UW Update Monday 5/12/15

1.     UW Update Monday 5/12/15

a.     I’m back! Not too much to report from the weekend, other than that it was super awesome and relaxing. Had some great dinners, interesting conversation. Izzy and Joseph planted some dahlias. It was fun to see everyone at boffing. Tried to figure out classes for next fall.

b.     Monday morning: physics. First day of thermo. Cool derivation of ideal gas law and relationship between temperature and kinetic energy.

c.      Linear. Lots of foundational theorems for a promised more interesting topic. Talked with Tom and Winnie a bit.

d.     Hung out in the SPS. Finished my tutorial. Grabbed lunch while talking to John (he offered the revelation that plants are green to block the sun’s peak wavelength because plants have too little CO2 and too much sunlight, which seems absurd to me (what about rainforests and the light competition? Shouldn’t rainforest ground plants then be albino?), but I need to look into it.) Returned for lunchbox. Interesting Japanese physicist who seminared more like a philosopher and student of life than a physicist.

e.     CSE 311. Recursively defined sets—pretty straightforward. Talked a bit with Johan.

f.      Returned to Haggett. Went through huge pile of emails responding as necessary.

g.     The Glee Club was appearing at a retirement celebration for UW employees, so I dressed up and headed to the UW Club, across from the HUB. We practiced a bit (got to listen to the incredible Choral Directors singing group), then lined up and waited a long, long time as speakers carried on about the ways diverse categories of employees made the university great and how they could stay involved. The building itself was very elegant, plate-glass (but classy! Not just aluminum and cold steel) windows looking out over a treed vista.

h.     Finally ran out in front of everyone, sang our songs. I think we were received well.

i.       Returned to Haggett. Did a few more scheduling things. Met with Issa for dinner. Had a good conversation.

j.       Rick’s! A good night. The usual friendly banter and scooping. Near the end, I nearly got into an argument with the coordinator about our ability to give free toppings to friends, but he turned out to be a reasonable fellow, explained to me the relevant constraints, bowed to my limited requests, and we got into an edifying discussion about the finances of Rick’s. Turns out we serve so much ice cream per “scoop” that we actually lose several thousand dollars per quarter on ice cream. We probably make money on other things, but not enough to cover the deficit, which HFS, fortunately, makes up. Both the coordinator and I had no qualms about taking HFS’s money and subsidizing ice cream with it J.

k.     Returned to room, read physics, took shower, wrote log, and went to bed.