A visitor, and culinary fun

Hello everyone,

I had my first visitor! Tom Kane on his whirlwind trip of excitement stopped by for a couple days and distracted my from my work with worthwhile conversation. He has been traveling for like 120 days or some ridiculous amount of time. Anyway, having him here was great and means I can't wait til family members and friends make stops here!

I also got to cook for someone else for the first time in a long time. Highlights include: Making pesto from scratch with a mortar and pestle, keeping the Hilty tradition of quality french toast going (including homemade banana syrup), some kinda lame but filling burritos, and lastly beer which was purchased but still exciting to share with someone.

This little bit of cooking for someone else and the large amount of working that has been lurching closer has convinced me to do even more cooking fun for myself. Including making refried black beans (interesting note: refried does not refer to frying twice, but instead to thoroughly frying the beans, which isn't even that true of the cooking method, but whatever.) This lead to bean burritos being a solid lunch food for the past couple days, which also allowed me to (through a slight amount of forgetfulness) make sweet potato and black bean burritos. Which apparently are already a thing, but nontheless are super enjoyable. I am fairly certain a certain female friend of mine would find them especially exciting. I have also been experimenting with homemade past sauce and I think I may make lasagna when I come home with all the ingredients starting in base forms, i.e. one word ingredients (this is my new favorite thing in food packaging i.e. tomato paste ingredients: tomatoes).

For those few people that read my blog that don't talk to me or my mom regularly, you probably won't know that my dad just underwent knee surgery, hopefully he will be home sometime within the next 0-36 hours. He will be layed up for awhile, however, if all goes according to plan he should be ready to do some light partying for christmas and open house.

I hope everyone out there has an enjoyable Thanksgiving, and I will likely not be posting much for the next couple weeks as applying to grad school and getting kicked in the face by finals occurs, but after that I will be back in Lakewood.

In other news I may be spending a bit of time in Chicago right after New Year's so if you are around send me an email.

Massive Flip-Floppery

Hey Everyone,
I have been spending a lot of mental energy (that not spent on reading and critiquing philosophy) trying to make a decision about next year and what that means for this year. At the moment I am trying to decide if I ought to apply to grad school now, for next year, or if I should take next year off (with respect to academia) and possibly apply next year. Now there are pluses and minuses to both sides, but I have recently been entertaining the idea of teaching high school, which if I "took next year off" I could explore. I am writing this here, well one because I am highly caffeinated, but more importantly because I need to organize these thoughts and possibly get feedback. On the other hand it is obviously a decision that I have to make on my own (as all decisions must be made). Anyway, if you have thoughts I would love to hear them, and if not that is the main thing in my life that is not the same as it has been. Though there are a few other exciting things.

First, I have been cooking new-ish things a lot. For the most part these things are only new because I have to cook with new measuring styles and temperatures, which makes all recipes new in a sense. So far, I made chili, without any spicing (as in hot) materials (silly Scots) though I finally acquired some tabasco so that has been much improved. Today I made macaroni (baked not Kraft) which was ok, though I don't quite have the right pan, it is ok. I also made some pasties the recipe for which came from the ny times. They came out ok, the filling was delicious, but the crust was a bit hard to make and press out, without a rolling pin (which I now have). Finally, I have made risotto a lot, oh my goodness do I love mushroom potato risotto. I also made some butternut squash risotto which was good but could be made better, possibly with the addition of brown butter. One thing i am reticent about is baking, because it is the thing which requires the most exacting measures and i am not sure I can cope with that easily. Needless to say I am excited for being able to cook when I come home for Christmas for my family with utensils to which I am accustomed.

The other thing for those who are philosophically inclined, and/or have read my comps, I think I have found a way that modern physics allows for dualism (sorta) and at the very least allows for some degree of "free will" according to that conception of the world, this isn't yet fully fleshed out, but it does make my view of how the mind works a bit more possible. If you are interested in this stuff check out Roger Penrose's book The Emperor's New Brain, and 200 years of philosophy about the mind focusing on Descartes and my comps.

Hope all is well with everyone, your Scottish correspondent, signing off.

QUICK AWESOME-NESS

Hey all,
Just wanted to thank everyone that has sent me a letter or package since I have been here, thanks so much, it really makes it all better. Expect that I will be sending postcards all your ways in the next couple days. Talk to you soon.
-Jake

