Sorry if this is a nerdy thing to say, but I love the first homework assignment in my Computer Vision class :-D Check it out here: http://ia.cs.colorado.edu/~jane/cs5722/asgn1.html.   The paper on the link is the very first academic paper that I have been able to read and somewhat understand, so I must be learning, right?  I love this class and the phd program.  I am so happy!