Self-Titled

Windows has a way of getting under my skin that no other operating system can. It has a unique blend of interface freezing, printer problems, entropy, and slowdown. It drives me crazy. Actually, on the interface freezing, I’ve noticed that most major OS interfaces experience slow down. Is it so hard to give precedence to windows, widgets, and the mouse? Gah. I’m actually surprised more people haven’t caught onto the fact that life on Mac OS is simpler. I guess people stick with what they know.

It’s been so great to be home these past few weeks. Before I came here I was working on my thesis every day, worrying about it, stressed out, cranky, crazy. That’s no way to live. For the first couple weeks back I didn’t really think about the work much and it was heaven. I can’t believe how much stress can take over your life and make you miserable. I should probably look into ways of dealing with my stress, because I was not going about it in a healthy way. At one point I was waking up at 4 PM and falling asleep at 6 AM with the help of sleeping pills, for crying out loud! Graduate school is indeed not for the faint of heart.

Now I’m looking into the future and Microsoft is staring back at me. Now I have to resume my work until it’s finished for good. I was waiting around for feedback from my adviser for a long time and every one thought it sucked, but truthfully I didn’t mind much because it meant I could put off the work a little longer. Now I have feedback for my introduction and I groan at the prospect of wading through all the tedious bullshit. They keep telling me the degree is worth it. It’s worth it. It’s worth it. It’s worth it?

Ah!  It’s good to be done with that.  It was such a burden, having that hanging over my head.  Kind of like the ring of power, except not really cool, or gold.  Looking back, I can’t believe how long it took to write.  Sadly, there’s still more to do, too.  I’m waiting to get feedback from my adviser, after which I’ll probably have to make some changes.  I still have to finish up a coding project that goes along with the thesis document, but hopefully that won’t be too much more work.  Then I have to drive back to SLO at some point to defend the thing.  I decided to move home now since there’s no point in sitting around SLO for almost a month before I can defend.  I’m looking forward to seeing my friends at home.  I wish there was more summer, I feel like I’ve missed out on the majority of it.

Ikkyu, the Zen master, was very clever even as a boy.  His teacher had a precious teacup, a rare antique.  Ikkyu happened to break this cup and was greatly perplexed.  Hearing the footsteps of his teacher, he held the pieces of the cup behind him.  When the master appeared, Ikkyu asked: “Why do people have to die?”

“This is natural,” explained the older man.  ”Everything has to die and has just so long to live.”

Ikkyu, producing the shattered cup, added: “It was time for your cup to die.”

From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.

This made me laugh.  Clever kid.  I’ll try to remember this technique the next time I do something bad.

Sozan, a Chinese Zen master, was asked by a student: “What is the most valuable thing in the world?”

The master replied: “The head of a dead cat.”

“Why is the head of a dead cat the most valuable thing in the world?” inquired the student.

Sozan replied: “Because no one can name its price.”

From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.

Apple Boss: Hey font guy, are you done yet so we can fire you?

Apple Font Guy: Err…no!  I still have to do the…um…Braille font!  Yeah, and the…um…Cherokee font!  I’ll get back to you.

I’m going to puke if I read about “the cloud” or “cloud computing” one more time. It’s become popular in the past half year but it doesn’t describe anything new. Sometimes the computer tech industry has more ridiculous fads than fashion.

I went to the Pismo fireworks show for the Fourth of July with Esther. I had never been before, but our timing was perfect. It was pretty cool, there were tons of people there, on the street near Splash and on the beach on either side of the pier. The place was pretty well lighted and there was plenty of space to sit on the beach. The fireworks were launched from the end of the pier and they seemed to explode pretty close to the ground. A few sparks seemed to almost hit the ocean before disappearing. The finale was pretty cool to watch because they showered sparks from the pier railings down to the water like a curtain of fire. There were tons of illegal fireworks too, which helped fill the gaps before and after the main show. We had barbecued earlier that afternoon, so it was a pretty good fourth. I hope everyone had fun.

The SLO heat wave has thankfully faded away. I think it’s safe to remove my lemonade IV drip now. I don’t think I could have taken another day of 100+ degree heat. It’s terrible when it’s so hot you sweat without even moving. I envy Hawaiians, you can get away with walking around in your swim suit in public all day long without drawing strange looks. I’ve always favored hot weather over cold, but I guess it’s true that it’s easier to overcome cold than heat. Fans are the greatest invention ever. I tried our AC, but apparently it just blows regular air. It’s cool at night again now. I never thought I’d welcome the cold nights here. Unsurprisingly, the coldest place I could find in SLO was the grad lab. It was about a thirty-degree difference between the lab and outside. Talk about heaven!

My house mates got back into town today from a week-long camping trip. It sounded like fun; I wish I could go camping too. It’s been so long since I’ve done the real thing with the Boy Scouts. I miss swimming in a lake, building camp fires, and exploring the country side. Maybe one day soon.

I’ve started learning a theorem proving tool to help me with my thesis.  It’s called Coq, which has got to be the most unfortunate name I can think of.  I think the creators are French, and coq means cock, as in rooster, in French.  Why rooster?  I have no idea.  Why does anyone name anything what they do?