Dreaming up the future

This certain phenomenon has happened to me before, and it happened again last night. It's an experience that tends to come after 14+ hour days of sitting in front of a computer coding and then trying to get to sleep. After tossing around for 1+ hour, I enter a dream state that I wish I could be in every night (although by no means all night long, I still need my wacky dreams too). In these fantastical slumbers, I'm neither flying nor saving the world nor getting the babe princess at the end (obviously Jamie, and only Jamie). No, these dreams are far better. In these remarkably rewarding respites, I actually dream about...


...work.


Yes, my most exciting dreams are about work. Now it's not the content that makes these dreams great, it's the outcome. This is now the 2nd time that I've actually solved problems about my research in my dreams.

The first time that this happened, I really didn't believe it too much. I was actually stuck on two different problems, one from each of the labs that I work in. They were also problems from different coding languages (one in LabVIEW, the other in Matlab). When morning came, I had somehow worked out both problems in my head. I sort of just brushed it aside and figures I had just thought about it before I drifted off to sleep, and solved the problems then just without remembering it.

But this article confirmed my theory: You and Your Research. It is a transcript of a talk that this guy at Bell Labs gave about people who do great work/research, and what characteristics they display. I've kind of been in a work/research rut for a little while this year, and have been looking for some inspiration as I take on basically a life of research. That article is a great read, so take a look if you have time. Anyways, what struck me was this passage:

Now again, emotional commitment is not enough. It is a necessary condition apparently. And I think I can tell you the reason why. Everybody who has studied creativity is driven finally to saying, ``creativity comes out of your subconscious.'' Somehow, suddenly, there it is. It just appears. Well, we know very little about the subconscious; but one thing you are pretty well aware of is that your dreams also come out of your subconscious. And you're aware your dreams are, to a fair extent, a reworking of the experiences of the day. If you are deeply immersed and committed to a topic, day after day after day, your subconscious has nothing to do but work on your problem. And so you wake up one morning, or on some afternoon, and there's the answer. For those who don't get committed to their current problem, the subconscious goofs off on other things and doesn't produce the big result. So the way to manage yourself is that when you have a real important problem you don't let anything else get the center of your attention - you keep your thoughts on the problem. Keep your subconscious starved so it has to work on your problem, so you can sleep peacefully and get the answer in the morning, free.

I love it! So last night when I went to bed wondering why my program was returning more cases than the program actually iterates, wouldn't you know to my delight that I awake this morning realizing that I need to clear my variables because they are cell arrays and continue seeding when the program is run multiple times, DUHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy St. Louis Day

There is hope for us nerds

I'm usually they type of guy who keeps his politics to himself. But since 90% of you who read this are engineers or scientists (that means 9 of you) and 10% aren't (Dallas), this may be of interest to you. An article published 2 days ago in Nature outlines Obama's plan for increasing the national science spending budget here. I encourage you to have a read even though I'm probably preaching to the choir, since who is going to really vote for McCain anyways?

Landscaping

So yesterday I was at the Bloomfield Post Office. I was there to deliver some gifts to my sis. I'm in line, and in front of me is a man no younger than 55. Well it took me about 20 seconds, but I eventually look up, see this, and snap a picture of it:
Yes, that's right reader. It is a bald man's head with a tattoo of a dude mowing away the hair. The little bubble that the guy is saying states "Is this you?". What the hell does that mean??? Please offer your interpretation, because my mind is blown.

A Public Service

So I feel it is my duty, as a connoisseur of all music great, to set my reader straight if he or she has gone astray. As of late, I've heard banter of some song about Paper Airplanes becoming rather popular. Now, I'm just like the next guy, I love a good paper airplane flight on a Fall day. But, I feel it is my responsibility to introduce all those who enjoy this song to the original song from which the M.I.A. song was sampled. So here it is, The Clash's "Straight to Hell" released on their 1982 album Combat Rock.

Deerhunted

Just got back from the Deerhunter show at Garfield Artworks. Dallas, Bru and I showed up about an hour late in order to avoid some of the opening bands. Well our scheduling was a little off and we had to sit through some local act for a while. Seeking release, we took a tour of Friendship/Bloomfield in search of libations. Unfortunately, joke was on us, as it was Sunday night at 10 o'clock. But who would have thought?! Even the trusty dives of West Penn Tavern and Lou's Little Corner bar were closed for business.

After stopping back at my place for a beer, we eventually made it back to GarArt just in time for Deerhunter. I would rate the show as a 7 or 8 out of 10. I didn't even know much about Deerhunter; I've only heard a few songs online. But they had a very good presence: it was a very layered sound of guitars with a metronome-like bass and drum section, while the singer added layers of synth-harmony on top of the music, sometimes melodic, sometimes droning. The sound was very good for the venue, however the vocals tended to drown in the music. All in all, a good Sunday night, although GarArt was about 100 degrees inside and Bru noticed that I lost about 5 pounds. Here are some pics, and a sampling of deerhunter.

'lymps

My latest excuse for not blogging is because I'm enthralled by the Olympics. These Chinese gymnastic girls can't be older than 14. It's ridiculous.

I guess this post also implies that yes, I do now have internet, and cable, at the place. I'm feeling so...CyberCraig!