Friday, December 02, 2005
Exeter
Yup, I'm going to Exeter tomorrow, partly for fun, and mostly because I'm giving a talk on Sunday titled "What is math research?" I gave my practice talk today, and people were much more interested and engaged than I had even hoped. Let us hope that it is the same for the real thing.
I hear the Putnam is tomorrow. Oops! I was going to try to find a way to take it. I only took the first half last year, and I didn't come back for the second half. Then when I got the results back, I did well enough that it would have been a good idea to take both parts. Oops. I guess there's always next year.
In other math news, I appear in the MAA Fall 2005 Student Chapter News. My name is about 1/3 of the way down, if you bother to click on the link. Also, I now own the orange feather boa that the very annoying woman with the large sunglasses who decided to give a talk aimed at first-graders to college students at a national math convention is wearing in a picture about 1/5 of the way down. It looks sort of pink in the picture, but it's actually orange. She was like "if you solve this problem before the end of the talk, I'll give you my autograph." I didn't want her autograph, but the talk was so ridiculous that it was a way better use of my time to solve a math problem than it was to listen to it. And then she felt bad and gave me her boa. The story is longer than that, but I'll stop there.
Well, my train is early early, so I'd best go to sleep.
I hear the Putnam is tomorrow. Oops! I was going to try to find a way to take it. I only took the first half last year, and I didn't come back for the second half. Then when I got the results back, I did well enough that it would have been a good idea to take both parts. Oops. I guess there's always next year.
In other math news, I appear in the MAA Fall 2005 Student Chapter News. My name is about 1/3 of the way down, if you bother to click on the link. Also, I now own the orange feather boa that the very annoying woman with the large sunglasses who decided to give a talk aimed at first-graders to college students at a national math convention is wearing in a picture about 1/5 of the way down. It looks sort of pink in the picture, but it's actually orange. She was like "if you solve this problem before the end of the talk, I'll give you my autograph." I didn't want her autograph, but the talk was so ridiculous that it was a way better use of my time to solve a math problem than it was to listen to it. And then she felt bad and gave me her boa. The story is longer than that, but I'll stop there.
Well, my train is early early, so I'd best go to sleep.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
You're welcome, Valerie,
but you know, I have an e-mail account. If you want to send me private messages, you can send them to my e-mail account. But since you insist on posting private messages on the Internet, I shall have to post a picture of you on the Internet. Gasp!
This is a picture of Valerie standing in the recycling bin wearing boots.
Valerie actually asked me to take this picture. She said something like "you have a camera, right? Go get it." That is not a direct quote, but it gives you the sense of her sentiments.
We sure compacted that recycling. The entire trash room was basically full of recycling, but after the compacting extravaganza, it all fit into that one little bin. After Valerie got out, that is.
This is a picture of Valerie standing in the recycling bin wearing boots.
Valerie actually asked me to take this picture. She said something like "you have a camera, right? Go get it." That is not a direct quote, but it gives you the sense of her sentiments.
We sure compacted that recycling. The entire trash room was basically full of recycling, but after the compacting extravaganza, it all fit into that one little bin. After Valerie got out, that is.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Save lids, save lives
If you like breast cancer research and you like running, then you should run a Susan G. Komen breast cancer race. But if you prefer yogurt to running, then Yoplait has a promotion for you. See, their yogurts have pink lids, and if you lick them off and send them in, Yoplait will donate 10 cents to the Komen foundation for each one. So if you're into buying delicious and somewhat expensive yogurt in a six-ounce package, Yoplait is the yogurt for you.
I have an envelope in my room with about 30 such pink lids in it. That's right, Albion House eats Yoplait like nobody's business. Except that even our extreme efforts will only result in a $3 donation to research. Thus, you have to eat Yoplait too! And tell your friends! And save your lids, and send them in!
Alternatively, instead of paying $1 for a yogurt that yields $0.10 to cancer research, you could just donate the entire dollar here. That would probably work better, but then again, Yoplait yogurt is delicious, especially the custard variety, so you can just eat ten times as much!
