cookies, cookies, cookies

Two super cool things happened today. First, I wrote a computer program that does Ordinary Least Squares. That's right, I don't need Stata, SPSS, SAS, or R to do OLS- today I made my own statistical package. I know that this means nothing to most of you, but it is seriously cool. Second, I just found out that one of my ICPSR friends is friends with the masterminds behind Insomnia Cookies. This company was started by some mastermind undergrads at the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. What began as a late night cookie-baking enterprise among friends morphed into a genius business plan that became Insomnia Cookies. Cookies are freshly baked straight out of this giant blue van, and the company's goal is to provide an alternative to greasy late night snacks. They even deliver- but sadly, not to California. Insomnia Cookies can be found on about a dozen college campuses throughout the United States. I found this franchise stationed outside the Michigan Union:
These cookies are so good- soft, warm comfort food. There are quite a few varieties of cookies- chocolate chunk, sugar, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, macademia nut- and brownies too. I ate the chocolate chunk cookie, and it was probably one of the best that I've ever eaten.

I told LD about Insomnia Cookies, and I said that I might drop out of grad school to bake cookies. (He did point out that the company does have franchise opportunities.) When the political science department decided to support me in learning statistics at ICPSR, I'm sure that it did not intend for me to go to Michigan and decide to change career goals. So, in case I do wind up baking cookies out of a giant blue van, I will be sure to put my newly acquired statistical skills to good use. (Maybe I can design a study that examines cookie preferences.) Oh, and I'll supply the department with a lifetime supply of cookies, which might actually be a good deal. After all, my cookie services will stop when I finish the program- and I don't intend for that to take a lifetime.