because i've been in TN for such a long time (um, 4 days), i'm headed off again.
to chicago today, for two lovely days with grandma, then to indy saturday for heather m.'s wedding, staying put for new years eve at tammy's house, then driving a rooster from indy back to TN for my dad on new years day. totally jealous right? now i have mellencamp's "peaceful world" stuck in my head.... i think "up from indiana down to tennessee" rather fits this leg of the journey. :P
a fantastic week to all y'all. happy almost-2007! :)
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
i said i wanted a computer...
and instead i got a $600 check from the parents. don't get me wrong, my desktop is ok, but for awhile i've really craved (1) the portability of a laptop, and (2) ridiculously good processor/amounts of memory to do my research without periodically freezing the stupid machine from making it do too much at once.
when i started looking up prices on what i wanted with my mom this afternoon, i came up with this HP dv6000t which seems to have pretty good reviews just about everywhere... and sure it says starting at $569.99 on the website, BUT when you give it the best processor and tons of memory, you can jack it up to well more than that. we finally settled on:
HP Pavilion dv6000t customizable Notebook PC
* Genuine Windows XP Professional
* Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor T7200 (2.0 GHz)
* FREE Upgrade to 15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen!!
* Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 950 - Core
* HP Imprint Finish + Microphone
* 2048MB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* 80GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
* 802.11b/g WLAN
* Microsoft(R) Works/Money
* System Recovery DVD w/Windows XP Professional
mom is paying, and i will pay her back for all but $600. sooo excited, it's going to be a BEAUTIFUL machine. :)
the end.
p.s. merry christmas!
when i started looking up prices on what i wanted with my mom this afternoon, i came up with this HP dv6000t which seems to have pretty good reviews just about everywhere... and sure it says starting at $569.99 on the website, BUT when you give it the best processor and tons of memory, you can jack it up to well more than that. we finally settled on:
HP Pavilion dv6000t customizable Notebook PC
* Genuine Windows XP Professional
* Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor T7200 (2.0 GHz)
* FREE Upgrade to 15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen!!
* Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 950 - Core
* HP Imprint Finish + Microphone
* 2048MB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* 80GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
* 802.11b/g WLAN
* Microsoft(R) Works/Money
* System Recovery DVD w/Windows XP Professional
mom is paying, and i will pay her back for all but $600. sooo excited, it's going to be a BEAUTIFUL machine. :)
the end.
p.s. merry christmas!
Saturday, December 23, 2006
what a loooooooooong day...
... as if driving from pittsburgh, pennsylvania to memphis, tennessee all in one shot isn't already long by itself.
but add in:
(1) coming within 5 feet of starting the day in a major carwreck
(i was in rush hour traffic on I-376 in pittsburgh this morning. when i saw all the cars in front of me completely stopped, i started braking so that i had plenty of room to stop... the car coming up incredibly waaaay too fast behind me apparently decided instead of braking to just zip around me, and he did, merging in front of me again just in time to collide into the car in front of me at about 60mph, and then went flying across 2 lanes of traffic in a ball of smoke, seriously all less than 20 feet from my car. made me EXTRA alert for the start of my day...)
(2) lots of rain and fog for 70% of the day... which after a certain event 3 years ago makes me more tense than normal....
(3) inadvertently taking a 30 minute detour completely the wrong way
(seriously, i know interstates on the eastern half of the country insanely well, but when i finally temporarily got out of the rain in southern kentucky, it was at sunset. the sun was glaring so bright in my windshield straight on that i couldn't see a freakin thing in front of me, so i just followed the dotted lines on either side of my lane and crossed my fingers that the cars in front of me didn't suddenly brake because i couldn't see them... unfortunately following the dotted line led me off of I-65, and onto a kentucky state highway that didn't have any exits or chances to turn around for 20 minutes, hence an unintentional detour... doht. at least kentucky hills are really pretty at sunset?)
at any rate, the usual 12.5 hour trek took 14 hours instead this time and i'm TIRED.
on the plus side there are nice people. i pulled over at a rest stop in eastern ohio early this morning and there were two guys in a trailer in the parking lot handing out coffee, hot cocoa, fruit, cookies, and chips for free (with a tip jar on the counter). they were super friendly and totally made my morning after being moderately distressed about witnessing the accident an hour before.
anywho, i'm here.... TN for 4 days of craziness, and then leg 2 of lara's winter break roadtrip 2006 continues on wednesday. stay tuned for more fun!
but add in:
(1) coming within 5 feet of starting the day in a major carwreck
(i was in rush hour traffic on I-376 in pittsburgh this morning. when i saw all the cars in front of me completely stopped, i started braking so that i had plenty of room to stop... the car coming up incredibly waaaay too fast behind me apparently decided instead of braking to just zip around me, and he did, merging in front of me again just in time to collide into the car in front of me at about 60mph, and then went flying across 2 lanes of traffic in a ball of smoke, seriously all less than 20 feet from my car. made me EXTRA alert for the start of my day...)
(2) lots of rain and fog for 70% of the day... which after a certain event 3 years ago makes me more tense than normal....
