| final month... |
[23 Jul 2008|10:39pm] |
One month from now, I should be posting from my own place again. This whole temporary living situation is grating on my nerves; not because of the roommates, but just because I feel weird and uncomfortable, and as a result, I don't cook, I don't break out an instrument, I don't have people over, I just feel weird and stressed out.
NRL is going quite well; we're going to hopefully get some human video data here before I leave which we can work with, though it may cut it a bit close. We'll see. Been working with some pretty fascinating stuff from all angles; computer vision, cognitive modeling, psychology, and, of course, the ever present issue of robot power, breakdowns, & availability...
And, of course, I've met some great people. I'd love to come back here for another summer, but, given my situation, that seems unlikely. It's not clear yet if my work from Wash U will end up being totally scrapped; there may be some use for it in a different form. Even though apparently all of my WURDE code is planned to be dumped from the robot, at the very least I should get use out of that-- there's a lot of very good, very useful code in that project. The intentionality detection stuff will be useful *somehow*; it certainly can't hurt to have a working knowledge of DBNs, and some of the distance measures I was thinking about will be useful. Hopefully some of the effort I put into learning Half-Life 2 modding will be useful for working with game environments as well.
At any rate, despite what others may believe, I did a lot of work last year, and I'm just hoping it will have been more useful than not. It's a topic I want to come back too some day, anyway. If I can actually make it useful at UNCC, all the better. Ramp-up time there should be better, at least, given that they have useful tools and there seems to be more of a team mentality.
Right, and UNCC -- admissions stuff makes me nervous. Everything is definitely in, and the status has said "Referred" for about a week now. I've been trying not to think about it too much, but it's definitely a major source of stress.
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| xbox 360 |
[13 Jul 2008|05:25pm] |
So, I went and bought a xbox 360 as a birthday present to myself.
My gamertag is Hrodgare, if any of you have a 360 and I haven't already told you that.
I could go for some Catan or Carcassonne online sometime...
Of course, the stupid wireless adaptor for the console failed to work out of the box, but... hopefully that'll get solved soon. until then, route through the laptop..
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| Update |
[15 Jun 2008|06:24pm] |
So. I suppose I should update again.
- NRL is going well. Last week I worked long hours all week, which was.. a bit tiring.
- Unless my application gets rejected for extreme lateness and Dr. Youngblood can't solve it, I am going to UNC Charlotte starting this Fall.
Those are the major bits. I'll probably be in Philly for the martini party, too.
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| IROS incompetence |
[06 Jun 2008|02:08am] |
Well. IROS, you've done it again.
This time you've rejected my paper based on three reviews--- the second of which was for a completely different paper. A SLAM paper. Now that is absolutely brilliant.
The other reviewers sort of missed the point, it looks like. The criticisms on the paper were failures in reading comprehension. This time, based on these reviews, the rejection is not my fault. If there had been indication that the reviewers actually read the paper with any care, I would be okay. But damn is the reviewer pool still awful.
And how was it not noticed that one of my reviews was for a completely different paper? What the hell?
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| Alexandria |
[01 Jun 2008|09:16pm] |
Well, I'm here in Alexandria, lying on a full bed in the second bedroom of a (so-far) friendly couple's apartment. I get no cell reception, but otherwise it seems like a good deal. I had forgotten how strange it is to leave your life behind and move 800 miles to a new location. Here I do at least know people, but figuring out new habits will take a bit.
The alternator in my car is dying, according to the tests at Autozone. I'll call CarMax tomorrow to figure out when I can drop it off and get a loaner. I'll test my luck until that time and continue to drive it, since it's starting up okay now.
Thursday I fly to Charlotte to check out Dr. Youngblood's lab at UNC.
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| ...made it. |
[31 May 2008|01:42pm] |
Finally made it to Richmond sometime around 3-4AM. The drive would've been fine, even with the bits of construction crap, except that after stopping at a rest stop just inside Virginia -- I64 Mile 2 -- my car refused to start. It was cranking, but the battery was apparently too week to start it all the way (maybe?). Also, I had no cell phone reception because i was in the middle of fucking nowhere. After Geico determined there was nothing anywhere near me that could provide a tow, and after paying an astonishing amount of money to make a credit card call to my sister, I managed to locate a guy on duty at the rest stop who gave me a jump-- and it worked.
I drove then as far as Waynesboro, a bit outside of Charlottesville, to get gas. Picked a 24 hour place to make sure there were people around. The car again wouldn't start, but I managed to start it by giving a little gas as it cranked (yes, could've flooded the engine and been in worse shape, but it worked). At this point, after the adrenaline from being stranded in the true middle of nowhere with no connection to the outside world wore off, I was incredibly tired and managed to stay awake the rest of the way to Richmond by chewing gobstoppers and forcing myself to sing along with music. It was bad. It was stupid. It was very, very, very stupid.
