check this out and look for my name.
that's a link to the online posting of a paper i wrote last fall and am waiting to have accepted by a math journal... apparently someone liked one of my footnotes :P
in other news, mid-writing-the-previous-sentence i ended up having a half hour phone chat that helped take care of the "AHHHK!!" implicit in the comments on the previous post. in case you're wondering, date #2 is on friday ;-) we'll leave the drama at that for now. :-P
later dudes.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
misc.
* i had no idea my head could go through as many different emotions in 48 hours as it has this weekend. craziness!
* it is really hard to grade student papers based on writing clarity. instead of quizzes this week, i had to grade workshops, and that's exactly what i had to grade on. ... sooo much more ambiguous how to go about it.
* i have fantastic friends.
* my students had their first midterm today. even though i had a graduate class, the prof i teach for asked me to come to the first 5 minutes and eyeball the room to make sure no one had gotten a friend to take the exam for them (apparently this has happened in the past in large lecture classes). my students seemed so excited to see me there before they saw the prof. they also looked really sad when i left a few minutes in to book it to my own class... at least they really seem to like me? :P
* tomorrow, 2 first year students (i don't know who) will be observing me teach for their TA training class. last year i was observing a friend teach, so it's humorous that i'm on the other side of the coin now. they'll be sitting in on my rowdy section so they'll have entertaining stories to share with TA training class. heh.
* i'm enjoying watching the new apprentice season... for this week's sams club task, one of the sams club stores they used is halfway between my house and my church so i pass it at least once a week... woulda been entertaining to know when this was filmed last fall to actually see one of the tasks in action, but oh well. :P
* jessica sent me 3 patty griffin CDs last week, and i must admit I'm getting hooked. yay new music. :)
the end.
* it is really hard to grade student papers based on writing clarity. instead of quizzes this week, i had to grade workshops, and that's exactly what i had to grade on. ... sooo much more ambiguous how to go about it.
* i have fantastic friends.
* my students had their first midterm today. even though i had a graduate class, the prof i teach for asked me to come to the first 5 minutes and eyeball the room to make sure no one had gotten a friend to take the exam for them (apparently this has happened in the past in large lecture classes). my students seemed so excited to see me there before they saw the prof. they also looked really sad when i left a few minutes in to book it to my own class... at least they really seem to like me? :P
* tomorrow, 2 first year students (i don't know who) will be observing me teach for their TA training class. last year i was observing a friend teach, so it's humorous that i'm on the other side of the coin now. they'll be sitting in on my rowdy section so they'll have entertaining stories to share with TA training class. heh.
* i'm enjoying watching the new apprentice season... for this week's sams club task, one of the sams club stores they used is halfway between my house and my church so i pass it at least once a week... woulda been entertaining to know when this was filmed last fall to actually see one of the tasks in action, but oh well. :P
* jessica sent me 3 patty griffin CDs last week, and i must admit I'm getting hooked. yay new music. :)
the end.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
in case you were wondering....
here's what mathematicians do for fun.
today's exp. math seminar speaker was neil sloane, the guy who runs the online encyclopedia of integer sequences. he's from the general area and i've met him on a few occasions. as usual, after dinner we take the speaker out to dinner. dr. sloane always comes with a stack of papers and with random factoids to entertain us with... generally he'll give the start of a sequence and see if we can find the pattern.
the one that kept the whole table going for most of dinner was:
137,153,163,127,... (do you see the pattern? i was the first one to get it, but it took me a good half hour)
it's highly related to
71,42,12,83,54,...
and after i had both the one that i gave other people as a hint was
12,48,16,32,...
seriously, 2 hours of my day was spent at a thai restaurant with 7 other math people talking about integer sequences. it was a *blast*.
eric says it's probably not a good idea for me to bring paper and a pen with me tomorrow :P apparently non-math people wouldn't be as severely entertained with such things as we were tonight.
oh well.
(guesses on any of those 3 sequences without cheating?)
today's exp. math seminar speaker was neil sloane, the guy who runs the online encyclopedia of integer sequences. he's from the general area and i've met him on a few occasions. as usual, after dinner we take the speaker out to dinner. dr. sloane always comes with a stack of papers and with random factoids to entertain us with... generally he'll give the start of a sequence and see if we can find the pattern.
the one that kept the whole table going for most of dinner was:
137,153,163,127,... (do you see the pattern? i was the first one to get it, but it took me a good half hour)
it's highly related to
71,42,12,83,54,...
and after i had both the one that i gave other people as a hint was
12,48,16,32,...
seriously, 2 hours of my day was spent at a thai restaurant with 7 other math people talking about integer sequences. it was a *blast*.
eric says it's probably not a good idea for me to bring paper and a pen with me tomorrow :P apparently non-math people wouldn't be as severely entertained with such things as we were tonight.
oh well.
(guesses on any of those 3 sequences without cheating?)
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
quotes, etc.
today's been a long but good day -- the first real "break" i've had in 2 months...
for starters, i slept in without an alarm... my first obligation was at noon... REU mentor meeting. my main function was to sit around and be friendly... we had the applications sorted out by project for the mentors to look through, and mentors know what they're doing so they don't need much interference.
after that i was scheduled to meet with my directed reading program mentee... when he was half an hour late and i was getting ready to leave, he finally showed up, running late from a midterm he had just taken... that was fine... while we were in the middle of working a problem on the board and i explained "stars and bars" (which is the standard way to explain n choose r with repetition), colleen, who was sitting across the room blurted out
"wow lara, you sound like mathematical dr. seuss!"
i was amused.
after that, it was to scott's house to get an early dinner with him...
quote:
me: "cmon, all i ever do is tell lies always"
scott: "dude, don't try and run that past a logician!"
we also agreed that my chief problem worrying (word choice?) about friday (which for those of you who haven't caught on is when i'm going on my first date ever) is that i'm not used to thinking of myself as a girl... along the way chatting about that and related things, scott blurted out laughing
"why does everyone tell you i'm the best person for advice on this. i've never been on a first date with a 30 year old guy!"
me: "are you sure?"
scott: "i think so... um, yeah"
finally, it was time for my first lesson in driving a stick.. i've always wanted to learn and never had an opportunity, except that scott currently drives a stick and promised to teach me after i passed my exam. we played around in parking lots for half an hour. generally, i tended to talk to the car along the lines of "go car go!" as i tried to start (getting from park into a happy 1st gear is really hard!)... a few times though, when i got flustered, i would just yell
"CLUTCH! BRAKE!" (doing just that while i said it) and look worried at scott while he'd laugh at me. he laughingly commented part way through "i'm really glad "clutch! brake! is the first thing i taught you or we'd be in trouble... you've got that down good"
plans for the evening? out for a walk/jog, a little homework, and a lot of watching RENT on dvd (it came out yesterday and i already have it). it's so nice to be able to look forward to a weeknight without math (now that the exam is done), reading REU applications (now that mentors have sorted through them), or writing applications (now that i sent in one for a fellowship i'm applying for for next year this afternoon). i never thought this day would come. :P
happy wednesday! :)
for starters, i slept in without an alarm... my first obligation was at noon... REU mentor meeting. my main function was to sit around and be friendly... we had the applications sorted out by project for the mentors to look through, and mentors know what they're doing so they don't need much interference.
after that i was scheduled to meet with my directed reading program mentee... when he was half an hour late and i was getting ready to leave, he finally showed up, running late from a midterm he had just taken... that was fine... while we were in the middle of working a problem on the board and i explained "stars and bars" (which is the standard way to explain n choose r with repetition), colleen, who was sitting across the room blurted out
"wow lara, you sound like mathematical dr. seuss!"
i was amused.
after that, it was to scott's house to get an early dinner with him...
