Blog

Its been a pretty good 36 hours.  Nothing overly spectacular, but life progressing well.

Yesterday, pretty much last minute, Muneeb and I found a new third roommate for next year.  So we are keeping our apartment, and I will not have to move yet again (this place will be the longest I lived somewhere other than home back in St. Louis).

After jumping through the hoops of housing, I went to dinner with a friend who was having a not so great day.  Hopefully it improved post-dinner.

Then I put in about 5 hours of solid work.  While I still think STATA (another statistical software program) is simpler, the inner geek in me sometimes enjoys the R programming puzzles.

I then went to a party where Bud Light, friends, and flip cup were to be had.

Woke up today.  Finished off some R work.  I had the cravying for Pizza Hut, but I went home and thought I would be good.  When I got there, I checked in with Muneeb who gave a presentation in a competition today.  He got first in one category, and second in another.  That turned into $3,000 for him.  I took Muneeb to the dentist yesterday so he wouldn’t have to pay for cabs.  So he treated me to Pizza Hut tonight where good conversation was to be had.

Got home.  Watched the last 5 minutes of SLU beating #25 Dayton at the first sell out at Chaifetz.

Now I think I will continue to work on The Southern Seventeenth Amendment Swing.

Good Day.

Between my old world and new there are somethings different, some are the same, and others that seem somewhat substituted, so I thought I would blog (as I avoid real productivity).

• As my office mates will attest, my desk is generally a mess.  The funny thing is that when I clean or organize it is the only time that I can’t find things.  However, I have moved up in the world.  Due to the lack of Safeway savings, the empty/half drank cans on my desk have switched to name brand soda.  Diet Pepsi Vanilla seems to be the new beverage of choice for Steve.
• I believe I have discovered why I am most productive at night…there is much less new content on the internet then.  During the day, I can continually check message boards, news sites, blogs, etc. and find a distraction online.  However at night, there is a drop in the production of new content, so I am left with doing work.  Since the election even I have noticed I have become more productive during the day.  Unfortunately for Steve, he needs to take his general exams in 2010, an election year.
• Also an aside to the Election Day comment, I would really like someone to make T-Shirts for the next Election Day for political scientists calling it Data Day…As Election Day really is just the addition of an observation to countless datasets.
• Jeff Tessin is my new Finance Department.  At the DLCC, I always used to go to Finance in my wandering moments (everyday after clips, I would putt in O’Connor’s office).  Now I walk by Jeff’s office and call him a slacker (in jest).  For reference, Jeff is a fifth year Politics student who has been quite helpful with older advice and guidance.  Good guy.  Sorry he will only be around until May.
• I have definitely lucked out with advisers.  Sarah was/is fantastic (we still got GMail threads going), and Josh Clinton at Princeton has been great.  I feel a little bad for Josh (and anyone who will come to advise me).  You see, all first years were assigned an advisor.  It was meant as just some sort official person to be there to help you out.  Meanwhile I think I have popped into Josh’s office a little more than that…heh…I hope Josh doesn’t regret his assignment.  The bad news is that Mr. Clinton is leaving Princeton after this year.  The interesting thing is I suspect some of the reasons behind it are why I like him as an adviser.
• Frist Center is my new Marvin center.  I think I was born in the best time for me.  I don’t mind strip malls, or generic mass produced items.  Maybe it will wear on me in Princeton, but I don’t think the limitations of the town bother me as much as it may some others.  I probably don’t appreciate quality as much as I should, so a burger from Frist satisfies me fine.
• I have had some pretty darn good luck in the roommate department the last few years.  At Princeton, I was randomly assigned a roommate, Muneeb.  Now he does not yell at the TV in the style of Nathan Rudy, make a delicious dish like Mr. Sisco, (eat to the level of Rob) or bet cookie cakes like Brett or Rich (btw STILL undefeated against Rich in sports bets!), but he is a good guy who is pretty chill.  We don’t get in each others way as roommates, but still get along well.
• One surprising thing that grad school does to you is either one of two things.  Either first, you start admitting to the awful television you watch, or you just start watching awful television.  I am not going to lie, I have now probably seen most of the episodes of John and Kate plus 8 (my mom got me DVRing them).  Some students here have and unhealthy interest in Disney shows for mid-twenty somethings, and there are a few others who have other guilty pleasures on TLC.
• Finally, on a SLU note.  Kevin Lisch made a disgusting 3pt shot to send the SLU v. Richmond game to triple overtime.  SLU is likely assured to make it to Atlantic City (GW….TBD).  I am just sort of hoping they get scheduled at night.  My SLU fandom is definitely a nice little hobby.

Okay.  Lets see if I can be productive.  But before I go, if anyone can tell me how to estimate what is normally a regression with seven variables but assume an extended beta binomial distribution, I will buy you a cookie.

I know I have not written much about Princeton yet.  Part of my hesitancy is because I know this blog imports into Facebook, so many Princeton folk will see it.  Still getting to know people, making impressions, so if of the Princeton folk are confused by SteveRogers.info.  Just ignore and don’t worry.

With all of my contemplation about Princeton, a lot of anxiousness was relieved on my first day here.  Doors were open.  Just what I wanted.  And that is how it has stayed.  Every day, I walk down a hall in Robertson, and both doors to my right are open.  Multiple times I have been able to pop in on my adviser with a question.  Having that sort of department is what I wanted.

While I did not have negative expectations in anyway, but I am genuinely and pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere of the department.  Maybe it is still honeymoon time or Steve is in a bubble, but I am legitimately impressed by how nice people are.  I wasn’t expecting mean people, but people here are just nice, good, and helpful.  Whether it be hosting a random get together, taking the extra time to explain something, or following up on a situation that they knew could be bothering me, it makes for a good group of people and It is sort of a great atmosphere to have.  Now there are certain personalities I get along with more than others, but there is nothing I would really cry home about.

If I think things are so good, maybe I am just the one annoying everyone else…which would be a bad thing.  Apologies to those I annoy, but I hope this is not the case.

This not to say there are not things I would change, but there is little need (at least at this point) to blog those out to the world.  Nothing is going to be perfect, and so far with the things that have bothered me, there has generally been an ear to vent to here, and that has helped make Princeton a nice place.