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"My take on Thanksgiving"
[posted by jfischer on 2009-11-24 11:22:51]

"Belichick used results from dynamic programming!"
[posted by lespindle on 2009-11-17 23:45:14]

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Apr 01, 2009

WTP and ACL FTW!

Ok folks, I’m going a little stir crazy here. I had my ACL reconstruction surgery last week and for awhile, I lounged around in a Percocet-induced haze. Now the pain is gone, but I still can’t get around very easily. Crutches are inherently slow. My biggest problem, funnily enough, is that I can’t sit comfortably. I still can’t bend my knee that much, so trying to sit at a normal chair is quite difficult and annoying. I’m currently working from my recliner at home. And while I love my apartment, oh my dear God, I need to get out.

But I’ve been thinking. Before the surgery, the WTP staff was working pretty hard to read applications and make our decisions. I’ve never done anything like that before and it gave me a whole new respect for admissions offices. I’m sure the application seemed long to the girls filling them out, but they contain such little information for us.

I suspect this is normal, but I couldn’t help trying to put myself back in 11th grade and trying to fill out the application. Which teachers would have written recommendations for me? What activities would I list? How would I answer the essay questions? This last one threw me for a loop. The first essay question was something like, “How does your interest in science and math influence the way you interact with the world?” How would my 11th grade self answer this vague, nebulous prompt? Actually - how would my 4th year grad student self answer this prompt? How do I interact with the world?

And then I filled out a pre-surgery questionnaire. It asked for my surgical history.

In 1995, I had an appendectomy. In 2002, I had a fibroadenoma removed (some of you, especially guys, may not want to know more about what this is, but go ahead and Google if you like). And in 2009, I had an ACL reconstruction.

Well now that’s a pattern! Apparently I have surgery every 7 years. I called up my mom and told her of this great discovery and she just said, “I can’t believe it. You’re right.” This is how I look at the world: I find patterns.

Does anyone want to take bets about what I’ll need done in 2016?

The author has filed this entry under the "Uncategorized" category.

4 Responses To This Entry:

    may be u will be awarded….in 2016

    Posted by: apoo on April 2nd, 2009 at 11:19 am

    That’s a nice way of looking at it. :-)

    Posted by: ndilello on April 6th, 2009 at 2:53 pm

    WTP? Wireless Transaction Protocol?
    ACL? Access Control List?
    I’m sorry but acronyms really beat me…

    Posted by: Yan Zhao on May 16th, 2009 at 10:46 pm

    Oops, sorry about that.

    WTP = Women’s Technology Program, a program that MIT runs to get high school girls interested in engineering.
    ACL = anterior cruciate ligament, one of the ligaments in your knee that keeps it stable. I tore mine awhile ago and needed to have it fixed with surgery.

    Posted by: ndilello on May 19th, 2009 at 4:23 pm

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