February 2022

March 8, 2022

I spent many of my weekends and evenings working on the Data Structures for Storage and Retrieval module of the Bradfield CSI. I think this may have been my favorite yet. Unlike your typical data structures class, the Bradfield one focused on practical applications of data structures and is centered around implementing a key-value database from scratch. In the process, I learned about skip lists, SSTables, and Bloom filters.

Vacuuming

I don't like sweeping, so looked for and bought a vacuum that does a good job with hard floor pickup. In the process of searching, I fell deep into the rabbit hole of vacuum YouTube. Some videos have vacuum reviewers running vacuums through precise and reproducible vacuum tests. Others have vacuum enthusiasts demonstrating old vacuums and lecturing about vacuum history.

It's all amazing. The enthusiasm is contagious. I had tickets for a concert on one Friday night, but I stayed home and skipped it because I wanted to read about vacuums instead.

I ended up with a Dyson V7 with a fluffy cleaner head, and I've been really enjoying it.

Watching

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was excellent, and it was a more cutting satire I was expecting. I think it's extremely pessimistic about art's ability to change the world, a perspective I'm sympathetic to. I intend to write more about this.

I also saw La La Land for the first time this month. I initially thought it was a story about weak-willed people and that if the two leads were so in love, they should have made more of an effort to be together. But my girlfriend changed my mind a bit by pointing out how short-lived the central relationship is and that the movie sort of subverts the typical Hollywood romance.