:: My Divided Soul ::

It has now been nearly three months since I last updated this weblog. It’s not that nothing has happened in my life; quite the opposite. The problem is that life has very much been in transition so I haven’t felt in a place to write definitively on where my life is until now. I suppose this is natural when one is moving into a new chapter of his life.

The first thing to report is that I finished my Ph.D. at Cornell. Yes, I am now Dr. Aboul-Hosn! I wrote my thesis this past semester, which didn’t turn out to be too bad. It incorporates the work I’ve done since my second semester, which started as a project for the first class I took with Dexter. Actually, that is an interesting story that exemplifies my belief that things always work out for the best.

When I first got to Cornell, I was assigned to TA CS 381, the introductory theory of computing class. The class had six TAs assigned to it, which turned out to be too many compared to the honors version of the course, 481. Consequently, I was reassigned. At the time, I wasn’t very happy about it, or more accurately, I was nervous about it, as I wasn’t sure I had the knowledge in the area to TA the honors version. Dexter was teaching the class and I’d say it went just fine. He suggested I take his graduate class in the spring semester and I did. As a final class project, I worked on the KAT-ML theorem prover, which turned into a paper I presented in Kazakhstan.

In the fall semester, I continued working on the theorem prover and Dexter became my advisor. Terese came to Cornell and we started working on adapting the theorem prover to work for category theory. Some interesting aspects of that problem led to the exploration of the formal representation of the relationship between theorems, proofs, and tactics. Ultimately, this is what became my thesis A Proof-Theoretic Approach to Mathematical Knowledge Management.

So this means that a simple little thing like changing the course I was TAing, which was unpleasant at the time, turned out to be one of the best things to happen to me.

I’m also happy to report that I have found a job. The job search was quite overwhelming, with several interviews in which I was asked 30+ minutes of technical questions. This is just not a scenario in which I excel. What was also annoying was that sometimes the interviewers didn’t know the answers to the questions they asked. One interviewer presented me with a question and I gave him a solution that he immediately rejected as incorrect. However, upon inspection when I got back to my office, my office mates and I determined that my solution was in fact correct. The solution I presented wasn’t complex or incomprehensible, either, so I don’t think that was the problem.

For future interviewees, there is one thing I discovered: almost all the companies ask variants of the same three or four questions. Here is a sample question you might see if you interview for a software engineering job: You have an array of n numbers containing all of the numbers from 1 to n + 1 once with the exception of one of them. Determine which number is not in the array. This can be done in linear time.

So, I’ve now gone two paragraphs talking about getting a job without actually mentioning the job I got. I will be working at Bloomberg in the Research and Development Department in New York City. The job sounds quite interesting and very challenging, which I like. This means that people like Chethan can be expected to be bothered…often.

Finding a place to live was a challenge. I got spoiled when I moved to Ithaca. My mother and I came up one Friday, got the local paper, called a place, visited, and signed the lease right away. I had a place to live without an hour and a half of my first trip to Ithaca. I have to say that it was a completely awesome place, too. The market in the NYC area is a bit different. My constraints are a little unique because I need a house due to the drumset. This severely limits the places in which I can live. I ended up with a house in Jersey City. At first, I was a little nervous as Jersey City doesn’t exactly seem to be the greatest place on Earth. However, the place I’ll be renting is quite nice and an article from New York Magazine helped reassure me.

Friday night, I got to go out and celebrate my new job with Lee and several other friends. I was finally able to celebrate in the way I had always planned to when I got a new job. With the thesis done, a job lined up, and a place to live found, I could relax and let go. Upon arriving at the bar, I opened a tab and bought drinks for the people I came with. Then, any people they were friends with, or friends of those friends, or other people I saw there I knew, were added to my tab for the rest of the night. I had a great time talking and dancing with some people I knew and others I just met. When it was all said and done, I had spent $200 that evening. It was definitely one of the best nights I’ve had, so thank you to all of you who were there to celebrate with me!

