Now, end of 2023 edition
Inputs
Reading John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” series, on the third book now and enjoying the world he’s created. Book 2 made me care for a character far more than I expected to from the first few chapters, book 3 is shaping up to be interesting too.
Split out a list on Mastodon for Tech news and people in technology. It is my primary place for getting tech news, which spans cybersecurity, data science, AI and ML, web, and languages.
Switched my main news input from the BBC to Reuters, sorry Auntie Beeb. For 2024 I want something that has more of a world focus and is as unbiased as I can find. I am nervous about the news coverage of all the events next year. Fact-checking with Teri Kanefield for political news is a relief, she is sane, calm, and informative.
Thinking about
Went to my first hot yoga session with a friend and it was intense! My balance could be better, my flexibility and stamina are good, I’d like to go again because I slept so well afterwards. The yoga studio was small and welcoming.
Completed 9 of the 12 courses for my master’s degree in Data Science, still with a 4.0 GPA! I now have certificates in Big Data and Machine Learning. I'm doing two more courses in the spring semester, there’s nothing I need in the summer so I will finish in the autumn of 2024. I can attend a graduation ceremony in December 2024 in full regalia.
Used Kaggle for my data science capstone project and got used to the system there, I have 14 notebooks, mostly for the Forest Cover data set as that was the subject I was assigned for the capstone. I have plans to explore a data set on sunspots and solar cycles during the summer semester. I will also be doing some more adjunct work for St Louis University then.
Grateful
Hunter Yoda, the savannah kitten, is now 9 months old and 8 pounds in weight, four more than when he arrived in June. He has 3 basic speeds: sleep, trot, and sprint. You can hear his purr across the room, he plays fetch like a puppy and he loves to cuddle. He still adores Marie Curie, the 5 year old Maine Coon mix, they wrestle every day.
Craft and Creating
Back to weaving, I have a fingering-weight scarf on the loom that I want to complete so I can start some cotton and hemp blend kitchen towels. I also want to learn indirect warping.
Working on the Seven Tees cardigan, though mine is not striped like the pattern. I had to modify the pattern to accommodate my arms because it was written for tiny, drinking-straw sized arms. The yarn is rambouillet wool from Mesta Meadows in Missouri, I’ve been to their farm and seen their sheep.
I made sewn dinner napkins and zipper pouches for Christmas presents, and I think people liked then.
Haven’t done any spoon carving in a while, and I’d like to get back to that. It is amazing how much time I have to play with when I am not doing classes.