We're in New Jersey now for crew, and it's so windy! We had a really hard time getting our boat into the dock because we kept being blown off course. We almost crashed into another boat on our way in, which was scary. Hopefully tomorrow will be calmer, but I'm not optimistic.
Being at races makes me feel like I really need to get a new camera. I returned the one I got not too long ago because it was so bad, but I haven't replaced it yet. I miss taking pictures! Especially of things I eat. But picture this, if you can: bananas, white cheddar rice cakes, bagels with cream cheese, and clementines. I know that wasn't 1000 words, but hopefully they were worth a small picture :)
In other exciting news, I got a share certificate, or certificate of deposit, this week. It gets a teeny bit more interest than my savings account, so this is pretty big news.
I guess I don't have much to say if I'm talking about my share certificate, so I'll call it a night. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Today was a beautiful day!
I'm very busy with work right now, but I couldn't help commenting on what a beautiful day it was today! The rest of the week has been and will be a pretty normal week for early April, but today it hit 90 degrees, with a lot of sun and a nice breeze. It was perfect for taking my computer outside to do some work while sitting on a bench under a tree in a courtyard that I think of as the "Secret Garden". It's really pretty, and I don't think many people here know it exists. Anyway, for most of the two hours or so that I was out there, I had it all to myself. So peaceful, and surprisingly conducive to getting work done. I was working on figuring out which cognitive tests for executive function we're going to use, and there are more than we had originally thought. It's probably going to come down to the Stroop test, just because we have easy access to it. But there's another test, called the letter-number task (creative, I know), which I think might be better. I won't bore you with the details, but I think it's a cool test.
Anyway, back to work! We're going to New Jersey again this weekend for crew, so I won't have much time for work on the weekend. Depending on how things go, we might have to race 4 times in 2 days! Yikes!
P.S. I'll be happy if you leave me a comment!
Anyway, back to work! We're going to New Jersey again this weekend for crew, so I won't have much time for work on the weekend. Depending on how things go, we might have to race 4 times in 2 days! Yikes!
P.S. I'll be happy if you leave me a comment!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Spring break
It's currently halfway through spring break, and I'm procrastinating working on my homework by writing in my blog. We're having two-a-day practices for crew, and we have our first spring race this Saturday. It will be nice because my parents are coming, and afterwards I'm going home with them. Other than that, I'm being a grad student between practices and going to bed early since I'm so tired, which is unusual for me. I'm also trying not to eat as much as I want to, since I have to make weight for crew!
This past Saturday was quite an athletic day for me, with 2 crew practices, about 45 minutes of bike riding, and about an hour of tennis. Needless to say, I slept well that night! I feel very hardcore for having so many practices.
Tomorrow we have a meeting with the people from the hospital side of our study, who are responsible for the sleep side of things. They're really nice people, and their areas of expertise are very different from ours. It's interesting to work with them. I've prepared a spreadsheet of some cognitive tests and robotics tasks that I think would be good to have our subjects do. Depending on what happens tomorrow, we might have a lot of coding in our futures!
Next week will be back to classes, but it's about halfway through the semester already. Put another way, we're only halfway through the semester?! Sometimes it feels one way, sometimes the other. But I'm very much looking forward to warmer weather, and summer especially. I haven't been in Boston for the summer since the summer after my freshman year, and I'm excited. It is a much more friendly place when everything's green and the weather is warm.
Ok, maybe I should work on my homework now. Wish me luck!
This past Saturday was quite an athletic day for me, with 2 crew practices, about 45 minutes of bike riding, and about an hour of tennis. Needless to say, I slept well that night! I feel very hardcore for having so many practices.
Tomorrow we have a meeting with the people from the hospital side of our study, who are responsible for the sleep side of things. They're really nice people, and their areas of expertise are very different from ours. It's interesting to work with them. I've prepared a spreadsheet of some cognitive tests and robotics tasks that I think would be good to have our subjects do. Depending on what happens tomorrow, we might have a lot of coding in our futures!
