[SccHarpGirl]

Yeah, I graduate spring of '08 too, and I'm undecided about next year. I'm torn between getting a job and going to grad school. One day I lean towards one, the other day the other. I'd love to do grad school but my two big reservations are being far away from all my family for another two years, and it is a lot of money. I mean in terms of grad school it's pretty cheap, but still, I wonder if it's a responsible use of my money. I have a little bit of time to think about it, which is good.

Where are you and Guthrie going to live after you get married? If it's Spokane I will drive out and visit you someday, you can count on that :-)

I just had the weirdest craziest couple of days.
Firstly, that date was kind of a total disaster. I mean, we just didn't click at all. so awk. And he implied I was fat twice. I think he was trying to joke but still, it's kind of a touchy subject for me. And I'm 5' 9" and between 135 and 140 lbs depending on what sort of week I've had () and I wear a size 4 to 6. There's no WAY I'm fat so I thought it was inappropriate for him, when suggesting we walk around after starbucks, to pat me on the stomach and say "yeah, you can walk off all of THAT". I was like *** mate?? I know you're french but still. There were a couple other awkward moments to. I know he was good looking but that was so ridiculous. It was like some sort of bizarre comedy except it wasn't that funny for me.

Secondly, last night.

So I've worked constantly both Sunday and today. I didn't get to go to Mass on Sunday because I was working and I haven't been to the gym since Saturday morning. Anyway, I get home Monday night after being gone all day with this regression assignment to finish. I've done all the problems except the last one, and it was pretty straightforward. So I get home at 8:30, fix something to eat, and sit down at my compy to work.

And I work.

And I work.

And I work.

You know how long that last question (4.17) took me?

11 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I worked on it STRAIGHT from 9:00 to 7:00am. I guess i took bathroom breaks and I made tea a couple of times, but other thant aht I didn't even surf the net. Then I had to go to class at 8:30 and finished it between 10:00 and 11:00 at the library. AND I STILL DIDN'T REALLY FINISH IT~! isn't that ridiculous???

My friend was in the same position so we worked together all through the night, chatting through the course chat feature on the website. It was I guess a friendship bonding experience. Just nuts. Though our dialogue was more incoherant rants about how we were getting bizzare as heck results. LoL.

The basic explaination for what happened was that it was a model selection problem with 4 covariates (X values). However I had good reason to suspect that the optimal model included an interaction term and the software that does model comparisons can't handle models with interaction terms so I had to calculate the various criteria for every model by hand, and I had 30+ models by the time I was done, not counting the ones I discounted immediately for being stupid. Oh yeah, and the cross validation code can't handle categorical covariates, another problem. So I had to do a bunch of stuff manually because I had no idea how to run it in the software.

Not terribly proud of that HW but honestly I'm so exhausted because I NEVER pull allnighters that I don't care.

OH YEAH I got my credit card stolen too so I'm really low on groceries. I transferred funds into my other account but they are taking forever and a day to clear and in the meantime I'm running low on food and don't have much cash on hand. I got $20 from tutoring on Monday and will get hopefully a few more $$ tomorrow from tutoring, but I really hope my new cards come in the mail so I don't have to exchange my few america $$ at this terrible exchange rate, LoL. But if the money doesn't clear soon into my other account or my new cards don't come soon I'm going to have to because I have to eat, lol.

So very weird week. OH it snowed this morning and I got to watch the sun rise through the snowflakes. really pretty! The one perk to the allnighter. I'm so sick of regression right now though. I've done some form of stats basically for 24 hours continuously. That's CRAZY.

[SccHarpGirl]

Happy Thanksgiving!

I spent it up here in the cold snowy northlands. My family went down to my grandparents house. My youngest sis was sick, so she basically spent the day curled up in the bedroom. She had her computer though, and I was virtually keeping her company, while she was giving me the play by play rundown of dinnertime conversation (that she could hear, the dining room isn't that far from the bedroom she was in. I wanted to share this gem of a moment. The prelude to this was that we were talking about my friends who are new parents and their babies and how cute they are, etc. My sister is Alien from Franistan. I have no idea either.

