This time of year has me thinking back to my last undergrad days at Rice, taking that last final and walking back to my [residential] college, thinking it was all over. I suppose that for small values of "it", that statement was true.

Part of this sentimentation is due to my recent trip to Santa Fe, where I and others attended what was essentially a PI meeting or miniconference, organized by the NGS program at NSF. Attending this meeting from Rice was Ken Kennedy, who was one of my favorite profs at Rice. I knew him first as an amazing teacher, who taught Rice's version of our 431 and 531. Not surprisingly, when I teach 431, I'm teaching Ken's version of that course. Ken also ignited my interest in research; if not for him, I probably would not have been interested in getting a PhD or in (eventually) joining academia. I'll post more about that soon.

We now return to our regularly scheduled reverie. I remember finishing up my "531" final at Rice, turning it in, walking out of the building that housed CS in those days (downright modest when compared to the new wonderful building that Keith Cooper built), and noticing the sun shining for the first time in a few days.

It was a feeling of completeness, of closure, and of the macrocosm reflecting the microcosm.