This promotion lasts until December 31. So eat up, and ask for yogurt for Christmas.
In other news, I made it to the Quote Wall. Hooray for procrastinating on my policy paper and saying something eloquent.
I have an envelope in my room with about 30 such pink lids in it. That's right, Albion House eats Yoplait like nobody's business. Except that even our extreme efforts will only result in a $3 donation to research. Thus, you have to eat Yoplait too! And tell your friends! And save your lids, and send them in!
Alternatively, instead of paying $1 for a yogurt that yields $0.10 to cancer research, you could just donate the entire dollar here. That would probably work better, but then again, Yoplait yogurt is delicious, especially the custard variety, so you can just eat ten times as much!
This promotion lasts until December 31. So eat up, and ask for yogurt for Christmas.
In other news, I made it to the Quote Wall. Hooray for procrastinating on my policy paper and saying something eloquent.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Brilliant, part 2
So, as it turns out, the Brilliant was not an America's Cup vessel. I showed Ronit the Brilliant this weekend and he was terribly unimpressed. He thought I had run into some super craft, and this was just a wooden boat with its mast out for the winter. But actually, the Brilliant was a pretty awesome yacht. She was a private yacht, built in the 1930s, and when she was given to Mystic Seaport, she came with an endowment to keep her in sailing condition (unlike, for instance, the Morgan, the Conrad, and the Dunton, none of which go sailing anymore). In fact, earlier this fall I saw her going upriver. Well anyway, just in case you weren't impressed, here is a picture:
Pretty awesome, no? I bet you wish you had an out-of-control JY-15 to run into such a vessel. If you're actually interested, here is more info about the Brilliant.
Okay, back to policy, back to policy, this week is going to be rough.
Oh, and by the way, that self-promoting text on my Web page was not supposed to be there forever; I just wanted text on the front page and thought that was better than lorem ipsum. If you have any suggestions -- self-promoting suggestions are requested -- of things that I should link to, please let me know. The current better-looking state of my Web page just makes its content even more sad.
Pretty awesome, no? I bet you wish you had an out-of-control JY-15 to run into such a vessel. If you're actually interested, here is more info about the Brilliant.
Okay, back to policy, back to policy, this week is going to be rough.
Oh, and by the way, that self-promoting text on my Web page was not supposed to be there forever; I just wanted text on the front page and thought that was better than lorem ipsum. If you have any suggestions -- self-promoting suggestions are requested -- of things that I should link to, please let me know. The current better-looking state of my Web page just makes its content even more sad.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving was nice. I tried to cook a 4.5-pound turkey that was still frozen, and after 8.5 hours in the oven it was still not up to temperature, so we microwaved it. The potatoes and the pumpkin bread turned out well, though.
We were at the seaport yesterday and there was randomly this Christmas parade of boats with lights, music, and Santa Clauses just coming from the drawbridge to the seaport. It was really nice. But I think all the adults were drunk.
Tonight I watched Master and Commander. We had a choice of watching the three-hour movie or reading the 500-page book. The works are not the same story -- the movie draws from several of the M & C volumes -- but the movie was pretty good.
I overhauled my Web page. You should probably take a look at it. Just don't look at the source code. I finally have the buttons on the side that I have wanted for years now. Aaah, buttons on the side. Here it is.. Ronit says he will help me overhaul it much better soon, which I say will be after the policy paper, the science presentations, and my math talk. Today was css; php is the future.
We were at the seaport yesterday and there was randomly this Christmas parade of boats with lights, music, and Santa Clauses just coming from the drawbridge to the seaport. It was really nice. But I think all the adults were drunk.
Tonight I watched Master and Commander. We had a choice of watching the three-hour movie or reading the 500-page book. The works are not the same story -- the movie draws from several of the M & C volumes -- but the movie was pretty good.
I overhauled my Web page. You should probably take a look at it. Just don't look at the source code. I finally have the buttons on the side that I have wanted for years now. Aaah, buttons on the side. Here it is.. Ronit says he will help me overhaul it much better soon, which I say will be after the policy paper, the science presentations, and my math talk. Today was css; php is the future.
