Month: April 2003

Ahh well, the morning after, my first language class that is :). It was pretty good fun, and the fact that the teacher didn’t speak in English till the last 10 minutes of the class was an interesting concept.

Well anyway, this has definitely been an experience that has (atleast currently) raised my enthu levels. Which is why I assume I’m up at 5 am typing this. For starters, it’s gotten me thinking about what I plan to achieve this summer and how I best utilize my time.

The tasks that need (I would like) to complete (as in carry out) include:

1. German 101
2. Research
3. Qualifiers Preparation
4. Update the site. Specifically, resume?
5. A simple exercise routine

*Fill out those ‘tax’ forms

The plan is, I guess I can say I can work from 8 in the morning through 10 in the evening on weekdays. Considering I’ve got class from 7 – 9 pm almost every weekday, and the travel/other things, I’ve basically lost 6 – 10 pm at least.

1. For today at least, need to buy the book, coursepack and the workbook. Need to do homework. Need to register for the class, steal audio, and un register. Sneaky, but a necessity. Need to print out paper for writing stuff and transfer first day’s ‘notes’.

Preliminary plan 0.1?

8 a.m -> 9 p.m
______________

H.W – Ger Research work, Meetings Quals Prep? Class

2. There isn’t really too much to say. I’ve ‘alloted’ it the 6 hrs/day which I don’t really event think I’m going to come near pulling off.

3. Regarding quals, I guess the scientific computing is a ‘decided’ option now, now that I’ve decided another year of my life spent learning as a grad student is not a waste of my life. So the subjects include, Continuum Mechanics, FEM, Elasticity and Numerical Methods. I wonder if it’s a smart deal to replace elasticity with computational modelling of biological tissues. Need to think about this.

I guess a couple of hrs per day on weekends initially, just to see if I can get started should be good to try. Weekends can be more productive. Or not.

4. As usual, this moves to ‘whenever’ time. Need to fit in photography and music at some of these ‘whenever’ times as well.

5. I can’t see this fitting in unless I increase the ‘working’ time in the day. I guess this will have to be fit in between some 6 – 7 ish am. Need to decide based on sun rise timings.

This is a most exhillarating experience. I am, for the first time, just sitting down at some random place outside and typing this. It’s beautiful. It’s warm. There are trees and plants covered with flowers. There is this fountain right behind me. People playing, jogging, cycling, sitting and enjoying the grass, and then there’s me, observing all this and documenting it

I’ve arrived a bit early for my ‘German’ class. I don’t think I am going to continue with it but plan to just attempt it before I give up / get kicked out for not registering. :) Why do I (or anyone sane) want to learn German? hmm I don’t know. I guess I still have that dream of reading Einstein’s and such’s work in their original form. No cheap translations for me. One never can really tell how much information was lost by the process. Lowly translators.

In other news, I had dropped my computer in the bus on the way here. Pretty hmm, not really scary. I do have faith in some component strength being considered being factored into laptop design principles.

I just passed a couple of interesting things on the way here though. The local news channel, local4 or some such was at this park and all the young (and old) people were running around excitedly that they had got to come on TV. A bit farther away, there was a very large crowd of people around this ice cream store. I have been (ACK.. a little creature, a hamster or some such just made a hell of a lot of noise, startled me, and scurried away into some hole near by) there earlier with a couple of classmates and it was good stuff. Very rich, but insanely good. A little peek as to why there was a crowd resulted in me realizing that today was some ‘free ice cream giveaway’ or some such. Hah, people are people and they all go nuts when they see the word free, no matter where they are in the world.

Earlier in the day, I did some stuff which could be classified as pretty productive. I wrote out my first proper weak form and discretized it myself. Of course, I had messed it up at points but what the heck, it wasn’t anything major so it felt good. The next stage in work comes with me attempting to figure out this huge research FEM program set called FEAP. But first, I need to correct the minor screw ups in the formulation. Ah well, one step at a time.

People jogging. I just can’t get them out of my head. In general they are the fitter ones and are a constant reminder how fit one can be if they do such things. One HAS to resist the urge to don shorts and running like a madman. I think I should try it sometime.. WHAT THE HELL AM I SAYING?

Speaking of which, a funny story. Yesterday, or day before, during one of our weekly research meets, one of the professors couldn’t find an equation he wanted in this large collection (mess) of (sloppily) hand written notes. He goes, “Where the HELL? .. oops”.. and looks around for small children. And goes “Ahh yes, no small children around and we can say whatever”. Hah, it was strange, there weren’t small children around. That’s so not normal.

Another one of those things that’s beginning to get to me is people on cell phones. I mean, they NEVER just walk from point A to point B without HAVING to use one. If someone’s not using one, it’s ALWAYS because they are with somone else who’s willing to talk to them. Which leads me to believe, they HAVE to talk. Period. NO exceptions.

The MLB – the Modern Languages Building is so different from the buildings I get to see everyday in North Campus. For starters, it’s a lot older. There are a lot more rooms and it’s pretty cramped. The class rooms themselves are very small and there are like 15 seats, as opposed to the 40-60 I’m usually used to. It also just smells and feels old. Right from the noticeboards to the paint peeling off the walls. It’s different.

Still got over half an hour to go for ‘class’. I shouldn’t have come so early, but then again, I don’t think I would have got to experience this if I had so all is well. It just feels good.

I better get moving towards class. It’s almost time. Plus few of the large group of ‘daredevily’ bike riders and roller bladers have arrived. I’d rather move to a safer spot and observe them from afar. I mean, it’s beautiful, but not so beautiful as to warrant getting hit by a biker losing control :). No it isn’t.

The first real update to the picture page just happened. Check it out now.