Pronunciation

I just finished reading The Bookseller of Kabul last week (which I highly recommend), but I can’t tell anyone about it because I don’t really know how to pronounce “Kabul.” Is it KAH-bul? Ka-BUHL? I googled it this morning and found this fantastic article about more problems than just pronouncing the name of Afghanistan’s capital. And according to the author, the jury’s still out on the official English pronunciation of “Kabul.”

A reason to appreciate growing up as a Yankee

Seen this afternoon on CNN:

Students attend first integrated prom

At first I couldn’t figure out what “integrated” was supposed to mean. Then I thought, that couldn’t mean what I think it means... could it?

Students of Turner County High School started what they hope will become a new tradition: Black and white students attended the prom together for the first time on Saturday.

Whoa. Does this really still happen in 2007?

Adkinson’s sister, Mindy Bryan, attended a segregated prom in 2001.

“There was not anybody that I can remember that was black,” she said. “The white people have theirs, and the black people have theirs. It’s nothing racial at all.”

My jaw dropped as I kept reading.

Nichols said while her parents were in support of the integrated prom, some of her friends weren’t allowed to go.

“I’ve asked, ‘Why can’t you come?’ and they’re like, ‘My mommy and daddy—they don’t agree with being with the colored people,’ which I think is crazy,” she said.

Do people really still say “colored”? I understand that racism in America hasn’t gone away, but I never realized that we still have such a long way to go.

Kevin Spacey closes the bridge

On Saturday, I found out that the bridge I normally cross to get to work every day was going to be closed on Sunday so that it could be used to shoot scenes for an upcoming movie. The movie is “21,” and it’s based on the true story of MIT students who made millions of dollars by counting cards playing blackjack in Las Vegas. There’s already a book about these kids calling Bringing Down the House, which I highly recommend if you haven’t read it.

Anyway, I had heard that the bridge would be open between takes for pedestrians and cyclists, so I decided to take my chances. When I got to the bridge though, police weren’t letting anyone across. I guess Kevin Spacey has a little more clout with the city of Boston than I do. And I was bummed that didn’t even get to see anyone famous!

The bridge reopened by the time the Yankees-Red Sox game got underway last night. The game must have been pretty intense because I could hear the crowd cheering at Fenway Park around midnight last night, all the way from my apartment in Kenmore Square. I don’t miss all the loud drunks by 4 am, but living down the street from Fenway Park is pretty cool. I’m definitely going to miss Boston.

The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train

My, my... it’s been a while. Things are crazy busy here, so there hasn’t been much time for other things besides sleep, food, and thesis. Several weeks ago, my advisor told me that he didn’t think I’d be able to graduate on time because I kept having setbacks with the algorithm I’m developing. It seemed like each day I’d come into work, having runs several simulations overnight, and there’d be some case where my algorithm burped on something that I hadn’t anticipated. So, I’d spend most of the day fixing it and then I’d run some more cases overnight, and then something different would be wrong the next morning. This went on and on until it was way past the point that I needed to actually start writing.

Which brings us to now. I’ve fixed most of the major things, so my algorithm is giving much better results, although it still has some minor problems. But my advisor agreed when I told him (adamantly) that I wanted to graduate this spring. The problem is that this leaves me with basically three weeks to write my entire thesis and run all the sims I need to collect my data. To this end, I’ve been spending almost every waking hour in front of a computer. The last thing I feel like doing when I get home is spending more time in front of a computer, blogging.

Anyway. As part of my post-thesis life, about a month ago I accepted the Virginia job. I’m really excited about the work, although I have some reservations about the company as a whole, so I’m not sure how long I'll stay. It was a really tough decision, but in the end, what made my decision was the fact that I thought if I took the Maryland job, I’d always wonder about the work at the Virginia job, and I didn’t think that would happen the other way around. We’ll see, I guess. I’m definitely looking forward to working with some old friends, and I’m excited about moving back to DC. I love DC. Not to mention that my favorite person in the whole world will be mere miles away, rather than a whole plane ride away. :)

In typical procrastination fashion, I’ve already spent too much time online looking for apartments and cars when I should be writing my thesis. There are so many decisions to make! I can’t decide if I want to live by myself or with roommates, closer to DC or closer to work, buy a new car or a used car... The smart thing to do, I know, is live close to work, get a roommate, and buy a used car. Ugh. But the thing is, I’ve never lived on my own before. I’ve lived with my parents, shared some dorm rooms, and shared many apartments. I also know that at some point, Josh and I will move in together, so is this my only chance to live by myself? However, if I’m not actually going to be spending much time there, then it would be a lot cheaper to have a roommate.

And then there’s the city. Downtown DC is about 30 miles away from where I’ll be working. I don’t want to live downtown (couldn’t afford it and not crazy about the crime...), but it would be fun to live in Arlington or Falls Church. The drive isn’t terrible because I’d be reverse-commuting from the typical burbs-to-city folk, but I also don’t want to waste 1-2 hours per day sitting in my car. But living near the city would be a lot more fun than living in the suburbs... I have my entire life to live in the burbs. However, if I lived closer to work, I could bike to work when the weather’s decent, which would be really cool. If I go the roommate route, the rent would be about the same for either area. If I wanted to get my own apartment, cost would be more of a discriminator, I think.

I’ve almost managed to convince myself that if I “settle” for living closer to work, I can splurge by getting my own apartment and buying a new car. Not sure that’s a fair “trade,” but that’s what I’m thinking...

Shuttle launch

Allegedly, these pictures of the STS-115 launch were taken from the space station. I'm not convinced that's true or if these were taken from the high altitude chase planes that are in the air during shuttle launches, but regardless of where they came from, these are some pretty cool shots.



Some discussion of the origin of the photos is here.