Well, I am in the army now. I have been having some difficulty getting used to it. Not having total control over what I am doing and when i am doing it - has caused some tension. I have feel that I have very little knowledge of the military - I don't feel like I am in the club yet - so I fear I might make some serious public snafu. But I think so far I am doing alright. The big test is today. Andy will be getting promoted to Captain. I do have a part in the ceremony. I am really anxious about being in front of people I don't know. Oh well. Maybe I'll put some shots up on facebook.
Other news. I still have thank you notes to write. We had a barbeque on Saturday which was nice - went a little overboard on the food. But hey I can't complain about leftovers. I met a few people. They all have been very nice. I've procured a few new Wii games. Lego: Indiana Jones - a lot of fun to play. Each level you have what you need to make it through - but there are parts that are locked - so as you unlock more characters from each movie you can replay levels and get more hidden stuff. The Dog Island - a recommendation to me. I don't do to well with Action RPGs like Resident Evil, so this is definitely more my speed. You play as a dog and your sister/brother dog gets ill. You are on a mission to find a special dog doctor to make your sibling well. I like it - Andy finds it somewhat childish. And for the big score - Sunday we went to Best Buy and was able to pick up Mario Kart Wii. Needless to say, last night we spent the evening kart-ing. You start with 4 basic cups, 10 characters to choose from, and 6 possible vehicles. What is neat - some of the Mario Kart races come from previous versions of Mario Kart - like Peach Beach and Waluigi Stadium. There are a couple of new items - although I'm not so sure since I only compare the game to the N64 version. My pet peeve - as I opened the Mario Kart game box - I checked to see what controllers are usable for the game. I thought that you needed to have the wheel. Apparently not. You can play with the remote and nunchuks, the original controller, or a game cube controller. Pain in the behind - why doesn't Nintendo just sell the darn game by itself. People want to play the game - but it's hard to find because YOU (Nintendo) have to package it with the a darn wheel. Anyway, I will say the wheel is fun to play with and we managed to unlock one of the 4 extra cups last night. If anyone is listening out there, I just want a Wii Fit for my birthday - yes, it is still 2 months away, but that is what I want.
Anyway - I have some things to do - like figure out what to wear to this promotion ceremony. Catch ya later.
Long Overdue
If this post were like an overdue library book, I would probably have to pay a fine of close to $20. This will most likely turn into a bullet post of everything that has happened thus far because I'm quite certain I will forget something if I try to write it in paragraph form.
Catch everyone later!
- I handed in my thesis, An Exploration in the History of Littlewood’s Conjecture. My guess is right now it is in the process of being bound into a hardcover book. I suppose I will now have two coffee table books with my name on it.
- On May 9, I graduated from the University of South Carolina. I received my Master of Arts in Mathematics - when I will actually receive the piece of paper that says this...I have no idea. But at least it is noted on my transcript. I did not walk for graduation. Instead, I attended my brother Matthew's graduation from Virginia Tech. He received his Bachelor degree in History. I'm very proud of him. I got the chance to sit in Lane Stadium, one of the rowdiest (sp?) college football stadiums in the country, for free. That probably won't happen again, unless Matt decides to walk when he graduates from Graduate School. He is now part of the Graduate History Department at Tech.
- To be honest the next two weeks are a blur in my mind. It was probably filled with a ton of running around speaking to all of the vendors. I did enjoy the fact that I got to hang out with my cousin Alycia while putting together nearly one hundred tea favors for the reception. I had a bit of fun hanging out with some of the girls for a Girls Night Out. Oh, and I have to say, this is the first time in my life I have gotten my nails done. Wow, it was really soothing, not to mention it came out about 50 times better than if I had attempted it myself.
