Point of Reference

I had all sorts of grand plans for today, and I accomplished none of them. Seriously. I got as far as emptying the dishwasher, and then I sat down on the couch and couldn't get up again, despite repeatedly telling myself that I really needed to work. I barely managed to drag myself to class tonight. But tomorrow will be better, right? And in the meantime, I can take comfort from the fact that I did well on a Quizilla quiz, posted here to make me feel slightly better about my wasted day.

( Cut for those who don't really care (i.e. most of you). )

I had a really great tutorial on Friday, the only one of the week that felt like it was worthwhile. One of the reasons it was great was that I actually had three people show up, a rarity at this point in the year when papers and upcoming exams tend to overwhelm optional (i.e. no attendance, no marks) tutorials. The other reason I enjoyed it was that I finally figured out what the students don't understand from this part of the course. On the downside, what the students don't understand is how to read and calculate percentages from a contingency table, an important skill that's going to be worth about ten marks on their final exam. They also seem to be a bit fuzzy on regression analysis, but I expected that. Why, you might ask, is regression analysis being inflicted on first year students? I've been wondering the same thing myself. I'm feeling a little guilty now that I didn't go through cross-tabs in more detail with the three people who showed for tutorials earlier in the week. I'll try to make it up for on Tuesday during the review session, but it's hard to quiz them individually when there are nearly 600 students in the room.

The rest of the weekend will be split between writing a paper on the sociology of science, prepping for the Tuesday Night Review (we're really hoping they give us a cordless microphone so that we can wander the audience and play talk show during the question period), and reading through the section in my notes on hierarchical linear modelling once more so that I can decide whether it might be worth tackling the third stats assignment after all. I may also try to slip a little socializing in there. I recently began laying the groundwork for Plan "Re-establish Relationships with the Friends Who Are Convinced I was Abducted by Aliens Several Months Ago" by making tentative contact with a few of the most neglected. It's a bit premature yet since I probably won't have time to see them until next month, but I've been feeling a little impatient lately. I just want to get the current load of work done so that I can have some semblance of a life again (or as much of a life as any grad student can reasonably expect).

Apparently two days of staying in this apartment staring at my computer is my limit, because I'm starting to feel an almost irrepressible desire to walk away and do something else for a while. Anything else, as long as it doesn't involve my apartment or my computer. Sadly, I can't afford to take the time to do it, so instead I'm sharing my suffering with all of you. Don't you feel lucky?

For a quick shot of entertainment, I encourage you to check out the latest entry in a_just_society's ongoing investigation into Canada Day celebrations past. And then all of the Americans on my flist can rejoice that they don't have to acknowledge those ceremonies as their own. Yes, it's really that bad.

I got to play today during our group stats session today! During the first half hour of uninterrupted-by-backseat-programmers SAS programming, I began to remember why I had once enjoyed programming. During the subsequent hour-and-a-half of increasingly frustrating debugging, I began to remember why I chose sociology over computer science. The source of the problem proved to be one number--a 2 where there should have been a 3. Ninety minutes of my life sacrificed to a single digit. And the code still doesn't work, despite several more hours of staring. But hey, that's what the instructor is there for, right? :D

I got the miderm for the course back and did substantially better than I'd expected to. Apparently I understood more than I thought. I just wish I had the time to learn this stuff properly, because I'd really like to come out of this course able to do more than interpret other people's work. Maybe I'll get a chance to go back over it later in the program.

The official topic of the night was requirements engineering, which led mainly to stories about the intracability of programmers from those who have worked in the industry (on both sides). It also led the other sociology student in the class to observe that requirements engineering bears an interesting resemblance to action research in its level and styles of interaction with users. It's always fun to see links like that, especially when, as is often the case, neither side is aware of them. It's one of the highlights of being in an interdisciplinary class.

It looks like my chocolate chips didn't even survive a full day past MacGuy's return from his mini-vacation. I'm surprised--he usually stretches them out for at least three days. Maybe the boyfriend doesn't stock chocolate...

Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.

I can't decide if this is a joke or not. They claim to be serious, but then Landover Baptist looks real too, and it's not. I'm just unsure enough to be glad that they don't advocate taking an active role in bringing about the extinction of the human race. It's interesting trying to wrap my head around their value system, though.

This one is slightly more disturbing than the original version of penguin baseball. On second thought, it's a lot more disturbing. Reminds me a bit of certain cheapass games, though this is somewhat more graphic and less amusing.

My taskbar has decided to start acting up again. Not only has it taken to running multiple, unrequested copies of the language toolbar, but it has also decided to cease titlebars for the windows I have open. Yes, I know that I can switch between programs using keyboard shortcuts or task manager, but that's not the point--I shouldn't have to. (And yes, I realize that I am anthropomorphizing not only my computer, but also specific elements of the software on my computer. I find it's much more fun dealing with technical problems if I personalize them a little.)

I was reading through my last few entries and realized that the only thing I've done for the past couple of months is complain about school. I apologize for that--I'll see if I can't be a little more lighthearted for a while. Or at least whine in a more amusing way. ;)

I had someone ask me today what my Myers-Briggs/Keirsey temperament category was. (INTJ for those who are interested, a group that seems to be disproportionately represented online, and which makes me green in the True Colors system.) Curiously, this was the third time in the last couple of months that I'd been asked about that question. The first person to ask me did so in part to gauge my level of geekiness, which led me to wonder if temperament tests are in some way associated with geek culture, or maybe with a mindset common to many geeks. Do certain types of people drawn to categorizing other people in this fashion? Or is it common to everyone, including the non-geeks? At the original conversation, there were four of us present. The three self-identified geeks had all heard of the temperament sorter; the fourth person, a non-geek, had not. (The fourth originally claimed geek status on the assumption that all academics are geeks, but withdrew the assertion after we explained the concept of "executive Ph.D." to her--a category she clearly fits into.) Anecdotal evidence, of course, and therefore non-generalizable, which makes it just about right for discussing temperament scores. So how many of you know your scores?

( Round up of the day )