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11 / 17 / 08
This week and was completely unproductive. Well, I guess that’s not entirely fair. I did get my death knight from level 55 to level 66. I see now why the death knight is called a hero class. Robyn and I used to have to team up to take on the mobs in Outland. With this death knight I can solo eight of them at one time. I can’t even imagine Blizzard keeping the class the way it is. They’re almost certain to nerf it. I was thinking about trying to get my death knight to 70 before Robyn got back, then I decided that sleep was important. I forced myself to stop early tonight. The last two nights I stayed awake playing until the sun came up. I have got to make myself go to bed tonight, while it still is night time. However, although I got zero work done I declare this week a success!
11 / 14 / 08
Today feels like a Saturday. It feels like one of those Saturday’s back at Carnegie when I used to sleep until 3:30, but that’s probably because I did sleep until 3:30. It’s been a good day so far. Breakfast, radio, a little bit of Internet; it’s amazing how much you can accomplish when you have nothing to do. Today is the second day of the WoW Lich King release. I started my death night and I promised Robyn I wouldn’t level my 70 until she got back from Texas. She’s there visiting her brother, her mother, and her nieces. She tells me know Charlotte is prettier in person than in picture but I have a feeling things won’t have improved for Vivian. It’s quiet with Robyn gone. There’s very little TV and almost no screaming. I think the cats are bored though and I feel sorry that there’s not someone else here to entertain them. I told myself I would take this weekend off and just sit home and play WoW. I’m not sure I can actually bring myself to do it. The guilt is already welling up inside me and I feel a strong urge to get back to my homework. I also can’t stop thinking about my experiment. I finally found all the cables I think I need to start locking the laser and I feel a welling urge to be back in the lab fiddling with knobs and buttons. Lazy also feels really good though. I think I’d have to characterize my emotions as a fat girl walking on a tightrope. She may wobble for a while but once she starts to fall there’s no way she’s going to catch her balance again. I might be able to make a compromise now. I do have my statistical mechanics book here and the queue to get into WoW can be pretty long. I guess it sounds like a bit of a mind. Off I go!
11 / 6 / 08
Friday night was fun. Robyn, Charlotte, Haroon, and I went to a nightclub called the Clarendon ballroom in Clarendon. I dressed up as the Hamburglar, Robyn was a boxer, Charlotte was a 1920s socialite, and Haroon and was a monk. We stood in line for 2 hours outside the place but we saw all kinds of cool costumes while you’re waiting. We met two girls from George Mason who helped us find and “evaluate” the costumes we saw. One girl in line behind us was wearing an egg crate on top of her head. We tried a long time to figure out what her costume was supposed to be. We finally found out by eavesdropping that she was supposed to beat eggs over easy. We got inside around 11 and went downstairs check out the bar. The place was packed. The bar was crowded and the lights were low and there was a lot of grinding going on in dark corners. We stayed down and danced for a little while before heading upstairs. We didn’t stay long in the middle floor because it was crowded and slippery. A lot of spilled drinks and it just wasn’t very pleasant. The upstairs though was very nice. The third floor was an open rooftop bar and the air was refreshing after being downstairs in the dark.
So that was Halloween. In more recent news we have a new president. Last Sunday night I caught Hillary Clinton’s final stump speech before the election. I just showed up on campus and heard music echoing down the courtyard. When I got to the source Tim and Rebekah were already standing there waiting. Two days later I was standing in a booth selecting Barrack Obama for president. He started his acceptance speech almost exactly a midnight, which is pretty cool, because the 5th is Kelly’s sister Tegan’s birthday. Perfect timing. His speech was inspiring. For the first time since I can vote I have hope and faith and confidence in the president. I feel like the future is full of promise. I’d better go. I’m already an hour and a half late for my meeting. The foregoing just like to point out that this is the first post that I’ve created using the voice to text software on my computer.
11 / 5 / 08
Once you past a certain level of tired, it becomes really difficult to focus on homework. I'm at about a 6, maybe 7 right now. MIA - Paper Planes. I can't escape it.
10 / 4 / 08
9 / 29 / 08
Note to self: call the utility company and have them turn off my nose. The drip is really obnoxious.
9 / 28 / 08
My cat has taken to pulling the egg shells out of the kitchen sink and playing with them in the living room.
9 / 24 / 08
It's dark. Mahmoud is sleeping on the couch in the lab. I'm in the office with the door open. If I didn't know the sun was still shining outside, this would be really depressing. I wish we had a window.
