I realized that I hadn't updated this blog in quite some time, so here goes. I am most of the way through my first semester teaching math at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. I am teaching college algebra and survey of calculus, both classes designed for those who do not major in mathematics, so it has been a challenge, but so far, it has been a rewarding one.
The one aspect of the job that makes meeting this challenge (and any others that come my way) seem possible is the rest of my department. There are a lot of people here who are very enthusiastic about teaching and who are incredibly supportive. It starts with the head of our department; having an office next to his has made my first year go incredibly smoothly so far. Plus, I get to hear some very heated conversations; one of the side effects of having a passionate department is that people do not always agree! But this is in fact a good thing. To quote one of the greatest television shows of all time, Sports Night, "If you are dumb, surround yourself with smart people, and if you are smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you." As has been pointed out to me, it is not clear whether I am the dumb person surrounded by smart people or the smart person surrounded by smart people who disagree with him, but either way, having these smart people around me is a fantastic thing!
This is not to say everything is perfect. If it were, they wouldn't pay me to do it. The students often come here without a lot of math in their backgrounds, and at times they can seem infuriatingly ignorant and apathetic towards the subject. And this in turn causes the faculty (myself included) to often be overly negative. But that is what happens when you are a growing school with open admissions, and we can go a long way towards helping the growth process. For example, I had the opportunity to help write syllabi for two discrete math courses. There are very few places where someone with my level of experience would even be an assistant professor, let alone have a say in what is taught.
This is a new and exciting time in my life, and it is my goal to make the most of it!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
I found someone to pay me money to talk about math!!
Well, if you are a regular follower of this blog (and let's face it, who isn't?), you know that I have had some anxiety as to whether or not I would get a job. Well that anxiety is gone as I was offered not one but two jobs! One was at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, and the other was at Georgia College and State University.
Now, I will briefly discuss some of the perceived negatives. Both are in regions that have bad reputations, both have an incredibly heavy teaching load, and neither has any sort of reputation as far as research goes. These are all things I have thought about, but I must say that they pale in comparison to this simple fact: I will have a job next year!!!
In fact, my visits to both schools were incredibly good. Both places had a lot of similarities, and, what is most important, they both had faculties where I could see myself fitting in well. In the end, the Arkansas job simply was a better position (Assistant Professor vs. Lecturer) that required three less credit hours of teaching a semester, and at UA Fort Smith there was more of an opportunity to teach upper level classes and be involved with undergraduate research. Oh, and they offered more money. That never hurts. So, at least for the next four years, my new home is in Arkansas!
This job has some other qualities that I really liked. One is that the faculty is very young, allowing me to relate to them easier. This is at least partly because the school has only been a 4 year college for the last seven years (before that, they were primarily a community college). So I have a chance to be a part of a department that is on the rise, and I may even have a chance to have a say in how it grows. The head of the department is very friendly, and there is even a Western New York connection; two members of the faculty earned their PhD from SUNY Buffalo! They aren't big football fans, but I will help change that...
All in all, this is a golden opportunity in what is an incredibly crappy economy. I have even said that this means that I beat the great depression, which is not that much hyperbole (not to be confused with equations of the form y=1/x). I have found over the last year that I really like teaching, even (and sometimes especially) when that teaching includes lower level classes. I have the opportunity to do something I love, which is talking to people about math, in what I think will be a fantastic environment. A gigantic weight is off of my shoulders; I have found a job in Academia.
Now, I will briefly discuss some of the perceived negatives. Both are in regions that have bad reputations, both have an incredibly heavy teaching load, and neither has any sort of reputation as far as research goes. These are all things I have thought about, but I must say that they pale in comparison to this simple fact: I will have a job next year!!!
In fact, my visits to both schools were incredibly good. Both places had a lot of similarities, and, what is most important, they both had faculties where I could see myself fitting in well. In the end, the Arkansas job simply was a better position (Assistant Professor vs. Lecturer) that required three less credit hours of teaching a semester, and at UA Fort Smith there was more of an opportunity to teach upper level classes and be involved with undergraduate research. Oh, and they offered more money. That never hurts. So, at least for the next four years, my new home is in Arkansas!
This job has some other qualities that I really liked. One is that the faculty is very young, allowing me to relate to them easier. This is at least partly because the school has only been a 4 year college for the last seven years (before that, they were primarily a community college). So I have a chance to be a part of a department that is on the rise, and I may even have a chance to have a say in how it grows. The head of the department is very friendly, and there is even a Western New York connection; two members of the faculty earned their PhD from SUNY Buffalo! They aren't big football fans, but I will help change that...
All in all, this is a golden opportunity in what is an incredibly crappy economy. I have even said that this means that I beat the great depression, which is not that much hyperbole (not to be confused with equations of the form y=1/x). I have found over the last year that I really like teaching, even (and sometimes especially) when that teaching includes lower level classes. I have the opportunity to do something I love, which is talking to people about math, in what I think will be a fantastic environment. A gigantic weight is off of my shoulders; I have found a job in Academia.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Doctor is in
The day that I thought would never come came, and I passed my defense! I will hereby only answer to Dr. Pragel! Ok, that last statement isn't true, since I am almost, but not quite, that pretentious, but it still feels good. I have gone through a lot, including the long hours of my first year, the dreaded qualifying exams, finding out in the middle that a big chunk of my thesis had already been solved, and losing my office, picture and funding. But I came out the other side ok.
Now, there is still the issue of finding a job, since it would not be fun to have a PhD and be unemployed. As I mentioned before, I had a phone interview with Georgia College and State University, and that turned into an actual interview. I have also interviewed at University of Arkansas, Fort Smith. Both trips went well, and I really enjoyed meeting both departments. Now I get to play the waiting game (the waiting game sucks, lets play Hungry Hungry Hippos!).
As much as I don't like waiting, I do like the fact that I now have options. For a while, I had gotten no responses, and now, to have these two interviews, plus an additional one later this week at Orange County Community College (New York, not California), makes me much more confident about my future. That is, my future as Dr. Daniel Pragel.
Now, there is still the issue of finding a job, since it would not be fun to have a PhD and be unemployed. As I mentioned before, I had a phone interview with Georgia College and State University, and that turned into an actual interview. I have also interviewed at University of Arkansas, Fort Smith. Both trips went well, and I really enjoyed meeting both departments. Now I get to play the waiting game (the waiting game sucks, lets play Hungry Hungry Hippos!).
As much as I don't like waiting, I do like the fact that I now have options. For a while, I had gotten no responses, and now, to have these two interviews, plus an additional one later this week at Orange County Community College (New York, not California), makes me much more confident about my future. That is, my future as Dr. Daniel Pragel.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Ugly Facts
Thomas Henry Huxley has this famous quote: "Science is organized common sense where many a beautiful theory was killed by an ugly fact." The analogue in mathematics is when a beautiful conjecture is killed by an ugly counterexample. I have been working for the last month on proving that V_n + V_n is pseudo-convex. Please don't worry about what that means; the important thing is that I was able to obsess over this problem. If I can show that kind of obsession in the future, I may yet have a successful career in mathematics...
Anyways, I thought I almost had a proof at least two or three times, but it kept getting away from me. And for good reason; it isn't true! I found a counterexample today. Mathematica gets the assist on this one. I was trying to write a program to test my algorithm for small cases, and what do you know, when n = 20 mathematica found the following vector, which was ultimately my demise:
(1,1,0,1,2,0,0,0,1,0)
Again, don't worry about why. I do love the fact that I can talk honestly about my research and it sounds so complex and difficult, but again, the important thing was I had written a program to try to weed out counterexamples. So far, I had been able to apply my method to deal with each one, but in this case, I had finally met my match. My algorithm didn't work, and in fact no algorithm could, since it turns out this little fella is in the convex hull of V_n + V_n without being in V_n itself.
