This Week

Baby in a pumpkin:

So, as soon as we knew that we were pregnant, long, long ago, and received the due date, we thought it would be cute to put our future little baby in a pumpkin for Halloween. So, we did. I first carved out the pumpkin leaving a very large hole to set Jacob in. I drilled two holes in the bottom where I thought we could put his feet through, making the pumpkin look like a little suit. I was very pleased with my work. I thought for a second that Jacob might not like the pumpkin, but, thought up something. I ran hot water over the inside of the pumpkin, so it was all wet and soggy. I was sure Jacob would love it—it was warm, soggy, and cavernous, from every descriptions I have ever heard, identical to the womb.

But, it did not turn out that way. For the most part, Jacob was not fond of his experience in the pumpkin. Interestingly, the first two times we put him in the pumpkin, he almost immediately loosened his bowles and spoiled his diaper, so much so that both were very audible, echoing in the pumpkin. (Rethinking this, perhaps it was like the womb, and he was just doing what he did in those days, just let go whenever he pleased.)

However, after he got upset and dirtied himself, we figured out how to calm him. We would put a pacifier in, and he would settle down very quickly. We took pictures with the pacifier, but, it is much cuter without, so, we took out the pacifier. It would take a couple seconds for him to not be happy again, so, we played the game of putting the pacifier in, pulling it out, taking a few pictures, and then he would cry. It was fun. Interestingly, when one of my friends saw the pictures, the first thing he asked was "Did you carve the pumpkin before or after you put Jacob in." I guess that shows the perceived quality of my fathering amongst my peers.

Eating: We like to eat with Jacob. He is a very pleasant and social kind of boy, so when occasion permits, we allow him to dine with us.

First Econ 388 Test This week I took my first Econ 388 test. It seemed to go alright, but prior to it was perhaps the most nervous I have been for a test in several years (probably since my first Acc 210 test). Thursday through Monday night I just could not understand anything, and was very, very discouraged with how my studies were going. I felt desperately lost and hopeless on Monday night, but, things started to clarify a little, and it went alright. Here is one of the beginning to one of the proofs I had to do on the exam, deriving variance co-variance matrix for Beta given the prederived ols estimator for Beta and the known variance for Y, applying the “useful’ theorem.

E(z) = E(Ay) = AE(y) = Aµy VAR(z) = E(z - E(z))(z - E(z))' = E(Ay - Aµy)(Ay - Aµy)' = E(A(y - µy)(y - µy)'A' = AE(y - µy)(y - µy)'A' = AΣyA' =Σ z

The biggest problem with the test was just the sheer volume of stuff that was on it, but also, some of it was hard for me to understand. Anyways, it was fun, and now it is over.