Canto IV

So it's been a busy week. First off, let me just say: SNOW! The blizzard on sunday was a lot of fun. The snow was great to play in, nice and soft. Stephanie and I went walking around and saw all the people sledding and snowboarding. Although the snowboarding was stretching it a bit. Good times were had by all, then we came home and had some hot chocolate. Not too shabby.

But then the week started. Of course, the T broke down on monday. So it was cold, and we had to walk in to Kenmore from somewhere around BU. Steph left earlier than I did, thinking the snow was going to make the T late. But this wasn't the snow, apparently the brakes weren't working on one of the trains or something. So despite me leaving 15 minutes after she did, we ended up meeting at Kenmore station, each hating the green line in our own way. Stupid green line. I had aggreed a few weeks ago to give a talk on friday, and hadn't really started it yet. Suddenly I found myself a few days away from giving a talk in front of the whole CTP and nothing to say. Fortunately, it was on experimental particle physics, so I figured I could wing it decently. Classes are now in full swing and homework is being assigned. In fact I'm avoiding doing my QFT homework to write this. I'm really trying to schedule my time better this term. I did last term fairly well. I'm just getting started and I already feel like there's too much going on. But I think this last week was atypical due to the talk.

Stephanie and I avoided the whole Valentine's Day thing. We just decided that tuesday night isn't good for anybody to do anything, so we went out friday night. And despite my best efforts to remember to get her flowers, I totally forgot on friday. But she made up for it in spades. I came home to a bunch of flowers already waiting for me. I appreciate the effort, although my affection for flowers is pretty muted. We went out for japanese, the food was good, but I would give the atmosphere a C.

Anyway, the week's been busy with classes, TA stuff (I don't think anyone is going to use the tutoring hours I have set up - it's just a colossal waste of my time), some good talks, and getting ready for my talk. The colloquium on thursday was on how stalactites (the ones that hang down) get their shape. It was a really interesting talk. One of the better talks I've been to, especially given it was mostly geophysics and geochemistry.

Anyway, by wednesday I had an outline in my mind for how I wanted to give my talk. But nothing written. That night I was talking to Steph about it, and I had a different idea, and decided to completely redo it (although I hadn't written anything down, I did know roughly what I was going to say). I decided to give a historical perspective on how particle detection works. So thursday I went in and looked up all the original papers on some famous physics experiments. It was a lot of fun to read them. That night, once the Daily Show was over, I started writing it all out. Like I said, though, I usually know what I'm going to say about all these different things, I just need the little details correct. I was only up until 1 (1 1/2 hours to write a 1 hour talk - plus all that research and thinking). The next morning I went over it again and looked up some other stuff to add on. I had a morning class from 10-11 and I was talking to the professor as we were walking over and he was surprised that I was going to class because he knew I was giving a talk. Long story short (made long by all this build up), the talk went pretty well. And I ended right on time, which I consider to be the most important thing. Although there were no questions. That can only mean: 1) no one cared in the least, 2) everyone was asleep from eating (it's a lunch talk) 3) it all went right over everyone's head, 4) I was going too fast and didn't let them get a word in edge-wise, or 5) it was so great and perfectly explained that there was no need for questions. My thinking is some mixture of 1, 2 and 4. But everyone afterwards was positive, but what can they say? That sucked and you're never allowed to give a talk again?

The best thing that came out of this was the fact that one of the professors I've been trying to meet (our paths never quite crossed in the last three weeks), came up afterwards and we met for a little while to discuss research. He's working on string theory in black holes, which I think in pretty cool and something I'm definitely interested in. There are a few more profs I want to talk to, but this is promising. So now I'm back at work, not working. We did all the shopping for the week today, and even did some grocery shopping, so I'm considering today to be a success, independent of any homework completion. Hopefully next week is a little bit calmer, it's only 4 days long after all.

The beard is surprisingly warm.  

Here I am at the Family Christmas Party. 

Canto III

So now for something that's been going on this last week. I just found out one of my best friends bought a house. Which is fantastic! I'm really happy for him and his wife. But this now makes a disturbing trend of people I grew up with buying houses and here we are, stuck in Boston with it's ridiculously high housing market. And we're only going to be here for another 3 1/2 years or so, if all goes to plan. So it doesn't make much sense to buy a house, even if we could afford it (which we can't). I never bought into the "keeping up with the Jones'" thing, but then again I've never been fully employed with a wife until rather recently. I'm not sure it's jealousy - I'm not jealous at anyone in particular, just the state of home-ownership. I really just miss the feeling of "this is all mine, my own little castle". I haven't really felt it since I finally got my own room at 13, and lost after I went to college. Maybe it's just the fact that the title for the person we pay rent to is "Landlord" - I thought serfdom went out with the industrial revolution?