quote:
me: "cmon, all i ever do is tell lies always"
scott: "dude, don't try and run that past a logician!"
we also agreed that my chief problem worrying (word choice?) about friday (which for those of you who haven't caught on is when i'm going on my first date ever) is that i'm not used to thinking of myself as a girl... along the way chatting about that and related things, scott blurted out laughing
"why does everyone tell you i'm the best person for advice on this. i've never been on a first date with a 30 year old guy!"
me: "are you sure?"
scott: "i think so... um, yeah"
finally, it was time for my first lesson in driving a stick.. i've always wanted to learn and never had an opportunity, except that scott currently drives a stick and promised to teach me after i passed my exam. we played around in parking lots for half an hour. generally, i tended to talk to the car along the lines of "go car go!" as i tried to start (getting from park into a happy 1st gear is really hard!)... a few times though, when i got flustered, i would just yell
"CLUTCH! BRAKE!" (doing just that while i said it) and look worried at scott while he'd laugh at me. he laughingly commented part way through "i'm really glad "clutch! brake! is the first thing i taught you or we'd be in trouble... you've got that down good"
plans for the evening? out for a walk/jog, a little homework, and a lot of watching RENT on dvd (it came out yesterday and i already have it). it's so nice to be able to look forward to a weeknight without math (now that the exam is done), reading REU applications (now that mentors have sorted through them), or writing applications (now that i sent in one for a fellowship i'm applying for for next year this afternoon). i never thought this day would come. :P
happy wednesday! :)
Monday, February 20, 2006
more fun with students
besides grading fun (finally done for the night!), my students have a computer lab due tomorrow morning, so i've been fielding random email questions all night... best quote so far:
"Holy crap, I completely forgot about using that in the first formula. Thank you for the great hint, everyone next to me in the comp lab looked at me funny when i slapped my forehead and called myself an idiot."
yay for calc students?
"Holy crap, I completely forgot about using that in the first formula. Thank you for the great hint, everyone next to me in the comp lab looked at me funny when i slapped my forehead and called myself an idiot."
yay for calc students?
as if having a good advisor isn't enough,...
... apparently my students must like me alright too.
case in point?
one of my students left right at the end of the class period last week, and had been looking irritated during the 20 minute quiz at the end. when he handed it in, i commented "see you finished it in 20 minutes, no worries", and he commented "no i didn't, i totally blanked".
indeed, his paper is almost blank, except for:
too bad compliments get smiles but not extra credit points.
case in point?
one of my students left right at the end of the class period last week, and had been looking irritated during the 20 minute quiz at the end. when he handed it in, i commented "see you finished it in 20 minutes, no worries", and he commented "no i didn't, i totally blanked".
indeed, his paper is almost blank, except for:
too bad compliments get smiles but not extra credit points.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
p.s.
now that my exam is done, and i have time to breathe again, today i treated myself to two new CDs:
barlow girl and another journal entry (both by barlow girl -- a trio of teenage sisters... they have two amazing songs on the first disc that i've heard plenty on the radio and LOVE, and the newer disc has even higher ratings on amazon so i figured i'd treat myself to that too.)
i've listened to the first disc on repeat all evening while working on calculus. one of the songs is extremely ironic given other random lara news of the day, but that will get advertised in a few days, not just yet. ;)
summary: yay barlow girl :)
barlow girl and another journal entry (both by barlow girl -- a trio of teenage sisters... they have two amazing songs on the first disc that i've heard plenty on the radio and LOVE, and the newer disc has even higher ratings on amazon so i figured i'd treat myself to that too.)
i've listened to the first disc on repeat all evening while working on calculus. one of the songs is extremely ironic given other random lara news of the day, but that will get advertised in a few days, not just yet. ;)
summary: yay barlow girl :)
Saturday, February 18, 2006
more babbling
i'm so distracted today. it's nice that i don't have to worry about the fact that i didn't touch math until about 5pm today.
so why did my exam make me mad?
frankly when i left the room, although i appeared competant for my major topic, and i knew definitions/statements of theorems/how to do standard computations for my minor topic, i was really mad at myself for how i performed on the harder questions on my minor topic. there were 2 points where i just stared at the board in silence for a few minutes, and all i could think was "shoot, why am i thinking about thinking... why can't i start thinking about the problem". i felt that i displayed the ability to recite and reproduce and do standard things, but not necessarily to think on my feet. i wasn't so sure i would have passed myself, so when my committee passed me, i wasn't totally satisfied with it... glad to be done, but unhappy with a decent chunk of my performance.
with the 4th prof who missed my exam....
i waited outside his lecture yesterday, and when he saw me he said he immediately felt guilty, and the first thing he said was "i really screwed up, didn't i?". he wanted his signature on my exam papers to mean something, so then we went to his office for 45 minutes yesterday morning while he quizzed me. since i was just in his office, i felt comfortable saying "give me a minute to think" and sitting down and staring at the board before responding (for some reason i didn't do that thursday in the conference room even though it probably would have helped for the parts i was mad at myself for). after a bunch of questions, he signed my papers too, making my passing official. after that interaction, i felt much better about passing... even if it wasn't for the whole committee, i had shown the 4th prof that i had an ability to think on my feet, since most of his questions required a bit of thought, and i got to the end of each of them without too many hints.
...otherwise about the qual
at dinner thursday night my advisor commented that he was proud of me and that i did a good job... and that he thought that my minor topic prof who asked the hard questions was really giving me a hard time,... and that he himself even freezes at the board when asked unexpected things, so he didn't blame me for the spurts of silence.
my advisor's comments made me feel some better, but friday's experience with committee member number 4, made me feel that i had somehow proved myself a little better.
either way, it's good to be done, but it's also a very humbling experience too. it takes time to process.
in the near future: calc quiz grading fun, getting back into my research, and learning to read math books written in french.
i know, you're totally jealous. :P
the end.
so why did my exam make me mad?
frankly when i left the room, although i appeared competant for my major topic, and i knew definitions/statements of theorems/how to do standard computations for my minor topic, i was really mad at myself for how i performed on the harder questions on my minor topic. there were 2 points where i just stared at the board in silence for a few minutes, and all i could think was "shoot, why am i thinking about thinking... why can't i start thinking about the problem". i felt that i displayed the ability to recite and reproduce and do standard things, but not necessarily to think on my feet. i wasn't so sure i would have passed myself, so when my committee passed me, i wasn't totally satisfied with it... glad to be done, but unhappy with a decent chunk of my performance.
with the 4th prof who missed my exam....
i waited outside his lecture yesterday, and when he saw me he said he immediately felt guilty, and the first thing he said was "i really screwed up, didn't i?". he wanted his signature on my exam papers to mean something, so then we went to his office for 45 minutes yesterday morning while he quizzed me. since i was just in his office, i felt comfortable saying "give me a minute to think" and sitting down and staring at the board before responding (for some reason i didn't do that thursday in the conference room even though it probably would have helped for the parts i was mad at myself for). after a bunch of questions, he signed my papers too, making my passing official. after that interaction, i felt much better about passing... even if it wasn't for the whole committee, i had shown the 4th prof that i had an ability to think on my feet, since most of his questions required a bit of thought, and i got to the end of each of them without too many hints.
