random professor quotes of the day

it's been a moderately productive day... met with dr. z. about my research, met with scott about the presentation he's helping me give to the REUers on thursday, did my own work inbetween, went to a guest lecture this afternoon and then to dinner with the speaker after... there was my advisor, his postdoc, four of us who are his students past and present, the speaker, and my first semester algebra professor (who is very russian)...

random quotes of the day:

math 300 is "introduction to mathematical reasoning" for people who are never going to be able to reason to save their lives. ~anonymous rutgers professor

(from my first semester algebra prof, who grew up in russia) so i had a very rough geography professor when i was young.... once he asked me what the capital of california was, and being young, i guessed san francisco... his response was 'young man! how are you going to defend this country when you don't know the enemy? what good is that?'... so i set myself to learning the capitals of all 50 states... then, i figured that the only way that i was ever going to put that hard work to use was if i came to america, so here i am.... now when my students tell me that calculus is hard, i challenge them in a game of state capitals... half the time they can't even do that and it's their country!

my one analysis professor also stopped me in the hallway this afternoon with
"so i saw you and eric striding away down my street the other day and you didn't even say hello... you're hard to miss when one of you takes the sidewalk and the other is in the middle of the street"
(me): "well, it's been nice weather for walking... and yeah, eric has something against sidewalks... i thought it was you, but we debated for a bit, next time we'll say hi"
(prof): "that's fine... enjoy my flowers!" (prof walks away into his office, ending the conversation) :-P

conclusion? i work in a humorous department

later dudes