Classes

I have three classes this semester:

Geophysical Fluid Dynamics -- this is fluid dynamics as applied to the ocean and atmosphere -- the physics of a thin layer of stratified fluid in a rotating reference frame.

Geological Oceanography -- this is the geology of the ocean basins -- plate tectonics, sediments, all sorts of stuff. It's being taught by an emeritus faculty who has witnessed continental drift personally. Mostly the lectures are him telling his life story. He did an amazing number of things, but I'm not sure I'm learning anything.

Small Scale Physics -- this one is so far mostly about turbulence and mixing, and it scares me. Usually it takes about three weeks for me to get lost in a physics class, even an upper-level one, but I was pretty much lost fifteen minutes into the first lecture, on the generation of entropy in a binary fluid.

Even the professor is struggling a little with this material, which is a hopeful sign. I've had professors struggle with material before, but it's always been because they were incompetent. A competent instructor struggling to teach me something new is the first hint that I may soon know enough to do something useful, I think.

oh, and...

Oh, and Carly Simon's "You're so Vain," which has always been a personal favorite, though I've never owned a copy. Sound quality of this compressed stuff must be pretty good, actually. I've never been able to tell what she whispers at the beginning on the radio (probably in part because some dumb-ass DJ usually talks over it) but on the headphones it's very clearly "son of a gun."

More iPod downloads

I bought some mechanical pencils today with 2 unique features: they were anti-bacterial and they came with a free iTunes download. Since I got one for free I downloaded a bunch more.

The Mama's & the Pappas: California Dreamin'
Otis Redding: Dock of the Bay
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Under the Bridge
Rush: Tom Sawyer, Limelight (I don't particularly like Rush, but Neil Peart's drumming has a hypnotic effect on me. I think he may be an alien.)
Stealers Wheels: Stuck in the Middle with You (did they have another song?)
Blind Melon: No Rain
The Presidents of the United States of America: Lump
No Doubt: Hey Baby, Hella Good
Goo Goo Dolls: Give a Little Bit (not sure why I didn't just get the Supertramp version)
Sheryl Crow: All I Wanna Do, Soak Up the Sun, Everyday is a Winding Road (for my guilty pleasure mix)
Roxy Music: Avalon (Dave's suggestion)

iPod

After a week I've decided I really like my iPod. It has a few quirks (like that my computer will not boot with it attached!) but overall a very well-done product.

I've started using the iTunes store, which is convenient and addictive. I don't think I'll ever use them to buy whole albums -- I'd rather buy an actual CD so I get an uncompressed version -- but for individual songs it's great. There are a lot of groups out there who have had one or two or three songs I like, and it's much cheaper to buy them individually than on a best-of compilation.

Recent iTunes Store downloads:

CCR: Born on the Bayou (their best song, but weirdly not on their best-of album)
ZZ Top: La Grange (how how how how)
Gladys Knight: Midnight Train to Georgia (I know the whole Pips part by heart)
The Hollies: Long Cool Woman
ELO: Mr Blue Sky
Elvis: Promised Land, Suspicious Minds, Kentucky Rain (late Elvis is underrated: James Burton rocks)
Little Feat: Dixie Chicken
Queen: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Blondie: Heart of Glass (long version)
Aerosmith: Sweet Emotion (one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time, but I had to settle for a live version since iTunes' selection sort of sucks)
Bangels: Hazy Shade of Winter, Walk Like an Egyptian
Roxy Music: More than This. (I've had this song in my head on and off since I saw Lost in Translation TWO YEARS AGO)
The Romantics: What I Like About You

Another thing I'm wondering about is possible hearing damage. Every time I listen to the thing at anywhere near full volume my ears ring afterwards. But I'm sure there are millions of people listening to them at full volume all day long. Either it's safe to do, or Apple has a potentially huge liability problem on their hands.

Spring Semester

Spring semester is a little slow getting started. My Wednesday class was cancelled, then I had classes on Thursday. Buy I have none of Friday, and today was a holiday. So tomorrow will be only my second day of classes.

I've decided to drop the seminar. I don't think I'm going to have to time to prepare one, given that two of my three classes are in physics, so will be a huge amount of work.

I can't believe how slack UNC is about collecting tuition and fees. My previous schools would drop your schedule like a hot potato if you weren't paid up by the first day of classes. My assistantship pays my tuition for me, but I still need to pay fees, and last semester I think it was the middle of October, at least, until I got around to doing it. The main reason was that they couldn't seem to get together an accurate bill; they could never get my assistantship funds applied to it.

What really sucks is that I'll have to continue to pay fees once I move to the lab on the coast, even though I won't have access to any of the facilities that the fees are meant to pay for. Not that I get $700 per semester worth of use out of them anyway. I think the student government is out of control. It would be enough to make me a Republican, if it weren't for the fact that Republicans are a bunch of frauds who spend even more money than Democrats.

I finally broke down and bought myself an iPod Friday night, and have spent most of the weekend converting my CD's. It's a white 4 GB nano, and I mainly got it so I could have music with me when I work out (mainly running), which I'm doing again. It's not enough space to take my whole collection with me, obviously, so I may get a full-size one eventually too. But for now I wanted something solid-state, because hard drives aren't known for shock-resistance.

One thing I've discovered through this process is that I'm damned tired of just about everything in my collection. Time for a music-buying binge, I guess.

Last night my housemate Chris came home and apparently turned on his computer. Suddenly I noticed "Chris's Music" on my iTunes menu. Turns out he's got 9000+ songs there for the taking, if I weren't concerned about copyright infringement.

Zeta

Tropical storm Zeta fell apart yesterday in the open Atlantic, finally ending the 2005 season that was supposed to have ended Nov 30. It turns out Dave F. wins the pool, guessing correctly the name of the final storm back in October. He gets the same thing I got for winning my fantasy football league: diddly squat. Don't spend it all in one place, Dave.

I took a road trip last week, stopping by and seeing Dave and Laura in Athens for a couple of days, swinging by Atlanta briefly, then heading to Charleston, SC. I had planned to take some photos, but didn't feel particularly inspired, so I mainly walked around the city, looking at historic stuff and eating low-country food (shrimp and grits, she-crab soup). I'm back in Asheville now, will head over to see my sister's family today, then head back to Chapel Hill tomorrow. Classes start Wednesday.

Classes this semester: geological oceanography, geophysical fluid dynamics, small-scale physics, seminar. It looks like geo and GFD will be on Tuesdays and Thurdays, small-scale on Monday and Wednesday, and the seminar on Wednesday, giving me Fridays off. At least assuming I don't get a TA assignment for Friday, which is a possibility.