- May 24 was the big day. It went off relatively smoothly. The guys had a bit of a snafu with the tuxes. I think they were more worried about the possibility that I might have some sort of nervous breakdown if the tuxes didn't match. But I was really quite physically spent from the prior two weeks of running around- and that was before all of the fun had started. I nearly fell asleep while getting my hair done at the salon that morning. The guys were relieved that I didn't care about the color of the tux. More than once, the vendors told me I was one of the most relaxed brides they've had in a while. I think it was for the best that I decided to just let these people do their jobs. I'm going to enjoy seeing and speaking to everyone and let the vendors do their thing. That is what I paid them to do. I couldn't believe that the day went so quickly. It was a lot of fun and I can't help but thank everyone who was there for a wonderful time. I should get proofs from the photographer by the end of July - at which point they should show up online (for anyone who is wondering).
- These past two weeks have been ... well a trip. We (my parents included) drove to South Carolina to completely move all of my things from my apartment. I kinda miss the apartment and Columbia. It turned out to be a good experience after all - even if I managed to be allergic to the state. I will miss all the friends I made there. After a day of packing, we drove out to El Paso. We drove through, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and across the state of Texas. We all spent a few days unloading my things and exploring El Paso. Then my parents and I drove back to NJ - taking a different route - through Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, to Virginia. At which point, we took the familiar I-81 trip back home. Hopefully I will get some photos on facebook from the drives.
- We made it just in time for my Great Aunt Dora's 100th birthday. What a trip. To be around from 1908-2008. She has seen a lot and what is more amazing she still has the mental acuity to tell you all the details of things that happened 20 - 30 - 40 - 50... years ago. I'm only a quarter of the way there - let's see how long I can manage.
- Last Monday was nutty. I ran around from government agency to government agency in an attempt to get the ball rolling with a name change. So, I spent the day waiting around in some hard chairs. But it was a successful day. I then hopped on a flight the next morning back to Texas. It probably was the cheapest flight I have ever gotten the day before I needed to get somewhere.
- Wednesday and Thursday was spend getting myself in the Army system. Actually, that really happened in under 2 hours on Wednesday. On Thursday it took nearly all day to get Happy Car in the system. But that is all done.
Catch everyone later!
Drum Roll Please....
Yesterday, I had a big accomplishment. I walked to the Graduate School and handed in my thesis for format check. Hurray!!! Total math writing: 32 pages. Whole paper: 36 pages. I feel a little odd considering the past like 3 weeks I have been stressing over how I am going to finish it - and ::pow:: it just creeped up on me without knowing it. Right now I am in the process of creating a presentation - no, not in Powerpoint, yuck. LaTeX makes very pretty pdf slides - plus it makes nicer math than Office does.
I have only a month to go for everything. I am proud of myself that I managed to get all of my lectures finished before my paper got handed in. That means I can relax somewhat on that front. Only have a final review sheet and exam to come up with. yippee!
Wedding news- wow, things are coming together. That means I can't keep putting it off - like calling the DJ - which I had successfully put off for nearly 3 weeks. Guess I should jump on that soon. Working on favors - ordered some samples and if they look good and taste good :::wink-wink::: then I will just put an order in for them really quick. The response cards keep coming in - at last count we had yes-es from 50 people on the list. I keep praying there will be enough room in the hall.
Outside of that, the rest of the year just seems to have been planned out. I'm not sure how that happened but it did. Finish up school, see brother graduate, get married, move loads of 'stuff' to TX, honeymoon, Amanda's wedding, somehow getting ourselves to OK, Beckie's wedding, maybe I'll look for a job, maybe I'll go to Disney in Dec (I am going through withdrawal - it would be almost a year and half.)
I think it may be time for bed.
Oh if you happen to be bored try playing HPFantrips Harry Potter Quest. I find it quite addictive. Why, yes, it is the reason I can not get myself to be motivated. How could anyone be motivated to do work if there is a Harry Potter themed online quest to do?!?!?
Addendum
Gosh how could I have forgotten this?!?! I purchased Happy Car almost 3 years ago. Every month I have religiously paid my loan installments. After a bunch of saving, last week I was able to pay off my loan 2 years early. It feels so freeing. Happy Car will officially be mine in about a week or so when I receive the title from the bank. Not to mention it is nice to get a chance to put that monthly payment to other uses - not that i'll be getting paid much past the end of the semester.
