So, my bad for not getting around to making a post this weekend. It just wasn't something that was high on my priority list. Much much higher on that list were getting a significant amount of work done on my project and playing World of Goo.
This past week and weekend were fairly uneventful. We collectively decided to take the weekend of from doing anything like we have the past few weeks, and so we mostly lounged around and relaxed. We took the opportunity to watch a few movies, and as I stated before, I really got into the game World of Goo, which is a fantastic physics-based game that has you using "Goo balls" to construct bridges across treacherous spike-bottom valleys and towers to the sky (a la the picture above) in an effort to reach the end point and get as many free goo-balls as you can to that end point. It really is the best use for a physics engine I've seen in a while. It's an independently made game, too, which is fantastic to see. If you're interested, head to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Goo for more info, or you can download the game or a demo on Steam.
On Sunday, we decided that we would experience some real Texan cuisine and so we headed to what was supposedly the best BBQ place in Beaumont. It had a very modest appearance, both on the inside and the out, but the BBQ was absolutely fantastic, and highly recommended.
My work is now getting intense. Because it took a while for the Professor and I to come up with a viable research direction, I have only had about two weeks to pound out exactly what needs to happen in the implementation of my theory, and thus I have not yet worked out all the corner cases. Unfortunately, the midway presentation is coming up very soon, and the professor was hoping that we would have actual numerical results by then, so that we could focus on writing our paper for the last few weeks. I don't think is going to happen, but in the last two days of last week, the goal came sharply into focus (as far as what I needed to do to get there), I realized how much work I had to do, and I started working very hard at getting my stuff ready by next Monday. I'll continue to work hard, possibly even over this fourth of July weekend.
Last night (Monday night), the group of us decided that it would be fun to play some board games, but nobody had thought to bring any. So we went out and got Scattergories and Cranium, and had an absolute blast playing those two for about 3 hours.... we all lost track of time.
Ultimately, as I refine my project and I have more and more of a goal for each day in mind, and as I get to know my co-workers better and better, I increasingly enjoy the time I'm having here in Texas, not just in my free time but also in my work. It will be very sad when my time here draws to an end.
