I'm a statistical rock star!

so, coming to grad school (especially in physics) meant that I would be subjecting myself to hours upon hours of painful studying, reading, thinking, and a general unableness to partake in the normal activities that a typical mid-twenties person would be privy to. (not that I am unhappy about my decision, just the contrary: I love the challenge and I am getting a lot out of everything.) it meant that those good-old days in high school where I would show up to an exam, not having studied (or even remembered there was a test), and not only finish earlier than everyone else, but also get one of the highest scores. (geometry class comes to mind. and of course, physics class.) and I sort of miss that.
well, today I got a bit of the old feeling back when I left my intro to stats midterm super early and then it was amplified when I found out that I got 100% on it. woo hoo! I am smart again! lol. (I also got 100% on my take-home exam we had last week. yay!) but seriously, this class is really easy and I can't believe that I am getting graduate credit for it. and that some people are finding it really difficult. a bit scary, really.

oh, so last weekend I hung out with math nerds at a mathematics education research conference in sunny San Diego. it was really nice. I learned a lot. my half hour talk went really well and I will be really happy when the accompanying paper is finished (this will be next friday). and then it will be spring break!

coffee coffee coffee

so my lovely friends got me a coffee and espresso machine for my birthday. which is perfect timing because the next week is going to be crazy (maybe worse than this week) and I'm going to need lots of caffeine. like tonight. coffee. yay coffee. trying to work on my presentation for the conference. it's going well. especially now that I have my second wind. from the coffee.

I love engineering paper. you know, the greenish-tinted graph paper? oh it's so nice. makes me feel smarter than I am.

happy birthday to me...

...a celebration in two parts

so Friday night I invited a bunch of people out to go roller skating. at a rink. the sort of thing you'd do for a 10 year old's birthday. only, it was "cosmic skating" so we got free glow necklaces. we were basically the oldest ones there (except for a few others like us). it was pretty hilarious. most of us hadn't skated in a decade or more, so some had some issues staying vertical for a while. (also, some people ran over or into a few of the younger skaters. heh.) but by the end, everyone seemed to remember how to skate in a circle so it was great. afterwards, we headed back to my apartment for some drinks and pie.

enjoy the pictures:

my birthday 07

Saturday I basically slept all day because I was exhausted from the long week of school and the roller skating madness.

ditto on Sunday.

yesterday, Monday, was my actual birthday, so I went out to dinner with a few friends at Oregano's (this amazing pizza/Italian place). it was a really nice dinner and a good way to end my birthday. thanks everybody for a great weekend!

oh, and I'm on facebook now. thanks Cogan for the final inspirational push to be on another social site. I think I might get rid of myspace. I hate that thing.

poor polar bears

read today's article from the New York Times on the global warming report issued yesterday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.