I have only a month to go for everything. I am proud of myself that I managed to get all of my lectures finished before my paper got handed in. That means I can relax somewhat on that front. Only have a final review sheet and exam to come up with. yippee!
Wedding news- wow, things are coming together. That means I can't keep putting it off - like calling the DJ - which I had successfully put off for nearly 3 weeks. Guess I should jump on that soon. Working on favors - ordered some samples and if they look good and taste good :::wink-wink::: then I will just put an order in for them really quick. The response cards keep coming in - at last count we had yes-es from 50 people on the list. I keep praying there will be enough room in the hall.
Outside of that, the rest of the year just seems to have been planned out. I'm not sure how that happened but it did. Finish up school, see brother graduate, get married, move loads of 'stuff' to TX, honeymoon, Amanda's wedding, somehow getting ourselves to OK, Beckie's wedding, maybe I'll look for a job, maybe I'll go to Disney in Dec (I am going through withdrawal - it would be almost a year and half.)
I think it may be time for bed.
Oh if you happen to be bored try playing HPFantrips Harry Potter Quest. I find it quite addictive. Why, yes, it is the reason I can not get myself to be motivated. How could anyone be motivated to do work if there is a Harry Potter themed online quest to do?!?!?
Addendum
Gosh how could I have forgotten this?!?! I purchased Happy Car almost 3 years ago. Every month I have religiously paid my loan installments. After a bunch of saving, last week I was able to pay off my loan 2 years early. It feels so freeing. Happy Car will officially be mine in about a week or so when I receive the title from the bank. Not to mention it is nice to get a chance to put that monthly payment to other uses - not that i'll be getting paid much past the end of the semester.
Tanning
Clearly, not me. But since it was over 70 degrees out today and burn your eyes sunny out you can guess there were people out tanning by the pool this afternoon.
Spring Break was exhausting. It was wonderful to get a chance to see everyone during the shower. That I am thankful for.
You know how people have a tendency to ask older, wiser, or famous people for advice. I've decided that if someone were to ever ask me for any sort of advice, my advice would be never to finish graduate work and set a wedding date within the same month - that is if you are a crazy worry-wart like I am.
I'll write again in another couple of weeks so you all know I haven't completely frazzled myself.
Spring Break was exhausting. It was wonderful to get a chance to see everyone during the shower. That I am thankful for.
You know how people have a tendency to ask older, wiser, or famous people for advice. I've decided that if someone were to ever ask me for any sort of advice, my advice would be never to finish graduate work and set a wedding date within the same month - that is if you are a crazy worry-wart like I am.
I'll write again in another couple of weeks so you all know I haven't completely frazzled myself.
Just askin' for it...
I don't know what is the matter with me. I wish I had someone around in my meeting with my advisor today. Someone to smack me upside the head and say, "Why the heck would you want to do more work?" My advisor informed me that we have pretty much finished investigated the many body of work. That I really only need to work on what is left - my, well, crappy introduction chapter and the semi-historic, not super math investigatory chapter 4. He confirmed that the topic was a good one to explore and the paper is good, based on a pure quantitative (number of pages) level. It will most likely run a bit over 30 pages without the front and back material. So he says we have time to take this a step further. Only if I want to. He won't push me. What spills out of my mouth? Yeah, sure.
Needless to say, I have spent most of the day smacking my hand against my forehead and muttering. I guess the upside is that this extension would add another 10-15 pages. If it doesn't all get completed by the first week of April, I can just leave it as an open problem. So I have until the first week of April to wrap all this up - at which I have to run all over the place to get things printed and signature-ized.
Okay - time to stop complaining and just hunker down and do the work.
Can't wait to go home for spring break. Get inundated with wedding stuff! This should be interesting.
Needless to say, I have spent most of the day smacking my hand against my forehead and muttering. I guess the upside is that this extension would add another 10-15 pages. If it doesn't all get completed by the first week of April, I can just leave it as an open problem. So I have until the first week of April to wrap all this up - at which I have to run all over the place to get things printed and signature-ized.
Okay - time to stop complaining and just hunker down and do the work.
Can't wait to go home for spring break. Get inundated with wedding stuff! This should be interesting.
