Expectations

Figuring out how to readjust my expectations for school performance. See the graphs.

Top graph. In college, I could get A's without too much effort. So I set my satisficing bar (the dotted line) at an A, and put in the effort required to pass that bar.

Bottom graph. In grad school, an A is no longer feasible. (Well maybe it could be, but that amount of effort is not feasible.) So the question becomes, where do I set the bar? Do I shoot for B's or shoot for C's? (I'm still figuring out how much effort is required to achieve different levels of results.)

Memory

Scents and memory.
In the middle of July, I spent my last day in Singapore at the botanical gardens. Not surprisingly, it was a humid day. Combine that with a plethora of plants, and my nose was inundated with scents from Singaporean plants and beyond. As I took in all the different smells, numerous joyful memories cascaded through my thoughts. It was really wonderful.
Memory without scents.
Meanwhile, today's grey sky got me thinking about the past, and I gained a general malaise. Not terribly wonderful. Not evoked by scent, either, just the grey sky. So I wonder, are memories evoked by scent better memories than memories evoked otherwise?

Math

"Math doesn’t depend on speed. It is about deep."

Manifold Destiny:
A legendary problem.

The part about the "math drama" is not terribly interesting, but the part about how a legendary conjecture was proven is delightfully interesting. Grigory Perelman is quite the character.

Conjecture

Back in June, I conjectured "Some would call it a pyramid scheme."

It's neat to see this supported by a real paper.

"Health 'Reform' Is Income Redistribution
Let's have an honest debate before we transfer more money from young to old." - WSJ

Math

Though economists have learned some lessons during the past year, math remains the focus of a graduate education in economics.

Math hasn't been this core to my daily existence since Mathcounts in 8th grade. And I am enjoying it. But I will always maintain an equal respect for intuition.

Respect

From Wikipedia:

The transpose respects addition.

Math. respect.

Food and Caveat Emptor

In a triumphant return to student life, I picked up a meal plan for this semester. It turned out to be a bit different than eating at Simmons Hall at Penn State.

The food was about the same quality, but the experience was not. There were no longer heaps of dorm floor mates milling about, and my stomach had lost some elasticity. So I decided to forget the original plan of one giant meal per day.

In cancelling the plan, I also found that it was quite expensive. I had signed up for $1,385 for 113 meals and $250 flex dollars (which were not very flexible). After I used about 8 meals and $10 flex dollars over the first two weeks of class, they returned me $1,200 upon cancellation. It works out to over $20 a meal!

Update: Turns out I can get the employee meal plan. This will cost under $6 a meal. Much better! And this is the last post titled "caveat emptor" or otherwise filled with mundane complaints.