A group of adults might make it through that, but five children under four? Not so much. So we had to postpone the trip. Sadly, it got postponed to a time after classes have started, which makes it basically impossible for me to go. I'm disappointed, but I tell myself that trying to drag children through that type of rain would have been far more disappointing. Maybe next time.
Speaking of classes, the new semester is nearly here. I'm about as ready as I'm planning to be. My 3D printing class has been moved completely online, and my in person class is also mostly online. I've decided that this semester I would just try to see what I could do with the online medium. Strangely, even though I'm more prepared this semester than I was last semester, I feel less prepared. Maybe that's because I've been spending the last couple weeks thinking about Summer and Fall classes, and spending a lot of time completely rethinking how I think about the whole scheduling process. I feel pretty good about my magnetic tape and whiteboard grid solution. I'm finally able to see all the bits and pieces that are in play at the same time, and arrange things in a sensible manner. Is the scheduling process going to be better? I sure hope so. Otherwise, it's back to the drawing board. For now, I think it's going pretty well.
I've got a couple side projects going on right now that have been an entertaining use of my time. The first one is that I'm trying to learn about artificial intelligence and machine learning. I happened to be clicking around YouTube and found out that Stanford's CS 229 (Machine Learning) has had its videos uploaded and that you can watch the entire semester for free. They also do some free online classes that you can take, but judging from the looks of it, the free class is a bit watered down whereas these videos are the real deal. I've watched 16 out of the 20 videos, and I've been watching them at 2x speed to get through them faster. This has been good for me in order to keep track of the overall flow of the content and to absorb the big ideas without getting bogged down in the details, but on the other hand, I know there are things that I'm just not understanding because I'm not doing any problems.
And that brings me to my second side project, which is getting back with my Raspberry Pi. One of my colleagues recommended a machine learning e-book, and by chance it happened to be on sale from the publisher for $5 (normally $35, I think). The book is called Python Machine Learning, which is a perfect choice since I want to become better at both Python and machine learning. Over the last few years, I've pondered the possibility of applying machine learning to horse racing. I've been to the races, and I've heard how some people make decisions when they bet on the horses. "I like the color/name of that horse" is one. I've also heard, "If you see a horse take a dump during the post parade, that means the horse will run faster because who likes to run when you have to take a dump?" So that's kind of my metric. Can I get my Raspberry Pi to do better than someone who bets on the basis of whether a horse has taken a dump? I would like to think so because it sounds like such a low bar, but computer learning is a hard topic, and I'm not sure if I've got what it takes. My first goal is to try to get a computer to learn how to win at Tic-Tac-Toe. But I haven't even gotten that far because I needed to upgrade the OS on my Raspberry Pi. It's sitting right next to me, but OS upgrades take a long time and it's too late in the evening for that.
I also had another car adventure. This one was not quite as interesting as playing adult bumper cars in the parking lot of the MGM, or searching the side of the freeway for something to stick into a gas can to keep the nozzle open, but it had its own head-shaking moments. Daniel went to LA to watch a hockey game with a friend, and his truck died in Primm on the way back. He and his friend got a ride back here, but the truck stayed behind at a Chevron station and needed to be retrieved. So last night Daniel and I went to Primm to get it towed back here. The trip started around 6:00, and it's just about a 45 minute drive from Henderson to Primm.
Primm is right on the border between California and Nevada, which is why you can buy Powerball tickets there. It also has absolutely no T-Mobile service. None. Zero. We got "reception" but it's a network other than T-Mobile. The plan was to get to the truck and call AAA. But the phones didn't work (we're both on T-Mobile). So we went to the concierge at the Primm Valley Casino and asked to use their phone. But the concierge didn't have a phone line that dialed out. The woman behind the counter did point us around the corner to a pay phone, but the pay phone didn't work. We wandered down to the outlet mall and found signs to telephones, but no actual telephones. (How long have there not been phones in this place, but they haven't changed the signage?) We went into one of the stores (that was technically closed, but the doors were open and the employees were just cleaning up), but they wouldn't let us use the phone. But they pointed us to the information desk (which was empty when we walked past the first time), and told us that they might have a phone we could use. So we finally got through to AAA. This happened around 7:45. The dispatcher said it would be about 55 minutes.
So we hung out in the sportsbook for a little while and then wandered back to the Chevron station and waited. We could see where the truck was parked from inside the gas station store, which was good because it was a bit cold outside. However, a couple times I got bored of being in the store and went outside to pace around a bit. It was probably between 40 and 50 degrees out, but without any wind. It wasn't too bad for me, but Daniel was wearing shorts (because he's always wearing shorts). He was definitely colder, and he was the first one to make the move to go back inside the store.
Not having cell phone service became a running joke for the night. For example, we saw a package of "Australian Style Licorice." What makes it Australian style? I'd look it up, but I don't have cell phone service. (I looked it up when I got home. It comes in larger pieces and has a softer texture because of the wheat base and molasses that they use. After reading that, I realized that I never thought about how American licorice is made. I guess it's more of a gelatin thing here.)
Back in the casino, I had also sent Daniel a "test" text to see if I could at least get text messaging to work. So another point of entertainment was pulling out my phone and seeing if the little swirling thing was still swirling. Yes, it was that boring. I thought about trying to type this up in a more story-telling manner and to keep returning to "and it was still swirling" refrain. But I'm feeling too lazy for that type of nonsense.
Since my phone didn't work, I wasn't able to receive any text updates about how far away the truck was, which adds a hint of tension to the situation. If something were to go wrong, there would be no way of contacting me to get clarification about our location. So we really couldn't do anything but wait. 7:45 turned into 9:15, and we were both starting to get concerned.
So I went to the Starbucks that happened to be inside of this Chevron station and asked if I could use their phone. No, because their phone doesn't dial out. But the guy was nice enough to let me use his cell phone, and so I called AAA to get an update. They tell me that the truck should be here by 9:30, about 10-15 more minutes. 45 minutes later, the tow truck finally comes up. Apparently, he went to the other Chevron in Primm by Whiskey Pete's on the other side of the freeway. Having cell phone service might have been able to solve that.
So we loaded up the truck and drove back to Henderson behind the tow truck, going about 55-60 the whole time. So an hour later, we finally got back home, with the truck parked on the street. It took over 5 hours to get a truck that was 30 minutes away back home.
And here's the kicker: All of this was done so that Daniel could donate his now completely non-functional vehicle. The night the truck broke down, he knew it was over. And he just wanted to donate it because he can't just leave it on the side of the road. (Well, he could, but that's not really good form and those sorts of things come back to haunt you sometimes.) He tried to donate it to a charity, but they wouldn't go to Primm to pick it up.
This is the final chapter of the adventures of that truck. It's not even my truck, but it's given me a fair number of adventures. But it won't be missed.
The next book in the series starts with me selling my car (110,000 miles) to Daniel, and buying a new car. I've been planning to do this for a while, and this event has just adjusted that timeline. So I've been doing research all week and maybe by the next time I feel like sitting down with myself and typing for a while, I'll almost definitely have a new car.
