Unfortunately, that somebody smart isn't me.
About six months ago, the paper based off of my dissertation was accepted by Mathematics of Computation which is a journal put out by the American Mathematical Society. I had noticed since then that the paper had not been even listed as a pre-print on their site, much less actually published. I contacted Andrew to see if this was an issue and he was surprised by it. I was in the drawn out process (read: stalling) on constructing an email to send MCOM to see if they had gotten everything all right. My stalling was successful as I was contacted last week about my home address so they could send me a galley proof for final edits. I worked through them this past weekend and mostly just cringed at all of the comma splices. There were really only two major errors - an extra parenthesis and a random exclamation point.
The most interesting part of going back through the paper was the immediate realization that I would have given up on reading the paper by the second page had I not written the darn thing. Without the two years of working on that problem, I would have had no idea what was going on and it would have been over my head. I'm impressed with how much good, legit mathematics was involved in that paper. It'll be fun for me to link to it on the AU twitter account so nobody can read it, much less understand it; just like my dissertation.
Finally, the AU math department may start producing YouTube like videos for RedOrbit soon. I'll be filming the pilot tomorrow covering the Futurama Theorem. If this goes really well, I might actually be seen on the internet. It may also go very poorly and I might look like a total doofus on the internet. If that's the case, I won't be sending you the link.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
I just wanna see some sunshine
Julie and Lisa are off gallivanting about Australia while I'm stuck here in Indiana with its consistent temperatures below zero during my morning running times. I know I just need to be patient as my turn will come in a month when I jet off to Puerto Rico for spring break. I'm just sick of winter, much like everyone else in the Midwest is. Having a friend at the University of Georgia tell you that she got two days off because of ice doesn't help when you've been living in an ice world for the past two months.
I do worry about how this will affect May's Indy Mini. I had to miss a couple of weeks in January because of the cold and my loathing of treadmills, but I've been able to get into a little bit. I skipped Tuesday and today, but yesterday was a good run since I was able to go in the afternoon. I will make sure to knock out a 10 miler on Saturday so its not as if I'm significantly off in terms of distance. However, being able to comfortably maintain decent speed through that distance is another thing. I don't think I'd be happy averaging an eight minute mile during the actual race, even though that's what I'm putting in now for 6-8 mile runs. The good news is though that I don't expect the race in May to have icy footing, so that should be a boon. Further, my training for last fall's half was decent, but not spectacular and I still ran 1:38:18 despite 40 degree rain and a stupid hill on mile ten. The conditions should definitely be better, but the lack of a pacer will likely hurt me as now I have to monitor my own pace and the runs become tougher when I have to think about anything related to the run instead of just turning my mind off and letting things flow. There's a special medal awarded to anyone who finishes in the top 500. My goal is to crack the top 1000. Last year, 30,000 people ran the Mini and top 500 cutoff was around a 6:58 pace. The top 1000 line was right around 1:37 or so which correlates to about a 7:25 pace which I know I can do based off my 25k p.r. That's what I'm up against. There are times when I still hate having to go run four times a week, but there are still times I get out there and I really want to do another full marathon in the next year or two.
All said, February has been a better month than January. I've run more, worked out more, eaten better and its been a week and a half since my last drink. My finances are looking better and that's without even considering the extra pay I'll get from this night class.
I do worry about how this will affect May's Indy Mini. I had to miss a couple of weeks in January because of the cold and my loathing of treadmills, but I've been able to get into a little bit. I skipped Tuesday and today, but yesterday was a good run since I was able to go in the afternoon. I will make sure to knock out a 10 miler on Saturday so its not as if I'm significantly off in terms of distance. However, being able to comfortably maintain decent speed through that distance is another thing. I don't think I'd be happy averaging an eight minute mile during the actual race, even though that's what I'm putting in now for 6-8 mile runs. The good news is though that I don't expect the race in May to have icy footing, so that should be a boon. Further, my training for last fall's half was decent, but not spectacular and I still ran 1:38:18 despite 40 degree rain and a stupid hill on mile ten. The conditions should definitely be better, but the lack of a pacer will likely hurt me as now I have to monitor my own pace and the runs become tougher when I have to think about anything related to the run instead of just turning my mind off and letting things flow. There's a special medal awarded to anyone who finishes in the top 500. My goal is to crack the top 1000. Last year, 30,000 people ran the Mini and top 500 cutoff was around a 6:58 pace. The top 1000 line was right around 1:37 or so which correlates to about a 7:25 pace which I know I can do based off my 25k p.r. That's what I'm up against. There are times when I still hate having to go run four times a week, but there are still times I get out there and I really want to do another full marathon in the next year or two.
