May 19, 2005
Star Wars, opening night
You will never find a more wretched hive of nerds and geekery.
10:20 pm - an hour and 40 minutes before showtime. I've been here since about 9:30, sitting in these comfy theater seats and chatting with Matthew. It certainly is an experience. Mostly chatting about Star Wars related stuff although Heather keeps talking about old Brandeis folks.
11:40 pm - just about showtime. I knuckled under and bought soda and popcorn for $2. I hope my bladder doesn't regret it later. Of course, at least this shouldn't be the marathon that is the Lord of the Rings... Matthew and Heather are taking a pit stop, though. The geekiness just doesn't get any bigger than this, folks.
2:21 am - movie over. Never before seen a line at the mens bathroom without a line at the womens ;) pretty cool flick. Very moody. Girls, avoid moody boys - they might just be dark Sith lords...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 02:25 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 27, 2005
Lab update
How's lab going?
It's fun, really fun :) there's just something about working with your hands, real liquids and proteins at your fingertips. That's not to say that it isn't frustrating... In fact, it's a whole lot more frustrating than computer work because just about everything you deal with in the lab setting is a colorless liquid. If you come across a tube with an unknown liquid inside, you have no easy way of knowing if it has protein, DNA, radioactivity, contaminants, cells... You name it, they're all quite colorless. In fact, it's quite impressive that one of the proteins we're working with is called GFP - green fluorescent protein - which really is green and fluorescent! Tubes of that stuff are pretty neat... they have a real bright green color. Anyway, on the computer you never are in doubt too long as to what you are working with - debuggers are excellent microscopes and can tell you anything and everything you would want to know.
Still, it's fun. I am getting more and more independent which is really nice... sometimes I need a bit of help but the guy I'm working with is very helpful. I feel like I'm learning this stuff very fast. Hopefully some of it will stick when it comes time for me to do my own research!
This week, next week, and the week after is all my crunch time. I've got two projects to finish, plus a problem set and a final exam. Once that is done, though, I'm all finished! Then the life of a graduate student really kicks in (meaning lab, lab, lab...)
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 07:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 13, 2005
Rotation Three, Day One
I'm sorry, folks, about last rotation... I know I didn't say a whole lot about it even when I was asked. The truth was that there wasn't a lot there that I could rave about... Mostly it was a lot of sitting at the computer. Part of the problem with computer work is that you don't necessarily feel productive, especially when you're doing searches and trying to figure out how to do something. The other part of the problem is that any computer with a functioning web browser gets me distracted :) (although the SGI that I used only had Netscape 4.7 on it to begin with... Hardly what I would consider functional! I fixed that on short order, though.)
This rotation just began for me today, and already I'm seeing a concrete difference. Mostly because I'm working with concrete things! I'm not going to be doing any computer work this rotation... It's all going to be in the wet lab. I have to admit this made me a bit nervous to start - because I've had very little time in the wet lab, and I feel like my peers have far exceeded me in that area so there's a lot of catching up I have to do. But today went quite smoothly, and I'm remembering things that I learned many months and years ago. What I did today couldn't be considered significant by any scientist who does this stuff on a regular basis -- but for me, each one of these things is important. Even making buffers (which consisted of weighing out various compounds and adding them to water :)
I'm excited, at this point, for this rotation. Maybe later I'll be intimidated but for now I have just the right amount of help that I need, plus the leeway to make mistakes (since, of course, I'm so inexperienced :)
Today I didn't have a whole lot to do so I'm leaving early. I still have a bit of homework to do for tomorrow but I should have enough time to get it all done. Maybe I'll even have some time to do something fun!
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 04:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 05, 2005
What a great day
Wouldn't it just be the best day for a sail? I can see a couple of little orange buoys (ahem, MARKS) out on the river that they must have been using for racing practice. The wind's blowing pretty well today, must be a warm front coming through.
Too bad I'll be cooped up in class all day. High of 60 degrees, man, it really is spring.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 12:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 04, 2005
Science Corner
So I've been pondering starting a new section of my blog... It would be called Science Corner and would be basically me as Bill Nye the Science Guy. (I would so love to do something like that... But I'm just not funny enough!)
The whole idea would be for me to spend some time explaining a tiny part about how the world works. It could be anything from why ice floats to why we need to eat to how the Internet really works. There's so much that is rattling around in my brain about all this stuff and the honest truth is thay I love explaining it to folks. Sometimes I actually get to explain things to people bit usualy it's just my own mind talking to myself... And that doesn't really help anyone :)
So this means that I'm accepting requests for discussion topics. If nobody responds (which nobody does anymore, tear) then I'll come up with something but then it might end up being something which is interesting only to me. Really, I'll take any question on any science or technology subject.
In the meantime, look forward to Science Corner, coming soon!
