Last week, I had a productive week and an interesting weekend.
This week, the semester starts in earnest. Tuesday is the
first day of the course that I'm taking this semester
(Convex and Nonlinear Optimization
); next Wednesday is
the first day of the matrix computations seminar; and various
paper and presentation deadlines are fast approaching. It was a
good summer; and now I'm glad it's over and another semester has
begun.
Some lists from the summer now past:
- Beverages of choice:
- Hong-Kong style coffee + tea -- This drink, which can be served hot or cold, consists of coffee mixed with English breakfast tea. Both the tea and the coffee are quite strong. When I had it, it was served with milk and sugar; it was a very good combination.
- Pu-erh tea --
I've learned that the name sounds different in Cantonese, more like
po li
(though I've likely butchered the pronunciation). Pu-erh has a strong, earthy sort of black tea taste. I got brother Rick some for a birthday gift, and he thought it was reminiscent of beet juice. I think he'll appreciate it more with a little practice brewing it... but I'm biased. - Dragon well tea -- This is a particularly tasty variety of green tea.
- Silver needle white tea -- Pu-erh and white tea are at far ends of the tea spectrum, insofar as it makes any sense to talk about a tea spectrum. White tea is light, and must be brewed at a lower temperature and for a longer time than even the green teas. The flavor is subtle.
- Black coffee -- Of course! Peet's is offering a new special blend, their African Blend, which I quite like.
- Hot water with lime -- I bought a new bottle of lime juice about a week ago, and can once again make one of my favorite late-evening beverages. This goes well with honey.
- Red tea (rooibos) -- This is actually made from a type of African bush. It has a strong, mellow sort of flavor.
- Games and amusements
- Eraser hurling -- Why are we scouring Iraq for Whiteboard Marker Dusters when we have so many of them here already? Upon hearing the tale of a professor who hurled his eraser at a student snoring in the middle of the class, I was inspired. Suppose I practiced hurling weighted erasers at a target in some very public place, then brought along a basketful of erasers with me to class. Would students remain awake? Could a potato cannon be adapted to make an eraser bazooka? This is, I think, my best idea in this area since Bread Do.
- Survivor: College Tournament -- The name, I think, says it all. Survivor and the Jeopardy College Tournament both enjoy some popularity; why not combine the two? Yes, eraser hurling would be involved.
- Embarrassingly parallel parking -- I'm not sure what this would involve. Perhaps a lot full of inexperienced teenage drivers playing musical parking spots? Alas, if the game was really embarrassingly parallel in nature, it probably wouldn't be very exciting.
- People watching -- Finally, a real amusement.
- Books I want to read
- Hackers and Painters (Paul Graham)
- Programming as if People Mattered (I'm missing the author)
- The Blue Bear (Lynn Schooler)
- Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (Rebecca West)
- In Season (Greg Atkinson)
- The American Language (H.L. Menken)
- Chasing the Sea (Tom Bissell)
- A Year in Provence (Peter Mayle)
- Walter Rudin's autobiography