(3) inadvertently taking a 30 minute detour completely the wrong way
(seriously, i know interstates on the eastern half of the country insanely well, but when i finally temporarily got out of the rain in southern kentucky, it was at sunset. the sun was glaring so bright in my windshield straight on that i couldn't see a freakin thing in front of me, so i just followed the dotted lines on either side of my lane and crossed my fingers that the cars in front of me didn't suddenly brake because i couldn't see them... unfortunately following the dotted line led me off of I-65, and onto a kentucky state highway that didn't have any exits or chances to turn around for 20 minutes, hence an unintentional detour... doht. at least kentucky hills are really pretty at sunset?)
at any rate, the usual 12.5 hour trek took 14 hours instead this time and i'm TIRED.
on the plus side there are nice people. i pulled over at a rest stop in eastern ohio early this morning and there were two guys in a trailer in the parking lot handing out coffee, hot cocoa, fruit, cookies, and chips for free (with a tip jar on the counter). they were super friendly and totally made my morning after being moderately distressed about witnessing the accident an hour before.
anywho, i'm here.... TN for 4 days of craziness, and then leg 2 of lara's winter break roadtrip 2006 continues on wednesday. stay tuned for more fun!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
wasting the day away...
it's wednesday.
my work for the semester has been done since monday. if it were just up to my schedule, i could have actually left town yesterday.
but, my students have their final tomorrow, so i figured i'd be nice and have extra office hours this week while they study, since so many of them said they'd need it and it would help a lot.
don't get me wrong, i'm happy to help. but here it is, less than 24 hours before the exam, and i've been in my office for the past 3 hours. NOT ONE PERSON has shown up. if i could have predicted that, i could have slept in another hour, i could have gotten a haircut this morning instead of tomorrow on the way out of town, SO MANY other things i could be doing.
but alas, 10-6 today i said i'd be in my office to help, and here i sit... working on my research and playing minesweeper alternately... such a productive day. (sarcasm)
one of two things is going to happen, and both are potentially frustrating
(1) no one could show up all day, and when i just spent 8 hours sitting in a very quiet math building, glued to my office when i could have been getting lots of other last-minute-get-out-of-town things done
(2) since they all decided not to come in the morning, a TON of students will come after lunch time and due to volume, not all of them will get their questions answered.
it's not like i've not given them ample opportunity. monday's office hours were like this too... 3 people came in for 5 minutes each in the course of 4 hours. and i've gotta pack to be gone for a month tonight. it's not like i'm not available. they're just not showing.... oi.
we shall see.....
complete tangent:
in happy news, the fridge at home is nearly empty, so i'm getting takeout for dinner. the gas station down the street from me has a new kitchen in the back that serves southern food. ben, jessica, and i tried it out on saturday afternoon and it was amazingly good. seriously, you don't think of gas station food as that great, but it seems to be this guy wants to run a takeout service, doesn't need a whole building to himself, just a corner with a grill and a fridge, so he rented the corner in the station. now i have somewhere to go to get catfish and cornbread that even delivers to my house and is cheap. yay! when i ordered on saturday the cook asked me "girl, where'd you learn to order soul food?" and when i said i was from memphis he got super excited.... he's originally from arkansas and just enjoys making good eats even while stranded out in jersey. :P good food, good people. makes laras happy. :)
... now if only some students would show to entertain me with questions...
the end.
my work for the semester has been done since monday. if it were just up to my schedule, i could have actually left town yesterday.
but, my students have their final tomorrow, so i figured i'd be nice and have extra office hours this week while they study, since so many of them said they'd need it and it would help a lot.
don't get me wrong, i'm happy to help. but here it is, less than 24 hours before the exam, and i've been in my office for the past 3 hours. NOT ONE PERSON has shown up. if i could have predicted that, i could have slept in another hour, i could have gotten a haircut this morning instead of tomorrow on the way out of town, SO MANY other things i could be doing.
but alas, 10-6 today i said i'd be in my office to help, and here i sit... working on my research and playing minesweeper alternately... such a productive day. (sarcasm)
one of two things is going to happen, and both are potentially frustrating
(1) no one could show up all day, and when i just spent 8 hours sitting in a very quiet math building, glued to my office when i could have been getting lots of other last-minute-get-out-of-town things done
(2) since they all decided not to come in the morning, a TON of students will come after lunch time and due to volume, not all of them will get their questions answered.
it's not like i've not given them ample opportunity. monday's office hours were like this too... 3 people came in for 5 minutes each in the course of 4 hours. and i've gotta pack to be gone for a month tonight. it's not like i'm not available. they're just not showing.... oi.
we shall see.....
complete tangent:
in happy news, the fridge at home is nearly empty, so i'm getting takeout for dinner. the gas station down the street from me has a new kitchen in the back that serves southern food. ben, jessica, and i tried it out on saturday afternoon and it was amazingly good. seriously, you don't think of gas station food as that great, but it seems to be this guy wants to run a takeout service, doesn't need a whole building to himself, just a corner with a grill and a fridge, so he rented the corner in the station. now i have somewhere to go to get catfish and cornbread that even delivers to my house and is cheap. yay! when i ordered on saturday the cook asked me "girl, where'd you learn to order soul food?" and when i said i was from memphis he got super excited.... he's originally from arkansas and just enjoys making good eats even while stranded out in jersey. :P good food, good people. makes laras happy. :)
... now if only some students would show to entertain me with questions...
the end.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
equation
gingerbread margarita + chocolate mint martini + vanilla vodka + scott + dr. seuss + cheesecake + spinning = happy lara
Monday, December 11, 2006
so i would have guessed centrist, but ok....
| You are a Social Conservative (26% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (31% permissive) You are best described as a:
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test |
Sunday, December 10, 2006
how well can you do?
