
1:31 AM: Handling grading this with the key would be much more streamlined if these pages were all somehow cohesively bound.
1:36 AM: I HATE THIS STUDENT SO MUCH RIGHT NOW.
1:38 AM: THEY CAN’T SPELL OR ATTACH PIECES OF PAPER TO ONE ANOTHER.
1:38 AM: F-!
1:39 AM: MUST TRY TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE TO SURVIVABLE LEVEL.
1:48 AM: Sigh. Okay. That one’s done. Let’s move on.
1:49 AM: Oh look, this group of papers is held together by a folded corner.
Repeat.
Seriously. Not a tough concept. Staples are not an endangered species, nor are they protected under any sort of natural resource safeguard law.
Use them. PLEASE.
AAAAHHJESUSJESUSHOLYFREAKINGCRAP
I…I have no words. These topics are…me. Almost every single one of the articles/chapters on this page is something I’d kill to study.
This wonderful, glorious human being is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include general philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, and philosophy of statistics. Therefore, I must apply to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
MY DESTINY LIES IN THE MIDWEST!
I’m off to go dance around now. This made me more excited than anything probably should.
Today’s song: U + Ur Hand by P!nk
How many grad students does it take to configure an office space?
Answer: Three. One to try and decide in what arrangement the desks should be, one to move said desks, and one to realize, after all possible combinations of desk arrangement have been attempted, that they’ve decided on keeping the desks in the order they were originally.
Yeah.
Related news: I’m moving to the Botany Annex, ‘cause the Social/Personality area needs more space. It’s okay, though, ‘cause in the Annex the windows actually open.
Woo.
Today’s song: Put Your Hands Up for Detroit (Radio Edit) by Fedde Le Grande
You can’t spell “analysis” without “anal”
R: $0.00
Tinn-R: $0.00
Stats classes that taught me how to use R: $900.00
Grad school: $2,700.00/semester
Packs of gum to chew when nervous: $30.00
Amount of money I could have earned working in the time I’ve spent on this one figure manipulation (BC minimum wage style): $400.00
Figuring it out finally and, for once, not getting bitched out by my anyone: Priceless
There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s banging your head against a brick wall until epiphany happens.
Today’s song: Palladio by Karl Jenkins
The First Floor of Koerner Library is the Scariest Place on the Planet
So for the first time today, I went down to the first floor of Koerner Library (the entrance is on the third floor and the majority of the books I ever check out are on the fourth and fifth floors). But thanks to the desire to read Dr. Zhivago, I had to go down instead of up this afternoon.
And this is all I have to say: that is the creepiest motherfucking floor of any library I’ve ever been in.
Libraries are usually, to me, quite comforting things—they inspire one to write, they inspire one to read. They’re fun to get lost in and wander around until you find the obscure little corners full of shelves of authors’ works that sit largely unread by the general public (the structural equation modeling section, anyone?). In short, they’re motivating, quiet, wonderful things that serve to quench intellectual wanderlust.
The first floor of Koerner was none of these. I just wanted to sprint to Pasternak’s little corner, snatch up my book, and get the hell out. There was no one down there, however, save maybe two people. So ignoring the not-so-subtle drone of the building air intake wall (which you shall see), I took a short little video of the place.
The creepy vibe on the video doesn’t even reach 10% of the level it is in real life. Seriously. It was scary as hell down there. That humming you hear when I’m close to the vent is much louder in real life, too, and permeates throughout the whole floor at a level my camera mic can apparently not pick up. Check it out:
Oh yeah, and those wheel things on the sides of the shelves swing the shelves outward so people can get to the journals inside. The second time I’m zooming in on the vid is where a wheel is turning, but you can’t see it, unfortunately.
Gah.
Today’s song: Show Me Love by Robyn
And so it begins. Again.
Blah, so I got back to Vancouver today.
We had to drug Annabelle for the car ride, but she was still freaking out in her carrier so I had to keep her on my lap the whole time. I guess the drugs made her unable to work her back legs, because at one point she kind of sank down into the gap between the middle seat and my seat with only her head and front paws sticking out. It was pretty cute. I don’t think she remembers any of it.
But yeah, I probably won’t be back to Moscow until summer (if at all, it depends on what I’m doing at that point).
Now we wait around a few days until my mom’s boyfriend gets here and they go sailing for a few weeks. It’s going to be an interesting few days when they’re both here in my apartment.
Woo.
Today’s song: Rude Boy by Rihanna
This blog is worth 60% of your final grade
I have a bit of an issue with this article. Not because I’m like “oh hey, I got straight A’s through college and I don’t regret it one bit LOL,” but because half the things he cites as reasons to “regret” the experience are things that can be easily avoided.
1. No one has ever asked about my GPA.
Not after you graduated, probably not. But did you ever apply for scholarships? GPA certainly matters for financial reasons while still in school, so if some scholarship/funding/what not requires high grades in order to hand you cash, why not give it a shot? Research supervisors also look at this before they decide whether or not they want to work with you.
