Jeepers H. Crackers!

I accidentally unplugged my laptop while I was adjusting my desk and without the battery inside it shut off.  This has happened many times before without a problem.  However, when I plugged it back in it wouldn't boot.  I used one of my Ubuntu LiveCDs to boot into an OS so I could complain on the internet and verify that this was a boot record thing and not a hard drive thing.  There is now a Windows partition sitting where my root Ubuntu partition used to be. 

You've got to be FUCKING me.

My only guess is that I accidenatlly hit the "media direct" button and the ghost image that Dell installs at the factory decided to overwrite it.  I had intentionally wiped this in the Fall of '07 so I have no clue how this happened.  Fortunately I have my important data in its own paritions so this shouldn't cost me more than a few hours of reinstalling Linux and hopefully not breaking anything worse. 

In the end grades turned out fine, thanks to a favorable curve in Systems Neuroscience.

Have I mentioned that I was taking a course in LabVIEW?  It was so easy that I almost never thought about it.  For my final project I worked with their image processing toolkit to develop an eye tracking system.  For whatever reason thats a really popular first step in image processing.  It turned out OK, but it was nothing to write home about.  I take that back, technically this is writing home about it.

I start in a new lab soon. Here's the webpage.  ( Although that is subject to change, based on funding ).  Wherever I end up this Summer I hope I like it a lot because I don't want to do another rotation.  I need to get started on thesis work so I'm not stuck in school forever.

In the fall I'll be taking the gigantic Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience course that meets 4 times a week for 2 hours and maybe something else if I feel like pushing it.

Since last I wrote I've made a few acquaintances so I'm not spending all my Friday nights alone.  I still spend a lot of my free time biking on my own. Or should I say walking my bike home because I get flats like every other day.  I'm investing in some bomb proof tires soon enough.

I submit the first part of my preliminary exam tommorow.  The underlying theme is the transformation of stimulus locations from auditory to visual reference frames.  You can look towards an unseen auditory stimulus easily because you don't consciously account for the differences in head and retina position.  It just happens and as a result you can dodge perps in dark alleyways etc. 

An even harder transformation is the one that occurs when you look towards a tactile stimulus.  You need to somehow convert a position on an extremity into a retinal error signal.  That includes accounting for every joint between that point and your eyes.  By way of example: a sensation on your fingertip must be transformed through every knuckle, then the wrist, the elbow, the shoulder, the neck and then the retina.  Each of these elements can have several degrees of freedom. Good luck working that out champ.

Failed another exam.  This term is going swell.

Today marks the start of "Spring Break", which for me means a) no classes, and more importantly b) no new papers to grade.  Which isn't to say that I don't have a stack of papers to grade, because I do.  I had a Systems Neurobiology exam on Friday that I might have passed, which is fairly important considering I'm not doing so hot in that class.

But for today I have dedicated to not doing anything relating to school or lab.  I got up early, and rode some trails a Frick. I met a Portuguese grad. student and we rode together for a little bit.  After that I hit the slag pit and climbed a few hundred feet into the slag pit.  I'm very stoked and very tired.

I found time to play sax today too.  I don't think I've picked it up since the Fall.

Tomorrow I'll probably be back to studying, but not too hard.

I think I'll be opting out of primate research.  I've been working at it since January and already I've convinced and then unconvinced myself that I contracted a fatal disease and messed up countless times getting animals from the kennel.  Somethings get better over time, but I've always been absent minded/forgetful/dumb and thats dangerous when combined with these animals.  I really really don't want to give up so soon, but aside from my aforementioned short comings the lab's animal manager thinks I'm not cut out for it(and she's the boss).  This throws a very large wrench in my plans for graduate school.

First report card is in, I did well.  But it's grad school whoops :[

The last week and a half since Thanksgiving has not been pleasant to say the least.  I worked a lot ( I want to say 60 - 80 hours over 7 days ) on some silly project for Comp. Neuro. that didn't work out at all and this afternoon I need to give a presentation on it.  It's only 10 minutes, and compared to my last presentation ( to a Rear Admiral of the Navy ) it should be low stress. 

Tonight I have my Linear Systems final which in the grand scheme of things shouldn't be hard, but in the past week I've forgotten everything I knew about linear algebra. Whoops!  Fortunately, the prof. is wikked nice and he's already told us he'll bust our balls on the final but we'll all pass. 

This leaves the Molecular Bio take-home final (lol am i rite) that I have completed to the best of my ability, and the written segment to my Comp Neuro class.  These should get completed by Friday and then it's back to The State of Massachusetts ( TM ) for a long vacation comprised mostly of sleep.  I should pass everything, but it's certainly not going to be the highlight of my academic career.

Next term I'll only be taking one or one and half classes, in addition to co-TAing a class on Dynamic Systems, and working in a lab.  If I don't start music again I'll go crazy.

Behind my building there is maybe 30ft of wilderness before the next row of houses. Yet in spite of this seemingly minuscule patch of land I routinely ( as I do now ) see herds of deer making their way to and fro.  One weekend our parking lot was invaded by wild turkeys.  On Friday night I frightened a stag and it galloped into the dark and out of sight.  I live 5 mi. from downtown Pittsburgh and at most 2 mi. from East Liberty, how did they get here?!?

Finally got up the nerve and energy to ride Frick Park.  It's the largest park in Pittsburgh, and the only one with single track.  It's the little bro of the Middlesex Fells, with its lack of technical sections compensated for by its elevation.  Beautiful weather and foliage today, glad I got out.  I need some nobby tires!

I'm wikked beat.  Studied a lot over this past week and I think managed a solid C on my Bio midterm, which is about the best I could hope for given the breadth of material and my lack of experience. Go team!  I think I stand a good chance of passing the class.  Comp. Neuro. is still focused on Matlab so I'm killing it, and the Linear Systems teacher grades very easily. 

Still working out my schedule for next semmester.  System Neurobiology is a must, and I might also take Control Systems and the Brain. 

Rode about 18 miles yesterday morning.  Tried to take a sweet jump ( TM ) in Panther Hollow and botched the landing.  Shoulder is a little sore and I goy grass stains on my favorite shirt, but not too much worse for wear.  Knees are still creaky, but it was totally worth it.

This place looks krad, but it's all the way over in Cleveland.

Small quantities of good beer are hard to come by in this town.  All the dedicated shops sell cases of 24+ which isn't going to work unless I get a rack on my bike. ( Disc compatible racks are currently sold out ).  There is however my local church which sells incredibly expensive 6-packs of their micro brews. Amen.