this week i

explained complex survey sampling.  my first and probably last quote in the wall street journal.

see that all of the people who taught me everything about r like my work.

paid the woman with glaucoma and four kids who all live in the shack at the end of the road $4.50 to do my laundry.  she head bobbled at that offer.

wonder about randomized control trials in evolution.  in the early mammal branch, what happens if you extinguish a species?  if therapsids had been universally culled, what creatures would have filled the sans mammalian vacuum?  how predictable is the evolutionary next step?  in the tree of life, are their multiple avenues to structural invention - like calculus - or does biological success only have one legitimate shot before competitors prevail?

took my motorcycle to work day.  wasn't expecting a disposable hairnet, but when the driver offers one, you wonder why and then don't turn it down.

remember that summer invasion.

4/28

this week i

analyzed many millions of medical claims with monetdb, for this analysis of out-of-pocket patterns.

received an invitation to the hill station, dancing in transit across karnataka.


hiked up the hillside.




 homestayed.


let the locals order for me.

got sneezed on.


visited a tibetan monastery..

..and a prison, i think a prison.

took a chance.  probability doesn't have any memory, that's the gambler's fallacy.

4/21

this week i

feel like india is tripping over itself to get ahead in the world.  somehow the new products in the nice stores are already dirty.

prefer this park upside-down.


paid eight dollars for four lunches and a hammock.

forgave him, because it was two dollars.

went out friday night.  at the end of the evening, the woman turns angry at me for telling her she could not sleep at my apartment because we had just met and i am far from home.  so i left alone and got in the shower.  four missed calls, call her back:  "my ex-boyfriend wants to call you, will you just tell him that you and i are just friends only?"

read an old etiquette guidebook that my mother stashed away.  no curtains.



4/14

this week i

feel bad.  diversifying experiences requires severing yourself from familiar things, but it hurts.  no question it hurts.

realized that half of the first ten presidents served as secretary of state prior to their own election.  hasn't happened since buchanan, though.

never tire of new york times coverage.

rented in suburban bangalore.





4/7

this week i

discovered an unknown park close to my father's home.  he sat in the car.

ate easter brunch, also nearby.  dad, give us a smile.




learned the hard way to live within ram whenever possible.  touching the disk requires i/o, grinds down on speed.  don't do this..

    CREATE TABLE a AS SELECT ...some stuff.. FROM b WITH DATA ;
    CREATE TABLE d AS SELECT ...other stuff.. FROM a WITH DATA ;
   
    ..instead, do this.
   
    CREATE TABLE d AS ( SELECT ..other stuff.. FROM ( SELECT ..some stuff.. FROM b ) AS a ) WITH DATA ;

3/31