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A Few Things I Learn Every Day Week

May 15, 2021

Hey! This hasn’t been updated in a while. Has Marc learned anything after January of 2021?

That’s a good question. I’m writing this in mid-May of 2021. The past few months I’ve been kept busy between my co-op at Vicarious Surgical, and doing research work on developing atom rearrangement algorithms for large Rydberg atom arrays. Both of those have just concluded, and here I am on my two-day summer vacation before I start as an intern at Facebook.

This learning log began as a way for me to give my days some structure over quarantine, in August of 2020. When my classes began in fall, this log helped me feel accountable to make my schoolwork interesting and exciting – if I’m attending classes almost every day, I’m surely going to be able to find something interesting about them to write a few bullet points about. Some days I wrote more than others, and some days I forgot to write an entry and then had to think really hard the next day to catch up.

When my co-op started, I began to struggle to keep up with these logs. I questioned if I was actually learning anything on co-op, and began to be worried about what having a career would look like. At work I was certainly doing new things and getting better at existing skills, but I struggled to quantify that.

I am looking back on these past few months and at the same time I am looking out my window at the big tree outside. From my second floor window it stands swaying with green buds on fresh branches. The shoots have not made the tree much taller than it was last year, but the quality of the tree has changed – the leaves are denser, the canopy wider, the once green twigs now strong branches bearing sprouting leaflets.

Measuring your tree every day with a ruler is, in some strange way, fun. But leaves rustle, branches sway, twigs bend, and boughs fall from wind and rain. The tree will feel static until one day in May when you will look at the tree with fresh eyes, and be surprised at just how much has changed.


I try to learn or discover something new every day. Here are some of the things that I get excited about! Dates in YYYY-MM-DD.

Update December 14, 2020: Switching to a weekly format, instead of daily updates.

Week of 2021-01-25

Week of 2021-01-18

Week of 2021-01-11

Week of 2021-01-04

Week of 2020-12-28

Week of 2020-12-21

Week of 2020-12-14

I’ve just finished my final exams, and I’m going to be switching to a weekly format for my log of learnings. I’m hoping this will be more sustainable particularly over the holidays, as well as allow me to put down not just tidbits of learnings but also the progress towards substantial goals that I’m working towards.

2020-12-13

2020-12-12

2020-12-11

2020-12-10

2020-12-09

2020-12-08

2020-12-07

2020-12-06

2020-12-05

2020-12-04

2020-12-03

2020-12-02

2020-12-01

2020-11-30

2020-11-29

2020-11-28

2020-11-27

2020-11-26

2020-11-25

2020-11-24

2020-11-23

2020-11-22

2020-11-21

2020-11-20

2020-11-19

2020-11-18

2020-11-17

2020-11-16

2020-11-15

2020-11-14

2020-11-13

2020-11-12

2020-11-11

2020-11-10

2020-11-09

2020-11-08

2020-11-07

2020-11-06

2020-11-05

2020-11-04

2020-11-03

2020-11-02

2020-11-01

2020-10-31

2020-10-30

2020-10-29

2020-10-28

2020-10-27

2020-10-26

2020-10-25

2020-10-24

2020-10-23

2020-10-22

2020-10-21

2020-10-20

2020-10-19

2020-10-18

2020-10-17

2020-10-16

2020-10-15

2020-10-14

2020-10-13

2020-10-12

2020-10-11

2020-10-10

2020-10-09

2020-10-08

2020-10-07

2020-10-06

2020-10-05

2020-10-04

2020-10-03

2020-10-02

2020-10-01

2020-09-30

2020-09-29

2020-09-28

2020-09-27

2020-09-26

2020-09-25

2020-09-24

2020-09-23

2020-09-22

2020-09-21

2020-09-20

2020-09-19

2020-09-17

2020-09-16

2020-09-15

2020-09-14

2020-09-13

2020-09-12

2020-09-11

2020-09-10

2020-09-09

2020-09-08

2020-09-07

2020-09-06

2020-09-05

2020-09-03

2020-09-02

2020-09-01

2020-08-31

2020-08-30