Crazy proof
My thesis is centered on looking at the history of a conjecture which could probably be considered a mathematical philosophy question. It took nearly 30 years for it to be answered. At the heart of the question - is the natural ordering system we have always give us the best result? By natural ordering, I mean the basic way of counting - how we learn to organize and number - 1 cookie, 2 cookies, and so on. I guess when I say "result" I am being a bit vague - I don't want to get into the nitty gritty here - I think I might lose everyone if I actually explained it. Probably better think of it - suppose you have a very long list of grocery items and are looking to see if "carrot" is on the list. What is the best way to go searching for it? Start at the first item on the list and check them off? Maybe start at the bottom of the list and work your way up? What about start in the middle, consider the first half and check the middle of that, and so on and so on? Any one of these methods could be considered an ordering system - which item comes first, second, third in each method?
What is interesting is that in some situations (which is a really good thing for scientists or well certain scientists) that we have found orderings that give great results (under certain conditions). One group of functions has great behavior if we don't count by 1's but by powers of 2. In the case of functions that relate to this conjecture, we find that the functions as a group don't behave as nicely as we want them to do, but we can do no better than this "ugly" nature if we try to change the ordering.
So you now you are asking me - well why did you name this entry "Crazy proof"? The group of mathematicians who produced the proof submitted an article - the article is approximately 6 pages. The proof of what is the major find, from which you can prove the conjecture in less than 3 lines, is about 2.5 pages long (which by many people's standards is unbelievably short). I've spent almost 10 hours with my advisor working through the proof, plus another 10 or 15 trying to convince myself that things we spoke about were true and figuring out ways to spell all this out. So my full complete version of the proof is the total length of original article. Talk about taking some mathematical freedom when you get to submit journal articles. Yet I think the proof is unsatisfying - there doesn't seem to be any explanation of how the authors came up with their idea - it does not allow any wiggle room for using the ideas in similar contexts. It's quite possible the methods will lead to dead-ends if I try to use them in a new situation. Oh well.
In the meantime, actual writing - 25 pages (it may seem a bit low compared to before - I had to rewrite several pages and combined several proofs), total page count - 29 pages. I really only have about 2 sections left to work one - one that is more a historical account, the other my work. Oh yes - the introduction as well. It's pitiful really. I wish I had some ideas on how to rework that.
Lots of other craziness going on - the wedding detail stuff seems to be ramping up - at least a huge chunk of this work is out of the way. Catch you all later.
What is interesting is that in some situations (which is a really good thing for scientists or well certain scientists) that we have found orderings that give great results (under certain conditions). One group of functions has great behavior if we don't count by 1's but by powers of 2. In the case of functions that relate to this conjecture, we find that the functions as a group don't behave as nicely as we want them to do, but we can do no better than this "ugly" nature if we try to change the ordering.
So you now you are asking me - well why did you name this entry "Crazy proof"? The group of mathematicians who produced the proof submitted an article - the article is approximately 6 pages. The proof of what is the major find, from which you can prove the conjecture in less than 3 lines, is about 2.5 pages long (which by many people's standards is unbelievably short). I've spent almost 10 hours with my advisor working through the proof, plus another 10 or 15 trying to convince myself that things we spoke about were true and figuring out ways to spell all this out. So my full complete version of the proof is the total length of original article. Talk about taking some mathematical freedom when you get to submit journal articles. Yet I think the proof is unsatisfying - there doesn't seem to be any explanation of how the authors came up with their idea - it does not allow any wiggle room for using the ideas in similar contexts. It's quite possible the methods will lead to dead-ends if I try to use them in a new situation. Oh well.
In the meantime, actual writing - 25 pages (it may seem a bit low compared to before - I had to rewrite several pages and combined several proofs), total page count - 29 pages. I really only have about 2 sections left to work one - one that is more a historical account, the other my work. Oh yes - the introduction as well. It's pitiful really. I wish I had some ideas on how to rework that.
Lots of other craziness going on - the wedding detail stuff seems to be ramping up - at least a huge chunk of this work is out of the way. Catch you all later.
