Actually I’ve been doing lots of interesting things lately. Read on!
Living Space
Firstly, Reba and I made the big move to Chicago. Changing cities is nowhere near as traumatic the 3rd time around, and there’s a number of things about this city that make it particularly easy to deal with. Oxford was a shock because it was really the first time that Reba or I had lived away from family and friends, and was an entire new country etc. The peculiarities of Oxford and MBA life simply added “and awe” to the shock. Then London was next, and again it was a first for us: we’d never lived in a big city, especially not a big, old, cosmopolitan city like London. Subways, winding streets with Maseratis roaring down them, various Gucci clad 3rd world prince-lings at the coffee shop, and next to zero personal space were all new to us as well. Chicago is different, big and cosmopolitan, but we’ve done all that at least once now, plus it’s a comfortable 104% USA, and very convenient to live in.
We live in a high rise apartment building (46 floors) that was built quite recently, so everything works. There is a separate washer (works) and dryer (works) in our apartment, new stove (works), garbage chute down the hall (works), new shower (works), A/C (works), new oven (works) and fridge with the little lever that you push and water or ice comes out (works). There are 4 elevators (work[s]) and a 24 hour doorman (works). There is a laundry in the building (haven’t tried it yet) and people to receive packages during the day if you’re not home (this works too). Nearby are Whole Foods and other groceries, but Peapod (Ocado for Yanks) brings all the basics we need. Internet is free (works) and the view of all the other skyscrapers is pretty cool (it’ll work). So, I must admit that it is refreshing to be back among the conveniences of American living. Chicago gets a zero for old world charm and quaint pubs, but then you can’t have everything. Our stuff arrives from London this week, and I’m really looking forward to having more than two chairs, one table, a bed and a crib for furniture. For those in the know: the big red couch made the cut and will be joining us soon.
The pizza is really good, and the city is gagging with steakhouses. For Kaysa’s benefit I will add that these are packed with beef from giant grain fed super steroid monster cows, and once you get past the fact of it all, the steaks are fantastic. Also, people eat a lot ribs in Chicago. Today I ate at Bibs N Ribs, an oak/hickory based bbq joint that’s been open in Hyde Park since 1966. There are benefits to a daily journey into the (tamer) regions of south Chicago.
So, Chicago is thus far a decent space, and our space within it (works) for us.
Beard
I have an enormous beard now, and my head hair (what’s left of it after MPB) is getting shaggy. Reba and I are both sick of it, and Isa won’t kiss me anymore, so as soon as our stuff shows up, with the electric shaver, it all goes. Back to Baldy McBalderson. It’s about time, one of the other students in my program commented that I look more like a PhD student than a Master’s degree student. Enough said. Don’t say it, Natasha.
School
School is going well. For inquiries as to WHY I am in school again, see the FAQ. I am still in the “immersion phase” of the program, which is ostensibly the vehicle by which we non CS degree holding students will gain a reasonable grasp of CS math and programming necessary for graduate level study. The math so far consists of:
- propositional logic and equivalences
- predicates and quantifiers
- inference
- proofs: direct, contradiction, contraposition, cases, and induction
- sets and set operations
- functions
- sequences and summations
There is a lot more to go, and with 5 hours of class each week unit mid September and a gnarly assignment due each week, it’s keeping me busy. For me, the math part is quite difficult, but it’s always the hard stuff that I value the most later on. The programming bit is so far all C on Debian Linux. This is a real hoot for me, since I’ve done a lot of programming before and already get the basics, and also because this environment is kind of a walk down nostalgia lane. For whatever reason, the academic environment du jour is Linux, and not just a Linux based Windows rip off GUI with open office and a mouse and whatever, but a hardcore, text based 1982 looking Unix style experience. Working on these machines reminds me of writing my first Perl web applications back in the mid 90’s on the Eskimo North ISP. There’s the Alpine mail reader, the (still text based) update to Pine which I used for years when I first got email, VI the text editor from 1976 that people are still improving on, all manner of funny little commands and switches, and all on a screen with no graphics, just text. All the programming tools are text based as well, and kind of remind me of writing basic programs for my dad’s H8 and Z89 computers when I was a kid. Of course these systems are infinitely more powerful then those old PC systems, but they still have the same vibe.
The coding is all in C, which is super primitive compared to Java and .Net, etc., even to VB and Perl really, but there’s a real elegance and simplicity to it that I appreciate. The C reference books all seem to have been written in 1978 or so, and there’s something quite appealing about the retro tone of this part of the experience as well. Honestly, it all takes me back to when I was a kid and my Dad and I used to play around with programming, setting up small systems, etc. Of course this make me a bit sad too, given that dad’s not around to chat about all these impressions and experiences. I suppose the lighter side of that is that he can’t make fun of me for finally doing a technical degree at 40 when I could have done a CS degree back in 1989 when he offered to pay for it. In any case, I am digging the programming part, and when I’m done with my math assignments for the week, I feel pretty good about that end of the course as well. At this point, I’d say that I’m putting in 50-60 hours a week and taking things easy, it’s not a death march like the MBA was. At least not yet!
A New Belfry
The Ryerson Physical Laboratory is the home of the the MSCS program at U Chicago. The MS students have their own special lab, which I like to call a belfry, in fond remembrance of the top floor silent reading room at SBS. We have lots of neat computers, 30 foot high ceilings, and an enormous white board to figure stuff out on. There are a couple of adjoining rooms for sneaking away to in search of complete silence, though the belfry is generally deserted anyway. There is an elevator that opens into the lab, but only if you have the MS key. For whatever reason, I feel particularly relaxed and able to study when I’m sequestered in some cool, quiet, high up spot, with no distractions, lots to study, and the occasional coffee break. Stacks of books improve this experience even further, if the dean is reading this: hint hint! In the drawing below, you can see the RPL, and the top floor of the middle tower is our lab. I look out of those pointy top windows from where I sit. The little turret on the right is the observatory, which I still need to get up to at some point.
talk about ivory towers!
Isa!
Isa has started walking. It’s total drunken sailor walking, but it’s walking nonetheless. She’s also trying to talk, but this is pretty poor if I’m honest. The words we have at this point are: doggy, kitty, dada, hi, wow, and uh-oh. They come out more like dodgyieeeee, kitchgeeeee, tata, hiiEYEii, wow and uh-oh, but it all seems like progress. She’s also scrunching up her face and making weird straining poses a lot. Reba says that it’s part of some phase or another, what do I know? In any event, it’s all pretty cute and I most definitely have the best baby of all.
