I saw one of the most ridiculous bumper stickers I have ever seen on the way into work this morning. It said, “Well-behaved women rarely make history.” My thoughts immediately went to Mary the mother of Jesus, Florence Nightingale, and Mother Theresa. The statement does not apply to men either. I think well-behaved people are the only ones who make any kind of history worth making. I suppose it depends on to whom one conforms their behavior. If the conformance is not to God, it is bad behavior. I looked up the author of the quote. The “scholar” who made the quote is a Harvard History professor who characterizes herself as an active feminist and Mormon. It follows.
Category: General Page 15 of 116
Day 561 of 1000
When I checked into the Marriott Residence Inn, they told me I had acheived “elite” status. Now I am silver. In two or three more trips, I will be gold and should hit platinum sometime this summer. They did not have my previous room so they give me a MUCH bigger room with two beds. Pretty amazing. If I have to be away from home, this is not a bad place to be.
Day 560 of 1000
I drove up to Prescott this morning after arriving in Phoenix on an evening flight. It does not feel good to be away from the family, but we do good work and we expect to make significant progress ove the next couple of weeks. The kids are at home for all of spring break this year because I have to work and Lorena’s spring break is different from the kids. That is OK. Kelly has some excellent projects in mind and Christian can devote some time to his undergraduate research project. The reality is that they have been going to bed between one and two AM every morning for quite awhile. This is probably the toughest semester of their undergraduate careers. What the really need is to rest, get some exercise, and recharge their batteries.
Day 559 of 1000
The best Statistics columns in print and on the internet are currently written by a guy named Carl Bialik, the Numbers Guy at the Wall Street Journal. Both Kelly and my buddy Andrew pointed me to this article titled Data Crunchers Now the Cool Kids on Campus where one of Kelly’s classmates from NCSU was interviewed. Some times Kelly has some trepidation about whether she started in the right major. The further she goes the more that fear is allayed. She loves statistics and she really is “getting” the material. I think whichever summer internship she takes will reinforce this even more.
Day 558 of 1000
There is a lot I like about Steven Crowder. Both the content and the style of his commentaries are just right. He wrote an article that captures my sentiments about my wife. Fellow Oregon expatriate Smitty over at the Other McCain blog pointed out Crowder’s Fox News article and made some worth comments about it himself. I highly recommend that men and boys read and abide by what is written in these articles. I hit the lottery when I married Lorena and I want everyone to know that I appreciate her. A lot. It would never be a good thing to in any way diminish the profound improvements in my life that are solely due to her moderating influence and encouragement. Every married guy in America should embrace this message for their own sake if not for that of their wife.
Day 557 of 1000
This is day 11 of not driving the new car.
Kelly and I went to lunch at Subway today. We talked to the owner of the Subway shop, a very interesting Persian guy that was a Mechanical Engineer who owned a fairly big, high-tech computer networking company that went under during the dot-com bubble. He started over with some Subway shops and it sounds as it is going great. He talked about his kids and how hard he and his wife work to give them a great education. Both of them were at least a couple of years ahead in school.
Yesterday, we had some other of our friends from Oregon contact us about what to do to preserve your kid’s chances for a scholarship even though they would earn an Associate Degree from the community college. They have done an excellent job getting their kids ready for college. It is so encouraging to see people making these kinds of efforts and it is very fun to be their fan-boy!
The picture is of Kelly talking to a couple of people at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory about a summer statistics internship. It sounds like a great job, but it is very competitive. She could directly put the stuff she is learining right now to work in the real world. They have a small statistical team that helps the engineers with experimental design, regression analysis, the use of SAS,and all things statistical. There would even be opportunity to go on to do a (paid for) Masters degree or PhD. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
I have been working with QT in combination with OpenCV for several years now. I recently had the opportunity to download the new QT 5.0.1 toolchain and QT Creator IDE. The latest stable release of OpenCV at this writing is OpenCV 2.4.3 which I already had installed on my computer. I generally use the prebuilt binaries whenever I can and that is what I did this time, too. I loaded up one of my work projects, but the stuff would not work together nicely. Builds would run just fine outside the debugger, but I gdb blew up inside QT Creator. I had never really had that problem before and expected to get it fixed pretty quickly, but struggled for quite awhile.
In the end, as is often the case, it was something pretty trivial. It turns out that the prebuilt binaries for OpenCV 2.4.3 use a different MinGW exception handling library (dw2) than QT 5.0.1 (sjlj). The upshot is that I rebuilt the OpenCV libraries from the source using this specific MinGW toolchain–the one used to build QT 5.0.1. Of course you will also need CMake to do this, but after that everything worked like a champ.
Day 556 of 1000
This is day 10 of not driving the new car.