Next week will be back to classes, but it's about halfway through the semester already. Put another way, we're only halfway through the semester?! Sometimes it feels one way, sometimes the other. But I'm very much looking forward to warmer weather, and summer especially. I haven't been in Boston for the summer since the summer after my freshman year, and I'm excited. It is a much more friendly place when everything's green and the weather is warm.
Ok, maybe I should work on my homework now. Wish me luck!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
I'm going to run a half marathon!
My best friend and I have signed up for a half marathon for this September! We're running the Wicked Half Marathon, which will give us a good reason to train hard this summer. The course looks like it will be really pretty, and it's near where my cousin's family lives, so that will be nice too. I'm pretty excited about this, because I've wanted to do a run like this for a while, and we think the t-shirts will be cool-looking. I've only got 2 months left of crew, so it's time to start thinking about what I'll do next. I'm also considering triathlons, and I wouldn't be surprised if I find myself doing some of those, as well.
In other news, I got a new computer, which is really awesome. It's so much faster than my old one, and it has so much more hard drive space! The only thing I don't like is that it's widescreen, but it seems like all new computers are that way, so I guess I don't really have a choice. It also came with a cool thing that lets us watch things on the TV wirelessly from my computer.
I also got a new camera, which was not so awesome. I think something was wrong with it, because all of the pictures came out really yellow, even after messing with the settings. Luckily, Amazon has a really great return policy, so after a quick phone call, they emailed me a return label and I sent it back for a full refund. I'm going to get a new camera soon, but I have to figure out what to get. I think I might want to get something a little nicer, because it turns out that photo quality is more important to me than I thought, based on this experience.
Other things that have happened since my last post, which was far too long ago: my birthday, our big indoor crew race (on ergs), Valentine's Day, for which my boyfriend got me the largest flower arrangement I've ever seen, and which we both thought was a little absurd, a novice crew team dinner, a concert by my boyfriend's band, a friend's birthday party, my best friend's swimming championships, the Jewish holiday of Purim, a visit from my boyfriend's sister, and a bit more work on my research. Oh, and I got admitted to the policy program I applied to!
Here is the flower arrangement, which is more than a meter tall, by my estimation:
The little blue thing in the left side of the picture is my new computer. It's a Toshiba, and so far so good. I hope it has as long and successful a life as my old one did.
I went to the Open House of the policy program on Monday, and I think it's going to be a fun and interesting group to be a part of. People's interests range over all different areas, but a lot of them are focused on energy and sustainability. The people who run the program also seem really nice, so I'm excited to start. I won't start classes with that program until the fall, but it will take me at least another semester, and likely another year, to finish the two master's degrees. I might start thinking about how to tie policy into my research this semester, though.
My classes are going pretty well, I think, but they are a TON of work. My space policy class requires a ton of reading, plus writing memos, preparing for role plays, and a group term project. My other class, human supervisory control, also has a lot of reading and a series of projects. The upside is that I have no tests and no finals, but it's a lot of work in the meantime.
Research is also going well, but I'm starting to feel antsy about when we're actually going to get started running our experiment. I've tried out some of the cognitive tests we're thinking of using, and I have to propose a battery (aka a series) of tests that we will use. We also have to come up with a series of robotics tasks, and at some point we will have to write the code for the tasks. That will be pretty challenging, I expect.
The river finally unfroze a couple of weeks ago, and it's been really nice getting back out on the water. Yesterday and today have been beautiful days, so it's a pleasure to go out, especially now that it's light all the way through practice because of daylight savings time. Next week, for spring break, we have 2 practices per day. It's going to be tough. On Friday, we leave for a race in New Jersey. After that, I'm going to go home for the weekend to hang out with my friend who is getting married in June. I'm missing her bridal shower because of the crew race, but I thought it would be nice to see her even if it's not at the shower.
