That's what this week felt like. I've worked pretty much all day all week on my thesis, trying desparately to get better results than what I'm getting. But it looks in the end like I just need more data (examples of paraphrases) to train my models better. I guess 4000 pairs of sentences just aren't enough examples! I should have my survey up tomorrow or Tuesday (I need human eyes to tell me how awful my paraphrases are, really), and if I need more participants I will be sure to let you all know. :) In light of how weird my sentences look, I am adding questions to the survey asking them to rate how natural the sentences sound, so I can blame it on lack of data rather than lack of a good idea. I know for a dissertation this wouldn't be a good enough solution, but this is *just* a Masters, right? This type of data is just really hard to come by....
This week I will start writing up my thesis while the survey is going, and Wednesday afternoon and Thursday I will head to San Jose for an interview with TellMe. It should be interesting...I enjoyed the phone conversation we had a little over a week ago. In the meantime, I will keep looking for other possibilities too, just in case.
We've been dog-sitting for our upstairs neighbors. They always take care of Star when we leave town, and it's finally our turn to return the favor. Although, one night I woke up thinking a *bear* was trying to eat me, and it was just Roxie with her paws on our bed breathing heavily and whining, trying to tell us she wanted to go outside. Hehehe. She prefers to go out in the middle of the night, because then no one will make her stay out there. Who knows why she doesn't like to be outside like a normal dog? And it's funny, because Star cat just wants to trade places with Roxie! She wishes she could be outside *all* the time! More than we want her outside, that's for sure.
Wayne has kept himself busy this week working on paintings and art projects. With a little bit of homework and class thrown in there. He only has three weeks of class left. And then (well, after my defense on July 7) we'll be off to our next adventure! San Jose, or bust! [I finally got a letter of rejection from the last school, MassArts. They told me they'd highly recommend me to re-apply next year because they look really favorably on waitlisted candidates from the previous year, but I just don't think I can wait that long to finish my Masters. However, we've been looking at the alternatives for after I finish my MFA at San Jose State and a few people do a second Masters programs at multiple schools. There also are lots of artist-in-residency programs that I want to apply for over the next five years, so we definitely have our hands full when it comes to finishing our goals. No time to waste in waiting around for a "possible" better school. -Wayne]
Loves,
Becca and Wayne
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