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 08:35 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
April 01, 2005
Lab rotation number two
Here's where I've spent many an hour over the past few weeks. I really have done very little other than working on this computer attempting to build a working model of a protein which the lab prof is trying to crystallize. It's been interesting work but I'm ready for a change....
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 02:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 16, 2005
C Line
This morning I'm taking the C line into school. Pretty strange for me, since I usually take the D line - but this morning, and next, are special.
I have a midterm coming up on Thursday, and I haven't really studied for it yet. In order to maximize my available time, I decided it would be worth a few extra minutes of transit time to be able to get a comfortable seat and study. I never get a seat when I take the D line in...
So I should be studying - but I still need to print out copies of the lecture slides. I have some already but not enough... So I'm posting to my blog instead.
Ok, something very strange is going on... the train's been stopped at this station for a while - I saw the driver walking alongside... And now an MBTA truck drove quickly down the street BACKWARDS and then forwards again, a guy got out and got into the train. Now we're moving again. I think what happened was at the beginning, the train left before the driver of the second car arrived! Oops...
Ok, now study time.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 09:35 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
March 13, 2005
Dinner in the North End
This weekend was the last of three MIT Open House weekends for prospective graduate students. A lot of what goes on is actually planned and run by the current grad students... It's fun for us and probably helps them with their workload. I got the chance to host a student two weeks ago - I told the story - but this week I helped by leading a dinner trip. Much less time intensive, although it did basically kill my evening.
We went to Pagliuca's, a nice hole-in-the-wall place in the middle of the North End. For those folks who don't know Boston, the North End is the traditional Italian quarter, and is packed to the gills with Italian restaurants. We had a great time - twelve people in all, a tasty meal and wonderful dessert.
The bill came to over $350, which was pretty decent for all twelve of us. We 'invented' a few extra students so that we would get reimbursed fully... That even when the allowance per person is $25.
Now I'm on the train headed home. It's very late but I still have some homework that needs finishing up. Sleep is going to be tough to find this next week... Good thing spring break is coming up!
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 10:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 09, 2005
SideKicked in the rear end
Most of you probably know I have this fancy phone - the T-Mobile Sidekick II. It's great -- when it works. The problem has been lately, service has been awful... Which is culminated now by the fact that I haven't been able to use any of my phone's data features for over 30 hours now.
The problem really is in how the phone is designed. In order to provide the impression of speed on an admittedly slow network (GPRS is limited to no faster than a dial-up modem, and usually much slower) Danger, the company that makes the Sidekick, uses a bunch of servers that the phone is constantly connected to. The good thing is that when it works, it works well - web browsing speeds aren't broadband fast but they're not pokey either. The bad thing is that I said 'when it works' - when it doesn't work, nothing works. Web browser, instant messenger, email... The only things that don't rely on their servers are the phone and text messaging - which is very good because I send texts to Becca all the time and it would be awfully sad to miss those...
By the time this post appears I will be back online. However, as of now, March 8, 10:15 am, there is no functionality in sight...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 08:05 AM | TrackBack
March 03, 2005
Daily crunch
Highlights of today, in reverse order:
I'm crazy hungry. I don't have any leftovers and my kitchen is a disaster and I had no time this morning to cook, so I couldn't bring a dinner. I thought about buying something on campus but for some reason I convinced myself that it was more a waste of money than I wanted... Never mind that a burrito would have cost me a whole $3.10.
Class was fun. It's funny to switch from computational biology to parallel computing... You'd think they're at least related but they're totally different worlds. Nothing monumental has been happening except that I get a problem set a week in comp bio...
I stayed at home this morning.. Rather than heading to campus at my usual 9am, I didn't leave until 12:15. I used to do this when I had lots of work and skipped working in lab - but since I'm now between rotations I have no lab to go to. That also means I only have to be on campus for a half hour tomorrow, for an audition for a chorus solo.
Last night, just before I went to bed, I remembered, "oh shoot! I was supposed to do laundry tonight!" So instead... I did my laundry at 5:45 am this morning :) but the laundry machine bit me while I was putting my money in so now I have a blood blister on my thumb. Right on the spot that I usually use to type on this keyboard. Ouch.
Tomorrow I get to sleep in! Ahh, sweet sleep...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 07:15 PM | TrackBack
March 01, 2005
Room to Breathe
Finally... My recruit's gone. It was a fun weekend, no doubt about that, but it was pretty crazy.
His name is Chris, and he arrived Saturday evening around 6pm. I drove to the airport (the first time driving my car since Becca was here!), and drove back to my apartment to drop off his stuff and pick up Matthew and Corey. We went out to dinner at Legal Seafoods, a really good seafood restaurant which also happens to be close to the MIT campus. After dinner we went to a party at some third-years' house and hung out for a little while, meeting a few folks. It was tough on me because nowadays I start getting tired around 9pm, and we didn't arrive at the party until probably quarter to nine. We didn't stay all that long, though, which was nice for me.
