Well the fall semester is officially underway. I had my first class session today with Paul Resnick on recommender systems. The class is a short one, only half the semester or seven weeks. I look forward to it. More classes to come tomorrow and next week.
Over the weekend I was less than enthused by the start of classes. Once the actual event occurs and I get back in the rhythm of things I’m sure my outlook will improve.
Some notes on what I’ve learned over the past year at SI. Inspired by Andrea and Brian.
More about a smattering of web technologies: PHP, XML, CSS. Interviews for research and system evaluation. Bits about the history and theory of infrastructure. Suggestive of hidden realities which is always nice to think about. Or perhaps just seeing things that were too obvious to notice before.
Reiterations of basic economics, psychology, cognitive science.
The summer is at an end. It’s time to roll out the Keats and reflect back on the last month.
This was a slower month at chez Todd than intended. As I wrote a few days ago allergies returned with a vengeance and slowed down my toils.
The month began warm and sultry but is ending up rather cool. I doubt this summer has broken any records for heat in Southeast Michigan, but what do I know, I’ve only been here a year.
Things have been quiet here at EcEc for the last few days. Preparations for the upcoming semester are gearing up. Ragweed pollen is high, my eyes are itchy and swollen, and I haven’t been reading much online or elsewhere.
Instead I’ve been watching movies and television episodes on DVD. I watched Heat again because I was curious to see if it was as annoying as I remembered. I enjoyed Miami Vice when it came out earlier this summer, and liked Collateral on DVD.
Well Pinky and the Brain is now out on DVD but I’m just sitting around reading: Way Station by Simak, Sign of Four by Conan Doyle, Lord Jim by Conrad, Refuse to Choose by Sher.
More to come tomorrow. A real topic - anniversary and historical combined into one.
July is coming to an end and it’s hot, hot, hot. The weather service has issued a heat advisory for Michigan from now until Tuesday. According to the NWS the heat wave began on Saturday and is going to continue while high pressure locks in over the southeast and low pressure over the plains combine to send southwest winds my way.
So it is time for another meta post. Since I returned to the daily blogging routine in mid-June I’ve been thinking about what weblogging does for me.
So what have I been writing about during the past month.
June was the month when I decided to return to regular blogging. So far I’ve posted an item every day since the 15th. I wrote about habits and writing to explain some of my reasons for updating on a regular basis. I talked a bit about plans for the summer both physical and mental.
I’ve started reading more political blogs again.
Ambition always seems to exceed my grasp, but for lack of anything else to post I’ll note some topics that I’d like to study in more depth this summer. Seems like I’ve been making a lot of lists for the past few entries, but so be it.
To study:
Math - I have both calculus and linear algebra textbooks in my apartment. I started in on the linear algebra book last month, but I still need a better way to take notes.
Well it’s a new year: 2006, and therefore it must be time to blow up the old site and put something else in place. I’m still using WordPress and have installed the latest version, 2.0, in a brand new instance. So everything from the past is gone, vanished for the moment into Google’s cache. I’m hoping to import past content soon, but time constrains everything. Not to mention the fact that I have the old posts only in a SQL form that is incompatible with the new 2.
I’m leaving Minnesota and moving to Michigan next week. I’ll be starting school at the Univeristy of Michigan School of Information.
To all the people I’ve worked with at Merrill Corporation during the past six years, thank you. It’s been fun getting to know all of you and the quirks of Merrill. Best of luck to all your future endeavors, personal and professional.
In the meantime there won’t be any activity on this site for a few weeks while I get settled in and decide on how the site should change or stay the same in the future.