Matt’s Blog

This Thanksgiving I traveled all the way from Seattle to Atlanta (again) to, among other things, attend the best college football rivalry game in the country; the Georgia Tech vs. U(sic)GA game. This year the game was the first and only GT game that I attended at Bobby Dodd stadium (readers will recall that I also saw the team play in person at Vanderbilt) and unless you have had your head under a rock for the past few days you probably also know that the game did not go well for us.

Now I don’t really know what qualifies a game as “rough” but here’s what made the game last Saturday rough for the GT faithful. First, we hate UGA. Good, clean hate mind you but hate none the less. Perhaps it’s because most of their fans didn’t even go to the school, and cheer for them because they win a lot and make an easy team to root for. Perhaps it’s because they usually beat us in football. Perhaps it’s because their football players and mascot tear up our field in front of our fans when they win. Whatever. We just don’t like them at all and losing to them only makes that worse. Second, we were actually good this year. Although I’ll admit that I thought the ranking in the top 10 was a bit optimistic, I really do think that we’ve done a good job this year. And in years past when the roles were reversed and U(sic)GA was on top we got trounced. Any of those years we would have loved to play the spoiler to U(sic)GA’s otherwise great season. Why then on the one rare occasion where the roles are reversed are we the ones who provide redemption for our rival’s otherwise mediocre season? Third, the game was so close. Although we were trailing pretty much the entire time, we were always within striking distance. And except for a brief period in the second quarter we had plenty of offensive momentum. This means that for pretty much the entire game we were all on the edge of our seats screaming our heads off hoping that we would take the lead. Right up to the very end. Let me tell you how much fun it was to wake up the next day, unable to speak in anything above a raspy whisper and remember: “oh yeah, we lost to Georgia last night, sweet.” And finally, on the topic of that period in the second quarter, it wouldn’t be a game against the dawgs without a little “coincidence.” How fortuitous that the first play immediately following our recovery of a U(sic)GA fumble for the go-ahead touchdown our star quarterback goes down with a twisted ankle…

Phew, now that’s out of my system.

The rest of the trip was great. I had a great time with friends and like every time I go back I left wondering why I moved so far away. Also, this might sound dumb, but this was the first trip where I realized that I’m really not in college anymore. For the game I was standing with my fraternity just like the old days, except that it wasn’t. Most of my close friends have graduated and in their places are all these new guys who I don’t know. Even those guys that I do know are getting ready to move on to grad school and other things. So the limited connection that I do have there will soon be gone. Even just being around the house or on campus was interesting. For the first time ever I felt more at home at the alumni tailgate then I did anywhere else.

But then, what are my alternatives? I don’t really feel old enough to move to the alumni sections for the games. I mean who really wants to sit through a football game? If I wanted to sit then I’d just stay home where I can camp out on the couch and drink beer that didn’t cost eight dollars a bottle. This might not have been all that bad of an idea given the outcome of the game… Anyways the trip was great and the times were good. So I can’t really complain all that much, even if I’m becoming one of the “old guys.” I’m just not there yet.

This upcoming weekend is the Georgia Tech vs. U(sic)GA game in Atlanta. Personally this puts me in [1,1] on the chart below but that’s not what’s important right now. What is important is that our main man, Josh Nesbitt, has his game face on. And apparently he does:

So, it occurred to me that recently there’s been a pretty high word-to-picture ratio going on around here. That’s fine, words are good and quite entertaining when properly applied; however, preliminary research suggests that there is a strong correlation between the word-picture ratio and the douchey-funny ratio. I’ve dubbed this concept the “Butters principle.” Now, clearly, we can’t have the D-F ratio rising too high around here which means: It’s time for some images! Fortunately I did some image-worthy things last weekend.

Most anyone who’s known me for a while can tell you: I love GT football. This is why last weekend I flew all the way from Seattle to Nashville to watch Georgia Tech play Vanderbilt. Well, that and to spend time with some of my closest friends from college… but mostly to watch football. Um…. let’s call it a 55/45 football/friends split. Anyways, here are some of the reasons I love going to GT football games:

The Stadium Atmosphere

This season I’ve mostly been watching our games on ESPN 360 which is neat, but not the same experience as actually being at a game. There’s just not that excitement/energy level. Of course you might argue that going to a live game at Vanderbilt is pretty much the same thing as watching it on TV, but whatever.

Friends

I have some of the best friends in the world. Many of whom also cheer for Georgia Tech, which is actually a pretty important requirement for friendship with me. Just kidding, but no… really. Of course some of my friends look better than others. No offense Dustin

Paul Johnson

I’ve previously written about why I love our coach. But this season in particular I’ve gained new respect because a 4-quarter application of PJ usually results in…

Winning

I’ve already booked my tickets for the GT/UGA game and I cannot wait. Go Jackets, Fight, Win!

Enough said:

So after a marathon effort over the weekend and early into Monday morning, I have finally finished my thesis!

The following policies governing work are going into immediate effect:

• I am no longer working past 6 PM in the evening.
• I will no longer work on Sundays (or Saturdays… probably).
• I will no longer stay up working until 4, 6, or 7 AM and only get 3-4 hours of sleep.
• I will no longer be completely mentally and physically exhausted.