2. I didn’t sleep.
The only time I really had the “there’s physically no way I can fit sleep into my schedule” problem was during the 25 credit semester of doom, but that was also because I would spend four hours a night watching YouTube videos, talking to Sean, making dumb Flash, and just generally dinking around. Honestly, you CAN sleep and get a 4.0.
3. I’ve forgotten 95% of it.
If what you’re studying isn’t important enough to you for you to even attempt to remember it past the tests, you’re probably studying the wrong thing. Hell, I know I didn’t retain anything from my core requirements classes ‘cause I was like “pfft, this stuff is boring and irrelevant and I feel like making dumb cartoons instead.” But if I had been like that in every class, I would think I would have realized that I was not studying the right thing.
4. I didn’t have time for people.
Take a class with some friends (band, anyone?). Organize study sessions with those people who fall into the “we know each other from class fairly well” group of friends. Make one day of each week a day where you don’t do anything school-related (for me, this was and still is Saturday…it kept me sane, and it IS possible to do).
5. Work experience is more valuable.
It depends on the major, really. The physical sciences and engineering? Sure. Business and law? Definitely. The fine arts and things like philosophy? Maybe not so much. Also, it’s pretty difficult to find relevant work experience for some majors.
What about Graduate School?
Haha, yeah, no kidding. I think this should have been listed as a preface. “Does grad school apply to you? Ignore this entire list.”
Today’s song: American Cowboy by Jada
Claudia vs. Her Educational Path (round 147)
Sigh.
Okay.
Here we go again.
Last week I met with Victoria and she told me that due to my grad academic standing/undergrad GPA/publications, I’m 90% guaranteed to get funding for the PhD program up here (which is apparently pretty rockin’ odds). Still though, there’s a chance I won’t get funding, especially if the amount of total funding for the department continues to decrease. So it’s common for advisors to encourage their students to apply to other PhD programs, just in case.
Herein lies yet another “oh crap, I have to make an academic decision, whatever should I do?” moment. So common in my life, eh?
www.philosophicalgourmet.com has UBC ranked for their Philosophy of Science PhD program, which is something I’m really into. I’m pretty sure I could get into it, as GRE scores are not required and I think I have all the classes required to skip the MA. The only problem I foresee is that of the three philosophy professors I feel that could write me recommendation letters, only one is still at the U of I. And as sexy as Dr. O’Rourke is, I don’t know if they’d allow one sexy professor’s letter to count for three.
I could totally get a Census job with an MA in quant, and I’d love to teach philosophy if the opportunity were to arise, so…
So.
Who knows.
Blah, ignore this. Why must my two passions be so incompatible?
Today’s song: Throwing Fire by Ronald Jenkees
Appropriately, my summer begins today
Sort of. I’m still technically “enrolled” in my thesis, so I still should be doing research.
Which I am.
What joy.
But at least there are no more classes until September, so I’m FREE FROM CAMPUS! I’m coming back to Moscow on Sunday. Be prepared.
I also had an exceptionally strange dream last night. I can’t really say much about it except for the fact that it involved a lot of whipped cream, nudity, and swimming pools.
That is all.
Today’s song: Jukebox (Radio Edit) [Feat. Nicco] by WaWa
Eine Kleine Nachtfieber
God, today was a shit storm. FUCK YOU, test anxiety, and your ability to turn my near-automatic calculus abilities into “what’s a multiplication sign? I’ve never seen that before.” I can do that stuff in my sleep (quite literally), and you know it. I don’t know why you only do this with math tests. It was like a direct repeat of my final for Math 160.
Seriously. Fuck you.
Ugh.
The ONLY GOOD THING that happened today was going to see Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” First opera experience. Won’t be the last.
Today’s song: Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner
Social interaction? WHAT
Yay, first actual social interaction since finals (Boston doesn’t count; I was sitting in the corner doing calculus the whole time).
And Michael and I reconciled our differences (we had a bit of an argument regarding who invented calculus. It was pretty great). We didn’t agree on the fact that LEIBNIZ was first, but we did have a nice little conversation extolling R and bootstrapping, so we decided that counts.
Yay.
And this is pretty great; it gets more impressive as the video goes on. The tweezers part is my favorite.
Today’s song: Love Struck by V Factory
Waiter! There’s an infinite loop in my Waiter! There’s an infinite loop in my Waiter!…
OH JESUS 4 TIME ZONES IN 8 HOURS.
I woke up at 8 AM Eastern time (early morning poster sessions need to die) and got back here just now at midnight Pacific time. You do the math, I’m too jazzed up to think (mainly because I did about 200 calculus problems on the planes).
I’m also not tired at all. I guess conference stress = my body going “I DON’T NEED FOOD! I DON’T NEED SLEEP! LET ME DO CALCULUS!”
