Kid Tetris

1. It occurred to me while I was interviewing that the interviewer, whose technical knowledge was far greater than mine, was looking for a certain answer when she asked what was wrong with my paper (after I had described it in a few sentences). I gave that answer, even though I think it was actually the wrong one when given the concerns that my paper actually addresses, since it's not actually building a demand curve, but merely forecasting a quantity. But I thinks she thought it was about demand curve estimation, so simultaneous equations was what she wanted and the way to solve it was (partially) right, too - 2 stage least squares with exogenously determined variables. Though I forgot about instrument variables, which might be the most obvious answer and was probably the answer she really wanted. While I impressed myself by coming up with an answer or two from graduate level coursework, the interview generally sucked ass and I'm going to forget about that job (since it sounds really nice on paper and would land me a great grad school if I wanted that, but I think I'd be bored and unhappy).

The thing is my professor didn't raise any concerns about the paper. He actually said it was well done and used it as an example. If I did have such an important oversight, I'm sure he would've sent it back and told me to pick a new topic, since that sort of actual model-building/problem-fixing was really beyond the scope of the course. Why would he use it as an example if it was totally wrong?

Enough of my intellectual, emotional and vocational insecurities.

2. Yesterday I made some flatbread. It starts out as a loose, gooey sponge and I always get very excited when I see the first portents of burping, indicating that the yeast was good and I didn't kill it with too hot water. Also, while I'm very excited about the world of sandwich possibilities associated with flatbread, I have precious few things to put on the flatbread. I made a peanut butter and jam sandwich. But I think plain flatbread will be a good dipping bread for chowder.

I'm always amazed when I'm done cooking bread that it's only water, yeast and flour (plus a little oil and salt). While I didn't bake this stuff (grilled bread - how neat), it still hinted at the Bread Smell. Behind Bacon Smell or Cookie Smell or Muffin Smell, it's one of the best smells to come from a kitchen.

3. The crux of a conversation I had with someone about the final episode of Dawson's Creek: Jenn had to die. She was an outsider - an invader, if you will. It would've been bad for their culture had Joey not killed her (think of The Simpsons episode where Marge is the Listen Lady and Flanders is stuck in Baboon County, USA at the Zoo). Because the theme of the show is "Don't fuck with the policy." And the policy is this: no outsiders. I always feel stupid when I talk about TV shows.

4. Each weekday, my parents call from work. Sometimes my dad calls first, sometimes my mom. They've stopped asking if anyone called about a job, but that's all they want to know. I hate it when they call and I wish they'd stop because it's mocking in a sort of way that I'm not sure they entirely understand.

5. I reconfigured my deskish-computerish space so that, should the mood strike me, I can actually do computer things from my bed. This pleases me to no end, but it bothers other people. They are trying to steal my shine.

6. Mountain Dew LiveWire tastes like orange candy, which is not a great thing.