I can confidently say that the completion of my thesis represents the most effort that I have ever put into a single task that I can ever remember. While the data collection effort and experimentation started two years ago, the bulk of the written work was carried out this semester. I started creating bits and pieces at the start of this semester, but it wasn’t until spring break that writing began in earnest. I spent the vast majority of that week (3/16-3/20) tied to my computer hammering out section after section. I constructed the initial draft the following week and got it into the hands of my advisor for initial comments. While he was looking at it I continued work, adding sections and additional analysis, up through Thursday (3/26) when I sent out the “final” draft for comments to my advisor and to the proof-reading committee I had drafted conscripted asked nicely to help out.

What amazed me through the latter part of the effort was the shear size of the work. When I had combined all the individual sections into one the document was nearly 200 pages long and contained close to 35,000 words. This made some things interesting. For example, the process of going through the document with spellcheck could take several minutes to complete.

I didn’t get comments back from my advisor until Saturday night, and only for the first two-thirds of the paper. Combined with the changes I was getting from my proof-reading committee at times it felt like I was completely re-writing entire pages of the document. Work continued through Sunday, something I usually try to avoid, and after a late-afternoon meeting I had the final comments in hand to respond to. Those corrections, and the miscellaneous clean-up tasks to get the document formatted for submission (no small task given the size of the document) kept me up until 4 AM Monday morning (4/6). The next morning, after gathering signatures and submitting the approval form and the thesis itself, I was done.

The arrival at “done” is, frankly, rather abrupt. It’s as if I’ve gone from working at 100 miles per hour to 8. This will take a while to sink in, the idea that I can go home after class or working in the lab, or even *gasp* take an entire day off to do nothing. Actually, after months of nagging concern that I need to be working on some aspect of the thesis I seem to have developed a bit of a habit. It will take a while for me to be able to look at a calendar and not try to figure out how many more days I have to work until my thesis is due.

I still do have things to do, but nothing even close to the magnitude of what I’ve been doing for the past several weeks. I hope to get the rest of my outstanding class work done this week actually, and the Cobb County report can easily be handled during normal working hours.

Anyways, it’s done. I keep saying that to myself, it just sounds so… wonderful. Once it gets posted to oscar I’m going to Taco Mac for drinks. But now, I’m just ready to start feeling human again.

“Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham (www.phdcomics.com)

So after a long week of work I’ve finally got the rough draft of my thesis in for comments. Although the actual document only took a week or two to write, it’s scary to think of all the work that went into the generation of the conclusions. I’ve been working on this project for almost three years. All of that has now been distilled down to one document. Granted, it’s a pretty big document, but still.

Now I await comments from my advisor, then the thesis committee. The revision process should run no longer than a week, then things get wrapped up and the final copy is due in on April 6.

I’ve been pretty focused the past few weeks getting this done, so I hope that I can return to a somewhat normal schedule after that.

Yet… I’m just working on my thesis. Which tends to be lonely work, making it a perfect thing to do when everyone else is gone on spring break. Perhaps it’s the lack of sleep/personal contact but I was thinking today of what a great bond I’ve formed with the computer programs I’ve been using religiously to complete my thesis over the past few days. They’ve even developed personalities of sorts:

• Microsoft Word (the workhorse for all my writing needs)
• EndNote (helpful organizing the considerable number of references)
• Visio (figures)
• Excel (tables and charts)
• OneNote (my computerized brain where I can dump ideas to consider later whenever they pop up)
• Adobe Acrobat (helpful for returning to reference material)
• Internet Explorer (pandora radio classical to keep me from going insane, it does not appear to be working)

In addition, I feel that the painful work of thesis-writing is best offset with good food. Observe:

I’m getting close to being done, which is exciting. But there’s still a lot remaining to do. So until then…

7:30 AM Wake up when my roommate’s alarm goes off (I intended to get up at 8:30 AM). Realize that I have a paper due in Growth Management Law today that I have not yet started on.

7:31 AM Decide to sleep until 8:30 AM as planned and then hit the paper hard.

7:32 AM Fall back asleep.

7:39 AM Wake up when roommate’s snooze alarm goes off. Worry about paper to write.

7:41 AM Fall back asleep.

7:48 AM Wake up when roommate’s snooze alarm goes off. Worry about paper. Think about killing the inventor of snooze buttons.

7:51 AM Fall back asleep.

7:57 AM Wake up when roommate shuffles around the room. Worry about paper. Think about getting up to get started. Realize bed is much comfier.

8:02 AM Fall back asleep.

8:30 AM Wake up when my alarm goes off. Worry about paper. Get out of bed.

8:32 AM Decide to glance over the requirements for the paper before going to work out so I can think them over while working out. Notice that the paper (a review of a journal article) must also cite the class textbooks, which means the class textbooks must also be read in addition to the journal article. Also notice that although there is a wide selection of journal articles to review, none of them appear to be online. Realize this means a trip to the library.

8:37 AM Curse the Planning Department and my choice to enroll in it.

8:38 AM Realize that I also have small group tonight, and SGA at 11.