All said, February has been a better month than January. I've run more, worked out more, eaten better and its been a week and a half since my last drink. My finances are looking better and that's without even considering the extra pay I'll get from this night class.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
And if you can't get what you want, well its all because of me.
Its nearly 10:00 on February first so this is about as close as I'm going to get to the 1/12th mark of the year and its time to give an update on my New Year's resolutions so far. As I posted on facebook, this year's goals are to 'Work harder, play harder, travel more, read more, drink better beer.' Let's take them one at a time.
1) Work harder. So far, not much of a success. My three main goals of this were to get in better shape, do extra work at AU so I could afford to travel more and to get back into some actual mathematical research. The idea that I'm in better shape is laughable right now, but a good part of that has been the polar vertex making running an afterthought. I did get our for a five mile run this morning though. I've found something worse than running on snow though. This morning's run was on snow and slush with an intermittent 35 degree drizzle and half the dogs in the neighborhood out running free. Even better, my knee started screaming after about four and a half miles so an intended six mile run became a five miler. The extra work idea has been achieved though. My finite class at night isn't really convenient to some of the things I want to do, but I can be inconvenienced twice a week for three months for an extra couple grand. The fact that I'm now teaching 14 credits does hurt my ability to do research as I have no free time so that's being put off until the summer. I have talked to Andrew about extending SDC so hopefully I can make progress on that.
2) Play harder. I'm giving myself a pass for now. Once again, an actual winter has been a huge impediment to this goal. This is definitely something that will come later in the year though with my current plans to hit San Juan, Las Vegas, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon, Red River Gorge, Mammoth Cave, Seattle and Portland followed by a week of relaxing out at Menninga Island.
3) Travel more. The furthest I've gone since January 2nd has been the 15 mile drive out to church. I did buy my ticket for Puerto Rico though so I've committed to this though.
4) Read more. Hooray! A goal I've actually worked on so far. I finished A.J. Jacobs' Drop Dead Healthy, Chris Kyle's American Sniper, Belinda Bauer's Blacklands, Simon Singh's The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets, and most of Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. All told, I've probably gone through about 1350 pages in the month.
5) Drink better beer. Ha! Sigh. Such incredible failure. Things aren't going to be any better for February as I'm out of beer and I've sworn off buying booze until at least Spring Break in an effort to rectify point number one.
1) Work harder. So far, not much of a success. My three main goals of this were to get in better shape, do extra work at AU so I could afford to travel more and to get back into some actual mathematical research. The idea that I'm in better shape is laughable right now, but a good part of that has been the polar vertex making running an afterthought. I did get our for a five mile run this morning though. I've found something worse than running on snow though. This morning's run was on snow and slush with an intermittent 35 degree drizzle and half the dogs in the neighborhood out running free. Even better, my knee started screaming after about four and a half miles so an intended six mile run became a five miler. The extra work idea has been achieved though. My finite class at night isn't really convenient to some of the things I want to do, but I can be inconvenienced twice a week for three months for an extra couple grand. The fact that I'm now teaching 14 credits does hurt my ability to do research as I have no free time so that's being put off until the summer. I have talked to Andrew about extending SDC so hopefully I can make progress on that.
2) Play harder. I'm giving myself a pass for now. Once again, an actual winter has been a huge impediment to this goal. This is definitely something that will come later in the year though with my current plans to hit San Juan, Las Vegas, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon, Red River Gorge, Mammoth Cave, Seattle and Portland followed by a week of relaxing out at Menninga Island.
3) Travel more. The furthest I've gone since January 2nd has been the 15 mile drive out to church. I did buy my ticket for Puerto Rico though so I've committed to this though.
4) Read more. Hooray! A goal I've actually worked on so far. I finished A.J. Jacobs' Drop Dead Healthy, Chris Kyle's American Sniper, Belinda Bauer's Blacklands, Simon Singh's The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets, and most of Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. All told, I've probably gone through about 1350 pages in the month.
