Bad showers / Lean studying / MIT weekend

Bad showers

USA may be the most technologically advanced country in the world and MIT may well be the epicenter of new technology, but still the one cannot get a decent shower here. Yesterday, I went to the MIT-gym, which is excellent, spacious, clean, with enough new equipment for any kind of strength training. And they give free towels, too. But I was bitterly disappointed by the quality of the showers. It not that there would not be enough water, even hot one, and that it would be hard to adjust the temperature. No, all that is OK. The only problem is that these folk just are unable to manufacture decent shower heads. All the water is just wasted, sprinkled to the walls. I was lucky enough to spot a shower for the disabled, in which I got take the system apart and just use the water hose. Finally, I got my hair washed properly, for the first time after coming to USA. I have not encountered this bad showers since I was in Poland in 1990.

Lean studying

I have been experimenting and developing my new concept of lean studying. The principles I have created so far are:

1. Learn to think on your feet. (I got this from mr Koo)
2. Do not stop the value, when it is flowing. For example, if you get an assignment is a class, and have 1 hour free time after the class, try to complete the assignment and turn it in. This way you get it done, and you can start worrying something else. And it is always faster to continue doing something than to start anew.
3. Try to be 2-3 days ahead of your assignments. It gives you freedom in doing other things, and also some flexibility. Also, if you can do something, let it be for 2 days, and then check it before turning it in, the quality is much better.
4. Write when walking. Do not stop thinking ever, develop your ideas all the time. Be careful not to think wrong things: when walking to an exam/presentation, think of something else. Thanks to S for this advice.
5. Load your mind before going to sleep and most of the things will be clear in the morning. (idea gotten from professor Crawley)
6. Think things trough once and well. Do not just assume you understand them, test yourself by trying out the new methods to some small exercises. (this is a hard principle to obey to with the current workload).
7. Learn how to read and walk at the same time. It sometimes helps to cope with excessive reading amount.
8. Keep breaks. If you just cannot figure out something after trying hard for an hours or so, change to some other subject. (this is a variant of the loading and sleeping principle). Thanks to S for clarifying this.
9. Divide your time among the different classes/topics. Do not use more than allocated time for each class even if you cannot solve/complete all assignments in that time. If you overdo anything, you will end up in vicious circle of being late and underdoing everything.
10. Remember that the goal is to learn. Good grades will follow. Worrying about grades is waste of time and mental energy.

MIT weekend

The going is getting tough, but I am still working only at about 60% or less of my capacity. I am just warming up my brains. Anyway, I have completed all assignments due next week. Now I just need to read some 300 pages next week, and of course do the next assignments. I have not been doing anything else but studying this weekend, but I have had a lots of fun. I even developed a program for building the sum of product forms needed in risk and benefit analysis. I was just too stupid not to understand what to do and did the wrong thing, which was too hard to do by hand. Funny, a good programming exercise, too. Not commercial as of now. We had a group meeting in E40 today with Kumar, Srini, and Vineet. We work on risk analysis, RFID, and system optimization together. It is fun, and more efficient than just to work alone.

The weather is getting nice. It is warm enough to use spring/summer clothes already. Sun shines, it is not raining. I assume this is a nice place after one month, but I will be studying even then.

The Guardian Weekly has started to appear in my mailbox on Saturdays. It is as good as I remembered (I have not subscribed to it for a year now). Still no sight of the Economist even though I sent a notification of my changed address a month ago. They are so slow, they have such a good magazine, that they do not have to worry about their customers. Customers have nowhere else to go to. But I have not been able to follow what is happening - I must add this to my lean efforts somehow.

Soon I will go to Brian's with Sam and other to watch the Superbowl (?). I have no real idea of the rules of the local football, and no cultural skills needed in watching it. But I am sure I will learn. I just hope they have some beer - I am getting thirsty.

I sometimes take the T to MIT. On the way, I often see some musicians. One old guy is often playing clarinet in the Copley station, an not-so-easy-to-understand man raps in front of the local 7-11. Quite often there are some guys playing makeshift drums in the Copley place. Today, in the Park street station 2 older men were playing guitars and singing. They were really good, much better than most house bands is most pubs. If I see them again, I will ask them to play in some of the parties we will soon throw.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs February 2005".