You Passed the US Citizenship Test |
 Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct! |
crazy alert...
2 things that amused me in the past few days:
(1) friday, i checked my mailbox in the math building and had an envelope mailed without return address from somewhere in california. i expected it to be some sort of math newsletter or math advertisement... or something math related... after all, who sends me mail at my math building address besides math-related stuff? open the envelope and inside there was a postcard telling me where to go to download snood to my cellphone and two bumper stickers that read "forget life... play snood!". i didn't ask for this, it just appeared. how the heck me, and only me, out of the whole math department ended up with that... not a clue. people are funny. apparently i have a snood-adverising stalker.
(2) i've been on a chewing gum kick lately... dentyne ice, trident with the center-filled 2-flavor gum, etc., etc... all the gum packages now say "not a low-calorie food". are there really people out there who try to live solely on chewing gum? if so, that's mildly disturbing. if not, then i find it hilarious that the chewing gum manufacturers have to explicitly tell us that chewing gum does not make a meal.
the end.
(1) friday, i checked my mailbox in the math building and had an envelope mailed without return address from somewhere in california. i expected it to be some sort of math newsletter or math advertisement... or something math related... after all, who sends me mail at my math building address besides math-related stuff? open the envelope and inside there was a postcard telling me where to go to download snood to my cellphone and two bumper stickers that read "forget life... play snood!". i didn't ask for this, it just appeared. how the heck me, and only me, out of the whole math department ended up with that... not a clue. people are funny. apparently i have a snood-adverising stalker.
(2) i've been on a chewing gum kick lately... dentyne ice, trident with the center-filled 2-flavor gum, etc., etc... all the gum packages now say "not a low-calorie food". are there really people out there who try to live solely on chewing gum? if so, that's mildly disturbing. if not, then i find it hilarious that the chewing gum manufacturers have to explicitly tell us that chewing gum does not make a meal.
the end.
Friday, December 08, 2006
you never know...
...what my students will do on the last day of recitation.
last semester one of my sections gave me a standing ovation which was really cool. that might be a one time ever thing. they were a special group of students... i just had a super good rapport with them.
this semester, my first two sections were nice. in my 12-1:20 section though, three of the louder guys came in with pizza for the whole class while i taught. it was amusing.
it's been fun as usual this semester, but i'm super glad that i don't have to wake up before 8am again for quite some time. :)
the end.
last semester one of my sections gave me a standing ovation which was really cool. that might be a one time ever thing. they were a special group of students... i just had a super good rapport with them.
this semester, my first two sections were nice. in my 12-1:20 section though, three of the louder guys came in with pizza for the whole class while i taught. it was amusing.
it's been fun as usual this semester, but i'm super glad that i don't have to wake up before 8am again for quite some time. :)
the end.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
end of semester random life update
* in the past week my car cost me $500 plus 5.5 hours sitting around at the car repair shop... i made use of that by writing out 106 christmas cards. they get mailed saturday. if you're reading this and i actually know/keep-in-touch-with you, you probably have sparkly mail coming soon. :)
* tomorrow is my last day teaching this semester. i'll miss my students, but i'll also enjoy having spring semester off from teaching. keeping on top of material in an "i can explain it in 10 different ways if necessary" way and keeping on top of grading 90 kids' work every single week is a LOT.
* my first monthly lunch meeting with the carnegie institute teaching fellowship people (see here) was earlier this week. i'm looking forward to the next year of forum discussions and other such fun with them. it'll be good for me to have other people who are worried about quality of education to discuss and enact things with.
* research wise, i've managed to sucessfully procrasinate my way through the two weeks since thanksgiving... that amounts to a lot of fun reading and TV watching lately (SOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited scrubs is back now, you have NO idea)... and a day in manhattan last weekend oogling at christmas lights (how can you not love the rockefeller tree?)... it also means i really need to do a TON this weekend so that i have something besides excuses to show my advisor before the semester is up.... doht.
* no finals for me anymore, but i'm hanging around for two weeks to get paid extra for grading other courses' finals, and to help my students study for their final... after that i've got the craziest christmas break to date planned:
dec 21-22: drive to memphis
dec 23-26: in memphis
dec 27: drive to chicago
dec 28-29: visiting g-ma
dec 30: drive to indianapolis in time for heather m's wedding that afternoon
dec 31: in indy
jan 1: drive to memphis
jan 2-3: in memphis
jan 4: drive to new orleans
jan 5-8: national joint mathematics meetings in new orleans (see here)
jan 9: drive to memphis
jan 10: in memphis
jan 11-12: drive back to jersey
here's to hoping for safe weather on the driving days -- there's no TIME for me to get a day behind!
