Rest for the Weary? Please?

I can feel myself beginning to panic.

The next two weeks will be interesting to say the least.  Here is the agenda in a nutshell.

1. November 29, 3:00 p.m.--RIT meeting.
2. December 1, 1:00 p.m.--Bible Study.
3. December 2, 12:30 p.m.--A one-problem, in-class final exam for my SDE class.  This should be the last written exam I take as a student, though.
4. December 4--Teaching preferences form is due.
5. December 6, 3:00 p.m.--RIT meeting.
6. December 8, 1:00 p.m.--Bible Study.
7. December 9, 12:30 p.m.--Preliminary exam.  
8. December 9, c. 2:00 p.m.--Pending successful completion of the preliminary exam, run around getting candidacy paperwork filled out and submitted.
9. December 9, 3:30 p.m.--Wavelet project and homework due.  The homework is finished; the project needs a few revisions.  This will probably be the last class I take for a grade.
10. December 9, c. 5:00 p.m.--Go out drinking with grad school friends.  I think this one is mandatory.
11. December 10, evening--Departmental holiday party.  More drinking is likely.

Note that this list does not include meetings with my advisor, which may occur close to daily up to the 9th, nor does it include regular class meetings left this semester.  Thus, if I don't respond to emails/instant messages/texts/calls/slaps over the head for the next couple of weeks, it's probably not anything you have done, but that I am working/stressing/some combination of the two.

Note also that the week after all of these activities involves at least one trip to Frederick County for new tires and an oil change for the car, a haircut, Christmas shopping, and the return of Tupperware to my parents.  I should also think about sending out Christmas cards in the near (i.e., December 10th) future.

But after all these things I can relax a little.  I do have the standard holiday functions with the family and church, possibly some math questions to write for the Frederick County Academic Tournament over break, and a qualifying exam to proctor on January 10, 2011, but otherwise, barring a sudden request from my church to have me preach again, I should be free until the new semester starts on January 24th.  So if anyone would want to do something on the fly during that time in the DC area, I'm just going to throw it out there that I'll be available.

Eleven days, eleven days, eleven days,...

And Down the Stretch They Come

I had a productive weekend.  A very productive weekend.  As such, my list of things to do this semester, academically at least, has been shortened quite a bit.  After tomorrow, I will only have to

1. Finish the summary of a paper for my wavelets course
2. Complete my teaching preferences form
3. Take a final "exam" for my SDE course
4. Take my preliminary exam.

Also in that time, there will be Thanksgiving with my parents, the Black Friday dinner (hopefully), and new tires for the car.  In any case, there will be a chance a record will fall the weekend after finals at UMD.  A very good chance.

Fortunately, after this sprint for the next month or so, I will get a chance to relax.  In fact, my advisor has already told me relaxation should be a main goal of my semester break.  Thus, aside from proctoring a qualifying exam, I can look forward to spending some time with friends.  And who knows, maybe I'll be able to make some headway on something I've neglected the past few years.  (Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?)

I See the Light, and I'm Pretty Sure It's Not a Freight Train

As my probable last semester of classes winds down, I find myself in an interesting position on several fronts.

• I gave my talk for the RIT I'm in.  Now, I just need to polish it before I give my preliminary exam sometime between December 6 and December 9.  Since my final exam for my SDE course will be the next week, I will probably be doing some "celebrating" the weekend of December 17-19 (or, depending on how the end-of-semester schedule looks, the weekend before).
• I'm still upset that Discovery's last launch had to be postponed until the end of the month.
• The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was fun.  I missed some of the jokes being in the mass of humanity that day, so I spent part of the next day watching the DVR recording.
• Yes, the proof I was at the rally is still visible.
• For some reason, my sleep schedule has morphed into a 1-9 a.m. schedule.
• I get to proctor a qualifying exam on January 10th.

But yes, I can sense the end of the semester, which means a few weeks off before the real work begins.  You know, writing the dissertation and some papers for publication before graduation.  And who knows, maybe I'll have to preach again over break as well.

Must...Be...Productive...This...Week

Well, this is going to be a fun week.

On November 2nd, a project/midterm exam (the professor has not been very precise as to what this assignment is) for my class on stochastic differential equations is due.  Fortunately, I have finished one of the three problems already.  Note: waking up in a cold sweat at 7 a.m. on a Sunday with a revelation on how to do a math problem is an interesting sensation.  Add that to the talk I have to give on November 8th, and I have a lot to do this week.  And of course, much has to be finished before Friday, because after that, academic productivity will be negligible for a few days.