According to Dave McComas, Ulysses solar wind instrument principal investigator, from Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, US. "The entire Sun is blowing significantly less hard - about 20-25% less hard - than it was during the last solar minimum 10-15 years ago." How awesome is that? This guy must be psyched! The principle target of his research blows less than it has for the past 50 years. Sounds like a good time to retire.
7 / 23 / 08
I had forgotten how much of me I remember from my music. I started to listen to it tonight/this morning while playing WoW after Robyn went to bed. There are so many memories and emotions tied with music. I'm feeling very happy right now. It's really rather profound. I remember Matt Rodger had this project in high school where he had to demonstrate an ineffable experience. I'm pretty sure this qualifies.
7 / 22 / 08
Went to NYC this weekend. Saw Becca and Beth and Annie. It was really great. We went to Broadway and saw Gypsy. We got some last minute tickets at student discount; saved ourselves around 100 bucks a ticket. The show was fantastic. Best musical I've ever seen. The lead was played by some woman who's apparently famous on Broadway, Patti LuPone. Her voice was boomingly powerful. The show is really tragic. None of us had any idea what it was about before we went to see it, but I think we couldn't have made a better choice.
I was sad to see Becca and Beth go, but we did get to hang out with Annie for a few more days. We spent the time touring Manhattan and a little of Brooklyn. Annie's place is big, but oddly laid out. Huge anteroom, small kitchen. NO AC!!! It was 1000 degrees outside and we just had to lay there in the heat at night. I woke up and my skin had fused with the mattress. It took hours in the ER just to get me back to normal. Unfortunately it was NY so I died in the waiting room before ever seeing the doctor. But I digress. Cutting this one short cuz it's too hard to type in Uldaman. Back later.
7 / 8 / 08
History as told by Team Fortress 2.
6 / 24 / 08
Ralph Nader is a dick and a joke.
6 / 9 / 08
Some of you may have already seen this. If not, you're in for a treat.
6 / 6 / 8
6 / 04 / 08
6 / 02 / 08
It's so exciting! Tomorrow we find out who will overthrow this presidency of oil tycoon tyranny. Bush, curse his name, will be remembered as the worst president in American history. The vice-president will no longer cower in bunkers, hiding from the world. Science will be restored and placed back on its pedestal, right next to human rights. Rednecks be gone! America is coming back!
5 / 22 / 08
Goodbye Shobita! No more waiting around for the professor to show up. No more being criticized for following directions. No more astronomy!
5 / 13 / 08
This video wins for the categories of: physics, style, comedy, and destroying socio-cultural sterotypes! Watch!
4 / 22 / 08
This is the brightest thing ever seen from the planet Earth. It may not look like much, but that's because it's 7.5 billion light years away. That's what it looks like when a single star explodes, putting off as much light as 10 million galaxies. And for those of you who like country music.
4 / 13 / 08
Robyn and I were in the car earlier today and by happenstance we started talking about the school shooting at Virginia tech. I thought about the shooter and then I thought about Team Fortress 2 and started wondering if the shooter was hearing a voice in his head shouting "HEADSHOT!" every time he capped somebody. Maybe after a few he even got a "DOMINATING!". Too soon?
The circus is finally leaving! The bastards have been taking up all the parking spots and making the damn undergrads take all my parking away. Curse them! Also, I do believe I have found a new advisor. Beginning in the fall (possibly summer) I will be working on quantum memory. Goodbye astrophysics, hello hands on science! I get to play with lasers. More info to come. For now though, I really ought to be working on fitting isophotes, so back I go.
4 / 07 / 08
Hey, great news! There was a special at the physics wharehouse today. I got 10^10 neutrons, free of charge!
3 / 28 / 08
Although I haven't made the final decision, I'm about 90% certain I'm going to boycott this year's olympics. It just seems like the right thing to do.
3 / 20 / 08
My Nuclear and Particle Physics professor sounds just like Professor Wernstrom from Futurama. But what can I do? He's got tenure!
3 / 12 / 08
You ever have one of those days when you just can't get motivated?
http://www.doingitwrong.com/
http://omnomnomnom.com/
3 / 5 / 08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsweXFpfa28
My deoderant seems to be predicated on the concept of punishment for physical activity rather than the reduction of smell. Every few days I seem to get a nasty rash in the pits. That's just the kind of juicy gossip you'll only get here on the interweb, exclusively packaged just for you.
