say hey, it's a good day!

* i've run into several of my favorite students from past semesters this week who all wanted to chat with me about life, the universe, and everything. that makes me happy.

* i earned a nickel in my advisor's class today. that makes me laugh...

furthermore,...
in response to my post full of complaints from last week:

(1) the telemarketing for valpo deal is going well. 3/5 kids talked to. 2/5 houses never give me anything but answering machines... i'll try once more, then email the kids.

(2) after brainstorming with lots of people, i have a decent idea of what to do for an hour in the workshop i have to teach next month, and having an outline figured out, i feel much better about it.

(3) last but not least: i just met with my research advisor. i told him that i think i proved that the plan of attack we've been using to count restricted multiset permutations has been milked for all it's worth and i can prove that the remaining cases are impossible using our plan of attack. that made him a little sad.

then, i told him i've been working on a new plan of attack. he said that an improvement is good, so have at it. i explained what i'd done so far and when i finished... he got SUPER excited. he said it was more brilliant than he had hoped before i described it and he was really impressed with my creativity. we're really hopeful that it works well in other cases too besides my one example.... research really IS a rollercoaster... i guess i just need to really enjoy the highs when they come around. :)

summary: it's a happy day.

the end.