An event filled week

Hello All,
This week has once again been filled with some excitement. As some of you know, (though I am pretty sure not all) I have been in a bit of a funk specifically with regards to future studies and work in philosophy. I have been reading a fair bit about philosophy grad school (Phd programs) and a fair amount of the information out there is...less than encouraging. Additionally, some of the information out there says that "taking a year off", which previously had been my plan, is not a great idea, unless the interceding year is spent doing something relevant to philosophy, which of course is difficult given the huge dearth of jobs in the field outside of academia. So I had a couple meetings this week with professors (and one next week) and talked to them about applying, they thought that I should be applying this year, but they thought my chances weren't as bad as I had initially thought, and further, if I don't get in this year they said I could transfer to the Masters of Philosophy (a title not a subject matter, at the end of that program I would have an M Phil in Philosophy) program, which is a year longer, assuming I had performed well up until that point in my current MSc program, and then I would have a reason to be taking an extra year, a higher degree, and still could apply to grad school next year with the additional bonus of likely being able to spend the year in the states and just having regular video conferences and 1-2 meetings in Scotland throughout the year (this is unconfirmed, but seemed like a good backup plan to me.) Further, when I talked to one of my professors he asked me why I wasn't currently applying here to work with him as a phd student, which I was pretty excited about, I should have mentioned that this is the professor that I am planning on asking to write recommendation letters for me. Apparently my research interests are similar to his and he has 2 Phd students currently pursuing degrees with research in this area. Like I said, this is all exciting to me, and making me feel like my chances of getting into grad school this year are much better than they were last year.

In other news, I tried out for a choir yesterday (boy was that weird). I did some sight-singing (it has been awhile) and did some range tests, sang a little bit of a solo and talked to them about the calendar of their group. They are called Cadenza, and are a local choir that performs every year during the Fringe Festival and a couple other concerts throughout the year. Anyway, I got an email today inviting me to join them. Exciting! This choir is 50 voices, and does a mix of music pretty similar to the choir of which I was a member in high school (symphonic mixed for those from Lakewood). It isn't a capella, but I am not convinced that Scotland really knows what that is and it is good to have some singing to do.

Lastly, for those people that don't know, yesterday was Emily and my anniversary, we met/started dating 2 years ago (thanks Abi). Admittedly, talking on skype wasn't the ideal anniversary date, but I am so glad that she has been willing to put up with my year abroad and also excited that I (and anyone else around the Hilty house for christmas time) will see her in December! She is well and working hard on her own grad program in New Orleans at Tulane, in Latin American Studies. Currently she is trying to decide through a complex chain of later affecting decisions (something like writing a grant proposal, for summer research, which should inform her project, so she should know what that final project is? Hope I didn't screw that up) what her topic of her dissertation will be. So happy anniversary to her/you and I hope your weekend was good, and I promise I am doing my best to be in the same continent as you next year, and if things go well maybe even the same city!

Well, I think that is about all the news I have for the week-ish. Hope everyone else is well. I hear the weather back home is actually worse than it is here, and that Minnesota already has know, Scotland for the win. Love you all, will write again soon.

Birthday's and Crags and Nerdy-ness, Oh My!

Hello all,
I was informed by a certain family member that I need to be posting more on this blog, especially considering that a lot of stuff has happened in the intervening days since the last post, so I will bow to his/her wishes (note the ambiguity of gender meant to confound my readers).

First of all, I made it through my birthday, I am 23 now so to any family member that this makes feel old I apologize, though I am excited to edge ever closer to the elusive car rental age. My birthday started out a little lamely as I woke up at 7:30 or so, in an attempt to procure a bike. It seems that in Edinburgh the only way to get a used bike at all is to wait outside this place called the Bike Station (actually a pretty cool place: http://www.bikestation.org.uk) on Saturday morning. The Bike Station opens at 10:30 and has ~30 bikes each week for people to potentially buy. Now, just to give an example I got there at a bit before 8 and I was 16th in line. The person who was first got there at around 6:30. By 10:30 there are usually 80 people in line for the first 3-4 weeks of the school year and then it comes down to smaller numbers as the weather worsens and more people have bikes. So, if anyone is looking to start a business a used bike shop in Edinburgh with a steady supply from somewhere would be a good bet. Luckily, being where I was in line afforded me the opportunity to purchase a bike at a mostly reasonable price, and though it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it is good enough to get me to and from school which was the main objective.

So having spent the first 4 hours or so of my birthday embroiled in bike acquisition, I came home to find a few flatmates eager to hang out. So we talked a bit and decided the best bet for the day was to check out Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags (both of which are located in Holyrood park, which is ~30 minutes from my house and 15 minutes from the city center). This actually amounted to a pretty fun couple of hours. The end of the day was a fun little get together surrounding a cake made by one of my flatmates, who hasn't cooked much, but made a truly valiant effort, and really made my day feel a lot more like a birthday. Overall, a very fun day.

Onto the titular nerdy-ness described. This actually encapsulates 2 separate events both of which I found pretty exciting. First, I was hanging out with one of my North American Friends, (did I mention that >50% of my friends here are from NA. The few Scottish folks I have met outside of class will come into the story later.) a girl from Connecticut who is doing what must be one of the hardest masters programs at the school. Anyhow, we were talking about nerdy things that we do and I made a claim that I have made many times before, that I am probably the nerdiest person that you will ever meet. Turns out this girl has me beat, admittedly not on every level, but she speaks freaking elvish! We traded stuff back and forth and though I might have her on a few esoteric bits (tech theater, sheer volume of nerdy games played and depth of rules reading) she definitely comes out ahead with respect to nerdy-ness overall.

