A new look for the new semester. Let me know what you think. I am still debating about leaving the profile up.
I know I haven't been writing much lately, that isn't saying I haven't thought about writing, I just haven't felt like putting my thoughts down in this space.
So I'll publish the life update for now:
Amy... Things are going well. We are wonderfully connected through phone conversations. We have been trying to make time to see each other but obligations to other responsibilities in our lives always seem to come up at the last minute. She has a few weekends in mind for us to visit over the next two months. Maybe one or two of them will work out. I am not overly concerned about it. I know we will see each other sometime soon so I am being patient. And honestly, I don't really have time to worry about it.
Friends... I have been catching quite a bit of shit from my friends for not being available to hang out. All I have to say on that front is "bite my ass". If they cannot be understanding that I have a million responsibilities around my job and my school work, and those responsibilities come first right now, then I don't need them in my life. I love the friends who will call and leave messages telling me that they are thinking about me because they aren't pressuring me to hang out and they aren't pressuring me to call them back, they are just sending loving thoughts and that is wonderful. I like to be able to call and or hang out when I am not overwhelmed with responsibilities. So for those of you who are being patient with me, thank you, for those of you who aren't, bite my ass.
Work... I have made a break through this month. I am very excited about this. I spent the entire summer trying to make a new compound that is has many prospective thermoelectric properties, however, instead of making that compound I ended up with another one. We thought it was garbage at the time but it isn't. No one has ever done any studies on the "garbage" compound, so we sent it to NIST so they could solve the crystal structure. I am now trying to make a ton of that "garbage" compound now to use in a brand new synthesis process to make the compound I was originally trying to make over the summer. All of this is brand new work and very publishable if it comes out according to plan. The break through I was referring to at the beginning of this paragraph, is the fact that I perfected the recipe for making the "garbage" compound so now I can churn it out quickly and purely. I also found out that I will not be presenting at ITC (International Thermoelectric Conference) this summer. I am very excited about this. It is one more thing that has been taken off my plate so I can work on other things. If I was going to be a presenter, I would have to have my abstract done by Monday and start prepping my presentation next week as well. My prof decided he would let the other guys in the lab do the presentations this time around since I did mine in November. I get to just go and enjoy the conference. And finally, the last good thing about work that I can report at this time is that I have found that Sarah will not be staying in our lab after she graduates in May. She has applied to Biophysics grad school programs. So there will no longer be the "I hate you" vibes coming from the desk right next to mine once May rolls around.
School... Three classes this semester.
1) Applied Quantum Mechanics would be a wonderful course if I had a decent professor. We are actually supposed to be studying how to apply the theories that we learned last semester, not many universities teach application along with theory. Unfortunately, I have a bad teacher for a professor. He literally lectures directly out of the book. I am sorry, I am a graduate student in physics, I can read the fucking book on my own, TEACH ME something. It pisses me off. He gave us a homework assignment a couple of weeks ago. It was three questions long. The first question involved finding a numerical solution to the Schrodinger equation. For those of you who don't know, this is almost impossible to do by hand without error. It requires a computer program to be writting to get exact answers. However, only two people in the class of 20 can program a computer with any sort of efficiency. So the prof has decided since only one person did the assignment correctly out of 20 of us that he is reassigning it to be done using the computer programming language Matlab. He will not accept any other language. He has declared that Matlab is the industry standard so we are going to standardize our class by using it. I have two problems with this: a) Matlab is far from being the industry standard, no one uses it or is familiar with it unless they have taken the computational physics course at my university and b) the prof doesn't even know how to program in Matlab. So I have decided that I will be rewriting my program using LabVIEW this weekend. LabVIEW is a graphical programming language that we use in our lab. It is a powerful, multi-functional language. I am choosing to use this language as more of a "fuck you" to my professor than anything else. I have already spent two weeks working on this question, I don't want to waste anymore time on it. I have learned the physics behind it and that was the main point. I refuse to waste my time relearning a programming language that will be of not use to me later. Besides, if it had mentioned anywhere in the syllabus or course description that I would have to program in this course, I would not be taking this course. I hate programming. Bleh. He is going to get quite an atrocious teaching review from me at the end of the semester.
2) Material Physics 2... I have not taken Materials 1 so I am a little behind in this course. The prof has a wonderful monotone voice that just lulls you into daydreaming. This subject is of grat interest to me so I am hoping that will continue to help me pay attention.
3) Lasers and Applications... I had to take a third course this semester and this was the only other course I thought I might be able to manage and do well in. I have no background in optics or lasers so I need to bust my ass and stay on top of the reading. The math isn't difficult its just a little tricky, you have to be able to picture the optic system in your head to be able to solve the problem. The professor really knows his subject too and he draws clear and concise diagrams on the board for everything. Unfortunately, I cannot decipher his handwriting very well.