says: 7:53:49 PMHaha, yeayh...
[7:53:54 PM] Alien from Franistan says: got a boyfriend elle?
[7:54:06 PM] ~noelle~ says: um no why? I have no intention of joining the baby makin' club anytime soon.
[7:54:14 PM] ~noelle~ says:
[7:54:17 PM] Alien from Franistan says: Haha!
[7:54:23 PM] Alien from Franistan says: I was just looking for somethign to tease you abotu.
[7:55:17 PM] Alien from Franistan says: Ooh
[7:55:22 PM] Alien from Franistan says: They are talking about you.
[7:55:28 PM] ~noelle~ says: in a good or bad way?
[7:55:32 PM] Alien from Franistan says: "Why does she want to go down THERE for gradschool?!"
[7:55:35 PM] ~noelle~ says: uh oh
[7:55:36 PM] Alien from Franistan says: That was Gpa.
[7:55:38 PM] ~noelle~ says: hahaha
[7:55:41 PM] Alien from Franistan says: Dad and Moica are on your side.
[7:55:43 PM] ~noelle~ says: I should never have mentioned that to him
[7:55:46 PM] ~noelle~ says: and MOm is where?
[7:56:04 PM] Alien from Franistan says: Out of it
[7:56:05 PM] ~noelle~ says: I'm in class laughing....this is bad.
[7:56:06 PM] ~noelle~ says: haha
[7:56:06 PM] Alien from Franistan says: lol
[7:56:12 PM] ~noelle~ says: wow
[7:56:15 PM] Alien from Franistan says: haha!
[7:56:19 PM] Alien from Franistan says: They are blaming the answer
[7:56:21 PM] Alien from Franistan says: on the fact that
[7:56:24 PM] Alien from Franistan says: And
[7:56:24 PM] Alien from Franistan says: you're single
[7:56:30 PM] Alien from Franistan says: you want to meet someone in New Zealand.
[7:56:33 PM] ~noelle~ says: OK I'm going to LAUGH OUT LOUD IN CLASS.
[7:56:37 PM] ~noelle~ says: That's like the last reason in teh world
[7:56:42 PM] ~noelle~ says: I don't wnt to meet someone in NZ
[7:56:50 PM] ~noelle~ says: I'd rahter meet someone in Seattle because that's where I ultimately want to settle
[7:56:51 PM] Alien from Franistan says: "She's twenty one, single, and has the chanse to go to an exotic place. There're a lot of people there."
[7:57:06 PM] Alien from Franistan says: That was Uncle Steves solution.
[7:57:18 PM] ~noelle~ says: I'd rather do some travelling NOW WHILE I'm young and single because it's far less complicated than trying to do so when in a serious relationship when both parties have jobs, etc.
[7:57:22 PM] ~noelle~ says: ahaha that's great
[7:57:29 PM] ~noelle~ says: I love hearing them analyze me
[7:57:31 PM] ~noelle~ says: Tell me more!
[7:57:32 PM] ~noelle~ says: haha
[7:57:40 PM] ~noelle~ says: I'm trying SO HARD not to laugh
[7:57:44 PM] Alien from Franistan says: They're talking abnout how you might want a job there
[7:57:52 PM] ~noelle~ says: Strike two.
[7:58:00 PM] ~noelle~ says: no, I dont' want a job there.
[7:58:59 PM] ~noelle~ says: this is great.
[7:59:18 PM] ~noelle~ says: but anyway, I"M STILL TOTALLY UNDECIDED!
[7:59:22 PM] ~noelle~ says: that's the key
[7:59:26 PM] ~noelle~ says: I don't KNOW FOR SURE that's what I want to do
[7:59:31 PM] ~noelle~ says: I was just THINKING about it MAYBE.
[7:59:37 PM] ~noelle~ says: awesome.
[7:59:45 PM] ~noelle~ says: tell me more about what they think about my relationship problems?
[7:59:58 PM] Alien from Franistan says: Gpa started telling stories.
[8:00:00 PM] Alien from Franistan says: lol

[SccHarpGirl]

It is so cold already!

I can use some global warming. Forget polar bears and Florida, I prefer palm trees in Montreal.

[SccHarpGirl]

OH! speaking of Florida I forgot...

My sister Monica (who used to post on here, jwoolygirl), decided where she's going to college

She's going to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fl. She got in with a full ride through NROTC. They're going to pay for tuition, room, board and give her a monthly stipend. In exchange she has to do military service afterwards, but since that was in line with her goals anyway, it's not such a big deal. She wants to study Aeronautical engineering, and so it's a great school for her.

It's so funny to watch her just starting college as I'm perhaps leaving.

[SccHarpGirl]

I think Rich Mullins's "The Jesus Record" (demo version) is one of my favorite albums of all time.

[Art]

Originally Posted by SccHarpGirl

OH! speaking of Florida I forgot...

My sister Monica (who used to post on here, jwoolygirl), decided where she's going to college

She's going to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fl. She got in with a full ride through NROTC. They're going to pay for tuition, room, board and give her a monthly stipend. In exchange she has to do military service afterwards, but since that was in line with her goals anyway, it's not such a big deal. She wants to study Aeronautical engineering, and so it's a great school for her.

It's so funny to watch her just starting college as I'm perhaps leaving.

That is crazy awesome. If you remember, tell her I said congratulations.

[SccHarpGirl]

I will! She's so excited. It's so cold and snowy here now, that I wonder why I didn't go to school in Florida. it's a good question!


So as it stands I'm done with 3 courses, I have 1 more assignment, a final on Tuesday, and a final the following tuesday, and i'm done with this semester! I'm kind of sad to see it end, in spite of the crazy work it was a good one.

Ceilidh tonight!! I'm playing celtic music and dancing. It'll be great fun! Tomorrow is Warren Miller's Playground, which I'm also very excited about. between the two I'm losing a full day's worth of studying, but what is life without a little fun? Speaking of Warren Miller, the ski resorts at home are starting to open so hopefully there will be enough snow when I'm home to go up once or twice. Yay!