I read Isaiah 45 today. The prophecy of Cyrus there is amazing. I spent some time looking at the history of all this. The finding of the complete text of Isaiah amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls dealt a further blow to those who have tried to ascribe authorship to several authors, at least one of which would have post-dated Cyrus. This liberal theory is based primarily on the idea that it is not possible to prophecy the future and secondary on stylistic differences. You can see images of The Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa on this page. After having studied it some, the multiple author theory does not make a whole lot of sense to me. Here is a pretty good, concise breakdown of the competing theories and why the single author theory makes the most sense.
James Goodnight, the founder of SAS has this to say about it:
I was accepted both here and Carolina, he said to a crowd that included N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. “And thank God I came here, because they have real classes here.”
Day 555 of 1000
This is day 9 of not driving the new car.
Kelly’s summer internship opportunities continue to expand. She has a phone interview with the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University up in Maryland for a position that is all statistics all the time. We frequently talk about the difference between engineering/science commodity jobs versus specialty jobs. Specialty jobs are much better in a field that is expanding. Even though are a gazillion mechanical engineering jobs out there for people who can design and build a widget, there are two gazillion good mechanical engineers that have experience and want the job. On the other hand, if you are very specialized, there might be only 50 jobs in the entire for your skills. Still, if there are only 25 people who are specialized in that area, you are in pretty good shape.
I have a very specialized career in something called machine vision. I got into the field of machine vision when it was a brand new technology and have stayed there ever since. I tell people that people rarely need what I do, but when they need it, the need can get pretty desparate because there are not many people who have deep experience in my specialization. The entire field of analytics and statistics feels like machine vision in its early days. I know that because I have started running into to problems that are very difficult to solve using deterministic or simple stochastic methods. Answers need to be extracted from very large data sets using sophisticated statistcal techniques. There are LOTS of these kinds of problems in every field imaginable. There are not enough statisticians being graduated from universities.
I think Kelly is in a pretty good place right now. This is fun to watch because Kelly is a statistician, but pretty painful in my day job when the deep statistical skills we need are not available.
Day 554 of 1000
I worked from home yesterday hacking, sneezing, and wheezing. Lorena and Kelly are past the worst of it, but Christian and I are still pretty pathetic. The bad part of the timing of these colds is that they came right in the middle of the toughest semester the kids will have to endure in their time at NCSU. There are mid-terms, papers, quizzes and all kinds of other work stacking up along with piles of used Kleenex, discarded teacups, lozenge wrappers, and other flotsam and jetsam. My work is kind of the same way although I do not have the same time pressures as the kids right now–that will come later. So we are just hanging in there trying to concentrate as best we can with stuffy heads, scratchy throats, and sniffley noses.
Day 553 of 1000
This is day 7 of not driving the new car although I did get to go for a ride on Saturday. We are quite pleased with our purchase.
Christian and I missed meeting on Sunday morning because of the bug that has been going around. I am working from home this morning so I don’t make everyone at work sick. It is one of those kinds of sicknesses that is just a pain in the neck. We have a scratch throat, congestion, achey bones and not much of an appetite. The not much of an appetite thing is probably good for a fat guy like me, but not so good for Christian. I DO get a lot more work done when I stay home.
Day 550 of 1000
Kelly does not have any classes on Friday so I get to drive Christian to the NCSU Centenniel campus on my way to work when I am in town for his 8:30 Electrical Engineering lecture. I enjoy that a LOT. This morning we got going a little bit late so we drove through McDonald’s for breakfast. I had one of the new steak burritos (it was very good) while Christian had a steak, egg, and cheese bagel minus the slivered onions. I would have liked to have had what he had, but I am old and fat and the burrito is only 300 calories. Now that I am going two weeks per month, I enjoy any one-on-one time I get with either of the kids.
Kelly has an interview early in the afternoon with the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) for a summer Statistical Intern position here in North Carolina. She has promised to give me a call as soon as she gets off the phone to tell me how it goes. She already has an internship at Caterpillar in Illinois, but this might be a better match because it is purely about statistics. It would also look good on her graduate school applications. I hope it all works out. Whichever way it works out, it is never a bad thing to get some more interview practice.
Day 549 of 1000
This is day 3 of not driving the new car.
Day 548 of 1000
Ken’s Lorena’s new Ford Fiesta
When I wrecked my pickup and learned it was totaled, I thought I was going to get a nice little used commuter car. Well, I failed that. I bought an absolute lemon. Lorena was the one that figured that out. She was also the one who took the car back to the dealer and got our money back.
About that experience she said, “I LOVE to do that!”
