night music

Small apartments are great... save money, organize and simplify your stuff, and live all cozy. These advantages pale in comparison with sleep deprivation due to an overzealous roommate and her sleep-over boyfriend, I find. You'd be amazed at how much your mental acuity suffers after repeated nights of interrupted, 5hr sleep! As I don't typically see my roommates, there is not really a mechanism for civilized discussion of these topics.
After repeated humorously-composed, pointedly sarcastic letters, which I shared around the grad student office while I entertained suggestions for resolving the situation, I shot off a gently-worded email this morning. Still awaiting a reply. Watch this space!

fall beards

Just finished two brutal midterm exams, boy were they special. Actually I got worked over on the micro exam, but it could have been worse. The optimization exam this morning, in contrast, was surprisingly straightforward. I finished going through it and was concerned because I still had 20 mins left. Then I started second guessing myself and probably did more harm than good. Oh well.Enough of that.

More important is that today holds a rendezvous with the gun game. Lobo and I have been postponing our mission for over a week now, and we're ready to go. At 5pm EST, we will embark on an effort to save the president on air force one, rescue hostages from the jungle, and storm the bad guys mountain compound! I know, a lot to handle, but I think we're ready. (read on if you're interested: http://www.segaarcade.com/video/ghostsquad.aspx )

Also exciting is the growth of our new econ student gang, 'Las Barbas de Otono' (fall beards). The only membership requirement is an (often pathetic) attempt to grow a beard. As of this morning, 5 of us, the majority of the male class members, are in. After observing the 'las barbas de otono' sounds really cool, we also realized that the initials, B.O., were also particularly appealing and applicable. So we've really (well, some of us more than others) gotten excited about 'Las Barbas', and find every possible opportunity to show solidarity with other members, and to express that support as vocally as possible. 'Las Barbas' has been heard throughout Symons hall many times this week.

What this also means is that I am fully bearded for the first time in my life. I can tell you, it is very exciting. I am almost past the second annoying stage, and then there is nothing keeping me from full-blown beardom. Chuck Norris would be proud. El Lobo wants to show up to our finals in matching under armor (skin-tight gym muscle tops) and mustaches, but I think that might be a little over the top. Unless there's money involved.

So that's it for this round of midterms. Another one waiting a week from Monday. Me and my beard will be ready. I'll try to capture some of las barbas in action and post some photos soon.

voyage of discovery

I made a striking discovery last night... my brother is a cool guy. Now, one might say, 'shouldn't you have known that already?' Well, the answer is yes, of course, but it is always nice to be reminded. Besides, now that we no longer live together or see each other very often, I've gained the perspective that I lacked when we were sharing a bathroom.
Last night I convinced Eric to ditch Kristin last night and hang out with me, so we grabbed a few drinks, walked around, and talked for a couple hours. Our discussion ranged from our respective plans for the future, to politics, to logistics for family visitors. I finally feel that I understand what his plans for law school are, so I can answer that question when people ask me. Also, although I like to paint him as a hard-core O'reilly parroting ideologue, he really isn't. In fact, I think we have more common ground than not politically. So, it was nice to spend the few hours hanging out and talking with my only bro, especially since he picked up the tab (thanks buddy).
In other news.. fall has arrived in force. It was in the 30s last night, and the scarfs and overcoats are in full effect. It's not too cold, though, just chilly. Perfect coffeehouse weather. Also great for cooping yourself up inside a building on the Maryland campus and studying all day. Speaking of...

Caliscious

Last weekend took the opportunity to go home for a Cal football game and to see a bunch of friends, and, most importantly, to not do work. (I had the best intention of doing homework on the plan, but I ended up sitting next to a statistics professor and we talked for a few hours - I figure that was almost like studying!!)

I arrived late Friday night and Sid picked me up at the airport and whisked me to his house in the Mission where he had a Zachary's pizza waiting for me!!! (http://www.zacharys.com/) talk about thoughtful!! Man, I crave that stuff - it was soooo good. Sid is now held in the highest esteem! Actually, it was a positive sign towards a weekend of good food for Will. Sid and I went out for a few drinks, then headed back to his place and slept for the big day Saturday.