I have no been back in Ithaca for two weeks. I certainly enjoyed my time in California, but it also feels really good to be home. I’m back to my home, my car, my school, my town, and–most importantly–my drumset! Our reunion was a very happy one. I have to say that I was rusty for the first few days ago. My brain knew what to do, but my hands refused to comply. Luckily, I think I’ve worked those issues out.

Now I’m just working like crazy on my thesis with the intention of finishing in December. I try not to think about the fact that I have less time left in Ithaca than I spent in California this summer. I’m also continuing to work for Intel part time. ‘Tis nice to be doing that, as I do enjoy the project and feel it has a lot of potential.

For those interested in the visual aspects of my life, here are a couple new sets of pictures. First, we have my last weekend in California, when I went with Polly and friends to the Israni family reunion Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival in San Francisco. Huge thanks to Polly for being so awesome this summer! The second set comes from my return to Ithaca.

Facebook is currently offering 25 free song downloads per week from the iTunes Music Store. I’ve managed to get the last five weeks worth, including a hardy dose of rock, alternative, hip-hip, and electronica. Of course, even though I had downloaded the songs, I managed to listen to none of them. Today, I chose to remedy that problem by taking 100 of the songs with me to work on my SLVR with the goal of listening to as many of them as possible. I figured it was a good time to sample some new music. There were some good songs in the mix and some really bad ones, too.

However, one song caught me very quickly and made me realize how soon I leave Intel and California. I’ve had the opportunity to meet some really cool people this summer. No doubt that I will remember fondly many of the experiences I’ve had here: kayaking in Monterey, skydiving, movie nights…the list goes on. It is my hope that I will stay in touch with the other PSL interns I met who have helped make this summer so memorable.

With that, I send the song “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)” by Lostprophets to my fellow PSL interns. I wish you all of the success and happiness this world has to offer. Please stay in touch!

When our time is up
When our lives are done
Will we say we’ve had our fun

Will we make a mark,
this time
Will we always say we tried

Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now
Everybody scream your heart out

All the love I’ve met
I have no regrets
If it all ends now, I’m set

Will we make a mark,
this time
will we always say we tried

Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now
Everybody scream your heart out

Standing on the rooftops
Wait until the bombs drop
This is all we got now
Scream until your heart stops
Never gonna regret
Watching every sunset
We’ll listen to your heartbeat
All the love that we found

Standing on the rooftops
Wait until the bombs drop
This is all we got now
Scream until your heart stops
Never gonna regret
Watching every sunset
We’ll listen to your heartbeat
All the love that we found

Scream your heart out
Scream your heart out
Scream your heart out
Scream your..

Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now
Everybody scream your…

I have posted pictures from my final conference for the summer. I have to say I’m glad to be done traveling to Europe for awhile. I enjoyed the trips and feel very fortunate to have been able to go on them, but flying to and from Europe (approx. 10,000 miles round trip) three times in less than two months is a bit much.

Random occurrences were plenty on this trip. First, I met Stephanie from Switzerland, who works with Florian, a fellow Intel intern. The second random occurrence was in the Philadelphia Airport on my way back. As I’m walking to the gate, I hear “Kamal!” When I turn, I see Greg, who just finished his Ph.D. in computer science at Cornell! I didn’t get to go to his graduation party because I was in California at the time. Nevertheless, we got to hang out on the flight to San Francisco, as Greg was on his way out to start a job. Talk about coincidences.

I am currently in Manchester, UK to present my final two conference papers. My sleeping schedule is very messed up, as I am wide awake at 12:44 in the morning, probably at least in part to having slept 5:30-10 this evening. Of course, sleeping at that time is kind of strange, as it is the middle of the day both here and in California. I’m not sure what time zone my mind is on at all. Here is a list of some random thoughts, including some things I’ve meant to post for awhile. All of this will be short and some of it may make little sense.