Wow, I really can't stop with the math jargon. Well, now that I found this counterexample, I have some mixed emotions. I am a little upset that the result isn't true, as a proof of it would really make my thesis nice and complete. Plus, my advisor had always been skeptical, so it would have been nice to be able to prove him wrong. But I also feel some relief, in that now I know the answer. Plus, it's not like this counterexample was just sitting there waiting to be found. I am proud of the methods I used and the devotion I have had in searching for a proof/counterexample these last couple of weeks.
So there is this ugly fact, but it is my ugly fact. And that makes it pretty beautiful to me.
Anyways, I thought I almost had a proof at least two or three times, but it kept getting away from me. And for good reason; it isn't true! I found a counterexample today. Mathematica gets the assist on this one. I was trying to write a program to test my algorithm for small cases, and what do you know, when n = 20 mathematica found the following vector, which was ultimately my demise:
(1,1,0,1,2,0,0,0,1,0)
Again, don't worry about why. I do love the fact that I can talk honestly about my research and it sounds so complex and difficult, but again, the important thing was I had written a program to try to weed out counterexamples. So far, I had been able to apply my method to deal with each one, but in this case, I had finally met my match. My algorithm didn't work, and in fact no algorithm could, since it turns out this little fella is in the convex hull of V_n + V_n without being in V_n itself.
Wow, I really can't stop with the math jargon. Well, now that I found this counterexample, I have some mixed emotions. I am a little upset that the result isn't true, as a proof of it would really make my thesis nice and complete. Plus, my advisor had always been skeptical, so it would have been nice to be able to prove him wrong. But I also feel some relief, in that now I know the answer. Plus, it's not like this counterexample was just sitting there waiting to be found. I am proud of the methods I used and the devotion I have had in searching for a proof/counterexample these last couple of weeks.
So there is this ugly fact, but it is my ugly fact. And that makes it pretty beautiful to me.
Friday, March 27, 2009
I AM a Mathematician
I just got back from the library. As an aside, how cool is it that I can go to the library at any time of night? Just one of the perks of being at Caltech. Anyways, I had gone there to pick up "The Ancestor's Tale" by Richard Dawkins, but decided against it; I have way too many books out already that I need to read. But on my way out, I stopped by the math section, to look through the various math books. My wanderings led me to the Journal of Combinatorics, Series A, Volume 105, Issue 1, pages 35-50. Why those pages in that particular journal? Well it contains a little paper that I happened to coauthor.
I went and read the proof of Theorem 3.3, the proof I contributed. And I have to say, it wasn't half bad. I don't know if I could recreate it. Now you might claim that I am just mentioning this to stroke my own ego. You know what? You would be right. But I would submit that my ego needs some serious stroking. I took an extra year to graduate, only to face the worst job market in years. I get a new rejection letter almost daily, and there is a non-trivial chance that I will not get employment anywhere. Some people don't even consider me a member of the department.
So I am going to take a moment to appreciate the fact that I am a published mathematician. This in and of itself may not seem terribly impressive; there are many others who have published far more numerous and profound results. But it's a start. And it's not like I found some rinky dink journal either; Journal of Combinatorial Theory is no slouch. I will continue, whether or not I get a job at some prestigious university. I will prove theorems, I will publish papers. I will not give up; to answer Tim Mcgraw, I want it plenty bad.
While I may not be all the way there yet, tonight helped remind of me of a crucial fact.
I. Am. A. Mathematician.
I went and read the proof of Theorem 3.3, the proof I contributed. And I have to say, it wasn't half bad. I don't know if I could recreate it. Now you might claim that I am just mentioning this to stroke my own ego. You know what? You would be right. But I would submit that my ego needs some serious stroking. I took an extra year to graduate, only to face the worst job market in years. I get a new rejection letter almost daily, and there is a non-trivial chance that I will not get employment anywhere. Some people don't even consider me a member of the department.
So I am going to take a moment to appreciate the fact that I am a published mathematician. This in and of itself may not seem terribly impressive; there are many others who have published far more numerous and profound results. But it's a start. And it's not like I found some rinky dink journal either; Journal of Combinatorial Theory is no slouch. I will continue, whether or not I get a job at some prestigious university. I will prove theorems, I will publish papers. I will not give up; to answer Tim Mcgraw, I want it plenty bad.
While I may not be all the way there yet, tonight helped remind of me of a crucial fact.
I. Am. A. Mathematician.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A Pretty Good Day
I realize I haven't written a new blog entry in a while (which I am sure must upset what I can only assume is a numerous yet silent readership) and that my last few entries have been less than positive. So let me fix both of these problems by just saying that, today, I had a pretty good day.
It started off with a phone interview for a lecturer position at Georgia College and State University. This is a position that is more teaching than research based, but, that said, I came out of the interview with a pretty good feeling about the department. They have extracurricular activities such as Friday seminars and Math Club, both of which I can really get behind in trying to make math more exciting for my students.
More importantly, I walked away from the interview feeling that I had done the best that I could. I did not trip over my words like I have in past interviews. I did have answers to the questions they asked, as well as intelligent questions for them. I know that I personally am not the best judge of things like this, but I felt the interview went very well. I am already starting to think about what life might be like in Georgia...
After the interview, I found myself fully getting into the madness that is the NCAA tournament. All it takes is a bracket in a small pool for every game to be exciting, and have what seems to be life and death implications. The day went very well for my teams. Even better, I was able to enjoy the last games of the evening at the bar with a few of my friends. Sports, as a general principle, are always better with company, and tonight was no exception.
Then, after the games (two of which went down to the buzzer, both in my favor), I walked back to my apartment and ran into my friend Jack at the library. I had a nice conversation with him about the Buffalo sports, Terrell Owens (someone who I need to blog about in the near future) and life after Caltech. All of these topics are near and dear to my heart.
Today started out with a significant interview, at least for my self esteem, and ended with two seemingly insignificant social events. I will not deny that the interview was important. But having a good time by getting out of my apartment and being social may be just as important. They say it is the little things that make life enjoyable, and I tend to agree with "them." It was the combination of the little things and the big things that made today a pretty good day. Hopefully tomorrow will be even better.
It started off with a phone interview for a lecturer position at Georgia College and State University. This is a position that is more teaching than research based, but, that said, I came out of the interview with a pretty good feeling about the department. They have extracurricular activities such as Friday seminars and Math Club, both of which I can really get behind in trying to make math more exciting for my students.
More importantly, I walked away from the interview feeling that I had done the best that I could. I did not trip over my words like I have in past interviews. I did have answers to the questions they asked, as well as intelligent questions for them. I know that I personally am not the best judge of things like this, but I felt the interview went very well. I am already starting to think about what life might be like in Georgia...
After the interview, I found myself fully getting into the madness that is the NCAA tournament. All it takes is a bracket in a small pool for every game to be exciting, and have what seems to be life and death implications. The day went very well for my teams. Even better, I was able to enjoy the last games of the evening at the bar with a few of my friends. Sports, as a general principle, are always better with company, and tonight was no exception.
Then, after the games (two of which went down to the buzzer, both in my favor), I walked back to my apartment and ran into my friend Jack at the library. I had a nice conversation with him about the Buffalo sports, Terrell Owens (someone who I need to blog about in the near future) and life after Caltech. All of these topics are near and dear to my heart.