...otherwise about the qual
at dinner thursday night my advisor commented that he was proud of me and that i did a good job... and that he thought that my minor topic prof who asked the hard questions was really giving me a hard time,... and that he himself even freezes at the board when asked unexpected things, so he didn't blame me for the spurts of silence.
my advisor's comments made me feel some better, but friday's experience with committee member number 4, made me feel that i had somehow proved myself a little better.
either way, it's good to be done, but it's also a very humbling experience too. it takes time to process.
in the near future: calc quiz grading fun, getting back into my research, and learning to read math books written in french.
i know, you're totally jealous. :P
the end.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
the rundown
here's the last 24 hours of my life:
11pm: "went to sleep"
3am: after tossing and turning for 4 hours, actually fell asleep
6am: grudgingly woke up when my alarm went off... usual morning routine and leisurely breakfast
8am-10am: studied in my office for 2 hours and tried to make myself feel awake
10:20am: on time for my exam, me and two of the profs sat around the conference room table waiting for my advisor and the 4th prof to arrive
10:25am: my advisor arrived for my 10:20 exam but prof #4 was nowhere to be found
10:25-11:35am: my advisor was in and out of the room looking for prof #4 (who never showed) and got permission for me to still pass/fail based on 3 people instead of the required 4... when i knew what they were asking i did well... when pushed to answer things that were related but i didn't know off the top of my head on my minor topic, i completely froze... nonetheless,
11:40am: after 5 minutes of discussion behind closed doors, my 3/4ths of a committee told me i passed... technically i've passed when i track down the missing prof tomorrow and get his signiature.
noon-1:30pm: class
1:30-4:30pm: students were attached to me asking lots of maple questions about the lab they have due on tuesday... my blood sugar was low (hadn't had opportunity to eat since my 7am breakfast), i was tired, and getting a headache, but i survived
4:30-5pm: wandered to the student center and bought myself orange juice, saltines, and ibuprofen for a late lunch :P
5-6pm: experimental math seminar
6:30-8pm: dinner with the seminar speaker, my advisor, and eric, and aek
8-9pm: ice cream with eric
9-9:45pm: had a completely wonderful time cleaning off the floor of my room and making a stack of 20 books i can now return to the library since my test is done
9:45-10:15pm: caught up on this month's bills, which i'd been ignoring for a few weeks
10:15pm: went through email and began this post.
in the next 24 hours:
* sleep
* read 100ish REU applications and rank them all
* meet with my directed reading program mentee and hopefully be somewhat coherent
* answer a lot of maple email questions from my students
* celebratory dinner with my friends... i've got a feeling that although i generally dislike drinking beer, for once i'll be in a fantastic mood for downing a couple tomorrow night.
people not in the math world don't seem to quite understand why math graduate students actually feel really irritated after passing an exam... of course it's a good thing to pass, and it would be a different kind of irritated if i had failed, but it's not just pure joy... it takes some getting used to, and it is actually a cause of irritation to survive a qual... it's hard to explain unless you understand the math grad student mindset. :P people here get it, so it's fine that i needed a 36 hour break before celebrating.
one thing i do appreciate though is well wishes.
in the past 24 hours:
* yesterday, i got a package... it was an overflowing shoebox stuffed with homemade cookies and lots of candy from my memphis church... i'm not even a member there anymore, or an actual college student, and i've not got anything from them like that in years, so it was a pleasant surprise and extremely well timed.
* Sara, one of the first year students around here, bought me a really cool notebook as a congratulations present for passing my exam. that made me smile.
* Dr. G., an analysis professor who i've been helping with maple a lot this semester, bought me a box of really good chocolates and left them in my math dept. mailbox today with a note "congratulations and thanks for all your help!" on it... from him, this is huge.
* when i returned to my office, post qual, not knowing the outcome yet, the view from my 6th floor window into the math courtyard was this courtesy of scott and eric:
(can you read the 'YAY LARA'? :) )
here's one more just for fun... me, after just finding out i passed, still not quite being able to decide how i felt about the whole ordeal... along with the "lara weather forecast" that accumulated on our office wall today.
i think that's it.
i'll have more to say when i've had more than 3 hours of sleep.
right now, i'm still debating how i feel about the whole matter. it's not quite as cut and dry as you'd think. but at least it's DONE.
night y'all.
11pm: "went to sleep"
3am: after tossing and turning for 4 hours, actually fell asleep
6am: grudgingly woke up when my alarm went off... usual morning routine and leisurely breakfast
8am-10am: studied in my office for 2 hours and tried to make myself feel awake
10:20am: on time for my exam, me and two of the profs sat around the conference room table waiting for my advisor and the 4th prof to arrive
10:25am: my advisor arrived for my 10:20 exam but prof #4 was nowhere to be found
10:25-11:35am: my advisor was in and out of the room looking for prof #4 (who never showed) and got permission for me to still pass/fail based on 3 people instead of the required 4... when i knew what they were asking i did well... when pushed to answer things that were related but i didn't know off the top of my head on my minor topic, i completely froze... nonetheless,
11:40am: after 5 minutes of discussion behind closed doors, my 3/4ths of a committee told me i passed... technically i've passed when i track down the missing prof tomorrow and get his signiature.
noon-1:30pm: class
1:30-4:30pm: students were attached to me asking lots of maple questions about the lab they have due on tuesday... my blood sugar was low (hadn't had opportunity to eat since my 7am breakfast), i was tired, and getting a headache, but i survived
4:30-5pm: wandered to the student center and bought myself orange juice, saltines, and ibuprofen for a late lunch :P
5-6pm: experimental math seminar
6:30-8pm: dinner with the seminar speaker, my advisor, and eric, and aek
8-9pm: ice cream with eric
9-9:45pm: had a completely wonderful time cleaning off the floor of my room and making a stack of 20 books i can now return to the library since my test is done
9:45-10:15pm: caught up on this month's bills, which i'd been ignoring for a few weeks
10:15pm: went through email and began this post.
in the next 24 hours:
* sleep
* read 100ish REU applications and rank them all
* meet with my directed reading program mentee and hopefully be somewhat coherent
* answer a lot of maple email questions from my students
* celebratory dinner with my friends... i've got a feeling that although i generally dislike drinking beer, for once i'll be in a fantastic mood for downing a couple tomorrow night.
people not in the math world don't seem to quite understand why math graduate students actually feel really irritated after passing an exam... of course it's a good thing to pass, and it would be a different kind of irritated if i had failed, but it's not just pure joy... it takes some getting used to, and it is actually a cause of irritation to survive a qual... it's hard to explain unless you understand the math grad student mindset. :P people here get it, so it's fine that i needed a 36 hour break before celebrating.
one thing i do appreciate though is well wishes.
in the past 24 hours:
* yesterday, i got a package... it was an overflowing shoebox stuffed with homemade cookies and lots of candy from my memphis church... i'm not even a member there anymore, or an actual college student, and i've not got anything from them like that in years, so it was a pleasant surprise and extremely well timed.
* Sara, one of the first year students around here, bought me a really cool notebook as a congratulations present for passing my exam. that made me smile.
* Dr. G., an analysis professor who i've been helping with maple a lot this semester, bought me a box of really good chocolates and left them in my math dept. mailbox today with a note "congratulations and thanks for all your help!" on it... from him, this is huge.
* when i returned to my office, post qual, not knowing the outcome yet, the view from my 6th floor window into the math courtyard was this courtesy of scott and eric:
(can you read the 'YAY LARA'? :) )
here's one more just for fun... me, after just finding out i passed, still not quite being able to decide how i felt about the whole ordeal... along with the "lara weather forecast" that accumulated on our office wall today.
i think that's it.
i'll have more to say when i've had more than 3 hours of sleep.
right now, i'm still debating how i feel about the whole matter. it's not quite as cut and dry as you'd think. but at least it's DONE.
night y'all.
game day
good morning world.
my initial prediction (a la the poem in last night's entry) was correct.
i "went to sleep" at 11pm... i FELL asleep at 2:45am.... this amounts to about 3 hours of sleep.
this also introduces a whole different problem than i anticipated: i hope i'm coherent and not yawning during my exam in less than 4 hours.
on the other hand, since my body is tired, maybe it won't have the energy to get quite so tense as i've been lately, so there's a good side too.
we'll see how this goes...
my initial prediction (a la the poem in last night's entry) was correct.
i "went to sleep" at 11pm... i FELL asleep at 2:45am.... this amounts to about 3 hours of sleep.
this also introduces a whole different problem than i anticipated: i hope i'm coherent and not yawning during my exam in less than 4 hours.
on the other hand, since my body is tired, maybe it won't have the energy to get quite so tense as i've been lately, so there's a good side too.
we'll see how this goes...