• October 29: Tidy up the apartment, go to a dinner party with some grad school friends, host a crashing-spot for the next day's activities.
• October 30: Rally to Restore Sanity (and that march Colbert is having).
• October 31: Halloween (i.e., recover from Saturday).
• November 1: Scheduled date for the last(?) launch of Discovery.
• November 2: Election Day--remember to vote, and due date for "midterm".

If anyone needs a spot to crash for Saturday's festivities, drop me a line.  I can probably put up a couple more people if need be.  I just would like to know ahead of time so that I can have some extra food around and get parking permits.  Hopefully, the heat will be working by next weekend.

Leafers!

This weekend, the town of Thurmont will be invaded by crafters.  A town of under 6000 (as of the 2000 census) will host over 100,000 people.  Officially, this festival, deemed Colorfest, lasts Saturday and Sunday only.  However, when I lived in the area, yard sales typically started Thursday and Friday.  According to my parents, this tradition remains. 

My mom made the mistake of breaking a tooth this week, so she had to go into the dentist today.  According to her reports, it may not be long before the Department of Transportation for Frederick County Public Schools will have to deal with the issue of not being able to get the school buses through town.  I don't think the town of Thurmont will complain, though.  They'll just use the school lots for parking for Friday and extend the festival by a day.

Well, I hope President Obama isn't planning on a trip to Camp David this week.

A Disturbance in the Force, I Sense

While most things in my life seem to be going along normally, I can't help but feeling there are some things off-kilter.  I've put my finger on some of them

• Surprise, surprise, Discovery's launch scheduled for this month has been pushed back until November 1st.  There's no telling when Endeavour launches afterward, ending the shuttle program.
• Lots of surprises in Frederick County's Republican primaries.  Pending the counting of absentee ballots, a long-time delegate may have lost the primary.  He is still close enough that the absentee ballots could make a difference.  The Frederick County GOP also decided that Mr. Black Book, Blaine Young, is its favorite choice for county commissioner.  Maybe I don't miss Frederick County as much as I thought.  Also, the Board of Education race is a disaster.  
• On the note of the primaries in Maryland, the voter turnout was atrocious.  When I went to vote, the only people there were the election judges.  Overall turnout was reported to be under 25% of registered voters.  Well, at least I was in, out, and back home in less that 20 minutes.
• Andrew Duck and Roscoe Bartlett meet in a rematch for the Maryland Congressional District 6 election, and we have a rerun of the O'Malley/Ehrlich campaign for governor.  Is it 2006 again?  Because if it is, there are some things I want do-overs on.
• My prospectus has been approved, which means I should be officially a doctoral candidate by the new year, pending that preliminary exam I have to give.  That also means I won't be taking classes for credit after this semester.  Wait, what?
• My sleep schedule has yet to recover from the late return from the visit to Baltimore to see Jess and Oscar Friday night.  Who told the Baltimore cops it was a good idea to close I-83 on a Friday night?
• Nothing says I'm getting older like the appointment I have on Friday with the insurance agent to discuss options for the life insurance policy my parents got for me when I was a kid (which is now mine).
• The Maryland football team is 2-0.
• The Redskins beat the Cowboys.
• The Orioles have been doing quite well since hiring their new manager.

Other than that, I'm settling into my routine for the semester, gradually getting work done, holding steady in my romantic life (insert joke here), and pushing forward in life.  Hopefully, the rest of you are having some good times as well.

"America Today Begins to Turn Back to God"

The title of this post is a quotation from Glenn Beck from the rally at the National Mall today.  If he truly means this, I guess I have to agree with Mr. Beck.  But it is going to be a lot of work, and Mr. Beck will have to persuade many of his followers, I'm afraid.  After all, this road is going to lead us to

• Like the Good Samaritan, take care of our neighbors' medical needs;
• Treat the aliens in our land with respect, just as God's people were aliens in the land of Egypt ("The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God": Leviticus 19:34, NRSV);
• Plead the case of the widow and the orphan (Isaiah 1:17);
• Acknowledge God's response to Cain, that yes, we are our brothers' keepers, and shake off this "ideal" of rugged individualism;
• Ensure that religious leaders do not gain so much power in this country so as to oppress the people and gather power among themselves, even if we have to overturn some tables;
• Say only "what is useful for building up" (Ephesians 4:29, NRSV) and stop the shouting matches that pass for political discourse today;
• Love our enemies as ourselves.

So, I will pray that we can make some progress on the above, non-exhaustive list.  And maybe, just maybe, we can get all of those tea-partiers to join the rest of us to get some work done on the list.