Now with 100% more GUINNESS in me

Hello! So living in Dublin for a year, it would be a real pity if I didn't spent at least a little bit of time exploring the legendary nightlife: pubs and live music abound, and so I must do my best to steal a few nights from the reading room (don't get jealous - I'm all yours Monday to Friday) and experience this.

One think you'll notice immediately going out in this city is that it is incredibly expensive. Even the most normal pub here is the cost of a fairly expensive city centre place in London, which is incredible in and of itself. However, on the glass half full side of things, I should note that Guinness is in fact the cheapest drink in any establishment here. Unbelievably, unlike the rest of the world, Guinness is actually cheaper here than lager beers and spirits, so at least I get the feeling of getting a really good deal when I go out - despite the fact it really isn't so at all, and I can get Guinness for less in many English pubs (although it's not as good there).

Taking the lead in the going out crew from my program is Michael. The mystery about Michael is this: He's from California, and he's only been living in Dublin for about a year and a half. However, he knows every pub and bar in Dublin, more so even than the kids who grew up and went to college here in the city. No one can figure out why exactly he is so familiar with all the watering holes, but those of us in the program are taking full advantage of this "insider knowledge" to build some familiarity with the local night life. Beyond that, Omar - one of the people I was staying with during my "homeless" period - and I have been going to a couple different places, including a couple parties at his house and that of others. the result of hanging with him is that I actually speak more Spanish here in Dublin than I ever did anywhere but on my trip and Argentina, something that I'm pretty psyched about because it means that this time I might not lose all my speaking and comprehension abilities.

Coincidentally, Lena also knows Omar from Guadalajara. And as a bonus to all the g-dub readers out there - and proof of how small the world really is - here's another thing about Michael. Remember when we went out to Pres day in 2004. Warming up for game 2 or 3, all of a sudden Rackett (spelling?) showed up, surprising us by having driven from San Francisco to San Diego to offer his support. But he had shown up not alone, but with his lady friend and another random kid from the Bay area. And that kid was Michael. Dwell on that.

Also, congratulations to those guys on Truck Stop and Boston.

No, I DON'T want to see you tomorrow

So this M.Sc. is absolutely killing me. And it is doing so by overloading me with work. Yesterday another guy was talking about celebrating a real breakthrough: after a couple hours of intensive study, he cracked it! And by, it, we were talking about the notes we took in class, not some kind of difficult question we had been asked. That being said, every week we have a take-home due - for each one of our classes. So far, that probably doesn't sound too bad to you guys, right? Well, just know that each one of the 3 is roughly 10 hours (easily), and on top of that we need to read just to be able to start answering these questions, and these reading consist of pages and pages of mathematical proofs, not nice analysis or other prose that might actually be of interest. And then there are our other projects and stuff.... student life in undergrad and post-grad really couldn't have been more different for me.

So to the title of the story: leaving the graduate study room (that's right, we have our own library) last night around eight, one of the other guys in the program comes up to me as I'm bent over my books like a slave in the galleys of a roman warship and says to me - smiling, without irony, and in an almost giddy way - "awesome, I'll see you tomorrow."

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to that.
Because I love suffering for hours over a single line of matrix algebra.

Blogction

Tuesday, 16 October 2007 was Blog Action Day, when bloggers all over the world teamed up to address all different aspects of a global problem: the environment. Not that i'm saying the environment is a problem, but rather its destruction and dangers facing it.
Although I didn't get around to posting yesterday due to a homework problem set I had to hand in this morning, I'm fgoing to write about it today - after all, they say it's the thought that counts. Moreover, I even got someone else to write something about the environment, although it then degenerated into dribble on diseased prostitutes.... this is why we love you QP.

Recently, my classmates have begun to criticize me for my carbon footprint. This first began after I revealed to them that i was going to London one weekend, and then heading to NYC the following Friday for my short break. If you don't know what a carbon footprint is, you most likely are American, or you just hate mother earth straight up. basically, it is the idea that each person, product or service results in CO2 emissions over time, which then compose a footprint. While my shoes are normally in the 11.5 size range, my class mates ranked my carbon print at least Shaq sized. Now, I don't think they're really earnest, I think it's more that they are taken aback by more lifestyle of bouncing from place to place - this is an Island you can drive across in 3 hours, and it only takes that long because the roads are so bad - so they're just taking a piss, really. But on the other hand, I am a someone who makes an effort to not waste and avoid harming the environment whenever I can. Here some examples:
- I avoid styrofoam whenever possible; for instance, I stop eating at places that use containers made of the material.
- I recycle whenever possible, and hate the feeling of not being able to do so in Dublin because it isn't offered in the city.
- I ride my bike, even preferring so to public transportation such as trains and buses.
- Cold showers.
- I finish my beer.
On the other hand, I can't deny that I do fly considerably more than other people do, or at least more than other non money-earning bums like myself, and as such I can't entirely deny responsibility.
So what am I to do? I'm going to be self-serving here for a moment and say that I already use less energy and have a smaller carbon footprint that just about everyone else I know in daily life, so I don't feel that bad about flying in order to see friends and family. For me, it's also a cultural thing: Many of the people I know and value come from multilingual, multicultural, and multi-locational backgrounds, so for us to live "our life" means that there will be some travel. And I don't care what anyone says, Skyping with Prachee and not seeing her for 8 months is not the same as one week together. You cannot continue preexisting relationships long distance in the same way, whether it's with family, friends, or partner. What I do think is interesting is that for businesses, travel is becoming increasingly the way to go despite the obvious ability to video conference and other communications tools.
So what is guy to do? Should I only fly with Virgin, so I can contribute to Branson's alternative fuel program? Do I simply stop flying, and none of you people see me again? Do I ignore the problem for now, wait for CO2 emissions to be included in economic cost structures, and go on as I have? Let's be honest: at under 500 dollars for a transatlantic flight (and that isn't much money anymore these days), only the most dedicated will do anything but the last of those 3 things....

OK guys, sorry about the miserable post, I'll be back soon with something more interesting.

Peace.

Resurrection V1.1

Hey everyone! I know it's been quite a while since I last let anything be heard from me, but some of you may have been receiving phone calls over the past few weeks and such, so you know I actually am still alive. Somehow, we managed to survive the trans-Siberian train and all, although I have to say that as hectic as my life was in the last weeks of travel, it has only been more so since I got back to England. In case anyone still reads this, here's a short round-up:

-Got home, started tutoring lessons the next day, continued that a couple days a week and spent time studying on my own.
-Went sailing in Croatia with the family. Unfortunately, this did not represent a reprieve from study, but just meant study plus seasickness. I should add that only mathematics was actually able to induce sickness, which says more about math than about the ocean.
-Moved to Ireland, spent the first couple weeks trying to find a place to live while being in classes all day long and studying at night.
-Found a place to live, but still struggled with classes.
-Had a week off from school and went to see Prachee in NYC, which was loooong overdue and had an absolutely amazing time.
-In week 2 of the main part of the program now, and I am very much overwhelmed by what I do on a daily basis.

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently doing an M. Sc. Economics at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Before i started here, I didn't realize exactly how quantitatively based the course is, and as such I've been having trouble with that. Here's an example of in-class material:



So, we do a couple of pages per hour like this. I think the above page was 10 minutes worth of work. And if you don't really understand what's going on, that's ok - I don't really know either.