Got code running in the background, so I figure now is a decent time to update things that have been going on as of late. NOTE: This is primarily focused on stuff that either I or Jen and I have done that she has not chronicled in her own journal.
The return to Boston after the nice Christmas break was bleah, to say the least; I'm sure everyone feels that way after a nice and relaxing time away from the hectic life of professionalism, or at least what passes for that as we get on in our years. I've officially been back in the lab since after the New Year, as this place was a veritable ghost town during the last few days of December. Upon getting back into the swing of things, I was prodded into getting to work on a paper that would consist of only two authors: myself and my advisor. I was giddy to say the least, but I still have a bit of work ahead, including writing most of the content myself (with Kamal's help in writing up the discussion section, as well as with proof-reading), performing a few more experiments to round out my numbers, and the hefty goal of getting a whole bunch of data analysis performed. This involves using data that a colleague has collected, so I'll need to coordinate with him in regards to that aspect of the story. I figure I can get things finished in a few months if I push all the coding and analysis hard; needless to say, I'm entirely psyched about finally having a paper with my name as the first author :)
Home life is going well. Jen and I were going to look for a new crib last weekend, but lack of planning on where/what/when we were exactly looking for, as well as how we were going to go about viewing different units, somewhat stymied that idea. I'd like to do another search perhaps next weekend, as it's expected to snow tomorrow night and I'd rather not needlessly trudge through snow if it can be avoided ^^ Currently we're looking for something in the Cambridge/Porter/Davis area, though if we could find something nice and cheap in the Brookline area, that would be cool, too. However, I'd honestly only move if the place we found was cheaper than what we're paying now, as the hassle of getting things together just to pay $1225 again just wouldn't be worth it. A summer/fall move-in date would be fine; we've already gotten word about renewing our lease, which suggests that landlords are going to start seeking tenants for September shortly.
I've really gotten into my Nintendo DS of late; my last purchase was Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, which I picked up as a gift to myself for passing my prospectus :) Today I used some Best Buy gift cards to get Final Fantasy III, and am going to play it as soon as I get home. We're looking into hopefully getting a Wii sometime this year, but we'll have to see how finances play out for us in the coming months. There still seems to be a shortage of units, but I feel confident that there will be enough in stock come summertime. And no, I don't care about the Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony 'war', so if you're going to orgasm over one particular company, keep it to yourself :P
And that's about all for now.
OH!
Keep 7.4.7 free. I'm going to watch the "Transformers" movie when it comes out, and you should, too. Even if you're not a fan, you should watch it; looks like a huge chunk of the fanboys are going to skip out on it because it doesn't look exactly like the show they watched as kids, so it'll be up to the less-militant fans and non-fans to make sure the movie does well. If you're in the Boston area, maybe we can all go together if you're interested.
Oh yeah, and Spiderman 3 and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer look good, too. Watch them :P
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