Can't beat the system

My (super insanely boring) statistics class this quarter requires that we use Minitab to do our assignments. Or at least, that's their preferred package. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we used a different one (theoretically they should all yield the same answer), but since I've never really used statistics packages before, I might as well use the one they're supporting so that I can get questions answered. So far I haven't needed any questions answered, of course. Minitab is pretty user friendly (and I'm a pretty user. heeheehee (yeah, I think I need sleep)).

Next quarter I shouldn't be so lucky. I'll be taking a harder, but presumably more interesting, stats class. They require the use of SAS, which is reputed to be a much nastier package. Aah, statistics. I guess the assumption is that it's easier and more time efficient to use a stats package (even a nasty one) than to actually compute the statistics yourself. I'm inclined to agree.

But back to Minitab. I think that Minitab is the stats package for statisticians. Ecologists seem to prefer things like SAS, S+, or Jump. So it's not surprising that Minitab is not present on the computers in my lab. (Rumor has it that they have SAS, but I haven't been able to find any indication of that.) And farbeit from me to go to a campus computer lab to do homework. I try to avoid that at all costs! Happily, Minitab lets you use a trial version for 30 days. 30 days is such an obnoxious length of time though. It's slightly more than a third of a quarter. So of course, my demo version expired a couple days ago. They seem to be relatively understanding though. They'll let you "rent" Minitab for a semester. Well, that's irritating too. I don't need it for a semester, only a quarter, and really only another month or so now. And I don't want to pay $30 for a stats package I'll only use for the next month (though at $1 a day, I suppose that isn't too bad. But considering I'll really only use it 3 or 4 more times, since there will only be 3 or 4 more homework assignments, it doesn't seem worth it).

So I tried to beat the system. A lot of these temporary licenses can be fooled by resetting your computer's date. No go. Alas, Minitab seems to have outsmarted us. But all is not lost. I will not have to compromise frugality and rent the program. Fortuitously, a new version of Minitab was released since I downloaded my demo. So now I get another 30 days free with the new Minitab! Yay!

Keep holding on for the Florida update. I'm still busy =). Gotta finish that dratted statistics assignment =P.

Just got a neat fortune cookie: "Wise men learn more from fools than fools learn from the wise". Not bad, but not even close to my all time favorite: "Confucious say: lovers in triangle, not on square". =D

ps to those of you on icq: My ICQ is broken. Not quite sure how that happened, but it crashes and opens Visual Studio's debugger everytime I open it. D'oh. So don't expect to see me on ICQ... Given that those of you that only have ICQ are never online anymore, this shouldn't be a problem. I'll probably download the current version eventually, but if you miss seeing me online on your buddy list, let me know. That might motivate me to upgrade sooner.