american goat society

so, so many things to write about but this had to be written about immediately. just did a google search for a company called 'ags' that sells marketing data and it's all rather boring, but one of the top hits on the google results was 'american goat society'. man i love america.

day two post-exam

well, the exam is over for now. results come in august. whichever section(s) i did not pass, i will have to take again next july. if i don't pass then, i'm out of the program. i can't really write about how i felt the exam went (other than that it was extremely painful) because we just don't know how the committee will score the exams. it's a pass-fail sitch. night before last, i had terrible anxiety dreams - why wasn't i studying? what should i be studying? what section of the exam was in the morning? - last night wasn't as bad. yesterday (day 1) i went to a few yard sales, found blake a tent shaped like a bob-the-builder bulldozer. then met sam, flav and the kids at chuck e cheese. afterward, we went to tcby where little ziva tripped on the tile, and hit her face. there was blood everywhere. coming out of her teeny tiny right nostril, out of her mouth, there were tears, blake was trying to make everything better by wiggling his fingers in her face, sam was holding her, flav was trying to wash the blood off, everytime she stepped away, i stepped in. it was a mess. today, we tried to go to the farmers market downtown but there was an art thing so we went to a much smaller farmers market - one with no cheesy bread! we met up later for lunch. so much time with the fam, i love it! so much time not studying, i love it! ziva's chipmunking now, she stores food in her mouth, won't swallow it. it's great because when you finally show her something she wants, she gives up what she's been storing. into your hand. man i love being an aunt. it's a good thing she's so darn cute.

can and parents coming to visit, work, and summer school. that's the rest of my summer. now that the exam's over, i might go see a movie. i'll definitely read a non-school book. how exciting!

interview with the big cheese (chuck e)

me: thank you for the interview sir, it's quite an honor
mr. cheese: my pleasure, my pleasure
me: so mr. cheese-
mr. cheese: please, call me chuck
me: ok chuck, thanks. so the rumor is that kids can really be, you know, kids when they're at your place
chuck: it's true; i remember when the first store opened, back in-
me: that's great chuck. from childhood, i remember your place as kind of dark, there were these big scary puppets with blinking eyes that sang every once in a while, you got tickets from playing video games and ski-ball, and there were cheap plastic prizes you could exchange those tickets for. how is it possible that a place like that has survived for over thirty years?
chuck: well, first there's our quality frozen over-priced pizza, made from the finest ingredients, as you can see from this animated poster, featuring myself. we also now give little cups to the kiddos so they can hold their tokens in them, much like adults carry around in vegas. we've opened the place up a bit by having windows installed and the puppets are still here, see? right over there? but now you can see their whole bodies so they're not quite as scary. they still move when they're not singing and their eyes stare at you incessantly, but we've had very positive responses. finally, we have a salad bar for the adults and all games are now only one token.
me: i know my niece and nephew sure love this place. we came here just yesterday and they had a blast. the frozen pizza, plastic prizes, and wierd puppets clearly appeal to them.
chuck: just wait until they get older, they'll have fond memories of my stores, just like you.
me: hmmm, yeah. ok, well, thanks again for your time, i know you're a very busy mouse.
chuck: my pleasure, my pleasure. come back anytime, and be sure to bring your niece and nephew!

t-minus thirteen hours

tomorrow's the first day of my qualifying exam
been studying for months so there's no need to cram
three sections, two days, and serious implications
lots of stress, lots of coffee, and a lack of vacations

i know lots of stuff about techniques of regression
preventing all bias has become an obsession
methods for study design and analyses
my brain is at risk of knowledge paralyses!

if y is my score, beta one is my slope,
x one is me, x two is hope
looking forward to this exam being over and done
so 'normal' can return and i can have some fun! (and start my research)