Dec 11 Workout
Spiritual
1 Peter 1:13-19: On being holy
Reflections after Friday morning Prayer Meeting:
As more of a follow-up sharing (which I would be excited to hear from you guys as well), I was doing some reflection tonight while working out. I was reading from 1 Peter 1 and reminded of the importance of holiness. A call to be set apart. To not be ashamed of my identity as a Christian. Since we have an everlasting inheritance. An investment that can only "appreciate" in value ... no risk :D Anyways, for those who have it in mind, I ask that you check in on me too - and I welcome accountability of any sort, even if it may "offend". I really enjoyed my morning with you all and look forward to seeing you all soon :) -Josh
Physical
14 - 14 - 14 - 14 - 14 - 14 - 14 - 14
Score: 14 (132)
Ab Roller (knees)
10 - 30 - 20 - 20 - 20
Triceps Press (25#)
20 - 10 - 20 - 20 - 20 - 10
Dumbbell Bench Press (weight/reps) + Leg Raises
20#/10 + 10
25#/20 + 20
25#/20 + 20
25#/10 + 50
Social / Emotional
D'Arcy 69 House Party: Yesterday (Dec 10), we had a house party! It was a lot of fun and we had friends over. We enjoyed some food and desserts. I made some red bean and bean curd drinks with tapioca and coconut milk. We also made fried green onion cake and dumplings. Nick made lemon squares - which were amazing! Hannah brought a cheesecake =) And we also had some dip (Jon's special recipe). As for the guests, they were from our house and friends from around. I was quite happy with the turnout, given that we're still in the middle of exams. I hope all who came out had a great time and enjoyed the break from their exams. Honorable mention to Debbie who gets the award for the superhuman ability to study in any environment!
State of Mind: It's quite hard to just talk about my social / emotional state without talking about other dimensions of my fitness. I would say that my fitness has been developing overall and that my emotional wellness and steadiness is growing and rooted in who I am in Jesus. It is also affected by how I take care of my body (eating and working out). Finally, I'm a lot happier when I'm on top of my academic work. One thing to gather from all this is that my social / emotional "state" comes from a balance of overall "fitness". This state is a "fruit" of health in other dimensions of my life.
Intellectual / Mental
This semester has been quite the adventure! I really enjoy grad school: the research, the courses, and the friends. This semester I took three courses:
CIV1307: Evaluating Sustainability in Engineering Activities
- This course focuses on lectures on quantifying environmental impacts and integrating environmental assessments with governance.
- The evaluation focuses on a research project, which is fairly flexible. The course breakdown is 10% Article Review, 20% Research Proposal, and 20% Oral Presentation + 50% Final Report.
- My research project proposed a model for risk disaggregation: STDAR, Space-Time Disaggregate Approach to Risk. This model was applied to air quality and ultimately seeks to understand the influence of health risks to travel behavior.
CIV1310: Infrastructure Economics
- A fantastic course and great prof!
- Evaluation: 30% Assignments, 70% Final Exam
- The quantitative analysis is fairly straightforward. Concepts need a bit of time to sink in.
- The readings have opened up my mind to the complex issues in society. Understanding welfare and urban economics, discussing the context of our economy in terms of our biosphere, learning the intricacies of microeconomics, understanding basic econometric models to represent our economy. All these have served to help me develop a better understanding of my role as a researcher, engineer, and whatever else may come my way.
CIV1504: Applied Probability and Statistics for Engineers
- Evaluation: 20% Assignments, 20% Midterm, 30% Project, 30% Final Exam
- Course material reviews undergraduate statistics and goes more in depth in other areas, such as Monte Carlo simulations, General Linear Regression, and Maximum Likelihood Estimation.
- The course project allows you to explore a subject of your choice in greater detail. My partner and I looked at an application of an econometric model to travel demand modeling: stochastic frontier analysis
- In brief, frontier analysis aims to estimate maximum production / minimal costs of a firm given a set of inputs. The stochastic part of the analysis allows the model to accommodate for random effects. This contrasts with the mathematical programming approach: Data Envelopment Analysis.
- We applied Stochastic Frontier Analysis to estimate an individual's "Space-Time Prism", estimating their earliest possible departure, and latest arrival, given their actual departures/arrivals and socio-economic characteristics
- This work emulates work done by other researchers (Kitamura, Pendyala, and others). This analysis is conducted using panel data from the GTA
Final thoughts:
I'm not quite done yet. I have my Stats Project and Econ Final upcoming. I have also been thinking about after grad school: PhD? MD? JD? Work? And what I have come to terms with so far is this: that I will put one foot in front of the other. Taking one step at a time in this journey of life. Embracing each opportunity that comes my way. And in all things, to "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:33, New King James Version, Holy Bible)
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