Today, at the supermarket, I was loading my stuff onto the belt. There was a lot of it (I hadn't been to the store for over two weeks, I think). A woman came up behind me with just three items, and the clerk called to her saying that she should come before me, sso whe would not have to wait a long time. I relayed the message and the woman got her stuff checked out and paid for just as I finished unloading my basket.
I then said to the clerk "That was a really nice thing you did for that woman".. to which she replied apologetically "She just had three things, so it would not take too long... of course, that was unfair to you and... ". "I genuinely mean it, it was a nice thing you did.. Im in no hurry. No-one with as much stuff as I have could be. So it was a really nice thing you did".. but she still kept apologizing..
Sigh
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Frantic, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tock
I cant remember the last time I prepared food before this evening. Must have been over a week.
What have I been doing?
Grading tests, writing a homework essay, studying for an exam, programming Division protocol for Sharemind, having a development interview and a medical check-up, preparing and giving a talk on the research groups in UT dpt. of Comp. Sci., attending a party two co-workers threw (and leaving early, sadly), and, most recently, spending two very pleasant hours with a nice girl whose name also happens to start with L.
What I haven't been doing is eating or sleeping properly - two of the things I do not like to compromise on, and haven't had to for a long while. Nevertheless, it is good to know I still can if I have to...
Hopefully, things will get a bit less hectic now. I still have a few things to take care of, but chances are that next week I will at least get back to regular sleeping patterns..
What have I been doing?
Grading tests, writing a homework essay, studying for an exam, programming Division protocol for Sharemind, having a development interview and a medical check-up, preparing and giving a talk on the research groups in UT dpt. of Comp. Sci., attending a party two co-workers threw (and leaving early, sadly), and, most recently, spending two very pleasant hours with a nice girl whose name also happens to start with L.
What I haven't been doing is eating or sleeping properly - two of the things I do not like to compromise on, and haven't had to for a long while. Nevertheless, it is good to know I still can if I have to...
Hopefully, things will get a bit less hectic now. I still have a few things to take care of, but chances are that next week I will at least get back to regular sleeping patterns..
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Some fun stuff
I happenned on the Tartu-Tallinn student bus yesterday.. along with one of my students.
Nearly halfway through the journey, one of my students came to me with his laptop, and asked if he could show me he homework assignment for grading... Of course, I agreed.
Today was my grandfathers 85-th birthday. A family gathering again. Had a pretty interesting discussion with my (not-unwealthy) uncle..
For instance, he described a few of the lecturers from his time in the university. He had to pass an examination somewhere during the term.. so when he went to ask when he could do it, the professor said "I have 5 minutes now. When does the judicial bond end?" My uncle, clearly caught off guard, thought a bit and then replied "On death". Professor said "Well, yes, but that is a pretty gloomy way of thinking about it. For instance, if you are riding in public transportation and you get asked for the ticket, do you really have to wait for the controller to die?"
Also, he had a lot to say on the following topic:
Basically, Swedish baks are actually making pretty good profits on the loans that went bad, since they can buy the real estate back, sell it to their daughter firms who then rent the places out and simply wait for the prices to increase again.. while the poor people who lost their homes are still paying back the part of the dept that was not covered by the estate being resold.
Also, a funny incident about one of the famous people in Estonia A. L., who basically got famous by robbing a jewelry store in Finland and being in jail there for a while for the crime.
Well, one night, this guy is walking in the old town of Tallinn, at a slow pace, whistling.
Thing is, a jewelry store had just robbed about 300 meters where he was walking. A friend of my uncle had just passed the robbed jewelry store and now informed A. of that fact and, as my uncle quoted "he had never seen a man run as fast in suede leather shoes".
Nearly halfway through the journey, one of my students came to me with his laptop, and asked if he could show me he homework assignment for grading... Of course, I agreed.
Today was my grandfathers 85-th birthday. A family gathering again. Had a pretty interesting discussion with my (not-unwealthy) uncle..
