memoirs on a rainy day

Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten, has a new theory on why Akhenaten wasn’t the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. (via cf)

I’ve almost completed my last assignment. Like most bloggers who are studying full time, it’s a challenge during the midterm or end of term exam period to update my blog as much as before.

I started working on my last Numerical Linear Algebra assignment last Monday. It’s taken most of the week to complete it, including two marathon coding sessions at the computer lab, where I coded on my laptop. The implantation of the Generalized Conjugate Residual [GCR] method was a bit harsh to say the least. The other methods were easier.

I programmed the Conjugate Gradient [CG], CG with SSOR, CG with ICC [using the incomplete Cholesky factorization], GCR with SOR, GCR with ILU [using the incomplete LU factorization].

I also had to code some sparse matrices. I coded the Relaxation Method to resolving linearized differential equations.

It was a challenge, but I liked it. This is why that I’m probably going to work with my professor in Numerical Linear Algebra over the summer, while in Taiwan. I really enjoyed this assignment, even though it clocked at 23 pages in a Word document. I plan to learn LaTex over the summer.

For these long assignments, I always do them on the computer. It looks more professional and I find that writing equations this way makes me think about them more then if I would write them by hand.

On Tuesday, I’m leaving for Ottawa to take care of my visa to Taiwan. I’ll be coming back on Wednesday to Quebec City. My flight is on Friday. I’ll be arriving in Taiwan during the weekend.

I’m almost done. I’d say about 70%. It’s due on Friday. I spent 6 hours coding with Matlab. I watched the final project presentations of the guys finishing this year. I took some photos.

It’s most probably my last week in Quebec. I’m getting ready to go back to Taiwan for the summer. I’ll be back in Quebec in late August. After the killer week I had last week, I needed the weekend to sleep. I must have slept more than 10 hours each night.

One more homework left before I’m totally finished.

It’s gotten cold today again. And rainy. I’ve been getting a lot of cancellations in the past week as well. I need to plan my trip to Ottawa to get my visa at the TECO office.

Mathmom recapitulates the ongoing Math Wars over at Mathnotations. I didn’t get involved either.

My semester is almost over. I’ve got one last homework to complete for next week. I plan on attending the final research project presentations next week.

Exams went well. Out of four, three went well. The last one was a bit hard. I don’t know. We’ll see how it turns out. I’m totally out of it yet again. However, I did finally get my care package from Camelbak. More on the unboxing tomorrow. I took some nice photos.

I’ve been studying intensely for the last few days. I’ve been concentrating on Numerical Analysis, the class in which I had the most work. Things are progressing well.

Tomorrow I have two exams. One in Analysis I and one in Numerical Linear Algebra. I have finished my classes and I have part of the day off. I have to head to school for my 1:30PM Analysis I class to see what the prof has to say about the exam. So until then, I’ll study Analysis I.

I did a little bit of art yesterday to relax. I had some of my class notes binded since my original notebook was falling apart. I created a cover for them. I also covered my course book in a cover and spent some time drawing a cover image. I used a combination of watercolors and china ink. I’m uploading pics as we speak.

Worked all day.

Taught four classes.

Was able to study for three hours.

I studied Numerical Analysis. I’m starting to get a good feel about the subject matter.

I have to go buy some  see-through post-it notes for my studying. I hate people who write in books. Books are meant to be kept pristine, especially school books. That’s true for all of my books.

I’m totally out of it. I went to bed at 2:30AM and got up at 6AM.

I did some paperblogging, but not the arty kind. I just wrote out a few posts on paper. Will posts those later this week, once the exams are done. I got about three original posts done today. I wrote another one last week. I’ll have to type them up at some point. Saturday or Friday. After my finals.

I was partially out of it today. I woke up at 5:30AM to finish typing up an assignment that was due. All of the programming was done. All that was left for me to do is to type my part. I completed it in about 40 minutes.

Then I went to school to assist to two hours worth of oral presentations. Out of the four, I really liked two. Actually I really liked one. The other one was done by Chloé and she is a funny, lanky girl. She presented it well, in my opinion.

The other presentation was done by David and he talked about music and math. It was a very good presentation. It made me wonder about math in electronic music.

I didn’t have to wear any proper pants today since I wasn’t working. So I wore some jeans. My Numerical Analysis professor finished his class 20 minutes early and I was off with Fannie. We usually take the bus together. She’s a third year math student. I like her. She wasn’t working either and was heading home. Contrary to usual, we were heading in opposite directions.

I was planning on going grocery shopping at the IGA. As usual, I got some great healthy foods. I bought some fennel, since I was planning on making a light fennel onion soup later today. I bought some pork as well. Two types actually. One to grill on the BBQ, another to make some green coconut curry.

I bought lots of oranges and bananas, 4L of milk, a red tuna steak which I planned on eating sashimi style later that today. I knew from experience that a 400g piece would be enough for two meals.

For once I didn’t forget the shaving cream. I’ve been forgetting it for weeks now. I tried to get the right type of deodorant, but ended up getting some clear gel deodorant from Gillette. I don’t like that one. I only realized which one it was when I arrived home. I like the antiperspirant sticks.

The bag was quite heavy, but manageable as usual. I arrived home at around 1PM.

I’ve been totally out of it ever since.

So.

Is it spring yet?

Yep.

Most definitely.

That doesn’t take away the snow that we still have on the ground. It’s been a record breaking winter, with about 500 cm of snow.

Today was the first day of nice and warm weather. Warm enough to walk around in a short sleeved shirt. Hormones are in the air at the university. Girls are coming out of their shells. I no longer need to wear any extra layers. That is amazing. I’ve been wearing thermal underwear until a few days ago. I finally put them aside.

End of term. Last week of school. Actually, there are still two more weeks left. Next week, I have got four exams in two days. The next week, I’ll have to finish my last homework that’s due on May 2nd. I’ll try finishing it this weekend, but things are not looking good for that.

It’s going to be raining all weekend. At least that will make me study. I was planning on running a bit in the neighborhood, but I’m not that well equipped. Actually, it should be too bad since I’ve got some shorts.

I cut my hair last night. It wasn’t the best idea, but given the tools that I had at the time, my hair’s looking good. I waited too long to cut it and ran into all sorts of problems. I think that there might be parts in the back that aren’t all that even, but I’ve always recently gone for a mini mohawk Beckham style. It doesn’t matter. Cutting your own hair, without a clipper, is kind of like a work in progress. It’s simple enough and I don’t do things like layering, but the end result is alright.

I finished a class today. I still have classes tomorrow. Next Wednesday, I usually have 6 hours worth of classes. In one class, people are presenting their projects. In the other two, the professors will be answering questions. Then on Thursday, I have two exams. I have two more on Friday. I’ve already started preparing. I think it will go well, but it’s going to be stressful.