And now for the best pumpkin idea ever...

I give you.... The Infinite Loop:

The Infinite Loop

Props to Halcy for ideas and help.

Found him!

Operation make a haloween costume has been a success!  Also, the hat took less than 24 hours.  Yay for being an obscenely fast knitter!

It even has a puffball!

Procrastination

I truly have a gift for avoiding work I am supposed to be doing.

This Thursday, I am giving a talk at a conference.  The slides are all done.  That part is easy because I like it.  The problem is that I don't want to actually practice the talk.  I am conscious of the fact that I will do a far better job if I practice in advance.  Seriously, I went to music school.  That lesson was certainly beat into my brain.  However, there's something about giving a talk to EvilCat on computational topology as applied to sensor networks that makes me find absolutely everything better to do.

EvilCat is more interested in the laser pointer than in computing probabilistic failure of sensor networks.

I really do need to practice.  There is a strict 25 minute limit on talks, plus I talk very fast when I'm nervous.  The idea is that if I practice, I won't be nervous, and therefore will talk at a pace where my tongue can keep up with my brain.

In case you were wondering, yes, writing this blog post is actually a method of avoidance as well.

I am incapable of dressing myself

I spent the afternoon shopping with some friends.  I am a terrible shopper.  I do not understand why so many people enjoy it and do it for fun and entertainment.  I generally only shop out of necessity.  For example, today's necessity was that I ripped a hole in my last pair of jeans and although I have a bit of a habit of dressing like a slob, wearing sweat pants to work would be a new low, even for me.

It is interesting how the amount of effort I put into my appearance changes based on my surroundings.  In undergrad, I was in music school, surrounded by artists who had far better taste in clothing than me.  As such, I put more effort into my appearance in order to fit in.  I actually did my hair in the morning, I wore "outfits" instead of clothes, I put on some makeup.  Honestly, it was a bit more than some.  Now it's next to nothing.

The past three years have had me surrounded by academics.  Not just any old academics: mathematicians.   True to the stereotypes, a majority of people in my line of work give up on the appearance front.  It's not that they don't care, its just that, well, no, I take that back... it's actually that they don't care.  Appearance is not of any importance.  How you think, what you do, how you work is far more important than how you look.

I'm about 80% for this method of thinking, but the fact that I look like a bum most days still bothers me in retrospect.  I would like to look like a professional.  I would like to look like I deserve to be given a job that pays more than just enough to keep the fridge stocked.  I would just like to be able to do it without having to take time away from my work.

That being said, the obvious thing to do would be to build up a new wardrobe of adult clothing (no more buying anything in the juniors section of Penny's).  However, shopping just makes me frustrated.  It reminds me of two things: First, it points out how little taste I have in clothes.  Secondly, it points out that most clothing stores do not cater to my body type.  Everything is made for hyper-skinny, hipless, boobless women and as such, nothing looks good on me.

I'm not sure what the solution is for this.  At least I know that I want to change my appearance. Maybe I can solve this like a mathematician.  Do some research, get a sense of what looks good on other people with my body type, then work on buying that.

Problem is that end of the day I am much more apt to spend my money on computer parts and other gagets than I am willing to spend on clothing and I am much more willing to spend my time playing with math and computers than shopping.