This morning for breakfast I had a grapefruit, and I was reminded of the first time I ate grapefruit.
My paternal grandparents had come to babysit while my parents went on a trip. At that time my grandma always brought tons of food with her, like scones, and frozen macaroni platters, and oatmeal, and, on this particular trip, grapefruit.
Now, you have to understand, as long as I can remember, my grandparents have eaten oatmeal for breakfast. But on this trip, my grandfather ate oatmeal while my grandmother ate grapefruit. I, being the innocent child, asked her if I could have one of her 'big oranges'. She laughed and explained to me what a grapefruit was, and then taught me how to eat one. First, cut it in half, second, carefully cut around the fruit, then scoop it out of the ready made bowl. Finally, after scooping all the fruit out, squeeze the skin and funnel the juice into your mouth. I don't remember exactly what we said, but the process of watching her cut it, and telling me to cut as close to the white as a could to not waste any fruit, and gently scooping out my first bite - those things will be burned in my memory forever.
(Side Note: Isn't it interesting how memories arise at completely random times? I wonder what part of the brain triggers that. What sentimentality arises for memories to spark?)
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Why my semester is exciting
Since most of my audience knows me personally and has been asking about my courses (and even if you don't, I think you'll still find this post interesting), here are the classes I am taking this semester, why I'm excited about them, and my first impressions.
~ CMSC 491 - Computation, Complexity, and Emergence
This class, taught by Dr. DesJardins, is at it's most basic level about patterns in nature and what kinds of things we can observe from the patterns. At a more detailed level, we're going to simulate those patterns on the computer and determine how different levels of complexity develop, etc. I'm excited about it for a couple of reasons. First, it's an honors course, so the class is smaller, and it's discussion based, so it promises to be a lively class. Second, because I'm really excited about taking a class with Dr. DesJardins, because she is super cool and smart, and a personal role model. Third, (but no less important) because I'm excited about building my nature model. If possible, I want to model how flowers know where to grow their next leaves and petals, which should make my Wildflower Camp friends smile. So far, we've ended every lecture for this class by playing a game, so it's a win in my book. I'm already involved in lively discussions with my classmates online, and it promises to be great (but a bit hard, definitely, as Dr. DesJardins will be assigning a lot of writing assignments).
~ CMSC 479 - Introduction to Robotics
This class, taught by Dr. Oates, is exactly what it sounds like. We're talking about the basics of autonomous mobile robots, which means robots that are not controlled by remote control, but can make their own "decisions" based on surroundings, and are able to move freely, instead of being bolted to a specific point. I'm excited for this class first because I haven't had robot experience, and it's a really interesting field, second because Tim Oates is one of the best professors I've ever had the pleasure of having, and I am really looking forward to taking another class with him, and thirdly because it gives me the opportunity to pretend I'm a computer engineer, instead of a computer scientist. The first two days of this class have been fabulous, watching videos and discussing recent robotic developments, and the readings promise for a bright future. Also, as a side note, having worked at NASA and heard a lot about the various robot/Mars rover project, it's cool to talk about them in class.
~ CMSC 313 - Assembly Language and Computer Organization
This class, taught by Dennis Frey, is a required CS course for majors. It's one of the harder classes CS majors take, because you learn assembly, which is basically a computer language that no one really uses. However, I am also learning C in this course, which I anticipate will be useful in my future as a programmer, and so far the professor seems very engaging and accessible. I also know a lot of my classmates, which makes for easy/more fun studying.
~ CMSC 345 - Software Design and Development
This class, taught by Susan Mitchell, only has ten students in it because I'm in a pilot program for having UMBC students work for a real corporation, which is super exciting! The material for this class so far has reflected my experience on a development team this past summer, so it seems very realistic and I look forward to developing a project from start to finish with my classmates
~ ANCS 150 - English Word Roots from Latin and Greek
This course, taught by Anna Peterson, is to fulfill my culture credit, and I wasn't super excited about it until I started the reading. Basically, we're studying the history of the English language and learning how to dissect words to discover their meaning. Having taken both Latin and Greek several years ago, I look forward to this course and improving my vocabulary. It's a nice change from the CMSC courses, and it promises to be really interesting, but not too difficult.
~ CMSC 491 - Computation, Complexity, and Emergence
This class, taught by Dr. DesJardins, is at it's most basic level about patterns in nature and what kinds of things we can observe from the patterns. At a more detailed level, we're going to simulate those patterns on the computer and determine how different levels of complexity develop, etc. I'm excited about it for a couple of reasons. First, it's an honors course, so the class is smaller, and it's discussion based, so it promises to be a lively class. Second, because I'm really excited about taking a class with Dr. DesJardins, because she is super cool and smart, and a personal role model. Third, (but no less important) because I'm excited about building my nature model. If possible, I want to model how flowers know where to grow their next leaves and petals, which should make my Wildflower Camp friends smile. So far, we've ended every lecture for this class by playing a game, so it's a win in my book. I'm already involved in lively discussions with my classmates online, and it promises to be great (but a bit hard, definitely, as Dr. DesJardins will be assigning a lot of writing assignments).
~ CMSC 479 - Introduction to Robotics
This class, taught by Dr. Oates, is exactly what it sounds like. We're talking about the basics of autonomous mobile robots, which means robots that are not controlled by remote control, but can make their own "decisions" based on surroundings, and are able to move freely, instead of being bolted to a specific point. I'm excited for this class first because I haven't had robot experience, and it's a really interesting field, second because Tim Oates is one of the best professors I've ever had the pleasure of having, and I am really looking forward to taking another class with him, and thirdly because it gives me the opportunity to pretend I'm a computer engineer, instead of a computer scientist. The first two days of this class have been fabulous, watching videos and discussing recent robotic developments, and the readings promise for a bright future. Also, as a side note, having worked at NASA and heard a lot about the various robot/Mars rover project, it's cool to talk about them in class.
~ CMSC 313 - Assembly Language and Computer Organization
This class, taught by Dennis Frey, is a required CS course for majors. It's one of the harder classes CS majors take, because you learn assembly, which is basically a computer language that no one really uses. However, I am also learning C in this course, which I anticipate will be useful in my future as a programmer, and so far the professor seems very engaging and accessible. I also know a lot of my classmates, which makes for easy/more fun studying.
~ CMSC 345 - Software Design and Development
This class, taught by Susan Mitchell, only has ten students in it because I'm in a pilot program for having UMBC students work for a real corporation, which is super exciting! The material for this class so far has reflected my experience on a development team this past summer, so it seems very realistic and I look forward to developing a project from start to finish with my classmates
~ ANCS 150 - English Word Roots from Latin and Greek
This course, taught by Anna Peterson, is to fulfill my culture credit, and I wasn't super excited about it until I started the reading. Basically, we're studying the history of the English language and learning how to dissect words to discover their meaning. Having taken both Latin and Greek several years ago, I look forward to this course and improving my vocabulary. It's a nice change from the CMSC courses, and it promises to be really interesting, but not too difficult.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
TRW Google+ article
Hello Blog-o-sphere!
I realized partway through the month of January that I hadn't posted anything that month, and decided to take January off from my blog. However, I'm back now, and it looks like I'll be having things to post pretty frequently, since, drumroll please......
I am now a 'journalist' (of sorts). I'm writing for the Technology section of the school newspaper (The Retriever Weekly), so whenever I roll out an article for them I'll be sure to link it here for you all to read.
That being said, here's my first TRW article:
http://retrieverweekly.com/pdfs/198.pdf (I'm the google+ article on pages 8 and 10)
please comment with criticisms and suggestions for future TRW tech articles.
Also, I will still use the blog for other, non-techy thoughts, so my non-techy friends need not worry.
I'm super excited for the way my writing has been taking off, both through my posts on CultureTwined and in TRW, but I am also scared, as publishing my writing elsewhere forces me to face the faults of my own ramblings.
I realized partway through the month of January that I hadn't posted anything that month, and decided to take January off from my blog. However, I'm back now, and it looks like I'll be having things to post pretty frequently, since, drumroll please......
I am now a 'journalist' (of sorts). I'm writing for the Technology section of the school newspaper (The Retriever Weekly), so whenever I roll out an article for them I'll be sure to link it here for you all to read.
That being said, here's my first TRW article:
http://retrieverweekly.com/pdfs/198.pdf (I'm the google+ article on pages 8 and 10)
please comment with criticisms and suggestions for future TRW tech articles.
Also, I will still use the blog for other, non-techy thoughts, so my non-techy friends need not worry.
I'm super excited for the way my writing has been taking off, both through my posts on CultureTwined and in TRW, but I am also scared, as publishing my writing elsewhere forces me to face the faults of my own ramblings.
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