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semester number ten: the onset
Jan. 29th, 2003 08:07 pmAlready my brain feels fried, and it's only the second week of school. All of my classes are on TuTh, which makes for very long days -- I have to start packing myself a lunch. It feels good to be back at school and I feel like I've somehow emerged from a semester-long fog that plagued last semester. At first I was quite depressed that I would not be a registered student this semester, but now I've more-or-less forgotten about that, since I've been attending class as normal. (-:
Two really good math classes, (142) Algebraic Topology and (135) Set Theory. I think I will ultimately only register (pay for) one of them, perhaps even zero, although I am quite tempted to take both officially. Both professors are quite young -- they seem more like grad students. The topology instructor is lively and funny; the set theory prof is more haughty. Topology has been quite easy (but the complexity is picking up) and set theory has been quite rewarding. I've enjoyed the more formal introduction to mathematical logic that comes along with set theory.
To meet my "List B" graduation requirement I'm taking English 117 "Shakespeare". It's a hardcore class with a different play every week. The professor is very good, very enthusiastic, interested in conveying something to us, so I think it will be a good class, although probably a lot of work (mainly reading, actually, but reading Shakespeare isn't quick going).
To meet the L&S Biological Sciences requirement, I've been attending ESPM (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) 113, "Insect Ecology." Once again, the professor is great! So far the class is very easy, without any homework or reading whatsoever (actually kind of a warning sign), but it is, after all, only two units. The sort of science here is quite different from what I've become accustomed to -- namely: physics, mathematics. They try to have "laws" governing ecological processes, but they're really not as convinving as, say, the Pauli Exclusion Principle, or Russell's Paradox.
Finally, I am taking Engineering 190 "Technical Communications." I think I would have committed spontaneous hari kari had I taken it last semester with the same prof Chris and James had. The prof I have instead is a relief and a joy -- he's ironic and a classicist (yet not one of those dogmatically academic pedants), and for these I am thankful. He says he "prefers an ironic, perhaps even sarcastic tone" and he peppers class with latin etymologies. And then he lets class out half an hour early -- not bad, eh?
I have been looking for a job and have a number of leads. Three seperate LBL labs have invited me to work with them, which would be wonderful except that the pay is really dismal. As a "graduate student worker" I'd be paid $11.26/hour, which falls even below "clerical helper".
Anyway, the three possibilities are so far 1) the very sexy cosmology project in the smoot lab that involves looking at very distant (very old) galaxy clusters against the cosmic microwave background radiation. The circuitry uses superconducting amplifiers (prof Clarke's SQUIDs) and.. well, it's all very exciting. 2) working with Chris in his lab -- project TBD; 3) working on electron microscopy related projects with Ken D., who was the postdoc advisor to one of my advisors in Israel. That would probably result in a published paper; and it seems like a nice place to work just because everyone is so friendly. So, I'm undecided about which of those to work on.
Since school started, I haven't been able to work on my personal projects much at all, or get in much pleasure reading. Still, I've been continuing to read Jostein Gaarder's The Solitaire Mystery, which is quite amusing. This weekend I'm going to join James at RFS to check out the Super-Milage Vehicle (SMV) and Solar Car (CalSol) projects which he is working on. It sounds very exciting, very much like something of which I'd like to be a part.
Two really good math classes, (142) Algebraic Topology and (135) Set Theory. I think I will ultimately only register (pay for) one of them, perhaps even zero, although I am quite tempted to take both officially. Both professors are quite young -- they seem more like grad students. The topology instructor is lively and funny; the set theory prof is more haughty. Topology has been quite easy (but the complexity is picking up) and set theory has been quite rewarding. I've enjoyed the more formal introduction to mathematical logic that comes along with set theory.
To meet my "List B" graduation requirement I'm taking English 117 "Shakespeare". It's a hardcore class with a different play every week. The professor is very good, very enthusiastic, interested in conveying something to us, so I think it will be a good class, although probably a lot of work (mainly reading, actually, but reading Shakespeare isn't quick going).
To meet the L&S Biological Sciences requirement, I've been attending ESPM (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) 113, "Insect Ecology." Once again, the professor is great! So far the class is very easy, without any homework or reading whatsoever (actually kind of a warning sign), but it is, after all, only two units. The sort of science here is quite different from what I've become accustomed to -- namely: physics, mathematics. They try to have "laws" governing ecological processes, but they're really not as convinving as, say, the Pauli Exclusion Principle, or Russell's Paradox.
Finally, I am taking Engineering 190 "Technical Communications." I think I would have committed spontaneous hari kari had I taken it last semester with the same prof Chris and James had. The prof I have instead is a relief and a joy -- he's ironic and a classicist (yet not one of those dogmatically academic pedants), and for these I am thankful. He says he "prefers an ironic, perhaps even sarcastic tone" and he peppers class with latin etymologies. And then he lets class out half an hour early -- not bad, eh?
I have been looking for a job and have a number of leads. Three seperate LBL labs have invited me to work with them, which would be wonderful except that the pay is really dismal. As a "graduate student worker" I'd be paid $11.26/hour, which falls even below "clerical helper".
Anyway, the three possibilities are so far 1) the very sexy cosmology project in the smoot lab that involves looking at very distant (very old) galaxy clusters against the cosmic microwave background radiation. The circuitry uses superconducting amplifiers (prof Clarke's SQUIDs) and.. well, it's all very exciting. 2) working with Chris in his lab -- project TBD; 3) working on electron microscopy related projects with Ken D., who was the postdoc advisor to one of my advisors in Israel. That would probably result in a published paper; and it seems like a nice place to work just because everyone is so friendly. So, I'm undecided about which of those to work on.
Since school started, I haven't been able to work on my personal projects much at all, or get in much pleasure reading. Still, I've been continuing to read Jostein Gaarder's The Solitaire Mystery, which is quite amusing. This weekend I'm going to join James at RFS to check out the Super-Milage Vehicle (SMV) and Solar Car (CalSol) projects which he is working on. It sounds very exciting, very much like something of which I'd like to be a part.
