Well, it didn't get done before I left, so if it'll happen at all it will be at the end of August :^)

Though I shouldn't have waited, as the train was $192 instead of $125. But still, WAAAY cheaper and easier than plane!

Got distracted, hosed, etc. and hence messed around in my copious spare time :^)

Better - we got a permit for the same trailhead but a slightly out-of-the-way first night campsite. It'll be an extra day but the extra hiking looks like it comes with great views!

I'll wash it out tomorrow morning. Having dyed it a week ahead, it shouldn't come off on the outfit...

I shaved in India instead.

Hell that was hard. Hardest decision I ever made, actually.

Blergh, this question was too long. Shortening and trying again.

In the end it came down to the city; I like Seattle better. Hard, hard, hard.

Particularly because I enjoyed the University of Arizona enough that I feel I need more info about UW Biology before deciding.

Despite Version 1 being on sale for $15 less, I still find the flexibility (and the stove's added ruggedness as a result) too tempting. But with a 20% off coupon it was only $63!

UCSD says that they might have another date or do phone interviews - not the most helpful nor the most polite of answers. I asked them to let me know when they decide which they're doing, and said "yes!" to UA.

UCSD says that they might have another date or do phone interviews - not the most helpful nor the most polite of answers. I asked them to let me know when they decide which they're doing, and said "yes!" to UA.

They conflict with U of Arizona, so I've asked them for another date.

Currently pretty exhausted and want the sleep. We'll see how I feel around noonish. (edit: woke up at 1:15 pm and said "screw it, I'm taking the whole day off.")

A half-day sounds nice; I've enjoyed those in the past, and my accumulated time has a half day sitting in it. (edit: woke up at 1315 and said "it's icky out and I'm feeling lazy; I'm going to stay home")

I'm feeling lazy and like I haven't had a good social outing lately. I'll be going to a big-ish party in Boston with some friends. Plus the T runs late, which solves that problem.

Had a really nice berry smoothie and a thai-inspired burrito (grilled chicken, peanut sauce, rice, slaw). Very nice, and probably a lot more nutritious than crap from the food court. And for once a meal that actually fits my stomach size and leaves me neither starving nor bursting! (this is amazing)

I added course names in the Audit Info column instead, and submitted that; it's basically official. They say I can send an official one in later if I get admitted. And sadly the unofficial transcript thing is only for current students, plus the thing is due Jan 1 :^(

Borrowing a 60 GB from a friend (thanks, seph!) for the near future; we'll see how the laptop holds together at this point. Sadly, my grad program is unlikely to buy me a laptop, and most lab stuff in biology works with Macs/Windows :^( Perhaps I'll buy a laptop when I move out west.

Came in today, lab is nice and empty, and I can take Monday off. That way I have a contiguous "weekend" (Sun-Mon). But essentially the same, leaving at 6pm.

The logical gmail account and any variations that make sense aren't available... the only ones that are have all my middle names and are too hard to remember. But I agree I'd like one, though it seems now that waiting to choose is not so bad.

Everyone in my lab is laughing about "oh, and are you going to bring so-and-so to the party" with the undercurrent of "s/bring/inflict/;" so I think I'm okay. There seems to be universal hatred for Division-organized parties.

I slept in a chair, head pillowed on my polarfleece-lined coat on the armrest, curled up sideways in the chair, with my leg along a desk. So kind of both.

Flying to R's parents Sat-Weds, meaning taking 3 vacation days (including Christmas) but keeping the rest for work. Still not sure what to do with the feline, though I think we can bring him to R's parents'...

My schedule's wonky enough (leave early Mondays, have stuff in the evenings TW, nothing RF) these days that I just come in between 0900-1000 most days and leave between 1700-1900 most days. It all works out eventually.

Got some heavy-duty backpacking boots at REI. I've done some hiking with my super-comfy old ones and the uppers aren't as supportive as they used to be, not really a solvable problem. I'm going to start breaking these in now and see how they work out.

Celtic Reconstructionist (pagan) seems to work pretty well during test drives with new people, etc.

Two chapters written so far... and I've run out of the stuff that I wrote in my head in the past. Time to go where no writer has gone before... :^)

Sleep in until 1000 and hike in Natick, which is almost like hiking in the Fells.

Apparently we punted due to forgetfulness :^( Otoh, I was really hosed from work that week,so *shrug*

The Whitney permit lottery was in February, waaay before we had dates set. Plus N-S is easier for coordinating people coming with us. Plus I get altitude sick easily, so acclimatizing slowly is a good idea. Etc.

Saturday - subject GRE, chilling, cheesecake Sunday - hike in a wooded park in Hingham, crepes, bowling Monday - have a friend over, make cake, chores. Not bad. Should do this more often!

I installed Cygwin and an X server. It's usable at this point, barely so.

I even had a creepy dream about it last night... as long as the appointment ever gets scheduled.

It's a whole 12 minute walk from my house and housemate is going. Worth the walk just for the amusement value if nothing else.

