say hey, it's a good day!

i'm feeling increasingly comfortable with my summer job -- that doesn't mean i'm feeling lazy about it in the least, just i'm feeling more settled about it.

i just scrolled through the list of students on the REU website. I think I can identify all about about 3 or 4 now if i had to, and those i should be able to get by process of elimination. for them all arriving 3 days ago, that's pretty good, eh? ;-)

the thing about being the graduate coordinator for the summer is that i'm kinda having to step back to who i was about 3 years ago to do my job. when things got stressful between quals and between my best friend's mom getting sick and then dying at the end of last summer, i've been kinda in hiding and doing my own thing since about august. i hang out with friends in 1s 2s and 3s, but no more than that at once, and freak out about even dinner with a large group where i know everybody. even going back to the start of grad school, i was friendly, but that was a different friendly... that was "hmmmm, none of us know anyone around here, lets make friends friendly"... this time around, i'm the one who knows what's going on, and so it's going back to being (a) friendly, but (b) helpful and proactive about being helpful to these 27 students who are here for the summer. really, it's a little bit of a mental stretch for me to get back in that mind frame and be more outgoing than i've been in a bit, but it's good for me, and the longer i'm at it, the more i enjoy it. the more i find my way around the DIMACS building and get to know the other staff there, the better too :-)

one student just stopped by yesterday to chat for 10 minutes about random stuff. another couple have stopped and asked me for computer questions and then ended up chatting for awhile more. still another came up and started talking to me for a bit after today's seminar; she just got back from a semester in budapest and last summer she worked in ohio with leigh at miami's REU so we had a bit in common. another student was a sophomore in my graduate combinatorics class last fall and i chatted with him for 10 minutes this morning before today's panel, and hadn't really chatted with him at all before... it's fun to get to know these students and try to make myself available to help them. i'm planning a cookout for them on saturday, and actually getting excited about it! would i ever plan a major social event for the grad students anymore? probably not, since i've been so hiding away from the world for so long, but having a fresh start and making friends with these kids is fantastic!

i was slightly concerned about the panel i had organized for today. i had invited the graduate directors from our computer science, math, statistics, and operations research departments for a panel on grad school in math and related areas. the format was basically that they would answer student questions.... but in my concern for detail of "what if there's just stunning silences", and my inability to rewind 3 years to how i felt in their spot (so much has happened in the mean time!), i searched online for awhile last night for question ideas and came up with half a dozen to keep the ball rolling. we went for over an hour, and i only asked 2 of my questions, so it was mostly the students getting info that they actually wanted. several of them actually thanked me afterwards for setting it up... i was pretty pleased with how it went... even after, each of the profs on the panel were cornered by a student or two for advice :-) so yay for the first week nearly being done, and for it being done well.

now, tomorrow is mega shopping day for saturday's cookout... and i need to get some math done before monday -- i meet with dr. z. about stuff i'm working on then!

oi.

yay for good days and for feeling fantastic about what i'm doing :-)

happy almost-the-weekend! :-)