Monday, October 10, 2005

This is what Columbus Day is like? In my previous professional existence, I never had Columbus Day off.  With the new job, Columbus Day was a firm holiday for those employees not on an engagement.  Since I am not on an engagement, here is what I did today to celebrate my day off: Nice two hour workout at the gym; Read the news online and observed that an old professor won the Nobel Prize and blogged about it; Placed a couple of work-related calls to take care of some technology needs at the office; Walked down to the Jos. Bank store at the Inner Harbor to avail myself of the Columbus Day Sale; Promptly spent over $400 on a new black three-button suit (which was only $200) and suit accessories; Walked back to my place to take care of some logistical matters: Called Verizon to reconfigure my home phone service; I was just paying too much for a service I was using very little, so I reduced my bill in half; Called my grandfather to see if he had a good time on Thursday and to see how his return trip home was; Called my landlord to report a small leak that occurred during the weekend's monsoon; Mapped my route for the wedding I am attending in Utica, NY, this weekend.  Now, I am merely winding down the day.  I am going to do some reading, and I just may step out for some Mac-n-Cheese, Sean Bolan's style, for dinner.  5:32:42 PM    comment []  trackback []

Congatulations to Thomas Schelling on Winning the Nobel Prize WARNING: Post to Inflate My Ego Today, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awared to Thomas C. Schelling.  The former Harvard and University of Maryland professor was awarded the prize along with Robert J. Aumann for their pioneering use of game theory to explain certain economic behavior.  Game theory came to be applied to a number of other fields, and Schelling was acclaimed for applying its use to arms control and climate change.  I was fortunate enough to have a class with him when I was in graduate school at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.  I have met many good professors in my academic career, but I never met someone who was as intelligent as he was yet so unassuming.  When I began to work for the School in the beginning of my IT career, I had to do some work for him at his home in Bethesda.  I have never met two more wonderful people than he and his wife.  I still have one of the texts from my class, and I think that I may just dive into it again for old time's sake.  Choice and Consequence was one of the texts for his class.  I may have to pick up another of his books just for good measure.  I can truly admit that I was fortunate to have a class with him, and I was lucky enough to interact with him outside of the classroom--albeit briefly.  Tom Schelling is one of the rare people who is not taken with his own intellectual contributions.  As another former colleague put it, he is truly a gentleman and a scholar.  12:30:04 PM    comment []  trackback []