Cracking away in the Land of Corn…

Being back at Purdue is always pretty surreal. Every time I come here, I subconsciously seem to utter “returning to the scene of the crime, eh?” – lots of the best things in my life have happened here (including The Best Thing in My Life), as have several of the worst (including Two out of Three of the Worst Things in My Life (hah, no links, fools!)) . To say I have ambiguous feelings about Lafayette is an understatement.

Regardless, it’s sort of odd to return here as a remote student. Last year, driving toward Chicago on my way back to Los Angeles, I was having a little celebration with myself, saying “this is the last time I’ll be in Lafayette, if I have anything to say about it!” I clearly lied – I definitely had something to say about it, and I chose to come back with a surprising degree of ease. As I said, not everything was bad here, and I do really like the department I’m associated with. Having a supportive environment and advisor is worth its weight in gold if you can get it – but it still feels weird every time I’m here, whatever the reason.

So anyhow… I’m here. In the 24-hour study room of the undergraduate library. I don’t know why, but it’s easier to work here than alone in my hotel room. Go figure.

I’m still cracking away at the stuff I wanted to finish last week – it’s a lot more work than I thought it would be, but it’s coming together in a preliminary state that I like. One of the reasons I’m discovering it’s frustrating, though, is that it’s not really in a state where I can write much up about it. Makes a Hell of a spreadsheet, though The real work at the moment, to be honest, is getting my head around some of the things I want to say about the problem, and trying to hit my own theories over the head with various things to see how they hold up. Or trying to figure out what size hammer I need to hit them with.

However, I’m getting pretty loopy due to the fact that I didn’t really get sleep last night – had to be out the door at 3 am Mountain Time today to return the Rental Car Formerly Known As a Big Banana On Wheels ™ to the airport (we occasionally rent a car the day before one of us flies to ensure timely arrival at the airport and, as a bonus, run a crapload of errands), and I hadn’t slept much the night before either, so except for a couple of unfortunate naps on the plane and a short nap in the hotel room, my brain is pretty much tapped out. I’ll have to sleep soon.

Ah well… back to work for a bit. Just needed a breather.