Rich Rocks the UT

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

Rich interview in U-T

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/May/30/piggington-blog-realestate-housing-bubble-loans/2/?#article-copy

[Hatfield]

Nice interview. Also: UCSD Cog Sci, represent! I had no idea.

Go Tritons!

[moneymaker]

Here’s a link to the first page, http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/May/30/piggington-blog-realestate-housing-bubble-loans/?#article-copy ,nice short read. Rich I thought you bought in 2010.

[Rich Toscano]

[quote=moneymaker]Here’s a link to the first page, http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/May/30/piggington-blog-realestate-housing-bubble-loans/?#article-copy ,nice short read. Rich I thought you bought in 2010.[/quote]

I bought in Jan 2012… they got that one mixed up.

[2012 turns around]

“I started the thing really just for my friends….. kind of in the persona of the Victorian-era mad scientist kind of site” – Lol!

Great stuff Rick. I noticed your site in late 2008 and since then a regular visitor. It has been a privilege and many thanks to you.

Btw, what a coincidence? I bought my second home in Dec, 2011 (closed between Xmas and New Year) and it was a super deal.

[Rich Toscano]

Thank you for the kind words!

[CA renter]

Very cool article, Rich! You deserve a lot of credit for doing what you did, especially considering the incredible time and effort you’ve put into this over the years. I remember the early years of this blog (reading since 2004!), and data and information was much harder to come by back then. Lots of critics, too, who liked to call the bears “perma-renters” and “bitter, jealous renters.” Fun times! 🙂

Congratulations, Rich!

[Rich Toscano]

Haha, thanks CAR… more recently I’ve been accused of not being bearish enough on housing, because I’m an owner now… so I guess we’ve come full circle. 😉

[afx114]

[quote=Hatfield]Nice interview. Also: UCSD Cog Sci, represent! I had no idea.

Go Tritons![/quote]

WTF, I represent UCSD Cog Sci as well. What is it about us?

[Hatfield]

Dunno what your story is, but I couldn’t handle Math 2F (multivariable calculus) so I switched from EECS. :p

I graduated in ’89, the last year before it became its own department. So my diploma actually says “BA in Psychology (Cognitive Science)”. I seriously considered delaying one quarter so I could graduate with a BA in the new Cognitive Science department but I wanted to get on with my life. In the end it mattered little.

[scaredyclassic]

2,000 unique visitors a day at one time. seems like a lot.

[Rich Toscano]

[quote=scaredyclassic]2,000 unique visitors a day at one time. seems like a lot.[/quote]

I’ve helped a lot of people procrastinate over the years, that’s for sure.

[Rich Toscano]

afx, I didn’t know you were cog sci… are you running any LISP code on my server? 😉

Hatfield, I started out as Mechanical Engineering but I eventually realized that I found it boring. For an elective I took the Cog Sci intro class and I was totally fascinated by the topic. So, I changed my major to Cog Sci.

BTW for any youths reading this, I wouldn’t recommend doing that… switching to a major just bc you think it’s interesting. Unless you are going to go into academia in that topic. But otherwise, I’d recommend optimizing for career/job getting preparation vs. interestingness.

In my case it worked out ok. As you former cog sciers know, you can focus on any of 3 areas: psych, neuroscience, or AI/computer science. I focused on the latter, and took some Comp Sci dept courses (including the hated compilers!) to buff it up.

It definitely would have been easier to get a job with a proper CS degree, especially since I graduated into a weak job mkt in 1994. But I ended up getting something, and in the computer field, once you’ve gotten that first job it becomes all about competence, and not what piece of paper you have. So it worked out fine, but if I had a kid who wanted to get into programming, I would definitely recommend the straight CS program.

[afx114]

Same story, did 2 years of CS, but couldn’t hack the advanced math. Switched over to Cog Sci with specialization in computation, so all my CS lower-division courses covered everything I needed for Cog Sci Computation. It basically ended up being an easier CS degree.

Don’t ask me how, but I ended up writing my honors thesis on the effects of rhythmic drumming on brain waves.

And yes Rich, your server is currently part of a massive distributed LISP botnet that remotely controls a drone that mows my lawn and trims my hedges for me so that I can just sit around and drink more beer.

[Rich Toscano]

Glad someone finally found a use for recursion…

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