day 3 of crazy wisconsin fun...

today...

* several more talks... my advisor was even louder and more enthusiastic in today's keynote talk than yesterday's

* upon entering the math building at 9 this morning, one guy i hadn't met came up to me and said he overheard me say i was going to the iceland conference in june... we talked about that for a few minutes since he'll be there too, and when i heard where he goes to school, i asked if he knows my friend steve, who is also a student there. he said no, but....

* the guy sitting in front of me turned around and said "steve!? i know steve... my little brother was his roommate at valpo... how do you know him?"... small world.

* after the conference, seeing patrick one more time, and dinner with the few conference people who didn't head out of town straight off, there was ice cream with aek's thai friends (i didn't understand much of their conversations but they were all nice), exploring the capital building with aek, studying for awhile on a terrace over one of the lakes here (i think i came up with the proof i've been looking for for a couple weeks! so yay for good spaces for studying and being insightful!!! :P), and then i ended up....

*having dinner with kate of all people... kate is one of scott's friends from his undergrad here and she's been out to visit NJ a few times and she's exceedingly friendly. i didn't have a way to get in touch with her, but several of the wisconsin math grad students who were at the conference told her i was around, and then helped us get in touch... here's the ultimate small world kicker of the whole weekend:

* after dinner and ice cream, kate, aek, and i all headed back to our respective places to stay the night... kate lives directly across the street from aek's friend that i'm staying with... totally unplanned to see her, and to find out that we've been *that* close all weekend is totally crazy!

tomorrow is:
*actually get a tour of the capital building
*lunch with amanda (budapest semester roommate)
*then off to the airport and back to jersey.

completely exciting right?... (not so much on the third one... i like being out of town... doht...)

happy almost monday to all y'all. :P