5) Drink better beer. Ha! Sigh. Such incredible failure. Things aren't going to be any better for February as I'm out of beer and I've sworn off buying booze until at least Spring Break in an effort to rectify point number one.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Everyone's a loser in the modern world
Recently, AU's math department joined Twitter for reasons I don't fully understand, but we did. You can find it at twitter.com/AUMathematics. Along with the rest of the department, I have the login info for the account and I can post to it as much as I want. I have this strange desire to just post my honest, yet probably quite unprofessional thoughts regarding my experiences as an AU math professor on it. For example, 6 of 27 students didn't turn in the first Stats homework. I would love to post something along the lines of 'Good job on not turning in the homework as it keeps me from feeling bad about failing you.' Discernment has gotten the better of me, at least so far. I seriously debated creating my own twitter account tonight so I could post such things and at least not have it be on an official AU site. I'm definitely protect the site so only those following me could see what I have to write. Once again though, discernment won as I'd much rather stay employed than have my students think I'm witty. Perhaps after tenure....
Thursday, January 23, 2014
What you're calling the cause, I call the cure
There are precisely 50 days left until spring break. I have decided that I will not purchase any alcohol until that point. I figure there will be three main benefits to this.
1) This will help my weight get back to where it should be. I've spent all of 2014 so far in the 175-180 pound range when I should be in the 165-170 range. This certainly isn't all just booze weight. I've definitely been lazier this year when it comes to working out. In my defense though, marathon training is significantly harder when the wind chill is consistently 15 below and you're allergic to treadmills. Cutting back on the drinking will help though. The biggest issue is that one drink frequently becomes two or three and when I've had those couple of drinks, I look for food to accompany them because my will is reduced and also, it feels better on the stomach. Its certainly not brown rice and baked chicken I'm ingesting either; the vast majority is sugar-laden or drenched in grease.
2) Alcohol is expensive. My grocery budget is higher than I'd like anyway so this will be a nice boon for that in February. I certainly don't drop as much on booze as some people, but two six packs of decent beer and two bottles of wine will run me $40 for a month.
3) I may have once accidentally drank the 64 ounces of water you're supposed to get each day. I am perpetually dehydrated and its my own fault. Drinking less will certainly help with that and that will be nice for things like my skin.
I've tried this twice before. For consecutive years in grad school, I gave up alcohol for lent to see how hard it would be. The first year, there were a few struggles, but not much and I felt really good at the end of it. The second year, I didn't see the need for it as much and I killed it right around St. Patrick's Day. Note here that I'm not doing the same thing exactly. I haven't said I'm going to stop drinking - I'm not going to buy. I've still got a couple of bottles of wine and that will have to suffice for the next 50 days.
1) This will help my weight get back to where it should be. I've spent all of 2014 so far in the 175-180 pound range when I should be in the 165-170 range. This certainly isn't all just booze weight. I've definitely been lazier this year when it comes to working out. In my defense though, marathon training is significantly harder when the wind chill is consistently 15 below and you're allergic to treadmills. Cutting back on the drinking will help though. The biggest issue is that one drink frequently becomes two or three and when I've had those couple of drinks, I look for food to accompany them because my will is reduced and also, it feels better on the stomach. Its certainly not brown rice and baked chicken I'm ingesting either; the vast majority is sugar-laden or drenched in grease.
2) Alcohol is expensive. My grocery budget is higher than I'd like anyway so this will be a nice boon for that in February. I certainly don't drop as much on booze as some people, but two six packs of decent beer and two bottles of wine will run me $40 for a month.
3) I may have once accidentally drank the 64 ounces of water you're supposed to get each day. I am perpetually dehydrated and its my own fault. Drinking less will certainly help with that and that will be nice for things like my skin.
I've tried this twice before. For consecutive years in grad school, I gave up alcohol for lent to see how hard it would be. The first year, there were a few struggles, but not much and I felt really good at the end of it. The second year, I didn't see the need for it as much and I killed it right around St. Patrick's Day. Note here that I'm not doing the same thing exactly. I haven't said I'm going to stop drinking - I'm not going to buy. I've still got a couple of bottles of wine and that will have to suffice for the next 50 days.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Steady as she goes
After just six short weeks, my farce of a relationship with Krista is over.
