it is 530am but things are going well!
at this point i should just stay up all night probably. so i will take a break and write an update to stay awake, and also because significant things have been happening recently!
so, item number one is that i got into UC Berkeley's PhD program in computer science. (i also got into Princeton, UCSD, UWMadison, and UVA, but upon visiting most of those over break last week i have decided conclusively that it will be Berkeley). So, on top of the awesomely fun time i had at visit day, the school is just the most kickass in nearly every way. It's top ranked (tied for first), in the bay area (i.e. silicon valley connections like whoa), the professor that essentially got me in to the school to work with him is actually probably one of the top 5 most famous CS people still living (Dave Patterson), there is tons of money and collaboration and sweet research (RADLab), i like the climate and love the locale, and plus george and erika will probably be going there too! so yeah...all around a great deal, which is good, because i'm probably gonna be there the next 5-7 years. oi. i've also been invited to go out there to start early in the summer (for pay), and will probably do that as it sounds more fun and actually more beneficial to my career in the long run than an internship. i'm pretty psyched about it in case you can't tell. also, this justifies every C in calculus i have ever gotten and every boring lecture i have ever slept through...booyah
in related news, i finally finished the data collection/testing part of my thesis today (the paper is due on wednesday) and my technique has been validated! as in, it is just about as good as the work that got some actual researchers published this past october! it was pretty amazing when i got everything set up right, and realized that this thing i've been slaving away at off and on since the fall ACTUALLY WORKS. And because I'm using exactly the same base data as this other group, i KNOW it works, for real, and i can PROVE it. most of the projects i've been involved with end up in some fuzzy gray area of 'it may be better sometimes i guess', but this is the real deal. having that direct comparison and coming out more or less on top feels damn good. i guess this post is all about me feeling vindicated, huh?
tomorrow afternoon i'm off to richmond with the wushu team, and friday morning we fly to berkeley (coincidently) for a competition. a competition i am not particularly ready for because of all my traveling and the zillion hours (40?) i put into the thesis project this week. i'm not too worried about the competition really though...it'll be fine whatever happens. the scary thing is that my thesis report is due on wednesday (final draft on monday). but at this point i have great results and only about 10-15 more pages to write, so i think it'll be okay.
whew, i'm about done. i'm glad lots of people came to visit us during their breaks! soon we'll have to fly to see each other...which strikes me as both sad and cool in way. hopefully we'll have some good parties at the end of the semester though. anyways, what's new with you?
so, item number one is that i got into UC Berkeley's PhD program in computer science. (i also got into Princeton, UCSD, UWMadison, and UVA, but upon visiting most of those over break last week i have decided conclusively that it will be Berkeley). So, on top of the awesomely fun time i had at visit day, the school is just the most kickass in nearly every way. It's top ranked (tied for first), in the bay area (i.e. silicon valley connections like whoa), the professor that essentially got me in to the school to work with him is actually probably one of the top 5 most famous CS people still living (Dave Patterson), there is tons of money and collaboration and sweet research (RADLab), i like the climate and love the locale, and plus george and erika will probably be going there too! so yeah...all around a great deal, which is good, because i'm probably gonna be there the next 5-7 years. oi. i've also been invited to go out there to start early in the summer (for pay), and will probably do that as it sounds more fun and actually more beneficial to my career in the long run than an internship. i'm pretty psyched about it in case you can't tell. also, this justifies every C in calculus i have ever gotten and every boring lecture i have ever slept through...booyah
in related news, i finally finished the data collection/testing part of my thesis today (the paper is due on wednesday) and my technique has been validated! as in, it is just about as good as the work that got some actual researchers published this past october! it was pretty amazing when i got everything set up right, and realized that this thing i've been slaving away at off and on since the fall ACTUALLY WORKS. And because I'm using exactly the same base data as this other group, i KNOW it works, for real, and i can PROVE it. most of the projects i've been involved with end up in some fuzzy gray area of 'it may be better sometimes i guess', but this is the real deal. having that direct comparison and coming out more or less on top feels damn good. i guess this post is all about me feeling vindicated, huh?
tomorrow afternoon i'm off to richmond with the wushu team, and friday morning we fly to berkeley (coincidently) for a competition. a competition i am not particularly ready for because of all my traveling and the zillion hours (40?) i put into the thesis project this week. i'm not too worried about the competition really though...it'll be fine whatever happens. the scary thing is that my thesis report is due on wednesday (final draft on monday). but at this point i have great results and only about 10-15 more pages to write, so i think it'll be okay.
whew, i'm about done. i'm glad lots of people came to visit us during their breaks! soon we'll have to fly to see each other...which strikes me as both sad and cool in way. hopefully we'll have some good parties at the end of the semester though. anyways, what's new with you?