Today started out with a significant interview, at least for my self esteem, and ended with two seemingly insignificant social events. I will not deny that the interview was important. But having a good time by getting out of my apartment and being social may be just as important. They say it is the little things that make life enjoyable, and I tend to agree with "them." It was the combination of the little things and the big things that made today a pretty good day. Hopefully tomorrow will be even better.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Poker? I don't even know 'er.
It all started with the world poker tour, about 5 years ago. I got in the habit of watching poker late at night on TV, and slowly but surely went from fan to casual player to addict. Now, like any addict I claimed it did not have a negative effect on my life, but it got to the point where I would be spending all my free time online at PokerStars. At first, this was no big deal to me since I was winning money. And if you just judge it on the bottom line, I am definitely ahead in the long run (I know everyone says that, but it really is true); in fact, the extra money I earned helped pay for my car.
But then, after having the biggest upswing of my life, I had the biggest downswing of my life. It got to the point where I just could not win. That was when I finally realized that I wasn't having any fun, and essentially quit playing poker competetively. Not only that, I basically became less and less interested in the game, and stopped watching it on TV. In addition, I stopped checking out the poker forums, which incidentally freed up a lot of time (though that time just got transferred into checking out the various atheist/science blogs). I finally realized that the amount of time I was putting into poker was just not worth it.
Though I was able to quit playing poker competitively, I still have been going to my regular Sunday night game. This game started several years ago, and it has gotten to the point where I am the only one left of the original players. Most of my current group of friends plays in this game, and I do enjoy it a lot. That said, I am not exactly flushed with cash. So when I go on losing streaks, streaks which will happen more often since I am essentially playing for fun and have stopped actively trying to get better, I can lose a non-trivial amount of money.
Now, I could play very conservatively, and probably not lose more than 20 bucks a week. But that just isn't me. I have a dark side to my personality, one that loves to gamble. It has come out in my half dozen trips to Las Vegas, and it also comes out in our unlimited rebuy tournaments. The hand that did me in tonight was in a cash game, where I just decided I had to bluff Mark out of the hand. Of course he called, with three sevens no less, and that was the end of my night. That hand is symbolic of my entire gambling philosophy; I start out playing it safe, but get more and more reckless until all of my money is gone.
Don't get the wrong idea. I am not in danger of going homeless anytime soon, and I have limited my gambling to once a week at this game. But I can see the warning signs that tell me that this could easily get out of hand, and sometimes, after losing, it scares me just a little bit.
But then, after having the biggest upswing of my life, I had the biggest downswing of my life. It got to the point where I just could not win. That was when I finally realized that I wasn't having any fun, and essentially quit playing poker competetively. Not only that, I basically became less and less interested in the game, and stopped watching it on TV. In addition, I stopped checking out the poker forums, which incidentally freed up a lot of time (though that time just got transferred into checking out the various atheist/science blogs). I finally realized that the amount of time I was putting into poker was just not worth it.
Though I was able to quit playing poker competitively, I still have been going to my regular Sunday night game. This game started several years ago, and it has gotten to the point where I am the only one left of the original players. Most of my current group of friends plays in this game, and I do enjoy it a lot. That said, I am not exactly flushed with cash. So when I go on losing streaks, streaks which will happen more often since I am essentially playing for fun and have stopped actively trying to get better, I can lose a non-trivial amount of money.
Now, I could play very conservatively, and probably not lose more than 20 bucks a week. But that just isn't me. I have a dark side to my personality, one that loves to gamble. It has come out in my half dozen trips to Las Vegas, and it also comes out in our unlimited rebuy tournaments. The hand that did me in tonight was in a cash game, where I just decided I had to bluff Mark out of the hand. Of course he called, with three sevens no less, and that was the end of my night. That hand is symbolic of my entire gambling philosophy; I start out playing it safe, but get more and more reckless until all of my money is gone.
Don't get the wrong idea. I am not in danger of going homeless anytime soon, and I have limited my gambling to once a week at this game. But I can see the warning signs that tell me that this could easily get out of hand, and sometimes, after losing, it scares me just a little bit.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Run, Danny, Run
In addition to being a mathematician, football enthusiast, and all around great guy, I would also consider myself to be a runner. I ran for the cross country team in middle school and high school (mostly because cross country was a sport that did not have cuts; athletic I am not) and didn't do half bad. It was one of the few things that I worked hard at in high school, mainly because, when I started, I was really bad at it. In 7th grade, I finished dead last on the team in every race I ran.
But running is one of those activities that, if you do it enough, you will get better. And it doesn't require any specified skills either. Just go out and run, day after day, and you will improve. As opposed to mathematics, where you can sit for days without a creative idea, the only hard part about running is getting out the door. So through sheer determination, I improved myself to the point where, in my junior and senior years, I was one of the top five people on the varsity team. I even went to running camp in the Pocono Mountains. That was intense. We had two runs a day up and down mountains.
Running can be an incredibly rewarding activity, provided you can stay motivated. Unfortunately, after graduating high school, that motivation disappeared. I didn't get back into running on a consistent basis until this past summer. And let me tell you, the first month or so was brutal. But I found myself a group of runners, and signed up to run a half marathon last November. This provided all of the necessary incentive; I was determined not only to be able to finish it, but to finish it strong. I was able to get some long runs and speed workouts in, and I was ready to go.
Unfortunately, here in SoCal, while we don't get snow, we do get wildfires. And the day before the half marathon was to happen, there was a bad fire. The air was of such a poor quality that they had no choice but to cancel the race. No matter, I was in shape and I would run the next race. The next race happened to be the "Race With Grace," a Thanksgiving Day 10k back in my home town of Greece. There is nothing quite like running on a brisk November day in Upstate New York, especially after spending the previous 6 months in Los Angeles. But I sucked it up, got out there, and ended up finishing just under 50 minutes, which was precisely the time I was hoping for.
I had just achieved a difficult goal and was in great shape, so what was my next move? To take the next three months off, of course. That brings us to this past Monday, where I finally dragged my sorry butt out the door. Well I huffed and puffed and wasn't even able to finish the 4 mile loop. D'oh! However, I followed this up with runs Wednesday and Thursday morning with my friend Dylan, and I can already feel my lungs and legs getting better. Now, like so many other things in my life, the trick is to keep it up.
PS: Never, ever, under any circumstances call me Danny.
But running is one of those activities that, if you do it enough, you will get better. And it doesn't require any specified skills either. Just go out and run, day after day, and you will improve. As opposed to mathematics, where you can sit for days without a creative idea, the only hard part about running is getting out the door. So through sheer determination, I improved myself to the point where, in my junior and senior years, I was one of the top five people on the varsity team. I even went to running camp in the Pocono Mountains. That was intense. We had two runs a day up and down mountains.
Running can be an incredibly rewarding activity, provided you can stay motivated. Unfortunately, after graduating high school, that motivation disappeared. I didn't get back into running on a consistent basis until this past summer. And let me tell you, the first month or so was brutal. But I found myself a group of runners, and signed up to run a half marathon last November. This provided all of the necessary incentive; I was determined not only to be able to finish it, but to finish it strong. I was able to get some long runs and speed workouts in, and I was ready to go.
Unfortunately, here in SoCal, while we don't get snow, we do get wildfires. And the day before the half marathon was to happen, there was a bad fire. The air was of such a poor quality that they had no choice but to cancel the race. No matter, I was in shape and I would run the next race. The next race happened to be the "Race With Grace," a Thanksgiving Day 10k back in my home town of Greece. There is nothing quite like running on a brisk November day in Upstate New York, especially after spending the previous 6 months in Los Angeles. But I sucked it up, got out there, and ended up finishing just under 50 minutes, which was precisely the time I was hoping for.