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
a poem
Twas the night before Lara's qual, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The math books were flung round the house without care,
In hopes that post-exam, they'd be eaten by bears.
The Lara was nestled all snug in her bed,
Unable to sleep, while equations danced in her head.
There were Hilbert functions galore, and reduced Grobner bases,
And simplicial complexes with way too many faces.
the proof of zeilberger's algorithm made way too much clatter,
pattern avoidance was easy -- but it probably wouldn't matter.
the proof of furedi-hajnal was made clear a flash,
but lara wished she had more time for the music of the great johnny cash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to her wondering eyes should appear,
But four qual committee profs, intent on inducing fear.
The committee chair was so lively and full of glee,
I knew in a moment it must be the one and only dr. z.
More rapid than eagles his questions they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called things by hebrew names!
"Now Robinson-Schensted-Knuth correspondence!
Oh Great theorem of Lindstrom and Clements!
Bell numbers, Stirlings, Catalans, and Eulerians too!
We'll quiz her on more theorems than there are animals in a zoo!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the limit of lara's stress level they pushed,
With their endless tricks, she felt rather ambushed.
And then, in a twinkling, 80 minutes was done
Truth be told, for Lara, it wasn't much fun
As she drew in her head, and then left the room,
She could have sworn she heard a dirge from Roe Goodman's bassoon.
They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
Debating her merits and all her mathematical quirks.
Retakh and Beck, Dr. Z. and Diane,
They had gotten her good, as had been the plan!
Then they sprang from the room, decision unknown
While Lara waited quietly, as if made out of stone.
But I heard Z. exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Just one more day of math h*ll, but think of your freedom tomorrow night!"
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The math books were flung round the house without care,
In hopes that post-exam, they'd be eaten by bears.
The Lara was nestled all snug in her bed,
Unable to sleep, while equations danced in her head.
There were Hilbert functions galore, and reduced Grobner bases,
And simplicial complexes with way too many faces.
the proof of zeilberger's algorithm made way too much clatter,
pattern avoidance was easy -- but it probably wouldn't matter.
the proof of furedi-hajnal was made clear a flash,
but lara wished she had more time for the music of the great johnny cash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to her wondering eyes should appear,
But four qual committee profs, intent on inducing fear.
The committee chair was so lively and full of glee,
I knew in a moment it must be the one and only dr. z.
More rapid than eagles his questions they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called things by hebrew names!
"Now Robinson-Schensted-Knuth correspondence!
Oh Great theorem of Lindstrom and Clements!
Bell numbers, Stirlings, Catalans, and Eulerians too!
We'll quiz her on more theorems than there are animals in a zoo!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the limit of lara's stress level they pushed,
With their endless tricks, she felt rather ambushed.
And then, in a twinkling, 80 minutes was done
Truth be told, for Lara, it wasn't much fun
As she drew in her head, and then left the room,
She could have sworn she heard a dirge from Roe Goodman's bassoon.
They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
Debating her merits and all her mathematical quirks.
Retakh and Beck, Dr. Z. and Diane,
They had gotten her good, as had been the plan!
Then they sprang from the room, decision unknown
While Lara waited quietly, as if made out of stone.
But I heard Z. exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Just one more day of math h*ll, but think of your freedom tomorrow night!"
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Monday, February 13, 2006
ergh
the universe at large has been fairly irritating today.
my exam is in 63 hours... this is scary.
i met with my advisor today. he had forgotten that my exam was this week -- like he had it on his calendar and all but it wasn't on the forefront of his mind. he also commented that he doesn't think that it's fair for students to "get quizzed" on oral exam material ahead of time like i did with diane because half the fun is that you don't know what you'll be asked. profs vary on this... as for me i'm glad i met with diane. my advisor still is convinced that failure isn't a possibility, which i guess is good... i'm still a little worried.
one of my students made an appointment for office hours last week and then never showed. when he wrote me again on friday to ask for an appointment for today, i wrote back that i have a meeting at 3 (i really had a meeting at 2:30, but close enough) and that i couldn't -- he could (a) email me questions or (b) visit the prof's office hours at 3:20... i got back from my meeting w/ dr. z. at 2:59, ready to head home and study, and not wanting to think about calculus... and the student showed up at 3:01 claiming he doesn't read his email, and he seemed shocked to know the prof has office hours at 3:20 too... i'm too d*mn nice, i sat around for 15 minutes and worked out answers with him. give me a break, don't read email in half a week as a college student trying to arrange appointments? you can't just assume that profs will magically be there on command, especially if you've stood them up. oi. don't get me wrong,... i enjoy helping students, but the one way to irritate me is to not show respect for my time. that *majorly* gets to me.
i really want to fast forward through the next 3 days and get the torture over with. too much math, and not enough room in my freakin head....
later dudes.
my exam is in 63 hours... this is scary.
i met with my advisor today. he had forgotten that my exam was this week -- like he had it on his calendar and all but it wasn't on the forefront of his mind. he also commented that he doesn't think that it's fair for students to "get quizzed" on oral exam material ahead of time like i did with diane because half the fun is that you don't know what you'll be asked. profs vary on this... as for me i'm glad i met with diane. my advisor still is convinced that failure isn't a possibility, which i guess is good... i'm still a little worried.
one of my students made an appointment for office hours last week and then never showed. when he wrote me again on friday to ask for an appointment for today, i wrote back that i have a meeting at 3 (i really had a meeting at 2:30, but close enough) and that i couldn't -- he could (a) email me questions or (b) visit the prof's office hours at 3:20... i got back from my meeting w/ dr. z. at 2:59, ready to head home and study, and not wanting to think about calculus... and the student showed up at 3:01 claiming he doesn't read his email, and he seemed shocked to know the prof has office hours at 3:20 too... i'm too d*mn nice, i sat around for 15 minutes and worked out answers with him. give me a break, don't read email in half a week as a college student trying to arrange appointments? you can't just assume that profs will magically be there on command, especially if you've stood them up. oi. don't get me wrong,... i enjoy helping students, but the one way to irritate me is to not show respect for my time. that *majorly* gets to me.
i really want to fast forward through the next 3 days and get the torture over with. too much math, and not enough room in my freakin head....
later dudes.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
did you know?
highlights from Googlism.com
lara is a 4
lara is so cool
lara is a star
lara is back for more
lara is class apart
lara is
lara is certain of being able to break many world athletic records and so sees no challenge in this herself
lara is here to sizzle
lara is going insaaaannnee
lara is dead
lara is in rome
lara is a beautiful and intelligent lady
lara is a peace corps volunteer on assignment in zambia
lara is looking
lara is missing in one of these above
lara is tough
lara is the most talented left handed batsman without a doubt but lacks sachin's consistency
lara is further proof that she is too much a force of nature to be contained within the game world
lara is great
lara is a national organization whose missions include the representation of luftwaffe aircrew at historical displays
lara is seen running through the air
lara is a now a bona fide hollywood star
lara is automatically designated a wesbrook scholar
lara is about to bungee ballet
lara is out of touch with his fearless batting technique
lara is an intelligent
lara is into guys with a good sense of humor and likes them to be friendly and natural
lara is number 9 on the list
lara is here to stay
lara is out there
lara is hunting a demon she released
lara is an enterprising
lara is hot
lara is still the best man we have'
lara is facing exactly north
lara is gonna be mean
lara is enabling a new generation of innovative applications
lara is sitting aboard a british airways airliner on the way to cairo
lara is a beautiful woman that can jump
lara is a prime example of this ideal
lara is now in kindergarten and she loves school
lara is currently accepting new training horses in anticipation of her new inside barn
lara is set to begin her acting career not in bollywood but in hollywood
lara is already engaged in
lara is in fact surrounded by a colourful band of friends
lara is contacted by a woman who is frighteningly well informed about her expedition to the tomb of qualopec
lara is deemed unfit to play for reasons of health
lara is synthetic does not lessen her appeal
lara is a joy
comments?
