sights of the u of m

Let me give you a walking tour of the University of Michigan campus. I will start with this giant rock on the corner of Hill and Washtenaw, just a couple steps outside my front door. It seems as though this rock gets painted nearly every other day for all sorts of occasions. I've been here for a month, and I've lost count of how many times it's been painted. U of M students paint this rock blue for game days, and their Ohio rivals have been known to paint over it in red.Next up: This giant cube outside the Michigan Union. You can't tell, but it spins on its axis. Kind of cool.

I've walked through this park many times between Newberry and class.
This is the entrance to the "Diag," a long diagonal path (get it?) through campus.


The Law Quad:

The periphery of campus is surrounded by coffeeshops, restaurants, bars, and shops. Lots of activity, and lots to do. Another note: You've probably noticed that I've omitted the Big House- unfortunately, the Stadium is currently under construction.

a picture is worth a thousand words

The legendary Hippie Hash: hash browns, veggies, and feta cheese:
Best ice cream ever: Kilwin's Ice Cream

Next up: the Gerald Ford Presidential Library







Hidden behind the staircase: Watergate

and then: The Wave Fields by Maya Lin


And finally: the Museum of Natural History

Highlights from ICPSR

Save the residuals. Some matrices look perfectly nice and well behaved, but they are KILLERS! Let the numbers work for you, and listen to the story they are telling you. Interpret results both statistically AND substantively. Have some class when you say Poisson; it's not poison. It's not where you go to school but what you do with it. Have confidence in what you do, what you know, and what you can contribute to the field.

One of the most important things that I learned this past 4 weeks is to remember that results have both statistical and substantive meaning. All too often, the p values and significance levels get emphasized so much that the real world meaning of the results simply gets lost. So, my regression professor emphasized over and over that we need to interpret out results both statistically and substantively. Numbers have real world meaning, and it's not all about the asterisks.

All right, I'm off to play now. Stay tuned for pictures!

almost...done...with...stats...camp

This past month has flown by so, so quickly. Stats camp is almost over- I turned in both of my final homework assignments on Tuesday evening, and tomorrow is our last day of class. If I had to sum up ICPSR in one word, I think that I would say that it is intense. In 4 weeks, we learned the amount of class material that is usually learned in a class that is at least a 10 weeks- and most of us took 2 classes. We all started to get burnt out near the end of last week. On Monday, our regression professor asked us a simple question, only to watch our eyes glaze over.

Yet, I am glad that I came to ICPSR. The homework was intense, but it was something that we all went through (or suffered through) together. ICPSR was headquartered in Newberry, where they set up study lounges, computer labs, and a library. (Remember, this is where I found the free coffee!) The offices for the professors and TAs were here too. I really enjoyed learning statistics in this environment because most of us did our homework in Newberry, so there were always fellow classmates, professors, and TAs easily accessible if we had any questions.

I learned a lot, much more than I expected. And, I feel more confident with statistics and I understand it so much better than before. Much of this is to the credit of my regression professor, who is simply an amazing teacher. Seriously, he has a gift. He uses these metaphors and speaks in plain language to explain statistical concepts. Today he taught us about Maximum Likelihood Estimation by using a metaphor about GPS navigation, mountain ranges, and a parachuter. This might sound strange, but I understand MLE, so mission accomplished.

I have 2 full days to explore Ann Arbor before I head back to Southern California. Now I will get to be a tourist, which means that I'm going to wander around, find cool places to eat, and do the things that I wasn't able to do these past few weeks.

8/8/08

So, I have a confession to make. I'm a nerd. Totally geeky. How geeky, you ask? Last night a couple friends and I got together for pizza, beer, and the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. I love all these Olympic. In fact, in bums me out that I'm not home right now, glued to the TV. Because I'm sharing a house right now with about 15 people, I can't have a monopoly over the TV. And oh yeah, I'm also doing lots and lots of stats homework.

Anyway, here's where the geek part comes in. While my friends and I were sitting there talking about how much we loved the Olympics, I was trying to think of ways to tie it into my research. Seriously. I actually gave some thought to this. And shared it with my friends. So, here's what I was thinking: When did the Olympics become political? In the past, countries have boycotted, athletes have demonstrated, and then there was the massacre in Munich in 1972. This year, demonstrators staged protests during the Olympic torch relay runs. And, Iraq almost didn't get to go to the Olympics. All right, I might be missing other events, but I'll move on.

Let's talk about citizenship and representation of a country. Many athletes (Michael Phleps, Shawn Johnson) are citizens of their home countries, train there, and represent their home countries. However, there are several (Adam Harris, Yao Ming) with dual citizenship and choose to represent a country other than the one in which they live and train. What does this say about allegiance, membership, and identity?

Finally, (and this is my personal favorite and gripe) this is what I have to say to the media: enough about all the mothers on the Olympic team. Seriously. Just stop it. Now, I'm a fan of Jennie Finch and Dara Torres too. Really, I think they're just great. But surely there are men (Bryan Clay) who are also combining fatherhood, training, and the Olympics. Where are they? As long as the media focuses on mothers, it exacerbates the notion that raising children is still a woman's job and not a man's. By glorifying Finch and Torres (but not Clay), the media is sending the message that they are extraordinary because they have been able to become Olympians despite being full time mothers. In contrast, Clay is not considered extraordinary because fatherhood is STILL considered to be a part time endeavor, and it is assumed that he has a partner (wife) who assumes child rearing responsibilities. So, the media may be doing something good (showing that women can be both athletes AND mothers), but it is still reinforcing gender roles and stereotypes by focusing on the accomplishments of the mothers and not the fathers.

All right, more on this later. I have to go do stats homework now.

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.

The Smokin Fez Monkeys and Mustard's Retreat

Last night, we went to The Ark, this venue in downtown Michigan featuring daily performances by various folk artists. We went to see Mustard's Retreat, a local singing/songwriting duo. This Ohio based jug band, Smokin Fez Monkeys, opened for them. (I don't actually know what jug band means, but this is how the band identifies itself on its CD. On a side note, isn't it cool how I've figured out how to link websites to my blog posts? Neat-o.)

So, Mustard's Retreat is composed of these 2 men about my dad's age who sing and play a bunch of different guitars that all sound the same to me. They've been singing and songwriting together since the 1970s. The music was super mellow and they had good harmonies, and I knew that my parents would enjoy it. The Smokin Fez Monkeys was composed of 4 men and a woman who plays the violin. One guy plays the bass, another plays the banjo, another played this instrument that looked like a guitar, and the last guy played percussion, only it was this upright smorgasbord of various noisemakers. The music was also sprinkled with harmonicas, jugs (is this why it's a jug band?), etc. This band was awesome; they were quirky, upbeat, funky, and original. The music was unique, and it sounded bluegrass and folk-like to me. I could have listened to them for the entire evening, which is why I purchased their CD.

Funnily, we were the youngest group at the Ark last night. The rest of the audience were around our parents' age. And with a Russian, a Brazilian, and a Korean in tow, we also brought the only ethnic diversity as well.