I had just achieved a difficult goal and was in great shape, so what was my next move? To take the next three months off, of course. That brings us to this past Monday, where I finally dragged my sorry butt out the door. Well I huffed and puffed and wasn't even able to finish the 4 mile loop. D'oh! However, I followed this up with runs Wednesday and Thursday morning with my friend Dylan, and I can already feel my lungs and legs getting better. Now, like so many other things in my life, the trick is to keep it up.
PS: Never, ever, under any circumstances call me Danny.
Monday, February 23, 2009
A Mathematical Pariah Part II
So, in a previous post, I had mentioned that, because I committed the grave offense of taking an extra year to graduate, I was stripped of my stipend and my office. Both of these, while upsetting, made sense to me. However, the thing that did not was that they went through the extra effort of taking my picture down from the graduate students bulletin board. I finally got an explanation why this happened: apparently, according to our esteemed secretaries, I am no longer a mathematics graduate student.
Never mind the fact that I am still living in graduate housing. Never mind the fact that I still can register for research credit as a grad student. Never mind the fact that it was a member of the mathematics faculty who had to sign off on my tuition waver for the year. Never mind the fact that the department still lists me here! Never mind the fact that I still have a department mailbox and receive my bursars bill from the university there. Never mind the fact that nearly every other department on campus has its students take far longer than 5 years (I know of physics students who have taken more than a decade) to finish, and yet they have no problem counting these students as their own.
Nope, according to the supreme dictators of all things mathematical, I am no longer a member of the department. Because I dared take one extra year to graduate. And when I mentioned this, one of our secretaries exclaimed "well you had five years to finish, most people finish by then!" Of course, I am willing to be all that I own (not a lot, granted) that she couldn't even pass a difficult undergraduate math course, let alone make it through the qualifying and candidacy exams.
If that last comment seemed a bit pissy, that is because I am pissed! I still meet with my advisor, work on my thesis, earn my 36 credits a term, and go to combinatorics seminars. Yet a woman who wouldn't know abstract mathematics if it snuck up on her and bit her in the you know where gets to decide that I took too long to graduate, so I must no longer be a mathematics student. Some world we live in.
Never mind the fact that I am still living in graduate housing. Never mind the fact that I still can register for research credit as a grad student. Never mind the fact that it was a member of the mathematics faculty who had to sign off on my tuition waver for the year. Never mind the fact that the department still lists me here! Never mind the fact that I still have a department mailbox and receive my bursars bill from the university there. Never mind the fact that nearly every other department on campus has its students take far longer than 5 years (I know of physics students who have taken more than a decade) to finish, and yet they have no problem counting these students as their own.
Nope, according to the supreme dictators of all things mathematical, I am no longer a member of the department. Because I dared take one extra year to graduate. And when I mentioned this, one of our secretaries exclaimed "well you had five years to finish, most people finish by then!" Of course, I am willing to be all that I own (not a lot, granted) that she couldn't even pass a difficult undergraduate math course, let alone make it through the qualifying and candidacy exams.
If that last comment seemed a bit pissy, that is because I am pissed! I still meet with my advisor, work on my thesis, earn my 36 credits a term, and go to combinatorics seminars. Yet a woman who wouldn't know abstract mathematics if it snuck up on her and bit her in the you know where gets to decide that I took too long to graduate, so I must no longer be a mathematics student. Some world we live in.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Go Sabres!
It hasn't been a good couple of weeks for my sports teams. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, A-Rod got caught using steroids, after of course having denied it his whole career. But the Bills are also in the news, after star running back, and possibly the franchise's best hope, Marshawn Lynch got arrested on a felony gun charge. I don't know the details, but apparently he was in a car that got pulled over and, in the course of the investigation, they found an illegally concealed weapon.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that "Beast Mode" has gotten himself in trouble with the law. Last season, he participated in a hit and run, where apparently he hit a woman and then fled the scene. Luckily, she was ok, and that was the end of that. But as the old saying goes (despite our former president's attempt to butcher it): fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I gave Marshawn the benefit of the doubt last time. This time, I don't know what to think.
So, to overgeneralize, the Yankees and Bills are a bunch of cheaters and felons, respectively. That leaves the Buffalo Sabres. Now, I never was a hockey fan growing up. That said, if I rooted for anyone, it would be the Sabres. I can still remember the infamous "No goal," where Brett Hull was allowed to break the rules by having his skate in the crease before scoring the winning goal, beating us in the Stanley Cup Finals. Let me tell you, the sports talk world in Western New York was buzzing after that. The now defunct "Empire Sports" network talked about nothing else for the next two days, as Buffalo had gotten screwed yet again. In fact, at a later Barenaked Ladies concert in Buffalo, the drummer Tyler Stuart worked into Auld Lang Syne the line "And may Brett Hull never forget, that his skate was in the crease!" to the boisterous cheers of the audience.
However, that didn't really affect me much, and I didn't keep track of the Sabres after that, until New Years day 2008. That was the day of the first "NHL Winter Classic," an game between the Sabres and the Penguins played outdoors, in the snow, in Ralph Wilson stadium, in front of more than 70,000 crazy Buffalo fans. Sadly, we lost, but that game opened my eyes to the Sabres. Last season, I started listening to some games on the interweb, and this year, I went to my first Sabres game, against the Anaheim Ducks. Well, we lost that one too (losing is not that rare in Buffalo) but it was a great atmosphere, with many other Buffalo fans in attendance. I had borrowed my friends hockey "sweater" (you better not call it a jersey) and liked it so much, I bought one of my own.
And now I am hooked on the Sabres. We are currently just on the cusp of the playoffs; if the season ended today, we would be in, but not by much. So, Go Sabres! You can be my one respectable team, and do something the Bills haven't done in so long I have forgotten what it is like: actually play games after the regular season ends.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that "Beast Mode" has gotten himself in trouble with the law. Last season, he participated in a hit and run, where apparently he hit a woman and then fled the scene. Luckily, she was ok, and that was the end of that. But as the old saying goes (despite our former president's attempt to butcher it): fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I gave Marshawn the benefit of the doubt last time. This time, I don't know what to think.
So, to overgeneralize, the Yankees and Bills are a bunch of cheaters and felons, respectively. That leaves the Buffalo Sabres. Now, I never was a hockey fan growing up. That said, if I rooted for anyone, it would be the Sabres. I can still remember the infamous "No goal," where Brett Hull was allowed to break the rules by having his skate in the crease before scoring the winning goal, beating us in the Stanley Cup Finals. Let me tell you, the sports talk world in Western New York was buzzing after that. The now defunct "Empire Sports" network talked about nothing else for the next two days, as Buffalo had gotten screwed yet again. In fact, at a later Barenaked Ladies concert in Buffalo, the drummer Tyler Stuart worked into Auld Lang Syne the line "And may Brett Hull never forget, that his skate was in the crease!" to the boisterous cheers of the audience.
However, that didn't really affect me much, and I didn't keep track of the Sabres after that, until New Years day 2008. That was the day of the first "NHL Winter Classic," an game between the Sabres and the Penguins played outdoors, in the snow, in Ralph Wilson stadium, in front of more than 70,000 crazy Buffalo fans. Sadly, we lost, but that game opened my eyes to the Sabres. Last season, I started listening to some games on the interweb, and this year, I went to my first Sabres game, against the Anaheim Ducks. Well, we lost that one too (losing is not that rare in Buffalo) but it was a great atmosphere, with many other Buffalo fans in attendance. I had borrowed my friends hockey "sweater" (you better not call it a jersey) and liked it so much, I bought one of my own.
