School is definitely weird so far. It isn’t like I’m used to. I decided to go home again this past weekend since I didn’t have any pressing reason to stay in Williamsburg. I came back Friday afternoon and ran at Seashore on the way back. Good thing I went then, because the weather was warm and an hour later the whole area was covered in torrents of rain.
So I managed to get some work done and see Sarah and watch the Super Bowl. The game had a good finish and was very surprising. I really don’t watch sports very much but I can get somewhat interested if the game is evenly matched. It’s funny that way because when I was racing on a regular basis, I never wanted an even match. I would always prefer to blow everyone away in the first half of the race than let it come down to a kick where I would almost surely lose. Thinking about racing makes me realize how much has changed in the past year or so.
I would like to be able to train regularly and race again and I was planning on doing the Colonal Half and the Shamrock Marathon in March but my body seemed to give out once I hit about 70 miles a week a few weeks ago. I got a bad calf strain and put up with that for a week until my knee (almost literally) blew up last weekend. It’s like I just can’t handle it right now. So I’ve been taking it easy and waiting for things to calm down. I’ve been gradually feeling better every day.
I was planning on going back to school early this afternoon but then my class was canceled so I’ll probably just go back after dinner tonight. I have these really long weekends now without regular class on Friday and on Monday I don’t have class until 3. Everything is crammed into three and a half days, with Thursday being really bad with the back to back lab sessions. This week it’s just as well that my Monday class was canceled because now I’ve got a colloquium speaker on Friday that I’ve got to go to.
The labs have been strange too. I’m now on the other side of the equation, being the instructor instead of the student. I’ve got to help everyone out in the class and deal with people demanding make ups since they were sick. It seems that there are about three kinds of student in the lab. First, there are those who do the work and can figure out everything on their own. They go to class and read the book and know what to do in the lab without help. They might ask the occasional question, but they get in the lab, do the work, and get out. Then, there are those who try really hard but have a lot of problems. They probably go to class regularly and read the stuff they are supposed to, but they aren’t a good match for the material. Students like these are the reason I am in the lab: they need someone to help them out. I want them to do well so I do the best I can to answer all their questions without actually doing the lab for them. Lastly, there are a few students who don’t seem to care. They definitely don’t pay attention in class and get hung up on things that were definitely covered by the professor. Sometimes they ask for help, but there is only so much I can do to push them in the right direction since they don’t really take an interest in the material.
It’s also weird having this adviser-student relationship with my PhD adviser. I meet with him after his class on Tuesdays. It’s like having my own personal professor, actually it is since I am his only advisee. There are papers I have to read and reports I have to give for each meeting on the particular problem I am working on – routing and dissemination in mobile sensor networks. It’s interesting since there is no syllabus and no material that I have to learn. It’s what I can find out on my own by scouring conference proceedings and journals. To that end, it’s also hard to stay motivated because right now the goals for my project aren’t very clearly defined. I’m hoping we can clear that up tomorrow and get some kind of plan in motion with details as to what exactly I will do. Some of the stuff may be hard to actually implement, which is one reason I would prefer a more rigid plan. At this point it’s highly unlikely that I’ll finish by the end of March, but who knows. I’ve got a pretty good idea of the related work and state of the art at this point which will shape my approach to the dissemination problem, but will I be able to solve it in time, implement or simulate the solution, and write a paper on it? I don’t know.
The weather has definitely taken a turn for the better as of late and it’s even supposed to be near 70 tomorrow. It makes things a lot more enjoyable when it’s somewhat warm and the sun is out. I’ve noticed the sun is really staying in the sky longer in the evenings which also helps.
I hadn’t planned on voting in the primary next week but now with everything so close in the polls on both sides I sent in my absentee ballot application today. If it gets to the registrar’s office by tomorrow (it should), then I’ll be able to vote. Of course, I can only vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary. Even though I’m a registered Republican, Virginia allows you to vote in whichever election you choose. I could vote in the Democratic primary to screw things up, but I decided to go Republican since I like Ron Paul the best. I think Ron Paul would return us to a more isolationist pre-World War I foreign policy. All this international intervention seems to be why the world dislikes us so much. As for domestic policy, he will definitely get the government’s grubby little hands out of everyone’s personal affairs (no more Patriot Act, illegal wiretapping, and national ID cards). McCain is okay and he would probably be my second choice out of the remaining Republican contenders. However, I don’t like Obama or Clinton on the Democratic side. Clinton is well versed and would probably do a halfway decent job, but it’s time we get someone else other than a Bush or Clinton in office. If elected to two terms, it will be 36 years before someone other than a Bush or Clinton was in the Executive Branch. I thought that short term presidencies and elections were the whole reason to remove dynasties and ruling classes such as these. Obama doesn’t seem experienced enough to be the President, either. He made a lot of weird comments on foreign policy early on in his campaign and I don’t think he would do a very good job in the international scene if elected.
So, that’s about where everything stands right now. I’ll try to tackle some more work this afternoon and then drive back tonight. A stop at Trader Joe’s in Newport News may be in order, but I’ll have to leave early enough.
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