Archive for November, 2008

(In)Finite

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

There are a lot of ideas floating around in my head right now that I wish I had the time and energy (and funding) to attempt.  Every day, my work as a grad student (read: professional Internet surfer) brings me new and interesting projects to attempt.  Most recently, I stumbled across the Arduino development board over at Sparkfun (if you don’t know the website I’m talking about, this discussion might bore you anyway).  There are at least half a dozen things I could instantly think to try with these, perhaps more.  I have never considered myself much of an ideas person, so this newfound restlessness and eagerness to create has me a little off kilter.  It has introduced yet another force into my life that competes constantly with other things like friends, education, work, sleep, etc for my time and energy.

A guy I work with here at ND had an interesting insight when I mentioned to him my time/priorities woes concerning an idea I wanted to try.  He said, “In my many years doing this kind of design work, I’ve found that any human being has time for maybe a dozen or so serious projects in his or her lifetime.”  It’s scary to think that I can come up with a lifetime worth of work during an idle moment on a busy afternoon.  I’m quickly learning that despite the extreme creative, physical, or intellectual energy I may have, there comes a time where one begins to realize that such energies are tragically finite, and prioritization of ‘projects of passion’ is the key to happiness.

This is perhaps the key to getting old.  When you’re a child, the sky is the limit and you’ll have time somewhere down the road to think, see, and explore every corner of your wildest imagination.  At age 22, I have finally run headlong into the mortality of the human mind.  What each of us does here is  finite.  Most of it goes with us when we are done.  The key is to find those things that are so important to you, that your passion for them will endow them with sufficient love and energy to carry on into the future.  That is immortality.

“What we do in life, echoes in eternity.”

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Quick Update

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

I’m taking a short break from homework this evening to write a few things down.  I haven’t updated here in quite and while - something which probably needs to change.  I go through my days realizing that one of the personal advantages of blogging, writing, journaling, etc, is that it helps to sort out my thoughts and give a decent hindsight record for the things I do/say/think at any given point in time.  My personal style borders on the memoryless - that is, I have a 48-hour horizon in front and behind me that essentially comprises all things I am currently thinking about.  Everything else needs to be recorded and referenced for later.  Otherwise, it disappears into the void.

Speaking of which, I’ve been messing around with the GTD app “Things”, in both its mobile iPhone and Mac-based incarnations.  I have to say that it has been really useful so far and I hope to have the discipline to keep working with it, as well as the money ($40) to buy a permanent copy of it when revision 1 comes out here in January.  My only major criticism of the app is that sync is a complete mess.  The app tries to sync over your local WiFi network, which works fine if it’s your personal home wireless network.. but ND’s wireless network kills Things’ efforts to sync.  Something more robust and useable in the wide world (inlcuding wired, bluetooth, and over-the-net syncing) would be most favorable.

Running a 5k with no consistent training or running habits hurts.  I finished the race with a surprisingly decent time given my running history, but the hurt in my legs and joints right now reminds me just how out of shape I am.  I estimate that I’m about 15 pounds overweight right now and am trying to piece together some new excercise habits by the end of the semester.  With enough discipline I should be able to get my weight and general fitness back to ~Summer 2007 levels.  I was very proud of how hard I managed to train that summer and hope that I have it in me to achieve that again.

On the football front.. I can’t really report much.  ND Football is essentially in shambles again as we witnessed another pathetic loss to BC.  I always try to err on the side of positive thinking with this team, but these last few losses really confirm it:  the team is deflated.  They played with no heart.  Boneheaded mistakes combined with a lack of any semblence of intensity has me seriously considering the possibility that we will not go to a bowl this year - something I considered impossible in September.

My work project has picked up a little.  We’re moving closer to something tangible on this project and I’m very anxious to work with the new hardware when it comes back from the board house (actually, I need to send it to the board house first).

Outside of the project, there is academic hell.  I find myself harboring intense loathing for my classes and at least one of my professors.  Grad school classes are supposed to be hard.  I understand that.  What I can’t figure out is their approach to ‘mastery’ of the material.  Admittedly, some of my background is rather weak (I suck at calculus), but the way I struggle along with my peers suggests that the profs are more concerned with messing with our heads than they are with actual learning.  TCEs are going to be ugly.  The one saving grace is that I’m fairly confident re-tooling my area of concentration within EE will solve some of these problems.  I’m a highly visual/spatial/big-picture person and at least two of the courses I have lined up for next semester will serve those tendencies well (I hope).

I could spend hours on any of these subjects, but my 15-minute break is up.  Random Vect homework continues to be frustrating beyond reason.  I hope I sleep tonight.

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