• Skydiving is awesome. I have the pictures and a video to prove it. If you ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it.
• I’d rather have my laptop and camera with me on a plane and run the risk of it being blown up than have to worry about putting these things in my suitcase. Two weeks ago, I flew into London two hours after they arrested all of those people on suspicion of plotting to blow up some transatlantic flights. As a result, I was allowed only a plastic bag with my wallet, ticket, and passport for the return trip. That means I checked $7000 in equipment into my suitcase. Luckily, everything made it back in working condition, but I was not amused in having to expose it to baggage handlers and the elements of the cargo hold. Personally, I think such overreaction just allows the terrorists to succeed in their ultimate goals: instilling fear resulting in the loss of freedom.
• When there is nothing to take pictures of, at least there are flowers. My flight to London was so I could attend another conference. There wasn’t much to do in Wokingham and not much to photograph, but I did what I could.
• I’ve learned to sleep on airplanes. I couldn’t do it for the longest time, but now having been to Europe and back several times, I think I’m getting the hang of it.
• The summer is almost over. This is both really good and really bad. I’ve enjoyed my time in California, but it has felt like a temporary life. I’m eager to get back to my house and my drumset in Ithaca. It will be my last semester there and I’m not sure what life will bring my direction afterwards. I’d like to think everything will be fine, though.
• I cannot escape who I am and I’m destined to put myself in the same situations over and over.
• United is now my airline of choice. I have flown out of SFO using them three times now and each time it has gone smoothly and the people have been extremely friendly and good at what they do. The same cannot be said for US Air, my former airline of choice. I flew them for this trip to Manchester and they have been rude to me from start to finish. Also, whenever I call to ask questions, they never understand what I’m asking and they can’t answer well.
• My laptop is on its last leg. The hard drive makes funny noises at me now and again and slows down to a crawl. Once Merom-based Macbook Pros come out, I’m ordering one.
• It rains in other parts of the world. Having been in the bay area, where it has rained all of once since I’ve been there, I am spoiled with regard to weather. I didn’t bother to check the weather in Manchester, which was a mistake. It’s not very warm and it’s rained everyday. I probably should have brought a jacket, umbrella, or long-sleeve shirt.
• A 21-year-old boy who goes to school in smalltown, PA brings dynamite on a plane and it is obviously not terrorism, but a t-shirt in Arabic sparks concern. Maybe this is why last time I flew into SFO, I was asked the following questions: “Where is your family from?” “What is your father’s name?” “Have you ever been to Syria or Iran?” “Are you Muslim?”
• I’m looking forward to using a pirate voice during part of my conference presentation tomorrow.

I spent last week in Estonia presenting the paper Dexter and I wrote, Relational Semantics for Higher-Order Programs, at Mathematics of Program Construction (MPC) 2006. I had a really good time and regret the fact that I could only spend a few days there. The country is probably one of the nicest places I have ever visited; the area is beautiful and the people are friendly. If you are planning a European vacation, I recommend you spend a few days in Estonia. Take a look at my photos from the trip.

One of the disadvantages of living on the west coast for the summer is that travel time to Europe has increased by about six hours. Luckily, the flights all went smoothly. The two times I have now flown out of SFO have been quick and stress-free. After the three flights to get to Estonia, I had to take a four-hour bus trip from Tallinn, the capital, to the town of Kuressaare on the largest island of Estonia. As with all my international travel, I end up playing the stupid American. In this case, the stupid American tried to use the public restroom at the bus station without paying for it. I don’t think I’m going to bother expensing the $0.40 I had to spend to use it.

The bus ride was nice and included a ferry ride to the island of Saaremaa. I was surprised to discover that the ferry trip was around the time of sunset: 10:00 in the evening. Unfortunately, the sun didn’t set until after we had gotten off the ferry and back into the bus. Judging by the view from the bus, it would have been quite breathtaking to have seen the sunset on the ship. Nevertheless, I got some good pictures on the ferry.

Having my new DSLR camera has some interesting side effects. I had a number of people during the trip ask me if I was a professional photographer. I truthfully told them that I am not, but have always wanted a nice camera. Nevertheless, I realized that with a camera like this, I can blatantly take pictures of people I don’t even know; they don’t seem to mind at all. I certainly didn’t mind, either, as there are some very nice looking people in Estonia.