I got up early and headed across the bay to meet Heidi and Jay (semi-new boyfriend) at a French restaurant called La Note. Breakfast was tasty, it was great to see my sis and Jay, and we followed breakfast with a march digestive to Amoeba to by CDs and by the Berkeley Women's Club to check out the Julia Morgan architecture:

Following H+J's departure to go camping, I wandered over to the Bart station, where I met Sid and Alex (who had flown up Sat morning) just as they departed their train. We explored the campus, went up the campanile:


and generally just chilled out for an hour before lunch. We met everybody at Jupiter's and lunch in their back patio. Jeff announced he's getting married in June!!! Yeah Jeff! L-R:Sid, Jeff, Andrew, Teddy, Chris, Derek, me, Alex

After lunch, we made a quick stop at the Bear's lair for some more adult beverages, then headed up to the International House, which is located directly in front of the stadium and tends to be a good place to people watch. Upon casing the joint when we arrived, I noticed that a private function was being held in one of the rooms. Closer inspection revealed that a full buffet lunch and an open bar were included with this function. The room was also mostly empty, and the serving staff looked bored, so Derek and I decided to do our party to make the party look a bit more lively,... and by that I mean, to help ourselves to food and drink, take it outside to the patio, then proceed to tell all of our friends about the great scheme we had going as they arrived and noticed our generous helpings of food and delicious beverages. All in all, 11 of us were nourished by this stroke of good luck, and the food was even more tasty because it was complementary. (The sun shines on Will and Andrew):
Derek also happy:

Alas, as all good things must come to an end, they posted a security table by the door, and Derek was denied when he tried to go for 2nds. But we soon left for the football game, where Cal was victorious and a good time was had by all (who weren't Oregon fans).
We then departed and celebrated late into the evening.

I left early the next morning and returned to school feeling de-stressed (but desperately missing California!)

tough guys

Another student in our class, Seth (also known as 'El Lobo') and I ('El Oso') have taken to breaking up the coursework monotony by playing shoot'emup video games in the campus arcade after lunch ~2x per week. It is somewhat cathartic to slay large numbers of bad guys after struggling through frustrating and confusing lectures. Happily, a new and better gun game was recently installed in the campus arcade called Ghost Force or something like that. For the sum of $1, a player gets a large, futuristic weapon, unlimited ammo, and ~10 minutes of sheer testosterone-fueled pleasure. We got some random passerby to take our photo while trying to look as tough as possible.


We also had our first student drop out! It was an inevitability, and in some ways, rather relieving. After they left, Lobo and I started humming 'another one bites the dust', yet we were secretly envious of the liberation. Tim, Denny and I ran into a professor from the department on the way out of the building last week and got to talking. In a telling moment, he likened the first year of the program to us being jihadist warriors, with 40 virgins waiting at the end of the year. I asked him if we were martyrs in this scenario, and he replied 'not quite - both the sacrifice and the reward are slightly downgraded'. I certainly look forward to what awaits at the end of the year (assuming I live to see it!)

We took a few photos last week. First, the girls ('Las Flamingas') L:R Amparo, Magdalena, Fanqing, Charlotte, Laoura.

Next, with me, Seth, and Adan in the mix.

could've been worse

that was the concensus of the econometrics midterm this morning. Remember, econometrics is the workload course where the professor talks a mile a minute. Yes, well, the 2hour midterm was manageable. 4 problems total, each with various subparts. I wasn't really pressed for time, but still managed to make a few bonehead mistakes. One of the problems was a disaster, two I am pretty confident about, and one was an x-factor. So... we'll see in a few days. We still haven't received back the midterm from last week that we took. That one probably didn't go too well either... oh well. On a positive note, the weekend in NYC was fun, when I got to see Laura (a friend from childhood) get married to a very nice guy, Peter.

The wedding was held at a mansion overlooking the hudson ~20 miles north of manhattan. It was very picturesque (unfortunately, I forgot my camera!). Apparently, the property was originally purchased by Mark Twain for his daughter. It had a Hearst Castle feeling to it (although not nearly as big or fancy as that). The ceremony was brief (28 mins - which bested my 45 min bet) and there was crying (although not during the portion of the ceremony that I had bet on). The bridal party, at 4 a piece, came in at one over my 3 each prediction. The bar was complimentary, however, so I won that bet. It was a good time. Eric and Kristen and Kevin (friend from high school) and I drove up on Sat morning and came back Sunday night. Sat night Kevin and I went out with Katie (friend from Berkeley) for dinner and drinks on the lower east side. We ate a place called Spice which looked vaguely like a scene from the Jetsons, but they served thai food instead of pills. We met up with E+K after dinner, and did a bit of walking around and enjoying the fall evening. As Katie lives in Washington Heights, by the time we took the train back uptown at the end of the night, we were ready for some sleep. Still, it was a short, but enjoyable visit. I promised to head back up at the end of January (23?) for K's birthday party.

Next weekend is the big Cal Homecoming game, which I am super excited for. At last count, there will be 8 of us crashing at Sid's house and partying it up for the football game. I expect a lot of fun and not much sleep. I'll remember my camera this time!