I have published some entries I am proud of at www.productivityshock.com

I have published a profile at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mthomas1776 

I have published an entry at wikipedia on one of my professors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_H._White

Check these out will ya?

I know it looks like I dissapeared, but no....  I have just been blogging more formally at :

www.productivityshock.com

Come check it out -- I think you will like it.

here is the link for this year's wish list

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/3KTUVEK57RLEX

Wallking everwhere has taken 3 inches off my waist and 10 pounds off of my frame (or is that the constant studying).  I also get car sick when I am in a vehicle (about once a week).  Sitting in the backseat is much worse.

www.productivityshock.com

This was started by a fellow student of mine, and I have been asked to blog.  Check it out, write down the address.

We had a dinner party in my new house, this is the pic.  Jason, Diana, Meredith, Jason, Marek, Brian, Me, Triya, and Carrie.

We ate authentic indian food (curtousy of Triya) and watched a movie.  A welcome break form studying Economics.  Off to do more Macro now...

Life here is pretty busy.  I haven’t posted as much as I thought I would because I AM tired from all the work that goes into a PhD.  I don’t think it is impossible amounts of work, but you want to master the material, and you don’t really think that you can keep up with the pace of the class.  I am pretty sure that this accelerates learning, because I have already noticed the change.  I am paying much more attention, I am becoming a learning machine.  My phrasing is changing due to the amount of textbook and research paper writing I am doing, and I immediately want to summarize everything that I experience, so that I can refer back to it later.  People are starting to be very aware of the amount of time that they have to commit to studies.  I have found it useful to be very regimented in my use of time.  I have set schedules.  Right now I should be working on some stuff, but I feel like I am on track to get it all done, plus I have many reading assignments which can be done best as I wind down at the end of the day.  It feels a little weird not to be working on stuff that is directly due in class.  In group, you feel like you are slowing the group down if you make a joke, or go off on a tangent.  We are planning some down-time however this weekend, which should bring a little levity back into the situation.  I want this experience to be as good as we can possibly make it, and by encouraging each other to perform at the limit of our abilities, it will be beneficial to us all.  The professors this semester are great.  The second and Third years are very jealous that we drew such good luck on the way that each of the well-recognized professors will complement our first term.  I feel very good about this.  I also think that my class is a great group of people.  They all have really strong backgrounds.  I am so pleased that so many were able to be accepted to the program, meaning that the applicant pool was very impressive indeed.  I didn’t do anything to directly disserve this opportunity, but I am very excited about my prospects for what can be done with it.  My little pep-talk here in this journal entry has already made me want to get back to work.  I shall do a little reading and then make sure that I get my rest for in the morning.  I am happier, healthier, and focused.  I don’t know what else you could ask for.  Every now and then I will take a moment or two to celebrate how fortunate I feel, and to enjoy the accomplishments which have occurred. 

The first class started and it was wonderful.  I could maybe have predicted how it would feel to sit in the class, but I could never have guessed that it would be so comfortable and exciting.  Everyone else was “on the same page” many of the silly questions I thought of, other people asked, although I think they were trying to show off.  The history of Macro started by reviewing all macro contributions, starting with Copernicus’ recognition of the effect of the increased money supply in Europe after the importation of south American specie.  We also covered 13 main topics in macro which will come up during our review of the subject this semester.  We have 5 - 30 page papers due before the next class, so yes, there is more reading in the PhD program than the masters program.  We were also told that we should read all of them at least twice, since we will be held responsible for representing the content in a short quiz for the next class.  Needless to say we have already formed study groups.  An interesting component of the class is that 5 blogs that we are responsible for reading each day.   These will also show up on the quizzes, we are supposed to be current on all the debates going on in Macroeconomics. 

The other students are wonderful, they are from all over the world and truly smart.  There is a great cohort willingness to support each other, we are all truly impressed with one another, and so far the competition seems to be secondary to the success of the group.  The second years have given advice about the classes, even if I think they are having a little fun scaring us, it is probably a good thing. 

The campus is great, it was so crowded yesterday.  I will report later on what the second class was like, this will be the one I am most anticipating since it is with Walter Williams.  I have heard such great stories about learning with him.  Well, one day down and I am loving it!

Classes start today.  There are already extra lectures to attend.  The campus here is split between two parts (for the econ department) the more practical side is in Arlington, to be closer to DC.  That means that I have to travel a good 30 minutes or so to Arlington to see any speakers there.  So that will take up part of my day.  I have a ton of reading to get done before class tonight, but I think some students are going out to dinner before class, and after the speaker’s lecture.  It is basically the same tomorrow, but no dinner, by then it seems like we will have our first assignments to be working towards completion.  I bought a cheap printer because it is five cents a page to print on campus.  The roommates celebrated last night because of the final day before classes, I did not participate in the festivities, but was able to enjoy the merriment by contact.  We also cleaned the house yesterday.  The fridge is so much bigger after the 4^th grade science project was cleared out of there. 

This is the first time that I have been on campus while school is in full swing.  It is undeniably a commuter campus, but there are enough students living here that it has several benefits of being a traditional school.  The facilities are great for example.  The Greek life however is much more bubble gum “nouveau” than it was at an older school, but much more organized than it was at UMSL.  Things are slowly coming to life as I sit in the atrium looking out over the student population.  It is really a mixed bag, younger than UMSL as well.  Well, I guess I should start working on some of the 30 papers that were on our reading list for Macro. 

The sidewalk ends when the municipality known as “the city” ends.  The only other paved border to any street is a bike trail, these do not connect to one another.

There are no really good maps to get around, or to take short-cuts.  People don’t understand how to give walking directions.  All directions include getting on and off the highway.  If you tell someone you are on foot, they look at you like an alien, and tell you to find a bus schedule.

I told someone today that I was too cheap to buy a $2 bus ticket; she didn’t think that was funny. 

You get really tired walking over 15 miles in a day.  The good news is that the extra fat around my midsection seems to be going away, replaced by some actual muscle in that area.

Choose wisely what you decide to carry with you.  Although it was nice to have my laptop while waiting at the DMV, it most likely wasn’t worth the backache and the extra sweat (I mean it is 85 degrees out there for the love of Pete). 

Things take longer than you anticipate, even if you plan on the outside.  Getting a license today was an all day event. 

Shade is vastly underrated.

Forgetting something at the house is a much bigger deal.

Drivers think that you are an obstacle, a threat.  Some actually take their hands off of the wheel when they see you. 

You really learn to appreciate small trips in a car.  My roommate just went to the store; I rode with, and got a case of water, that was a life-saver.