Anyway. Here are like five pictures I took from the conference, ‘cause I don’t take many pictures ‘cause I’m me.
The only time I ventured outside the hotel. I was looking for pain meds.
The poster session room.
More poster session room fun.
This would have been a better picture of the APS logo projecton, but there were like 4,000 people in the lobby and I didn’t have time to turn off the flash before people started walking over it.
Here’s my poster!
My poster was probably the biggest one at our session (8 feet wide, almost). There were about four of us in a row with quantitative-related posters and we were pretty much ignored the entire session, which was okay with me, ‘cause there was a dude advocating Bayesian reliability next to me and he was pretty cool to talk to.
There was something else important but HELL IF I CAN REMEMBER IT!
CAPS LOCK
Today’s song: Brazilian (Original Mix) by Gramophonedzie
SLEEPYHEAD THERAPY
Ah, United States, I’ve MISSED YOU.
Milk does not cost an obscene amount and I can get a crappy sandwich at a gas station for under $8. It’s not raining incessantly and there are fat guys everywhere. America…FUCK YEAH!
So I finally took a break from calculus today to check my email. Got a $16,000 scholarship for next year and some check waiting for me for $1,000. I have NO IDEA why I’m getting this random check, but I’m not going to complain.
And I just might buy a guitar with part of it. Damn you, Sean.
Today’s song: The Champions by Era
Apparently the derivative of a lip ring is a Monroe
Yeah. When you start finding the derivations of various facial piercings in your dreams, you know you’ve done way too much calculus the day before.
I’m totally serious, I start spacing off and then realize that I’m daydreaming about DERIVATIVES.
This is FREAKING AWESOME.
On a somewhat related note, I went to a symposium on dreams this morning. One of the presenters gave a really interesting talk in which he displayed art students’ artistic interpretations of their dreams while reading their dreams aloud to us. I thought it was pretty interesting how many of the dreamers presented exaggerated or inappropriate emotional responses in their dreams. I can only think of a few examples of my own dreams (the Boxy Boxy dream, the Maggie = Spearow dream, though I think “shock and awe” were fairly appropriate emotional responses there) where I, in my dream, acted with exaggerated or simply the incorrect emotions.
Also, according to another guy it’s pretty rare for people to dream of numbers/calculations. Those are also fairly common in my dreams, but usually to a lesser extent than they are when I’m doing crap loads of calc problems per day, and usually happen right before I wake up.
Today’s song: Angel by Sarah McLachlan
Blog 1,487: Boston!
Holy crap, it’s 80 degrees here!
And it’s nearly midnight and I’m sitting in the hotel lobby frantically looking for a song for today. Luckily, guests get free internet. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring Vaio (for his safety) and have to secure one of the four open-use computers for my daily music acquisition tasks. Not going to be easy for these next few days.
Haha, sorry, long flight (San Francisco to Boston). I’m kind of zoned out.
Today’s song: Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim
I am deriving so much pleasure from calculus that I may need to integrate it into my daily life
HOT DAMN I love calculus.
And no, it’s not just because the great and glorious Leibniz invented it, either. It’s very methodical and I actually know what the hell I’m doing (for most of it). I think I hated it so much the first time around because it was at 8:30 in the freaking morning AND because it was all business-oriented. And because I didn’t really care back then. I dig the tediousness of it all—it’s less tedious than eigenvalues (thank god) but still fun. It feels weird to be doing a metric crap ton of math homework again.
Oh, and THERE’S A FREAKING ICE CREAM TRUCK OVER HERE, TOO! Totally not an imaginary one, either…I saw it go down 43rd street blasting out a lullaby.
I’m not insane. Bad ass.
Today’s song: Glycerine by Bush
Grad school is for neurotics
Over the past few days, I’ve had one-on-one conversations with about eight people in various stages of their graduate education (we were going over problem set answers, talking about bitchy advisors, not wanting to do our work, etc.). In each of these conversations, we somehow got around to talking about how we felt about grad school in general, and in each case, every person said something to the effect of, “promise not to tell anyone, but…” and then proceeded to explain how inadequate and unworthy of grad school they felt, how stressed out they were, and how they thought everyone else was much further along in their research and doing much better in their programs then they were.
In short, I’ve deduced that we’re pretty much all neurotic, perfectionistic, school- and grade- and career-obsessed weirdos who have nothing better to do on a Friday night then get together and talk about the Regression problem sets (I kid you not).
I think it’s interesting how everyone, in their own way, has had that feeling of “oh shit, I shouldn’t be here, I’m so far behind all these other people…they’ve all probably got their thesis ideas in mind, their advisors probably love them, I want to quit…” etc., etc.
I think it’s even more interesting that no one seems to think that anyone else gets this way. “Promise not to tell anyone, but…” But what? You’ve felt the same inadequacies that it seems like everyone else here has?
It’s a very strange environment. And we voluntarily chose this insanity.
Today’s song: Remedy by Little Boots
Eigenblogger 