Thurs 4:54 PM

"Hi all,

There was a typo in problem 2 of Homework 4.  NB=1, not NB=100.  The corrected version is now posted, and it looks like only two people downloaded it anyway.

If you are one of those two, and have already gotten started on the problem, and want to continue with NB=100 instead of NB=1, let me know.

Sorry for the confusion."

Thurs 6:38 PM

"Hi All,

I was finishing the answer Key for HW4 this afternoon and realized Problem 2 was much more difficult than I intended.  Since it appears not very many of you have even begun, I have posted a revised homework 4 where problem 2 works out much better.

Let me know if you have any questions."

so much for the early bird...

but otherwise, gradschool/la = awesome

stagnation sucks.

in the past two days (something like 50 hours or so), i have :

1) packed my entire room into a uhaul, and uhauled it from sd to la and then home.

2) unloaded, and returned the uhaul

3) driven back to sd from home, sat down for half an hour, and headed out to mammoth.

in summary, in the past two days i've driven about 1,378 miles, 838 of those being today. i have spent one night in la, one night at home, and am currently in a sleeping bag in mammoth.

i am a little tired of driving. sitting sucks.

it's 1:41 am. i have a take home final due at 10:00 am, friday morning for my biochemistry of macromolecules class. the final is, of all things, a written, essay-based final - i don't see how that's actually possible for an upper division chemistry class. adding to the excitement, the class is one of those evil grad/undergrad code-shared classes, so half of my classmates are 2nd year chemistry phd's, who research in the specific area of focus of the class. on top of that, we actually haven't learned anything. i'm not kidding. the professor is absolutely brilliant, don't get me wrong, but she kind of forgot the whole lesson plan-teaching us-explaining what the hell-is-going-on part.

i've already finished half the test, two questions out of four. the third i could easily take care of, while the fourth question starts somewhere north of drug candidate optimization protocols, veers towards ligand/inhibitor binding affinity with a pit stop in our "given understanding of thermodynamics", and winds up in the vicinity of a flawed traditional approach to therapeutics. i don't get it - i've already made my peace with it.

but here i am, the night before i turn in my last undergraduate final, sitting, staring at my screen.

back in the days of JARS, we could have put this final to bed in a scant hour or two, and had a blast while doing so. hell, i could even finish this by my self with a quickness if i really wanted. i could have easily gone out tonight, taking a victory lap at pb, enjoying my last thursday at bar and grill as an undergrad.

but instead im still sitting here, staring at my screen.

when i pictured the end of college, i always imagined something epic - one last late night spent studying, taking a test and throwing down your pen and throwing up your hands, knowing that for once you rocked that final and  are about to walk out a free man. going out with a bang.

but all i have to do is hit send, and email my final to my professor. just like that. i hit send, and i'm done. it feels, to say the least - odd.

maybe that's the point. the day after does not come with a party, or fireworks. it just happens. it is, simply tomorrow. either way, it's late, and i have a final due early (relatively) tomorrow morning. it's time for my grand exit. my procrastination has finally turned into desperation. now, it's finally getting exciting. time to knock this one out of the park.