More of the 5 questions meme
These questions came from airporter.
1. My technical language and yours aren't communicating well. Could you describe your dissertation in plain(er) English for this accountant?
I was interested in understanding how the brain figures out how to move the muscles of the arms for coordinated reaching movements, like scratching an itch on your left elbow with your right hand. I wrote a computer program that simulates a "robot" that does coordinated reaching movements. This simulated "robot" really isn't a good model of how the brain figures out how to do reaching movements, but it's possible to train something called a "neural network" -- a vastly oversimplified computer model of neurons in real brains -- to imitate the behavior of the simulated "robot". The neural network doesn't use the same mechanism as the simulated "robot" -- in fact, it learns to create its own mechanism, in analogy with real neurons. The majority of my dissertation involved analyzing and trying to understand the neural network's internal mechanism, and how it was similar to or different from what is known about the parts of the brain that are involved in coordinated reaching movements.
2. Besides the physical, what attributes motivates you to cuddle up to a stranger or newer acquaintance?
There are attributes that I find attractive -- gentleness of soul; being non-judgemental; a calm demeanor; a simple desire to be touched. I'm a cuddle-slut at heart, it's really a lack of negatives (and a few physical positives) that make me feel comfortable cuddling up to someone I don't know well.
3. Life is stranger than fiction, yes? Please describe one instance where your life with Cameron was like a Woody Allen, James L Brooks, or Rick Berman production.
I'm embarassed to admit I've seen almost nothing by Woody Allen or James L Brooks; Rick Berman is Mr. Latter-Day Star Trek, if it is pre-Enterprise, I've probably seen it.
This is a really hard question to answer, because the truth be told, life with Cameron wasn't strange at all. Domestic bliss is a well trodden path in literature, cinema, music, etc. Others outside our relationship may have found our pairing "strange", but we found it quite natural. Life can certainly be stranger than fiction, but with Cameron it was comfortable and familiar.
4. True or false: Everyone has embarassing moments they'd like to forget, and others they treasure? If true, describe one of each, please.
An embarassing moment I'd like to forget: At a college networking conference, I sneaked up behind a friend to surprise/tease her, which would have been fine and humorous if it had been my friend... but it was actually her twin sister, who had no clue who I was, and who kept giving me dirtier and dirtier looks the more I kept pestering her.
An embarassing moment I treasure: (This is actually one of Cameron's embarassing moments, but I'll treasure it forever.) Cameron and I were invited to his cousin John's wedding, and as Cameron and John were very close, Cameron and I got to sit at a table right in front of the bride and groom, more or less in between them and all the other guests. At the dinner, the guests (many of whom were elderly "church" ladies from various branches of the family) started playing the tap-tap-the-water-glass game, i.e. everyone would tap their water glass to get the bride and groom to kiss. The guests kept doing it over and over, like every 2 minutes, until it got annoying. At a certain point, in retaliation, John and Carol tapped their water glasses back at the guests. Before he knew what hit him, I lurched over to Cameron and gave him a nice big wet French kiss, in front of the whole reception. Cameron blushed an incredibly bright red. The stunned looks on the faces of all the old ladies were priceless. And the guests didn't bother John and Carol for the rest of the evening.
5. Where do you expect you'll be in 2, 5, and 10 years? (I original phrased this to cover only your professional life, but I'm nosy. Tell me whatever you'd like to cover.)
I'm a pessimist at heart, so the the answers are not terribly interesting. Short-term, I expect that I will still be working at Yahoo, although on a somewhat different part of the search engine than I am now. Long-term, maybe there will be another downturn in the industry, maybe I'll be laid off. If so, I don't really know what I'd do... start looking for a new tech job? Switch careers? Downsize my life into a something cheaper outside of the Bay Area?
For the past year, I honestly did not care where I would be in the future -- I did not look forward to the future, even in the long term, and I did not aspire. Even though I bought a house during this period, it did not feel like a major accomplishment... it was more perfunctory, a satisfaction of aspirations I used to have before Cameron passed away. I still feel like this about half of the time, but I am beginning to feel some interest in traveling and "retirement". I know most people would roll their eyes at that -- most people wish they could retire early -- but in my case, even that is progress. If only it were finincially possible! Outside of winding up my "professional" life and traveling more, I don't have any very well-developed aspirations. Maybe do something artistic. You have to understand, I feel old nowadays. I've already been to grad school, found a good job, bought a nice house, and had a deep and life-changing relationship with the most wonderful man in the universe. Life has played me fast, my passion is spent.
