Quote I Feel the Need to Share

I was thinking, I imagine, of the rich potential of man. Thinking hopefully of a time that might quite soon come when he learns not merely new knowledge but new humility, and so new wisdom. A time when his know-how will run less rampant and he will learn the value of his 'feel-how': to balance, to curb, and to inspire. A time when treason will have become a meaningless word and patriotism is judged a crime. A time when he lives in harmony not only with the rest of the animal world but with the rock and rolling hills, with the forests and rivers, with the desert and the oceans and the uncorrupted air - not for any imagined altruistic reason but because he understands that it is the only way to survive.
~Colin Fletcher, The Man Who Walked Through Time

Orientation Day

Yesterday, I had my departmental orientation. Things look good, in general. Actually, I didn't learn all that much, which is good. I would be concerned if they sprung any big surprises on us four days before classes start. Well, there was one surprise...
The graduate students let us know that prelims (aka preliminary exams), which are the most important markers of our progress, are apparently not tests of the knowledge gained in the classes preceding them. For example, we have three econometrics classes to take, and immediately after finishing the third one we must attempt the econometrics prelim. I had assumed that the material in the classes would be similar to that tested on the prelim, but I was, apparently, mistaken. They warned us to consider prelim preparation a class in itself, independent study, I suppose.
The best thing about orientation time is that the departments, student groups, colleges, etc are all itching to welcome us well. That means only one thing: an extensive schedule of cookouts. That's right, free food! Yay!

Everything other than school is stressful for me right now, so I am anxious for school to start and take up more of my time. It will only be a few days now.

The Wedding!

I really feel like I should have a lot to say about the wedding, but I'm at somewhat of a loss for words. I can cover the basics, though. I cried my face off (and I was in good company). Cait and Herb looked happier than a couple of skunks in clover. I didn't pass out during the ceremony, and nobody else did either! The party was a rollicking good time, even though no one knew how to do the hustle (apparently). The food was tasty, but I could have been A-okay just eating cake cake CAKE! The next day, when the pressure was off, the couple looked even happier (who would have believed it was possible?).

Now I am back in Oregon anxiously awaiting the beginning of classes and the end of my unyeilding boredom.

New Pictures!

Back to a Favorite Hobby

That hobby is taking quotations out of contex. These two gems are from the Aug26-Sept1 Economist.

From article Making Apples from Oranges:
"On the next rung up the ladder of difficult mathematics comes doing the same thing in four dimensional space."

From article Changing Connections:
"A study published this week shows that fatherhood increases the nerve connections in the region of the brain that controls goal-driven behaviour - at least, it does in marmosets."

On a different note
Also in there is a warning that should be passed on to all (though I hope all my faithful readers could figure this out all by themselves): Don't buy stocks on a tip from a spam email!!!! You will lose your money. Amazingly, they cite a study that found that spam-targeted stocks' prices fluctuate 13% more than average after a flurry of emails. So, somebody is buying this stuff. I'm hoping that it's people who are just trying (foolishly) to undercut the spammers on the sell out, but by the time you get the email it's already too late.

It's Official

I'm registered now! Some forward-thinking undergrad must have dropped out of vector calc in anticipation of how horrible it will be, therefore opening a spot for me. Now, I can mingle with the undergrads in a pool of shared frustration. Actually, I'm kind of looking forward to it. Calc is one of those things that really does impart greater understanding of (almost) everyday ideas. It's, you know, interesting. Almost like fractions, my one true love.

Being registered has allowed me to check in to the whole OSU computing whichamacallit. To ease my transition here, the gods of college student user names have granted me the same name I had at UM. Praise be!

Leaders and Best in ALMOST Everything

Okay, so UMich is awesome, right? Well, I think so as much as the next alum who simultaneously held season tickets to football, basketball and hockey one year (only had one game of each on the same day once) and has multiple expressions of loyalty gracing her auto. BUT, there are some sweet things here at OSU (not THAT OSU, eeew) that we didn't have at Michigan.

1) The student union here has a craft center, which offers, among other things:

Didgeridoo Aboriginal Instrument Making
Wednesdays 6:30-9 July 12 to Aug. 2 (+Membership)
WCR- 30 Dan Berry Class Fee: $20 Materials Fee: $20
Have you ever wanted to play the didgeridoo? This four part workshop will demonstrate how to construct an inexpensive, great sounding didgeridoo out of PVC pipe. The class will cover choosing the right pipe, shaping, painting, finishing, and an introduction on basic playing techniques and circular breathing. All materials will be supplied. Some extra time outside of class may be required for painting and finishing.

Seriously, is there anyone out there who has never wanted to play the didgeridoo?

2) OSU isn't too fancy pants to have sports classes. They have dancing from ballet to country western. They have fishing, fly and otherwise. Fitness walking to surfing and everything in between. They even have bowling and rock climbing!

Hey now! Don't go thinking I'm a convert. I can appreciate two things at once, but who are we kidding? Put a beaver in the ring with a wolverine, and it's obvious who will be the Victor Valliant. Surely it is no economic accident (arbitrage for you econ-minded readers) that the tickets for all sporting events here are free (even the national champion baseball team's games) to students. And they don't have hockey. Academically, if cost is any indication of prowess, an undergrad here can expect to pay $5,604 per year as an Oregonain, whereas a Michigander attending UM pays $10,960. Out-of-staters pay $17,538 and $31,178, respectively. Wow, UM must be awesome!

