What did you do this past week?

My partner and I finished up the Life project for OOP. We were mostly done last Sunday, so this was a stress-free and quick process. Another thing I did was attend Earth Hack over the weekend. This was a 36 (!) hour event with a focus on creating a project related to the environment. My group and I ended up doing moderately well by placing top 7 out of 80 or so groups. This event was a ton of fun and I actually preferred the 36-hour structure because it provided the opportunity to create a more fleshed out product. Also, one thing that continues to surprise me is how little sleep people can operate on with time constraints. I got a miserable total of ~6 hours of sleep during the event and a few of my group members were about the same, but we remained productive. At the time I’m writing this, I’ve just gotten back in Austin and I cannot wait to get some real sleep.

What’s in your way?

All three of my finals are on May 4th which is approaching way too quickly. The main obstacle in my way right now is a final essay for an anthropology-related class. I need to get this out of the way because every minute spent on this essay is one I could’ve used for studying for finals. I plan to get the paper finished on Monday, which will be a challenge considering I need 12 pages and I’ve only got 4 right now.

Also, another thing in my way is registration. I finally get to register for classes on Monday. I’m a bit frustrated because earlier in the semester I took a credit-by-exam test and earned 10 hours. This increased my degree progression, which should’ve improved my registration time. However, I’ve learned that registration times are calculated at the beginning of the semester and there is no way to change the time at a later date. This has left me worried about registering for my desired classes on time.

What will you do next week?

As I mentioned, I am registering for classes on Monday. Even with the registration difficulties, I’m fortunate that most classes aren’t closed yet. Right now I plan to take Algorithms, Computer Graphics, and Artificial Intelligence if possible. In addition to registering, I am going to study for all of my finals and finish up the essay that’s in my way.

What’s my experience of the class?

My experience has been the same as previous weeks (great). The quizzes are challenging, but they continue to be fair and closely linked to the previous classes’ material. That being said, I still manage to make some really stupid mistakes on them. Relative to the projects and tests (even though I’ve only taken one test), the quizzes remain the hardest part about the class for me. This is probably a good thing because I would much rather mess up a few times on quizzes considering they’re just worth 15% of the grade.

What’s my pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

My pick-of-the-week is a free e-book called the Ph.D. Grind. This book is a memoir over the experience of earning a PhD. The author candidly describes the entire process of earning a PhD from general lifestyle to the politics of getting a paper published. It’s an easy read with just over 100 pages. Last week I started this book and I’ve already almost finished just from reading during brief downtimes. What I’ve enjoyed the most about this book is that it’s not trying to convince you to either pursue or avoid a PhD. It’s just trying to give a sense of perspective on what the life of a PhD student is like. Before this, most accounts I’d read were either extremely positive or bitter and say that a PhD is complete hell.