Qualifier Exam Passed, with Distinction

Ok, so the moment finally came:
10 years, 25 days, 20 hours, 10 minutes and 63 seconds after not passing my last qualifier at Texas A&M...
I passed the Physics Phd program qualification exam at UT Dallas, with distinction.

The stress involved has been a monkey on my ethereal back for the entire length of that time,over the past 10 years... and it is now past (or passed as it has become). GTA wants to celebrate.
I'm still experiencing stress about the whole thing -- I was already stressing about my dissertation proposal this afternoon and the infinity of work I have to do this weekend to not die academically by Monday.

But it's over,,, and now I can go on with my PhD life.

:)

YouTube Madness, Moohoohoohaahaaaa!

Ok, look. This is the way it is.

I only meant to use YouTube and other video-depositing sites like it to find the occasional video or post-up for my MySpace site. I was happy enough when I found the long version of the 'Fruit of the Loom' Commercial "Blue", the various "Star Wars Kid" adaptations and other obscure bits of released stuff. I also used to go to Retrojunk.com to giggle at all the old 'Sid&Marty Krofft' intros I used to watch religiously and had been posted there.

However, my addiction to YouTube did not truly run deep until I discovered someone had posted the last couple seasons of Red Dwarf on there. OMG! If I ever get a few minutes, I just load them up and watch. It's been getting worse, I have been watching full episodes of "Land of the Lost" (which I have a complete set of on DVD), "HR PufNStuf" and even "Elektra Woman & Dyna Girl".

And now, my subconscious mind wants more. I am starting to finally see the value of the "torrent" stream. I have an odd feeling I may not be able to refuse. There is another season of 'Battlestar Galactica' being made, but I can't wait until the US release in January... uuuuggh *shiver*... I have resisted so long. I suppose I could freeze myself, but knowing my luck, I'd be found in 5,000 years and used as a museum piece.

Anyway, let me know if anyone else is having the same trouble. :)

4.0 Number 2!!!

Wooohooo! It looks like my 4.0 luck has continued one more semester!

As a celebration of our wedding (over 4 years ago), my 4.0 and her new job, GTA and I went to Orlando to see Disney World again, and visit my sis and her husband. It was soooo much fun, but now I have to study and research again. :( I just want to go back.

Hmm,,, but on a secretly happy note, I got my static universe emission theory model to produce the inflation redshift curve for the he universe for certain reasonable conditions... Very exciting. Too bad it's not my research and I would get crucified if I ever published. :)

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day!

Besides getting the day off, I will be watching any footage of MLK's many speeches and public demonstrations as I can get my hands on. I will be driving 300 miles on ice too, unfortunately, but that shouldn't be too bad if they've sanded the roads.

My quote of the day is one of MLK's that I think of every day and night. It's one I wish others would think about at least once in their life:

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
- Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

There are so many more, but this one strikes a chord with me. This simple observation could transform the world if everyone took life this seriously, and didn't leave all of their beliefs up to pseudo-prophet tele-evangelist types and unduely over-bearing authorities. People should think about things. In my life's experience, if you don't think about an obvious problem and how you might help solve it, it won't get solved by anyone.

Of course, the man, MLK was not perfect in his personal life, but like Ghandi, I consider him one of the great peace-makers of our time.

I will try to post some video here as soon as I find some below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAKnMLPus1M

Enjoy!

Scrubs Scrubs Scrubs!!!

My addiction to Scrubs goes as follows:

It was once something that I would consider to be moderate and nothing to be embarrassed of. However, over the past two weeks I have watched sooo much Scrubs that my eyes are falling out. I have now seen every single episode from seasons 1 - 4 (more than once), alot of season 5 and quite a bit of the latest season.

It all started when GTA and I got married on 1221/2002 - coincidentally, on the winter solstice, just before Christmas and picked in such a way that I would never have an excuse not to remember, due to its uncanny mathematical regularity. We've had a rough time money-wise, with massive school debt and moving to Seattle and back, so anniversary presents from me have been small, but extremely heart-felt. This was the first year that I thought I could really get GTA exactly what she wanted, so I got her the first 4 seasons of the show 'Scrubs'. Conversely, she got me the entire collection of Star Trek movies and the opening season of Sci-fi channel's new version of 'Battlestar Galactica'.

Anyway, I've found myself subconsciously mimicking Dr. Perry Cox's mannerisms and not missing a beat with the rest of my usual reactions.

AKA. Waaaaaaaaaaaay too much Scrubs!

…If there is such a thing.

4.0 Baby!!!

As I headed back to graduate school at UTD this fall, I knew I was ten times more serious than when I was working toward the degree at Texas A&M, 10 years ago. However, I had no idea I was actually capable of doing well. The resulting grades as they were submitted this morning show "A" for all three courses. Sure, I studied for 2 days straight for my E&M II final, more than 24 hours for Solid state, and 12 hours straight for Material Science, but I still had no idea I was actually capable of doing well.

I was so worried that my being away from my GTA was not going to make any difference, and I would just feel crappy for the rest of my schooling. I guess maybe it might be working.

Anyway. If you're reading this, just remember that you can always improve things, no matter how overwhelming the bulk seems... and always shoot for the 4.0 baby!!!

Finally on Myspace!

After much prodding, and finally finding that I could not socially function outside the physics nerd-realms without a myspace page, I have one. I "pimped" it the best I could by hand (too cheap to get a pro job). Anyway, you can find it at:

http://www.myspace.com/thecitizenbob

enjoy