Student SPHere 2008-09

The last few days have swung from high to low and back again. And I don't just mean the temperature, though that is also true. Last weekend, I felt completely overwhelmed by school, doubting my ability to "hack it" in my program. A few days later, I was back to my cheerful self, whistling while I work and all that.

The saga began with two flat tires. Thursday night I hit something on my way to study at a friend's, but I didn't realize it until I was going to leave and found my rear tire deflated. Boo! My super awesome partner came with our bike rack on the car to pick me up-- what a guy.

Sunday morning I changed out the tube and headed to the annual physics department picnic on Boom Island. I was about four blocks from the park when I got that sinking feeling-- another flat tire! This time, I was several miles from home and my partner had ridden his bike to the picnic also, so no car. Yet he was my knight in shining armor again, lending me his bike so I could bail on the picnic early to get some studying done. He walked/bussed my bike to the repair shop in Dinkytown and we swapped back once the tire was replaced (again). The silver lining is that now, I am so appreciative of every day that I don't get a flat!

Probability Models was the other reason for my mood swings. The start of the course has been all about measure theory, a presentation of the abstract foundations of probability: spaces and sets and functions and limits and integrals and convergence. This would be a welcome little 3-week refresher for anyone who'd already had measure theory before. But for someone like me, who has taken real analysis but only ever seen probability theory presented in the special case of n-dimensional real space, well, it feels a bit overwhelming.

So the third homework really had me down; I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. But Saonli was so helpful and kind, pointing me toward tricks for solving the problems and extending the homework deadline. Really, things are looking up. I'm excited that we started the core material of the course this week-- Markov chains and probability models. Now those, I can handle.

This week, I sent the first draft of Chapter 5 solutions to Brad-- woohoo! It was by far the most difficult chapter for me, so I'm excited to be moving on. Revisions to Chapter 4 are next on the docket, but mainly he was happy with what I'd written. It was very gratifying to read, "OK, I finally got through all your Ch 4 solutions today. Whew! What a lot of work you went to -- I was especially impressed that it took 6 pages of hard work to get a single number (30) as the answer to problem 13....I have a few things for you to fix but basically I'm quite happy with Ch 4." Yay!

Last night, I skipped a CD release show by one of my favorite local artists (Jeremy Messersmith) at one of my favorite venues (Varsity Theater) to study instead. I'll make up for it tonight, though. We're planning to meet with friends for a night of presidential debate watching/bar hopping fun. We'll see if McCain chickens out. ;)