Summer in the Cities

What's up? Time for an update from one of your Northern correspondents.

Let's start with....

School Stuff

This semester was better in almost every way than the one in the fall. Of course, it helped just being used to grad school, but I had other things going for me, too. Two of my classes were continuations from the previous semester, but with professors that I liked better and helped me learn better. And then I replaced my worst class from the fall with an Intro to Particle Physics, my first real class in what I plan on doing research in, so that was good (even if there was too much focus on experiment over theory for my taste).

I think that there were points during the fall semester that I somewhat doubted my abilities. I felt myself getting lost with the material. I think some of my classmates were better prepared than I was, at least in terms of the material that they had covered in undergrad. I was also a little afraid that maybe I didn't have it in me to really crack down and do the work that I had to succeed.

But passing the qualifying exam in January convinced me that I was smart enough, and that I could put in the work I needed to. That confidence was important, because my classes, while good, were tough, including the dreaded Jackson Electrodynamics, which is sort of a hazing ritual that all physics grad students go through.

The one way in which this semester was not better was in terms of sleep. I worked hard, but maybe not as efficiently as I could have, which led to far too many nights with five hours of sleep or less. But it all paid off, as I got all A's, after getting no A's last semester. And, not to toot my horn too much, apparently my teaching skills were appreciated, as I was awarded an Outstanding Teaching Assistant award.

Which brings us to...
Summer

This summer I am doing research, working on a project with one of the professors I had this semester and an older grad student. The short description of this project would be "The Frenetic Dance of the Subatomic Particles: Now in 5 Dimensions." More specifically, I have derived and am trying to solve an equation for the masses of some particles. If the masses match experiment, it would lend support to this model that they have developed. More details available upon request. Or maybe you'll get more details even if you don't want them ;) The research is going well so far, and I'm pretty excited for my work for the rest of the summer.

The great thing about the summer research is that I have no homework. So that means that when I leave work, my time is my own. What a concept! I've enjoyed this strange new experience of being able to do fun things on my nights and weekends. Recently, these have included playing basketball with my fellow physicists once a week, going to several end-of-the-year parties with Alicia's fellow program members, and catching up on the Harry Potter saga with Alicia. (Yes, I'm a little late to this phenomenon. And yes, I am taking the cheap way out by watching the movies, but I want to be caught up by the time the new movie comes out. I'll read them eventually.)


This week, Alicia is out of town for a retreat with her program. So I did what any guy would do when his girlfriend goes out of town: I went to the Mall of America to go shoe shopping. Okay, maybe I'm unusual in this regard, but you guys know how it is. It had been a long time since I had even been in a shoe store, and I can't begin to tell you how exciting it was to walk into the first of SIX shoe stores with a 100 dollar bill burning a hole in my pocket. I was like a head chef inspecting the local market for the best ingredient for his dish, inspecting all possibilities. Although the shopping was fun, I eventually had to settle on a choice: Nike Air Force Ones, Olympic edition:

A classic with a fresh twist. For the side items, I picked up some sneaker protectant and some socks, plus a couple of nerd rap CDs for good measure. Quite a spending spree, but let me put it in some perspective: the 100 dollar bill that I spent was a graduation gift... from high school.

Well, that's the end of my haphazard thoughts for tonight. And just before the official summer solstice! (12:34 AM CDT, I believe) Time for bed. I promise that I wont take as long for my next update.

Love you all!