Being in classes again after all these years has been quite an experience, especially since the medical school curriculum is so intense. One of the things I am trying to work on is a good study system that will allow me to do reasonably well on the courses, without spending so much time that my research work suffers. So far, a high-level understanding of the concepts coupled with a hurried attempt to pick up some of the details has worked, and as far as performance is concerned I have no major problems.

I am not enjoying the course as much as I thought. As a Biology major, most of the Molecules and Cells course is a review, maybe with a bit more detail. I had hoped the course would be a Biology refresher, but it has ended up being a rushed look at a lot of concepts with not much retention. The lectures are in a large class format with not much discussion, and the discussion groups often focus on getting enough knowledge to pass the exam rather than on providing a stimulating intellectual exercise. The Journal Club variation of the discussion group is probably what I like the most -- it is unfortunate that they comprise such a small part of the course.

Thankfully, research is going quite well. I will soon have my first opportunity to use a real supercomputer, specifically one at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. I am also trying to find a more challenging but less well-defined project related to Bayesian networks. Once I am done with this semester's classes at the medical school, I should be able to spend more time on research.

I thought that once I was in grad school, I would have more time to update my blog. It has not exactly worked out that way, especially since I am getting the firehose-style preclinical courses at the Hopkins med school. Still, I do want to update at least once a week -- let us see if I manage it from now on.

My new Macbook is working great. The Microsoft Office suite runs like a bear, and there is no hope of improvement until Office 2007 is released in late 2007. Apart from that, OS X has been rock stable (knock on wood), though I had to do a quick Archive-and-Install when I screwed up Rosetta with Monolingual. I am glad I did not wait for the new Core 2 Duo Macbooks, which are still expected sometime before the holidays but not here yet.

Came across this Calvin and Hobbes strip in my sister's copy of "It's a Magical World". Thought it summed up nicely how the realities of the lives we make for ourselves constrict the breadth of our experience, even as adults.

(From this searchable archive of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips)