gradlife

This quarter I'm taking a class on the History of Computing. This is a distributed course, held simultaneously at UCSD, UWash, MSR and Berkeley. Earlier in a similar setup I have done classes on IT and Public Policy and Homeland Security.

My experience in the past two classes has been good. In particular I really enjoyed the IT and Public Policy class. For this history of computing class we have an impressive ensemble of speakers, including Steve Wozniak, Butler Lampson and Ray Ozzie. To make the class fun (and to make sure I pay attention), I've decided to live blog the lectures that I attend. Tonight is the first class, so be sure to check back!

Wow. Its been only 10 days, but it seems like forever since I last wrote anything here. Infact, for the past week I've been so cut off from the outside world, missing my lunches, not following the news (no, not even Slashdot). But its all finally over, and hopefully I will catch up with my life in the next couple of days.

In unrelated ramblings, I was really shocked by the Pramod Mahajan shooting incident. Some brother he's got. Why is there so much violence in this world?

I just got back from the Power of Procrastrination talk by Jorge Cham of PHD Comics. The talk was superb! Jorge managed to keep a packed audience entertained for a full hour with jokes on almost every slide and some “real” messages thrown in for good measure.

Apart from all the obviously should-not-be-taken-seriously material, Jorge's main point was that if you're feeling stressed out, anxious, depressed, lonely at some point in your graduate career, don't take it to heart. Its not unusual, and you're one of thousands of graduate students who go through the same thing. So just relax, and when the time is right, you will graduate

I haven't been reading PhD comics for a while now – I figured I'll just buy the third book when it comes out (I already have the first two). If you're a graduate student and you haven't heard of PhD comics yet, its time to take some action! Go read it now! You'll love it, its just fabulous. Though to really appreciate the strip fully you need to have experience grad school yourself, it might still be enjoyable for a wider audience, so give it a shot.

Oh, and his slides were superb – god job Jorge!