Since I know a lot of you like to see pictures of what I eat, here's a picture of the vegetarian chili we made for the novice crew team dinner:
So things have been busy. But now it's time for me to go to practice, so I guess I'll have to wrap up this monster post. I'll try to post more frequently, but no guarantees. Check back every once in a while, though!
Happy Spring!
In other news, I got a new computer, which is really awesome. It's so much faster than my old one, and it has so much more hard drive space! The only thing I don't like is that it's widescreen, but it seems like all new computers are that way, so I guess I don't really have a choice. It also came with a cool thing that lets us watch things on the TV wirelessly from my computer.
I also got a new camera, which was not so awesome. I think something was wrong with it, because all of the pictures came out really yellow, even after messing with the settings. Luckily, Amazon has a really great return policy, so after a quick phone call, they emailed me a return label and I sent it back for a full refund. I'm going to get a new camera soon, but I have to figure out what to get. I think I might want to get something a little nicer, because it turns out that photo quality is more important to me than I thought, based on this experience.
Other things that have happened since my last post, which was far too long ago: my birthday, our big indoor crew race (on ergs), Valentine's Day, for which my boyfriend got me the largest flower arrangement I've ever seen, and which we both thought was a little absurd, a novice crew team dinner, a concert by my boyfriend's band, a friend's birthday party, my best friend's swimming championships, the Jewish holiday of Purim, a visit from my boyfriend's sister, and a bit more work on my research. Oh, and I got admitted to the policy program I applied to!
Here is the flower arrangement, which is more than a meter tall, by my estimation:
The little blue thing in the left side of the picture is my new computer. It's a Toshiba, and so far so good. I hope it has as long and successful a life as my old one did.
I went to the Open House of the policy program on Monday, and I think it's going to be a fun and interesting group to be a part of. People's interests range over all different areas, but a lot of them are focused on energy and sustainability. The people who run the program also seem really nice, so I'm excited to start. I won't start classes with that program until the fall, but it will take me at least another semester, and likely another year, to finish the two master's degrees. I might start thinking about how to tie policy into my research this semester, though.
My classes are going pretty well, I think, but they are a TON of work. My space policy class requires a ton of reading, plus writing memos, preparing for role plays, and a group term project. My other class, human supervisory control, also has a lot of reading and a series of projects. The upside is that I have no tests and no finals, but it's a lot of work in the meantime.
Research is also going well, but I'm starting to feel antsy about when we're actually going to get started running our experiment. I've tried out some of the cognitive tests we're thinking of using, and I have to propose a battery (aka a series) of tests that we will use. We also have to come up with a series of robotics tasks, and at some point we will have to write the code for the tasks. That will be pretty challenging, I expect.
The river finally unfroze a couple of weeks ago, and it's been really nice getting back out on the water. Yesterday and today have been beautiful days, so it's a pleasure to go out, especially now that it's light all the way through practice because of daylight savings time. Next week, for spring break, we have 2 practices per day. It's going to be tough. On Friday, we leave for a race in New Jersey. After that, I'm going to go home for the weekend to hang out with my friend who is getting married in June. I'm missing her bridal shower because of the crew race, but I thought it would be nice to see her even if it's not at the shower.
Since I know a lot of you like to see pictures of what I eat, here's a picture of the vegetarian chili we made for the novice crew team dinner:
So things have been busy. But now it's time for me to go to practice, so I guess I'll have to wrap up this monster post. I'll try to post more frequently, but no guarantees. Check back every once in a while, though!
Happy Spring!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Term starts tomorrow
I can't believe January has gone by so quickly. It's been a lot of hard training for crew, but I'm feeling like I'm in pretty good shape. Classes start tomorrow, and I'm taking two in addition to Journal Club. My officemate is taking both of them with me, at least for now. So that should be fun, since we'll get to work together. My other officemate is about to start running her experiments. We're all pretty excited about it. And that's about it! A short post this time.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
I went skiing last weekend...