I am making progress in life

You know I can not give up on something as easily as it seemed I was giving up on being a Middle Eastern-food-cooking extraordinaire. Okay, well, I'm pretty sure that I'm giving up baba ganouj making, BUT I just found this intriguing website with Iranian recipes on it. I must admit that I miss Reza's cooking. I know how to make olovieh (pronounced olivia, like the girl's name), and have done that before. This site, though, has a recipe for the wonderful and scrumptious Fesenjaan (pronounced FESS-in-june), that I haven't done myself. On the sad side, there is no recipe for (phonetically spelled) mizarahsamee, which is so tasty you eat until you feel uncomfortably full every time. On the upside, I might be able to figure that one out on my own. And for when I get really adventurous, there is a recipe for the preparation of fried sheep testicles, and by really adventurous I mean starving and alone except for the company of a sheep and a chicken (eggs are required). Though, why not just eat the eggs?

Free Iranian Recipes!

As for my guitar playing, things are going well. I'm getting a lot better and faster at doing the clawhammer for Landslide. I'm getting Knocking on Heaven's Door down pretty well. My new song for the week is Stand By Me (which is not as cool as the other two, obviously, but is a good sing-along). I'm finally feeling decent about Colfax County Jail, which is a peppy tune about killing a guy in a bar and getting thrown in the clink at the height of your gold-prospecting youth (Yes!!). The really cool thing is that I jammed/improved for the first time, today in my lesson. That's right, I learned how to jam, as much as learning that from someone else is possible. I am awesome.

Finished a book (Desert Sojourn -Debi Holmes-Binney) and built a piece of cat furniture.

No progress to report in other areas of life.

Oh poop!

This morning while I was running, a bird pooped on my head. Thankfully, it was in my hair, which I would never normally say, but it was dangerously close to being right in my face. Yeck. Seeing as how I was running, I had some time to reflect on the event. I thought back and determined that I had only been bird-pooped-on once before in my life. In that instance, I was walking across the Mackinac Bridge, and the sky was teeming with feces-loaded seagulls. In a way, I suppose I'm lucky I was only pooped on once that day, but it didn't seem that way at the time. In fact, it seems as unlucky as bird poop ever does, if not more unlucky. Why? Because I was walking, I was swinging my arms, as most everyone does. As my arm reached the apex of its forward motion the poop landed right on the tip of my thumb, the farthest point away from my torso. It was so "ideal" it should have been a question in my high school physics class:

4) A person is walking across a perfectly straight bridge. She is swinging her arms such that the tip of her thumb reaches the apex of the swing x inches in front of her body with a frequency of y swings per minute. Flying above the bridge in the opposite direction is a seagull looking for a place to relieve himself. He will poop in exactly 4 minutes. The girl and the seagull start out 500 feet away from each other and both are traveling at a speed of w feet/minute. Will the bird poop on the girl?

At the time of the strike on the bridge, I couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Really! I stared dumbfounded at my now white-coated tumb tip wondering how it came to be. I didn't even figure it out for myself. I think it was my mom who commented that I had been hit by a bomb dropped by the Seagull Air Force. To top off the whole event, I was stuck on the bridge with no way to wash my hands for however many miles more there were to go. I have liked seagulls even less than I did before from that moment on.

This morning, as I thought more about the bridge incident, I realized something incredible. There is only one day each year that people are allowed to walk across the Mackinac Bridge: Labor Day. Today is labor day, too!!!!! I can't remember exactly when I walked the bridge, but it is not out of the question that it was ten years ago today. The only logical conclusion to draw from this is that I am doomed to be pooped on every ten Labor Days for the rest of MY days!

The bright side: At least they don't poop on me annually.

Middle Eastern Chef Mathematician

First, the much awaited update on the baba ganouj. I have good news, mediocre news and bad news. The bad news is that the "baba ganouj" I made tastes nothing like baba ganouj and therefore, I cannot call it such or enjoy it in that special baba ganouj-loving way. The mediocre news is that the stuff that I made is not horrible tasting, or even bad tasting. It is, in my opinion, mediocre. The good news is that I found a restaurant where they do make baba! Theirs is not as good as Kabob Palace or Oasis, but compared to mine it is the heavenly ambrosia of the angels (it was actually the Greek and/or Roman gods that ate that stuff, though, right?). At any rate, I can cease my futile attempts at Middle Eastern chefdom and just add Crystal's Cafe onto my list of places to stop on grocery day.

In other news, I have finally signed up for some classes: econometrics and rural development. Yay! However, I need more classes to fill my schedule, and while there are only two classes that my advisor recommended I take (econometrics and math for economists) they are scheduled at overlapping times. Clearly, very well thought out. My solution is to take another math class at the undergrad level that I will probably need for survival anyway, vector calculus (not hunting and gathering for mathematicians). The problem with this is that I am here at the absolute bottom of the registration heap, as in the incoming freshman have already registered. I think that I have some pull, though, "I am a grad student. You once were or still are a grad student. Please understand my plight, and make an exception for me: let me into the already full class (please please please)." Note: I never thought I would be begging to take calc.
In summary, my life is about to get a LOT math-ier, and that's just this quarter.

P.S. Spell check suggested I replace calc with caulk. Oh so many who have shunned calc have gone the same way.