Okay, thats enough for now.
I know I haven't been writing much lately, that isn't saying I haven't thought about writing, I just haven't felt like putting my thoughts down in this space.
So I'll publish the life update for now:
Amy... Things are going well. We are wonderfully connected through phone conversations. We have been trying to make time to see each other but obligations to other responsibilities in our lives always seem to come up at the last minute. She has a few weekends in mind for us to visit over the next two months. Maybe one or two of them will work out. I am not overly concerned about it. I know we will see each other sometime soon so I am being patient. And honestly, I don't really have time to worry about it.
Friends... I have been catching quite a bit of shit from my friends for not being available to hang out. All I have to say on that front is "bite my ass". If they cannot be understanding that I have a million responsibilities around my job and my school work, and those responsibilities come first right now, then I don't need them in my life. I love the friends who will call and leave messages telling me that they are thinking about me because they aren't pressuring me to hang out and they aren't pressuring me to call them back, they are just sending loving thoughts and that is wonderful. I like to be able to call and or hang out when I am not overwhelmed with responsibilities. So for those of you who are being patient with me, thank you, for those of you who aren't, bite my ass.
Work... I have made a break through this month. I am very excited about this. I spent the entire summer trying to make a new compound that is has many prospective thermoelectric properties, however, instead of making that compound I ended up with another one. We thought it was garbage at the time but it isn't. No one has ever done any studies on the "garbage" compound, so we sent it to NIST so they could solve the crystal structure. I am now trying to make a ton of that "garbage" compound now to use in a brand new synthesis process to make the compound I was originally trying to make over the summer. All of this is brand new work and very publishable if it comes out according to plan. The break through I was referring to at the beginning of this paragraph, is the fact that I perfected the recipe for making the "garbage" compound so now I can churn it out quickly and purely. I also found out that I will not be presenting at ITC (International Thermoelectric Conference) this summer. I am very excited about this. It is one more thing that has been taken off my plate so I can work on other things. If I was going to be a presenter, I would have to have my abstract done by Monday and start prepping my presentation next week as well. My prof decided he would let the other guys in the lab do the presentations this time around since I did mine in November. I get to just go and enjoy the conference. And finally, the last good thing about work that I can report at this time is that I have found that Sarah will not be staying in our lab after she graduates in May. She has applied to Biophysics grad school programs. So there will no longer be the "I hate you" vibes coming from the desk right next to mine once May rolls around.
School... Three classes this semester.
1) Applied Quantum Mechanics would be a wonderful course if I had a decent professor. We are actually supposed to be studying how to apply the theories that we learned last semester, not many universities teach application along with theory. Unfortunately, I have a bad teacher for a professor. He literally lectures directly out of the book. I am sorry, I am a graduate student in physics, I can read the fucking book on my own, TEACH ME something. It pisses me off. He gave us a homework assignment a couple of weeks ago. It was three questions long. The first question involved finding a numerical solution to the Schrodinger equation. For those of you who don't know, this is almost impossible to do by hand without error. It requires a computer program to be writting to get exact answers. However, only two people in the class of 20 can program a computer with any sort of efficiency. So the prof has decided since only one person did the assignment correctly out of 20 of us that he is reassigning it to be done using the computer programming language Matlab. He will not accept any other language. He has declared that Matlab is the industry standard so we are going to standardize our class by using it. I have two problems with this: a) Matlab is far from being the industry standard, no one uses it or is familiar with it unless they have taken the computational physics course at my university and b) the prof doesn't even know how to program in Matlab. So I have decided that I will be rewriting my program using LabVIEW this weekend. LabVIEW is a graphical programming language that we use in our lab. It is a powerful, multi-functional language. I am choosing to use this language as more of a "fuck you" to my professor than anything else. I have already spent two weeks working on this question, I don't want to waste anymore time on it. I have learned the physics behind it and that was the main point. I refuse to waste my time relearning a programming language that will be of not use to me later. Besides, if it had mentioned anywhere in the syllabus or course description that I would have to program in this course, I would not be taking this course. I hate programming. Bleh. He is going to get quite an atrocious teaching review from me at the end of the semester.
2) Material Physics 2... I have not taken Materials 1 so I am a little behind in this course. The prof has a wonderful monotone voice that just lulls you into daydreaming. This subject is of grat interest to me so I am hoping that will continue to help me pay attention.
3) Lasers and Applications... I had to take a third course this semester and this was the only other course I thought I might be able to manage and do well in. I have no background in optics or lasers so I need to bust my ass and stay on top of the reading. The math isn't difficult its just a little tricky, you have to be able to picture the optic system in your head to be able to solve the problem. The professor really knows his subject too and he draws clear and concise diagrams on the board for everything. Unfortunately, I cannot decipher his handwriting very well.
Okay, thats enough for now.
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