Thursday, April 30, 2009

Word of the day: Brocade

If your bros approve of your girl...

she's been brocade. Bro-okayed? brokayed?

Nice, E.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

just some stuff

Yesterday I got new license plates for my car for the state in which I currently reside, replacing the ones I got when I purchased the car nine years ago this month. So I guess I really live here now. :)

I also got a new driver's license for this state. Actually, I didn't get it - it will be mailed to me in the next 7-10 business days, but I did get a piece of paper that I can show to a cop in place of an actual license if I get pulled over. All of which means that when I tried to check out a computer from the library on campus today and they asked for 2 forms of photo ID, I only had one. Dang.

That particular transition - to a DL from a new state - would have been hard for me, nostalgic packrat that I am (I was REALLY sad to give up my first DL from the state in which I grew up), except for the fact that my current license was from the state in which I only lived for 11 months. I found out when I moved there, having just driven across the entire country, that my license had expired SIX MONTHS PREVIOUSLY. So then getting a new license was a source of considerable panic instead of nostalgia. So it wasn't too hard to give that one up, although it was a bit odd to see the guy just staple right through it.

Today I got back a paper that my group and I handed in on Monday. Never mind that it was probably 6 weeks late, and that last week the prof said he really wanted it THAT WEEK. OK, well it was only kind of that late - the deadline was really squishy. But it was late. But the point is that as I parted from a classmate on Monday so that I could go hammer on the paper to turn it in, she commiserated with me about what a hard grader this prof is, so I was kind of despairing about getting a good grade, since I didn't think my part of the paper was that good, and since it was so late.

Internets - we got an A+. :) :) The prof wrote: "This is a terrific piece of work - well worth waiting for." Nice! :)

And at Institute tonight I talked to one of my friends, and it looks like she's graduating next summer (instead of December), so we might be roommates next year! That would be so great!

Just wanted to share. :)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Yes, I asked him to define it.

So I was headed east across campus for a group meeting, and in passing, said hi to a guy from one of my classes. On the way west an hour and a half later, here he was again, also going the opposite direction again! :) So we stopped and chatted for a minute, and he complimented me on my sunglasses. I get that a lot. ;)

He said, in reference to the glasses, "I almost didn't recognize you when I saw you earlier."

To which I responded, mostly joking, "Oh, because I looked so cool that it couldn't possibly be me?!"

And he said, "No, no, it's just that they cover half of your face, so I couldn't tell it was you. I was like, 'who's the hot coastie?'"

(We're just going to pretend that he wasn't saying that the only reason I looked hot was because you couldn't see half my face... ;) hee hee)

The funny thing is that I JUST learned about the word "coastie" last week! So of course, since I'm a big language nerd, I asked him to define it. :) It refers to girls (or girls and guys?) from the east coast, mostly Jersey and New York, and part of the meaning, and the one that he referenced when he described it to me, is dressing chic. :) He said my glasses are definitely NOT in the style of the state where we live.

Which is true. I got them at the Minnesota State Fair. The same place where you can get unlimited milk refills. If that's not chic, I don't know what is.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Life lesson

Event: I got 100% on my second stats midterm.

Life lesson: Jeremy is harder to convince of my stats knowledge than the TA who graded my test.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Good quotes from today

"It's not a lack of cookbooks that makes one a poor cook." - one who prefers to remain anonymous

"Have you ever been to Hawaii?" - one of my profs

"Hang loose!" - same prof. (Turns out that's why he asked me the above question. And it's a good thing that I realized that that was why, because I was about to get really bitter about it.)

"You are in a good position - lots of people are trying to give you money!" - same prof, after he offered me a PAship for next year. And told me that he respects and admires my "intellectual assertiveness" and "intellectual excitement." :) :)

Thursday, April 09, 2009

A Big Moment

It was during my stats class. The prof was talking about variance, and how we figure out how much variance is explained or accounted for by various factors, blah blah blah. And then he mentioned overlap (not the technical word) of explanations of variance. And then -

I got it.

And I raised my hand and said (hee hee!), "So if you want to explore just the questions that interest you, choose your own contrasts and deal with the overlap. But if you want to explain all the variance, choose an orthogonal set of contrasts and deal with the complex contrasts."

And the prof smiled and gave me a big thumbs up and went on with the lecture.

And I sat back in my seat with a huge satisfied grin on my face because - FINALLY! - something about some of the choices we might make about what statistical procedures to use when made sense to me.

Awesome. And by "awesome" I mean, "Mwahahahahahahahaaa!" :) :)

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Done and done.

Abstract: Check.

Stats test: Check.

Phone call from my mom asking if I'd been evacuated because of some out-of-control possible terrorist pilot: Check.

Wait - what?!

Monday, April 06, 2009

Dear my-friends-who-are-partying-right-now,

I hope YOUR party is as fun as MINE. I'm writing an abstract to report on a research project that I haven't done yet. Yippee!

AND I'm about to eat a chicken pot pie, hot from the oven. Yowza!

And after THAT, I'm going to work on my stats midterm that's due tomorrow. Woohoo!

Please try to control your envy.

Love,
Me

Word of the day: Cf.

cf.

Main Entry:
cf
Function:
abbreviation
1 calf
2 [Latin confer, imperative of conferre to compare] compare

Meaning #2 is what I was looking for. Thanks, m-w.com.

Wikipedia was also helpful:

"Cf. is an abbreviation for the Latin-derived (but also modern English) word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult", and is hence used to refer to other material or ideas which may provide auxiliary information or arguments. It is mainly used in scholarly or educated contexts, such as in academic (mainly humanities) or legal texts."

I kinda got that that's what it meant, but I was trying to make it stand for "compare" (the 'f' is invisible as well as silent?!) or "cross-reFerence." So I asked my friend C, and she said, "Oh yeah, I just looked that up the other day."

Oh.

Right.

I can look things up.