I added duplicity to my Time Machine setup for day-to-day backups. I also found a way to backup my GMail account using getmail. Getmail is written in Python, so I looked a little bit into the libraries that can be used to interact with IMAP. It’s actually very easy to retrieve messages or other statistics; so I had to do something with it.

You’re asking why? Why? Because I love data! I love data like Tarantino likes making movies.

I wrote a script that periodically logs the headers of flagged messages in my inbox, and another that reads the logged data, and plots a couple of statistics: stress, defined as the number of flagged messages; and procrastination, defined as the median age of those messages.

Here’s a snapshot of the result:

For now, I only have three days of data, but you can see it live on my webpage and track my stats in the future.

This is especially useful if you’re waiting for an answer from me!

There was much variety in the complexity of the projects. We went from the classics (“how does light influence plants growth”, “what is my dog’s favorite toy”, “which kitchen paper is more absorbent”) to the more innovative (“which home surface has more bacteria”, “which bridge design bears more load”). This girl checked what was the best method to treat the discoloration of her blond air after swimming.

The most courageous effort was by a group that found a way to justify six hours of video-game playing as a science project. I tried to insist to give them a special mention, but the teacher didn’t want to. Probably she didn’t want to encourage insubordinate behavior.

(read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

I went to the Great wall and the Ming tombs with an “official” organized tour. Apparently, if you choose a cheaper options, the driver will stop in a closer but not as beautiful section of the wall.

The Ming tombs are a couple of big halls in front of the actual tombs, which are under a hill and still have to be excavated.

“Mao stopped here to take a rest” — I’m sure it wasn’t this cold, it’s freezing!

After the tombs, they take us to the government Jade shop, which is the only place in China where haggling is forbidden.

At the great wall, we climb using single-seat train cars:

The wall follows precisely the set of points with singular Hessian:

On the way down, it’s a roller-coaster!

(read Part 1, Part 2)

After Hangzhou, I fly to Beijing alone. It’s not easy to get around alone if you don’t speak Chinese, but fortunately Shuo arranged for some people from his university to guide me through the city.

So first I went to the famous Tsinghua university:

In the cafeteria of the university there is a board with names and pictures of all servers, in case you want to complain:

Then we went to the Summer palace, the summer residence of the emperor. It is cold! The huge lake in the middle of the residence is frozen, and we can walk on it to go from one building to the next.

Several old people walked around doing calligraphy exercises with water on the pavement:

The other sightseeing sites that I visited in the following days include the Olympic city and the the Bird nest stadium:

The famous Tiananmen Square:

The Forbidden City:

The Temple of Heaven:

The Wangfujing district:

The Qianmen area:

After Shangai, the next destination for Teja and I, and Lina as our teacher and guide, is Hangzhou (“heaven on earth” according to a Chinese saying). Plan A is to take the train: the station has just been built and looks like an airport.

Unfortunately there aren’t any tickets left for the night. We propose to try to buy a ticket from the people waiting, but apparently that is illegal. In the end, we end up getting on a black taxy, a private car (I’d never do that in the US!). This guy accepts to take us to Hangzhou for 100 RMB ($15), which is more or less the price of the regular bus ticket. We hop into this car that looks older than disco music. We instinctively look for seatbelts, but there aren’t any. Anyway, we relax a bit after the prospect of sleeping in the train station for catching an early morning train.

A few minutes later, we arrive at the toll station and we park on the road shoulder. There’s another group of men and cars, and it seems that our driver wants to offload us to another car. He seems not to have an agreement with these people, so he walks in the middle of the traffic stream and starts stopping cars, to see who can give us a lift. An SUV accepts. So he make us run in the middle of the freeway to get to this other car. When we get there, we find ourselves in this car with other 7-8 people. They want all the money now, but Teja and I don’t want to pay until we’re at our destination. They start arguing and yelling at Lina, who’s though, so she yells back. The situation is tense and we decide to give them all the money.

In the end, we make it to Hangzhou, which is even colder than Shanghai!

The next day, in the silk market:

We ask a group of Taiwanese people to help us choosing some silk, and they take us to this shop they know:

They also bargain for us. In the end, we pay about 60% of the sticker price:

The main attraction of Hanzhou is the lake and its artificial island. It’s cold!

Teja getting scammed (even though we didn’t really understand what the scam was):

Teja finds a new friend:

Teja fails at ordering food:

People dancing (or exercising?) in the streets at night:

Buying tea with Lina:

The first day of conference. Knock knock! Who’s there? Knock! Who’s there?

Elisa in pre-presentation worrying mode, and me distracting her:

Old town Shanghai:

Andy is a ninja:

Dr. Wierman explains the Baltimore way to eating a crab:

Shuo shows off his mastery of the art of chopsticks by picking up a cube of tofu:

How not to do a presentation:

Children getting ready for the banquet show:

Blade Runner atmosphere:

Best trick ever!

The optimism of Teja:

Me, a dragon, and a tall skycraper:

Around the shops of Shanghai:

Chinese gardens don’t have grass, but lots of bridges, temples, and archs:

Three wise men:

Our new paper in the works: “Inferring leader-follower graph layout from observation of dynamic behavior”

Everybody needs Mao, Saddam, and Osama on their fridge:

Climbing the tower:

The view from the top:

Walking on the void:

On to Part 2.

• I started TAing for CDS 110, the basic control course.
• I went to Cambridge, UK for my first biology conference, and I had to give a talk about fruit flies.
• I prepared the candidacy exam (passed, but still have to file the paperwork). I’m still recovering from candidacy.

And here’s a summary with webcam snapshots.

Homework despair (1): 47 sets to grade.

Homework despair (2): I see Hodge stars everywhere!

Candidacy despair (1): finishing the candidacy report after an all-nighter in the library. Photo taken at 8am.

Candidacy despair (2): preparing the candidacy talk, wondering whether all of that makes sense

Yesterday I gave up after three hours of hammering and screwing. When I woke up this morning, with only half a “BESTÅ VARA” mounted, and the rest of the pieces scattered around the house, Wikipedia proved, once again, to be an indispensable tool.

Graduate students regulate their circadian clock, blood sugar level, and mating periods according to conferences deadlines. For robotics people, the revered date is not September 21 (solstice), but September 15, the deadline for ICRA. For control people, the date is September 15… or 22… or 29, the ever-slipping deadline for ACC.

The peaks of my productivity for the summer were:

• Getting a driving license. It took 2 tries and too much good money spent on driving lessons.
• Understanding what’s the use of all the buttons on my camera, including the elusive “AEL”.
• Finishing reading the last two books of the Hyperion Cantos. (I’m actually disappointed because Simmons doesn’t explain the origin of the Shrike.)

My good propositions for the next academic year are the same as ever:

• I will buy a car,
• I will read all the papers in my giant “INBOX” folder,
• I will go swimming every other day,
• I will take at least two classes,
• I will write more often on this blog,

and on, and on, and on: I consider myself lucky to be in harmony with my procrastination.