From 8f5e6f678bc2b0c4ccf461b7b4550b752f35c888 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dane Sabo Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 08:27:26 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] vault backup: 2025-03-31 08:27:26 --- .../Journal/20250331_Should_I_Continue.md | 28 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+) diff --git a/9999 Personal/Journal/20250331_Should_I_Continue.md b/9999 Personal/Journal/20250331_Should_I_Continue.md index e69de29b..1eb02e6a 100644 --- a/9999 Personal/Journal/20250331_Should_I_Continue.md +++ b/9999 Personal/Journal/20250331_Should_I_Continue.md @@ -0,0 +1,28 @@ +The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The dog stays blissfully asleep. :) + +This time, I'm actually going to begin writing a journal. I feel like I have a +lot of thoughts that I let swim around, without doing much about them. To quote +*the Happiness Lab* episode that I listened to today: + +"Good intentions mean nothing if they don't translate into actions." + +So I'll take Dan's advice, and use writing to do thinking. I also think that +writing this journal can improve my writing skills. + +So what's going on today? + +Well as I'm writing this, I'm on the 61D on my way into school listening to +*Spanish Pipedream* by John Prine. But what I really want to tell you about is +the decision I'm trying to make about whether or not to finish my PhD here at +Pitt with Dan. Last Friday, I had a meeting with Dan about an idea I was +interested in pursuing that at the core involved working with a real, tangible +system. That idea was politely dismissed, and I was 'nudged' back towards formal +methods for critical infrastructure. My immediate impression is that formal +methods for our lab is a crock of shit. + +Dan means well and is genuinely looking out for my best interest, but that +doesn't translate into belief into his mission. Formal methods are an intense +mathematical pursuit in order to prove 'correctness' of something to something +else. Formal methods experts may disagree with that characterization, but +ultimately that second 'something' can be a lot of things, such as a model of a +plant, a written specification, or anything that can be logically defined.