Conundrum Times Two

1. Who forgets to turn off their phone when entering a church?
2. Who calls people/gets calls on Sunday morning?

A New Wake-up Strategy

I wasn't very productive last night (can you tell by the previous post?). I needed to get some sleep so I could get three hours of productivity in this morning, however that required me to get to work around 7AM. In order to achieve this incredible feat I used the following strategy:

1. Set cell phone alarm for 6AM and set to "High and Vibrate"
2. Place cell phone near bed
3. Set radio alarm for 6:25 AM and set to loud volume

When the cell phone alarm goes off, I have a tendency to just stop the noise as fast as possible but not really get out of bed. So, this morning when I grabbed the phone and quieted the alarm, I didn't "dismiss" the alarm, but effectively turned it to "snooze" mode. Thus, every five minutes I would get another loud ring. Each was more effective than the next to wake me more out of my coma as I would hold the phone near my head as I lay motionless.

By the time my clock alarm went off, I was awake enough to realize I should plan on getting out of bed. When I heard the radio, I knew my time was up and I had to make the effort to get up. It is actually quite a bit of effort when I sleep on an air mattress. I can't roll out of bed into a standing position, since I am really inches off the floor instead of feet.

A Meaningless Accomplishment is Still an Accomplishment

In an effort to distract myself during a homework night, I've been working on 5-starring all songs in Hard mode on Guitar Hero 2. During this process, I got a 100% on Monkey Wrench. It was ALMOST perfect, but I had a single extra strum in there. I still got my 5 gold stars.

Small Victories

Last night, I left Avery at 9:00 PM. I slept in and arrived at 10:00 AM. This leads a new record for time spent outside the building during the school week.

Probability "Zero"

I found out why they claim certain things Probability "Zero" (or "One" in some cases). When talking about infinite possible results, the probability of a finite number of results is "Zero" since the the probability goes to zero as the number of possibilities increases to infinity. Even though the probability is "Zero" doesn't mean it can't happen.

For instance: I sold my Numerical Analysis textbook since I had Probability "Zero" of ever needing it again. However, over the infinite amount of time (assuming time is like the Real Line) there are a finite number of moments where I could use it, like finding a way to do least-squares regression for Bézier curves over a set of points.

Only in Nebraska

Only in Nebraska will a priest start his homily with "The sun still rose today," and have everyone know what he is talking about.

Gameday

USC is in town today for some football. I'm not normally one to care for football, but this is a big game and should be entertaining. In addition, this is the first weekend I've had to just relax in my apartment and catch up on work (instead of moving myself or katie, going to weddings, or engaged encounter). I feel special, since this is what I see out my window:

However, I will not attend the game, but rather listen to music with ESPN College Gameday on the tube:

Later, pizza and beer will be paired with watching the game on TV, but I'll probably be productive in some way or form anyway. And if you didn't notice, Gameday is at Nebraska. I get some kind of sick pleasure watching something on TV being taped within eyeshot, especially because it is right next to where I work every day (Find Avery Hall on the campus map! Hint: it is near the stadium).

Awfully Bad You-Tubing

I occasionally visit the YouTubes for distraction. When I do so, I take the time to clear out my inbox of spam that I have received for being featured. This time, I see in my "Received Videos" section the following set of videos:



I really hope someone hacked his account and put his phone number up there. Scratch that: I hope he's really dumb enough to put his home phone number on there.

Temperature Inversion

Lincoln got significantly cooler Today than it has been recently. This results in very enjoyable commutes to work. However, Avery is still running a little warmer to "save energy." But, now the heater is on to keep the temperature up. This is unnaturally uncomfortable.

Jamie Radcliffe

The vice chair of the math department, Jamie Radcliffe, is a role model. He can multi-task and manage his time so much that he can do research, do managerial tasks, and teach two graduate-level courses. I saw him walking while reading a book. In fact, rarely do I see him not rushing between places, and even rarer is he not reading a book at the same time. Nothing stops this man!

Morning Insanity Addendum

Another thing I noticed this morning was that I twist those twist-tie things in the following way: ON with my left hand (counterclockwise) OFF with my right hand (clockwise). This not only makes sense to me with unconscious muscle-memory, but confuses me incredibly on a cognitive level. Am I left-handed for twist ties, or right-handed? I have noticed on previous occasions that people get upset at me for twisting things the WRONG way... but they are doing it wrong, with all the switching of direction with the same hand.

A Little Insane in the Morning

While pouring my freshly-brewed coffee into my thermos, I started singing the "My Buddy" jingle, except with "My Coffee."

"Famous" Little Brother

Tom recently appeared on a magazine cover. See the pic below:



Extra points if you can point out which one is him. Of course, this is stolen content from Tom's blog.

Mathematical Distress

A book that has a lot of useful information for the homework due tomorrow just shipped from Amazon. I'll probably get it next week, just in time to help with the second homework. Oh well...

Great Expectations

This evening, I've been sitting in my recliner reading about maths not for class in my otherwise empty apartment wearing no pants. This is just what I hoped grad school would be like.