My anaconda don’t want Huns unless we got Mulan, son
I am DONE with this semester!
Well, almost. I gave my final presentation in 601 today, but I still have to turn in my paper by the 15th. No big deal, though, ‘cause it’s already about 97% written.
So have some Ray to celebrate, because Ray is awesome.
Relief (sort of)
So this morning was the final for STAT 701.
(And I accidentally went to the wrong room at first because I totally forgot our final was in a different room than our normal one. Oops.)
It…it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, actually. There were a few super specific questions, but there were also questions that were very similar to the questions on our previous midterms.
So yeah. Now all I can do is wait for my grade and hope that I did well enough.
But that’s a huuuuuuuuuuge stress gone, at least. Now all I have to do is worry about my 601 project, which I’m really not too concerned about, since it’s just analyzing some data and then presenting said analysis, which is something I love doing, especially since I get to make a POWERPOINT!
(I love PowerPoint.)
Right now, however, all I’m going to do is go home and rock out to music for the rest of the evening.
Shock and Awful
I am inadequaaaaaaaate why am I even in grad school?
(It’s one of those days, sorry.)
(No, I’m not sorry.)
(I can feel like an incompetent piece of nonsense if I want to, dammit.)
(And I want to.)
(Parentheses.)
[I can also feel inadequate because I totally skipped over this post back in November when I was supposed to post it.]
Best Part of the Year
GUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYZ IT’S SCHEDULE TIIIIIIIIIIIME!
Hi.
Okay, so…good news! I don’t have to take Stochastic Methods: U of C Version! I get to take two classes I REALLY am excited for!
Next semester’s classes include:
STAT 517: Practice of Statistics
This is technically for senior undergrads, but we can take up to two 500-level courses as grad students and have them count. This one is taught by my supervisor, Dr. Chen, and he recommended I take it, so there ya go. Apparently this is like a “real world stats” class intended for students going out into the work force as statisticians. Says the official description: “The emphasis is on how to address real world scientific and social issues by applying the various statistical methods acquired in the earlier years in a unified and appropriate way. This involves method selection, data handling, statistical computing, consulting, report writing and oral presentation, team work, and ethics.” Apart from the teamwork aspect, YAY.
STAT 621B: Research Seminar
This is a year-long course, so I’m already in it and know what it involves. It’s actually a cross-listed seminar required for all the statistics, pure math, and applied math students, and we all have to give a talk on a research topic of interest. This semester all the math people are going and it’s actually been really interesting stuff so far. I can’t wait ‘till I get to tell them about MEASURING MODEL FIT!
STAT 625: Multivariate Analysis
I’ve had like forty* multivariate analysis classes, but according to Dr. Chen, this one will focus more on the theoretical side rather than the applied side. Which will be super cool. If we get to do factor analysis, I’m going to pee my pants from joy.
ALSO:
U of I schedule is out!!!! Time to make my fake schedule for Spring 2015:
MWF
MATH 386: Theory of Numbers (9:30 – 10:20)
HIST 350: The Age of Enlightenment (11:30 – 12:20)
STAT 516: Applied Regression Modeling (12:30 – 1:20)
MUSA 317: University Chorus (2:30 – 3:20)
MW
ENGL 492: Advanced Fiction Writing (5:00 – 6:20) (I don’t care that I’ve already taken this)
TH
ART 241: Sculpture 1 (8:30 – 11:20)
PHIL 325: Existentialism (12:30 – 1:45)
Why does UI start offering the badass classes AS SOON AS I LEAVE? A lot of other good ones overlapped with these though (Concert Band, for one, which is why I’ve got University Chorus on there. I haven’t sung since elementary school but WHO’S GONNA STOP ME?!), so it would be hard to do this for real.
*Two. I’ve had two multivariate analysis classes.
F(l)ail
(This was supposed to be yesterday’s blog, but in the wake of the Ottawa incident, I decided to delay it until today)
The bad: So that midterm I had last Friday? 19/30.
The “good”: The class average on that midterm I had last Friday? 15/30. All the people I study with got 14s. The obscenely smart 2nd year guy got like a 25. A few people got a “see me” written on their tests by the prof (not sure who, though).
Seriously, a 19 out of 30 BLOWS HEAVY METAL DICKS, but I probably would have gotten a higher grade had I actually finished (I accidentally screwed up on one question and had to go back and correct a bunch of math and lost a lot of time), so there’s that. Also, a 19/30 is a 63%, which is actually a high C here. Also also, this midterm (and the next one) are each only worth 20% of our grade.
So I’m certainly not proud, but I’m not in panic mode (yet).
Edit: I talked to my supervisor (who teaches the class, haha), and he said my grade was actually one of the highest ones and told me not to panic. He said some people got 7s and 8s.
So yeah.
Hahaha
I like U of C’s math/stats department already:
Lab Time
EEEEEEEEEEE TEACHING!
Well, sort of.
Today was the first day of labs, which for me meant running two hour-long labs for the intro stats class here. While today was basically teaching them how to open/use Minitab and how to access their online assignments, in future labs will involve going over concepts taught in class and/or helping them prepare for the midterms.
Not the same as teaching my own class, but it’ll do. Explaining stats is like my favorite thing to do anyway.
SORRY I’M SO BORING HAVE A PICTURE OF THE CALGARY TOWER INSTEAD:
Grad School: Round 2.5
SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
I’m only taking two classes (plus the seminar course) this semester, but I’m also TA-ing two labs (which will start next week) and running two hours of the continuous stats tutorial (which is Canadian for “drop-in stats help” similar to the way we do it at UI).
I had Stat 701: Probability this morning. It’s taught by my supervisor, Dr. Chen, who seems super cool (even though I haven’t met him one-on-one yet).
I also don’t have access to my office yet ‘cause they lost the key (?!), but hopefully they’ll find it sometime this week. In the meantime, I’m hanging out in the giant Taylor Family Digital Library, which is huge and warm and library-ey.
YAY!
(These blogs will get more interesting soon, I promise. I’m still getting into the swing of things up here and so I don’t really have much to say.)
Social Time
So today was “math/stats graduate student department orientation day” and what happens to me a half an hour before I’m ready to go to campus? A freaking migraine aura! So I stumbled around all my unpacked crap to find my Excedrin (luckily it was accessible), stumbled around trying to get dressed, then finally got to the math/stats building with help from my mom, ‘cause I couldn’t see a damn thing.
I also learned that while neither sound nor light bothers me when I’m having my aura (or the headache following it), riding in the car makes me want to puke up my soul.
Luckily, my vision started to return about an hour into orientation and I’d taken the Excedrin early enough so that I didn’t have a SUPER bad migraine, and by 11 or so I felt back to normal.
The universe is sure giving me a rough time about Grad School Part 2.5, lemme tell ya.
(More of) Claudia’s Canadian Adventures
IT’S CALGARY TIME!!
We left around noon today with the U-Haul. After getting through the border crossing in record time (there were NO other cars there and they didn’t even ask us to stop and come inside), we stopped in Cranbrook for the night. Hopefully we’ll get to Calgary around noon tomorrow.
EXCITED/SCARED/NERVOUS/FREAKING OUT/REALLY COLD IN THIS HOTEL.
Last day in Moscow!
Annnnnnnnnnd I’m leaving.
Again.
Hopefully it will be for longer this time, ‘cause I don’t want to screw this up like I screw up everything else in my life.
Everything is IN THE U-HAUL (including, for about 30 seconds, MewMew) and now I just have to finish cleaning the basement.
Annabelle is totally stressed out. She hates change as much as I do.
I’m totally stressed out, too.
SHORTBLOG!
Eigenblogger 