[ i ] imaginary number

So, I'm having a little bit of an issue hooking up a piece of hardware to a piece of software. I would not be having this issue if I wasn't the graduate research assistant to an NSF-funded research project which is taking place WITHIN THE MATH DEPARTMENT. This is what tech support has done to me:

1) I email System, the department tech guys. They tell my that since I'm working on a personal computer with non-math software, I should go to University IT. I should note, in their defense, that I haven't mentioned that I'm working on this research project. However, this really weird thing I'm asking them to do has been done recently for the research project for the department computers being used for it.
2) I call UITS. They are bewildered, and tell me to call the media lab.
3) I call the media lab. They basically tell me to Google the problem. Yes, thanks, I AM NOT A MORON.
4) I find a possible answer online. However, this does not seem to apply to the parts I'm actually in possession of.
5) Back-and-forth phone calls to my professor.
6) I email System, detailing this saga, repeating my problem, this time mentioning that I'm part of the project. Note: System does not have a phone number, only an email. 
7) I sit twiddling my thumbs while I wait for someone to come FIX THIS ISSUE.

Argh.

POSTING ON NEW COMPUTER. 

Am thinking of calling it Caprica Six, since this is the 6th computer I've ever owned...I believe. However, the possibility that the computer would dress up in a red dress and kill humanity weighs on my mind. Thoughts?

QUALS.

Just think - in 29.5 hours it will all be all over.

*heads half a league onward into the unmitigated disaster that my algebra qual is going to be - it actually really does resemble the charge of the Light Brigade*

My computer crashed a couple days ago due to Windows picking up a very nasty virus, and yesterday I switched to Linux.

I AM IN LOVE.

It's like having a brand new computer. Only, the buttons that don't work still don't work, and my DVD player is still on the fritz. But. Linux. I am definitely starting with this when I buy myself a new computer after quals. *loves*

Some day I will need to start going to my office every day and putting in some hard work on my qualifying exam preparation. Apparently, that day is not anytime this week. Argh.

CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK CHUCK

OMG IF THIS SHOW DOESN'T GET RENEWED I WILL CRY. DO YOU HEAR ME NBC?

This is totally an actual dilemma in my life right now. =)

Also, I was feeling my mid-semester slump and being totally unmotivated, but then last night I spent about 3.5 hours in my office doing Algebra with my classmates until hunger drove us (well, mostly me) out in search of food. It was a) pretty fun, like those late night Analysis sessions in undergrad, b) reminded me that I like math in general and Algebra specifically (whoo hoo Galois theory!) and c) actually helped my study for today's test and got some work done on my homework due Thursday.

Which means I should totally catch up on the Analysis so I can work with people again. But now I have to actually get up out of bed and continue studying my Algebra.

So I figured out my schedule for next semester, and for the first time in my ENTIRE college career, undergraduate or graduate, I DON'T HAVE CLASS ON FRIDAYS. I have a Monday afternoon class, a Wednesday afternoon class, a Tuesday-Thursday class and I'll be teaching either Monday - Wednesday or Tuesday-Thursday.

However, this will probably mean that Friday turns into a work day, because I'll be taking two classes, either taking or auditing a third, being an RA for an actual research project, doing a small independent research project of my own (totally unrelated to the previously mentioned research) AND teaching a 2-unit class. So, uh, yeah, I'll be busy. On the other hand, only one of those is a proper math class! But the independent study research is basically a second math class. I'm super excited to get on with things that are not just math, though...

Oh and super bonus? Chances are I won't start the week until Monday afternoon. Woot! (Who knew Monday 9 am classes were impossible to make? Especially since last year I used to teach at 8:15 four days a week...)

So I was pretty confused on Friday why I only had 12 people out of 21 show up to class. Low attendance is beginning to be a problem, but this was REALLY low attendance - and a few people actually told me ahead of time they were going to be absent and turned their homework in early. And then on Monday my teaching workshop classmates also mentioned that no one had showed up to class on Friday. All of us being out of towners, we didn't understand the look on our supervisor's face until she grinned and said, "RODEO!"

So apparently K-12 kids get rodeo days off, and college used to - but we don't anymore.