For instance, he described a few of the lecturers from his time in the university. He had to pass an examination somewhere during the term.. so when he went to ask when he could do it, the professor said "I have 5 minutes now. When does the judicial bond end?" My uncle, clearly caught off guard, thought a bit and then replied "On death". Professor said "Well, yes, but that is a pretty gloomy way of thinking about it. For instance, if you are riding in public transportation and you get asked for the ticket, do you really have to wait for the controller to die?"
Also, he had a lot to say on the following topic:
Basically, Swedish baks are actually making pretty good profits on the loans that went bad, since they can buy the real estate back, sell it to their daughter firms who then rent the places out and simply wait for the prices to increase again.. while the poor people who lost their homes are still paying back the part of the dept that was not covered by the estate being resold.
Also, a funny incident about one of the famous people in Estonia A. L., who basically got famous by robbing a jewelry store in Finland and being in jail there for a while for the crime.
Well, one night, this guy is walking in the old town of Tallinn, at a slow pace, whistling.
Thing is, a jewelry store had just robbed about 300 meters
Thursday, October 14, 2010
A week
Today was.. well, unusual, even by the standards of my fairly chaotic life.
It started with me waking up at 9, and reseting the clock to 9.30. Then getting up at 9.30, packing up my bass and my notebook and riding a bike to the Vanemuise lecture hall (1.5 km). I then spent most of the lecture working on a small mathematical problem that I had encountered the day before and which urgently needed resolution. And I got it done.
I then took to my bike again and rode to Annelinn (4 km) in search of the 2. childrens music school where my Bass teacher works. It took me 15 minutes to get there, and then about half an hour of riding around there (~1km) to actually find the building (my bass teacher and I had some communication issues - basically, the landmarks I knew, he did not, and vice versa). I had my last bass lesson. He corrected a few thing, but said that I was making pretty good progress...
Back to town again (4.5 km), this time to attend the institute meeting and to answer some e-mails in parallel. The university is doing something pretty idiotic as it turns out - from next year, it will not allow students beyond what the government orders, and faculties have to pay back the money they received for each student that drops out. This may make sense in humanities, but not in natural or mathematical sciences, where 1/3 dropout rate is normal, even in top universities.
Anwyays, back to the point. After that meeting ended, I had to attend a meeting of my research group. The project leader is a pretty cool guy, so that may well have been the high point of my day.
Once that was finished, I had about an hour for actual work. Which I utilized pretty well, managing to write down the solution I had come up with in the morning, leaving the paper in a state where I feel comfortable in putting it on hold for a period of time.
Then to Taiji (2 km). We did form exercises and then about an hours worth of spear/staff training.. And then back to town again (2km), to go watch "The Dissapearing Number" broadcast live in Ekraan. I arrived there, parked my bike and then met up with the co-worker who had suggested the idea in the first place and who had the tickets.. We went in, me still tired from practice and biking.. and bought a packet of popcorn - first food I had had for the entire day.
The production was good. Really good. Best theater I have seen to date, I think... funny, emotional, thought provoking... everything theater should be.
Then got home (1km) and took a nice bath.
So: to sum up:
All day running around
2 hours of actual work
15.5 km of biking and a 2 hour Taiji practice.
1 packet of popcorn to eat for the whole day
A week has passed since me and L. broke up. Still don't regret the decision, but...
I hate being single.
Then again, I better get used to it. Again.
It started with me waking up at 9, and reseting the clock to 9.30. Then getting up at 9.30, packing up my bass and my notebook and riding a bike to the Vanemuise lecture hall (1.5 km). I then spent most of the lecture working on a small mathematical problem that I had encountered the day before and which urgently needed resolution. And I got it done.
I then took to my bike again and rode to Annelinn (4 km) in search of the 2. childrens music school where my Bass teacher works. It took me 15 minutes to get there, and then about half an hour of riding around there (~1km) to actually find the building (my bass teacher and I had some communication issues - basically, the landmarks I knew, he did not, and vice versa). I had my last bass lesson. He corrected a few thing, but said that I was making pretty good progress...
