How would you like to have your advisor be the inventor of a great contribution to this world?

Trivia of the month:

CMU was the birthplace of the smiley.

My dad called me yesterday and left a message about a job posting he saw. As a web developer.

Um no, that\’s not what I have been studying for almost the last 2 years! Definitely not with this nearly $45,000 masters degree!

In a disastrous way to get to a party, we got pulled over. We were running 30 minutes behind because of three guys who wanted to work out before going (which also amounted to showering and other gossiping along the way). When we finally left, it almost 11:30 when we had intended to leave at 10:30. We had spent that time making small talk at my place, watching the Minority Report, and the supply of alcohol was pulled from above my fridge.

Down Braddock, we drove. Halfway there, I realized I forgot the cake and my posters. I almost made us turn around, but I called back to the other car and told them to get it. (Because they owed me). A few blocks from the house, we couldn\’t find the cross street and got lost. People kept calling me, my phone ringing, where are you? KC made a threepoint turn into a one-way street, facing the wrong way. As we were backing out, there was a car coming.

Someone in the back said, \”You\’re good. The car is slowing down. Don\’t worry, it\’s just a cop.\”

Pause.

Then a block later, the sirens and lights went on. I got phone calls and tried to get off the phone (but in my usual wishy-washy style). KC yelled at me for being on the phone. We pulled into the nearby parking lot. Two patrol cars with their lights on followed us in. The cop asked for KC\’s license. We sat in the car in anticipation and anxiety. Somehow the cop\’s hand was bleeding. Cut right before getting KC\’s license or with the license?

\”Did you know you pulled into an one-way street?\”

\”Yes…\” KC said.

\”Are you lost?\”

\”Yeah, we\’re trying to look for Lafayette Street.\”

The cops looked at each other. \”Do you know where Lafayette is?\”

Then they gave us directions and they drove off.

Someone commented after they had left, \”That was weird.\”

In other news, happy birthday Ian and Lisa!

If we lived with the motto carpe diem, how would life be like?

Or the idea that I have nothing to lose, how would we live?

Less than two months! A taste of my typical week filled with meetings and such:

I find myself buying into the Web 2.0 world. But all we need is a cool name, right? Oversized text. Bright colors (read: pastel). Rounded corners and boxes. And some incomprehensible buzzphrases. Then I would be set.

A sad little bet between a guy and his girlfriend. He\’s trying to get 2 million hits on his website so that he can have a ménage à trois. Fantastic.

And so simple. And so popular.

Jorge Cham of Piled Higher and Deeper (a comic strip about graduate school life) came to CMU today! Because I had class, I missed his lecture on procrastination and graduate school. But he signed my copy of his first book.

Of course, when it was my turn to meet Jorge, I started babbling about how great his book was and where I got his book just like any other fan. But now I have a signed copy!

Last year, Jason the professor I worked for the last 3 years…gave it to me as a token of appreciation. Truly, the phd comics summarize my graduate life from free food to the prevalent social awkwardness of grad students to of course, procrastination.

So I am glad that I decided to do a (professional) masters rather than a phd. More bang for the buck. phd comics said so.

In Carnegie Mellon, the trash cans are larger than the container for the recylables.

In Berkeley, it was the other way around.

Is this a sign of free food in the future? Does this mean that the free food I enjoyed and loved at CMU will never go away when I start work? Does this mean…I should return to California?

A new thing spreading around the South Bay in California. Lunch 2.0

So geeky. But free food? Of course, I can immediately imagine forced awkward conversations. And then the conversations won\’t be \”Are you at cmu? Which department are you in? Do you like Pittsburgh?\” Rather it would consist of \”Did you hear of [insert new web 2.0 site]? What company do you work for?\”