Sunday morning I slept in until 6am, then we left around 9 to meet a group of folks heading to Dim Sum. Breakfast took us until noon, then I went to lab to work on a project while Chris did activities around Boston. We met up again at 5 for a reception and to go to dinner in the North End. Again, I got pretty tired by the end of the night but fortunately Chris didn't tend to stay out too late and never minded waking up too early.
Oh boy, Monday, the crazy day... We had to leave earlier than I usually do because he had a breakfast that started at 8:30! Chris had interviews, talks and general schmoozing time while I worked on a presentation for the end of my rotation. At 5:30, though, I got the message that they were going to declare a snow emergency... So I had to skip some of my chorus class to run home to move my car. Meanwhile Chris is going to dinner... I make it back to school for the last hour of chorus, breathless of course, and sing for an hour, then head to a dessert party with Chris and everybody else. After dessert we went out to a pool hall and hung out for another hour. I didn't make it home last night until 11pm...
This morning we had to leave at 7am to drive to the airport. I've been losing tons of sleep this weekend so I didn't get out of bed by 5:30, and did I mention that I've done virtually nothing of the three assignments I have due this week? I tried reading one of my papers but I could barely keep my eyes open. Tired, confused, worried about my car...
So I dropped him off at the airport and took a deep breath. I decided to relax at home and work rather than heading to lab this morning. I'll pick up a shawarma for lunch, call my sweetheart and then head to class! Ahh, what a weekend... But still lots of fun.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 11:50 AM | TrackBack
February 28, 2005
Snow Emergency
Snow emergencies are the worst thing ever. Now, you may be surprised because you associate me with loving snow - and I do - but a snow emergency is something completely different.
Why is it so awful? Well, when they call a snow emergency in the city of Boston, I literally have to stop whatever I'm doing, wherever I am, and hotfoot it to my car. Since my apartment building offers no parking, I park on the street - and most often I must park in 'Designated Snow Arteries'. In normal weather, the worst this gets me usually is just a dirty car... But in a snow emergency, this means potential ticketing and/or towing if my car remains parked on a snow artery after the emergency parking ban is in place.
I get an email and a phone call warning me about the snow emergency. Then, I have to make a quick judgement call - how long will it take me to get there? Can I afford to skip whatever I was doing or going to do? If I delay, my chances for finding a parking spot close by diminish rapidly. In fact, like tonight, sometimes my chances are already miniscule because of people returning from work.
So, I quickly jump on the train and make the 45 minute trip, then drive around frantically searching for that one safe spot, then take the train back for another 45 minutes. Tonight, I left MIT at 5:45 and I'll be lucky to return by 7:30.
This weekend's a whole lot worse because I have my recruit here... In fact, if he hadn't been here I would have been fine because I had to move my car from my last snow-emergency-safe parking spot in order to pick him up at the airport. Fortunately, I found a safe spot pretty close to my apartment... But if I hadn't, it would have meant an extra 30 minutes or more tomorrow as I would have had to trek to my car and drive back to pick him up to take him back to the airport.
Of course, if he doesn't go to the airport tomorrow because of delays, then my whole plan will be foiled because I parked in a metered spot which will become trouble after 7:30am or so. Then it's back to the beginning all over again as I rush around to find a safe parking spot.
What a pain. This must get fixed someday.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 07:15 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 27, 2005
Quick post
Yes, I missed again. Sorry. This weekend has been pretty crazy... today did not feel at all like a Sunday. When I get a breather I'll elaborate more... but for now I'll just mention that it's Open House for the MIT Biology graduate program and I'm hosting a prospective student, which means lots of free meals and touring around. It's a lot of fun but doesn't really mesh well with my attempt to follow a 9p-5a sleeping schedule... it's fine, I'll live, I just hope I can get all my homework done in time.
Ok - it's way past my bedtime. Hopefully tomorrow I'll fill you all in...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 10:20 PM | TrackBack
February 25, 2005
Network upgrades make me sad
Here at MIT, they seem to be doing some work on the network. I'm not sure exactly what they're doing, and why, but it seems to be important because they've had most network connectivity shut down since, oh, about 12:30. It's now about three, and I've just been sitting here twiddling my thumbs because the only work I have to do is to finish up this program that I wrote...
I'm sure I'll get it done in time - after all, they've got to get it working sometime today and it's not going to take me too long to finish my work. It is a little frustrating, though, to be here and just sit around. Fortunately the web browser on my phone has been working well enough to keep me entertained - otherwise I chat with the other grad students here who are in the same boat as me.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 03:05 PM | TrackBack
February 24, 2005
Train accident!
Some of you may have heard me mention at one point that I live in a very convenient spot, public transit-wise. Cleveland circle, the area in which I live, not only has its own T stop but is also very close to stops on two other branches of the green line. This means I can take the D line into school in the morning, which tends to be faster, but I can take the C line back, so I can stop on the way home and pick up some groceries.