And now I am hooked on the Sabres. We are currently just on the cusp of the playoffs; if the season ended today, we would be in, but not by much. So, Go Sabres! You can be my one respectable team, and do something the Bills haven't done in so long I have forgotten what it is like: actually play games after the regular season ends.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Limbo Rock
One of life's great dilemmas is the issue of whether it is better to get bad news instantly or to just go on for a while not knowing. Though it is often claimed that ignorance is bliss, as an aspiring mathematician, and thus a person who places a high value on rationality, I have always claimed it is better to know than to not know. The relevance of this issue to my life is the fact that in the last few months I have sent out over 120 applications for various post doctoral and assistant professor positions. And I have not heard anything from the vast majority of them.
So, though I finally got out of the limbo of not knowing whether or not I would graduate (I will!), I am in the related limbo of not knowing if I will be actually be able to use the degree I have spent the last 6 years earning. If I were to be consistent, I would say that I would like to know right now that I am not getting a job (if that is the case), rather than sit here for the next few months twiddling my thumbs. And I think that is true; I really do want to know. But I don't know if my ego can handle that kind of rejection.
Last year at this time, when it became clear I was not going to graduate on time and I was not going to be funded for an additional year, I spent my time applying to 30 or 40 community college positions. For all that, I earned a single interview. And they did not call me back. That hurt a lot, but I was able to justify it by noting that they were looking for people with teaching experience, something I did not have. Further, I got my tutoring job soon after, which helped mitigate the pain.
However, this time around, these are predominately jobs which are geared towards research, the thing that I am convinced I want to do for a living. Plus, I don't really have a backup plan, since I am not getting the hours tutoring necessary to pay for living in a real apartment (right now I live in the on campus apartments which are MUCH cheaper than those in the outside world). Then, there is the fact that 120 > 40, which means a lot more rejection.
The next time you see me, if I look a bit anxious, know that it is just because my entire future is on the line, and, at this point, I have no idea what that future will be.
So, though I finally got out of the limbo of not knowing whether or not I would graduate (I will!), I am in the related limbo of not knowing if I will be actually be able to use the degree I have spent the last 6 years earning. If I were to be consistent, I would say that I would like to know right now that I am not getting a job (if that is the case), rather than sit here for the next few months twiddling my thumbs. And I think that is true; I really do want to know. But I don't know if my ego can handle that kind of rejection.
Last year at this time, when it became clear I was not going to graduate on time and I was not going to be funded for an additional year, I spent my time applying to 30 or 40 community college positions. For all that, I earned a single interview. And they did not call me back. That hurt a lot, but I was able to justify it by noting that they were looking for people with teaching experience, something I did not have. Further, I got my tutoring job soon after, which helped mitigate the pain.
However, this time around, these are predominately jobs which are geared towards research, the thing that I am convinced I want to do for a living. Plus, I don't really have a backup plan, since I am not getting the hours tutoring necessary to pay for living in a real apartment (right now I live in the on campus apartments which are MUCH cheaper than those in the outside world). Then, there is the fact that 120 > 40, which means a lot more rejection.
The next time you see me, if I look a bit anxious, know that it is just because my entire future is on the line, and, at this point, I have no idea what that future will be.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Say it Ain't So, A-Rod
I have to say that I was hurt when news came out that Alex Rodriguez used steroids. I felt the same way when the news about Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite came out before last season. With Roger, I really wanted to believe him when he denied it, but it became fairly obvious he was lying as his story got more and more unbelievable. The fact that he knew he was guilty and still went to Congress and tried to get away with it shows the ultimate in arrogance, and for that I will probably never forgive him.
At least with A-Rod, he is finally coming clean, much like Pettite did. Now, I don't know if you can call coming clean if you admit to something after it is reported, but at least they didn't fall into the same trap that Clemens did. However, neither one of them took full responsibility, with Andy saying he did it for his teammates to get healthy, and Alex saying he did it because of the pressure.
I also feel like this is a slap in the face, since I have constantly defended A-Rod and have been very critical of Yankee fans who seem to constantly boo him. And A-Rod is the best in the game (in this humble Yankee fan's opinion), so to find out that the best in the game is, at least in part, the best because he broke the rules, is incredibly disillusioning. Perhaps I am too naive, but I like to think that, at least when it comes to my team, that the players are playing the game right. But, of course, just like a murderer is somebody's neighbor, the players on my team are no different from those on any other team.
The sad thing is, this won't change a thing for me when the season starts. I still want the Yankees to win, and I will probably just willfully ignore this whole thing about A-Rod, much like I was able to do with Pettite last year. And integrity takes another hit in the interest of the bottom line.
At least with A-Rod, he is finally coming clean, much like Pettite did. Now, I don't know if you can call coming clean if you admit to something after it is reported, but at least they didn't fall into the same trap that Clemens did. However, neither one of them took full responsibility, with Andy saying he did it for his teammates to get healthy, and Alex saying he did it because of the pressure.
I also feel like this is a slap in the face, since I have constantly defended A-Rod and have been very critical of Yankee fans who seem to constantly boo him. And A-Rod is the best in the game (in this humble Yankee fan's opinion), so to find out that the best in the game is, at least in part, the best because he broke the rules, is incredibly disillusioning. Perhaps I am too naive, but I like to think that, at least when it comes to my team, that the players are playing the game right. But, of course, just like a murderer is somebody's neighbor, the players on my team are no different from those on any other team.
The sad thing is, this won't change a thing for me when the season starts. I still want the Yankees to win, and I will probably just willfully ignore this whole thing about A-Rod, much like I was able to do with Pettite last year. And integrity takes another hit in the interest of the bottom line.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
I Want to be a Mathematician
Mathematicians do math. They don't read message boards. They don't watch TV. They don't do any number of activities designed to distract and postpone doing real work. And I want to be one. I want to be thinking about mathematics when I wake up, and when I go to bed at night. The question is: How bad do I want it?
Of course, the above paragraph is a bit simplistic. Mathematicians are people, and they have lives, and do things that regular people do. But they also make math a priority, and often it is the number one priority. This is something I have consistently not done, which is certainly one of the reasons I am struggling to finish graduate school a year later than everybody else. So I wonder, almost every day, if this is really the life for me or whether I am just going through the motions.
But then, I find myself getting into a problem, and losing an hour or two. I find myself writing in LaTex and getting so into it that I almost am late for work. I found myself getting excited explaining even the most mundane SAT problem. And this leads me to believe that I do want it. But it isn't going to come easy. Barbie was right when she said "Math is hard."
So I am challenging myself: do more math. I have a stack of library books, half of which are math texts, and I need to read them. I have at my disposal all the journal articles I could ever want, and it is about time to take advantage of that. Every day, I pledge to ask myself: "Were you a mathematician today?
Of course, the above paragraph is a bit simplistic. Mathematicians are people, and they have lives, and do things that regular people do. But they also make math a priority, and often it is the number one priority. This is something I have consistently not done, which is certainly one of the reasons I am struggling to finish graduate school a year later than everybody else. So I wonder, almost every day, if this is really the life for me or whether I am just going through the motions.
But then, I find myself getting into a problem, and losing an hour or two. I find myself writing in LaTex and getting so into it that I almost am late for work. I found myself getting excited explaining even the most mundane SAT problem. And this leads me to believe that I do want it. But it isn't going to come easy. Barbie was right when she said "Math is hard."