* after weeks and weeks of reasonable weather, we're only getting up to a high of 34 tomorrow and a windchill of more like 15... NOT excited, unless it comes with snow.
* scott owes me about 4 margaritas from doing his computer work this semester... that means there's a very fun non-math night in the near future. :)
... and that's my december. tons of fun, right?
* tomorrow is my last day teaching this semester. i'll miss my students, but i'll also enjoy having spring semester off from teaching. keeping on top of material in an "i can explain it in 10 different ways if necessary" way and keeping on top of grading 90 kids' work every single week is a LOT.
* my first monthly lunch meeting with the carnegie institute teaching fellowship people (see here) was earlier this week. i'm looking forward to the next year of forum discussions and other such fun with them. it'll be good for me to have other people who are worried about quality of education to discuss and enact things with.
* research wise, i've managed to sucessfully procrasinate my way through the two weeks since thanksgiving... that amounts to a lot of fun reading and TV watching lately (SOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited scrubs is back now, you have NO idea)... and a day in manhattan last weekend oogling at christmas lights (how can you not love the rockefeller tree?)... it also means i really need to do a TON this weekend so that i have something besides excuses to show my advisor before the semester is up.... doht.
* no finals for me anymore, but i'm hanging around for two weeks to get paid extra for grading other courses' finals, and to help my students study for their final... after that i've got the craziest christmas break to date planned:
dec 21-22: drive to memphis
dec 23-26: in memphis
dec 27: drive to chicago
dec 28-29: visiting g-ma
dec 30: drive to indianapolis in time for heather m's wedding that afternoon
dec 31: in indy
jan 1: drive to memphis
jan 2-3: in memphis
jan 4: drive to new orleans
jan 5-8: national joint mathematics meetings in new orleans (see here)
jan 9: drive to memphis
jan 10: in memphis
jan 11-12: drive back to jersey
here's to hoping for safe weather on the driving days -- there's no TIME for me to get a day behind!
* after weeks and weeks of reasonable weather, we're only getting up to a high of 34 tomorrow and a windchill of more like 15... NOT excited, unless it comes with snow.
* scott owes me about 4 margaritas from doing his computer work this semester... that means there's a very fun non-math night in the near future. :)
... and that's my december. tons of fun, right?
new playlist
it's been at least 6 months since i've made a playlist of songs to suit my mood... here's the latest though... it's one of the more eclectic hours of songs i've put together :) enjoy
the adventure (angels and airwaves)
chocolate (snow patrol)
stacked crooked (the new pornographers)
love and memories (o.a.r.)
bitter end (dixie chicks)
mercedes benz (janis joplin)
suddenly i see (kt tunstall)
scream (zoegirl)
something beautiful (newsboys)
mathematics paradise (klein four)
white and nerdy (weird al yankovic)
dear slim (kj-52)
dear slim, part 2 (kj-52)
where is the love? (black eyed peas)
black horse and the cherry tree (kt tunstall)
welcome to the black parade (my chemical romance)
hide and seek (imogen heap)
irreplaceable (beyonce)
the letter (newsboys)
look at me now (kirk franklin)
the end.
the adventure (angels and airwaves)
chocolate (snow patrol)
stacked crooked (the new pornographers)
love and memories (o.a.r.)
bitter end (dixie chicks)
mercedes benz (janis joplin)
suddenly i see (kt tunstall)
scream (zoegirl)
something beautiful (newsboys)
mathematics paradise (klein four)
white and nerdy (weird al yankovic)
dear slim (kj-52)
dear slim, part 2 (kj-52)
where is the love? (black eyed peas)
black horse and the cherry tree (kt tunstall)
welcome to the black parade (my chemical romance)
hide and seek (imogen heap)
irreplaceable (beyonce)
the letter (newsboys)
look at me now (kirk franklin)
the end.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
yep, one of them big southern cities...
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. | |
| The West | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The Northeast | |
| The South | |
| The Inland North | |
| What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes | |
Monday, November 27, 2006
brain dump
random things:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
on the reading list lately:
i'm still in an eastern europe phase
recently finished cafe europa by Slavenka Drakulic... while in europe this past summer i read her book about life during the communist era and this is a series of essays about the 5 years immediately after. it's interesting non-fiction that makes you think. she's also from croatia and this book much more than her previous one was a lot about the specific croatian experience during and after communism. i'm crossing my fingers to visit croatia and/or slovenia next summer and this only gets me more excited about that. (not that communism or its aftermath is cool... but understanding history better definitely is.)
on that note, i just started the paul street boys by ferenc molnar... i read excerpts of it in my hungarian art and culture class during my semester in budapest. it's a classic coming of age book not just in hungary but well-read in a lot of europe, and it all takes place not far from where i went to school when i lived there. quality fun.
