Beyond the Bay...

Yesterday Mike and I went on a bit of an adventure. Mike has a friend who lives in Petaluma, CA, a mere 37.4 miles from our humble abode. He was free yesterday afternoon, so we piled into the car for the short-ish drive up there. Petaluma sits in a valley, and was thus a good 15 degrees warmer than Albany. We had a good time, but couldn't go out much 'cos it was too too hot.

I got registered for classes yesterday morning before our adventure. I have to take 3 classes, while most of my fellow first years only have to take 2. This is the tradeoff for me not having to take on teaching or research responsibilities for the first two years. This term's fun-filled schedule includes Probability Theory, Statistical Methods: Theory and Application, and Statistical Computing.

If 3 "real" classes seems to much of a load, I have the option of taking "seminar" as a class instead. There are several different weekly seminars hosted by the department, and if I agree to attend a certain number, then I get course credits. However, that seemed to me like a serious cop-out. I've been given a pretty sweet fellowship, and I may as well take advantage of the opportunity to get in some extra coursework. If I play my cards right, I could have the classroom portion of my studies done during the first two years, and then need only worry about research and dissertation after that.

Orientation starts on Tuesday, so I think the next day or two will involve the last of the running around I need to do before I get bogged down in coursework: changing my driver's license and the car's registration, reloading the school supplies, etc. Mainly drudgery, but necessary drudgery.

Oh, exciting note: My former local group, Western Pennsylvania Mensa, was just selected to host the 2009 Annual Gathering, which is Mensa's national convention. Contract negotiations are underway with the William Penn Hotel downtown to be the main site. I'll likely help out in some capacity, though the organizers of AG09 want to get AG06 (currently underway in Orlando) in the books and then start making committee assignments.