Author Archives: pk

About pk

I am currently a PhD student in Industrial and Systems Engineering studying Optimization. Previously I was a student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison studying Applied Math, Engineering and Physics. Web design started for me in 7th grade, and ever since then I have enjoyed learning and expanding my skills. There are numerous projects I am currently working on, so please visit them and check them out.

The next four months of my life, condensed

Here is what I will be doing the next four months. Links included free of charge.

  • Eat an entire day of Mediterranean Cafe (undisclosed date) Who’s in!?
  • Graduate. (May 20th)
  • Thenceforth purging my system of any Med Cafe cravings through the aforementioned devouring, I will move out of Madison (May 20th)
  • Visit Rochester for ~4 days (May 20-24th)
  • Consume Fiesta.
  • Move to downtown Seattle, i.e.,  find a place to live before Nish and his roommates kick me out. (May 25th)
  • Start an internship at Microsoft. (May 30th)
  • Enjoy the summer months, like, ya know, fourth of July, birthday biz, etc… (May-August) Kudos to those that want to visit… I will dress to impress. Ok, that’s not true, but I will pick you up from the airport. Ok, so maybe I’m stretchin’ that a bit too, but I will buy you a beer. Yes, even you mom. And to those who are not visiting–well, no beer, sorry.
  • Move out of Seattle, and move over to Atlanta (August 14th) (yeah, the logo on that site is scorchin’ eh?)
  • The higher ups have decided that I’m allowed to proceed through more schooling. I thought they were joking, but they seem pretty serious about the whole deal. I’ll be starting down at Georgia Tech (August 20th) doing Operations Research in Stochastics or Optimization.
  • Teach undergraduate students. Oh snap, responsibilities. (August 20th and onward)

Thus my undergraduate career has come to an end. So it goes.

Favorite Blogs of 2007 thus far

Woostercollective — a celebration of street art. Self explantory. Here’s a picture to give you a taste :

PsyBlog — PsyBlog features topics that have to do with the brain and thinking, aka, “psychology.” An emphasis on neuroscience topics keeps me interested.

MyMoneyBlog — I’m interested in funky stuff like personal finance, and Jonathan over at MyMoneyBlog has all sorts of cool stuff you can do with your money. Everything from opening new accounts  for an occasional 100 bucks, to crazy stuff like setting up a treasury bill ladder. Very nice stuff.

flickr blog is a nice colorful dose of daily webertainment, and I’ve featured it in the past. They recently featured the Madison, WI- flickr group the other day, so hey, ya gotta give ’em some street cred.

In Berkeley, CA

In the soon-ending search for a school to continue my studies at, I ended up out in Berkeley, CA. Greets everyone, it’s incredibly nice weather here. 75 degrees? Yowza. Granted it’s no snowy paradise, but I’ll give the sunny atmosphere some midwestern cred regardless.

Here’s a pic of the Berkeley Marina by my hotel in good ol’ camera phone photographic quality–

After the Graduate Program intro this morning, I went out to the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to check out a few sites. Basically: gigantic park, lots of stuff to see, wish I had more time. I picked up a gyro right outside the park, and that was that. Great afternoon indeed.

Bacon Hot Dog

In an effort to pair bacon with every known food to man, I concocted a bacon beef hot dog combo that is set to correlate itself with higher rates of heart attacks as well as increased happiness by those that indulge in the bacony-beefy-tastiness.

Ingredients are as follows

  • Oscar Mayer (or similar) All Beef Hot Dog
  • Bun (white or wheat)
  • Bacon strips (2 per dog)
  • Spicy Honey Mustard
  • Large, uncloggable arteries

Notice the lack of ketchup–in full Chicago dog style, this hottie has no ketchup. The sodium rich red-saucy sauce has been replaced by sodium-saturated bacon. The trade off is worth it.

Directions

  • After a hearty breakfast including a waffle, bacon and eggs, save a few slices of bacon for the future–place them in the fridge–nothing beats a good snack of leftover bacon even if you don’t make bacon hot dogs.
  • Cook up your dogs–preferably on the grill. Boiling or microwave will suffice as well
  • Scorch that bun if you’re grilling out, nothin’ beats a nicely toasted bun. Don’t forget to coat the inside (and outside if you’re so inclined) with butter. No margarine ladies. Margarine is bad for you anyways. Takes less than 1min on a hot grill
  • Take your bacon slices out of the fridge and zap em in the microwave until the sizzle like when they were first panned up
  • Place one slice of bacon on each side of the dog
  • Lay down the line–a line of mustard, that is.
  • Enjoy!

A picture for your eyes only–notice the carrots–those are a good side for those that are trying to stay healthy.