Anyway, back on the bus in a “do it before I lose my nerve” moment, I had a chat with the lovely Mailis, who walked me to my hotel. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time I get to talk to or see her.

The conference itself was pretty straightforward. There were a number of interesting papers. Highlights included Clare Martin and Sharon Curtis’ Nondeterministic Folds and William L. Harrison’s The Essence of Multitasking. I have to admit that some of the work presented went right over my head. My knowledge of category theory is a bit weak, which is a distinct disadvantage at such a conference. My presentation went well enough. I’m hoping it leads to some collaborations with a couple people who expressed interest in the work.

After presentations on Monday, we went to the Kuressaare Episcopal Castle for a tour and reception. It is one beautiful building of which to take pictures, inside and out. The mayor of Kuressaare came to welcome our group to the town and say a few words about the significance of a technological conference being held there. I get the impression the town and country as a whole are devoted to bringing tourists and conferences. I can’t say I’d object to another conference there.

After the reception, Dexter and I took a walk down the main street of Kuressaare and relaxed outside a bar. Shortly after we sat down, a slightly tipsy gentleman sits down at our table and says, “I have a question for you: where are you from?” We proceed to have a rather long conversation with Vootele and his friend, both Estonian natives. Vootele gave me his email address and I fully intend to contact him soon. He has expressed an interest in visiting America, so I’ll have to tell him all there is to see.

On Tuesday night, we had a barbecue in Tehumardi. The weather was perfect for some outdoor grilling (actually, the weather was perfect for the entire conference). Of course, we had to watch the time as many wanted to return to the hotel to make sure they caught the Germany/Italy World Cup Soccer match. Dexter and I also went back and watched the match. I have to say it was a little boring, minus the last few minutes.

After the last day of the conference, Dexter and I took the bus back to Tallinn. We spent the evening in the old town, which was just phenomenal. The old town has a very European flair to it. We went to dinner and then watched–you guessed it: World Cup Soccer. The crowd was definitely into it, although I imagine there were just as many tourists as natives.

After only two hours of sleep, I got up to return to California. The two hours was actually planned so that I could adjust to the return to Pacific Daylight Time, a difference of 10 hours and 15 hours of travel. The readjustment went pretty well, although I am glad I returned on a Thursday and only had to go to work for one day before the weekend. I might have to plan another trip to Estonia when I can and see all I missed.

A few different things are in my mind, so I thought I’d just talk about all of them. First of all, it is going to be one busy summer. I’m headed off to California in two weeks for my internship at Intel. Big thanks to Polly for offering to share a place this summer and then finding said place. This summer is also going to include three trips to Europe to present four conference papers. Dexter and I have been very fortunate with paper acceptance this semester, with two papers we wrote together accepted, one to MPC in Estonia and one to RelMiCS in Manchester, UK. I have a second paper in RelMiCS, as well as one in MKM in Wokingham, UK (this would be the conference Terese and I had a paper in last year). I have to say that it is a great feeling going four for four on papers this semester after having some droughts in previous years.

Secondly, and completely unrelated to my summer, is the fact that I bought some new CDs yesterday. The primary of these purchases was Tool’s new one called 10,000 Days. This album wins for greatest packaging ever. First of all, the work is all done by Alex Grey, my favorite artist. All of you in New York City (Chethan, I’m looking in your direction) need to go see his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. The artwork itself is not what separates this albums from others. No, the awesome thing is that this album artwork contains pairs of images that, when viewed with the attached stereoscopic glasses, appear 3D. Truly mind-blowing. The music itself is also growing on me very quickly.

I also picked up the latest Pearl Jam album. It has been heralded as the return of Pearl Jam to their roots, however, the album has not really struck me as that special yet. The last CD I got was Move Along by The All-American Rejects. I have been enjoying this album immensely. Shit, am I in danger of becoming emo kid? My hope is that this is not the case.