Take care all
noelle

[SccHarpGirl]

Ceilidh was wicked good fun, as was the Warren Miller film. The sampling exam went way better than expected, and now I just have one more thing to take care of (Regression in class final) before going HOME on wednesday! Yay!!

[passinthru]

Yay for being able to go home! It's always nice when you get to the end of the exams and can see the end of the insanity.

[SccHarpGirl]

How true it is. And it's almost here! I know your exams have been screwed up by the illness...is there a near end in sight for you? I'll def. be praying that Guthrie gets there safely through the big storm forecast.

I'm also, selfishly praying that the storm will come, dump, and then leave before Wednesday, since I would rather get home with minimal hassle. I would rather not have to cry in the Vancouver Airport while begging to be put on a flight home.

I goofed bigtime with my last regression assignment - I did it all, but somehow when doing the writeup I forgot to include one question. I had the code (which had all the output/answers) attached, but no graphs, and no writeup. Fortunately my prof is such a nice guy, when I showed him that I had the code and so had obviously done the question, he was like "Oh, if you find your graphs, just write something up and turn it in" so I did thinking I'd get like part marks but he gave me full marks for that question, which took my grade on that assignment from a B to an A. The fault was all mine and he could have refused to grade it, since I definitely didn't turn in the solution. but I guess since I had the answers there, I just missed the graphs and the explanation and I've been a consistently good student in there, he was inclined to be nice. And I hope that niceness carries over to the final.

I've basically goofed off these last few days and as a result am woefully unprepared, as I realized at the review session. So instead of going to a friend's party I'm at home studying. Because I'm a nerd. But in a few days it will be break and Christmas vacation and I will get to see my family :-)

[SccHarpGirl]

Kind of a silly thing, really

But I flipped to my sister Andrea's facebook homepage because I wondered what she was up to

And her status was set to Andrea is "Excited for Noelle to come home"

And that made me happy since I haven't even talked to her in forever.

[Art]

That's sweet.

[passinthru]

Originally Posted by SccHarpGirl

How true it is. And it's almost here! I know your exams have been screwed up by the illness...is there a near end in sight for you? I'll def. be praying that Guthrie gets there safely through the big storm forecast.

I've actually written all my finals on time so far - of course i wrote my last MIDTERM two weeks before finals started. The way it looks right now is that I won't get to see him until Monday night. (so I'm sulking a little)

I'm also, selfishly praying that the storm will come, dump, and then leave before Wednesday, since I would rather get home with minimal hassle. I would rather not have to cry in the Vancouver Airport while begging to be put on a flight home.

That I understand - it could just dump all day tomorrow and then it'd be cleared away in time for us to get him Sunday night from TO.....

I goofed bigtime with my last regression assignment - I did it all, but somehow when doing the writeup I forgot to include one question. I had the code (which had all the output/answers) attached, but no graphs, and no writeup. Fortunately my prof is such a nice guy, when I showed him that I had the code and so had obviously done the question, he was like "Oh, if you find your graphs, just write something up and turn it in" so I did thinking I'd get like part marks but he gave me full marks for that question, which took my grade on that assignment from a B to an A. The fault was all mine and he could have refused to grade it, since I definitely didn't turn in the solution. but I guess since I had the answers there, I just missed the graphs and the explanation and I've been a consistently good student in there, he was inclined to be nice. And I hope that niceness carries over to the final.

I've basically goofed off these last few days and as a result am woefully unprepared, as I realized at the review session. So instead of going to a friend's party I'm at home studying. Because I'm a nerd. But in a few days it will be break and Christmas vacation and I will get to see my family :-)

I'm glad your prof was nice about it.

Soon, Soon, Soon all the studying will be done and you can relax and maybe get to play in the snow too.

[SccHarpGirl]

How annoying about not being able to see him till Monday night! At least it'll give you something to look forward to on Monday, and Mondays usually need all the help they can get.

Yeah, I'm glad my prof was nice - he didn't need a reason to reject it but he gave me 10 on 10 for the question.

We're forecast for the big snow tomorrow...I'm planning to hole up as much as I can and watch it come down. It'll be great fun until I have to go outside.

Martini night tonight!

[SccHarpGirl]

Tonight basically defines my college experience:

So we went out to this swanky martini bar, each had a drink, chatted and just hung out for an hour and a half or so. We were debating whether to order another round of drinks when we spotted Ben and Jerry's out the window and said "Let's go there!" so we abandoned martinis for ice cream. And then we called it a night at 10:00.

And you know what? I had more fun than I would have if we'd gone out clubbing or been out drinking till wee hours of the morning. So I don't really care if anyone thinks I'm lame, I have fun

And on another note, the weather forecast on weather.com for tomorrow and tomorrow night has been upgraded to "blizzard". I am not making this up. So now my plans for the day are being rescheduled around "How do I plan my day to make as few trips outside as possible?"