|
Squishy fuzzy yummy thoughts
Archives:
|
Thursday, April 24, 2003
From now until the end of this coming weekend, I want to:
* Get my inbox down to 50 messages or less
* Go to Friday Night Skate on Friday
* Call some people
* Go to Dev's Birthday Party on Saturday
* Read about the Semantic Web
* Come up with a list of questions about Grad Schools so that I can get as much info as I can out of lunch with Nancy
* Buy a trash can
posted by wtanaka at 4/24/2003 06:53:00 PM
I just played a bunch of Monty's records again. I'm a lot better now at beat matching them together. As in, I don't run out of time where the track ends before I'm ready to start playing the next one.
posted by wtanaka at 4/24/2003 06:49:00 PM
I got a referral to see a doctor to get some sort of cyst removed from my lip. I called the doctor's office.
"No, there's nobody with that name here. There's a Dr. Cory though. . . "
"uh, thanks"
I call back Brenda at Asian Health Services. Oh, she says, let me call your insurance company again since their records are not up to date, and I'll call you back.
A few hours later, after playing records for a while, I notice that I have a new voicemail. Ah, a new doctor to call.
I call them.
"No, he no longer is with this practice. Are you looking for an oral surgeon?"
I call Brenda back.
"Do they have any Oral Surgeons," she asks.
"It seemed like they might."
"Well in that case, call them and get the name of the new doctor so that I can call your insurance company and tell them to update their records."
I call back Angelica (or whatever her name was).
"No, what I was saying is we *don't* have any Oral Surgeons."
Great.
"Hi Brenda, they don't actually have any Oral Surgeons."
"Maybe you should not use One Health Plan anymore."
"I didn't have a choice, my company picked it for me."
"Well, I don't understand, every other patient we have, it's really easy to refer them. With your insurance, we have to call ahead of time and get a referral, and then their records are not even updated."
"Yes, it's really strange."
"Well, I guess I'll have to call you back then."
Now, a few hours later, I finally have an appointment for May 7 with some Dr. Andrew Moyen.
posted by wtanaka at 4/24/2003 04:51:00 PM
As yet unbeknownst to Monty, I practiced my DJ skills (or lack thereof) on his turn tables today. There are two songs of his that I really like. I think he really likes them too. They're just cool.
posted by wtanaka at 4/24/2003 04:46:00 PM
Moved into a room in the same building that Monty is in. Everything except my computer is in there now. DSL should be arriving sometime on Friday I hope.
posted by wtanaka at 4/24/2003 11:14:00 AM
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
I've discovered a page on Pattern Based Translation Technology.
The Language Translation page also has a reference to "example based and context based processing" which seems interesting and might fit well with my non linguistically oriented background.
posted by wtanaka at 4/23/2003 05:17:00 PM
Yesterday, I poked through the Berkeley, Stanford, MIT and CMU Computer Science Graduate School web pages.
Now I'm reading papers. I listened to The Usenix Technical Conference 2002 keynote address by Lawrence Lessig, which was somewhat interesting.
I read Intelligence without representation which gives me the idea that the original grandiose visions AI research has been stonewalled for many years now, and the AI field has splintered into many separate fields. I wonder if the same thing is true of Natrual Language Processing research in particular. For example, Microsoft seems to think so.
If so, there may be space for some kind of open NLP architecture which could glue together possibly re-implemented existing pieces of research and produce, in three or four years time, a novel and powerful new natural language application.
posted by wtanaka at 4/23/2003 04:53:00 PM
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
I think as long as I plan on not having kids, that this early retirement desire of mine can come true. At work, you get exposed to a lot of people that already have families or are headed toward them (even if they don't say that they are, you can tell).
That correlation is there partially because, *if* you do have kids, you pretty much need to be working at a steady job in order to support those kids.
posted by wtanaka at 4/22/2003 03:35:00 PM
I went Ice Skating again today for the first time in quite a while. Saw Beatrix and Yoshi again. Talked about all sorts of things over some lunch. It was weird to be skating again, and I couldn't land a loop jump out of a mohawk anymore. But that was the last thing that I really learned how to do, and everything else, surprisingly, I was rusty at but able to do.
I also picked up this "Authorization Request" from my doctor. But when I called the number to make an appointment, the person answering the phone said that they did not have a doctor by the name of "John Kirby"
And unfortunately, the doctor's office that issued the request is not answering the phone right now. Luckily, I have other things to do. Like write some email and look for a place to live.
posted by wtanaka at 4/22/2003 03:29:00 PM
Monday, April 21, 2003
Today I went to the dentist. Since it wasn't too far from the MacArthur Bart Station, I decided to walk. Unfortunately about a minute after I left Monty's place, it started to rain. Also unfortunately, I thought I might be late for the appointment and so I did not go back to get an umbrella. Fortunately, I walked quickly and kind of hid under awnings that I passed, so I didn't get too soaked.
I got to the office and signed in. And waited. And waited. For about an hour. I was reading some issue of Wired from 1995, which was actually kind of interesting. I went up to ask the receptionist what was happening, and she said that oh actually the doctor wouldn't be in until 1:30 (in another 35 minutes) and didn't anyone let me know? He always takes lunch from 12:00 until 1:30, see?
No, nobody let me know..
Oh, really?
I said I have to go to get a blood test is it possible for me to leave for a while until the doctor gets back from his lunch?
Yes, but please be back at 1:30
I don't know how long this is going to take. What if I come back at 1:40 or 1:50?
Well, the doctor will be back at exactly 1:30.
How open is his schedule? If I come back later, will there be time?
Well, see actually there is an appointment at 1:30 and another one at 2:00?
There's an appointment at 1:30?
Yes yes, I know it seems a little confusing, but the person at 1:30 just needs some medicine so it should be quick, and the 2:00 appointment should be quick too and see the doctor said that he would see you at 1:30.
Well, this may take 40 minutes or 50 minutes.
Okay, 1:40 by the latest. I will let him know that you will be here at 1:40.
Okay. I will be back somewhere between 1:30 and 1:40.
I headed out, thinking that I should call on my phone and immediately switch dental providers.
Luckily the blood test took about 8 minutes, so I got back to the dental office at about 1:39. My name had already been called. But they took me, gave me some X-Rays, some fillings, and a new appointment (after some pressing on my part) to get a tooth cleaning, and sent me on my way.
|
|