eric and i are still teaching ourselves linear algebra (class i took in undergrad, but never really understood the big picture of as well as i wanted so i'm re-teaching myself better for fun at starbucks with eric this semester). we learned all about eigenvalues and eigenvectors today. although i could perfectly well define them before today, i wish someone had given me better intuition about why they're important years before today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
stupid people still abound:
on my myspace page, i recently posted a rant about the stupid messages i get from some people.... how "yo, wanna chat?" doesn't really start an e-conversation and neither does "hey, vote for me on this rate-my-photo website!"... i have to give people credit though, the messages i've gotten since have been at least moderately better. today though, the following made me laugh. not so much the message i got, but the chance to give the response that i did. :P
(background: the headline on my myspace page is the tom lehrer quote "base 8 is just like base 10 really... if you're missing two fingers.")
message from random dude:
what is tenth base ??
im curious lol
(don't get me wrong i'm not stupid, i know what he meant, but it was a stupid question so it deserves the answer it got... my response was one line:)
response from me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_10
i really am an idiodacy snob... at least i'm honest about it? ... and everyone i told this story to today got a big laugh out of my answer, so at least i'm not alone. :P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
apparently i'm in demand lately, or so my schedule appears to say.
tomorrow i'm at the car shop all day... the darn "service engine light" came on as i was leaving pittsburgh on saturday... i've driven 400 miles since without a problem, but better safe than sorry i guess... in the spirit of multitasking, me, my ipod, and the 120 christmas cards i need to write will be parked in the goodyear lounge area for a couple hours bright and early tomorrow while they check things out.
tomorrow night, free dinner in princeton to thank me for giving a talk in september.
friday: i'm being observed teaching by 6 1st year grad students who are in the required "how to be a good math TA" class this year.
saturday early morning: huge important meeting at church
next monday: required luncheon for all the people like me who got the CASTL fellowship for next year
all this followed by 2 weeks of...
craziness of tutoring, helping my own students study for exams, and other such fun... i volunteered to help grade calc 1 finals 2 days before my students' final for some extra cash... since my students don't have their final til dec 21, i can't go home until then...
then my "break" is something like this 4 days in memphis (1 day driving) 2 days in IL, 2 days in IN, (1 day driving) 2 days in memphis (1 day driving) 4 days in new orleans (1 day driving) 1 day in memphis (2 days driving).... that knocks out the better part of a month... tons of fun, right?
my next year seems to have planned itself out for me as well.
january: halfway taken care of above
february: church retreat one weekend, parents probably coming another
march: possibly attending a wedding reception in NJ one weekend, probably attending my cousin's wedding in texas another
april: giving two talks two different weekends to groups that gave me extra fellowship money this year
plus i've been invited to give at least 2 more seminar talks at other schools and i've just put off signing up for when yet...
dude, my schedule's busy...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
for as much as i stress out about it sometimes (at least after seeing weekly quiz grades), maybe i do actually get through to more of my students than the ones that i'm sure would do fine no matter who was at the front of the room. my students' class average on last week's midterm was a whole 17 points higher than their average on the first midterm. i'm proud of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
sometimes i make myself laugh...
last wednesday, i totally made my students think they had a quiz about green's theorem the day before thanksgiving. 90% of them showed up, and we did talk math for half an hour. i got them though: i actually gave a quiz with the following 4 questions:
(1) draw a turkey
(2) (try to) parameterize your turkey in spherical coordinates
(3) explain how to compute the line integral around a turkey
(4) explain how to compute the curl of a turkey
with a guaranteed 10/10 grade if they put down something for each question. the reaction when i handed out the quiz was priceless, and reading the results was tons of fun too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
that's the scoop lately.... i think i've actually run out of things to type.
be parties one and all. :P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
on the reading list lately:
i'm still in an eastern europe phase
recently finished cafe europa by Slavenka Drakulic... while in europe this past summer i read her book about life during the communist era and this is a series of essays about the 5 years immediately after. it's interesting non-fiction that makes you think. she's also from croatia and this book much more than her previous one was a lot about the specific croatian experience during and after communism. i'm crossing my fingers to visit croatia and/or slovenia next summer and this only gets me more excited about that. (not that communism or its aftermath is cool... but understanding history better definitely is.)
on that note, i just started the paul street boys by ferenc molnar... i read excerpts of it in my hungarian art and culture class during my semester in budapest. it's a classic coming of age book not just in hungary but well-read in a lot of europe, and it all takes place not far from where i went to school when i lived there. quality fun.
eric and i are still teaching ourselves linear algebra (class i took in undergrad, but never really understood the big picture of as well as i wanted so i'm re-teaching myself better for fun at starbucks with eric this semester). we learned all about eigenvalues and eigenvectors today. although i could perfectly well define them before today, i wish someone had given me better intuition about why they're important years before today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
stupid people still abound:
on my myspace page, i recently posted a rant about the stupid messages i get from some people.... how "yo, wanna chat?" doesn't really start an e-conversation and neither does "hey, vote for me on this rate-my-photo website!"... i have to give people credit though, the messages i've gotten since have been at least moderately better. today though, the following made me laugh. not so much the message i got, but the chance to give the response that i did. :P
(background: the headline on my myspace page is the tom lehrer quote "base 8 is just like base 10 really... if you're missing two fingers.")
message from random dude:
what is tenth base ??