So I am challenging myself: do more math. I have a stack of library books, half of which are math texts, and I need to read them. I have at my disposal all the journal articles I could ever want, and it is about time to take advantage of that. Every day, I pledge to ask myself: "Were you a mathematician today?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Those Pesky Creationists
Throughout my time at grad school, there have been various activities that have distracted me from my work, such as Magic: The Gathering, Poker, and, my latest obsession, reading message boards dealing with creationists and their attempts to discredit the theory of Evolution. Let me be clear about where I stand: I am a mathematician, and a friend of scientists, and, as such, I side with the people who use reason, logic and evidence, ie the so called "Darwinists."
Now, right off the bat, there is trouble with that phrase, since it implies a certain degree of hero worship. We don't call people who believe in relativity "Einsteinists" or people that believe in quantum mechanics "Bohrists." There is also the fact that science has progressed a whole lot since Darwin's day, and, while he was an incredibly influential genius, he did get some things wrong and we continue to go far beyond his original theory.
But anyways, that is a side issue, and while calling someone a Darwinist is very flawed, at least it expresses clearly what side of the debate I am on. Now, I never really enjoyed biology, and have participated in calling it a "stamp collecting" science. However, and this is some insight into the abyss that is my brain, a year ago, at Christmas time, my cousin Julie was saying some ridiculous things about evolution, and, since I was fairly clueless on the matter, I didn't really have anything to say in rebuttal. That led me to online searches about evolution to be able to better argue my point, and, in the process of trying to be right, I actually learned a bunch. One of the better sites I found was Talk Origins, which gives a lot of information about the science and the insanity of the arguments against it.
Unfortunately, at least for my productivity, I also found some interesting message boards, such as After the Bar Closes, which I just cannot turn away from. Part of it is that I like to feel superior, and it is not hard to feel superior to a lot of these creationists. But I also like to make sure I really think what I think I think, and in that respect, the more I read about the different sides of this issue, the more I realize that I am on the right side, and I do think what I think I think. Now, if only I could stop using this as an escape from work, and actually read the stack of math books I got from the library...
Now, right off the bat, there is trouble with that phrase, since it implies a certain degree of hero worship. We don't call people who believe in relativity "Einsteinists" or people that believe in quantum mechanics "Bohrists." There is also the fact that science has progressed a whole lot since Darwin's day, and, while he was an incredibly influential genius, he did get some things wrong and we continue to go far beyond his original theory.
But anyways, that is a side issue, and while calling someone a Darwinist is very flawed, at least it expresses clearly what side of the debate I am on. Now, I never really enjoyed biology, and have participated in calling it a "stamp collecting" science. However, and this is some insight into the abyss that is my brain, a year ago, at Christmas time, my cousin Julie was saying some ridiculous things about evolution, and, since I was fairly clueless on the matter, I didn't really have anything to say in rebuttal. That led me to online searches about evolution to be able to better argue my point, and, in the process of trying to be right, I actually learned a bunch. One of the better sites I found was Talk Origins, which gives a lot of information about the science and the insanity of the arguments against it.
Unfortunately, at least for my productivity, I also found some interesting message boards, such as After the Bar Closes, which I just cannot turn away from. Part of it is that I like to feel superior, and it is not hard to feel superior to a lot of these creationists. But I also like to make sure I really think what I think I think, and in that respect, the more I read about the different sides of this issue, the more I realize that I am on the right side, and I do think what I think I think. Now, if only I could stop using this as an escape from work, and actually read the stack of math books I got from the library...
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Super Sunday
I can never really get into the Super Bowl unless the Bills are playing (not a likely occurrence anytime soon) or a team I really hate is in it, like the Patriots last year. Man it was sweet watching them lose...
That said, I am still a football fan, and I enjoy a good game. So this Super Bowl didn't let me down. It had big plays, like a fat man running 100 yards for a touchdown and then needing oxygen, a good comeback, and a last minute touchdown drive. Also, at least from my perspective, there was some controversy. I definitely think the last play should have been reviewed, as Kurt Warner had the ball in his hand and it was moving forward. I don't know if he had control, but I would have liked to see the people in the booth at least look at it a few more times.
Ah well, like I said earlier, I didn't really have any reason to root for either team, and since the guy who hosted our little get together was a Steelers fan, I suppose it is good that they won. Especially since our group seemed to consist of him, a few people who didn't care about football, and the rest, who were vocally rooting for the Cardinals, I guess as a whole support the underdog thing. I was as well, at least as far as I was rooting for anyone, but the Steelers winning didn't upset me terribly, and I felt bad for Dave (our host) who appeared all by himself. So good for him, and good for Pittsburgh, a city in the northeast, where football is meant to be played out in the elements. Not to mention, they have some good, hard core, working class fans, much like the we have in Buffalo.
And yes, with me, it all comes back to the Bills, in some way or another.
That said, I am still a football fan, and I enjoy a good game. So this Super Bowl didn't let me down. It had big plays, like a fat man running 100 yards for a touchdown and then needing oxygen, a good comeback, and a last minute touchdown drive. Also, at least from my perspective, there was some controversy. I definitely think the last play should have been reviewed, as Kurt Warner had the ball in his hand and it was moving forward. I don't know if he had control, but I would have liked to see the people in the booth at least look at it a few more times.
Ah well, like I said earlier, I didn't really have any reason to root for either team, and since the guy who hosted our little get together was a Steelers fan, I suppose it is good that they won. Especially since our group seemed to consist of him, a few people who didn't care about football, and the rest, who were vocally rooting for the Cardinals, I guess as a whole support the underdog thing. I was as well, at least as far as I was rooting for anyone, but the Steelers winning didn't upset me terribly, and I felt bad for Dave (our host) who appeared all by himself. So good for him, and good for Pittsburgh, a city in the northeast, where football is meant to be played out in the elements. Not to mention, they have some good, hard core, working class fans, much like the we have in Buffalo.
And yes, with me, it all comes back to the Bills, in some way or another.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
A Mathematical Pariah
As I alluded to in a previous post, I am a sixth year graduate student, and, since my department has a strict policy about grad students finishing in five years (a policy, I might add, that no other department on campus seems to have, but whatever), I was not able to get funding this year. Fine, I can live with that, I knew about the policy and it is my fault for taking the extra year.
Then, I was informed that I no longer have an office. Now, this upset me, but, thinking about it rationally, I realized that there is only a limited amount of office space. Plus, I hardly ever use the office, so it is not like this affects me in any tangible way.
However, today, while checking my mailbox, I happened to gaze over at the bulletin board that has pictures of all of the professors and graduate students. And, for reasons known only to her, our secretary removed my picture. Now, again, I understand the funding issue and the office issue, but surely my picture being up on the board wasn't costing the department anything! And there was plenty of space, so that couldn't have been a problem. Plus there is the fact that the picture was already on the board, so it took her more effort to remove it than to just leave it up!! This is right up there with her signing me up to TA a statistics course because my roommate had requested it, but she couldn't remember which of us was which.
Really, I know that this is a trivial issue, but I am incredibly pissed off. I have passed my classes and exams, and I have done everything I need to be in line to graduate this year. I have accepted the fact that I am on my own as far as finding money and a workspace. All I ask in return is for a little shred of dignity. And, by removing my picture, they basically slapped me in the face.
Anyways, posting this here is keeping me from sending out a nasty email, one that I would certainly regret. But who takes down a picture, honestly?
Then, I was informed that I no longer have an office. Now, this upset me, but, thinking about it rationally, I realized that there is only a limited amount of office space. Plus, I hardly ever use the office, so it is not like this affects me in any tangible way.