2 / 26 / 08
K, so I saw Bill Clinton a few weeks ago. He came to our school to support his wife's candidacy. "The Cake is a lie" is now a popular thing to scrawl across bathroom stalls. I'm switching out of astronomy. I'll still be a physics Ph.D. student though. "A dearth fo stars" looks a lot like "a death star" when you're quickly scanning through scientific papers. Lastly, some you may have seen this.
1 / 11 / 08
I'm thinking about my education as I write these little blurbs for this fellowship and it occurs to me that there were at least two times during my k-12 education when a teacher accused me of cheating because I either got the answer to a question before they expected me to, or in a way different than their approach. Is this not fundamentally wrong? I mean, at what point in a teacher's career do they lose interest in education and become automatons? Anyways, I gotta get back to work. That just struck me and I had to write it down.
1 / 03 / 08
I remember back in the good ole days of aught seven. Those were the days! I would go skating past old McBrady's place and he would say "Young man, why such a quick skeedadling on by?" as that was the style at the time. Then I'd say, "I'm on my way to a dandy old sock hop!" which was what we called a party back in those days. Ah, for the good ole days.
New Years was grand. Went to a swing club with a few friends. Had some good dancing, a lousy long island iced tea, and a lot of fun in a hotel room nearby. Great way to spend $45.
Then afterwards I had the most vivid dream. I've never before had such a deep sorrow when waking from one. For those of you with good memories, I was married to Lauren Palmer. We had the most beautiful child I have ever seen. It was a girl. She was about 7 years old. I didn't know I was a father. I had just found out. She was mine though, and I was so proud. Then somebody told me I was in a dream and she vanished. I've never wanted children. Never even thought about it before. But when I thought I had one and then she was suddenly ripped away from me I felt a terrible heart-wrenching loss. I woke up crying. That was the saddest dream I've ever had.
12 / 31 / 07
Last day of aught seven. Oh man, when I'm old I'm gonna love telling kids I lived back in the good old days of aught seven. Well my webcam works sporadically, when it decides to. It came with the laptop, and everything else works normally, but the webcam confounds me. Once I figure it out, I'll show you!
12 / 21 / 07
Quals are done. I have passed. All is well. I haz laptop. Life is good.
12 / 5 / 07
How did it get to be December already?! Anyways, it's really cool that the soda machines on the first floor are motion sensor operated. They power down after a while has passed if nobody walks by. It saves power, is eco friendly, and is horrendously creepy when you're the only one in the building and they hum to life just as you walk by. It's like they're stalking you. One time I think I even saw one of them move. It could be I was tired. I'm not sure.
11 / 17 / 07
It was a busy week, but it's finally over. Oh, and 3D Beowulf is FUCKING AWESOME! Go see that movie. I saw some 3-D porn a few years ago and not only did the 3D quality suck, but it hurt my eyes to boot. This movie, however, was lifelike. You really have to see it to understand. Besides, Angelina Jolie is naked in 3-D! Need I say more?
11 / 15 / 07
Ford Fellowship application complete! Now to wait for my advisor to respond. I have 1.5 hrs before deadline. I hope she's not in a meeting...
Submission complete. Oh, Thank God! I'm going to bed.
11 / 14 / 07
I don't know if you've seen this yet, but its incredible. Apparently not many people wished either. Ford Fellowship app due in 13 hours. Away, wonderDevin!
11 / 14 / 07
Test later today. Wish me luck.
10 / 31 / 07
Happy Halloween! Sometimes when I drive home I consider the likelihood that I'll die in some sort of horrible wreck. I wonder whether the emptiness of the road combined with the increased incidence of deer crossings, drunk drivers, and all of us being tired counteracts the high density of daytime traffic, or whether people drive so poorly in during day that I'm actually better off. I have a feeling Robyn will be somewhat disturbed when she reads this. Anyways, today was very productive! I got my E&M homework done, submitted a grant application, and even got some research in. Now I'm tired.
I miss my peeps. I started thinking about Allie the other day and how I used to like wandering down the hall and seeing her around. I've been thinking about Shirley in general, actually. I think its the cold weather. It reminds me of Carnegie. It reminds me of Thanksgiving and Christmas too. Then I start thinking about Christmases a few years ago and seeing all my Eugene friends and how they're not in Eugene anymore and neither am I and its so very unlikely that we'll all be in the same place again any time soon. Then I get kinda depressed. Then I get back to homework. I guess its bed time now. Maybe tomorrow we'll get some trick-or-treaters. I need to figure out some sorta costume!
