some rest?

i thought this semester would be awesome since i'm not taking any classes... just teaching calc3, and working on my own research.

furthermore, i scheduled all the busy "other" stuff for early on, so i could get work done... i made the maple help pages for the department website before school started, i gave a pizza seminar today so that they couldn't harass me for the rest of the semester... but apparently i'm just in demand.

* dr. z. was asked to sub for another professor on sept. 19. dr. z. can't then, so he suggested me, and i agreed, figuring since it's calc 3, i know it all down pat. just got an email from the prof i'll be subbing for, and it turns out he wants me to cover 2 sections that generally get skipped in the regular calc 3 sections, but he's covering since he's teaching the honors section... study time for lara. oi...

* i'm subbing for dr. z. on october 2. i knew about this in advance, but that's still another lecture to prepare.

* i just got an email from the grad student in charge of the princeton "pizza seminar" equivalent. because (1) my talk from last fall was such a hit here, (2) the pizza seminar coordinator at rutgers from last fall and the pizza seminar coordinator at princeton last year are married (so they discuss such things), (3) apparently princeton wants some visiting grad students to give good talks to give new students an idea of what an "ideal" pizza talk is like, it was suggested that there be a speaker exchange, where speakers who did well at rutgers could talk at princeton at vice versa, plus it helps the organizers since they don't have to track down as many people. apparently i'm giving the princeton "pizza seminar" on october 3 now. this means i have to find my notes from a year ago and remember how all the material works to present it.

* aek and i are going to a conference in california october 7. we got funding to go, but the funding was contingent on submitting posters to the conference, so between now and october 7, (actually now and october 6) i need to plan a 4' by 4' poster explaining the research i presented in iceland in june... again, stuff i know/proved myself, but remembering how to do all the details and explain in a clear manner and make it visually appealing takes time.

summary: it's suddenly shaping up to be a downright CRAZY month.

in happy news, i got an email today asking me to please be the grad organizer for the REU again. i need to talk things out with a couple profs to see if (a) it's possible for me to teach my own course (as lecturer, not TA) next fall, and (b) if not, does it look bad to have not taught my own class before i graduate? (if i didn't run the REU, i would be guaranteed a summer teaching position). we shall see...

suddenly my life is surprisingly busy... this is what i get for being a findable member of the department who says yes when people ask things nicely. :P