And my parents are coming to visit this weekend! January has mostly been pretty low key, since there are no classes and I'm just doing more research stuff. I'm working on helping my officemate get her material ready for the experiment she's running at the end of the month. I'm researching handedness now, specifically tests for handedness. It's not as straightforward as you might think, especially if you're like me and almost 100% right-handed. For example, which hand do you use to open a jar? Which hand is on top when you use a broom? So that's what I'm working on. Also, today I gave a tour of the lab to a prospective student.
Last weekend I went skiing at Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire. It was my second time skiing ever, and I had a pretty good time. I fell down once at the end and got a bruise, but overall I did pretty well, especially considering I had only ever skied once before and that was 2 years ago. Still, I think it might be another 2 years before I ski again. I went with my boyfriend and two of our friends, and we had to get up really early to get there. Getting up early is not my strong suit :)
And this weekend my parents are coming to visit! It's my dad's birthday on Friday (happy birthday, Dad!) and we are thinking of going to see a free Imax at the Museum of Science, thanks to a donation by the Mathworks. I love going to see Imax shows. Earlier this month, my boyfriend and I saw Antarctica. I was worried it was going to be targeted at a much younger audience, but it was really good. In fact, I can't really think of any Imax I've ever seen that hasn't been fantastic. One of my favorites is Adrenaline Rush, but I don't think my mom would like that one.
I also finally finished my application to the other program that I mentioned a while ago. I don't know exactly when I'll hear from them, but it should be within the next 2 months for sure.
I'll end with a brief crew update. We've been practicing pretty hard since we got back from Florida, and our first competition is on Valentine's Day, at the CRASH-B erg event. Obviously our outdoor races can't start until the river unfreezes. In the meantime, we've been erging a lot, running more than I'd like in the icy conditions, and doing a lot of circuits. Every once in a while, we also row in the tank. I'll be glad when we can row outside again, except that I'm sure I'll be freezing.
Oh, and I ordered a new digital camera! If I ever get back to posting pictures of my food (and maybe other things), they'll probably be from my new camera!
And that's really it for now. Lunchtime!
Last weekend I went skiing at Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire. It was my second time skiing ever, and I had a pretty good time. I fell down once at the end and got a bruise, but overall I did pretty well, especially considering I had only ever skied once before and that was 2 years ago. Still, I think it might be another 2 years before I ski again. I went with my boyfriend and two of our friends, and we had to get up really early to get there. Getting up early is not my strong suit :)
And this weekend my parents are coming to visit! It's my dad's birthday on Friday (happy birthday, Dad!) and we are thinking of going to see a free Imax at the Museum of Science, thanks to a donation by the Mathworks. I love going to see Imax shows. Earlier this month, my boyfriend and I saw Antarctica. I was worried it was going to be targeted at a much younger audience, but it was really good. In fact, I can't really think of any Imax I've ever seen that hasn't been fantastic. One of my favorites is Adrenaline Rush, but I don't think my mom would like that one.
I also finally finished my application to the other program that I mentioned a while ago. I don't know exactly when I'll hear from them, but it should be within the next 2 months for sure.
I'll end with a brief crew update. We've been practicing pretty hard since we got back from Florida, and our first competition is on Valentine's Day, at the CRASH-B erg event. Obviously our outdoor races can't start until the river unfreezes. In the meantime, we've been erging a lot, running more than I'd like in the icy conditions, and doing a lot of circuits. Every once in a while, we also row in the tank. I'll be glad when we can row outside again, except that I'm sure I'll be freezing.
Oh, and I ordered a new digital camera! If I ever get back to posting pictures of my food (and maybe other things), they'll probably be from my new camera!
And that's really it for now. Lunchtime!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Hello from Florida, and Happy New Year!
I have so many blisters! And bugbites! But we're having a fun time, with lots of team dinners and hard workouts and bonding. The internet is intermittent, though, and unreliable. This is just a small post, but I'll write more later. I have to go to sleep soon!
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