So Unbusy...

...And absolutely loving it. I realized I hadn't posted in a while despite (for once) actually having the time to do so. I made it through finals without bombing anything. We'll see how the grades pan out in early January. I gave it my best shot, which should be OK. But it made for three very unpleasant weeks of basically solid studying. Grad school definitely is all its cracked up to be when it comes to workload. For the record, I finished about 180 of the 196 Linear Systems problems, (which was enough) still holding an average of about an hour a problem. That is DEFINITELY the most time I have spent on homework on a single class, and don't regret being done with it for one instant. That works out to a ratio of 5 hours of homework to each hour of lecture. Yes, very glad to be done.

In the cracks of time when I just couldn't study anymore, I put together my work computer and successfully overclocked the dual-core CPU it to 3.4GHz (from 2.4). Its a very fast, clean, quiet system.

The internals (above) and assembled PC (below). That huge orange CPU heat sink/fan help keep the processor cool so it can run faster.

I had a few days in NY after finals which I used to get a good start on some fellowship applications. Then Tuesday I traveled to Seattle. It was a long day, as I hopped from Ithaca to NYC to Denver to Seattle (but it was cheap!). Good thing I wasn't a day later, since Denver shut down in blizzard conditions Wednesday and still has many stranded travelers almost 3 days later. I got a great tour of NYC coming in from the air, getting excellent views of the Empire State Building, WTC site, Statue of Liberty, and all the other major landmarks.

Now I am enjoying being reunited with my drumset and various other guitars/amp/etc. I am hard at work recording several songs that I've had in mind a while but haven't been able to record. I got to hang out with friends in Seattle on Thursday, including a birthday party for Tim, whom I hadn't seen since his getaway at the wedding in September. I'll definitely be hanging out more in Seattle, esp. once the holidays are over and everyone's back in town.

Finally, some seasonable weather:

So far, this winter has been one of the warmest anyone remembers around here. But finally we got some more seasonable weather today in the form of an arctic cold front pushing a couple inches of snow and 15 degree temperatures. Nothing special for around her, but it finally really snowed! (Seattle--of all places--still has had more snow than here this season) Anyhow, people say that winter really hits hard Jan-Feb around here, so I'm sure I won't get shorted on my first winter in the northeast...

In other news, its finals week(s)! I have my first final tomorrow, which I'm sure I'll do well enough on. (What's "well enough"? Well, enough to do well enough in the course...) (How's that for a meaningless sign I've been studying too much?) Anyhow, I'm not too worried about it. But linear systems... well... I still have a good 2 assignments left to do. Which is perhaps doable in the next week, but will take supreme effort. Complicating things somewhat is the fact that my computer parts (finally!) showed up just in time to distract me from studying today. So I think that will be my Friday evening break after my first final... to put that together.

Back to Seattle in just under 2 weeks!