New start | Purpose of this blog

This blog derives from my multiple failed attempts at trying to document my research ideas and keeping them all together in one place. I have tried Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, using a career journal, putting post-its on my computer, and covering the whiteboard in my room with things to keep on top of my head. They all work but to an extent. However, I have more hope that blogging my ideas on the internet will actually keep me more engaged. Here are the reasons why:

1. Efficiency: I can create several posts without worrying about running out of space. I no longer need to create separate Word files for ideas during summer, ideas for my dissertation, ideas for paper submission etc. On a blog, they can all be in one compiled place.
2. Visual appeal: I am a very visual person and I like to see how my ideas have evolved over time. A blog is a good interface for that.
3. Great place to summarize: I have attended multiple seminars/courses/symposiums in the past and I always like to summarize what I learned from that in a text file or so. On a blog, I can prepare a very interactive summary of my past experiences (using links, images, references etc.), so my future self does not have to struggle with finding where I had noted down what details.
4. Accountability and organization: Posting online is a good way to keep myself accountable because I am at the stake of being judged by others. It will encourage me to refine my ideas and put more structure to them instead of jotting down random bullet points as I often do.

This semester I am struggling with a lot of internal deadlines and have a lot going on, but still I am hoping to keep up with maintaining this blog for my future career (or for others interested in the same field). Here are some of the things I will be posting about on this blog:

1. Summary of any new research topic or subject (including self-authored papers)
2. Any new way of coding an algorithm which I find particularly useful
3. Research trends in my area of interest: stochastic estimation and control, reinforcement learning, and traffic operations
4. Summary of the courses I did in the past and how they connect with each other
5. Anything that I find particularly frustrating or struggling about an area (so I can assure my future self that it is not all roses in the field of research, but a bunch of thorns before we find something valuable).

I am excited about writing here. Hoping that I will continue doing this. The tentative plan is to post at least once every month (but I would like to post more often like once every two or three days!). Procrastination and perfectionism will be my biggest enemy, but I will deal with them. I will end this blog with this quote which motivates me to write and reflect more often:

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."-Soren Kierkegaard