10 / 15 / 07
Quantum test in about 12.5 hours from now. This woman expects us to know things like fourier transforms and Gaussian integrals by sight. I fear for my safety.
10 / 11 / 07
My E&M professor on Eminem: "The lyrics are horrible, but I find the music really quite catchy."
10 / 07 / 07
Robyn's in Texas. Queen size bed all to myself. I sleep like a baby. It's also amazing how much time she takes up when she's here, even though it seems like I spend so little with her. It seems like I have so much more time to do things now. It's nice to have a break every once in a while.
9/19/07
So I went to a friend's wedding this past weekend, but I forgot to bring my homework along, so I've been in this frantic crawl to finish these things before they're due. Man, I hope never to have to do this again.
9/17/07
I hate matrices and how the simplest operations take FOREVER to complete. I wish this was something one could hire Mexicans to do. I know I've some spare change around here somewhere!
Quantum Mechanics -or- The Degenerative Effects of Matrices on the Human Soul: A Book by Devin Vega
9/12/07
God damn it. 9/11 passed by and I didn't even get to post anything. Terrorists win. When we lived over in Arlington, I used to wonder whether our phones were being tapped and exactly how far from the Pentagon you really have to be before they can't record your voice any more. BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB! Just in case they read this.
8/31/07
Really feels like grad school now. 5 hours of work and I've done one of the five problems on this week's homework set for E&M. Gotta somehow keep from procrastinating... (I'm in trouble)
8/29/07
First real day that I've felt like I'm back at school. Spent all of today from 1 to 2 doing research and reading. On the one hand I feel slightly upset that I can't seem to get back to Neverwinter, but on the other I'm feeling relieved and fulfilled to really be back to studying and learning new material. I enjoy learning and putting my skills to test. If the research I've been doing were more challenging I would probably have been more content. Maybe this topic will segue into something more to my liking.
8/28/07
First day of classes. Well, one long class anyways. Went well, kinda slow. Things on the up and up. Sunday was crap cuz the toaster broke, my drivers crapped out, couldn't run my games because of it, couldn't set up the computer to tv link with all the expensive s video equipment, broke a wine glass, and chair squeaking. Better now. Got NWN working again at least. Looking into more grueling s video research tomorrow. Like being back in classes. If only I didn't HAVE to work.
8/25/07
So Matt and Annie are both gone. What a bummer. It was a great vacation though. Pretty much don't want to do any kind of work at all after this long week of relaxing, but I know I'll enjoy taking classes again once I get back in the mood. One more day of lazing about, playing games, and general slacking. I miss those long summer months of vacation I used to have. Why don't they pay me for that time as well?
8/22/07
Gettin' drunk with some of my good friends. First post in 11 months. Woo!
9 / 20 / 06
Came back from the job fair yesterday. I think it went well. Some good companies were there and I got along well with most of the people I interacted with. Now I just have to follow up and wait. Look at all the free stuff I got.
On another note, this is for a good friend.
8 / 24 / 06
The decision isn't mine, but the consequences for my family could be tempestuous. I've never heard such awful conviction or so ill guided a decision. I would be forced to carry some of this burden, were the worst to transpire, and I do not look forward to that. Was this planned to be a trap? A desperate lashing out of revenge? I can't comprehend why. God, spare us.
8 / 23 / 06
It's late. I should be going to sleep now, but I never can quite get myself to do it until it's later than I'd like. I've always had that problem. It's like I have some weird aversion to sleeping or something. In this case, I guess there's something else though. The truth is that when I wake up in the morning I have to look for jobs. There are thousands of pages and links for me to scour, most of which are useless. The ones I finally do find and apply to are so far also dead leads. It turns out that most of the jobs I'm really interested in are located back on the west coast. Most of the companies I've searched so far have departments in aerospace technology, research and development, experimental physics and the like out in California or Arizona and such. Even a few in Seattle, but hardly anything out here in DC. It's depressing, and I hate to wake up to it every day. I guess that's the real reason I've been staying up so late. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about this ordeal. I'm hoping to have a job soon. It's just that I keep getting excited about something and then it goes silent, I hear nothing back, and I know its dead. Alright, I'm tired enough to sleep. I'm out.
8 / 3 / 06
My first entry in this new gmail web page. I'm gonna try this out for a bit, see if I like it before I go and try to find my own space. I also don't have any money at the moment. That's really the limiting factor at this point. I don't know much about it so far. I dont' even know if I like this style. I'm just playing, so keep a look out for changes. I'm get back to this later though. I'm off to play WOW.
End Transmission...