Just not sleepy

This little girl is so silly.

Dining philosophers

In computer science, there's a classic problem known as "the dining philosophers". In this problem there are a certain number of philosophers who sit at a table to eat spaghetti and think. However, to avoid making a mess, they need to use two forks. Since there are the same number of forks as philosophers, if each philosopher grabs his left fork and holds onto it until he can get his right fork and eat, all the philosophers starve. I addressed this problem for a class I'm taking. My solution isn't novel. Basically, the philosopher holds onto a fork for a random length of time and then lets go if he can't get the other fork. The cool thing is that I did it in a new language called Orc and I made the program control a movie.

If you're interested (I know that most of my audience isn't), here's the main method of the program:

def philosopher(disp,n,fl,fr) =
      getForks(disp,n,fl,fr)
   >> eat(disp,n)
   >> letGo(disp,n,fl,fr)
   >> think(disp,n)
   >> philosopher(disp,n,fl,fr)

canvas(5) > disp > disp.open() >>
( philosopher(disp,0,f1,f2) |
  philosopher(disp,1,f2,f3) |
  philosopher(disp,2,f3,f4) |
  philosopher(disp,3,f4,f5) |
  philosopher(disp,4,f5,f1) |
  framerate(disp,50)
)  < f1 < makeFork(0)
   < f2 < makeFork(1)
   < f3 < makeFork(2)
   < f4 < makeFork(3)
   < f5 < makeFork(4)

Obviously, I've made a bunch of other functions, but this is the main idea.

Lips of concentration

This is my 41 week ultrasound. The doctor ordered it to make sure Emily had enough fluid to live in and wasn't too big to go over 40 weeks. The ultrasonographer loved this shot of Emily's face and snapped a picture of it for me. I was excited to see my baby in such detail, but at the same time thought her face was pretty funny looking. Which of those bumps is her nose and which are her lips? Why are her lips sticking out so far?Now Emily is almost 9 months old and I am seeing the resemblance. This is Emily's concentrating face. She always sticks out her lips when she's thinking hard or trying to figure something out. Her profile is almost identical to the one in the ultrasound. I don't think it's funny looking anymore. It's just cute now.

Baby Watching

An in-depth study of baby feeding technique:

Baby gets her hand into the cannister (after several unsuccessful attempts). Baby pulls out as many star puffs as she feels she can handle.
Baby eats her whole hand to increase the probability of getting whatever's clenched in her fist into her mouth.Baby continues her quest for more food.

Just another picture for Grandma

We went out and played on the swings. Emily likes the swings a lot, but she likes watching the other kids play even more. Most of all, however, she likes to lie down (face first) and make gravel angels. I guess it looks kinda fun.
She was a little confused by the camera this time.

Like a Weed

These just needed to be posted. This field is part of our apartment complex. Emily loves to be outside (she bolts for the door whenever we open it). These are apparently the Texas state flower: bluebonnets.

Saving Money

I recently saw a picture on the internet that I wanted for Emily's room. It was $30 though and all sold out, so I made one for her. It's not as professional as the one for sale (I used a pen and crayons), but it works.

Having an off day

Emily was kind of grumpy today. I made her take some long naps so she was kind of happy sometimes. But her happy moods were not normal, as you can see in these pictures. It's like she was pretending to be happy so she wouldn't have to take another nap.

Dancing

Here's our tiny dancer. I guess a lot of babies do this same thing, but that doesn't make it less cute. She has better moves than these, but they're tough to catch on film. She loves music.

Waiting for Mom to Come Home

Emily has grown very attached to her mother. When she hears the lock click in the morning, she gets so excited and starts to bounce up and down. She's been saying "mamama" and "dadada" but that still seems to be mostly babbling. However, there is no mistaking her affection for Amanda. She gets mad at me some nights when Amanda works. She yells. She wants to know where mommy went.
Amanda working while I do school is going okay. It's nice to be able to afford our apartment and still have money left over for food. It does mean some rough times juggling schedules. A few nights ago I hurried home from school so that she could go to the hospital, but I still had a lot of things to do and I needed to do them at school. So I kissed Amanda good-bye and then grabbed a sandwich, the playpen, and the girl and caught the bus back to campus. Emily enjoyed the ride. I got a lot of stares with the baby, diaper bag, playpen, and my laptop all strapped to me like a parent-commando (a special upgrade available if you can get a spy into one of Yuri's cloning facilities). I was still working when the last bus left campus; so we both stayed the night in my lab. One adventure after another.