Finally, why is it that no one at Cornell or in Ithaca who wears a Penn State shirt actually went to Penn State? Whenever I see such a shirt, I like to ask its wearer if he attended the school. So far, no one I have asked actually has gone to the school. The most popular response is “no, I just like the football team.” The most legitimate response came from Meredith, who is from the central PA area and has a family member who teaches at Penn State. The amusing thing is that when I tell those with Penn State attire that I actually did go to school there, I can see that some of them suddenly feel like a fraud for wearing the shirt.

Perhaps the solution to this problem is for me to wear a Penn State shirt (I think I have one around here somewhere) and let people who went to the school come up and ask me if I went there. I can respond, “yes, I did my undergraduate work there.” Then we can reminisce about good ol’ PSU and take comfort in knowing that someone else who wears blue and white knows that Penn State is more than the football stadium.

With my impending move to California for the summer, I’ve decided–wait, I haven’t yet mentioned my move to California. Granted, if you are a friend of mine actually taking the time to read this, it probably means I’ve already told you about my move. But, for the uninformed, I’ll be moving to Santa Clara, CA this summer to intern at Intel. I’ll be working in the Programming Systems Lab on the Type-Safe IA. I’m not going to bother going into the details of that. I am without a doubt looking very forward to this opportunity.

But anways, back to the main point of this entry. I’ve decided that it is my best interest to use a cellular phone as my primary means of distance voice communication. I have for a long time felt that cell phones are evil. About four years ago, before I came to Cornell, I was using a cell phone as my primary line. However, it annoyed me in several ways. Most importantly, sound quality was horrible compared to a land line. Also, I didn’t like the way I used the phone; for instance, I allowed myself to get distracted while driving and talking on the phone. When I made the move to Ithaca, I decided to have a land line at home. I kept the cell phone in the car for use in emergencies only. It has come in handy in some of those situations, I cannot deny it.

Up until this point, I have resisted keeping a cell phone with me, despite the objections of several friends. It is true, a cell phone would have made it easier to contact me. That is precisely one of the reasons I avoided using one–I like only being available by phone when I am at home. My voicemail allowed me to check messages online, so any important messages I got during the day while in the office and, in the event of something requiring my immediate attention, I could respond. With cell phone technology being adopted at a staggering rate (along with other technologies, including email and instant messaging), there is this believe that people should be available any time, all the time.

And with that belief cell phone users make themselves available all the time: on the streets, in the stores, in cars, and even in bathroom stalls. I doubt I’m saying anything new here. We’ve all heard the arguments against cell phones and how they are making people more rude. I’m still not sure if inconsiderate cell phone usage is part of the cause or the effect.

Nevertheless, I do believe that a lot of the times I have been treated rudely in the past couple of years have related to the way someone has used a cell phone. The driving incidents happen several times a week: someone driving excessively slow or not paying attention at an intersection with a phone held up to the ear. More interesting for me was an experience in Wal-Mart a few months ago. I was in line at the self-checkout behind a woman who was ringing up her items while talking on her cell phone. Once she had checked out, she just stood there continuing her conversation on the phone despite the fact that I was behind her waiting. After a minute, I said to her, “are you going to take your bags?” at which point she gets extremely angry and defensive telling me not to be rude. I do not think I was the one being rude here, however. I told her that she can’t just stand there oblivious to the world around her and to the fact that I was standing there waiting because she was on the phone. Her final response to me before taking her bags and walking away: “I think you need to go fuck yourself.”

The primary thing cell phones have had going for them is convenience. For me, that convenience has finally won out over the drawbacks. Since I will be in California for three and a half months and then (hopefully) only back in Ithaca until January, I find a cell phone is what makes the most sense for me with regard to convenience.

So with that, I upgraded my cell phone plan and got a new Motorola SLVR (hey, if I was going to give in and get a cell phone, I at least wanted to be a technology/style whore, too). The gadget lover in me does enjoy having a new toy. Nevertheless, I will do my best to remain true to my current phone habits as best I can. I never want to be that guy whose phone rings during the movie, who attempts to dial and drive, or who allows himself to get so absorbed in his phone call that he is oblivious to the world around him. So if you see me doing any of these things, please take what action you see as appropriate to prevent me from doing it again.