im curious lol
(don't get me wrong i'm not stupid, i know what he meant, but it was a stupid question so it deserves the answer it got... my response was one line:)
response from me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_10
i really am an idiodacy snob... at least i'm honest about it? ... and everyone i told this story to today got a big laugh out of my answer, so at least i'm not alone. :P
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
apparently i'm in demand lately, or so my schedule appears to say.
tomorrow i'm at the car shop all day... the darn "service engine light" came on as i was leaving pittsburgh on saturday... i've driven 400 miles since without a problem, but better safe than sorry i guess... in the spirit of multitasking, me, my ipod, and the 120 christmas cards i need to write will be parked in the goodyear lounge area for a couple hours bright and early tomorrow while they check things out.
tomorrow night, free dinner in princeton to thank me for giving a talk in september.
friday: i'm being observed teaching by 6 1st year grad students who are in the required "how to be a good math TA" class this year.
saturday early morning: huge important meeting at church
next monday: required luncheon for all the people like me who got the CASTL fellowship for next year
all this followed by 2 weeks of...
craziness of tutoring, helping my own students study for exams, and other such fun... i volunteered to help grade calc 1 finals 2 days before my students' final for some extra cash... since my students don't have their final til dec 21, i can't go home until then...
then my "break" is something like this 4 days in memphis (1 day driving) 2 days in IL, 2 days in IN, (1 day driving) 2 days in memphis (1 day driving) 4 days in new orleans (1 day driving) 1 day in memphis (2 days driving).... that knocks out the better part of a month... tons of fun, right?
my next year seems to have planned itself out for me as well.
january: halfway taken care of above
february: church retreat one weekend, parents probably coming another
march: possibly attending a wedding reception in NJ one weekend, probably attending my cousin's wedding in texas another
april: giving two talks two different weekends to groups that gave me extra fellowship money this year
plus i've been invited to give at least 2 more seminar talks at other schools and i've just put off signing up for when yet...
dude, my schedule's busy...
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for as much as i stress out about it sometimes (at least after seeing weekly quiz grades), maybe i do actually get through to more of my students than the ones that i'm sure would do fine no matter who was at the front of the room. my students' class average on last week's midterm was a whole 17 points higher than their average on the first midterm. i'm proud of them.
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sometimes i make myself laugh...
last wednesday, i totally made my students think they had a quiz about green's theorem the day before thanksgiving. 90% of them showed up, and we did talk math for half an hour. i got them though: i actually gave a quiz with the following 4 questions:
(1) draw a turkey
(2) (try to) parameterize your turkey in spherical coordinates
(3) explain how to compute the line integral around a turkey
(4) explain how to compute the curl of a turkey
with a guaranteed 10/10 grade if they put down something for each question. the reaction when i handed out the quiz was priceless, and reading the results was tons of fun too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
that's the scoop lately.... i think i've actually run out of things to type.
be parties one and all. :P
Monday, November 20, 2006
clap and cheer -- this is exciting!
read this article: Graduate School-New Brunswick selected for Carnegie Foundation program
Summary: Rutgers is one of 7 schools worldwide to a get a grant from the carnegie foundation to study "teaching and learning in masters and doctoral programs". They already named 4 actual faculty members to participate and were in search of 4 graduate students to participate as well.
Each graduate department at Rutgers was allowed to nominate one person, and a month ago, the math department nominated me. 10 minutes ago I was phone interviewed by the CASTL people, and at the end of that they informed me that I'm one of the graduate fellows. How cool is that?
This will involve some extra work next semester, but it's also an honor. Quality of teaching and how to motivate students is something I think about a LOT, and the fact that my university chose me to be one of a few people to be given a leadership role and an active voice in pedagogical discussion is super awesome!
so yeah, clap and cheer. this is exciting :)
the end.
Summary: Rutgers is one of 7 schools worldwide to a get a grant from the carnegie foundation to study "teaching and learning in masters and doctoral programs". They already named 4 actual faculty members to participate and were in search of 4 graduate students to participate as well.
Each graduate department at Rutgers was allowed to nominate one person, and a month ago, the math department nominated me. 10 minutes ago I was phone interviewed by the CASTL people, and at the end of that they informed me that I'm one of the graduate fellows. How cool is that?
This will involve some extra work next semester, but it's also an honor. Quality of teaching and how to motivate students is something I think about a LOT, and the fact that my university chose me to be one of a few people to be given a leadership role and an active voice in pedagogical discussion is super awesome!
so yeah, clap and cheer. this is exciting :)
the end.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
on fire!
ben, leigh, and i went bowling tonight for the first time in awhile.
when i first started going with them this summer i averaged around 80 per game and was super excited to break 100. in july, i hit 137, and that was super exciting, but definitely an outlier... although i've been breaking 100 more consistently.
well, lookout tonight. 6 games.
game 1:
that's right -- new all time best for lara with 147!!!
game 2: 129
game 3: 86... crappy
game 4: 93... ugh
then...
game 5:
that's right!!! 158!!!! 2nd time to get a "personal best game ever" in the course of about 2 hours!
game 6: 119
all this averages out to 122 which is super cooler than i would have ever thought possible. the 147 AND 158 totally made my night! :)
bowling is fun.
the end. :P
when i first started going with them this summer i averaged around 80 per game and was super excited to break 100. in july, i hit 137, and that was super exciting, but definitely an outlier... although i've been breaking 100 more consistently.
well, lookout tonight. 6 games.
game 1:
that's right -- new all time best for lara with 147!!!
game 2: 129
game 3: 86... crappy
game 4: 93... ugh
then...
game 5:
that's right!!! 158!!!! 2nd time to get a "personal best game ever" in the course of about 2 hours!
game 6: 119
all this averages out to 122 which is super cooler than i would have ever thought possible. the 147 AND 158 totally made my night! :)
bowling is fun.
the end. :P
Monday, November 13, 2006
define sandwich...