The other interesting fact about this is that there is a train yard and repair shop for the green line cars close by - in fact, I walk past it every day. There's little bits of track in the streets which connect the three branches together here, so that cars can get to and from the yard during the day.
Anyway, this morning I was rushing to school like usual and noticed quite a commotion at the spot where the trains turn to head into the yard... It turns out that one of the cars of a two-car train derailed while it was pulling into the yard! There was a whole bunch of people standing around and looking, flashing lights and warning cones all over the place. I noticed a few of the tensioners for the overhead wires had broken, and the pantograph was all funny. They had this crazy thing which was basically a long pole with a light on it - it rested against the overhead wire and clipped to the track and lit up, showing there was still power in the overhead wire. I had to rush by quick, because I didn't want to be late for school, but it was all pretty interesting.
This evening I came back the same way and noticed the train car was still there. I guess it's not too easy to fix this kind of stuff. It's sticking out into traffic so hopefully they'll fix it soon, but it might still be there when I go by tomorrow morning.....
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 10:55 PM | TrackBack
February 23, 2005
Oops
Oh man, I forgot to post yesterday! The world must be coming to an end :) actually, I'm sure it'll be all right. I'll just start again today!
Let's see, what happened yesterday... Well, yesterday was a 'monday' because of Presidents' day on Monday, so I didn't have class and spent the day in lab instead. I worked on a little program that aligns coiled coil sequences in an antiparallel direction... Not too easy, but not too hard. Just some conceptual things made it tricky.
There was some dispute Monday night whether there would be chorus rehearsal... The last email I got monday said that there wouldn't be rehearsal, which is good for me because it means I can get home and actually make dinner rather than bringing dinner with me or starving... Then I got another email saying that they did want to have rehearsal but that anybody who made plans can choose to not come. Yeah, so my plans were to go grocery shopping, make dinner and do homework... So I did that instead. I know the music pretty well anyway.
This morning I got to chat with Becca for a while, off and on because of her crazy class schedule. I decided to skip going to lab this morning because of the pile of work that I have... Well, at least a percieved pile of work. I seem to always operate in one of two frames of mind: either it's all good, there's nothing to worry about, I don't have much to do; or it's crazy, I have too much work, I'll never finish it all. This morning I kept switching back and forth, which was weird :)
Now today it's class, lab, lab group meeting and back home to finish my last problem set. Sounds like fun!
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 12:25 PM | TrackBack
February 21, 2005
Lots of snow!
Finally! Some real snow around here! Of course, there was that blizzard a while back... But I never felt like I could appreciate it because I was so concentrated on Becca arriving. Then, after it had all ended, it was just this massive mess, and having to walk in the street because the snow plow piled up a five foot berm at the crosswalk is just not nice.
Of course, I'm sure they won't clean up after this snowfall either, but maybe I will at least get to enjoy it. For now, though, I get to stay inside - it's presidents' day!
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 08:40 AM | TrackBack
February 17, 2005
Chorus!
Here's a photo taken from deep inside the secret rehearsal room... Actually I just snuck a shot before we started singing but the way this chorus is run, I wouldn't be surprised if nobody noticed if I just stood up in the middle of rehearsal and took a picture. The director seems never to notice all the talking and general distraction going on in the bass section... Maybe it happens elsewhere but I only notice it in the basses.
We've got some very interesting material. We're doing the Mozart Requiem, along with a piece by Beethoven, I think a chorus from a Bach Cantata and one other thing which I don't remember now. Concert date is way ahead in may so I'm not worried about it yet. The chorus is pretty good, although like I said the basses don't pay attention and on the whole, it's just run differently than what I'm used to, which will just take time.
There's at least one solo bass part in the Mozart that I will almost certainly audition for. I'm itching to get back into more selective singing; choral singing is fun except when you feel disconnected from the group. Since I'm new it'll just take me time to find my place in the group.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 10:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 13, 2005
Sunday Fun
Lots of work today... Well, as best as I could. I'm nearly done my bioinformatics problem set - I pretty much just have to read another paper, write two paragraphs and type up the rest... Oh, and finish writing a little script, but that's almost done. Apart from that, right now all I have is to read three papers for my biochem class which normally meets Wednesday but this week meets Thursday! Yay, an extra day to get my work done...
I just jumped out of Trader Joe's where I was picking up ingredients to make chili tonight. Maybe if you're lucky I'll post the recipe that I used... Of course, that in no way implies that I will be using a recipe ;) Hopefully I'll be done tonight at a reasonable hour. Last night I went to bed at eleven which is just way too late, especially for waking up at five.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 07:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 11, 2005
Back online!
My new power supply arrived yesterday, and this morning I finally had the chance to put it in. Not a very complicated procedure, I must admit. Mostly just making sure everything's plugged back in.