lara is a 4
lara is so cool
lara is a star
lara is back for more
lara is class apart
lara is
lara is certain of being able to break many world athletic records and so sees no challenge in this herself
lara is here to sizzle
lara is going insaaaannnee
lara is dead
lara is in rome
lara is a beautiful and intelligent lady
lara is a peace corps volunteer on assignment in zambia
lara is looking
lara is missing in one of these above
lara is tough
lara is the most talented left handed batsman without a doubt but lacks sachin's consistency
lara is further proof that she is too much a force of nature to be contained within the game world
lara is great
lara is a national organization whose missions include the representation of luftwaffe aircrew at historical displays
lara is seen running through the air
lara is a now a bona fide hollywood star
lara is automatically designated a wesbrook scholar
lara is about to bungee ballet
lara is out of touch with his fearless batting technique
lara is an intelligent
lara is into guys with a good sense of humor and likes them to be friendly and natural
lara is number 9 on the list
lara is here to stay
lara is out there
lara is hunting a demon she released
lara is an enterprising
lara is hot
lara is still the best man we have'
lara is facing exactly north
lara is gonna be mean
lara is enabling a new generation of innovative applications
lara is sitting aboard a british airways airliner on the way to cairo
lara is a beautiful woman that can jump
lara is a prime example of this ideal
lara is now in kindergarten and she loves school
lara is currently accepting new training horses in anticipation of her new inside barn
lara is set to begin her acting career not in bollywood but in hollywood
lara is already engaged in
lara is in fact surrounded by a colourful band of friends
lara is contacted by a woman who is frighteningly well informed about her expedition to the tomb of qualopec
lara is deemed unfit to play for reasons of health
lara is synthetic does not lessen her appeal
lara is a joy
comments?
more snow
ok, so i'm a bad student and easily distracted by piles and piles of fluffy whiteness... here's a few more shots:
see the bluebird?
our hero, totally a schmo, heads into the great outdoors loaded with de-icer, a wimpy window scraper, and a bright orange shovel...
a bit more work than anticipated, but who's to complain about *snow*?!
inspired by the children of highland park,....
post shoveling, i got in my snow angel quota for the day. :)
now, to get back to math... really.
see the bluebird?
our hero, totally a schmo, heads into the great outdoors loaded with de-icer, a wimpy window scraper, and a bright orange shovel...
a bit more work than anticipated, but who's to complain about *snow*?!
inspired by the children of highland park,....
post shoveling, i got in my snow angel quota for the day. :)
now, to get back to math... really.
:)
"You should at least treat yourself to one snow angel, or your case maybe angle before you the day is out."
math puns rock... so do people who write me email odes to snow. :)
the end.
math puns rock... so do people who write me email odes to snow. :)
the end.
SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!
it's been a fairly mild winter to date, but this morning, i wake up to loads and loads and loads of SNOW!. don't get me wrong, i completely understand the people who get irritated by it and hate driving in it. as for my I-never-really-got-to-play-with-snow-until-I-was-18 self though, snow just plain makes me happy. better than that actually... it's impossible to have a bad day when it's snowing... too bad i have to study instead of go play... actually too bad that church got cancelled this morning too on account of it... sunday isn't the same without it, but.... enough rambling. here's the view from my house this hour:
pretty, pretty! (view out my window -- basically what i see while sitting at my computer)
looking out my window another direction
a better shot of those mighty icicles
do you think my car is lonely?
with the landlord out of town, and thus not on the job shovelling, getting out of the house later looks something like this:
yay snow :)
happy snow day to you if you're in the northeast like me... haha to you if you're not :P
the end.
pretty, pretty! (view out my window -- basically what i see while sitting at my computer)
looking out my window another direction
a better shot of those mighty icicles
do you think my car is lonely?
with the landlord out of town, and thus not on the job shovelling, getting out of the house later looks something like this:
yay snow :)
happy snow day to you if you're in the northeast like me... haha to you if you're not :P
the end.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Friday, February 10, 2006
still breathing....
so i just met for half an hour with diane... she asked me a few easy questions that i knew right off the bat and one that completely threw me for a loop, but she asked me easier questions until i figured it out step by step.
overall, i'd say it was a positive meeting... she didn't ask anything that i just *couldn't* say anything about...
at least now, i have a more decent idea of what's to be expected next thursday from her.... i need to meet with dr. z. too to get an idea from him of what he'll ask.
mostly, i need to calm down. i was incredibly nervous going in to talk to diane and she's incredibly non-intimidating. my heart was pounding the whole time i was in her office, and i needed to walk a couple laps around my floor of the building to calm down afterwards and it wasn't even a scary meeting!
my advisor should be nice, and one of the other profs is guaranteed to be too... but the 4th one, although in the context of other combo profs he's known to be really easy, could potentially be scary to me.
6 days from now, i'm gonna totally be a trainwreck... but 7 days from now, i'm home free... wouldn't it be nice if life had fast forward so you could just skip the scary stuff?
overall, i'd say it was a positive meeting... she didn't ask anything that i just *couldn't* say anything about...
at least now, i have a more decent idea of what's to be expected next thursday from her.... i need to meet with dr. z. too to get an idea from him of what he'll ask.
mostly, i need to calm down. i was incredibly nervous going in to talk to diane and she's incredibly non-intimidating. my heart was pounding the whole time i was in her office, and i needed to walk a couple laps around my floor of the building to calm down afterwards and it wasn't even a scary meeting!
my advisor should be nice, and one of the other profs is guaranteed to be too... but the 4th one, although in the context of other combo profs he's known to be really easy, could potentially be scary to me.
6 days from now, i'm gonna totally be a trainwreck... but 7 days from now, i'm home free... wouldn't it be nice if life had fast forward so you could just skip the scary stuff?
:)
email i just got from one of my friends who is my parents' age back in memphis:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lara,
Just wanted to let you know that I will be praying for you especially hard
this weekend since it is your last one to study before your math orals on
Thursday morning. I have great confidence in you and your ability to do
great on these tests however I know how nerve racking it can be when your
the one taking them! Hang in there girl, you will do great!
In HIS Name!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
that makes me smile... now hopefully my meeting with diane this afternoon will be equally affirming... we shall see!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lara,
Just wanted to let you know that I will be praying for you especially hard
this weekend since it is your last one to study before your math orals on
Thursday morning. I have great confidence in you and your ability to do
great on these tests however I know how nerve racking it can be when your
the one taking them! Hang in there girl, you will do great!
In HIS Name!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
that makes me smile... now hopefully my meeting with diane this afternoon will be equally affirming... we shall see!
