Rancorous Discourse

This is the first Halloween I've cared about in recent memory...

2008-10-31T18:35:00.004-04:00

...precisely because of this:

So that's what it's like to win the world series...

2008-10-31T17:23:00.004-04:00

Being from Seattle, I'm not accustomed to the big win when it comes to our sporting teams. In my lifetime, Seattle track record goes something like this:

1995: Mariners clinch the AL West title but lose the ALCS to the Indians ("The Double")
1996: Sonics go to the NBA finals but lose to the Bulls in 6 (finals)
1995, 1997: Mariners again win the AL West title but drop to the Orioles and Yankees respectively in the ALCS.
2006: Seahawks are robbed of the Superbowl by shoddy officiating.

Close, but no cigar so many times. So many times that I stopped caring after 2006.

Anyways, the Phillies won the World Series this Wednesday. I really can't claim this as a hometown win given that I've been here a month and a half already (yes, even though Moyer finally got his ring).

But more importantly, I wish some Seattle had won a world championship while I was there because I didn't realize that when you win such things, you hold a traffic-inducing, gridlocking parade in honor of winning team. If I had known that, I would've rescheduled my research meeting to avoid the stuffed, twice-as-long, train-and-subway ride in and out of University City.

Sigh.

Organizing my digital life (part 1)

2008-10-11T15:29:00.004-04:00

The integration of technology in my life comes in waves. I'll buy some neat-o new gadget (e.g., a Toshiba M200 tablet, my current VX6800 smartphone), spend a few months trying to organize my digital life around this new gadget then ultimately get fed up and swear off technology forever for another couple of months. Rinse and repeat.

Well, the cycle has begun again. The problem this time is that I'm a grad student with a 30-45 minute commute into the city:

I read and annotate tons of papers all of which exist electronically on the interweb.
I carry stupid, heavy, overpriced books back and forth to class.
I write down flashes of research inspiration on random pieces of paper that I lose, or I just forget them altogether.

I really want to believe that there's an electronic solution to this problem. Given this day and age, I should be able to carry around some lightweight gadgets that let me do all this.

My former life compels me to summarize the list of requirements such a solution will have in rough order of importance:

Battery life. A good solution will last longer than the 1 hour, 30 minutes on a charge that my loaner Dell M1525 from my Aunt outputs (complete with the purple flowery cover). By longer, enough to last during a pair of classes or research session: 3 hours. Preferably 4 or more.
Portability and ergonomics. A good solution will not be like the M1525 and be too large to carry to class, pull out on the subway, etc. A good solution will also not burn my wrist like my Toshiba M200 tablet did when plugged in.
Always available. Related to ergonomics, I should be able to pull out a good solution when I need it, and it should be ready to go with minimal delay. A good solution also won't unduly block me from entering data that's in my head. For example, try quickly writing a typing judgement from the simply-typed lambda calculus into a text editor.
Format compatibility. I read lots of stuff with math symbols and diagrams. Also, I read lots of old papers that have been scanned as images without OCR. Also, some papers are PDFs, others are word documents, more often that they're postscript files. Besides the odd corner case, a good solution should be able to render all of the documents I throw at it with near-to-full fidelity.
Annotatable. (Is that a word?) Anyways, it follows that I shouldn't need a separate solution for taking notes alongside these electronic documents. Notes should exists side-by-side with them instead.
Searchable everywhere. Since all the data exists on a single device, I should be able to search for content across all the papers and books I have on the device. It's not only convenient; it turns into a great research tool when you're comparing sources.

Well, I think that's it. Does such a device or a set of devices exist that meet all of these requirements? I don't know, need to do some more research and find out. >_<

First!

2008-09-20T20:42:00.003-04:00

They tell me that a good practice in graduate school is to write and so write I shall. Blogs are funny in that they're like that pet goldfish you thought would be a great idea in the beginning, but then forget to feed after a week. Then people tell you that when they google your name (god only knows why they do this) that your neglected goldfish is the top hit.

I don't know what's worse: the fact that the internet keeps around your neglected goldfishes for all to see or the neglected goldfish was the top hit for my name. Sigh.