It was a tense moment as I finally had everything set and all the cables on the back of my computer were reconnected... Would it start up again once I pushed the power button? I had read horror stories online of power supplies dying and taking the motherboard, or other components with them... I pushed the power button and it turned on! But then, rather than hearing the short 'beep' that normally means a normal bootup, I heard one long, then two short beeps. Anytime you turn a computer on and it doesn't beep the way it normally does, that means there's something wrong... Shoot. So I go online and look up what those beeps mean -- they usually are a code to give you a hint as to what's really broken.
It seemed like it was the video card, from a few web pages. (You know, when searching for information like this, I usually find a bunch of pages that are essentially copies of each other... They're facts, so they're not copyrighted, but still - it's frustrating when you're looking for similar information to corroborate what you already suspect but all you can find are copies of what you've already seen...) The good thing, if it was the video card, was that to me, it's not a very crucial part, and I think I even have an extra one somewhere that would work. The bad thing would be replacing one part, and then maybe finding out that I needed to replace more... So I took the card out, didn't see anything obviously wrong, and put it back in, in a different slot just to see if maybe there was a problem with the slot.
And it worked! Yay! So now my computer's back up and running. I'll let it stay on while I'm at school and check up on it a few times just to make sure it's all right. But for now - I claim success.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 10:00 AM | TrackBack
February 10, 2005
What a grey day
Winter rains always make me feel a little depressed. Not only is it not snowing, but the rain washes away what little snow is left. Plus, around here, it makes things appear ten times dirtier than before.
I went over to check on my car this morning before I went to the subway stop. This car is still making me worry... Now, I worry about it just because I don't use it! I wish there was a place that I could leave it where I trusted it would be safe... Even if it was out of my way - I don't drive my car much any more, and if I was able to leave it somewhere safe so that I could come get it later, then it would be completely out of mind.
I'm on the train where the driver insists on everyone sliding their card through the reader. For heaven's sake, man, it's not that big of a deal.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 10:10 AM | TrackBack
February 08, 2005
During a quick break
Just taking a break during my Bioinformatics class... Today has been lots of fun. I woke up bright and early, but for some reason I think I'm getting more tired as time goes on. I'm definitely following an 8hr/night sleep schedule, but maybe I need more than 8hrs of sleep per night. I'm sure that I'll manage... Maybe I'll make up the time this weekend.
We have a mouse in the house! After I took a shower, got dressed and was working on my reading, I heard funny noises coming from the direction of my closed door. When I looked over I saw a little brown shape skitting around my jacket which was hanging on the back of my door! It was pretty distracting as I was trying to get my work done this morning. He eventually left my room and headed to the kitchen... Obviously we didn't have a trap so we couldn't really do anything about it. I asked my mom to send down a trap; hopefully it will arrive before he eats all our food.
I woke up this morning to a text message from Becca saying that it was a snow day today in Amman! Can you believe it... A snow day in the middle of the desert :) of course, I'm sure that any snow in the desert would shut down that city. So I didn't get to chat with her this morning because she can only get internet access at her university. I really miss her but I'm so glad that I got her text message early so that I didn't spend hours waiting for her to get in touch with me. If she gets to go to school tomorrow I'll get to talk to her then...
For some reason it feels really hard to judge how much work I have. I haven't really gotten into the 'working' groove yet this semester, and despite a one-page review due Wednesday, I haven't been able to get my rear in gear very much. I'm sure it'll work out soon enough but this is a pretty standard worry that I have each semester. Onward...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 02:45 PM | TrackBack
February 07, 2005
Sleep schedule update
I just have a few things to say about my little experiment in sleep schedule adjustment:
* It seems to be working pretty well so far. The past two days I've woken up at 5 am and suffered no ill effects. It is pretty nice to get up and to be almost the only person awake. Plus, with so much time in the morning, I never have to worry about the shower being taken!
* When I tell people I'm trying this, they always look at me like I'm from Mars. Come on, people, it isn't that weird. Ok, so maybe it's not 'normal', but who wants to be normal anyway? Besides, I know that I'm getting a full night's rest, which is more than I can say when I don't keep my bedtime strict and go to bed at 2am and wake up at 8am. It's totally natural, too. I go to bed when it's dark, and I wake up... Ok, so it's dark when I wake up too. But my alarm clock turns my bedside light on in the morning so it's not like I wake up to a pitch black room. But this way I get to watch the sunrise every morning - how could you beat that?
* I got to chat with Becca this morning! How cool is that? For nearly 45 minutes, we talked about fun and random stuff. This, plus chatting with her briefly before church yesterday, and reading a nice email, this I could get used to... :)
Ok, and now for a tiny bit more work before time to make lunch and then head to lab. Life is so much fun :)
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 08:30 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 06, 2005
Gilbert and Sullivan?
