Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Sounds of Silence

Wow, it's been 5 days since I posted anything. That's an eternity of silence for me.

I don't have much to say at the moment, and the entries I plan to write are rather long ones (and I am way too tired to do that right now), so here's a summary of what I've done since I wrote the last entry on Friday night. I have been sleeping rather poorly for the last couple of weeks, so I've definitely been quite tired lately. The one nice thing about insomnia, however, is that I've put a lot of time in revising several papers. I have also spent some time reading a novel and have finally ordered a digital camera, though it looks like that won't arrive until after I return from Venice on the 4th of July. Anyway, here is what I have been doing:

Friday night: I saw Transformers 2.

Saturday: I finished small revisions on a just-accepted paper (my survey/review article on community detection). These were practically all adjustments that I decided for myself that I wanted to make, as the journal accepted the article 'as is' aside from minor changes in format to be consistent with the journal's requirements. I then worked on revising a draft of a different paper and then went to a friend's house for dinner. (I was my usual stubborn self about eating what she cooked, but the company was excellent. I knew all of the guests, which helps my social comfort level.) I read a bit as well, of course.

Sunday: I finished my pass through that paper and then did some other work and novel reading.

Monday: I worked a bit on my scholarpedia article on solitons, which ought to have been finished a while back. I also read a little of the dissertation I was supposed to read (and the novel, of course) and then started revising a draft of another paper that landed on my desk during the evening. I finally also started Okami---I had previously only gone through the introductory sequence.

Tuesday: I finished going through the previous paper and I made some revisions to yet another paper (though I didn't make a full pass through it but rather just attacked specific parts). I then played some Munchkin Quest and had a bit of trouble with an ancient, lightning-fast potted plant. I was at level 10 when the game ended, but I didn't quite win.

Today: Part 1 of Examiner MEGA-meeting. When we were not making decisions about the final grades of some of Oxford's finest students, we also went to lunch and dinner.

Tomorrow: Part 2 of Examiner MEGA-meeting. Then maybe I'll get back to working on another of the papers that I hope to submit imminently (if one is on my desk) or I'll get farther into the dissertation, which is on conformal field theory. At night is the SCR leavers party for some of my colleagues who are retiring or otherwise moving on. Last year's was quite fun---the speeches reminded me a bit of the ones at Lloyd House's beach trip.

Friday: Lots of meetings with students, which I backloaded onto Friday because I couldn't make the normal times today and tomorrow due to the MEGA-meeting. Then the plan is to have late lunch/early dinner with a friend on Friday and then perhaps to read, play Okami, or crash.

Saturday: I will need to get some stuff ready for Sunday's trip to Venice. I might also take a look at the slides for my talk and work on a paper. I'm guessing some Okami and reading will also be on the docket. Maybe I'll also go see Fermat's Room? Sleep would also be nice...

Sunday: I fly to Venice for the NetSci 09 conference. Sadly, my digital camera isn't slated to arrive until after my return.

2 comments:

Justin said...

What is Munchkin Quest? Being level 10 and not at least a co-winner is inconsistent with regular Munchkin...

Mason said...

In Munchkin Quest, you have to be level 10 and then also fight and beat the boss creature who appears in the entrance to the dungeon. The winning player ended up royally screwing me over when I tried to do this, but alas I didn't have the cards to return the favor.