A New Phase - posted by magicite
I suppose it's high-time that I gave another update on myself. Lessee here...
Contrary to most of the advice, suggestions, and preferences of most everyone I know, I opted to accept a full-time job with Cray, and transitioned from part-time pseudo-intern to full-time after taking my finals in May. So, I left the U of M with a Master of Science in Computer Science. Which apparently is different from a Masters of Computer Science (and considered to be inferior). I did not know this until I got to the paperwork stage (and actually filled stuff out wrong once. oops). When I didn't go to school when classes started a week ago, it was strange simply because it was the first time I "missed the first day of school" since pre-school in 1989. Yikes!
I purchased a new bike at the end of May, and beginning in July, I started to bike to work as often as I could (10 miles each way). I ended up biking 2-3 times a week until the middle of August, when I got lazy and stopped doing it. Plus, I realized the bike I purchased (or as I like to say, the bike I was sold by someone more knowledgeable than I, who should have known better) is actually too small for me, and so excessive usage will destroy my knees. Anyway, that gave me an excuse to sleep in instead of biking ... :)
Hrmm, I read a bunch of books this summer, both fiction and non-fiction. One of them was the Lord of the Rings series, which I had never gotten around to reading. I was rather impressed by how well the movies matched the books.
My roommate moved out in mid August to pursue his own graduate school career in St. Cloud, so I'm currently looking for a new roommate. Currently it's looking like that person will be my brother. We've been looking at some places in the St. Paul area. We found a nice place in Mendota Heights, but unfortunately, of the three apartment shapes available, the one we liked was not available in a configuration we prefer (corner unit, top floor).
I've found it interesting to observe nearly all of my friends and acquaintances abandon there blogs over time, or post very infrequently (myself included, of course). This happens for one of two reasons, as far as I can tell: boredom, and moving on. As for moving on, the obvious avenue is something like twitter. But it makes me wonder if things like twitter are just fads themselves, or if they'll stick around for some time. I know the gut reaction of most is to believe that, yes indeed, it is but a fad.
That's all for now.
Explosion - posted by magicite
Over the 4th of July Holiday I found myself once more up at my family's Tofte, MN cabin. While there, we watched the local fireworks event. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned:
Heartbeat - posted by magicite
Yup, still here.
I somehow survived last semester (though I've yet to finish up a project...). I know I often say things like "I don't know how I survived X," but truly, it was tough times. Having to work on three grad-level projects at once is no good.
Instead of taking four classes like I did last semester, I'm down to two classes this time around. First, we have Stats 5021. Despite being a math major in undergrad, I have never taken any statistics courses. This course serves to fill that gap. This is also my first one hour class in years (most of my classes are 1.5 to 2.5 hours per session). I must say, I do miss short classes. I seem to stop caring about 1hr5min into any lecture, no matter how [un]interesting.
My second course is a special topics course, called Advanced Storage Systems. This is going to be a heavy project course; sadly, I have no background here, so I'm not sure how it will go.
In other news, a pipe burst in the EE/CS building at the UofM, causing severe damage. Among other things, the two labs I use for my TA work are closed indefinitely. Were they destroyed? I do not know, but this is going to making TAing 1113 verrry interesting for awhile.
I've recently been reunited with my longtime love, grapefruit. I had forgotten how tasty it can be (and, after searching the Internet, learning how good it is for you). For those looking to rekindle an old flame, I recommend it be this one.
Happy with the Obama administration so far, excepting the call to delay the DTV cutoff. The original date was in 2006... let's get it over with.
A Wee Bit Rusty - posted by magicite
So I was completely wrong. This semester is definitely one of my busiest ever, if not the busiest ever. Why is it so busy? I have a ridiculous schedule. I'm taking four grad classes (though one is colloquium and is easy), have my normal TAship, and also continue to work at Cray in my "free-time." Plus, I'm supposed to be starting out on some independent research.... yeah, more on that later. Hence, the complete lack of posts here.