Thursday, February 09, 2006
math, math, and more math
friday's usually my "empty day"... tomorrow is different:
10:20am -- meet with ian so he can explain probabilistic upper bounds on ramsey numbers to me
1pm -- meet with diane (one of the profs on my exam committee) to make sure the depth of knowledge i assume is sufficient for next week's exam is at least as good as the depth of questions she plans to ask
1:40pm -- pizza seminar if i'm done with diane in time
3pm -- meet with ben so he can explain gaussian quadrature to me
busy and full of math... fun, fun...
new topic:
here's a hint for any undergrads out there:
even if you have a generally friendly TA, if you
(a) make an appointment to meet with them and then don't show up, and
(b) don't apologize for part a, and
(c) then request for another meeting with said TA DURING the time of the office hours of the professor
then
the TA will probably not be quite so willing to help out.
on mondays i don't need to be on campus after 1:20 when i get out of class. 2 weeks ago a student asked to come visit me to discuss homework and showed up... last week same student requested the same time slot, i waited for 30 minutes and they didn't show up, AND didn't apologize or anything for it.... this week, same student requested an appointment again, and i wrote back that i have a prior engagement, but would be glad to answer questions via email, and reminded them that the prof has office hours right then too, so they have plenty of options... as for me, 3 days before my exam i should either be studying, or i'm thinking i'll try to meet with dr. z. then. when i already have 2 days a week that i sit in my office for office hours, and the prof is available on a third day besides that, if you don't respect my time, you're not guaranteed to get a time slot in my schedule. post exam, i'll be willing to let them make extra appointments again, but summary:
if you don't show respect for my time, i'm not going out of my way to make extra favors for you.
oi.
later dudes.
10:20am -- meet with ian so he can explain probabilistic upper bounds on ramsey numbers to me
1pm -- meet with diane (one of the profs on my exam committee) to make sure the depth of knowledge i assume is sufficient for next week's exam is at least as good as the depth of questions she plans to ask
1:40pm -- pizza seminar if i'm done with diane in time
3pm -- meet with ben so he can explain gaussian quadrature to me
busy and full of math... fun, fun...
new topic:
here's a hint for any undergrads out there:
even if you have a generally friendly TA, if you
(a) make an appointment to meet with them and then don't show up, and
(b) don't apologize for part a, and
(c) then request for another meeting with said TA DURING the time of the office hours of the professor
then
the TA will probably not be quite so willing to help out.
on mondays i don't need to be on campus after 1:20 when i get out of class. 2 weeks ago a student asked to come visit me to discuss homework and showed up... last week same student requested the same time slot, i waited for 30 minutes and they didn't show up, AND didn't apologize or anything for it.... this week, same student requested an appointment again, and i wrote back that i have a prior engagement, but would be glad to answer questions via email, and reminded them that the prof has office hours right then too, so they have plenty of options... as for me, 3 days before my exam i should either be studying, or i'm thinking i'll try to meet with dr. z. then. when i already have 2 days a week that i sit in my office for office hours, and the prof is available on a third day besides that, if you don't respect my time, you're not guaranteed to get a time slot in my schedule. post exam, i'll be willing to let them make extra appointments again, but summary:
if you don't show respect for my time, i'm not going out of my way to make extra favors for you.
oi.
later dudes.
7 days from right now,...
i will hopefully be in bed... because in 7 days and 10 hours, my oral qualifying exam begins.
there are some parts of my syllabus i know exceedingly well... much bigger parts i know so-so, and a few parts i really need to figure out this weekend... we'll see how that goes.
regardless of studying stress, it's good to be reaffirmed that people like me :)
case in point:
this afternoon, i stopped by to see the professor i TA for. he asked me if i could help proctor my students' first midterm, and i told him that i have a graduate class then. so, with my permission, he emailed my advisor (the professor of my class) to ask if i could miss at least the start of lecture to help ensure that in a room of 78 students, there are no people pretending to be other people (apparently at larger schools like this, from time to time students do send a friend instead of themselves to take an exam, and thus profs are supposed to check IDs for tests)... that's boring. nonetheless, i got CCed on the email.
when i returned from dinner at quiznos with eric tonight, i had 3 emails. 2 relating to above situation.
email 1:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear XXX,
Lara is such a good student that she can afford to miss
the beginning of my class.
Good luck with the exam.
Best wishes
XXXXX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email 2:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear XXXXX,
Thanks. I'm not surprised! She's such a good TA!
Best,
XXX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email 3 was actually directly to me. with so much different stuff going on for calc 3 (quizes, workshops, maple labs all with different due dates), i've been sending my students a weekly mass email with a bulleted list of reminders... they seem to like knowing it's coming to help them... usually responses are questions about assignments or extra office hours, but after those two emails, i had the following from one of the boys in my rowdy section (they all try to make small talk with me before, after, and during my lecture, so they realize full well that the next week is pretty tense for me math-wise):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subject: Re: weekly reminders!
Lara,
You are way too nice :)
Good luck on your exam.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
all of the above made me smile... hopefully studying for the next week won't make me un-smile too much. :P
summary: affirmation is good.
night y'all.
there are some parts of my syllabus i know exceedingly well... much bigger parts i know so-so, and a few parts i really need to figure out this weekend... we'll see how that goes.
regardless of studying stress, it's good to be reaffirmed that people like me :)
case in point:
this afternoon, i stopped by to see the professor i TA for. he asked me if i could help proctor my students' first midterm, and i told him that i have a graduate class then. so, with my permission, he emailed my advisor (the professor of my class) to ask if i could miss at least the start of lecture to help ensure that in a room of 78 students, there are no people pretending to be other people (apparently at larger schools like this, from time to time students do send a friend instead of themselves to take an exam, and thus profs are supposed to check IDs for tests)... that's boring. nonetheless, i got CCed on the email.
when i returned from dinner at quiznos with eric tonight, i had 3 emails. 2 relating to above situation.
email 1:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear XXX,
Lara is such a good student that she can afford to miss
the beginning of my class.
Good luck with the exam.
Best wishes
XXXXX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email 2:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear XXXXX,
Thanks. I'm not surprised! She's such a good TA!
Best,
XXX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email 3 was actually directly to me. with so much different stuff going on for calc 3 (quizes, workshops, maple labs all with different due dates), i've been sending my students a weekly mass email with a bulleted list of reminders... they seem to like knowing it's coming to help them... usually responses are questions about assignments or extra office hours, but after those two emails, i had the following from one of the boys in my rowdy section (they all try to make small talk with me before, after, and during my lecture, so they realize full well that the next week is pretty tense for me math-wise):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subject: Re: weekly reminders!
Lara,
You are way too nice :)
Good luck on your exam.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
all of the above made me smile... hopefully studying for the next week won't make me un-smile too much. :P
summary: affirmation is good.
night y'all.
Monday, February 06, 2006
la de da :-)
for the first time ever that i'm aware of, there exists a boy in the universe who likes me. :)
this is new.
this is also distracting me from studying.... that's probably not a good consequence.
but that aside, i am one very happy lara. :)
the end.
this is new.
this is also distracting me from studying.... that's probably not a good consequence.
but that aside, i am one very happy lara. :)
the end.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
how about them STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
happy things lately?
* yay steelers! 21-10 makes me happy. if it had been a less than 7 point game, seattle fans would have reason to be really bitter after big ben's seriously fraction of an inch touchdown in the first half, but alas, they made their screwups too, and the steelers won by more than just that. for the first time in my memory, all is well in the football world! (the last time the steelers won the super bowl was before i paid attention to football, even though i existed :P)
* brother called earlier to tell me...
brother: "hey la, guess what!"
me: "the steelers are winning?"
brother: "well, yeah, but also... BABY!!!!!!"
me: "baby what?"
brother: "baby llama!... it's little and white"
me: "ooh! what do you call it? can you call it angel?"
brother: "no, it's a baby boy llama, that's a bad name."
me: "how about snowball?"
brother: "dude, it's a BOY llama"
me: "ok, blizzard"
brother: "we'll get back to you on it... it's cute though, and i thought you should know."