...why I miss college in general and artemidora  in particular: 

While simultaneously watching S01E04 of Merlin and IMing each other:
[On screen] Nimueh: I expected so much more, Arthur.
artemidora : SO DID I, NIMUEH. SO DID I.

From Little Mosque on the Prairie: 

Amaar: You call the mosque a "cross-less church"?
Fred: Sometimes.
Amaar: What do you call the synagogue?
Fred: A synagogue. Wouldn't want to offend anybody.

Ow, ow headache. Frak.

My grandma's doing slightly better now, which is good. They said one of her lungs have cleared up, and we should just wait to see if the other one follows suit.

In other news, I really did not get enough done this weekend, and I did work that is due Friday, but not the ones that are due Monday and Tuesday. Argh. I really really hate Algebra.

I came home last night at about 1 am, after a very fun night, but nonetheless a somewhat confusing one, ready to go sulk a little about how I hate all boys ever, when I see that my cousin had called at about 12:30. My grandma's in the hospital with pneumonia, which is pretty serious at her age. Way to get some quick perspective on life. I've been calling home every now and then to check up, and my dad's been on the phone with another cousin of mine, who's in the hospital with my aunt and uncle.

In the meantime, I, of course, have a shitload of work to do. So I'm devising a simple motivational system so that I can focus on something (this isn't as cold as it sounds - my powers of compartmentalization are pretty legendary, that is, until it all catches up to me and I have a nervous breakdown two weeks later.)

To do list (or: Sticks, with carrots): 
Finish Analysis (watch Dollhouse)
Finish 597T Journal/Reading (watch Sarah Connor)
Get a good start on Algebra (watch Numb3rs)
Rewrite Algebra notes (watch Battlestar Galactica)
+ one free break/meal to watch Psych

Hopefully this means stuff gets done. Am going to go call my parents now.

So according to IMDB, and I don't know how reliable this is, they've cast Dev Patel (from Slumdog Millionaire) as Zuko in the upcoming live-action Avatar movie.

...

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED Dev Patel in Slumdog - I thought he did a great job and I totally think he's got the acting chops to pull it off. If this is true, then it's clearly a reaction to the uproar in the fanbase over the white-washed casting. And it's great that they're trying to fix this gaffe. But, um. 

HAVE THEY TOTALLY MISSED THE POINT? Sure, he's not white, but Asians are REALLY not interchangeable - especially when you cast an INDIAN in a role that is pretty obviously coded as CHINESE. (And Dev Patel is really Indian looking. He can't really pass as anything else.)

They really can't do anything quite right.

PS I bet he can pull of Sokka. I mean, Zuko and Sokka are supposed to be the same age, and Sokka's actually BROWN.

The internet has failed to entertain me. I guess this means I have to go do work. Stupid grading.

Also, I must be the only person in Arizona NOT watching the Superbowl...

OMG I never ever ever in the six months I spent mainlining Smallville back in the spring of 2005 thought I would ever get to the point where I say this, but,

( Spoilers for tonight's Smallville )

( SPN's After School Special )

Also, watching TV with my roommate's boyfriend is just hilarious. He was with me watching SPN last week too, and it just adds so much to the entertainment factor. He's very, uh, reactive, to things he sees on TV. I knew better than to watch when ( tiny SPN spoiler )

This is amazing on SO MANY LEVELS.

Am home from India! 

*battles valiantly with jetlag...and loses*

Seriously, though, way too much to do today, like clean, go grocery shopping, SET UP AN ENTIRE CLASS, goddamn it, meet my supervisor, attempt to have things together in order to attend class tomorrow, and try not to die from the phlegm that's clogging up my lungs or from stomach cramps.

As you can see, I'm in great shape!

However, hi to everyone on the home front. I wish I had more time before school starts, since I feel like I had no vacation at all. But I did see relatives! And got asked 4 bazillion times when I was going to get married. *sighs*

I guess I should get up and get my act together. Argh.

Just so you guys know, I'm leaving for India tomorrow morning, and I'll be out of reach until Jan. 12th. I have little to no access to internet, sadly, and of course, my phone won't work.

*goes into deep cover*

Also, I have been mainlining Criminal Minds all day, and have a few things to say about Hotch, Reid and Gideon (OMG MANDY PATINKIN SO MUCH LOVE), but I'm tired now, and I'll have to see if I still remember them when I get back.