So as a PhD student, I'm expected, roughly in my second year (i.e., now), to start doing some real research. But here's the problem: I have absolutely no time for it this semester. This has given rise to some inevitable friction between myself and another entity... not sure what I'm going to do about that.
That's not entirely true. I've thought quite a lot about what I would like to do with my life, and I'm not as confident as I once was that I want to get my PhD. Don't get me wrong, I like doing research, it's just that I'm not sure getting a PhD is in my best interest at this time. As much as I like research and CS, I like other things as well, and I don't get to do those other things at all while in school.
So, what to do. I really have three choices, as far as I can tell. I can continue along on the PhD path as is. Or, I can get a job in industry and get my PhD at the same time, albeit slowing down the process. Or, I can just get a job in industry after completing my masters in the spring.
I asked my advisor on the likelihood of option number two working out; that is, going down the PhD and job route. He said it was approximately.... zero. It just doesn't happen. So that realistically narrows down my options to sticking with PhD, or stopping at masters and getting a job.
Now now, I know what you're thinking. The economy is crap, unemployment is at an all-time high, so going the job route is unreasonable. While these facts are true, it ignores the fact that, well, I was offered a job a little over a month ago. So again, the two options remain: PhD, or job.
Let's assume that right now is the only time in my life where I can get a PhD. Thus, taking a job and stopping at masters means I would never be able to get a PhD. What do I lose out on? Well, I probably cannot be a CS professor anywhere. I probably couldn't get into a high-end research institution. That's... really all about it. A PhD probably won't make me anymore money in the long-run (side note: while it's "not about the money," it's an important factor to consider). All things considered, I don't think I'm missing out on much.
Now the question is, stability. Arguably, a PhD ensures stability. If I were to become a professor, I'd be a professor for life. Economy going poorly? Doesn't really affect tenured professors. New widget or technology X make me unneeded? Gulp. This is perhaps my biggest hesitation with regards to the job route. What if my skills go the way of the Punch Card? I think I worry about that problem too much. History has shown that I learn new things independently and explore new areas on my own. A rolling stone gathers no moss, all that. Still, it sits in the back of my mind.
About the job. I like it. It's interesting work, and I think I can make real contributions. And it allows me to have free time.
But... the grass is always greener on the other side. Blah.
It really comes down to a matter of choice. Neither choice is wrong, or necessarily better/worse than the other; they're just different paths that will lead to different lifestyles. That makes this whole thing difficult.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat - posted by magicite
Another summer, another failed attempt at revamping this website. I haven't even touched the design since I made it, which was Summer 2004. Next summer? Who knows. My current interests fall outside of web design, so there isn't much motivation to do it.
But yes, indeed, the summer is coming to an end. My internship is coming to a close for the summer, and classes start up on Tuesday, right after labor day and right as Hurricane Gustav pummels the southern states.
Speaking of classes, I've added another one for the fall. I forget its name at the moment, but it's outside of the CS department and will help fulfill my PhD and Masters requirements. More on that in a few months...
The other day, I started making onigiri. They're quite yummy and portable. These will serve as excellent snacks this fall, especially when slogging through my Tuesdays and Thursdays, where I will be busy with U stuff from ~9:30am until ~10:20pm. Man, Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be terrible this semester...
...or will they be? My spring workload was rather taxing, but that was because parallel and algorithms were both very highly demanding classes. That's not to say that the current batch of classes aren't demanding--they are--but I think the nature of the previous classes was a bit more taxing than the new crop. Namely, both parallel and algorithms were theory classes, and none of my new classes are really theory driven (according to the department).
I've been watching lots of Kurosawa films recently. Lots and lots--he put out sooo many (good) films. It will be nice to have some non-Kurosawa films soon though.
The RNC will occur in St. Paul this year (unless ol' Gustav messes things up). I sense that the twin cities will be a zoo for the next few days...
I bought a clapper. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.
Geocaching - posted by magicite
The last few weeks have proven to be rather uneventful, outside of my newfound desire to go geocaching all the time. If you find yourself in the TC area and would like to go geocaching sometime, just let me know.