Found someone taking a carpool at 4 pm. Hitching a ride with her... otherwise I wouldn't have gone! I'll bring my bag and get her to drop me off by a T or bus stop.

Every Monday at 1510. It seems like I can make up the 3 hours later in the week... plus less stress.

The local CVS pharmacy is open 24/7, which is Really Nice. And they're on my way home from work.

Getting a book for the subject test - will take its first test, study, then take its second once I know what I need help on. Will use the GRE-provided software (just arrived Friday) to take practice general tests.

I got him chocolate, realized he hated chocolate, and ate it :^)

Mixing the two didn't work (he ate around the new stuff), but he seems to have finally started eating it.

That was exceptionally stupid, especially staying up late to watch MITMoonHenge, but you only live once. Falling asleep at work was not so clever, though, but it was thankfully a slow day.

It was cheaper and more flexible (and they're generally more expensive!).

I asked lots of questions about insurance.

I went with Partners Plus instead, which is the quasi-in-house POS. If things are really shitty I'll switch to Tufts during Open Enrollment.

Orientation ended late (~1555), so I walked in the pouring rain to work just to stick my head in and say hi. The boss was out, but the postdoc I'll be working with said to come in at 9 tomorrow and stay dry otherwise!

I asked for a ride and another person attending offered me one ten minutes later. It'll mean more time waiting at the train station, thus likely plenty of time to relax out in the 'burbs, without the 3 miles of walking in the 88F thunderstormy weather!

It's now down to about 70 minutes with a fan, etc. We just let them all dry in the dryer. Hopefully the repair dude will come soon.

Flopped around and cleaned a little in that sitting on the floor sorting things way.

... I'm a dork and failed to eat or bake the dough. The yeast made really pretty patterns in it though...

We just fixed the big one (power cord) with a new solder job and it works great. The CPU fan hasn't deteriorated further since the initial issues back in Aprilish, and the battery actually holds about 45 minutes of charge. I may replace the CPU fan once I have a job, though. And I do like serial and parallel - the former was essential during 6.115.

I still just like the silver better, and I've seen both. And I don't really mind if it scuffs.

14-0 is pretty convincing, and I hadn't thought about the $20-shipping bit. Good point, thanks all!

I have most of the basics already; adding a few extra things won't cost me much and is much lazier. Plus, having it all in one place is a good idea.

Wrists and ankles are killing me. Spent the day lying on the couch reading. So no trip to campus with wrist-heavy antenna work!

If I get any experience using it this weekend I can choose on Sunday night and be certain of a good choice. I don't *need* it for Field Day, it will possibly (depending on who is where) make things a little simpler.

Now that he's learned that being picked up does not necessarily equate to bad things happening, he seems to like it fairly well. We were able to use it to clip his claws!

Setting stuff for small suitcase aside and packing in small suitcase. Will take with me, but have available to shove stuff in backpack and crash overnight if necessary. Ting home is something to get used to, plus housewarming on Thurs means I actually need to move in RSN.

Packing the things I don't use often/won't need (i.e. down coat!). Stuff I'm more likely to use will get packed Friday. I have a list of "definitely needed" clothes to work off of, so... yeah.

Completely forgot to call. But it worked out very well, and less time waiting than usual because of the earlier appointment time working with trains!

Definitely work on making the sleeping-bedroom more relaxed - darker lighting, bigger bed, etc. Other room for socializing, meaning books, most of the stuff, etc. Just sitting in the kitchen is damn peaceful, but having a quiet sleeping place is good.

The other four people in the kitchen are all costuming. I'm not going to be an undergrad for much longer - wtf, why not. I don't need to be up early anyways.

After breakfast, a shower, dressing, and packing for errands, I feel stellar. Here's to being stupid without screwing myself completely.

lj filters are my friend

Well, I slept for 12 hours straight. I think that says something about how much I needed sleep!

I went with an ensemble of the same colors and same swishiness level that's less likely to offend.

Told him over dinner the first night. He took it surprisingly (nay, shockingly) well and seems to have just kind of forgotten about it...

I forgot that with this kind of physical therapy I really oughtn't to be biking at all (or wearing jeans, or whatever), not just after therapy but during the therapy's course. Plus Wellesley is right down the street so I can walk around the lake on nice days (and there's a big waiting room on rainy days).

Replied - spoke with HR about the benefits, which are good, and said I'll commit 100% once I receive the formal offer letter. It's only a year, and having a stable job is a win.

See previous comment. The salary went up and she calmed down, and a previous employee said she really liked the manager and the lab.

Counseling dean tomorrow at 11, doctor at 2. Keeping professor for 6.115 notified of situation. Apparently something like this sick has been going around the doctors at Medical!

Was a little nauseous this morning but made it through the interview fine. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Should know by Friday.

Scanning craigslist and talking with the realtors that we find therein (i.e. find a place, get a showing of that plus the realtor's other places, repeat until satisfied). We'll probably find a place that a realtor shows us, but it will likely be *found* on craigslist.