Back to town again (4.5 km), this time to attend the institute meeting and to answer some e-mails in parallel. The university is doing something pretty idiotic as it turns out - from next year, it will not allow students beyond what the government orders, and faculties have to pay back the money they received for each student that drops out. This may make sense in humanities, but not in natural or mathematical sciences, where 1/3 dropout rate is normal, even in top universities.
Anwyays, back to the point. After that meeting ended, I had to attend a meeting of my research group. The project leader is a pretty cool guy, so that may well have been the high point of my day.
Once that was finished, I had about an hour for actual work. Which I utilized pretty well, managing to write down the solution I had come up with in the morning, leaving the paper in a state where I feel comfortable in putting it on hold for a period of time.
Then to Taiji (2 km). We did form exercises and then about an hours worth of spear/staff training.. And then back to town again (2km), to go watch "The Dissapearing Number" broadcast live in Ekraan. I arrived there, parked my bike and then met up with the co-worker who had suggested the idea in the first place and who had the tickets.. We went in, me still tired from practice and biking.. and bought a packet of popcorn - first food I had had for the entire day.
The production was good. Really good. Best theater I have seen to date, I think... funny, emotional, thought provoking... everything theater should be.
Then got home (1km) and took a nice bath.
So: to sum up:
All day running around
2 hours of actual work
15.5 km of biking and a 2 hour Taiji practice.
1 packet of popcorn to eat for the whole day
A week has passed since me and L. broke up. Still don't regret the decision, but...
I hate being single.
Then again, I better get used to it. Again.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Recovery
Of the things mentioned in my life:
The first three problems I managed to outsource.
The fourth will remain in the state that it is.
The fifth is recovering, slow but steady.
Again - I am truly glad I have as good friends as I do, for all of them have been very supportive throughout the past 2 days. I do not regret the decision to break up with L. and in the long run it is probably better for the both of us that way. In the short run, it is still somewhat painful, of course.
Yesterday I went to my other office, where I hadn't been for over two weeks. I noticed I had left one of my guitars there and - as improbable as it was - it was in tune. Which means someone had to have tuned it... It was tuned higher than it should though (the lowest and highest strings were both F# instead of E, and the rest were also tuned a full tone upward)...
Reminds me of the story of three bears (with porridge being too hot, bed being too big and now, guitar being tuned too high).
Met a lot of people over the past 3 days. Most of my close friends in Tartu, including M. and excluding only E., Mi., Ma. and Ra. For instance, I went to a dinner party at L2. and played table tennis with Ma2 (I should really find more friends whose names begin with something other than L or M :P). Also had a jam session with A., who was here for just a week.
Work has suffered though - I have a prototype implementation ready, but I haven't really stated seriously on the protocol itself.
Then again, the night is still young.
The first three problems I managed to outsource.
The fourth will remain in the state that it is.
The fifth is recovering, slow but steady.
Again - I am truly glad I have as good friends as I do, for all of them have been very supportive throughout the past 2 days. I do not regret the decision to break up with L. and in the long run it is probably better for the both of us that way. In the short run, it is still somewhat painful, of course.
Yesterday I went to my other office, where I hadn't been for over two weeks. I noticed I had left one of my guitars there and - as improbable as it was - it was in tune. Which means someone had to have tuned it... It was tuned higher than it should though (the lowest and highest strings were both F# instead of E, and the rest were also tuned a full tone upward)...
Reminds me of the story of three bears (with porridge being too hot, bed being too big and now, guitar being tuned too high).
Met a lot of people over the past 3 days. Most of my close friends in Tartu, including M. and excluding only E., Mi., Ma. and Ra. For instance, I went to a dinner party at L2. and played table tennis with Ma2 (I should really find more friends whose names begin with something other than L or M :P). Also had a jam session with A., who was here for just a week.
Work has suffered though - I have a prototype implementation ready, but I haven't really stated seriously on the protocol itself.
Then again, the night is still young.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Broken
At the moment I have:
A broken door
A broken bike
A broken washing machine
A broken relationship
A broken me
Which ones of these can be fixed, remains to be seen. The plan is to bury myself in work in the mean time.
A broken door
A broken bike
A broken washing machine
A broken relationship
A broken me
Which ones of these can be fixed, remains to be seen. The plan is to bury myself in work in the mean time.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Theory Days
This weekend I was at Computer Science Theory days in Rakari, Latvia.
