After a couple of years in the Computer Science program at Baylor University, I had a fairly decent GPA to show for, but it was lacking because I did not devote the time necessary to my studies. When I got to the upper level courses, I spent so much time playing video games and chasing girls, that procrastinating in my classes overwhelmed me; trying to write a program in one night that I was given a month to complete was almost impossible. I got by for a couple of semesters doing this while working on a minor in Mathematics, but eventually, I was no longer interested in computer science and was filled with apathy. So, I gave up and switched my major to Math.
I thought things would be different, but the cycle repeated itself shortly after changing my major; I was five years into undergrad with no degree to show for. Even with my love for Mathematics, I simply had no self-discipline, causing me to retake a few math courses up to 3 times. At roughly the same time, I met the girl of my dreams who helped me just plain grow up. All of a sudden, I had a new look on life and prepared myself to go back to school to finish up strongly. Because I had exhausted a lot of my financial aid after this long of being in school, my only option was to get a full-time job while finishing school.
In walks a little disease called Mononucleosis that ruined the above plans; not only could I not get a job, I could not get out of bed long enough to sit through a class. This kept me in bed for several weeks, so much that I was forced to withdraw from Baylor. After I recovered, I was very scared that I’d never complete my degree, now that I have the motivation and work-ethic to do so.
I got hired on by Baylor’s Electronic Libraries department to fill a temporary role as a Web Programmer for a few months, but I had some difficulty finding a job after that. During a Christmas break outing, I met up with some old friends; one of them knew of a job opening as a Software Developer at his best friend’s workplace. Shortly after the New Year, I got a job as a software guy. After roughly a year of working in the corporate world, I decided to go back to Baylor and finish my BS in Mathematics; in doing so, I redeemed myself to a few professors that saw me only as irresponsible, unreliable and a waste of potential.
I love math. This includes but is definitely not limited to what is taught in high school; I would gladly conjecture that the majority of people living in the US have little idea as to what math really is. It is not just a bunch of equations that old men develop to increase the stress levels of their students. Math is the language in which motion, patterns, nature , etc. are described precisely. Randomness is the area in which I am obsessed, and statistics is definitely an area that attempts to describe this. For these reasons, I have chosen to pursue this area by attending the Statistics graduate program at Baylor that will lead to my eventual Ph.D.
Enough about math and school.
On December 20, 2008, I married the love my life. Many people have told us that weddings are a blur for the bride and groom, and noone remembers their wedding day, but I remember so many details. The day was amazing, and the memories will be cherished. After the wedding, we spent an incredible week and travelling on a cruise to Jamaica, Cozumel, and the Caymans; Jamaica was the most beautiful place I have seen, and we would like to go back.
But until then, studying is what I do mostly, allowing time for my wife and the lab that I TA.