Yesterday I went to the ACM programming contest, where our team placed 3rd. However, prior to the contest, subs from Subway were provided. Being absolutly starving, I figured I should eat one regardless of what fun ingredients it had. It turned out to be chock full of mayo and salami and I’m sure white flour. After eating, I immediatly could feel my body going into shock, what is this stuff!?! I felt pretty lethargic and sick after eating it, so I’m going to avoid getting in situations like that again (keeping some snacks in my car).

Peace and chow,

Ranok

One of the reasons I fell in love with Clarkson when I first came to the Clarkson School was because it offered a challenge that I couldn’t find at my high school. When I came into high school (after skipping 8th grade), it was great, I was surrounded by older classmates and there were 4 years of classes ahead of me that I hadn’t taken. However, even though starting out in the junior and senior classes as a freshman made my first two years a blast, once I reached my junior year, I had exhausted all the challenging classes, and could no longer talk with upperclassmen in a learning role. This is when I began looking for alternatives, and the Clarkson School seemed to be perfect, my first year was fantastic, even though there were some easy classes (CS142 and UNIV190), I knew they’d get more exciting after I finished the pre-reqs.

Last year was probably my best year ever, taking some of my favorite classes to date: automata theory, compilers, and formal methods. They were my favorites because for once in my life, I was in a position where I actually had to work for a good grade, and I was inspired to do so both because the professors were excellent, but also I could see the value in excelling in these classes.

Now fast forward to now, while I’m taking a few interesting classes: CS547, CS456 and CS659, I’m worried that I’ve reached that ceiling and I won’t be able to find a challenging class that inspires me to put in the effort to succeed. I’ve been taking some classes (ANTH330 & COMM310) this semester that remind me of my high school days which I find very worrisome, they require next to no effort to skate by and get an A, yet I am required to go through the formality of taking them.

So, now that everyone is getting sick on my whining, I’m going to list some options to resolve my problem, if people could comment giving their input or feedback, it’d make this decision quite a bit easier.

• Transfer to another school, which should provide more challenging classes and more peers to learn from.
• Stick it out at Clarkson, doing directed studies for the next 2 years or trying to find classes outside the realm of computer science
• Go on co-op to hopefully see how my knowledge is useful in the real world, and interact with some of the brightest minds in the industry

Just for people’s information, I have started working on my masters and should be done with it in May ’10, which is when I was going to graduate with my B.S. To fufill this goal, I’ve been taking graduate classes along side of my undergraduate requirements. My tentitive thesis topic is: “Quorum Sensing and Cellular Automaton in Game Playing Systems”, which is going to look at game theory from a systems biology/alife standpoint to see if a more biological system can play better than a more algorithmical one.

Peace and chow,

Ranok

In 3 hours it will have been 4 weeks since the end of my fast, and 5 weeks since I’ve eaten meat, dairy, eggs, refined sugar or enriched flour. Overall I’ve really enjoyed it, so much so that I’ve going to keep with it ad nauseum adding only fish and eggs on rare occasions. Tonight Max and I are planning on doing something special to celebrate our 4 weeks, and I’m sure it’s going to entail the pint of rice ice cream sweetened with raw cane sugar that I picked up the other day.

Peace and chow,

Ranok

It’s officially been three weeks as a natural vegan! After my leg healed (an unrelated incident) I’ve been feeling very full of energy and find it easy to rise in the morning, and wake up refreshed. Last night (around 9:00) I felt so full of energy I went for a run through the ROTC trails in the dark, then up all 3 flights of stairs to the roof of CAMP. As far as food goes, simple foods have been a real hit, something like whole wheat pasta and tofu-tomato sauce. I have also been enjoying Amy’s Texan veggie burgers for a quick meal. Quinoa salad and curried quinoa remain favorites.

My weight has seemed to stabilize, after the fast, I was around 133lbs, and as I began eating, it jumped to 142lbs. Now that my body has adjusted, I have been between 136-137lbs. While I feel great, and not weak in the least, all of my clothes are quite a bit too big, and I need to punch a new hole in my belt. I think I’ll be getting some new clothes in the near future that don’t hang off me like drapes.

Max and I had a talk last night about our plans for after the month. He said he’ll return to being a free-a-tarian, eating meat only if he doesn’t pay for it. I’ve been thinking, and the only things I miss are eggs and fish. I think I’ll eat those rarely, but stay away from meat, milk products, refined sugars, and enriched flours. If I start to feel slowed down, I’ll return to my pure vegan diet.

Peace and chow,

Ranok

As the election draws ever closer and the vice presidential candidates have been chosen, I’ve decide to air my opinions for people to take as they see fit, and perhaps spark some intellectual conversation about my opinions. First, I’m going to announce that I’m an independent and neither party fully represents my beliefs, however, I will most likely vote for Obama and Biden come November.

Biden:

• Biden has a very sketchy voting record when it comes to his support for stronger surveillance and enforcement of file-sharing and other copyright infringement. He seems to lack the desire to reform copyright and had thrown his bid in with the RIAA and MPAA, who take to bullying the average citizen.
• He has foreign policy, something that Palin does not. (Sorry, you can’t count the fact that Alaska is near Russia). That makes him someone who can hopefully work to work for peace and rebuild faith from our allies.

Palin:

• No experience, being the mayor of a small town, then the governor of Alaska doesn’t cut in compared to Biden.
• A staunch fundamentalist, I think it’ll be hard for her to keep her beliefs out of our country’s direction if she already tried to ban books in her town library (seems like she doesn’t care about the freedom of speech). I’m honestly terrified of someone who thinks creationism should be taught next to evolution.
• Wants for people to be more independent, but wants to decide for all the citizens of the US that gay marriage is a sin and that abortion is horrific. (I say let the people/states decide)
• Is a hypocrite about so many things, she criticizes Obama for touting change, but McCain has been pretty change heavy himself. The flip-flopping earmarks and the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’. The resistance to being asked serious questions (until this week) and calling Biden on the same.
• Not knowing what a Veep does?!
• While this is not her fault, I think that her 17-year old daughter’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy shows that abstinence-only sex-ed (touted by Palin) doesn’t work all that well.

It’s a pity that women are going to vote for her, just because she’s a woman. I think it’s time for a woman to take charge in leading our nation, but I don’t think Palin is the one. McCain’s is getting on in age, and I’d be terrified to think of an ‘average hockey-mom’ being the most powerful person in the world. I look forward to learning more about her once she starts talking with the press.

Come out and vote in November,

Ranok