stop stop

Christine Macken 7/5/2010

Jennifer Brunckhorst 8/28/2010

Brian Welsh 8/29/2010

you BLOW MY MIND Mr Welsh.

class to audit

Probability and Stochastic Systems, taught by Erhan Çinlar, MWF 11-11:50, engineering building.

An introduction to probability and its applications. Random variables, expectation, independence. Poisson processes, Markov chains, and Brownian motion. Stochastic models of queues, population dynamics, and reliability. Must have taken Multivariable Calculus.

Reading: Ross, Introduction to Probability Models; Bremaud, An Introduction to Probabilistic Modeling;, Introduction to Stochastic Processes

OR

Quantitative Analysis in Psychological Research, taught by Andrew R. Conway, TR 10:30-11:50, Green Hall.

An introduction to quantitative methods in psychological research appropriate for first and second year graduate students. The topics covered include experimental design, null hypothesis significance testing, power, effect size, and confidence intervals. Specific procedures covered include ANOVA, ANCOVA, multiple regression, moderation, and mediation. Not open to undergraduates.

Reading: Keppel & Wickens, Design and Analysis: A Researcher's Handbook; Abelson, Statistics As Principled Argument; Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis

OR

Psychology of Language, taught by Adele Goldberg, TR 11-11:50, Green Hall.

The cognitive processes underlying the use and understanding of language, and in learning to speak. Topics include speech production and perception, grammar and meaning, knowledge and words, and pragmatic aspects of language.

Reading: Dabrowska, Language, Mind and Brain or Carol, Psychology of Language or Whitney, The Psychology of Language

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a few lists

Things I want to do in/around Hanover:
1. Pettigrew-Cousins wedding!!
2. See all my friends!
3. See Mao Laoshi and Prof Bucci
4. See the senior apartments, the River, Thayer engineering and dining, McLane, Baker/Berry, Kemeny/Haldeman, Moore, Dartmouth Hall, the Gold Coast, the Hop, Collis, the Chinese building (forget its name omg)*, Rollins, Occom Pond, and Balch.
5. See downtown Hanover and cross the bridge to Norwich and Dan and Whits
6. Eat at One Wheelock, Gusanoz, Mollys, Canoe Club, Murphys, Yamas, The Fort
7. Buy Butterworks Farms yogurt, lots of it, at the Co-op. Buy more Dartmouth stuffs, like another hoodie maybe
8. Visit a dairy that sells raw milk: I'm thinking Upinngil.

Weather forecast in/around Hanover when I'm there next weekend:
1. Friday 78 and sun
2. Friday night 55 clear
3. Saturday 74 and scattered showers (noooo!!!)
4. Saturday night 53 and scattered showers?
5. Sunday 72 and sun

Things I need to do for moving:
1. Pay Jenny for her furniture and fridge
2. Move my bed up the stairs
3. Pay Wouter or Sara the furniture deposit
4. Open a PSE&G account
5. Paint a lot of purple and cream
6. Move all my stuff
7. Make (elephant?) curtains
8. Find/buy a full-size bed frame and standing lamp

Things that were all over my car this morning:
1. Frost. What?

Projects at work:
1. The J Neurosci paper
2. Future directions on the J Neurosci paper
3. The peak experiment (c'mon undergrads sign up I won't complain about you anymore!)
4. The dots experiment
5. Grant work looming, no doubt

*ETA:  The Chinese building is called Bartlett. I remembered all on my own!

what goes up comes back down and back up and

Camping during the Geminid meteor shower, Melbourne at Christmas, Albany in October, Jamaica right now, London anytime ever. I keep making plans I know won't work out.

Finally I felt myself mentally capable of re-reading Redemption Ark. Done in two days and I love it again...but I won't read the next one.

Another 2-hour shift with no calls, so I got to drive the rig around a lot, and it was pretty OK. Then I ran a red light I never knew existed and found that sitting too close to and pressing a stiff pedal with huge boots leads to intense cramping of places I thought weren't muscle.

The lab is slowly returning to normal. People are back or coming back from vacation and interns are leaving. But Marieke was hit by a car while she was on her bike. Please be careful.

Ellen and Robert's wedding is in less than two weeks.

I had a good dream last night, though that's all it can be. At least I can look forward to more good dreams. There's no limit to what I can come up with: my good dreams are as good as my bad dreams are bad, and often just as possible.

twit

So driving 11 hours in a day makes my knees hurt. Good thing I was numb on the way home!

I went out a week ago to watch for the Perseids...was super tired and ready to sleep at 7, but I stayed up. I watched for a while, not sure of which direction to look in. I spent most of my time looking north and amusing myself with guesses as to which constellations were which. I'm pretty sure I got the big dipper right, and I can always recognise Orion, though it wasn't up that night. To the east was a star so bright I was convinced it was an airplane.  I'd like to know what star that was.

Finally I turned southwards and saw a single flash! It was pretty cool, but that was all. Presumably there were more the whole time my back was turned. After staring at nothing for awhile longer I had the distinct sense that the world was revolving very quickly and taking me with it, so I went inside so as not to fall down.

picture post

So each one is like a thousand words right? I'll include some extras as explanations. Also: you can click on any of these to see them way bigger.

A double-yolk egg. I got these from the farmers market, and while they don't look particularly orange to me, I totally see the difference when I break open a store-bought one. Anyway, I was pretty happy since the yolk, when runny, is my favorite part.
Extra extra: a site that starts out innocuously enough, with explanations for double yolks. Things quickly get gross, and I'm reminded that eggs come from biological beings.

I took the GRE general test on the 27th and never have to take it again (which is the important part). The building I took it in had an impossible to find elevator—I took the stairs—and a recessed door, which was thankfully not what I was looking for. I mean, really.
Hint: check out the name on the door.

It was my dad's birthday on the 30th, and at Penang that evening Kim asked the waiters to bring a dessert and sing. My mom was skeptical: could these fobs know how to sing happy birthday? I, remembering the birthdays people had in China, knew better. Asian restaurants are the absolute best place to embarrass someone on their birthday.

Lindsay had a GREAT get-together on the 26th of June, and unfortunately a lot of people had to miss it (sorry Charu). She made delicious cupcakes and was, once again, a perfect host.

When Roland and Vicki, my dad's brother and his wife, came to stay for a few days in the beginning of July, I slept in Michelle's room and found a  dire threat waiting for me on the pillow the second night. Needless to say, I removed my face wash and toothbrush from her room RIGHT AWAY. Also, those cut out pieces of paper on the page opposite were used for warning and other notes slipped under doors and carefully signed.

I like my new friends/future housemates in Princeton.

I don't even know this guy's last name (first name Justin), yet I drew a vague Abe Lincoln on his arm in blue glitter glue, just in time for the funeral he went to tonight. Alison the intern (or is it the intern Alison?) finished the job with a fat T-Rex and USA. Come on.

Finally, the tattoo I will probably never get (on my left ankle, if you're curious). It'll just be an outline of the elephant, so ignore the paisley, as awesome as that would be. But you know what would be even awesomer? A Where's Waldo tattoo. TOW all the Waldos.