For what leetil it is worth

Happy New Year ya'all. 2009 has been an' gone. What do I have to show for it? Well, for one thing, several of my friends moved out of towne. That felt awful. Perhaps that is what happens to everyone. Does it? Tell me, what is worse... missing friends, or not really having any and not knowing the difference? They say that some things you only start appreciating after they aren't there any more. That category certainly includes people.

My last few days in Michigan went by in a blurry. (This is a made up word which is "blur"+"a flurry"). Please cite me whenever you use it. Pradeep babu came by to defend his thesis on the 7th of December. He stayed at my place over the weekend and totally wowed me with his awesome presentation. Here is a picture of both of us not workin'

The day after Pradeep's defense, my boss wanted me to talk to this guest speaker.. who just happens to be one of the world leaders in the field I work in. That was scary. Then it was time for my own defense. Our man Nandi made the following poster... note that he should have been prepping for his own predefense research proposal, which was scheduled for the very next day....

Sara made a FB event for my own shindig. Complete with Nandi's awesome poster. Milan came down from NY to participate in the general fun. Pradeep, of course had stayed back for a couple of days to effect his thesis revisions and chuck rotten tomatoes at me. And then, before I knew it, the big day was upon me. I started out by trying to iron a shirt with the heater set too high and almost set the place on fire. After this early disaster and minor hiccups such as retrieving my committee evaluations from the graduate school half an hour before he scheduled time, and so on.. we were finally there. The talk went (I think) rather well, although I was pretty much in a state of terminal panic just before. I puked all over this bloke taking a shite in the men's room and said 'muh bad'. No, I didn't, I was just channeling 8 Mile. Our man Smith attended in a Three Wolf Moon shirt.

Anyhoo, a whole lotta phrends came down to cheer and much fun was had by all. Thanks. Really. Then the closed doors session began, and the gloves came off. That was effin' brutal, I don't mind tellin' ya'all. But they passed me with minor revisions ( I think the only person who did not get those "minor revisions" was Robert Oppenheimer). And then much merry making happened.


More updates later...

Thesis writing, Shutki machher jhal

Is a very uphill task. You certainly know of a certain Frodo Baggins who started his dissertation under Gandalf the Grey, a wise tenured PI. That story is detailed here. So, I visited the bigsis at Urbana. Did you know that city is the home of Miss America 2003? There, I have improved your day somewhat with that leetil factoid. Also, I made Shutki Machh with dried fish from the Chinese store. Here are a few facts about Shutki Machh.

1. It is made with dried, salted fish.
   
2. The original recipe is Bangaldeshi.
3. I am part Bangladeshi, at least by lineage.
4. The best prep of Shutki is the low-on-gravy-high-on-chilli version. This is also called the 'Jhal'.
5. Shutki machher jhal is usually mind-shatteringly hot and spicy. As in your insides will melt and your read end might think it is a Kilimov RD33 afterburner.
6. Shutki stinks to high heaven. People of a delicate disposition, and of a genteel upbringing have been known to faint whilst walking past a place where they were just drying out Shutki.
7. The same people will fight each other to eat more Shutki. But they cannot make it.
   
8. Trade secret: soak said dried fish in hot water for a while. That will kill some of the stink.
9. Bigger trade secret: the process of cooking will drive your neighbours out of their shantys (Shutki is rarely cooked in American Suburbia or any random Manhattan co-op).
   
10. Shutki is sometimes made with Loitta fish. Here is a recipe. Here is another.
    

Just to put some things in perspective

Source: http://www.phdcomics.com/
All credits to Dr. Jorge Cham. The man rules.

PhD ETA: 30 years?

For people who think that the finish line is somewhere on the other side of the Oort Cloud (both in a spatial and in a temporal sense).. here is the inspiring story of a bloke who finished his PhD.. after 30 years. Well, he did take time off to make some music..

The nine types of graduate students.

The eight types of graduate students. Nice article.

and may I introduce the ninth type...

the...

PROCRASTINATOR!!!!!!

characterised by the amount of time and energy he spends in achieving... nothing, the fancy coursework grades he has piled up to no particular end... the one who runs on departmental coffee and free pizza, the guy who is full of unwanted advice for anyone at any career stage... but lashes out viciously when asked about the progress of his own research. Witness the elegant organisation of his filesystem, both paper and electronic, marvel at the shell scripts he writes so that he will not have to click and drag, sit back and listen to him talk about other people's publications in his field of work... and applaud the fluid and elegant prose on his blog.. shite, I need help....