So, I thought I would go out and get the cheapest/best new economy car I could find as I was such an obvious failure at finding a decent used car. I checked it all out and it came down to a choice between the Ford Fiesta and the Honda Fit. After seeing them, it was a no-brainer to buy the Fiesta. After work, Lorena, Christian, and I went down to the dealership in the Accord to pick up the new car. Lorena checked it all out while I was filled out the papers.
When everything was complete, she said, “You can drive the Honda home.”
The upshot is that I really did not buy myself a new commuter car. I bought Lorena a new commuter car. I am at my desk at work writing this post having driven here in the Accord. I still have not driven the car, but Lorena did let me sit in the drivers seat for about two minutes.
Day 547 of 1000
Before we got married and even for the few years of our marriage I never would have guessed that Lorena is absolutely invigorated by taking stuff back when she thinks she got a bad deal. Her friend Vanesa from Puerto Rico who whom Lorena met when we lived in Florida had Lorena take clothes back to stores, because Vanesa did not like to do it and Lorena loved to do it. Sadly, today we found out we got a lemon of a used car. The transmission was shot. Lorena took the car back to the dealer because we thought there was a minor problem. It turns out there was a MAJOR problem. Lorena dealt with the whole thing because I was at work.
On the way to get our new car she told Christian and I me, “I LOVE to do that!”
We said, “What?”
“Take stuff back. Especially when the people knew they did something wrong and tried to get away with it.”
I married an amazing woman! She will put some pictures of her car up her on the blog tomorrow. It was going to be MY car, but Lorena decided she wants it for herself. Who am I to argue. Every new car we have ever purchased Lorena never wanted to drive home from the agency. This car was different. She still has not even let me sit in the drivers seat.
Day 546 of 1000
A friend and I talked our way through some tough challenges last night. It is one of those things that is good, but not easy to do. I did not get to bed until way later than what would have allowed me to get enough sleep. I woke up well after midnight to hear the kids making their way upstairs after fighting through a long, tedious homework problem. They did not get enough sleep either. I had to take Lorena’s car to work this morning because the engine light on our new (to us) used car went on the day after we bought it so she could take it bake to the dealer to see if we got a bad deal on the car rather than a good one. I am dealing with new work burdens that are in an area (people and project management) with which I am not particularly comfortable. The sad part about that is it will require time that I wanted to spend on our NCSU (GaugeCam) volunteer research project and a very interesting statistical research project to which I have been invited. These are projects through which I could both learn something and contribute in a way that has more satisfying value than just money. There are more issues similar in nature: not grave but of the “death by a thousand cuts” type.
The upshot is that I felt sorry for myself (I know, I know–that is just wrong, especially because it is so trivial) during my entire forty minute ride to work this morning. Then stuff started going right. The car turned out to have a couple of minor maladies the dealer fixed in about an hour. Christian messaged me late in the morning to let me know he got a (normalized) 97% on his first midterm in the most difficult class I ever took in my entire college experience. Kelly got a great score on her Ag-Marketing class, too. All that hard work pays off. My work load has not diminished, but sitting and program for a few hours always puts me in the frame of mind that I have actually accomplished something. Even if I have to manage, I still get to do science, engineer, and write code. Other good stuff happened that are not worth a mention, but it all combined to remind me that even in the living of everyday life, God is on the side of everyone who loves him and there is never any true reason to despair. It is shameful to despair when my biggest worries combined are trivial. God is good.
Day 544 of 1000
The reason the kids were not at the Hunt Library (with Troy) was because we were out buying them a college car! We got a great price on a 2006 Kia Spectra, although I am pretty disallusioned with Dave Ramsey right now because of the junk fee thing pulled on us by John Kiester Chevrolet. We still feel like we paid a great price, but will not be going back there nor paying much attention to Dave Ramsey’s advice on real estate, automobile, insurance, or other recommendations and certifications. Too bad because we have two more cars to buy, a house to sell, and a house to buy within the next 15 months and we very much would have liked to have someone on whom we could depend for advice.
Day 543 of 1000
I cannot wait to get home to Raleigh from Prescott. It has been a good trip. I am starting to get the travel thing under a little more control. I go back to work at Bioptigen in Morrisville on Monday.
Day 541 of 1000
My boss took me out to dinner at a little restaurant called the Raven Cafe in downtown Prescott. We were there to talk business over dinner but a group of musicians made up of old guys and a couple of gals started playing classical music. It was played quietly enough that we would talk, so it made an excellent addition to the evening. You ask which classics? Well, among other songs we heard:
- Walk the Line by Johnny Cash
- Faded Love written by Bob Wills, but my favorite rendition is sung by Patsy Cline
- Several by Hank Williams, Sr.
There were twin fiddles and lots of harmony. All-in-all, it made for a wonderful evening.
On a disconnected but related note, one of my favorite blogs had this on their site this morning. How cool is that dobro?