The rest of this post has been edited. It was written out of frustration and while I felt those things needed to be said at the time, they no longer need to be here. My apologies to Krista for leaving those words up as long as I did.
What does it say about me that my best relationship occurred when I was 19?
The rest of this post has been edited. It was written out of frustration and while I felt those things needed to be said at the time, they no longer need to be here. My apologies to Krista for leaving those words up as long as I did.
What does it say about me that my best relationship occurred when I was 19?
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
We Need Body Rockin', Not Perfection
I need school to start back up again and soon. I'll survive the week it takes until we start on the 15th, but I'm not sure how well I'll survive it. I've survived Snowpocalypse '14 (Do we keep calling them this if we get them like every other year?), but for the most part, its kept me inside and I'm going a little crazy getting bored inside my apartment. On top of that, because I'm on break I have this tendency to be lazy and when I do, the bad habits reappear as idle hands do the devil's work. This has brought me into a little bit of a downward spiral lately. I haven't been real pleased with myself since I'm not accomplishing much. I need to just forget about all of the nothing that I've one lately and focus on what I do well and force myself to be productive each day. At least today was good in that regard as I sludged through a 3 mile run in the soft snow and with dogs abounding. I also got in to campus to knock out all of the syllabi for the coming semester. I do need to double check those against my first draft of schedules though to make sure everything is cohesive. All that's left to prep me for the first week then is updating the moodle pages, making sure I know where my classrooms are and what they're like, as well as actually my prepping my first few lessons. Come next week, I can hopefully say that I've got things turned around.
I do have big plans for this year though. I'm still waiting to hear back from CURM about whether or not I successfully got a mini-grant this year. If not, there's the possibility of applying for a small grant from NASA in connection with work that one of the Physics profs is doing. I'll be traveling quite a bit as well, Lord willing. I've finally decided to head somewhere warm for spring break and this is the first time the main direction I'll be traveling is south and it only took 14 spring breaks for me to figure it out. I've booked a vacation in Puerto Rico and it should be fun. Along with that, I should be going out to Vegas/Utah for a lot of hiking in May; hopefully getting back to the Pacific Northwest in August; and there is the same cabin as last year in August as well. I've picked up an extra class this semester as well as three classes in the summer to help finance all of this. The other decision I've made is that I need to get back into actual research. Hopefully I can get a grant through AU to fund some research in the summer with some trips to Lansing to work with Andrew again. All of that would actually have to occur in the spring as I think Andrew will be back in Korea for the summer again. This would give me another reason to focus on something other than my classes over the summer though. Combining those last two thoughts, East Lansing is going to get lonely for me come this summer. My old roommate Luke is graduating as well as Richard and Adam and pretty much everyone else I still know in the math department. EL may mostly consist now of Andrew, Steph and Coop and Steph's in a serious relationship as well. I guess that means I've got to find more stuff to do out here in Indiana. At least I found a game group that meets once a month in Muncie so at least that's something.
I do have big plans for this year though. I'm still waiting to hear back from CURM about whether or not I successfully got a mini-grant this year. If not, there's the possibility of applying for a small grant from NASA in connection with work that one of the Physics profs is doing. I'll be traveling quite a bit as well, Lord willing. I've finally decided to head somewhere warm for spring break and this is the first time the main direction I'll be traveling is south and it only took 14 spring breaks for me to figure it out. I've booked a vacation in Puerto Rico and it should be fun. Along with that, I should be going out to Vegas/Utah for a lot of hiking in May; hopefully getting back to the Pacific Northwest in August; and there is the same cabin as last year in August as well. I've picked up an extra class this semester as well as three classes in the summer to help finance all of this. The other decision I've made is that I need to get back into actual research. Hopefully I can get a grant through AU to fund some research in the summer with some trips to Lansing to work with Andrew again. All of that would actually have to occur in the spring as I think Andrew will be back in Korea for the summer again. This would give me another reason to focus on something other than my classes over the summer though. Combining those last two thoughts, East Lansing is going to get lonely for me come this summer. My old roommate Luke is graduating as well as Richard and Adam and pretty much everyone else I still know in the math department. EL may mostly consist now of Andrew, Steph and Coop and Steph's in a serious relationship as well. I guess that means I've got to find more stuff to do out here in Indiana. At least I found a game group that meets once a month in Muncie so at least that's something.
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