Oh man, so I've just been offered a bit part in a Gilbert and Sullivan production of which I've forgotten the name. Apparently there's a club at MIT which exists solely for the purpose of putting on such productions, and they're looking for more guys to sing bass...
It is soooo tempting but I don't think I have the time. Drama can be lots of fun but judging by how worried I am already about having too much work - I don't think it's a good idea. It's really too bad, though, it sounds like such fun...
I wish there was more time in the world to spend on fun pursuits. Don't get me wrong - I really enjoy everything that I spend my time on already - but there's so many *more* fun things to do! Oh well. Maybe when I'm retired.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 03:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 04, 2005
Zap!
A few days ago, when I was looking into my chorus auditions, I happened to notice a somewhat obscure posting on an MIT music bulletin board. It was advertising a concert, to be held on Feb. 4th, and the title of the concert was Zap! Music for Robots and Van de Graaf generator, among many other instruments. I thought, "sounds like fun!"
It was held in the Theater of Electricity at the Museum of Science. And yes, they did use the giant Van de Graaf generator during the music. It was pretty neat. The place was packed! I was surprised at the number of people there. I had no idea whether it was publicized at all, and apparently it was, because there were people watching all the way up to the second balcony.
The music was pretty good. There was nothing particularly compelling about it, but you could tell that it had been composed with care and that it wasn't all about the sparks. Unfortunately sparks have a pretty limited expressive range, but for the material I was impressed. They had big sparks, smaller sparks, tiny buzzy sparks and the Tesla coil in certain spots which makes big loud buzzy sparks. They also used the Jacob's Ladder during some of the quiet parts (a small, quiet spark which slowly rises due to air convection).
All in all, a fun night. It was a little weird to be going out by myself... It was fun and all, but I kept feeling like there ought to be someone else there. There were a bunch of friends who sat near me and I thought about bringing my friends to something like this. Of course, though, they wouldn't really appreciate it and would probably get really bored really quick. It was hard enough to keep myself from getting bored, and this is the fun stuff for me...
Now, to go home and get some dinner. I haven't eaten since noon and I'm starving. What should I have?
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 08:10 PM | TrackBack
February 02, 2005
So tired... So early??
Here I thought I was being so good, going to bed so early the past few days because I didn't have much to do... And now that I actually do have stuff to do, like reading my rotation papers - it's getting 'late' and I'm getting tired! Humph.
I guess now I have to stay up late while I'm tired in order to shift my schedule back towards the nocturnal. Oh well. Maaaybee I'll just lie in bed while reading my papers... Thaaaat's a good idea... Not - I'll fall asleep! Mmmmm... Sleep.....
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 11:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 01, 2005
Notes on 7.91
Sounds like a fun class! I'm sure it'll be helpful, because there's a lot of bioinformatics-type stuff that I'm not very familiar with.
Umm, but, I have an android for an instructor... His accent and manner of speaking, as well as his very odd jokes make him sound way too much like a robot :) fortunately he only teaches the coding part of the class which is being held in special optional sessions. I think I know enough about python to not have to attend...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 04:20 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Oh boy, what an experience
A few thoughts from my first 6.001 class:
Oh, but first, some introduction. 6.001, also known as Structure and Interpretation of Computer Systems, is basically the intro computer science class here at MIT. I'm taking it mostly because although I understand some bits and pieces of programming, I often feel like it would help considerably to 'fill in the holes', so to speak. Plus, I'm looking for a class which will exercise my programming ability - so far, the programming that I've done has been pretty lightweight and I'd like to be a bit stronger.
Anyway, my thoughts... The class was dead. The prof tried to crack a few jokes but nobody laughed. When he spent the briefest few seconds going over binary, you could feel the room seething with resentment, as if everyone in the room felt it was below them and why should they put up with this, anyway. To me, it seems kinda sad... Here's the new generation of geeks rising, and they can't laugh at a little bit of computer history or appreciate any of the trivial stuff. Maybe all they want to do is start the next Microsoft. Too bad for them.
I keep going back and forth between thinking this will be a good class or a bad class for me. It'll be a lot of work, that much is obvious. Maybe I just won't need that much work, and I'll drop it. Or maybe it'll be cool and I'll keep it. Who knows.
Now, to call my sweetheart... :-D
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 11:00 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 24, 2005
Only one hour late?
At least her train's not canceled. It's the only Amtrak train on this board which isn't...
I arrived at the train station early... Somewhat intentionally, just to make sure that I didn't miss her. I've got about an hour to wait at this point, but it could be one minute for all I care. I know she's going to make it.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 10:55 AM | TrackBack
January 23, 2005
Not Tonight
Becca's not coming tonight.
The blizzard which whipped through the region has shut down cities, delayed public transit and closed airports. Logan International has been closed since 5:30am this morning and is not expected to reopen until 3:00am tomorrow.