Is a burrito a sandwich? Judge says no
this is great on its own. it made me laugh even more than it comes from the part of the world i was in for the weekend.
massachusetts pictures here
the end.
this is great on its own. it made me laugh even more than it comes from the part of the world i was in for the weekend.
massachusetts pictures here
the end.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
how a broken lock in prague in july woke up my housemates with a singing answering machine in new jersey in november
this post is dedicated to the idea of chaos -- the concept most often illustrated by the fact that a butterfly flapping its wings can make for a tornado weeks later halfway around the world.
except in my story, the "butterfly" is a lock, and the end result is not a tornado. this is a true story of cause and effect, as best as i can put it together. events are presented in the order i was made aware of them. i think it makes for an excellent story -- what do you think?
monday night, midnight:
i come home after being out and about since 9:30am. the house is dark, but both my housemates' cars are parked nearby. assuming that they are asleep, i attempt to open the front door and go to my room as quietly as possible.
problem. i unlock the door, only to discover that it is chained from the inside.
strategy 1: reach my hand inside the crack in the door and try to undo the chain. (un) forunately, the chain does as it is supposed to. my arm is not small enough or flexible enough to unchain the door from the outside
strategy 2: knock on the door. hopefully colleen and leigh haven't been asleep for too long, and one of them will hear and let me in.... wait, again no success.
strategy 3: doorbell. same result as strategy 2.
strategy 4: call home phone. when answering machine picks up, yell into it until someone lets me in.
luckily, leigh came downstairs half asleep and let me in the house so that i didn't have to resort to strategy 5. (wouldn't you like to know...)
tuesday, 5pm
colleen comes into my room to apologize for locking me out the previous night.
she explains
"when i came home at 11pm last night, your door was shut, which usually means you're in your room. i assumed that meant you were home, so i chained the door."
my response:
"dude, i left the house at 9:30am and left my door open. when i came back at midnight my door was open. i wonder how/why it was shut?"
colleen:
"i don't think i was imagining things, but go figure. either way, it wasn't on purpose"
me:
"i don't think you're crazy. i just know i left my door open, and found it open... then again, last night, when i got back, i noticed the pillows on my bed were rearranged too. but who would have been in my room and why?"
tuesday, 7pm
leigh comes into my room, and mentions
"so your alarm went off around 9pm last night and i don't know why, just thought you should know so it doesn't spook you later if it does it again."
tuesday, 9pm
(after some thought)
me:
"leigh, what did you do when the alarm went off last night?"
leigh:
"well it was your little travel alarm. i picked it up and couldn't figure out how to shut it off, so i buried it under the pillows of your bed and shut the door so i could ignore it. i remembered to put it back and open your door again just before i went to bed."
ah ha! that's one mystery solved.
so now, i bet you're wondering what this has to do with prague and july... so far this is a 3 hour story from monday night, but prague is really there..... here goes.
my travel alarm is a piece of crap. i bought it just before my trip to europe in july. during my time in prague, one of my REU students came back to the czech dorm one night, and was unable to open her dorm room. the lock was completly busted and her key was stuck in the door, so she had to sleep elsewhere without any of her stuff for 2 nights. i offered that she could borrow my alarm clock. i hand her the clock, explaining to be nice to it because it's cheap, as she simultanously completely pulls out the button that turns on/off the alarm. so much for that working anymore. this is why leigh could not turn it off, (because there's no button on it, not because she is technologically challenged.) the alarm fell to the floor monday morning while i was getting ready, which apparently jarred it enough to make it go off while leigh was home alone and there you have it.
so. to review:
the cause and effect goes something like this:
* prague, july, my student's dorm room lock busts
* student borrows and prompty breaks my alarm clock
* months later in new jersey in november, i knock same broken alarm clock off the shelf
* that night, having been jarred, the alarm goes off and annoys leigh
* leigh tries to shut off the alarm, but for obvious reasons (i.e. there is no on/off button) fails
* in a fit of rage, leigh throws the alarm under the massive stack of pillows on my bed, and shuts my bedroom door
* colleen comes home and sees the shut door, so she logically assumes i'm home and locks me out
* i arrive home to find myself locked out, and as a last resort end up singing to my sleeping roommates via the answering machine while standing in the front yard wishing to get inside.
life is funny sometimes...
the end.
except in my story, the "butterfly" is a lock, and the end result is not a tornado. this is a true story of cause and effect, as best as i can put it together. events are presented in the order i was made aware of them. i think it makes for an excellent story -- what do you think?
