Good hack

They say that football is a game of inches; if so, model checking is a game of variables. The game is, essentially, how can I reduce the state of the model & shrink its representation?

Yesterday we were slightly past the edge of what can be analyzed in a reasonable amount of time using a BDD-based model checker. After looking at it a while, I came up with an optimization that removes one variable from a Simulink subsystem in a rather arcane clock mode. This one tweak made the difference; we got rid of 5 state variables and the model went through. It was, one of those rare (small) epiphanies -- a good hack.

Connections

About a month back, I finally made good on a promise that I made to myself when I finished my thesis: I was going to try to contact a couple of folks from Luther College with whom I had lost touch. In the age of Google, no one is more than a few clicks away, right? Well, after about 6 hours, I had an e-mail address for one and only a snail mail address for the other; not quite the immediate result I was expecting. I fired off e- and snail-mails respectively and hoped for the best.

I heard back right away from #1 (e-mail) and just this morning from #2 (snail mail). I think that reconnecting with someone is fraught with at least as much difficulty as getting to know them in the first place. At this point, we all have our own lives and tend to be pretty full without someone sending unsolicited e-mails. We all have grown and changed from who we were in school, but hopefully not too much. So, I'm grateful that they responded :-).

It's weird to try to figure out why, 13+ years out from school, certain people are still memorable. Both of the folks involved were very smart & talented, but I knew a lot of smart and talented folks. They were both artistic, but same goes there. I think that it was just that they were a lot more *interested* in things: art, music, philosophy, politics, etc. When I was with these folks, I just tended to see a lot of the magic of the world.

Beautiful Saturday

I feel like I've been in a roller coaster oscillating up and down about about 100 Hz; The floor drain in the basement backed up yesterday leaving a small lake in the basement (since dried up), another $400 in plumbing bills and some big concerns about water damage.  Between this, losing my cell phone, food poisoning, my project getting cancelled at work, not getting the paper done for FSE...  

The work week ended with an ultrasound for baby-yet-to-be-named yesterday afternoon.  She looks beautiful.  And healthy.  This one gift is so much more important than all the setbacks.  Tom wants to name her "Car"... not quite sure of the tie in here.  

Any way, this day has dawned beautiful and bright and perhaps the new week will yield a happier result.