Becca's original flight was scheduled to arrive at 9:55pm tonight. That flight, and all others tonight, have been canceled. She is now scheduled to arrive around 9:00am tomorrow morning, but as of now that flight is also listed as canceled.
It remains uncertain when she will arrive. I hope she makes it here soon.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 06:55 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
January 22, 2005
Just a sweet thought
Thinking about her, every day.
She always tells me that she's embarassed by getting flowers in public. I tell her 'too bad, I'm going to give them to you anyway...' Of course, I never want to be predictable, but I can't help but do something sweet for her when she returns to me.
I love being the kind of boyfriend who's always sweet, always helpful, never annoyed or inconvenienced... always kind. I want to always revel in the love that's been granted to me, never taking it for granted. For me, that's the only way to truly love someone.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 03:00 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 21, 2005
Becca's here!
So after months and months (well, more like six weeks) of being apart, she's finally arrived... She flew in yesterday at 4:41 and we had a lovely dinner and just caught up on the times.
You may notice that I didn't post yesterday - the first day missed since I started this crazy site. It's not that nothing interesting happened yesterday - obviously, having Becca arrive is interesting enough - but sometimes I just don't have the time ;)
She's gone again, now... Off to Florida to speak to a bunch of rich Brandeis donors to convince them to give Brandeis more money. I'm only slightly sad... I know she's coming back on Sunday, and it's not like when she was here we saw each other every day.
Be forewarned, though, that beginning Sunday night the number of posts I make may go down significantly. Unless she makes me post ;)
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 12:50 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 19, 2005
Fun with photography
I tried to do a little bit of stuff like this before with my film camera, but it's always really tough because you have no idea what you'll get at the end. It's better to do on a digital camera, because then you get to throw out the ten bad pictures for every good picture you get...
now, that doesn't mean that this picture is any good - I certainly didn't take ten before I saved this one. It's just a proof of concept, so to speak. But still, I hope you like it :)
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 02:30 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 18, 2005
The Grump Train
I guess I'm riding the Grump train this morning... I'm in the front car and the corpulent train driver is yelling at everyone who just shows their monthly pass but doesn't swipe it. You're supposed to swipe the pass, but if you just show it the guy is supposed to push a button on his fare collector to say that you're okay. But he yells at everybody... Even the kid whose Student pass doesn't have a stripe!
Meanwhile, the lady driving the car behind continues to make announcements emphasizing that the fare is a dollar fifty, and that the value of a token is a dollar twenty-five and if you're paying with a token you need an additional twenty-five cents. I see or hear her all the time on this route... She must be tired of stupid people by now.
I wonder how I'd behave in those kind of situations?
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 09:45 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 15, 2005
The cutest stuffed animals in the world!
Roy and Khalled :) Roy is the white tiger, and Khalled, as you may know, is the camel.
Some photos are just worth sharing, without too much of a caption...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 01:05 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
January 14, 2005
A useful abstraction
Today, at the CSBi conference, I heard David Searls give a talk relating biology to lingustics and engineered circuits. I have to say that it was one of the most interesting talks that I've ever heard. He basically spent a long time going over how biological problems can be related to linguistical problems, and described how lingustics has put forward some answers to their problem.
Essentially he made an analogy between linguistic analysis and hierarchies in biology. In linguistic analysis, there are four levels - Lexical (words), Syntactical (grammar), Semantic (meaning) and Pragmatic (context). You can see that this list is arranged in order of complexity. His analogy to biology was to place protein domains at the Lexical level, proteins themselves at the Syntactical level, protein function at the Semantic level - and a new concept, the role of a protein, at the Pragmatic level.
There's an interesting problem in linguistics called ambiguity. I'm sure you can come up with a whole bunch of sentances pretty quick where a particular word could have a variable meaning. He didn't go into the biological analogy of ambiguity too much, but it seems apropos; after all, one protein may have different substrates, and depending on context it may be regulated by different factors. This also plays significantly into the idea of contextuality - an important concept in deciphering linguistic ambiguity.
It's a shame that much of his talk has slipped my mind at this point. He works for GlaxoSmithKline and this isn't his official research, so I don't think there's any paper out there to read on this subject. There was more on the use of metaphors - both linguistic and technical - but I can't seem to recall it now.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 09:45 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
January 13, 2005
A bunch of little things
- Nine out of ten graduate students agree: Staying up until 3am, then waking up at 7:10 to sit through hours upon hours of talks is ill-advised. The trouble is that this stuff is more or less what I'm interested in, so it's tough to sleep during the talks without waking up and trying to think about what they're talking about. At this point, I'm desperately searching for precious nap time.
