#coding blues

advisor: You know, you could always print out your code, delete it, and then symbolically burn it & move on.

me: Yeah...but this is months of my life. I don't want to do that.

advisor: I don't want you to either, but it's an option. You *could* do it.

me: Yeah well I *could* also break the lease on my apartment, leave the program, drive cross country, and grow weed.

So, I’ve been getting into doing so small stuff like pages and themes because I need to brush up my skills doing something I like, so I made a test character page for the consorts of Nohr. I’m still in the midst of figuring out how to properly set up documentation and code distribution (although technically ya’ll could just inspect element and look at the code anyways), but I guess it’s just a preview on what I’ve been doing. There’s still some responsive elements that aren’t working yet.

Warning: Gratuitous bragging

Today was one of those rare days where I felt like a bona fide badass.

Fixed the code on my experiment to be less kludgy

Wrote my very first for loop in JS and it ran on the first try

This is a big deal because now my prototype is less bare minimum “proof of concept” and more “I could actually show this to my advisor”

I’m the beginning-est of beginners but I think I’ve learned a lot in a week - I may actually have a knack for this?

Heard back from my professor about my 1am insomnia-fueled statistics question

He thought it was so good he asked if he could quote me on his blog

I said yes

I’m so giddy right now please send help

(but actually CJ now has a really big problem....)

Made lunch plans with some budding colleagues

Wrote another page of my book review 

3 down, 2 to go!

(it’s like pulling teeth I so badly don’t want to do it....)

That’s the highlights. I really can’t believe it.....

Day 21-22 - 10.23-24.16

*p!atd’s “victorious” plays in the background*

Yesterday’s victories include:

Coding

Getting coffee with a friend

Coding

Today’s victories include:

Going to stats class

Making tentative lunch plans with some colleagues

Crying real tears because I finally figured out how to fix my code

this has been a weekend-long saga guys

I even messaged a friend in Japan for help

but ultimately I solved it all by myself

maybe I really CAN code this experiment

Had some really good interactions with classmates and department-mates

Planting the very earliest seeds of a possible paper/collaboration

Day 20 - 10.22.16

Today was a day of exploration. I slept late (~9.30), had some coffee, and got ready to go to the science fair at my uni. A stats classmate hosted an entomology life cycle exhibit, and I’d been bugging him about seeing his specimens (teehee). I held a tobacco hornworm caterpillar (pictured) and a ball python (not pictured). You’ll also see the original 1901 telescope from the Observatory. 

Next, I walked into town to return some library books, and I stopped by a used bookstore with actual working ladders! It was a lovely day, so I took my time until early afternoon.

Back at my apartment, I read for class and worked on my stats homework. I decided to try my hand at RMarkdown, a program that integrates with RStudio to make really sexy outputs with code and commentary. I’d avoided it previously, but I’m comfortable enough with R now and am tired of copying and pasting my code into a Word document. RMarkdown really is easier. ( @socialscienceside , ever used it?)

I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening fighting with JavaScript code. I fluctuate between “Oh, this is easy, I got this” and “Oh dear god I don’t got this.” But the benefits of being able to code an experiment in a website are astronomical for my future; I’d really be the only person in CJ doing anything like it. I’m so, so worried I’m just not smart enough to do it in a timely manner. That said, some friends helped me sort out the debugging process, and I learned a new way to structure my files, so I ended on an up note.

Time to watch either Gotham or Over the Garden Wall.  Decisions decisions...