We are back from Lawton OK. It was a crazy trip. We checked in to Army Lodging at Fort Sill - only to find that the sheets on our bed were hairy. Super hairy. Ask for new sheets - they don't arrive for 45 minutes. Apparently, there is limited maid service - that is, only the maintenance guy is working on the weekends. We go out to dinner, and return to the room. We are there for 20 minutes when the power goes out. When I say the power goes out - it's out for all of Fort Sill. There is absolutely no working electricity. We get a little fed up and find an available room at a Ramada. We thought Ramada's were nice hotels. Not so much. This one was so sketchy - I really did fear for my life. There was one shining star in all of this - Henry, the guy at the front desk. Man, he was amazing - we checked in, and then 20 minutes later checked out. I can't imagine how he deals with it. He should really be working at a nice hotel - like the Hampton or Fairfield Inn. So we returned to Army Lodging. It was only after we have gone to Walmart to get a flashlight, that the power was back on - approximately 11:30 at night.
Monday was markedly better - we visited 2 apartment complexes, and was advised at the second to go see a newly built complex for some other layouts. We walked into the 3rd complex and looked at this great 2 bedroom/bathroom flat. We debated for about a half an hour and decided to just go for it. Everything is brand new - appliances, fixtures, carpet, wood floors, we even have a washer and dryer hook up. I'm excited to not have to walk outside to do laundry. Bigger plus, it's cool to have pets there, just a deposit and no monthly fee afterwards. We are stepping down a bit in square footage - but the new place has several really large closets - our current apartment doesn't have much of this type of space. I am confident we can make it work though. So, we should be in the new apartment on July 29th. I'll have to send out an email to update all this information for everyone.
With that, we got our flight moved up a day. So we got back to El Paso on Tuesday - just early enough to experience probably one of the largest rain storms of the year. That was fun outside of the water dripping through the window sills. Hurray for being able to move soon. This morning I got one of my two packages from circuit city. It is not my wii fit. It's the accessories I had to bundle with it. I'll probably get the fit tomorrow after we have left for our honeymoon. Maybe it'll come early in the morning like the accessories did. But who cares. We are going to London tomorrow. I can't wait!
Catch up with you later - oh yeah, the proofs are available online now from the wedding.
WEDDING PROOFS!!!
Okay, yes I am a tad bit excited. But today, one day before we head out to Lawton to look at apartments, and the zoom off on our honeymoon, we received the proofs of our wedding pictures in the mail. Our photographer, Lauren Grabelle, did an amazing job. Andy doesn't really like taking pictures, so when we finished looking through the lot (and when I say lot, I mean LOT), he said those pictures were great. High praise! Plus, we had a lot of fun looking through them. There was a lot of, "oh, and we were talking about this when this was taken." They really are great. So I need to thank everyone who was a part of the day - it really was great.
Since we have the proofs, this means that they should be going up online very soon. For anyone who couldn't make it, I am going to attempt a cut here with all of the online photo info, so that you can see the shots. I would suggest taking a look at them next week, which is probably when they will become active.
This is probably the last post for a while - unless I can get one in during our short turn around on Wednesday. Wait until the 20th to get Lawton and Honeymoon updates and photos on facebook.
Oh yeah, here's to an enjoyable July 4th weekend everyone!!
Since we have the proofs, this means that they should be going up online very soon. For anyone who couldn't make it, I am going to attempt a cut here with all of the online photo info, so that you can see the shots. I would suggest taking a look at them next week, which is probably when they will become active.
go to: www.lgphoto.com
click on: online events
This will take you to a new site. You will be asked for an event code.
event code: theresaandrew
Go nuts looking at our special day.
click on: online events
This will take you to a new site. You will be asked for an event code.
event code: theresaandrew
Go nuts looking at our special day.
This is probably the last post for a while - unless I can get one in during our short turn around on Wednesday. Wait until the 20th to get Lawton and Honeymoon updates and photos on facebook.
Oh yeah, here's to an enjoyable July 4th weekend everyone!!
Wii FIT!!!!
I have been looking for a Wii FIT since I have arrived in El Paso - at the beginning of June. Mind you, I have been kicking myself in the butt for not preordering it back when it first came out, since I knew I wanted it. I just didn't think it was a good monetary choice, seeing as there was still wedding related things to pay for. Thanks to Kate for telling me about
RefreshThing
and my own google searching for
Zooalert
that this morning both told me about Circuit City having them in stock. In my insanity I tried to get a single Wii FIT in my cart. Only to realize I needed to get a bundle. So I added a travel case and a cover to my cart and magically the Wii FIT appeared in my cart. Hurray!!! So I think I am set on video games for a while. I haven't really wanted any - I did get a chance to play rock band. It's fun - but I don't think I'd get it for a while.
I should get the FIT in the short time between getting back from Lawton and heading out on the Honeymoon. We'll see if I get a chance to play it. I'm happy, and I think Andy is finally happy he doesn't have to see me with a sad face when I miss attempting to get a FIT.
RefreshThing
and my own google searching for
Zooalert
that this morning both told me about Circuit City having them in stock. In my insanity I tried to get a single Wii FIT in my cart. Only to realize I needed to get a bundle. So I added a travel case and a cover to my cart and magically the Wii FIT appeared in my cart. Hurray!!! So I think I am set on video games for a while. I haven't really wanted any - I did get a chance to play rock band. It's fun - but I don't think I'd get it for a while.
I should get the FIT in the short time between getting back from Lawton and heading out on the Honeymoon. We'll see if I get a chance to play it. I'm happy, and I think Andy is finally happy he doesn't have to see me with a sad face when I miss attempting to get a FIT.
July
Wow, a travel intensive month. On Sunday, we will be heading to Lawton, OK to find an apartment while Andy is attending class at Fort Sill. We come back to El Paso only to get on another plane the next day for the Honeymoon. I can't wait - London and Paris. I plan on taking lots of pictures. I really am excited. I haven't been on a huge vacation trip in a while. More detailed report to come later, rest assured. When we return, we have one week to get everything together to move to OK. Another new place to say I have lived. Crazy really.
I am hoping while we are in OK to get a rescue pug. I have been looking at dogs at Homeward Bound Pug Rescue. There are a couple of pugs here that I think would be so much fun - like Dexter, Baby & Buddy, Biscuit, Dirk, and well sheesh, if I could I'd adopt as many as I can. I'll have to see about the apartment dog situation. But hopefully I could make a call to the rescue and maybe talk to them to find out more information. By the by, OK has a lot of pug puppy mills. So I think I have a good chance of finding a good dog. But the catch is...Andy gets a cat. Hopefully one I am not really allergic too. That would be fun.
Oh yeah, maybe I'll try to find a job - does Cameron University need any adjunct faculty?
I am hoping while we are in OK to get a rescue pug. I have been looking at dogs at Homeward Bound Pug Rescue. There are a couple of pugs here that I think would be so much fun - like Dexter, Baby & Buddy, Biscuit, Dirk, and well sheesh, if I could I'd adopt as many as I can. I'll have to see about the apartment dog situation. But hopefully I could make a call to the rescue and maybe talk to them to find out more information. By the by, OK has a lot of pug puppy mills. So I think I have a good chance of finding a good dog. But the catch is...Andy gets a cat. Hopefully one I am not really allergic too. That would be fun.
Oh yeah, maybe I'll try to find a job - does Cameron University need any adjunct faculty?
Army
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.
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.
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