A Little Here a Little There...

Scatter brained post.

Bike update: Yup... still gone.

An Open Letter to the Democratic Party:
Thank you for reinforcing my once lost support for the Republican party (Bush will do that to a guy). Just when I begin to think that a political party can't get any dumber, you guys start debating the reinstatement of the draft.
The reasoning for it as "deterrent" to senseless war is something a child who needs to sit in the corner with a pointy cap would come up with. Let's all remember that Vietnam was a senseless war that was not deterred by the draft. Let's also remember it was started by a Democrat. You've just pretty much insured my Republican (or perhaps even Independent... OOOOOOOOOOOOH DIS!) vote for 2008. Don't think of it as a vote for Republicans. Think of it as a vote against you. Sincerely, yo.

Can't sleep... presentation will eat me.

Very much looking forward to going to Boston tomorrow night to see the squirrel. I need a vacation. :)
Then Monday I have a presentation on Trade. Three days later a presentation on Econometrics. And at some point I turn in my MA paper for the "first semester". Haven't worked out the timeline on that last one yet.

Fun With Presentations

Mainly been working on my presentation and MA paper. Not too much else to report on down here.

The presentations my classmates have been giving have been abysmal at best. Our International Trade prof. finally blew a gasket on Friday when one of the supposed "top" third years spent fifty minutes describing six pages of worthless linear algebra while ignoring the main results of the paper completely. Can we say "can't see the forrest for the trees?" Either because he didn't understand the main results, or he just wasn't interested in them, I can't say. I've given up on understanding thick Indian accents at this point; especially when they come from people who make no effort to learn proper (or at least comprehensible) grammar and pronunciation beyond what Samuel L. Jackson can teach them (*insert favorite Jackson quote here*).
This kind of mathematical indulgence is surprisingly common though. We have many very well versed mathematicians who have no idea what the models they're learning mean, or how to translate them into English. So they hide behind it. It is after all what got them through quals. Because being able to write, speak, develop, and present ideas sure doesn't seem to stick with them. Hm... scary thought.
But our diligent (and irritated) trade professor in a huff of frustration tried to set us on the right path:
"Everyone who graduates these programs has the math background. If you don't learn how to package and present your ideas you won't get hired."
Considering when I tried to get this particular student to take a free English conversation course with a few of his fellow students (sponsored by the university), and he defended his inability to speak English as part of his "unique character" and then went on to convince the other two students to also NOT attend in order to retain their ... uhm... unique Indian dialect of English... I'm going to guess that this one's gonna go unheeded too until he starts looking for a job.

The MA paper has slowed to a crawl while I'm working on this presentation.
Mostly, I'm bored, and looking forward to seeing la Ardilla on Thanksgiving :)

Huh...

Friday I went out for the first time in a while with a few friends from the department. Sat outside Trinity Pub for a couple hours drinking, eating, and generally enjoying the "chilly" Texas weather (well, one of us was not drinking as he was observing a religious holiday).
Word of the bike theft had gotten around the department, and my Turkish friend who was there offered his condolences. These were sadly the only words of comfort that actually made me feel a bit better. Or maybe it was the beer and the burger... anyway, here's the story he told me.

"One of our classmate's, his second year, moved to a second floor apartment in the village. His bikes were stolen too. Three separate times. He'd buy one, leave it out on the second floor porch, and when he'd come back, or wake up after sleeping, it'd be gone. The third time though, he was with a couple friends and this guy jumps up grasping onto the fence of the second floor balcony and climbs over it, and starts looking through the bedroom window. Then he grabs the bike. Well, our classmate taps on the glass (from the living room window which opens up out onto the balcony) and asks him, 'what are you doing?' The guy turns around, looks very surprised, and then says he only wants some food. He asks them to unlock the sliding window so he can come in. Our classmate pulls out his cell to call the police, and then the guy grabs the bike, throws it from the second floor, climbs back down and rides off on the bike. It happens a lot. Don't feel so bad. At least it didn't happen three times."

Note to self... be really sure the door out to the porch is locked all the frikkin time.

In other news: still working on the MA paper, the presentation, and grad school applications. Not much else is new.

Pissed off.

For some idiot reason I left my bikes out on the balcony this morning, figuring that the row of bushes, the obscured site, the shoulder level wooden fence, and the loads of possible neighborly witnesses would keep some jackass from stealing two bikes from the hours of 9 AM to 2:30 PM.

I was wrong.

Funny thing, when I called to report and told the officer the address his response was, "Stole it right off the balcony huh?"
I'm apparently not the only moron who lives in the complex.

Also disturbing seeing as you can't see through the bushes or the fence unless you're right up next to them. Some one was taking a close look at my apartment.

Not every day is a happy happy happy day.