The Matrix Reloaded his theaters tonight. I will not see it for a few days, though. I'm in paper-writing mode at the moment.

It would be more accurate to say that I'm in paper-writing mode except when I'm not. This afternoon, I was definitely not in paper writing mode. I went to a lunch meeting to listen to a talk on robust MEMS design in the face of uncertainty. Then I went to the matrix computations seminar to hear about comparisons of two methods for solving ill-posed least squares problems. I talked to a visitor from Sweden, and then was back in my office for but a few minutes before Kahan knocked on the door and spoke the words I was going to tell Jim why he's wrong, but he's not here now, so you'll do. It was an interesting conversation. It was not writing.

I was asked three times today how near I am to graduation. It will be Soon, I'm sure. When will Soon be Now? I don't know. But I do feel like moving on, so Soon will be Now in the next year and a half. I hope.

Some devices I helped simulate are being tested now. I'm excited. I want to hear how closely the simulations match reality.

I look forward to Friday night. I want to go to bed before 2:00. I want to shut down my computer and read a book. I want to remember BBC, my family's Big Black Cat, who passed away earlier in the week. I want to buy groceries, clean the sink, and do mundane things. I want to let my stomach recover from too much coffee and too many meals skipped.

The academic semester has its ebb and flow. It's the end of the semester now, and it doesn't matter that I'm taking no classes. The end of the semester still wears me out.

And now, back to writing.