Had a great talk with KK about where we want the research to go. So I should probably be doing something about that instead of talking to you.

I have to actually start writing my econ paper. On the plus side, there’s nothing like research to make paper writing not sound so bad.

I do not recommend Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re not BAD, they’re just… weird. I managed to finish them by having them for breakfast when my tastebuds aren’t awake yet and the main food criterion is non-messy and no prep. Any ideas for what to do with the remaining 3/4 c of pumpkin left in the can?

My pending schedule for next semester is looking thoroughly insane. Like “taking thesis hours would be a terrible idea workload-wise” insane. Oh well. It will be the first semester since last fall that I won’t try to sit in on a class as well as doing everything else.

Sometimes things are just kind of normal and repetitive.

Beerfest was great – but more for the excitement and the people and the fun than for the beer. Turns out there’s a lot of beers I mostly like with food (IPAs, reds) and a lot of beers I like to slowly sip (Belgian Double anyone?) which is really not what Beerfest does well. (Though next time we go, we’ll know to make our own pretzel necklaces like the rest of the cool kids.) Also, I pretty much don’t like stouts or porters, which was a surprise. Everyone was very friendly and laid back, even when there were traffic jams of people. I did not keep track at all of what I tasted – one hand holding my glass and one hand hanging onto N. didn’t leave a hand to take notes with. Whenever my glass got empty, we’d just wade through the people towards the next beer that looked good. We walked past every single booth, so everyone had a chance. Even though I didn’t meet any new beers that impressed me, it was a ton of fun.

School is rolling along – but right as I’m starting to have time to concentrate on research, people are getting talks together so I’m spending more time at school and seeing some cool new ideas. Two talks this week and I spent more time talking to people than I think I have since I started working from home.

Econ pres went really well. Glad it’s over. Now I need to start worrying about the second half of that class, where I’m supposed to find results. Maaaaaybe I will head to campus well before today’s econ talk and spend some quality time with STATA. I may also corner the new metrics teacher and see if she can help me explain why the model my coworker wants to use is making me so queasy.

I have totally given up on doing the homeworks for Continuous Modeling, but I’m still reading the chapters and able to keep up with the in-class discussion.

Wait, so that means I have tons of time to work on my research, right? cross your fingers for me.

The “chocolate” icebox cookies turn out to be really blech. Halfway between chocolate graham crackers and stale oreos with extra crumbly. Had to stop my review recipes to make the Welcome Fall batch of Pumpkin Gingerbread muffins. (Recipe makes 24. Only had to bake for 20 minutes.)

This weekend is Beerfest! I’m so excited. I’ve been meaning to go every year since we moved here. Last year we honestly tried, but couldn’t get a designated driver ticket ANYWHERE. This year I ordered tickets extremely early instead of driving to a variety of liquor stores.

Still feeling oddly non-overwhelmed. I’ll take it while it lasts.

The econ pres got moved back to next week.

I went to a talk on morphing the Kalman filter to get better simulation results and more of it made sense than I expected, but still not enough to say I understand it. (Reasons Lynn is awesome: she says things like “You’re doing good if you understand the first 5 minutes of these talks” which make me feel lots better about my brain.)

I actually made tangible progress on things at work (usually I make progress, but it’s on much more nebulous projects) – I wonder if that’s behind my good mood.

I’ve made one and a half recipes out of Cookies Unlimited, and so far so good. The Sour Cream Cinnamon Drops are kind of bland, but easy to make and have an amazing texture, soft and cakey even days later. You only need about half the cinnamon-sugar. I made the dough for Dark Chocolate Sables (they’re in the icebox cookies section – a whole section on making your own refrigerated cookie dough) but I haven’t baked any yet. They came together very nicely since I remembered to take the butter out to soften. The dough tastes good, so I have high hopes for the cookies.

I have two more recipes I want to try out of it – but they may have to wait until after pumpkin cupcakes.