* i might have a fun story about a boy later in the week... keep your fingers crossed... we'll see. :P
* i've been telling people all week if the steelers lose, my exam is hopeless; if they win, they i've got a chance... now just to pass the freakin exam 10 days from tomorrow morning and we'll be in business. :)
now, after that interlude of fun... back to math for a week and a half.
later dudes.
* yay steelers! 21-10 makes me happy. if it had been a less than 7 point game, seattle fans would have reason to be really bitter after big ben's seriously fraction of an inch touchdown in the first half, but alas, they made their screwups too, and the steelers won by more than just that. for the first time in my memory, all is well in the football world! (the last time the steelers won the super bowl was before i paid attention to football, even though i existed :P)
* brother called earlier to tell me...
brother: "hey la, guess what!"
me: "the steelers are winning?"
brother: "well, yeah, but also... BABY!!!!!!"
me: "baby what?"
brother: "baby llama!... it's little and white"
me: "ooh! what do you call it? can you call it angel?"
brother: "no, it's a baby boy llama, that's a bad name."
me: "how about snowball?"
brother: "dude, it's a BOY llama"
me: "ok, blizzard"
brother: "we'll get back to you on it... it's cute though, and i thought you should know."
* i might have a fun story about a boy later in the week... keep your fingers crossed... we'll see. :P
* i've been telling people all week if the steelers lose, my exam is hopeless; if they win, they i've got a chance... now just to pass the freakin exam 10 days from tomorrow morning and we'll be in business. :)
now, after that interlude of fun... back to math for a week and a half.
later dudes.
heh
Rails missing; it's hard to keep track...
i just thought that was funny.
here's something else funny. friday, as i was eating with eric, i asked...
me: "so, essay question"
eric: "what?"
me: "explain boys... go!"
eric: "ok, um, let x be a boy... then for every boy there exists a partition of the set of girls into girls he's interested in and girls he's not"
me: "and i'm always in the 'not' set"
eric: "no, your mixing up your quantifiers... i said for every boy there exists a partition, not there exists a universal partition that works for every boy... corollary, for every girl, there is at least one boy for which that girl is in the 'good' part of the boy's partition of girls."
me: "i don't believe you"
eric: "ok, here's a better illustration.... all the stories you tell me about your family's birds? you seem to understand why frosty and poncho do what they do"
me: "yeah, they're fairly predictable" (frosty and poncho are my parents' talking parrots)
eric: "boys are like boy parrots. whenever you need someone to explain 'what does it mean when a boy does fill-in-the-blank', ask yourself instead 'what would it mean if frosty or poncho did this?'. i think the answers would be fairly accurate. they're like boys trapped in bird bodies... boys are like birds. the end."
any theories that top that? let the contest begin.
i just thought that was funny.
here's something else funny. friday, as i was eating with eric, i asked...
me: "so, essay question"
eric: "what?"
me: "explain boys... go!"
eric: "ok, um, let x be a boy... then for every boy there exists a partition of the set of girls into girls he's interested in and girls he's not"
me: "and i'm always in the 'not' set"
eric: "no, your mixing up your quantifiers... i said for every boy there exists a partition, not there exists a universal partition that works for every boy... corollary, for every girl, there is at least one boy for which that girl is in the 'good' part of the boy's partition of girls."
me: "i don't believe you"
eric: "ok, here's a better illustration.... all the stories you tell me about your family's birds? you seem to understand why frosty and poncho do what they do"
me: "yeah, they're fairly predictable" (frosty and poncho are my parents' talking parrots)
eric: "boys are like boy parrots. whenever you need someone to explain 'what does it mean when a boy does fill-in-the-blank', ask yourself instead 'what would it mean if frosty or poncho did this?'. i think the answers would be fairly accurate. they're like boys trapped in bird bodies... boys are like birds. the end."
any theories that top that? let the contest begin.
Friday, February 03, 2006
yay for relient k
even if a day of unsuccessfully fighting with exam studying totally brought me down to throwing chalk and tears earlier, ice cream with a friend (i asked if it was pity ice cream and eric insisted it was generosity ice cream instead ;-P) and jogging for 5 miles to relient k music can cheer me up to at least mellow :-P
this song made me happy:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I feel like
I would like
To be somewhere else
Doing something that matters
And I'll admit here
While I sit here
My mind wastes away
And my doubts start to gather
What's the purpose?
It feels worthless
So unwanted like I've lost all my value
I can't find it
Not in the least bit
And I'm just scared
So scared that I'll fail You
Sometimes I think that I'm not any good at all
And sometimes I wonder why
Why I'm even here at all
But then You assure me
I'm a little more than useless
And when I think that I can't do this
You promise me that I'll get through this
And do something right
Do something right for once
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this one, on the other hand, made me laugh out loud for the whole time it was playing plus some... it probably applies to me :-P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
we all know the girls that i am talking about
well they are time bombs and they are ticking
and the only question's when they'll blow up
and they'll blow up; we know that without a doubt
cause they're those girls, yeah you know those girls that let their emotions get the best of them
and i've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
so we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off
cause we'll know just what they're thinking
cause what they're thinking...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"high of 75" and "who i am hates who i've been" are fantastic too though. all in all, mmhmm (the album 3 of these 4 songs come from) is fantastic actually.
yay for relient k
the end.
this song made me happy:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I feel like
I would like
To be somewhere else
Doing something that matters
And I'll admit here
While I sit here
My mind wastes away
And my doubts start to gather
What's the purpose?
It feels worthless
So unwanted like I've lost all my value
I can't find it
Not in the least bit
And I'm just scared
So scared that I'll fail You
Sometimes I think that I'm not any good at all
And sometimes I wonder why
Why I'm even here at all
But then You assure me
I'm a little more than useless
And when I think that I can't do this
You promise me that I'll get through this
And do something right
Do something right for once
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this one, on the other hand, made me laugh out loud for the whole time it was playing plus some... it probably applies to me :-P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
we all know the girls that i am talking about
well they are time bombs and they are ticking
and the only question's when they'll blow up
and they'll blow up; we know that without a doubt
cause they're those girls, yeah you know those girls that let their emotions get the best of them
and i've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
so we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off
cause we'll know just what they're thinking
cause what they're thinking...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"high of 75" and "who i am hates who i've been" are fantastic too though. all in all, mmhmm (the album 3 of these 4 songs come from) is fantastic actually.
yay for relient k
the end.
quote
me: "why on earth are you laughing?"
eric: "because... of all the 10000some adjectives in the english language, 'boring' is the one that least describes you!"
for the record, today was *not* a good math day...
proof? eric took me to baskin robbins and bought me an ice cream sundae... that's like the eric version of a hug, and he only gives those out under extremely distressing circumstances.
the problem is, i've been studying hard for days on end now, and think i'm making headway, but today i was trying to reproduce some of the things i thought i had learned well a week ago and ran into issues -- i have no idea how i'm going to keep so massive an amount of information straight in my head for the exam when i can't remember that many things that many days straight. it's frustrating.
i am hate it when not math people say they're certain i have nothing to worry about and that i'll be brilliant. i understand it's said in support and with good intentions. but you don't know how it'll be. plenty of people said they were sure i'd pass writtens the first time and i failed. i *could* fail each qual once before i pass it, and it *could* happen again.
in the meantime, another 12 days of study study and more study.
later dudes.
eric: "because... of all the 10000some adjectives in the english language, 'boring' is the one that least describes you!"
for the record, today was *not* a good math day...
proof? eric took me to baskin robbins and bought me an ice cream sundae... that's like the eric version of a hug, and he only gives those out under extremely distressing circumstances.
the problem is, i've been studying hard for days on end now, and think i'm making headway, but today i was trying to reproduce some of the things i thought i had learned well a week ago and ran into issues -- i have no idea how i'm going to keep so massive an amount of information straight in my head for the exam when i can't remember that many things that many days straight. it's frustrating.
i am hate it when not math people say they're certain i have nothing to worry about and that i'll be brilliant. i understand it's said in support and with good intentions. but you don't know how it'll be. plenty of people said they were sure i'd pass writtens the first time and i failed. i *could* fail each qual once before i pass it, and it *could* happen again.
in the meantime, another 12 days of study study and more study.
later dudes.
did you know....?
