Joseph Natividad

Classes Resume after “Fire Week”

I feel as if I?ve already gotten used to and waking up in the afternoon, walking through a near empty campus and breathing in flakes of ash.

I woke up today and found a lot more people walking around to and from classrooms and cafeterias. I was a little groggy, not being used to waking up before 10AM and copying entire lectures into my notebook. Basically, I have turned into a lazy bum in the course of a week.

The air quality has been getting much better lately. It?s a bit overcast today but at least I can breathe effortlessly now.

I still have Calculus to get over with at 4PM and I think I?ll get some reviewing done for my rescheduled midterms taking place a couple days from now. It didn?t take that long for me to switch back into this sort of mode or attitude about getting my work done and being fully prepared for whatever test I have coming up.

Halloween is this Wednesday. I went out over the weekend to Toys R Us and got an Optimus Prime mask from the film ?Transformers.? It changes my voice when I wear it and has a few other sound effects that came along with it. I guess I?ll be a robot for Halloween, but it?s sad that I may miss out on whatever?s going on that night because my Calc. midterm is scheduled to take place from 7-9PM.

Tags: calculus, fire, halloween, Midterm, optimus-prime, transformers, ucsd

No Classes on Tuesday Either

People were beginning to talk about it happening. I checked the school website a few minutes ago and guess what?

“Due to the continuing concern of the fires, the UCSD campus will be canceling classes Tuesday, October 23. The air quality continues to threaten the health of all in this general area. The fires are still uncontained and other nearby entities, such as SD Unified School District, are closing for tomorrow.” - Chancellor Marye Anne Fox

I’m basically going on a four day weekend, with the latter half being spent mostly in the confines of my residence hall. Everyone’s been jumping around and making loud noises for quite awhile now but at the back of my mind I still think of the fact that I have midterms for Calculus and Music & Film along with a two-page essay for my writing class. All of this will be taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. I’m missing out on possible reviewing sessions in class or during the professors’ office hours…but oh well.

Tags: calculus, cancelled-classes, fire, Midterm, music-and-film, san-diego, uc-irvine, UC-Santa-Barbara, wildfire

Economists Win Nobel Prize for Work in Mechanism-Design

This news may almost be a week old but I can?t just let it go unmentioned on my blog. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (or the Nobel Prize for Economics for short) was awarded last Monday to the economists Eric Maskin, Roger Myerson and Leonid Hurwicz for their groundbreaking work in mechanism-design theory.

What does this robotic-sounding name mean and why is it important to us? It turns out that mechanism-design deals with how economies would be able to receive something they all want even when everyone acts in a self-interested manner. It is often seen as a branch of economics that observes the way institutions work in markets that are dysfunctional.

The three economists will split the prize of $1.5 million or 10 million Swedish krona among themselves.

Just a side-note (since we?re on the subject of Economics): I did pretty well on my midterm last Thursday. woohoo!

Tags: Eric-Maskin, Leonid-Hurwicz, mechanism-design, Midterm, nobel-prize, Roger-Myerson

Thursdays are a Nightmare

My schedule is pretty spread out during the week, but I just get screwed over on Thursdays: four lectures, two lasting an hour and a half each, one lasting 50 minutes and one lasting three hours from 6-9PM. That long Music and Film class to finish out my day ends too late that I end up eating alone at the cafeteria nearby, with a copy of the New York Times and USA Today keeping me company during my meal.

Out of all the long and nightmarish Thursdays I?ve had since school started, yesterday has been the worst so far.

My first midterm for Econ1 kept me busy reviewing all my notes and homework during the entire night before. It just so happens that I had to type up a two-page commentary for my college?s writing class by the following morning too. Already lacking sleep, how inconvenient was it for the school to arrange for a fire drill at 7 in the morning?

I think I did well enough on my midterm. I seem to be doing just fine in all my classes so far, including Calculus, which is a bit surprising. I did better than I expected on last week?s quiz and I am absolutely certain I aced the one I just had this afternoon.

It?s Friday and I?m glad this week is over. I don?t have any Economics homework until Tuesday but I still have a ton of reading to catch up on for my writing class.

It never stops coming does it?

Tags: Antonovics, calculus, CAT1, econ1, Midterm, music-and-film, sixth-college, ucsd