End of Week 6
I am exhausted. I think that covers everything. My brain hurts, my body aches, even my hair hurts. Maybe sometime in the future I can manage to catch a good night of sleep. By good I mean refreshing - where I wake up and say, hello day - let's do something!
Seeing as I should be getting to bed - make up class Saturday morning. Not so fun - but I rather it that time then at 5 at night during dinner. Anyway - thesis update: 23 pages of written math, total thesis page count 27.
Sorry, I don't even have the energy to finish this entry. I'll just leave it like this.
Seeing as I should be getting to bed - make up class Saturday morning. Not so fun - but I rather it that time then at 5 at night during dinner. Anyway - thesis update: 23 pages of written math, total thesis page count 27.
Sorry, I don't even have the energy to finish this entry. I'll just leave it like this.
Start of Week 5
I was really good about posting an entry there at the beginning of the semester. But now I have started to get all muddled with things. To be honest - sometimes I am amazed at the amount of random thoughts I have floating around in that gray matter. It is a wonder that I can even manage to string more than three words together while writing my thesis.
I will admit that I am getting bogged down by the details - for lots of things. As I have been told by many helpful camps - there really is not anything I can do about some situations. I can not get a hold of the forces of nature and bend space and time to get me the answers I need when I want them, which incidentally is right after I ask for them. Needless to say, I have been very cranky over the most annoyingly tiny things. I feel bad because I know that Andy has been taking the brunt of my "cranky attacks". Now let me clarify this a bit - I am not cranky about colors of flowers, table linens, silverware, or lighting. The actual practical aspects of the getting married - transportation, moving self and stuff to Texas, getting all the correct forms processed with the right agencies - all doing this in a very short time. Stupid math brain is having a battle of logistics - but there is not one single thing I can do about it. At least not now. Silly me, I can't have a problem like this and not be able to come up with some sort of solution that makes me happy. But I must say things are coming around rather well - wedding wise. So outside of stressing about silly things I have no control over - it is going great.
In the thesis arena - I have written about 12 solid pages of mathematics (even some full-fledged paragraphs too!). Current total pdf number of pages: 19. I am somewhat worried though. I spent the past 2 weeks or so on my own. Little to no adviser guidance. I feel like when we finally get to start meeting again - he will have ripped my 12 pages to half of that, or what is worse, try to make me expand on the little bit of information I have already written. But I guess I have to do it though - if it sounds reasonable. Flashback to when I wrote my honors math research at Dickinson. This work was 29 pages long - but a lion's share of the space was filled with happy triangle pictures. I guess I am on a good track. At Dickinson, it was like pulling teeth to get me to sit down and write that paper. I suppose it didn't help that I had a physics research project and paper to work on at the same time. I intend on spending the rest of February and most of March filling in the 3 chapters I have yet to even touch - and make little adjustments to the ones that I have started.
Teaching: oddly enough, going really well. I am surprised how well the students seem to be taking in the information that I am giving them. The class isn't anything near rigorous math - but every conceptual question I ask (that I would get no reply or blank stares from students when I ta-ed for the 141-142 calculus classes) the students seem to be able to answer without much prodding. More importantly, they respond with the correct ideas. So it is probably the best 50 minute class I have had. I would have more stories - except it is at 8 am and for some reason I breeze right through it and then have difficulty remembering the lecture afterwards.
Other news, Andy is coming for a the long weekend. Do I have off? No - no President's day for me. But it is nice that he gets off.
I think I deserve some cookies and milk. Catch you later.
I will admit that I am getting bogged down by the details - for lots of things. As I have been told by many helpful camps - there really is not anything I can do about some situations. I can not get a hold of the forces of nature and bend space and time to get me the answers I need when I want them, which incidentally is right after I ask for them. Needless to say, I have been very cranky over the most annoyingly tiny things. I feel bad because I know that Andy has been taking the brunt of my "cranky attacks". Now let me clarify this a bit - I am not cranky about colors of flowers, table linens, silverware, or lighting. The actual practical aspects of the getting married - transportation, moving self and stuff to Texas, getting all the correct forms processed with the right agencies - all doing this in a very short time. Stupid math brain is having a battle of logistics - but there is not one single thing I can do about it. At least not now. Silly me, I can't have a problem like this and not be able to come up with some sort of solution that makes me happy. But I must say things are coming around rather well - wedding wise. So outside of stressing about silly things I have no control over - it is going great.
