Phew! Thanks heavens this week is over. I came back tired from FSMNLP and then I had to prepare and teach and attend StringMasters the rest of the time. SM is not like other workshops: it is more of a week-long brainstorming session. At the start and during the days that follow people pose certain [...]
Last week it was FSMNLP, this week it is StringMasters. The truth is that I do not really have enough time for the conference/workshop, and I am missing a big part of the fun. But I have to teach, unfortunately. And the teaching is going OK, although better is always…better. I don’t really have anything [...]
‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home. I felt like a million dollars last night. That would be R7.76 million or 703 482 EUR. I have now lived in Somerset West longer than anywhere else since I left school. (Well, any apartment. Perhaps I [...]
Tonight I had dinner with a close friend. We have known each other for 27 years but the mere duration of our acquaintance does not really do any justice to our bond. From the start we have been as close as brothers — something profound, but also simple. It is slightly embarrassing to acknowledge it [...]
As with every single conference I have ever attended, getting internet access is terrible. I got my wifi working during the last few minutes of the lunch break, but even then I could not read my university email because the firewall blocks ssh and secure http. I’m no back at the guest house and have [...]
Just a quick note from the conference to show to myself that I finally got the wireless working. Fist time ever at a on-home location! FSMNLP is fascinating and there are quite a number of people here I know. Always nice! Talks are interesting, but mine is coming up this afternoon, so things might change.
All packed up and set for the trip tomorrow. It is only to Pretoria and only for four days, but matters are complicated because just before I leave I still have to teach a three-hour lecture. I *think* that everything has been organized, so things should go smoothly. In fact, the biggest worry I have [...]
I need those tomatoes! There must be an easier way. I’m definitely starting Pomodoro when I get back from Pretoria. It is 02:20 (even though the timestamp of this entry will say that it is still Sunday evening), and tomorrow…I mean today I have to get up at 06:00 to get to university early enough [...]
A couple of weeks ago my mother and I were discussing an old TV show. (We were watching one of its lead actors in another program.) Today for some reason I was reminded of that…oh yes. I heard on the radio that Sonia Sotomayor was asked about episodes of the Perry Mason show. I watched [...]
I’ve been reading Staffan Nöteberg’s book on the Pomodoro technique and I’m almost ready to try it out. Basically, one selects several “work items” in the morning and then work on those in 25 minute sessions. After every session there is a 5 minute break, and a 30 minute break after four sessions. There are [...]