I try to be a down-to-earth, relaxed TA most of the time. I teach two sections of CS 100J this semester, the same class I TAed last semester. My job is to give the students a lab assignment for them to do as I and my consultants walk around and help them one-on-one.

Today, my first section finished at 2:15, with a few students hanging around to finish up their labs as usual. Around 2:25, as I was helping a student, a professor walks in and starts saying “this is the Chem E. tutorial…” I say, “Excuse me, but I hold CS 100J here now.” He proceeds to get an attitude and sniped back, “Well, it’s not on the reserve list!” I told him that I had been holding class here since the first week of class and that we’d have to talk to the operators of the lab. He continues his “it’s not on the schedule” “let’s go look at the schedule” statements in a not-so-pleasant voice.

Normally when dealing with other people who are heated, I can remain rather calm, I’d like to think. One of the big exceptions to this is when people are rude or disrespectful to me, particularly in a professional setting. I believe in a certain etiquette among professors, instructors, and even teaching assistants. When someone violates the respect I feel I should have, it makes me…displeased.

The way I see it, I am here trying to help my students and this professor has no right to jump in and interrupt me and presume to take over the room when I am not done yet, whether he is entitled to the room or not. I certainly informed him of this fact, telling him he was rude and disrespectful to not wait outside of the room until I was done and, if he had concerns about use of the room, to come and talk to me instead of walking to the front of the room and starting his lecture, particularly since he was early. I mean, if he knew anything about the makeup of his class, he would have noticed that none of these students in the room were his. When he said he was going to be having class at 2:30, I ended my conversation with him with, “Well, it is now only 2:26.”

In the end, it seems there was a mix up and my class in fact did not have the room reserved. I have since talked to the professor I work with (David Gries, awesome professor to TA for extraordinaire) about reserving the lab. However, the Chem E professor’s right to use the room was not the problem. It was the manner in which he approached the situation. If he had simply walked up to me and said, “Excuse me, but I think my class has this room reserved for this time period,” I would have responded that I think my class had it reserved, at which point we would have walked over to the schedule, noticed he was correct, and moved my class to another room. Not a big deal. He chose to get a defensive attitude from the beginning, disrespecting my students, my consultants, and me.

As could not be helped, I was a bit riled up after that encounter as I took my students downstairs to another lab. Many of them got to see my little “discussion” with the Chem E. professor. Before I started class, I said to my students, “Haven’t you always wanted to yell at a professor? That felt so good.” They laughed and I laughed, which was really the intention; I had no reason to be heated around them and make them uncomfortable during their section. I hope we have not destroyed Chem E.-CS relations, though…

Back in the days of Academic Decathlon in high school, we had to study quite a bit about Economics, as it was one of the topics. I remember thinking back then that most of it seemed like common sense: as supply goes down, prices go up, as demand goes down, prices go down, etc. At that level, they hid these seemingly easy facts in graphs of lines moving around based on changes.

This semester, I’m taking ECON 609, a grad-level “introduction” to Microeconomics. You might ask, “why are you taking that?” The answer is “because I have to have a graduate minor.” The first two weeks were pretty straightforward. However, things have taken an interesting turn with some crazy math going on. However, it is still the same common sense as it was during Academic Decathlon; it’s simply wrapped up in multi-variable calculus now.

As an example, we used terms today such as “Walrasian demand,” “Hicksian demand,” “local non-satiation,” “homogenous of degree 1,” “concave in p,” “Lagrangian,” “quasi-convex in (p,w),” and “expenditure minimization problem.” What conclusion did we reach through all of these lovely terms? If you are happy with the purchase of a certain set of products and prices go up, you will have to spend more money on those products to be as happy as you were before. Like, woah man, that shit is deep.

I’m certainly not trying to belittle the study of Economics at all, as I am quite sure that I don’t get a great deal of what is going on. It seems the best way for me to survive this class is to break it down to the calculus and try not to focus too much on the economics part. Everything is based in properties of sets and functions and how those properties affect the results. I think I can accept it at that level.