In the thesis arena - I have written about 12 solid pages of mathematics (even some full-fledged paragraphs too!). Current total pdf number of pages: 19. I am somewhat worried though. I spent the past 2 weeks or so on my own. Little to no adviser guidance. I feel like when we finally get to start meeting again - he will have ripped my 12 pages to half of that, or what is worse, try to make me expand on the little bit of information I have already written. But I guess I have to do it though - if it sounds reasonable. Flashback to when I wrote my honors math research at Dickinson. This work was 29 pages long - but a lion's share of the space was filled with happy triangle pictures. I guess I am on a good track. At Dickinson, it was like pulling teeth to get me to sit down and write that paper. I suppose it didn't help that I had a physics research project and paper to work on at the same time. I intend on spending the rest of February and most of March filling in the 3 chapters I have yet to even touch - and make little adjustments to the ones that I have started.
Teaching: oddly enough, going really well. I am surprised how well the students seem to be taking in the information that I am giving them. The class isn't anything near rigorous math - but every conceptual question I ask (that I would get no reply or blank stares from students when I ta-ed for the 141-142 calculus classes) the students seem to be able to answer without much prodding. More importantly, they respond with the correct ideas. So it is probably the best 50 minute class I have had. I would have more stories - except it is at 8 am and for some reason I breeze right through it and then have difficulty remembering the lecture afterwards.
Other news, Andy is coming for a the long weekend. Do I have off? No - no President's day for me. But it is nice that he gets off.
I think I deserve some cookies and milk. Catch you later.
Elevator Encounter
Lately, after returning from school in the afternoon I have been taking the elevator to the 5th floor. It really is a cop out when you think there are 20 floors. I really do try to take the stairs. But on this fateful trip in the elevator I met a young gentlemen who is currently residing on the 3rd floor. Don't get me started on why he was in the elevator - even lacking a a heavy text-laden bookbag - he really should have taken the stairs. After he had kindly pressed the button for my floor as well as his, he gives me a funny look up and down.
"Do you happen to have any lady bug problems in the fifth floor?"
I almost wanted to laugh. But I kept a straight face and replied that yes, I had had a lady bug issue. He to asks me well what did you do? At this point you can imagine, the elevator door has already opened (we only traveled up 2 floors) and seemed to be on the verge of closing without the gentleman having gotten off. I told him I just got some bug spray and sprayed the door-jam for my balcony on a continuous basis for 3 days. After which I pointed to the elevator door, seeing as he hadn't realized it was starting to close. "Oh, thanks." You are welcome.
"Dear swarming Lady-Bug population, Thank you for choosing this guy's third floor apartment as your residence and not mine. -Theresa"
"Do you happen to have any lady bug problems in the fifth floor?"
I almost wanted to laugh. But I kept a straight face and replied that yes, I had had a lady bug issue. He to asks me well what did you do? At this point you can imagine, the elevator door has already opened (we only traveled up 2 floors) and seemed to be on the verge of closing without the gentleman having gotten off. I told him I just got some bug spray and sprayed the door-jam for my balcony on a continuous basis for 3 days. After which I pointed to the elevator door, seeing as he hadn't realized it was starting to close. "Oh, thanks." You are welcome.
"Dear swarming Lady-Bug population, Thank you for choosing this guy's third floor apartment as your residence and not mine. -Theresa"
2 weeks down
Less than 4 months til wedding.
Less than 3 months to complete thesis.
Currently, watching a pug dog lick a monitor screen.
Thanks to Suz and Chris for that one. What would I do without you? Maybe my work, I don't know.
Less than 3 months to complete thesis.
Currently, watching a pug dog lick a monitor screen.
Thanks to Suz and Chris for that one. What would I do without you? Maybe my work, I don't know.
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