Friday, May 21, 2004

Time flies. How is it late May already?

All that time since my last post and the Dodgers have still not won a game. Yet they are still in first, for now.

I signed up for flying lessons! It's exciting, and something I've wanted to do for a while (see the second-to-last line on the about page). I got my medical certificate and everything, so I'm all set.. just waiting for the next time that I'm free and the weather cooperates for my first lesson.

Speaking of weather, it's been pretty ridiculous lately, with severe thunderstorm warnings, flash flood warnings, and tornado warnings.. in the middle of the day today (around 2pm), the sky turned all dark and yellow (meaning impending tornado, according to my midwesterner friends), and the wind and rain suddenly picked up.. we watched walls of water slam into the big windows in the EECS atrium.

What else.. oh, I upgraded my home and work computers to Fedora Core 2. My printer seems to be working once again, as are httpd/php/mysql, meaning I can once again use the nifty web interface to MythTV. Still can't get the scanner working though. Oh well.

Went bowling last weekend, and got a 130. Nice. Rajiv got a 114 in his first time ever bowling. Quite respectable.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

No sweep, I guess. Oh well.

**

It's probably higher in California, but I've seen a gallon of premium in Ann Arbor for $2.40. Pretty high.

I got and installed a window air conditioner. Ah, nice and cool.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Hi there.

Preliminary exams will be going on for the next couple of weeks, and I had mine today. You basically present some research you've been working on and they decide if you're fit to continue in the PhD program. I didn't get a strong vibe either way while I was doing it, so I'm not really sure how it went. Anyway, I'll find out in a couple weeks.

This Quicksilver book is kinda hard to read. I don't see myself finishing it before it's due back at the library (and I can't renew it since it's on hold again). Oh well.

It's getting hot. I'm thinking I may get a window air conditioner to put in my room over the summer.

I have an orthodontist appointment this Friday. Possibly the last one in a while.. I may be getting the braces off. Coo.

The Dodgers have the best record in the National League. Who woulda guessed? And they're showing 2 of the 3 games of the Cubs series on TV out here so I can actually watch them for once. It's gonna be a sweep!

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Did you know there's a new nickel? I just found out today and it turned out that I had one in my pocket. So I scanned it:

Monday, May 3, 2004

Something's amiss when Mike has updated 3 times since my last update. Well, my excuse is just that I've been really busy. Prelim papers were due today, so I've been busy working on that, and now I have to prepare the presentation.

On the bright side, Jenny's coming to visit this weekend, which my lab mates are looking forward to because they may get some free brownies or cookies. Yum.

I read Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Pretty interesting. It's about the building of a low-budget, high-performing baseball team (specifically, the A's) and about rethinking how we evaluate the effectiveness of baseball players. Paul DePodesta is in it so now I know something about LA's new GM.

The next book I have lined up is Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. I picked it up from the library but have yet to begin reading. It's quite a monstrosity, weighing in at about 1000 pages.

Our thermostat has been broken, so the heat is either on or off depending on what the landlords set it to last. It was really hot a couple weeks ago so they turned it off. But recently the nights have been in the 30s, which really sucks with no heat. Hopefully the weather will get warmer soon and not get cold again until the fall. Oh, my roommate tells me they fixed the thermostat today. Good.

Last thing: I finally put up pictures from the auto show I went to in January. This one was pretty cool:

They had a computer-controlled fountain that rained down words and shapes. You can make out "JEEP" falling down diagonally in the background. Note, the word "JEEP" is not being projected onto the water; the nozzles are actually releasing the water in a pattern such that the water forms the word as it falls.

P.S. Jenny points out that while Mike posted 3 times since my last post, Brian has posted 33 times.