8:38 AM Worry about paper.

8:39 AM Leave for the Gym. Soundtrack: Mark Driscoll

9:03 AM While working out, think that some journal articles might be available online with a little creative searching.

9:27 AM Return from Gym. Prepare materials for small group. Thank God that Mark has creatively covered Nehemiah 3.

9:38 AM Decide against the SGA meeting this morning. Send text message to that effect. Pick out article that does not seem like reading it would be like dragging a cheese grater across my forehead (common with planning articles). Realize that most JAPA articles are online. Check. Success!

9:42 AM Find shorter article also online. Justify switch because I also like the topic better. Print it out.

9:47 AM Shower. Clothes. Make coffee/breakfast to go.

10:25 AM Gather article, laptop and (stupid) textbooks. Off to the coffee shop for some intense writing.

10:32 AM Arrive at coffee shop (favorite writing location on campus). Find empty table. Bonus it’s large. Spread out. Begin reading/highlighting article.

11:03 AM Finish article, look for supporting ideas in class textbooks. Wish I had more time to actually read the legal handbook. Read/endure American Planning Association book on managed growth. Wonder if any American Planning Association members voted for McCain.

11:11 AM Finish APA growth management book. Decide that no American Planning Association members voted for McCain.

11:12 AM Boot up laptop. Re-read paper requirements. Send small group reminder e-mail.

11:13 AM Create paper outline in OneNote.

11:17 AM Start writing paper.

11:32 AM Thank self for highlighting journal article while writing section summarizing said article.

11:43 AM Look at clock. Compare with writing progress (2ish pages, halfway). Less worried about paper.

12:37 PM Look at clock. Wonder where all the time went. Remark at how much time writing consumes. Launch into big finish. Starting to hit writing wall.

1:05 PM Finish rough draft of paper. Power through quick references section. Head back to the house for lunch.

1:11 PM Arrive at house. Make quick lunch and print off paper for review while eating. Wish I could watch scrubs instead. Think that I don’t proof read my blog posts, so I shouldn’t proof my paper. Think that’s stupid because my blog isn’t graded and no one reads it. Wonder if I should start proofing my blog posts in case someone does read it.

1:16 PM Eat lunch. Revise paper. Find surprisingly few problems. Probably because I’m burned out at this point and don’t care too much. Still glad I caught the “nay” when I meant “many”.

1:45 PM Format paper, print final copy. Think I should write all papers this quickly.

2:10 PM Head to lab thinking class starts at 3 PM.

2:15 PM Arrive at lab. Do a few miscellaneous things to kill some time.

2:43 PM Leave for class.

2:46 PM Arrive at class. Class is full and already in session. Think WTF.

2:47 PM Find seat, determine that class usually starts at 2:30 PM. Sigh.

2:54 PM Wonder if papers have already been collected. Hope they haven’t.

2:55 PM Determine that after such an intense morning it’s either write a blog post or fall asleep.

3:45 PM Finish blog post. Again, remark at how much time writing consumes.

And so starts my last semester as a student at Tech, and most-likely as a student anywhere.

One of the consequences of being so near the end is that you get all reminiscent and spend down time thinking over the time you spent in whatever place it is you are about to leave. Perhaps too my own personal reflection is intensified by my decision to move cross-country in addition to the imminent end of my schooling. I guess there is a keen understanding now of all that I will be leaving behind, and a real motivation to enjoy all that I may have taken for granted in the past.

That said, as I think back on the time I’ve spent in Georgia I realize Spring has always been one of the most interesting seasons for me. I’ve always seen Spring as a beginning of sorts. For the first three years of my GT experience the spring marked the return to Colorado and the start of work. Nearly every relationship I’ve had started in the spring. I started at Kimley-Horn as an intern during or shortly after spring semester both years I worked for them. In spring the weather changes and things start growing, which in Georgia is no small event. Thinking back, I can pinpoint all sorts of fun events throughout my time in GA most of which happened in the spring. The malibu mixer, various formals, playing frisbee in the park, hiking stone mountain, road trips…

I guess it’s traditional to set all kinds of goals at the new year. And even though I think that’s crap because you should meet and set goals all year long, I guess this once I’ll participate. This spring/summer I have only one goal:

Fully enjoy the remainder of my time in GA by re-living past fun times and creating new ones.

I’m a big fan of lists and organization, and so in the interests of supporting my main goal I’ve come up with a non-exhaustive, prone to expansion, likely to change, list of supporting goals:

• Finish my thesis.
• Finally deliver the Cobb Parkway report.
• Hang out at Piedmont Park.
• Go to Malibu Grand Prix.
• Bike/Hike around and up Stone Mountain.
• Mellow Mushroom Mondays (MMM)
• Starbuckheads
• Finish my website.
• Catch fireflies.
• Visit Dustin in Nashville.
• More CS Lewis dates at Jason’s Deli.
• Read The Fountainhead.

While I love football season, and have plenty of positive memories of time spent in the classroom and stadium in the fall I must admit that my fondest memories were formed in the spring; and this one is no different. Many months from now I hope to look back on this time in my life and remark that it was the end of something great and the start of something even better.