The ceremony was Sunday, all went well. It hasn't sunk in yet. I still have the vague feeling that I should be doing something, that some project or other is due tomorrow or next week ( Read more... )

Had my last final exam yesterday morning, graduation is on Sunday. I should be kicking back. So what did I buy this morning? An 826-page book/CD-ROM called SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 Study Guide (Exam 310-055). And I've already read the first chapter.

Kak pa-Russky "brutal"? That was by far the hardest exam I've ever taken.

Operating Systems tomorrow, and then I'm out.

I get a kick out of David Berlinski's writing. A star in the small and much-ignored field of popular theoretical mathematics, he brightens up his somewhat dry material by, without any warning, taking occasional flights into the surreal. His The Advent of the Algorithm, a dense history documenting the rigorization of arithmetic through unification ( Read more... )

My sister got hitched in a small and elegant ceremony this past weekend, thus doubling my complement of brothers. Congrats, Josie and Brian!

Last class was Monday, last review session yesterday, exams next week, graduation on the 14th. 'Bout time, too, dammit.

And then there was the book riot. Melinda, thejscheck, and my own self all came away with many ( Read more... )

Ahhhh. Got the project completed with time to spare, despite the egregious error in the specifications that would have ensured partial defectiveness. Thanks for that one, Mr. B ( Read more... )

int diskread(int entry, char *list ( Read more... )

Last night I was reading Will You Please be Quiet, Please?, a collection of Raymond Carver short stories. Individually, each story is brilliant. Carver had an amazing knack for implying complex situations and personalities with concise prose, to the point that a single line of very ordinary conversation can stop you in your tracks. But I noticed ( Read more... )

Book people should know: Arlington Central Library sale April 28-30, $5/bag book riot 4PM-6PM on the 30th...

And here's some reviews before I go back in the tank, studying for my last ever exams...

Wormwood Forest: a Natural History of Chernobyl by Mary Mycio - A journalist spends a truly unhealthy amount of time examining the aftereffects of ( Read more... )

This is the back-cover blurb from a book called Frightening Strikes, 141st in a series called The Destroyer. Pure poetry. Never before have I seen the English language so starkly and casually stripped of meaning. I can only hope that it will enrich your life as much as it has mine.

MEAT OFF THE BONE

A giant squid found in the wake of a bizarre ( Read more... )