Devauld.ca

For most, I'm sure that October 27th, was just another Wednesday, that capped the middle of the week before the Hallowe'en weekend. For me, the day marked another very important midpoint; October 27th is exactly the middle of the University of Calgary academic calendar.

The geek in me worked out that from my very first class, to the end of the last lab, the midpoint was at 13:30 today.  The moment passed with me buried in a book that blends together functional analysis and probability.  Looking at the syllabuses: the schedules are all half done, the textbooks are now creased half way through, and in most cases the median assignment is now either underway or graded.

Outside of the classroom things are clicking along.  The homefront has suffered, and the Honey-do list has grown; alternatively the projects in which I'm professionally involved are moving along, and all those involved are seeing progress.  I'm sure the Fiancée would like to see me around the homefront more often, and very soon I'll be on winter break driving her crazy around the homestead.

Half of me is thankful, that I've decided to take on the hard trail and get the difficult stuff out of the way right up front; the other half thinks the first is nuts, and would have preferred the easy seat.  I'll admit that by padding myself with undergraduate courses this semester and not wading into the graduate mathematics would have made the journey easier.  Although, if I survive the remainder of this semester and its winter successor, I'm sure I'll appreciate being able to focus on my thesis and not being distracted by the courses which are currently crushing me.

One month into my educational adventure, and I'm starting to find my groove. I've become much more accustomed to formal mathematics, and have managed to overcome some of the hurdles that kept me from previous understanding. I had an epiphany, late in the evening while reading up on Lévy processes. I felt so happy, that I jumped on my motorcycle, and even took the long way home.

Upon getting home, I was still pretty elated, whistling as I came through the door. Sonja noticed my pickup in mood, as it hasn't been quite so joyous for the last while. After a small bout of smalltalk she mentioned that I was in a good spirits, and I told her I finally figured out why I couldn't understand any of these proofs I had been reading recently. She probed further, and I revealed to her that I figured out that processes produce functions. She looked at me, her face as stunned as my own had been a few hours previous.

A good deal of keeping my life straight recently has been trusty Google Calendar. Being integrated with my phone, it is very handy for setting up deadlines, and time slots to hammer out assignments. I have a good handle on what is expected for me during the rest of the year, and while tight, is manageable. I'm sure it will only be a web log post or two and I'll be exclaiming that classes are over, and I have more time to dedicate to other persuits.

We took this immediately after getting our 105mm macro lens. This, if memory serves was more than just the lens itself. We did put in a couple of extension tubes, as well as an inverted 50mm in order to really bring in the focus point. The pineapple is so close, that you can see how poorly we cleaned it. The snapshot above doesn't really do it justice, if you look at an untouched crop of the original you can see some ugly nasty detail.