Canto II

So now a little about myself. I'm a 2nd year physics graduate student at MIT. This is probably the biggest thing that I would associate myself with. When I think of myself, I think of physics. I was an undergrad at the University of Oregon and majored in both Physics and Mathematics. I've known since I was about 5 years old that I wanted to be someone who worked with all those sub-atomic particles. It was always so fascinating with all the quarks and protons and other nuclear brickabrack. High school had it's shortcomings for me in a myrid of ways so I took a year off, and went to the big public university. From the first day I got to campus, though, I knew what I wanted to do. I must say that knowing exactly what I want to do is the greatest luxury I enjoy. After freshman year (with all those stupid core classes taken care of), I took nothing but physics and math classes. I worked in the physics department. My girlfriend and now wife was a physics major as well. I really couldn't get enough of it. But my interest was in particle physics. I want to know how the universe(s) really works at it's most basic level. While there, I worked in a high-energy physics (HEP) lab. And when it came time to apply to graduate school, I applied in both theory and experimental HEP. The best places I got into were for experimental HEP, so that's what I stayed with. But I love theory too much. I love thinking about how the universe works. This last semester I switched over from the experimental group to the Center for Theoretical Physics (CTP). I couldn't be happier. I'm living my physics dream I've had since I was 5 years old. I don't have an advisor yet and I'm not entirely sure which specific field I want to work in yet. (Hence, Purgatory, but most of Grad School is like that in some ways.) I think String Theory, but I'm just starting to learn about it "for reals" now, so we'll see how this pans out. Right now my child-like enthusiasm is keeping me strong.

Other things that define "me". I got married last year and it's wonderful. Although since we lived together for so long before getting married, our relationship didn't change much. I wear a ring now, which is fun to fidget with when I'm nervous or bored. Also, when I open a door and hear it 'clink' against the metal, I smile a little bit thinking about her. We had a great wedding, but it's been 8 months and still haven't finished getting the photo album together or getting the pictures ready to give people. Maybe for the first anniversary... By the way, her name is Stephanie (Steph), for future reference.

I love football, both college and the NFL. Being an U of O alum, I have to say that Autzen Stadium is home to some of my favorite sports memories. I miss being able to go to those games on saturday afternoon. The other favorites come from childhood, Little League and soccer. I'm looking forward to living vicariously through my kids in that department. The NY Jets are "my" pro team, here's to hoping they put a team out there that's more fun to watch next year. Football is really the only sport I pay much attention to. I watch SportsCenter in the mornings as I eat my cereal to catch the highlights of everything else, but that's about it.

I'm a western european fan. Not the modern stuff. I read classical works (>500 years old, preferrably). I consider Dante's La Divina Commedia to be the crowning acheivement of our civilization. A complete theory of the universe may overtake this in my mind, but for now I tip my cap. And history. I have favorite historical figures ranging from Charlemagne to Pericles. But again, I stick to the west. I said that after my freshman year I took only math & physics, but I did sit in on several history and literature classes. It didn't matter how busy I was, I made time to learn more about Rome, Greek Poets and early middle ages France.

My iPod is my constant companion. Mostly rock with the lion's share in classic with some 90's stuff and others mixed in. I was just saying to Steph that I need to work on beefing up the collection...

Anyway, I'm sure plenty more details will pour out as this continues.

A First Shout Into The Void

Well, this is my first blog posting. I never kept a diary when I was growing up or really kept up with writing in any way. About the longest I sustained a writing excersize was keeping a journal while I toured Europe after high school. That was for 3 months, off-and-on, but managed to do every day or three. So it will be interesting how long I keep this up. Part of me always feels like this is something really important I should do for myself, my family & friends and my (future) kids. My grandfather from my Mom's side wrote his memoirs and my mom is really glad to have them. But this is nicer in the sense that it's real-time and not filtered (as much). But then there's the part of me that feels that nothing all that interesting happens to me, and why bother writing about nothing?