My Economic Toolbox

When I started working with my dad, I only had the basic handtools: screwdrivers, razor knife, side-cutters, maybe a level and tape measure. I could only do basic tasks with the tools I had. You gotta start somewhere...I started by putting switches on windows. As I progressed in my skills, I acquired new tools. For instance, I got needle-nose pliers when I started working on phones (because you need them!). With networking stuff, I had to borrow the tools because they're expensive and it doesn't make sense to have my own set. It was always cool-and-a-half to get a new tool, because that meant that I was progressing in my abilities. Sometimes a new tool could help me get faster at a task that I used to do as well as letting me undertake an entirely different job.

Economics seems to be following the same pattern. I got to grad school without having much math. Right off the bat, I learned how to do constrained optimization (a topic I was curious about before finding out how it could be done). Now, I'm pretty good at setting up a Lagrangian to solve the constrained optimization problem. However, just like it took me some practice to be able to properly strip a wire, it took me time to learn how to interpret the constraints and write them down in a formula. While you can solve simple problems with a Lagrangian, sometimes you need to check Jacobians and Hessians (if you don't know, don't ask). I'd never even heard of Jacobians or Hessians when I entered the program, much as I had never heard of a sweep-90 before my first vacuum job. In economics, I started learning how to solve continuous time models, then worked on discrete time ones (with the envelope condition AND dynamic programming).

Just as I wasn't very productive my first few weeks/months on the job in the security market, I don't think I would be of much help to any professional economists with what I know now. However, I reached the point in my security skills that I know I could go to work for a company as a really good helper or a pretty shitty head of a 2-man crew (shitty by my standards, probably pretty average by industry standards). I think I'll probably be in a comparable position in the econ world after finishing my second year of classes.

Viva Pedro

Acabo de comprar la colección de DVD "Viva Pedro," la colección Almodóvar, por half.com. Tiene 9 discos. Incluye las películas siguentes:
La mala educación
Hable con ella
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Todo sobre mi madre
Flor de mi secreto
Live Flesh
Law of Desire
Matador

¡Todas tienen el audio en español!
Será mi primera aumentación a mis propios DVDs que está en el castellano. Compré "Un día sin mexicanos," pero solamente tiene los subtítulos en español. Que decepcionado estaba.

The Bike Ride

Thanks to Paula for getting up early to cheer me on and for taking this picture!

Triathlon

I guess you might be curious how my first triathlon went.

I think I had a pretty good race. I didn't know what I was doing, so I just copied everyone else (like racking my bike in the transition area). The swim was so cold that I couldn't breathe normally. I also didn't swim straight and ended up going probably an extra 25m or so. My first transition time was incredibly slow, but that didn't bum me out. My friend let me borrow his road bike, and I was passing people going up hills on the entire course. The only bikers that passed me were on the $4,000 bikes with aero-bars and 2-ounce wheels. I can live with that. Nobody passed me on the run. My 5k time was 20:59...I wanted to be under 20, but that's not too bad. I felt crappy right after the finish. After a visit to the bathroom, I felt a little better. Got a massage, then decided that I could have gone farther. I think I want to do an olympic distance tri next. That's a 1500m swim, 40k bike, and 10k run. My sprint yesterday was swim 1/3 mile, bike 16 miles, run 5k. I would have to train more for the swim in the longer race, but I think that would be pretty cool. I'm definitely signing up for this race next year!

I wasn't even sore on Sunday. It must have been a good massage. I encourage anyone who has been thinking about doing a tri to register for one and go for it!

Pick #17

Son By Four - A puro dolor.

you just can't sit still if this is playing.

International Party

Last night was my international party. It went pretty well. Good food. Copious amount of good drink. I think everyone had a good time. Lots of different countries represented. Off the top of my head, we had:

Cuba, Philippines, Mexico ( I mean Italy), Italy, Argentina, Jamaica, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, France, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Slutty-Schoolgirl-Landia, Tanzania, Kenya...

I was disappointed that some people didn't show up. Like my two (dot) Indians, Mexico (Gomez) Croatia, Turkey, TBW, Australia, the neighbor girls, and some econ people. Some of them had legit excuses. Their loss. Especially Australia...Germany put her on "friend probation" for not showing up!

Ow, My Knee!

For some reason, my left knee hurts. It has hurt for a couple days. I'm not biking tomorrow or Friday in hopes that the knee will feel better by race time. It's only when I bend it at a certain angle (an angle that is required to propel my bike). I guess the upside of 8am classes is that they make it easier to find parking.