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- Lara can sleep for three and a half years!
- The opposite sides of Lara always add up to seven.
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- Humans have 46 chromosomes, peas have 14, and Lara has 7!
- Cats use their Lara to test whether a space is large enough for them to fit through.
- Neil Armstrong first stepped on Lara with his left foot!
- A bride should wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and Lara.
- The first toy product ever advertised on television was Mr Lara Head.
- If every star in the Milky Way was a grain of salt they would fill Lara!
- It is impossible to fold Lara more than seven times.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
random
i've been studying all week out of a book that has "hairy ball" as a topic in the index. scott thinks this is hilarious. i don't know it, but there is actually a topology/geometry theorem called the hairy ball theorem. don't you feel informed?
as of the past hour, i know 2 ways to make buchberger's algorithm more efficient.
(1) you don't need to check S-polynomials for pairs of polynomials whose leading terms are relatively prime since it's guaranteed to reduce to 0 anyhow.
(2) you don't need to check S-polynomial (i,j) if you've already checked (i,k) and (j,k) and the leading term of f_k divides the LCM of the leading terms of f_i and f_j since S(i,j) is a linear combination of S(i,k) and S(j,k) then.
(tada!... not that you know or care what any of that just said anyways)
i got free indian food tonight... whenever the exp. math seminar speaker is not a rutgers person, dr. z. takes them out to eat and brings all of us (his students) with. this was the first week this semester that we had a non-rutgers speaker which means free dinner, thanks to my advisor. it's totally academic family bonding time.
here's one thing that i'm not sure if it should bug me or not -- my advisor is extremely optimistic about my exam and keeps telling me "don't study too much, i'm sure you'll do great". he doesn't even see failure as a possibility i don't think, which is nice and comforting except for the fact that there are 3 other professors who will be on my committee in 2 weeks, and they're not all that optimistic. so i DO need to keep studying lest the questions of the other professors throw me for a loop and my advisor see i'm not quite as smart as he thinks i am then. oi. :P
in other less local news...
* 159 mph? That's where we draw the line.. -- i wish *i* could get permission to drive that fast legally!
* I'm here for my prescription, and 6,000 cookies -- hey, it's amsterdam, so it's not horribly surprising, but the phrase "6000 cookies" in a news headline caught my eye ;)
* I used to have a glass eye, but now I'm okay... -- yeah... people are brilliant
* Closing the barn door after the cow has gone... -- this is a brilliant way to spend a Monday
* The Three Stooges live! -- truly glad i've never done anything quite like this
i think that's it. tomorrow is another fun day packed with learning math. you should be insanely jealous.
as of the past hour, i know 2 ways to make buchberger's algorithm more efficient.
(1) you don't need to check S-polynomials for pairs of polynomials whose leading terms are relatively prime since it's guaranteed to reduce to 0 anyhow.
(2) you don't need to check S-polynomial (i,j) if you've already checked (i,k) and (j,k) and the leading term of f_k divides the LCM of the leading terms of f_i and f_j since S(i,j) is a linear combination of S(i,k) and S(j,k) then.
(tada!... not that you know or care what any of that just said anyways)
i got free indian food tonight... whenever the exp. math seminar speaker is not a rutgers person, dr. z. takes them out to eat and brings all of us (his students) with. this was the first week this semester that we had a non-rutgers speaker which means free dinner, thanks to my advisor. it's totally academic family bonding time.
here's one thing that i'm not sure if it should bug me or not -- my advisor is extremely optimistic about my exam and keeps telling me "don't study too much, i'm sure you'll do great". he doesn't even see failure as a possibility i don't think, which is nice and comforting except for the fact that there are 3 other professors who will be on my committee in 2 weeks, and they're not all that optimistic. so i DO need to keep studying lest the questions of the other professors throw me for a loop and my advisor see i'm not quite as smart as he thinks i am then. oi. :P
in other less local news...
* 159 mph? That's where we draw the line.. -- i wish *i* could get permission to drive that fast legally!
* I'm here for my prescription, and 6,000 cookies -- hey, it's amsterdam, so it's not horribly surprising, but the phrase "6000 cookies" in a news headline caught my eye ;)
* I used to have a glass eye, but now I'm okay... -- yeah... people are brilliant
* Closing the barn door after the cow has gone... -- this is a brilliant way to spend a Monday
* The Three Stooges live! -- truly glad i've never done anything quite like this
i think that's it. tomorrow is another fun day packed with learning math. you should be insanely jealous.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
this...
... is what i've been doing all week long when not on campus:
writing math on the wall-sized mirror in our dining room in dry erase marker. (since that's the closest i have to a chalkboard without leaving the house).
i think it's turning out to be a pretty effective study method. i read in my room for awhile, and then to test myself, i leave the book behind and try to write it all on the mirror how i would to explain it to a class or in a talk (but (usually) without talking to myself out loud about it). trying to write it out nicely tests if i remember the details well... and leaving what i write up for at least 24 hours means i see it when i come home, when i'm eating breakfast, and whenever i go through that room so i can kinda quiz myself off the wall to make things sink in better... i *think* it's working at least... we'll see if it's really as effective as i think it is in 2 weeks.
however, at the very least, this:
is a decent chunk of what i figured out today -- isn't a wall full of math, at the very least, aesthetically pleasing?
writing math on the wall-sized mirror in our dining room in dry erase marker. (since that's the closest i have to a chalkboard without leaving the house).
i think it's turning out to be a pretty effective study method. i read in my room for awhile, and then to test myself, i leave the book behind and try to write it all on the mirror how i would to explain it to a class or in a talk (but (usually) without talking to myself out loud about it). trying to write it out nicely tests if i remember the details well... and leaving what i write up for at least 24 hours means i see it when i come home, when i'm eating breakfast, and whenever i go through that room so i can kinda quiz myself off the wall to make things sink in better... i *think* it's working at least... we'll see if it's really as effective as i think it is in 2 weeks.
however, at the very least, this:
is a decent chunk of what i figured out today -- isn't a wall full of math, at the very least, aesthetically pleasing?
fun with undergrads
so i got roped into being a mentor for the directed reading program the department has been running since last summer. i'm working with the freshman who eric worked with last semester. since this is his 2nd semester in college he doesn't have much higher level math background but he has tons of enthusiasm (which makes him ideal for me since i can be excited and encourage him without having to study a ton to do so). he didn't even have a clue what combinatorics is walking in the room today, but we picked out an introductory book in the library and then i completely amazed him when i told him "pick an integer, any integer", and when he picked 57 i used the pigeonhole principle to show him that there's a multiple of 57 with only 0s and 1s in it. i think that made his day.
the kid is super excited about number theory after working with eric last semester, but i think i have a shot at convincing him that combinatorics is *at least* as cool as that. :)
heh.
summary: this ought to be a fun job to have, especially since the student i'll be working with seems so enthusaistic. so yay for that. :)
the end.
the kid is super excited about number theory after working with eric last semester, but i think i have a shot at convincing him that combinatorics is *at least* as cool as that. :)
heh.
summary: this ought to be a fun job to have, especially since the student i'll be working with seems so enthusaistic. so yay for that. :)
the end.
