this is a strange place

One of the weird things that has always kind of thrown me about college, is how easy finals week is. The last two weeks or so of school are usually a living hell, getting papers done, getting projects done, getting all your ducks in a row. Then throw in other complications (moving, jobs, etc) and they just become a nightmare. But not finals week. The actual week of finals, I always feel like I have plenty of time. I spend a few hours studying for a final, a couple of hours taking it and then I am done. So much easier than the last couple of weeks.

Well, I finish my last undergraduate class tomorrow. Then a final on Monday, a final on Tuesday and a final on Wednesday. Graduation on Saturday and my wedding on Sunday. That and the data analysis for statistics, and then I’m done. I’m really looking forward to May 21st.

Poli – many
tics – bloodsucking creatures.

The above quote is far from original, but it’s brought me a few smiles in the past. I’m starting to think about the upcoming presidential election, and figured now is probably as good a time as any to figure out which candidate stands where.

There are two big issues for me this election, issues which I haven’t really considered in the past. The first is energy. I have a whole other post about exactly what I think we should do about the energy problem, but getting off foreign oil and developing domestic alternative energy is an absolute must. Of the politicians I’ve looked at so far, neither McCain or Giuliani really talk about that on their websites, but Obama talks about that in depth.

McCain: 0, Giuliani: 0, Obama: 1

The other issue is health care. As part of my RAship, my health insurance is covered. However, to add my wife to my policy would cost me something to the tune of $2,500 a year. Now, that’s not really a whole ton, until you consider the fact that that’s going to be about 15-20% of what I make. The health care system in this country is fundamentally broken, and I’m a pretty big a proponent of small government, but I think this is one of those cases where they have to step in and fix it. Capitalism has failed in this area, so we have to try something else. Neither McCain no Giuliani mention this prominently on their web pages, Obama does, and he wants to fix it.

McCain: 0, Giuliani: 0, Obama: 2

2nd amendment: Both McCain and Giuliani want to protect the second amendment. They believe, correctly, that guns in the hands of a normal, law-abiding citizen is a good thing. Giuliani did a heck of a job cleaning up New York with that policy, so it obviously works at least to some degree. Obama doesn’t mention this issue prominently on his web site.

McCain: 1, Giuliani: 1, Obama: 2

Abortion: McCain wants to repeal Roe V. Wade. I forget Giuliani’s exact stance, but it wasn’t quite as far-reaching as McCain’s. Obama doesn’t mention the issue prominently on his site.

McCain: 2, Giuliani: 1, Obama: 2

I need to do some more digging. Most of what I have now is one candidates stance on an issue, but not the other ones. I just read the quick “Here’s what I think” on each candidates websites. Who knows, McCain might agree with me on energy, but it’s not something he has posted prominently on his site. But as of right now, McCain and Obama are looking pretty good. I’m not even going to bother with Clinton.

I haven’t mentioned on here what happened with grad schools. The only place that offered me money was the University of Kentucky, so I ended up accepting there. I have an RAship on the EDUCE project (http://www.stoa.org/educe/), which is a project where we are trying to scan old, damaged documents (scrolls, books, etc) that can’t be opened by hand without destroying them. The scan is then taken into a computer and digitally opened to be read. I’m really pretty excited about it, after visiting Kentucky in February they became one of my top choices and getting an RAship straight out of my undergrad made me feel pretty good about myself. I’ll be working on the networking and HPC aspects of the project (since we are talking about huge datasets, there are some definite HPC considerations) which is precisely what I enjoy doing. The RAship will last at least until I get my Masters, assuming I maintain satisfactory progress and do satisfactory work. I am planning on finishing with a PhD, but who know what the future holds.

Alright, now I’ll get back to it.

that when I get really, really busy is when I start thinking about how I haven’t updated my blog in a while, and have this overwhelming urge to take a few minutes that I really don’t have to update it. Right now, I’m in the middle of doing research for an 8-page religion paper that is due on Monday (that’s four days from now). I have had a topic for about a month and a half now but haven’t even started researching it until a few hours ago.

I am so looking forward to Grad school. I like doing research, I like doing research a lot, and, honestly, once I get started on it, I even enjoy doing research in areas outside of computer science. Right now, I am honestly enjoying doing this research for this religion paper. I’m writing about how the archaeological record and the biblical record of the Israelite conquest of Palestine don’t really add up, and trying to present the different views. I’m having fun, the bad part is that I have to have 8 pages done by Monday, and I know that in order to get that done, I can’t dig into things as deeply as I would like to. I think I am going to like the focus that grad school brings. I’m also going to like the fact that I’m getting paid to do research.

I really wish I could have started this earlier, but with everything else I have going on I just couldn’t. Microwulf (my psuedo-senior project, a portable supercomputer) took a lot of my time the last few weeks, I had a few time-consuming projects for computer graphics and of course the wedding in two and a half weeks are all conspiring against me, and unfortunately, being the only class not in my major or highly applicable to my career choice, religion took the hit. Oh well, as long as I pass.

I should get back at it.