Usually, it has been a small conference-type gathering for estonian cryptographers and formal languages people. This year, it was held together with latvian complexity theorists, which explains why we had to make a 3 hour drive to get to the conference venue.
The venue itself was really nice, having small cottages with grass roofs. The sea was also quite nearby. And the weather was great. Only thing that was not so great was the internet connection, which was nearly unusable, since about 50 people were trying to use it simultaneously.
My own talk went pretty well. I talked about Bob and hish Hash... function. And oracles. It was by far the most politically incorrect presentation I have ever given.. so it got mixed reviews.. but it did get peoples attention. One of the questions I received after the talk was "will the slides be available somewhere".
Link for the readers of this blog.
After the talk I went to the seashore. The sun had just set and..
well..
it was magical
to say the very least...
There was a slight red glow on the horizon. And a barrier of sand behind against which the waves crashed.. and stars.. and no moon, and also a mist so I could barely make out the road when going there.
The way back was even cooler - as it had got even darker so I could just barely make out the outline of the path.. and it constantly felt like I would hit my head into a tree branch.
Walking back, I suddelny heared footsteps.. so I slowed and quieted down my own walking. They were moving towards me, but due to the darkness and mist I could not see anything. Then, suddenly, I could make out two small embers, at about belt level.. cigarette ends, as it turned out. They were pretty surprised to see me though, because they noticed when I was only a meter away from them.
Later, I heared another set of footsteps. 6 more people surprised :)
After that, the night was pretty uneventful. Practiced bass a little, had a chat with my collegues and got to bed around 1.
Woke up at around 8. Drank 3 cups of coffee during the morning session
On the way back, while still in Latvia, we were forced to the side of the road by a military convoy.. of around 50 cars.. bearing estonian banners and number plates...
Looked suspiciously like Estonia invading Latvia. Of course, that was not the case, as a later news program informed us that it was the Scoutsbatallion heading for week-long training and assesment maneuvers in Latvia. Still, you do not see a military convoy every day..
Usually, it has been a small conference-type gathering for estonian cryptographers and formal languages people. This year, it was held together with latvian complexity theorists, which explains why we had to make a 3 hour drive to get to the conference venue.
The venue itself was really nice, having small cottages with grass roofs. The sea was also quite nearby. And the weather was great. Only thing that was not so great was the internet connection, which was nearly unusable, since about 50 people were trying to use it simultaneously.
My own talk went pretty well. I talked about Bob and hish Hash... function. And oracles. It was by far the most politically incorrect presentation I have ever given.. so it got mixed reviews.. but it did get peoples attention. One of the questions I received after the talk was "will the slides be available somewhere".
Link for the readers of this blog.
After the talk I went to the seashore. The sun had just set and..
well..
it was magical
to say the very least...
There was a slight red glow on the horizon. And a barrier of sand behind against which the waves crashed.. and stars.. and no moon, and also a mist so I could barely make out the road when going there.
The way back was even cooler - as it had got even darker so I could just barely make out the outline of the path.. and it constantly felt like I would hit my head into a tree branch.
Walking back, I suddelny heared footsteps.. so I slowed and quieted down my own walking. They were moving towards me, but due to the darkness and mist I could not see anything. Then, suddenly, I could make out two small embers, at about belt level.. cigarette ends, as it turned out. They were pretty surprised to see me though, because they noticed when I was only a meter away from them.
Later, I heared another set of footsteps. 6 more people surprised :)
After that, the night was pretty uneventful. Practiced bass a little, had a chat with my collegues and got to bed around 1.
Woke up at around 8. Drank 3 cups of coffee during the morning session
On the way back, while still in Latvia, we were forced to the side of the road by a military convoy.. of around 50 cars.. bearing estonian banners and number plates...
Looked suspiciously like Estonia invading Latvia. Of course, that was not the case, as a later news program informed us that it was the Scoutsbatallion heading for week-long training and assesment maneuvers in Latvia. Still, you do not see a military convoy every day..
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