End of week 2 of winter quarter.
I meant to wake up early enough to cook breakfast and do some housekeeping before heading to campus for my first discussion section at 11 am, but I kept snoozing my alarm.
$$t_{next} = \frac{t_{deadline} – t_{now}}{2}$$
The first alarm went off at 10; the next went off at 10:30, then 10:45. By 10:52 the situation was getting critical. I finally got out of bed, brushed teeth, threw on some clothes, and scootered to class.
First discussion of the day was ENGR 111, business finance. It's not my favorite subject; even though I understand the concept of the balance sheet and income statement, the example problems are so vague on details and heavy on assumptions that it feels like we're analyzing frictionless spherical (cash) cows in a hard vacuum.
Aside: this is my first Friday, and hence first discussion sections, on campus this year; I was sick with the 'rona the week prior and stayed with family until I got better.
Next discussion was in Bunche Hall, all the way in north campus. Fortunately the previous discussion let out early, so I had about 15 minutes to make the walk from Boelter to Bunche. I would have scootered, but I'd moored my trusty scooter at the bike rack on ground level and didn't feel like taking a detour or hauling it up to the fifth floor court level.
Second discussion was ECE 147, neural networks. The first homework is due Monday and it's a doozy of a problem set. My TA is helpful as always and went over the general approach to solve the hardest problem on the hw. He always comes up with a relevant bad joke at the end of the section. Today's humor, after linear algebra review, was a pun on matrix trace and “leave no trace”.
Had an hour free after discussion; got a panini from Northern Lights (pretty good for the price) and discussed other homework problems with my TA over lunch.
Last discussion was CS 143, databases. Practiced relational algebra on a toy dataset; I'm getting the hang of it.
Worked on 147 homework and slacked off in SEL until it closed at 6, then migrated to the study lounge at Olympic Hall. Worked on homework until around 10:30, then rode to town to get Chick-fil-A in the last minutes before it closed for the night. I wanted to redeem a coupon for a free fry, but the coupon reader wasn't working so the kind manager comped the fries and let me keep the coupon for later. Score!
Caught up on my fitness routine. 30 push-ups, 30 squats.
Our apartment, like many others in sunny L.A., is thinly insulated and drafty. The low is around 40 tonight, so I finally lit the janky wall furnace and turned on a box fan to circulate the warm air. This is the first night our apartment isn't miserably cold at night; working on the computer is much more pleasant when your hands are warm. Decided to start doing diary entries again, and here I am.
Roses: matrix joke, Chick-fil-A, warm house
Buds: badminton tomorrow
Thorns: overslept breakfast, 147 homework is painful