- Just now, I learned that Republicans have less risk of heart attack because their arterial collagen is stabilized against degradation due to their cold hearts. Quote from Peter Sorger: "Coffee break becomes this conference's Fallujah"
- A while back, Becca told me how awful and girly it was to spend time reading the Pottery Barn catalog and dreaming about the crazy furniture. Well, I just observed how this is not just a girly phenomenon... The graduate student sitting next to me (who is male, and seems somewhat opinionated) has just spent a half hour going through online Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, and IKEA catalogs, along with craigslist postings, looking for dressers and other furniture. Personally, I have no problem looking over fun furniture, but I would much rather do it with my sweetheart...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 11:30 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 12, 2005
Alternator update
I went to Sears this morning to buy a Hex bit set - I need them to loosen a mounting bolt. Bruce has a set, and we used his when we did it the last time... However, they don't have any in stock at Sears. They may get some in a shipment on Friday. Who knows. The problem is that if I can't get those tools by Saturday, I can't do the work this Saturday...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 01:05 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
January 11, 2005
Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is the best grocery store ever. Good, cheap food that doesn't make you feel like you're selling your soul to some Altria conglomerate. They should have one in Vermont - those Burlingtonians would eat it up (literally). This one's pretty convenient for me - right on the C line as I head home.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 07:48 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Good news, bad news...
Ok, ready? What do you want first? Too bad, I'll give you the good news first anyway.
The good news is that it seems like I can get my alternator replaced, under warranty. I called them today and they said that if I bring in the old one, they'll take care of it. I really hope so, too, because I'm pretty sure it was more than $150.
The bad news is that now I have to figure out how to get it out, get it over to the parts store, and put in the new one. Did I mention the store is in Waltham? Plus I don't have any kind of garage where I can work knowing I won't be bothered or where I could work under any weather. My guess is that I couldn't really do this on the side of the street where I currently park. The other thing is that I really don't have time at my luxury to get it all done.
So here's my plan - it's kinda iffy but so far it's my only hope to getting this done. Saturday I will drive over to Waltham and park in the office parking lot. I'll try to get the old one out, then walk it over to the parts store. Then, hopefully the exchange will go straightforward and I can walk back to my car and put the new one in. I'll have to do this all by myself. And if anything goes wrong - the weather's crummy, something breaks while it's coming out or going back in, or someone decides that me doing car repair work in a random office building parking lot isn't cool - I'm pretty stuck. However, short of taking the car to a garage and having them do it for $200-300, it's my only option.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 03:05 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
364.4 + an ear
Whoever had the idea of marking the Harvard bridge with Smoots was, I believe, a genius of the highest caliber. It's so incredibly useful to know exactly how far you are along that endless bridge. It's easy to remember how many smoots there are - it's simply the number of days in a year. Plus, since they marked the halfway point, you know at which point there's no turning back. And, there's no better way to start your day at MIT off right than with a few numbers.
Mr. Smoot, I salute you.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 11:00 AM | Comments (57) | TrackBack
January 10, 2005
The MBTA
Riding the subway in Boston is always a new and interesting experience. You never meet the same characters twice. It's so multicultural, multi-socioeconomic... I'm always hearing a non-english language spoken -- Japanese or Spanish or Creole or some other language that I can't understand. You have old sitting near young, rich sitting near poor, and bright sitting near dim.
In the mornings, with the business commuters, nearly everybody is wearing business apparel, reading a book or newspaper and the car is totally silent. In the afternoon, you see couples, old folks, and other people just heading from one point to another. In the evenings, you get the partygoers and college kids - especially on the B line.
I love to be able to sit and listen to people's conversations, or read a few snips and phrases of their books, or watch their interactions with each other. If you're into people-watching, there's no better place.
I have to say, though, along with the diversity in people comes the diversity of body odors. I have never experienced such a, uh, bouquet of fragrances than I have on the T :)
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 06:22 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
Today's special talk
I had the opportunity today to attend a talk given by someone from Stanford on the subject of the dynamics of protein synthesis. It was pretty interesting - they were able to do FRET on single ribosome particles and watch a molecule step through a complex process. It does seem to be a bit limited to vectorial processes - if equilibria are involved it gets a whole lot more complicated.
There's so much science here - it's crazy! Sitting through six talks a day on subjects as diverse as computational biology to worm genetics, it really blows my mind. I'm glad that we get breaks where I don't have to concentrate super hard on a subject that I understand very little about.
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 04:00 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
January 09, 2005
Cute Khalled
I'm taking care of him while Becca's home in Minnesota. She might take him with her to Jordan, though. I hope she does - he's a camel, so he obviously belongs in the sandy desert having adventures, not cooped up in a stuffy Boston apartment...
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 08:21 PM | Comments (65) | TrackBack
Sushi erasers!
Anna got me these for Christmas. I have to admit, they're pretty cool. I wouldn't try eating them, though, they probably taste pretty rubbery (ba dum bum ching...)
Sent from: Karl Gutwin
Posted by kgutwin at 07:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack