It's my life and it's sure fun, another season of my life's begun, another race I'm glad I get to run, another chapter of my life I'm writing*; no, I'm never gonna feel like this again, time's rushing by my like the wind**, gotta grab each moment that I can, never gonna feel like this again -- Kenny Chesney

*if only I actually would sit down and write it...

**if only there were a) wind, to cool off my room that's 95 degrees right now; and b) time rushing like it, given I'm currently running a 300-frame renderjob on my computer at 36 sec/frame. *cough* 2 hours of waiting to render for a 20-sec video? Good times! Only a hundred frames to go!***

***Edit: 1 video down, web.mit.edu/~dorminy/www/03.mp4 (please don't tell me it doesn't work for you too ); second video 80/800 frames rendered. Time for a good 7-hour nap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvb54ylO-vw --- Klezmer Bad Romance. I hadn't heard of Ezekiel's Wheels before, and went to this performance with Boy Soprano II upon the recommendation of a friend; twas pretty excellent and I enjoyed greatly.

God is great and amazing. I'm living off my own earnings this summer. This implies I am subletting a MOST EXCELLENT apartment near Boston College, across the street from a park (baseball fields/etc.) and down the street from a park with a pond. It's really awesome. It also doesn't have central AC, which is wonderful and excellent, but I've turned into a Yankee and find it really hot. Also, I have a desktop computer to do processing on; and it generates even more heat. Anyway: utilities coming due tomorrow. Not much in my wallet, even less in my bank account. Random friend from back home sent me a very late high school graduation gift that got here today. Precisely enough for utils. Praise God .

(I'll have money in, say, a week, when my paychecks from last month come here. And theoretically once they get here I could quit working and have enough money to live the remaining two months of summer on perfectly fine. But in the meantime I'm enjoying being Scottish)

So what am I doing this summer? I have a host of jobs:

1) I'm continuing my spring research with Dr. JC Nave, a postdoc here at MIT, leaving for McGill in the fall, unfortunately. We're doing neat things in applied math, and right now I'm rendering videos for his enjoyment.

2) I'm typing documents up / drawing pictures for OCW, for an improved version of 18.01/18.02 and associated materials.

3) I'm assistanting classes for AoPS: Alg 1 on Monday nights, and I'm backup for Intro C&P on Tuesday nights, although I'm not sure how needed a backup I am anymore

4) I'm distributor for one of the largest pickup sites for one of the largest organic CSAs in MA. This involves moving approximately a literal ton of vegetables twice over the course of 5 hours on Friday afternoons. It's a great job. One perk is that I get a CSA share myself; and this turns into being able to eat constantly without either getting too many calories or needing to buy essentially anything.

I should really be working on them right now instead of typing this blog entry. Cheerio, yet again!

Apparently my ancestors were of the same clan as the ancestors of Judge McLean, who was a candidate who lost to Lincoln in the 1860 Republican Nominating Convention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McLean

Hi guys! HMMT tomorrow! You should all take a look at the tests. In particular, I wrote a problem that's on a test! Yet it'll still be awesome.

MIT is good! God is great!

I read Tarzan of the Apes today. And empirically determined my reading speed is about 715 wpm.

EDIT 17 Nov: Read: Uncle Tom's Cabin for class. 1280 wpm.

manybooks.net is cool.

I'm teaching two classes for Splash: Modern Cryptography and Swedish History 1610-1650. It's pretty exciting: Modern Crypto has all of the 30 students I wanted, and Swedish History has 17 students, which is 17 more than I expected. Any advice?

So I spent some hours in the USAMTS grading mill yesterday. No, it's not done yet. Don't ask me about progress.

Anyway, guys,

This happened at least 9 times in papers I graded. Don't do this. You have a month. Check your math.

If you want to know, if your USAMTSR1 #3 comments have my initials (ST or STD) in the corner, I graded it: I initialed most but not all the papers I graded. (I go by Sweet Tea Dorminy nowadays.)

Also, I met MithsApprentice!!!!!!

Obama visited MIT yesterday. In celebration of this opportunity, I spent 6.5 hours on Thursday standing with a sandwich board advertising the great opportunity to protest if you disagreed with his policies. http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N47/obama_reactions.html

I got to see the black vans of the Secret Service, and had the Secret Service take pictures of me. And I didn't get arrested.

Furthermore, I got on Boston NPR TV for 40 seconds: www.wbur.org/2009/10/23/Obama-MIT starting at 2:23

5.112 -- Principles of Chemical Science -- the hardest version of freshman chem offered. Fun.
6.041 -- Probabalistic Systems Analysis -- 'Probability for Electrical Engineers', but it's a prereq for 6.047: Computational Biology: Genomes, Networks, Evolution, which I'd like to take next fall. This class has finally gotten hard. I should be working on it instead of typing.
8.01 -- Physics: Mechanics -- fun class, but much more explicitly teamwork-oriented than most, so I go to every class.
21H.101 -- American History to 1865.

Freshman advising seminar, on 'What's So Smart About The Power Grid?' -- much work, much awesome given that we've had a field trip to Holyoke, which is out around Springfield, to see very awesome things.

Beginning swimming. I remain slowest in the class. See, there's this period of 1.5 years right before I enrolled in the class where I didn't swim, at all; immediately preceded by being pulled out of the pool. I'm hardly very comfortable in the water...

Not for credit:

Tech Squares, e.g. modern square dancing class.

is great, and I am rerealizing just how great He is. In particular, I've learned how much I love the Psalms.

Oh man!

It's well and good and as big as my room at Mathcamp, or something like that. One genuine closet; one closet-built-in-to-a-corner. Otherwise it's 8' wide and about 10 or 12 long. A window, looking out onto a brick wall, but looking up one can see sky and a tree. And it's in Random .

Roommate situation: technically, I have the 'small half' of a double, so I have a roommate. Our rooms don't have a door between them, though.

Furniture: My room came with a loft from the previous resident, 8'x4'; up against the window, crosswise. No. I like looking out my window and growing stuff in my window . So I disassembled it and rotated it so it's oriented longwise. Then bookshelf goes in the one corner, where there are pipes already. Then I had 20" to work with beside the door.
Also a desk is up against the window now, so I can look out while on the computer.

I've modified my loft to have two small half-square-foot shelves about 6" down from the back corners of the loft: the better to house my imitation animals . One cow from Chick-Fil-A; one snake from MC08; one duck from Epsilon Theta.

I also built me a bookshelf. I was taken with this idea one night. Went to Home Depot in Watertown on the bus, figured out an approximation of the dimensions as I rode the bus . So, I had that 20" wide section beside the door, and it was about 35" deep. Clearly as I had no good way to get into my l oft, I need a ladder/bookshelf. Got the lumber, about 30 dollars, including 'oh oops I can't actually carry this much wood I guess I should rent a handtruck and walk 3 miles back to MIT pulling a load of wood between 9:45 and 11:15 at night.' Then it took about 5 hours to build; but it is most awesome and can be stood upon safely.

On less positive notes, Random has mice. Mice mice mice mice mice.


But what made me note this was going and visiting the all-girls' dorm at MIT, McCormick. Their hallways are as wide as my room is long. Their ceilings are so high, people can stand on your shoulders and not duck. It's ridiculous . But I like my dorm room size .

Group chats online are not like group chats in person.

In a group chat, there are participants and then there are passersby. If passersby like the participants, or if participants want the passersby to become participants, the group chats' participant group grows. After a while it becomes unwieldy / the more aggressive or obnoxious people take over the chat. Then the chat splits in two. (This can also happen sheerly by people taking turns to talk for even 30 seconds: at 10+ people, that's each person speaking every 5 minutes, and you can't do a lot then.)

There doesn't exist such a mechanism for online chats as far as I know. Also, people interrupt in online chats. In a 20-person chat, it's absolutely impossible to a) make yourself heard b) have a coherent conversation c) actually want to be talking to half the people in the room d) split up into two chats.

Apparently this year group Mathcamp chats are a lot more popular. You can probably guess from the above that I don't much like them, even if I'm not introverted.

My bags are packed for MIT (only erm 13 more hours at home ). WOOOT!

Without further ado, here's the bookage I'm taking to MIT. Clearly these are the most important books to me. (Yes. 86 pounds of books )

Math books
(all of which I by no means am taking merely as reference)

Principles of Mathematical Analysis -- Rudin
Complex Analysis -- Ahlfors
A Course In Arithmetic -- Serre
Linear Algebra Done Right -- Axler

Crypto books
(of which I've read all, but am taking either as reference or to study more thoroughly)
Applied Cryptography -- Schneier
Practical Cryptography -- Schneier
Introduction to Cryptography -- Buchmann
Cryptography: Theory and Practice -- Stinson
Modern Cryptography -- Mao

Other CS books
(same as crypto books)
Numerical Recipes in C
Introduction to Algorithms
Embedded Linux Primer -- Hallinan
Linux Kernel Development -- Love

Tolkein

J.R.R. Tolkein's Sanctifying Myth -- Birzer
The Languages of Tolkein's Middle-earth -- Noel
Unfinished Tales
Lord of the Rings
Hobbit
Silmarillion
Children of Hurin
Lays of Beleriand
Book of Lost Tales

Misc

Camcorder stuff
My drawing of Milo, Waffle's dog, by Waffle
Transliterated Songs for Shabbat (from Mathcamp)
First Things collection
Bible
Mathcamp yearbooks
Official Scrabble Dictionary
Unabridged American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed. (What? Am I being wordnerdy? )

Communication


MIT Guide to Science and Engineering Communication -- Paradis, Zimmerman
Things A Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About -- Knuth (BEST EVAR)


Textbooks
(ew ew ew )
University Physics
Chemical Principles
Biological Science

I came back from Mathcamp and promptly got sick (just like most mathcampers did). I proceed to the MinuteClinic at CVS for a strep test. Why is the default to assume I want to be treated instead of strictly tested? I can ask for a prescription iff I am both sick and feel like taking what they offer.

Being a teenager is hilariously fun.

is awesome!!!

Also, apparently, the other day I wrote a yearbook section introduction between 5am and 5:15am in the morning. I was awake, and I sent it to my yearbook editorsinchief before going to sleep for a few more hours.

They added a single sentence to the end. They then told me to put it in the yearbook. (I was one of the chief tech people this year.) I read a few sentences and found it absolutely hilarious (and coherent!) and had exactly no memory of writing what I'd written. I hope it's as awesome as my editorsinchief found it, because I have no plans to read any more of my intro until I'm leaving Mathcamp. Isn't it awesome writing things that amuse yourself?

I woke up this morning and read my status. I seem to have changed it last night, though I have no memory of this:


When did I start using srsly? And what is this "2.5 hours asleep is way much"? I suppose I meant for sleeping on the grass; but wow, when I'm asleep I'm pretty incoherent . (Also, I can't do math: I went to sleep well before 1...)

I was low on shampoo. I got some of this delightful soap from the Proctor Farmers' Market in Tacoma. Oh man. It is, quite truly, the best soap I've ever used. When I washed off, I realized just how good my hair felt -- it's never been quite as awesome-feeling as it is now. And it's not just good for hair: the rest of me feels aweinspiringly awesome too. If you ever have a chance to get some of Gary Violette's soap, get some. I feel like I've had the best cleansing ever.

(Oh, right, I'm at Mathcamp. I should rave about Mathcamp. But right now I'm raving about soap .)

Oh man, yearbook camp is currently also at Univ. Puget Sound! Time to teach them Monkey Monkey Piffle Piffle and Bunny Bunny Toki Toki!

It has been empirically and accidentally proven that even if you wake up and go to sleep and dream 35 times, if you don't get a decent amount of sleep, your mind will not work like anyone else's.

For the record: If you ask "can I get WOOT materials from you", I'm going to say 'enroll in the class'. If you say 'You're the only way I'm going to be able to get WOOT materials", I'm going to say 'Well, I can't do that for you. Better enroll in the class''

Being a class assistant does not mean I am allpowerful. Being a class assistant doesn't make me able to give away class materials. Having 3 woot shirts still does not mean either that I'm exceedingly good at math, nor that I'm able to give away WOOT materials.

(This isn't directed at any one person. It's just putting it forth that I don't have this power and I don't really enjoy saying 'no', so please don't make me say no.)

One of my favoritest Mathcamp instructors ever, Ari Nieh, is holding a math jam on induction Friday night. I'm quite confident it'll be awesome . Go!

I have a case where I'm a bit unsure what to do in the best interest of the future.

I have a macbook pro, whom we'll call Lime. Lime is nearly two years old. He's had some problems: he's gotten a new power adapter, a new video card back last Christmas; he's been dropped once too many times, and so one corner is dented. Sufficiently much that the top of that corner is cracked/separated from the side of the corner. Further, 6 keys or so on the keyboard don't work; I was eating brussels sprouts beside him and spilt much brussels sprout water on the keyboard. Eeep. Now his hard drive is No More At All.

Therefore, should I:

get a new computer altogether?

get a new hard drive, involving living with an external keyboard and a cracked corner for a while longer?

or something else?

/me ist in the 10% of people who get a fever from MMR. Namely, 104+. Oh man.

And I was sufficiently well-practiced enough in sneaking around that I didn't call out when I had difficulty walking 20 feet, back from getting water. See, my mother sleeps lightly, therefore I've had much practice in wandering at night without awakening her. It came in handy at ARML, pranking Sitan, who is a light sleeper also. Not so handy last night, though. [And I slept 9 hours today after we got back from the doctor...]