the haven't-written-in-a-while update

right. what have i been up to lately? piggies, research, and funding.

first: piggies. i noticed a balding patch on one of my guinea pigs, wuza. on her belly, 'bout the size of a nickel. took her to the vet. vet couldn't find anything wrong and said it may just be that she's getting older (she's 4). but in the last couple of weeks, the spot has gotten bigger, and there are more of them (4, i think, at last count), and she's really starting to look raggedy. and miss fergusson (the other piggy) has got a spot on her left hind leg, too. so i've got another vet appointment for thursday night. blurg. another $50, plus whatever medicine she prescribes.

second: research. it's going well, actually. i'm making progress on getting that damned program to work properly. one night last week, i even got karl to write me some code to display the images semi-randomly on the screen. it took him a couple of hours, all told. a task that would've taken me a couple of weeks, plus a LOT of frustration. AND, he said it was FUN. because it wasn't for work. heh. geeky programmer guy that he is.

oh! speaking of geeky (and really good) programmer guy that he is, i've forgotten to say this for like, forEVER. on new year's eve, somehow the subject of IQs came up. one of karl's friends admitted to a 140. someone brought up that karl had taken an IQ test at some point. when asked, he admitted to a 170. 170! that's REALLY FUCKING high! like genius level. i was shocked. i mean, i knew he was smart and all, but 170! holy shit! [digression from the digression: the phrase 'holy shit' is funny, i think. shit? holy? wouldn't that be a riot. imagine the priest blessing a big, steaming, stinky pile of fresh shit. or even old petrified shit. either one. [digression from the digression from the digression: this talk of priests reminded me of a joke i heard the other day. so the pope is on a speaking tour, and happens to have a day off. it's a beautiful day, and the pope says to his driver, "man, i NEVER get to have a day off. i want to do something fun today." his driver says "okay, what do you want to do?" the pope says, "how about we go for a drive through the country?" driver says "okay," and they set off. so they're driving through the countryside in the pope's limo, and the pope says "you know, i never get to drive a car myself. i want to do that." the driver says, "well, okay," and the pope and his driver switch places. so the pope's driving around, having a GREAT time. he's got the windows rolled down, and the radio on, and he's letting the wind blow through his hair, and he doesn't notice that he's going a bit fast. too late, he notices a police car in his mirror, lights flashing. he pulls over. the policeman comes up to the window and sees the pope and says, "oh! your holiness! i'm so sorry! i didn't realize it was you! can you wait here a moment?" the cop goes back to his car and gets on the radio. "you'll never guess who i've just pulled over!" he says to the dispatcher. "who, the mayor?" "no," says the cop, "more important that that." "the governor?" says the dispatcher with surprise. "no, bigger than THAT," says the cop. "the PRESIDENT?" says the dispatcher with incredulity. "no, bigger than even THAT." "i don't know," says the dispatcher, "who could be bigger than the president?" "well, i don't know either," says the cop, "but he's got the POPE as his chauffeur."]]

anyway, karl and his 170 IQ. i don't doubt it, actually. he's wicked smart. i guess i'm just surprised at his (relative) lack of ambition, considering his extreme intelligence. i suppose that intelligence and ambition are independently variable. and it's not like he's got NO ambition. he's just a laid-back, easy-going guy who just wants to enjoy life. nuthin bad i can say about that.

so this paragraph was supposed to be about research. to sum up: it's going well, now that karl's written the code. in a couple of weeks, i should be running subjects. yay!

funding: i'm in my fourth year of my ph.d. program. my department guarantees us funding for four years, then we're on our own. so i gotta find a source of money for next year. i had hoped that IRCS (the institute for research in cognitive science, the interdisciplinary network of labs where i spend most of my time) would hook me up with one of their pre-doctoral fellowships. but, alas, the fellowships went away when the NSF funding grant that started the whole place ran out. [sigh.] so, j.t. (my advisor) and i found a possible NIH grant i can apply for. here's the skinny:

the grant is a national research service award (NRSA) grant to post-comprehensive-exam, pre-doctoral students, to pursue dissertation research. it awards an annual stipend for up to 5 years, plus any expenses related to research and travel related to research. so, if i got it, it would not only pay my stipend, but also give me money to go to russia (and possibly the netherlands--j.t. will be on sabbatical there from july-december of this year, and i hope to go over for a few weeks in the fall do do some research, and hang out in nijmegen) to do research. also, the act of writing the grant proposal will get me off my ass about my dissertation proposal, which i've been dreading and no one's been forcing me to write. ALSO, if i happen to get it, not ONLY will i have funding, but ALSO, hello? the prestige of an NIH NRSA grant?