monday night, midnight:
i come home after being out and about since 9:30am. the house is dark, but both my housemates' cars are parked nearby. assuming that they are asleep, i attempt to open the front door and go to my room as quietly as possible.
problem. i unlock the door, only to discover that it is chained from the inside.
strategy 1: reach my hand inside the crack in the door and try to undo the chain. (un) forunately, the chain does as it is supposed to. my arm is not small enough or flexible enough to unchain the door from the outside
strategy 2: knock on the door. hopefully colleen and leigh haven't been asleep for too long, and one of them will hear and let me in.... wait, again no success.
strategy 3: doorbell. same result as strategy 2.
strategy 4: call home phone. when answering machine picks up, yell into it until someone lets me in.
luckily, leigh came downstairs half asleep and let me in the house so that i didn't have to resort to strategy 5. (wouldn't you like to know...)
tuesday, 5pm
colleen comes into my room to apologize for locking me out the previous night.
she explains
"when i came home at 11pm last night, your door was shut, which usually means you're in your room. i assumed that meant you were home, so i chained the door."
my response:
"dude, i left the house at 9:30am and left my door open. when i came back at midnight my door was open. i wonder how/why it was shut?"
colleen:
"i don't think i was imagining things, but go figure. either way, it wasn't on purpose"
me:
"i don't think you're crazy. i just know i left my door open, and found it open... then again, last night, when i got back, i noticed the pillows on my bed were rearranged too. but who would have been in my room and why?"
tuesday, 7pm
leigh comes into my room, and mentions
"so your alarm went off around 9pm last night and i don't know why, just thought you should know so it doesn't spook you later if it does it again."
tuesday, 9pm
(after some thought)
me:
"leigh, what did you do when the alarm went off last night?"
leigh:
"well it was your little travel alarm. i picked it up and couldn't figure out how to shut it off, so i buried it under the pillows of your bed and shut the door so i could ignore it. i remembered to put it back and open your door again just before i went to bed."
ah ha! that's one mystery solved.
so now, i bet you're wondering what this has to do with prague and july... so far this is a 3 hour story from monday night, but prague is really there..... here goes.
my travel alarm is a piece of crap. i bought it just before my trip to europe in july. during my time in prague, one of my REU students came back to the czech dorm one night, and was unable to open her dorm room. the lock was completly busted and her key was stuck in the door, so she had to sleep elsewhere without any of her stuff for 2 nights. i offered that she could borrow my alarm clock. i hand her the clock, explaining to be nice to it because it's cheap, as she simultanously completely pulls out the button that turns on/off the alarm. so much for that working anymore. this is why leigh could not turn it off, (because there's no button on it, not because she is technologically challenged.) the alarm fell to the floor monday morning while i was getting ready, which apparently jarred it enough to make it go off while leigh was home alone and there you have it.
so. to review:
the cause and effect goes something like this:
* prague, july, my student's dorm room lock busts
* student borrows and prompty breaks my alarm clock
* months later in new jersey in november, i knock same broken alarm clock off the shelf
* that night, having been jarred, the alarm goes off and annoys leigh
* leigh tries to shut off the alarm, but for obvious reasons (i.e. there is no on/off button) fails
* in a fit of rage, leigh throws the alarm under the massive stack of pillows on my bed, and shuts my bedroom door
* colleen comes home and sees the shut door, so she logically assumes i'm home and locks me out
* i arrive home to find myself locked out, and as a last resort end up singing to my sleeping roommates via the answering machine while standing in the front yard wishing to get inside.
life is funny sometimes...
the end.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
my weekend
4pm friday-8pm saturday: here
and after that:
me: dude, i just spent the past 36 hours in an arena filled with 10,000 girls... i really need to interact with a not-a-girl
eric: last i checked i'm still a not-a-girl
me: fantastic! will you do math with me?
eric: sure!
followed by an hour long debate on why eric thinks direct sums of vector spaces are semantically stupid
jealous, right?
(don't get me wrong. i had a fantastic weekend in philly. it was a lot of fun. by habit though, i'm much more in my element in a room full of young to middle aged male mathematicians than in a room full of women or young girls. i'm just not used to being around large amounts of estrogen at once. so good weekend, but also refreshing to sit with a friend and talk about math for several hours tonight too. the girl Christian part of me and the mathematician part of me are both currently content. :P)
now, for the first time since wednesday night, it's time for a decent amount of sleep. yay!
the end.
and after that:
me: dude, i just spent the past 36 hours in an arena filled with 10,000 girls... i really need to interact with a not-a-girl
eric: last i checked i'm still a not-a-girl
me: fantastic! will you do math with me?
eric: sure!
followed by an hour long debate on why eric thinks direct sums of vector spaces are semantically stupid
jealous, right?
(don't get me wrong. i had a fantastic weekend in philly. it was a lot of fun. by habit though, i'm much more in my element in a room full of young to middle aged male mathematicians than in a room full of women or young girls. i'm just not used to being around large amounts of estrogen at once. so good weekend, but also refreshing to sit with a friend and talk about math for several hours tonight too. the girl Christian part of me and the mathematician part of me are both currently content. :P)
now, for the first time since wednesday night, it's time for a decent amount of sleep. yay!
the end.
