Week 9 (07/25 - 07/31)

Monday

- Got my Parallel Nth Algorithm to work properly. I still need to make a few changes to it once the necessary Global Iterator functionality becomes available.

- Went to the Rec Center in the evening to play badminton with Stuart.

Tuesday

- Cleaned up my algorithm code in preparation for the meeting with Nancy, Olga, and Gabi.

- 3-4pm: Attended the USRG Seminar. The topic was "Life after your BS degree & prospects after graduate school" by Dr. Halit Uster.

- Went to the Rec Center in the evening to play badminton with Stuart.

Wednesday

- 12-1pm: Attended the Campus REU Brown Bag Lunch. The topic was "Social Connections to Professional Success: A brief discussion about the impact of networking" by Dr. Nancy Dickey.

- 1:30pm: Attended Aimee's MS Defense (to provide moral support). We are all glad she passed! :)

- 5:30-7pm: Attended the STAPL group meeting with Nancy and Lawrence, where the Global Iterator functionality and its use in pAlgorithms were discussed.

- Had a meeting with Nancy, Olga, and Gabi to look over my algorithm implementation.

Thursday

- 11:30am: Attended the weekly CS Brown Bag Lunch. The topic was "Faculty Research Panel - Riccardo Gutierrez, John Keyser and Scott Pike."

- Somehow burned the power adapter for my laptop. I'm glad I had enough battery time to copy all the necessary files onto a memory stick. I had to spend 2 hours on the phone with Dell to order a replacement. I'm really hoping it will get delivered here sometime before I leave.

- Olga, Gabi and I worked on the preliminary design of the poster.

- Worked on the pAlgorithms section of the poster using my Parallel Nth Element Algorithm as an example.

- 6pm: Attended the Pizza Party at Double Dave's on Harvey Road organized to celebrate Aimee's successful defense of her MS thesis.

- Worked on the outline of my paper (to email to Nancy) until after midnight.

Friday

- Olga, Gabi and I combined the sections of the poster each of us was working on separately into one final design in order to show this preliminary version to Nancy.

- 3:30-4pm: Attended the weekly CS Cookie Break.

- Went to the Rec Center in the evening to play badminton with Stuart and do some swimming.

- Watched a movie ("Hitch") in the evening.

- Went out with Renny and Stuart to Northgate, where we unexpectedly met Yuri. Hung out at Yuri's place after the bars closed for the night.

Saturday

- Worked on the pAlgorithms section of the poster (made changes Nancy suggested at our meeting on Friday).

- Updated this web site.

Sunday

- Had breakfast with Renny and Stuart. Took a trip to Renny's pet resort, where we played with her dogs and pet horses. Then, we decided to grill hamburgers at the Somerville lake. The lake was very nice and the hamburgers were juicy.

 

 

Unfortunately, I started feeling very sick on our way back. My face got swollen until it was about three times bigger than its usual size. I also got a rash all over my body. My friends told me I was having an allergic reaction. We stopped at the nearest gas station to get Benadryl. Then, my friends took me to the campus emergency services. The campus emergency vehicle took me to the hospital. The guys in the emergency vehicle measured my vitals, took a sample of blood to check the sugar content, administered shots of Benadryl and Adrenalin, which made me feel cold and shake all over. I've spent about 2 hours in the hospital to make sure the reaction does not come back as the effect of the shots wore off. Then, the doctor prescribed me some medication. It was quite a scare!