However, today, while checking my mailbox, I happened to gaze over at the bulletin board that has pictures of all of the professors and graduate students. And, for reasons known only to her, our secretary removed my picture. Now, again, I understand the funding issue and the office issue, but surely my picture being up on the board wasn't costing the department anything! And there was plenty of space, so that couldn't have been a problem. Plus there is the fact that the picture was already on the board, so it took her more effort to remove it than to just leave it up!! This is right up there with her signing me up to TA a statistics course because my roommate had requested it, but she couldn't remember which of us was which.
Really, I know that this is a trivial issue, but I am incredibly pissed off. I have passed my classes and exams, and I have done everything I need to be in line to graduate this year. I have accepted the fact that I am on my own as far as finding money and a workspace. All I ask in return is for a little shred of dignity. And, by removing my picture, they basically slapped me in the face.
Anyways, posting this here is keeping me from sending out a nasty email, one that I would certainly regret. But who takes down a picture, honestly?
Let's Go Buffalo!
Ah, the Buffalo Bills. The lifeblood of Western New York. I should probably say a word or two about them. The first season I remember following the Bills, and the NFL in general, was 1990. That year, we (and I will say we, even though I, unfortunately, never took the field as a player) won the AFC east with a 13-3 record, beat Miami in the first round of the playoffs (a game I am pretty sure I was at though I don't remember very much from it), and pummeled the Raiders 51-3 in the championship game. You may ask, "What happened in the Super Bowl?" Um, I don't think they played one that year...
Of course, that was the famous "wide right" game. I will say no more about this (look it up in wikipedia if you must). But since that year, the Bills have been a huge part of my life. I always try to go to at least one game a year, and, in the last two seasons, I went to a total of 6 games. The parking lot at Ralph Wilson Stadium (Ralph Wilson is the Bills long time owner; he just got into the Hall of Fame today in fact) is a magical place. You get there at 10 am, and the lot is already full of tailgaters; a huge collection of people who are as devoted to this team as I am . Out in the real world, Bills' fans are scarce, but we all come together on Sunday.
There is something special about being a fan of the Bills. This is because we simply don't have the national popularity that teams like the Patriots have, so when you see someone wearing that charging buffalo logo, you know that you and they share a common bond. I can't tell you how many times that people have come up to me at hotels, in bowling alleys, on airplanes, and in plenty of other places, and struck up a conversation with me just based on the fact I was wearing my Bills paraphernalia. And let me tell you, I own a lot of it.
Unfortunately, the last few years have been tough, but it helps to commiserate with fellow fans. I found a group of people here in Los Angeles who get together every Sunday, no matter how lousy the team is, to watch each and every game. Rooting for the Bills just feels right. Someday in the near future, I will live close enough to Buffalo, and I will get season tickets. Then, for at least 8 Sundays out of the year, I will be where I belong.
Of course, that was the famous "wide right" game. I will say no more about this (look it up in wikipedia if you must). But since that year, the Bills have been a huge part of my life. I always try to go to at least one game a year, and, in the last two seasons, I went to a total of 6 games. The parking lot at Ralph Wilson Stadium (Ralph Wilson is the Bills long time owner; he just got into the Hall of Fame today in fact) is a magical place. You get there at 10 am, and the lot is already full of tailgaters; a huge collection of people who are as devoted to this team as I am . Out in the real world, Bills' fans are scarce, but we all come together on Sunday.
There is something special about being a fan of the Bills. This is because we simply don't have the national popularity that teams like the Patriots have, so when you see someone wearing that charging buffalo logo, you know that you and they share a common bond. I can't tell you how many times that people have come up to me at hotels, in bowling alleys, on airplanes, and in plenty of other places, and struck up a conversation with me just based on the fact I was wearing my Bills paraphernalia. And let me tell you, I own a lot of it.
Unfortunately, the last few years have been tough, but it helps to commiserate with fellow fans. I found a group of people here in Los Angeles who get together every Sunday, no matter how lousy the team is, to watch each and every game. Rooting for the Bills just feels right. Someday in the near future, I will live close enough to Buffalo, and I will get season tickets. Then, for at least 8 Sundays out of the year, I will be where I belong.
Friday, January 30, 2009
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it...
Wow, I had forgotten how much I love to play the piano. Luckily, we have a music house on campus that is open 24 hours to students. So, since earlier today I bought a new piano book (that featured, among other songs, the title to my post), I finally made the effort to go over and play. At 2 am. And I am happy I did.
It has been far too long since I sat down and really played. And it is fun. More importantly, I got out of my apartment and did something positive. Note to self: doing stuff is good. Try to do more stuff, be it running, playing the piano, or, gasp, doing mathematics. But do stuff! Maybe if I write it here, I will try harder to follow my own advice...
It has been far too long since I sat down and really played. And it is fun. More importantly, I got out of my apartment and did something positive. Note to self: doing stuff is good. Try to do more stuff, be it running, playing the piano, or, gasp, doing mathematics. But do stuff! Maybe if I write it here, I will try harder to follow my own advice...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Devin's Going Away Dinner
I just got back from a dinner for my friend Devin, who is moving to the bay area for a postdoc (all my grad student friends seem to be graduating, I better be next!). Devin is an interesting person, and I am going to miss him. He is one of the people who would press me to be more social, and since I kind of have a tendency to close myself off from the world, I really appreciate his efforts. He also had a profound impact on my life, in that he finally convinced me to go in to counseling. I kept arguing and fighting it, until one day he finally just signed me up. It has had a great effect on my life (that and the drugs they prescribed me) and everyone I know has noticed the change in my behavior. So for that, I thank him (though he wouldn't let me go ten minutes without taking credit for saving my life, there is some truth to his hyperbole).
As for the dinner itself, it was at one of those fancy places, where, when we found out the average cost was $100 per person, someone commented that she couldn't believe it was that low. Now, I have been trying to be responsible with money, so this did set me back a bit; my friend Dave was kind enough to point out how expensive the wine was, so I passed on that, which helped a bit. I do feel kind of weird being the only one in the group who needs to worry about these things, but I have already taken out a loan from my parents and would very much like to avoid taking another one. Oh well, the food was excellent (I had the rib eye stake and chocolate bread pudding) and I really don't eat at that kind of place often, so I suppose it is all for the best. Now, I have to motivate myself to get some work done tonight or tomorrow... (if I write it down, maybe that will force me to do it).
As for the dinner itself, it was at one of those fancy places, where, when we found out the average cost was $100 per person, someone commented that she couldn't believe it was that low. Now, I have been trying to be responsible with money, so this did set me back a bit; my friend Dave was kind enough to point out how expensive the wine was, so I passed on that, which helped a bit. I do feel kind of weird being the only one in the group who needs to worry about these things, but I have already taken out a loan from my parents and would very much like to avoid taking another one. Oh well, the food was excellent (I had the rib eye stake and chocolate bread pudding) and I really don't eat at that kind of place often, so I suppose it is all for the best. Now, I have to motivate myself to get some work done tonight or tomorrow... (if I write it down, maybe that will force me to do it).
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tutoring
So my department has an unfortunate rule, which is basically that you can take more than five years to get your PhD, but if you do, you are on your own for the sixth year and beyond. As this is my sixth (and final!) year, I was forced to find funding elsewhere. After completely striking out while trying to apply for teaching positions at Community Colleges, my friend (and fellow mathematician) Rupert suggested I look for tutoring jobs on Craig's List. Lo and behold, after I few tries, I was able to find a company who was desperate enough for a math teacher. Thus began my tutoring career.
