Tour guides wanted

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is seeking undergraduate students interested in becoming tour guides for Summer 2008.

Hmm, I wonder why they don't hire grad students for the job... Just the thought of that amuses me greatly.

Stuck in My Mind Like a Pick in My Guitar

Wrote it Saturday morning. 12-bar blues, up-tempo. The night before Ben was trying to get the pick out of my guitar and the idea came to me.

Chorus: Stuck in my mind like a pick in my guitar
I toss and turn but still there you are
Stuck in my mind like a pick in my guitar

I ask myself, "Russ what for?"
When it comes to picks, you got plenty more
I ask myself, "Russ what for?"

For all I know the pick might be wrong
Not what I need to play my song
For all I know the pick might be wrong

I guess I just can't take the sound
Of you all rattl'n' round
Yeah, I guess I just can't take the sound

One of these days the damn thing's gonna fall out
Crossed off my list of things to worry about
One of these days the damn thing's gonna fall out

Wait too long and you're gonna find
That you're so far from my mind
Wait too long, that's what you'll find

Russell = the (2n+1)th wheel

where n is a positive integer.

the smartest I'll ever be

My Portuguese instructor said that when I take my comp I'll be the smartest I'll ever be. So I should peak next Sunday. Personally I feel like the whole process is making me dumber, as summed up in this comic. So maybe after my comp I'll not only forget much of that material but forget that I ever knew it and forget about whole research areas where I know very little...

underlining in books is stupid

I bought a used copy of a book for my seminar because it saved me lots of money. It bugs me having a book someone else has marked up though. Especially when the previous reader underlined entire paragraphs. It makes it hard to read. I've found the most effective ways to mark important text with brackets or underlining around important words or phrases (often the words or phrases I would write in the margin to summarize the focus of a section) or with check-marks and vertical lines in the margin to note important parts. A vertical line next to the entire paragraph marks the entire paragraph as important, takes less time, and is more tidy.

I realize people read and learn differently and some people benefit from underlining or hi-lighting as they read. But it's allowed to annoy me. Especially with one of the most important tests in my life a week and a day away.

Actually overall my mood is good. I just felt like doing that thing where you write about mundane stuff that doesn't really matter on your blog. Who knows? Maybe someone will read this and try my system for marking in a book and benefit from it or something.

A Question of Averages

As I sort through all the articles printed for two years of course work in order to prepare for my comprehensive exam (Sept. 10-11) I find myself wondering:

How many average size trees does the average graduate student kill in an average year?