Wednesday, July 23, 2008

ISSTA

ISSTA is fun, and Seattle is very nice. There is so much grunge music here, it's amazing! Okay, maybe not, but here is a neat thing:

I have my first ever paper in the ACM Digital Library. It's right here. I have used this resource so much, it feels nice to be one of the people in it.

I presented my work at the doctoral symposium, and the talk went pretty well. I got some good feedback, and didn't make any major mistakes. I didn't present the work described in the above paper, however. Aditya, my former mentor in India, presented it, and I think he did a good job. Finally, there is some poster session today, so I'll have to stand by my ugly poster and try and grab anyone around, forcing them to listen to my research ideas. Should be grand!

Monday, July 21, 2008

HPC Wire!

Check out this interview of my advisor, Eric Allen, on the topic of the Fortress programming language:
HPC Wire

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Seattopolis

After a rad birthday weekend in which we tubed, ate BBQ, and ate Mexican food, I am now in Seattle for ISSTA!

This is only my second time in Seattle, but this time is already way better. The weather is amazing, and I am in a swank hotel downtown (also where the conference is).

I know everyone I know has been to Seattle, so what should I do? I've done some obvious stuff like walking the boardwalk, pike market, space needle and the experience music project.

What do you think? Seattle Mariners? Something else?

Friday, July 18, 2008

Obligatory Birthday Post!

Brianne is in Austin this weekend! We are going tubing, and to this BBQ restaurant out in the middle of nowhere.

For my birthday I got a sweet breakout box for my computer which will allow me to record music on my computer. (I need a better mic though.) I also got a book of pictures from New Orleans in 1960. It looks like a cool place, and I recognize a bunch of the buildings, although many of them are now in bad shape.

Then, Sunday, I am going to Seattle for a conference where I am a co-author on a paper and will be participating in a doctoral symposium. Should be radical.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

So Hip!

Oh snap, check out how hip Pittsburgh is now! We are in the New York times! (http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/travel/06hours.html?8dpc) New York Post, watch out! You're next!

You Got a Good Thing Going: II

But now! I'm in New Orleans, for the holiday weekend. It has now gotten to the point where I really don't know anyone who is still here. Or at least I don't have their numbers or can't think of their names when I feel like going out, so my time in New Orleans is actually quite mellow. I spend a lot of time with my parents, which frankly I really enjoy. We go out to eat. We go to art exhibits (Fernando Botero at the New Orleans Museum of Art! Go see it! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Botero). I work a little at CC's. I go to church. I go grocery shopping. Very mellow.

Tonight we went to Big Al's, a new seafood place, and I stuffed my face with boiled shrimp. I used to be very lukewarm on boiled (as opposed to fried) shrimp, but it's making a huge comeback.

I'm also reading big-time, and these long weekends are great for that. Last weekend it was "No Country for Old Men," and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" This weekend it's "Moneyball" and "The Right Stuff." Summer is the best.

You Got a Good Thing Going: I

I haven't posted in so long, this is going to be a two part-er!

I went to Pittsburgh last weekend, and did some radical stuff. I saw about as many friends as possible during the 48 hours I was there. I saw Wall-E. It is good. You should see it. Go early in the day, so you are surrounded by screaming kids, as we were. We also went to the Carnegie International Exhibit, "Life on Mars." They tell me this is a big deal in the world of contempo art, and it was in fact pretty rad. "Cave Man Man," while weird, is probably one of the most unique pieces of art I have ever seen. You owe it to yourself to check it out (http://blog.cmoa.org/CI08/2008/02/thomas-hirschhorn.php). Yeah, I don't know why but livejournal won't accept my links... so you'll have to copy and paste that stuff old school (or CTRL-C, CTRL-V for you power users).

In Austin I've been sort of working for two masters, doing my job at Sun during the day, but then school stuff at night. I am working on the camera-ready version of the OOPSLA paper, and I applied to the OOPSLA doctoral symposium on Wednesday. I have found that this isn't so bad, if I just do enough each night. I've found that the best way to do this is to set a timer (1 hour exactly!) and work on my school stuff until it goes off. Then I am free to read and watch "Lost" until bed time. It's a whirlwind life!