When I got the job, I figured this would be something I would suffer through but would keep me employed for the year. Surprisingly, however, I actually enjoy it. Explaining math, even trivial SAT math to high schoolers, is highly enjoyable. And the time really does fly by, at least most of the time.
The only negative to it is the "babysitting" aspect. What I mean is, although high schoolers can converse at a reasonable level from time to time, they still require constant supervision to make sure they don't try to sneak their cell phones or ipods, and to make sure they do the work. So I have to constantly remind them to do homework, and sometimes have to get strict when they won't listen. But, that aside, this is still better than any other job an unqualified graduate student could get.
Like today, I had to work for 4 hours, but 2.5 of that was one on one tutoring, which is much easier to deal with than a class. And the SAT class had only 4 people, so it stayed under control. And, before I knew it, I was done. My schtick is to act all enthusiastic when solving problems, and truth be told, it is not an act. I genuinely am excited to do math. It is times like this that assure me I am going into the right profession.
When I got the job, I figured this would be something I would suffer through but would keep me employed for the year. Surprisingly, however, I actually enjoy it. Explaining math, even trivial SAT math to high schoolers, is highly enjoyable. And the time really does fly by, at least most of the time.
The only negative to it is the "babysitting" aspect. What I mean is, although high schoolers can converse at a reasonable level from time to time, they still require constant supervision to make sure they don't try to sneak their cell phones or ipods, and to make sure they do the work. So I have to constantly remind them to do homework, and sometimes have to get strict when they won't listen. But, that aside, this is still better than any other job an unqualified graduate student could get.
Like today, I had to work for 4 hours, but 2.5 of that was one on one tutoring, which is much easier to deal with than a class. And the SAT class had only 4 people, so it stayed under control. And, before I knew it, I was done. My schtick is to act all enthusiastic when solving problems, and truth be told, it is not an act. I genuinely am excited to do math. It is times like this that assure me I am going into the right profession.
What is Combinatorics?
So the title "Combinatorial Hijinks" comes from the fact that Combinatorics is the field of mathematics that I study (and the fact that Hijinks is a cool word). You might ask, what is combinatorics? Well Wikipedia has this to say:
"Combinatorics is a branch of pure mathematics concerning the study of discrete (and usually finite) objects."
By the way, isn't wikipedia neat? Who would have thought that an encyclopedia edited by anyone would be so useful...
Ok, my tangent is over (though my secant has just begun; expect other math jokes to work their way into my posts). I would describe combinatorics as the art of counting without actually counting, of determining structure and properties of objects without actually knowing very much about those objects. An example I like to give comes from Ramsey Theory.
The idea is this: you are throwing a party, and want to know the least number of people you need to invite so that their is a group of three people who all know each other, or a group of three people such that none of them know each other. Why you would want to do such a thing is not important, using such language as "party" helps make the problem seem more "applied"...
Anyhoo, it turns out six people is enough; let's see why. Let's call the six people Alice, Bob, Christine, David, Edward and Frank. As mathematicians we love to do this sort of thing, so we can shorten the names to A, B, C, D, E and F. Consider Alice. Of the other five people, she either knows at least three of them, or there are three she doesn't know. Without loss of generality (a favorite phrase amongst mathematicians) consider the case where she knows Bob, Christine and David. Now, suppose Bob and Christine also know each other, then Alice, Bob and Christine form a group of three people who all know each other. This will work if any two of Bob, Christine and David know each other. So the only other possibility is that the three of them are mutual strangers, in which case Bob, Christine and David form a group of three people who each don't know each other. Voila! Note that the case where Alice knows two or less people is analogous, since she would have to not know 3 people, and we could repeat the above proof, switching the term "know" with "doesn't know." That is what is meant by "without loss of generality."
The cool thing about that problem is that we don't have to know anything about the structure of these people's lives to conclude something definite about them. The general theme of Ramsey theory is that if you enough objects, there will be order. And that is pretty cool, that we can know things even when we don't know anything.
"Combinatorics is a branch of pure mathematics concerning the study of discrete (and usually finite) objects."
By the way, isn't wikipedia neat? Who would have thought that an encyclopedia edited by anyone would be so useful...
Ok, my tangent is over (though my secant has just begun; expect other math jokes to work their way into my posts). I would describe combinatorics as the art of counting without actually counting, of determining structure and properties of objects without actually knowing very much about those objects. An example I like to give comes from Ramsey Theory.
The idea is this: you are throwing a party, and want to know the least number of people you need to invite so that their is a group of three people who all know each other, or a group of three people such that none of them know each other. Why you would want to do such a thing is not important, using such language as "party" helps make the problem seem more "applied"...
Anyhoo, it turns out six people is enough; let's see why. Let's call the six people Alice, Bob, Christine, David, Edward and Frank. As mathematicians we love to do this sort of thing, so we can shorten the names to A, B, C, D, E and F. Consider Alice. Of the other five people, she either knows at least three of them, or there are three she doesn't know. Without loss of generality (a favorite phrase amongst mathematicians) consider the case where she knows Bob, Christine and David. Now, suppose Bob and Christine also know each other, then Alice, Bob and Christine form a group of three people who all know each other. This will work if any two of Bob, Christine and David know each other. So the only other possibility is that the three of them are mutual strangers, in which case Bob, Christine and David form a group of three people who each don't know each other. Voila! Note that the case where Alice knows two or less people is analogous, since she would have to not know 3 people, and we could repeat the above proof, switching the term "know" with "doesn't know." That is what is meant by "without loss of generality."
The cool thing about that problem is that we don't have to know anything about the structure of these people's lives to conclude something definite about them. The general theme of Ramsey theory is that if you enough objects, there will be order. And that is pretty cool, that we can know things even when we don't know anything.
Hello World
Well, I am keeping up with my trend of getting on the bandwagon years after it left the station. As such, I am starting a blog. Woo-Hoo for me!
To say a little more about myself, the name BuffDan that I have chosen for myself here and on various internet forums has nothing to do with working out, but instead comes from the city of Buffalo, New York, near my hometown of Rochester. When I first got to college, there were several other people named Dan, and thus some sort of adjective was needed. One of us became Black Pants Dan (he liked to wear blank pants), RA Dan (he was our RA), Little Dan (he was short) and myself, Buff Dan, since I have a near fanatical devotion to the Buffalo Bills, and Buffalo is a more well known city than Rochester. Besides, Roch Dan sounds kinda lame.
So that's me in a nutshell (help I'm trapped in a nutshell). As I tend to have lots of thoughts swirling in my head, this blog will hopefully serve as a way for me to get them written down, in the hopes that they will quiet down. That of course is figurative; I don't hear voices or anything, but I do have more than my share of crazy. So I should fit in here on the Interweb.
To say a little more about myself, the name BuffDan that I have chosen for myself here and on various internet forums has nothing to do with working out, but instead comes from the city of Buffalo, New York, near my hometown of Rochester. When I first got to college, there were several other people named Dan, and thus some sort of adjective was needed. One of us became Black Pants Dan (he liked to wear blank pants), RA Dan (he was our RA), Little Dan (he was short) and myself, Buff Dan, since I have a near fanatical devotion to the Buffalo Bills, and Buffalo is a more well known city than Rochester. Besides, Roch Dan sounds kinda lame.
So that's me in a nutshell (help I'm trapped in a nutshell). As I tend to have lots of thoughts swirling in my head, this blog will hopefully serve as a way for me to get them written down, in the hopes that they will quiet down. That of course is figurative; I don't hear voices or anything, but I do have more than my share of crazy. So I should fit in here on the Interweb.
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