Secondly, and as promised, I met some Scottish folks, but you may be asking yourself, how outside of class would Jake manage to meet people actually from Scotland in Edinburgh (a surprisingly tough thing to do). Turns out, that Scottish people play magic, and so do I. That's right my obsession with small rectangles of cardboard is finally paying off. I went to a prerelease tournament (what that means is unimportant, just know that I was excited enough about it to research on the internet where to go) and started talking to a few guys about magic. They in turn invited me out to a pub to play more magic after and 5 hours later, a little drunkenly, I had a new set of magic playing friends. Small sidenote, Magic + Drinking = fun times. I have actually since hung out with these guys and gotten onto an email list of events, so hurray for friends outside of staving off culture shock and being in 3 classes together.

With respect to other news, I have finally had all my classes, 2 of the 3 seem really interesting and the 3rd could get there, but felt a little bit like stuff I had done before. I also have decided to audit a class on Algorithmic game theory and its applications just in case that paper I worked on last summer needs to get expanded for a journal, hurray for potentially getting published, though admittedly in a field which is not my main academic one. Meh.

Alright well there is another week of my life encapsulated pithily into blog form. Hope it was enjoyable, and if not (or even if so, but you want more info) tell me what you want to know about in the comments.

Learning a bit about the city and a lot about Sainsbury

Hello again all,
Welcome back to the receptacle of thoughts from my journeys here in Edinburgh. A lot has happened since I last updated, hence the lack of updates in the meantime. For one, I have registered for classes, or more accurately I have been registered for them by my director of studies, apparently we can't do that on our own. At the moment I am trying to decide if I want to audit any classes, but before I decide that I have to look at the course offerings of like 5 other departments, so for the time being 3 courses a semester, 1-2 reading groups, a lecture series or 3 and starting to think about my dissertation is where my mind is. In other news I have registered with a doctor, registered with the college and confirmed my attendance with the college, all of these are required and take place in separate buildings, so if you ever come to school in the UK make sure you get a list of all the things you have to do with very specific titles as this might get confusing.

I have also finally met all my flat mates (at least the ones that have shown up so far) there are 8 of us, all international students. Chris from Vancouver, Bernoit from Paris, Paul from somewhere in Romania, Alim (sp?) from somewhere in Rumania, Wanarok (sp?) a second year phd candidate from Thailand, Bruce from China, and an Indian chap who arrived last night who I only spoke with briefly. I have also met a few people from my program and a few other programs from the apartment building where I am staying, of which a surprisingly large number are from North America. I guess the taught post grads (PGs), of which I am amongst the number, are more than 50% non-UK. Most are also 25 or older, and there is higher number of girls than boys by 1-2 thousand, though you wouldn't know it from the taught philosophy kids. Anyway, in other maybe interesting maybe not news I have purchased a pay as you go cell phone that can receive phone calls from the states for no cost to me, so if you are absolutely aching to talk to me you can try to call, (email me or mom for the number) and I will either answer if I hear it or call you back on skype if the number is left.

Oh man, I almost forgot about Sainsbury! Sainsbury is the everything store that is just about 1o minutes by foot away. It is a bit like Target but with more produce, however, unlike Target you can literally find anything you want there. It is no longer a useful question to ask can you get that at Sainsbury, only what aisle is that item to be found. I have already been there like 3 times as I am having a notoriously hard time listing all the things I need food and otherwise. Alright well that about sums it up until class starts next Tuesday, but I hope everything is going well for everyone not in the UK (well in the UK too i suppose) and I especially hope Josh and Kat's wedding goes well this weekend if I don't get a chance until way after to say this Congratulations you guys! I will try and Skype home sometime this weekend to say hey to everyone, but if I can't get through love you all and hope it is a great couple days, I know it will be.

Last day in the US (pluralized) and First Day (Morning) in Scotland

Well, I finally made it, and for those of you who have heard me talking in the last couple days (weeks) you might be surprised to hear that. Basically, If you ever decide that you want to be a full time student in the UK for an extended period of time, apply for your visa as early as possible and pray that is comes in time. My visa arrived on Friday morning at approximately 10am, mostly through the good grace of the UPS. I hadn't heard anything about the arrival or status of my visa until thursday evening at approximately 7pm. For those that don't know I was originally scheduled to leave on Friday afternoon. However, since I hadn't heard anything in weeks and was starting to get worried about getting a visa at all I was considering deferring til 2010 and all other sorts of things.

The good news is, of course, I did make it, and I didn't even have to pay for the one day change of my flight that came courtesy of bad weather in New York. So now, I am here in Scotland. I moved into the smallest room I have ever lived in, but it will do for a year, and my 10 person flat doesn't just have 1 bathroom which is GREAT NEWS! Most importantly I am about to embark on a MSc program in philosophy and I am a bit freaked out. I want to study philosophy of that I am sure, but this rigorous academics specifically in the one year master's sense of rigor I am a bit intimidated by.

Anyway, I have some poetic thought in my head about seeing the mists curling at the feet of the mountains here, but since I have been awake for quite awhile at this point and my brain is approximately mush I am going to just say adieu until tomorrow, and wish good times on everyone who might be reading.

Oh man, I almost forgot, if there is anything in particular you want to hear about let me know in the comments section and I will try to make that happen.