The interview went well and I was able to negotiate a higher salary despite lacking other offers. I'll be starting work in August with the lab who interviewed me.

She apparently can't get a ride to MIT or drive here, but is quite willing to mail me the key. So I'll mail her the coat - it seems like a fair trade.

I'll celebrate in my own way on Sunday (though Wednesday is the correct date, the ritual is after sundown so it wouldn't be the right day anyways).

Feel crappy post-nap. Better throat, worse body.

Leeb finally got back to me and said "no TA hours tonight." I hope he posts them soon, because if I need to check off between classes I need to punt desk. I did manage to debug (with Robert's help) the exercises that broke!

Dropping it, after a long lengthy self-conference to make sure I'm not dropping it to be lazy. I'll be seeing my advisor this afternoon.

Tradition, or something :^) It'll explain the feathers, at least.

Not punting any (though I will probably not work all of Swapfest so I can go to 6.115 lab). Turns out (given I dropped a class just now!) that I've only got a 6.115 lab and a 6.115 quiz due next week for major assignments, so... yeah. *sigh* Damn MIT :^)

But first try a few different models from the loaner program to make sure I know what I want.

If it weren't music for this class... yeah. I just spent 4.5 hours writing similar stuff and I need to listen to something non-experimental. Plus Wikipedia is great for reading about types of antennas.

I described the steps, which was what the TA actually wanted to hear. When I said I hadn't done it he said I wouldn't get any credit, but he was pleased that I at least had thought about how to do it, which is doubtless a good thing.

The sheep appear to have dispersed beyond my means to reach them. Not My Problem! If they reappear sometime soon then I will try and lead them forwards.

I got unhappy enough learning that a friend's dad had died recently from cancer that being around a lot of (possibly unhappy) kids in the same situation seems poor.

See later doxory for an explanation.

We copped up a functional but yakkish version of the device that I'm supposed to use in lab (it's just a serial input device, so yakking it is not impossible). I've finished exercises 1-5, and am coding 6; I'll test things on the lab equipment before my checkoff.

We had a bit of a chat, but the issue was kind of ignored even though I brought it up - I'm going to try again in a bit and see if things improve.

This way I don't have to stress about the final projects, I can suck at checkoffs and not stress afterwards, and in general I'm more relaxed. I might ask Leeb if I can know my letter grade after - not so I can go "Doh! Why didn't I switch!" but so I can know how I did. *shrug* In the long run, I suspect this really doesn't matter anyways; this class is for me, not for future employers or any crap like that.

I've been doing it already anyways :^) And throwing a party seems kind of weird.

Sticking with FF for now, but we'll see if things keep going okay (it's much better than it used to be, oddly). Who knows if the Debian Iceweasel will be other than just a free port of FF - maybe they'll futz with it positively?

Stay home from morning lecture and the Harvard class. I have an appointment on campus, plus lab hours that I *must* go to in the afternoon (for two classes, in fact!), so I'll head to campus once, thereby decreasing the risk, or something...

DSO and I had a chat about typing nearly everything, including finals (apparently they can loan laptops that lack wireless cards), and maybe LaTeXing statistics psets. Looks like we'll wait to see what the doc says and then go from there.

Fuck it, it's not that much time and it's personally relevant too!

It's not as hard as I'd thought... here's to hoping I pass!

Yay for Amazon Prime - the savings in fast shipping make up for the $15. Oh, and the problem set is 75% questions from the book. And it's due Wednesday.

We'll try this first. Then switch if it doesn't get better.

Both, as trs and jtu said.

$35-45 for car plus $15 each for admission makes less sense if we're only going for people watching. I think we'll hit up something fun in Boston instead...

I did both! The person driving us to dinner arrived an hour later than I expected...

Though the point about getting a bike is a good idea. Drat, I wish I could bike :^) On the other hand, I do have rollerblades, and those are really easy on the knees... now I just need some safety equipment.

VHF radio competition!

Spend all of my time going through old papers and tossing reams and reams of them. In other words, clean my room and get it ready to be moved in June.

Went out to dinner at Christopher's instead :^)

I slept, though not well.

Turns out it was a 48-hour "Feel like shit" virus, with no actual fever or other really nasty symptoms. Sore throat, muscle ache, and congestion were the lot. Maybe a cold, though a fast one?

I was too sick to go to the store to get either...

Found a better therapist.

Attempt to some length to get 5 tickets (the number needed); if not, Dad's girlfriend can go sit in the room. He mentioned that he knows it exists and won't be Sad if she can't watch in person. People: dad, stepfather, dad's parents (I'm the only grandkid, so they're really looking forward to it).

Boy is thesing this summer, so no go in 2007, plus I have physical therapy weekly all summer. Figures! Next summer will be great.

Class was canceled that day (since it apparently doesn't meet Fridays); celebrating soon anyways.

I need those hours for personal sanity time! And D&D runs.

Depends on the person, but generally no :^)

I don't want to take half of my classes my last semester here at Harvard. Plus, evolution apparently comes with a 3 hour lab attached. Yucko.