So, the lessons: (a) buy a new battery for the car-- to do today (b) don't stop at rest areas without making sure the cell phone has reception and (c) DON'T FUCKING GO ON 12 1/2 HOUR DRIVES AFTER THREE DAYS OF MOVING AND REALLY POOR, STRESS FILLED HALF-SLEEP.
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| . . . |
[11 May 2008|11:28pm] |
Fortunately, last week was boring. I don't really expect it to last.
As things stand, I am definitely driving my ass back to Virginia May 30th or 31st, and starting work in DC at the Naval Research Lab on June 2nd; I'll be living Alexandria/Annandale-ish.
This week I'll talk to a professor at UNC Charlotte about a possible opening in his lab on a two year funded project-- it would be a major change in research direction, although I've already determined that game AI isn't actually all that far from robot AI (at least not the bits I'm interested in). It sounds good, but I still need to figure out if I want to immediately dive into a new program. If I could transfer most/all of my credit so I can jump in without needing to take any more classes, that would be a good start. With any luck I'll be visiting Charlotte sometime soon to check out the group in person.
If not, I'll be applying to jobs certainly around DC and San Francisco, maybe Boston and Pittsburgh, possibly Raleigh as well if there's anything that looks good in NC.
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| remembrance |
[03 May 2008|11:28pm] |
My Aunt Ann died Thursday in her sleep, and was found this morning. It was probably due to complications from a nasty bout of pneumonia which she was having difficulty recovering from. She was only 59, which is too young.
I haven't seen much of Ann in the past several years, never did see much of her growing up honestly, so we weren't very close, but it's still a shock. She requested not to have a memorial service or funeral, but I still hope there will be some sort of family gathering when her ashes are scattered.
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[27 Apr 2008|02:18pm] |
And the pictures:
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| car |
[27 Apr 2008|01:16am] |
I have a car. It is a blue 2005 Mazda3 S hatchback. Exciting pictures sometime when it's actually daylight.
I should note, that as alluded to in the previous post, I am at least changing advisors, effective Real Soon Now. As of August, I will officially have the MS. At the moment, I'm planning to go on leave for next year until I figure out just what the hell I'm going to do; that is, whether I will finish the PhD or not. I'm going to see if there's a possibility of extending my internship at NRL through the fall, or else possibly apply a real job.
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| a not so rhetorical question |
[24 Apr 2008|04:00pm] |
If you found yourself facing a major life situation change, but also in the fortunate situation in which you would be able to put away a fair sum of money just before facing that change,
what sort of off the wall change in direction would you take?
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| i passed |
[22 Apr 2008|11:40pm] |
| [ |
music |
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Closing credits from The Prisoner |
] |
I passed my oral exam; that's milestone 1. Next up, portfolio review.
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| whee.... |
[18 Apr 2008|07:20pm] |
| [ |
music |
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Pixies - Here Comes Your Man |
] |
In other news, I got my loan documents today, just set up an insurance policy to start next Thursday, so I'm all set to go and get a car next week, be it Thursday or a few days later. Hopefully the car I'm looking at is still there....
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| whee. earthquake. |
[18 Apr 2008|04:56am] |
Well. Not my preferred way to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. If I have a preferred way.
Scared the shit out of the cats.
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| Go back in time... |
[08 Apr 2008|09:50pm] |
I would like, in this post, to take you back in time. Back to a more innocent time. An age of Epic Pants.
Just sit back and let the gentle melodies encompass you. Let your sorrows and troubles melt away.
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[08 Apr 2008|09:32am] |
| [ |
mood |
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 cranky |
] |
Oh, and for those keeping track, I'm counting the latest dating foray a failure. I like the girl, but kind of apparent it's not going anywhere, and not so much worth my energy trying to figure out what's going on.
Edit: Okay, not taking more advice on this one, because it just makes my brain spin in circles and I'm trying not to think about it too much, because I am, in fact, not happy about it.
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| ... |
[08 Apr 2008|09:29am] |
| [ |
music |
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The Clash - Rock the Casbah |
] |
Will someone please make me stop screwing around online and actually get down to outlining my oral exam presentation?
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| right. sunburn. |
[06 Apr 2008|04:32pm] |
I forgot about sunburn. It didn't occur to me until about an hour of lying on Art Hill in the sun that I might get burned.
Lo and behold, my face and my arms. I am a dumbass. But at least the sun and the warmth are back in St. Louis.
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[02 Apr 2008|09:56pm] |
On a totally different note,
am I a huge nerd for wanting pretty much all of the shirts in the xkcd store?
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| ? |
[01 Apr 2008|11:38pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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 confused |
] |
i have no theory of mind for this girl.
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