In case you didn't know, this is "The Five Questions Meme," and it's making the rounds again. Actually it's not a bad way to get to know one another better, and the rules are as follows:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
1. My technical language and yours aren't communicating well. Could you describe your dissertation in plain(er) English for this accountant?
I was interested in understanding how the brain figures out how to move the muscles of the arms for coordinated reaching movements, like scratching an itch on your left elbow with your right hand. I wrote a computer program that simulates a "robot" that does coordinated reaching movements. This simulated "robot" really isn't a good model of how the brain figures out how to do reaching movements, but it's possible to train something called a "neural network" -- a vastly oversimplified computer model of neurons in real brains -- to imitate the behavior of the simulated "robot". The neural network doesn't use the same mechanism as the simulated "robot" -- in fact, it learns to create its own mechanism, in analogy with real neurons. The majority of my dissertation involved analyzing and trying to understand the neural network's internal mechanism, and how it was similar to or different from what is known about the parts of the brain that are involved in coordinated reaching movements.
2. Besides the physical, what attributes motivates you to cuddle up to a stranger or newer acquaintance?
There are attributes that I find attractive -- gentleness of soul; being non-judgemental; a calm demeanor; a simple desire to be touched. I'm a cuddle-slut at heart, it's really a lack of negatives (and a few physical positives) that make me feel comfortable cuddling up to someone I don't know well.
3. Life is stranger than fiction, yes? Please describe one instance where your life with Cameron was like a Woody Allen, James L Brooks, or Rick Berman production.
I'm embarassed to admit I've seen almost nothing by Woody Allen or James L Brooks; Rick Berman is Mr. Latter-Day Star Trek, if it is pre-Enterprise, I've probably seen it.
This is a really hard question to answer, because the truth be told, life with Cameron wasn't strange at all. Domestic bliss is a well trodden path in literature, cinema, music, etc. Others outside our relationship may have found our pairing "strange", but we found it quite natural. Life can certainly be stranger than fiction, but with Cameron it was comfortable and familiar.
4. True or false: Everyone has embarassing moments they'd like to forget, and others they treasure? If true, describe one of each, please.
An embarassing moment I'd like to forget: At a college networking conference, I sneaked up behind a friend to surprise/tease her, which would have been fine and humorous if it had been my friend... but it was actually her twin sister, who had no clue who I was, and who kept giving me dirtier and dirtier looks the more I kept pestering her.
An embarassing moment I treasure: (This is actually one of Cameron's embarassing moments, but I'll treasure it forever.) Cameron and I were invited to his cousin John's wedding, and as Cameron and John were very close, Cameron and I got to sit at a table right in front of the bride and groom, more or less in between them and all the other guests. At the dinner, the guests (many of whom were elderly "church" ladies from various branches of the family) started playing the tap-tap-the-water-glass game, i.e. everyone would tap their water glass to get the bride and groom to kiss. The guests kept doing it over and over, like every 2 minutes, until it got annoying. At a certain point, in retaliation, John and Carol tapped their water glasses back at the guests. Before he knew what hit him, I lurched over to Cameron and gave him a nice big wet French kiss, in front of the whole reception. Cameron blushed an incredibly bright red. The stunned looks on the faces of all the old ladies were priceless. And the guests didn't bother John and Carol for the rest of the evening.
5. Where do you expect you'll be in 2, 5, and 10 years? (I original phrased this to cover only your professional life, but I'm nosy. Tell me whatever you'd like to cover.)
I'm a pessimist at heart, so the the answers are not terribly interesting. Short-term, I expect that I will still be working at Yahoo, although on a somewhat different part of the search engine than I am now. Long-term, maybe there will be another downturn in the industry, maybe I'll be laid off. If so, I don't really know what I'd do... start looking for a new tech job? Switch careers? Downsize my life into a something cheaper outside of the Bay Area?
For the past year, I honestly did not care where I would be in the future -- I did not look forward to the future, even in the long term, and I did not aspire. Even though I bought a house during this period, it did not feel like a major accomplishment... it was more perfunctory, a satisfaction of aspirations I used to have before Cameron passed away. I still feel like this about half of the time, but I am beginning to feel some interest in traveling and "retirement". I know most people would roll their eyes at that -- most people wish they could retire early -- but in my case, even that is progress. If only it were finincially possible! Outside of winding up my "professional" life and traveling more, I don't have any very well-developed aspirations. Maybe do something artistic. You have to understand, I feel old nowadays. I've already been to grad school, found a good job, bought a nice house, and had a deep and life-changing relationship with the most wonderful man in the universe. Life has played me fast, my passion is spent.
In case you didn't know, this is "The Five Questions Meme," and it's making the rounds again. Actually it's not a bad way to get to know one another better, and the rules are as follows:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.