I've discovered that there is an app for the Google blogger. This should make it easier to update the blog from my internet-free home. I know, how can anyone live without home internet?! I've asked that numerous times, but I've been doing it with little inconvenience for just over a year. It would be unimaginable without the smart phone, though.
This past weekend I had a friend in from Orlando. It was a much needed, albeit ill-timed, break. It was not a very academically productive weekend, but was very good for my mental health.
Tomorrow I have my first grad school exam. It's in analysis, which I feel pretty good about. So, as one might expect, I was up at school much later than usual tonight...updating my kayak blog (which can be found here: http://yakkityyak-talkingback.blogspot.com/). Why do today what can be out off until...well...
Monday, October 3, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
A cursory update
It's been a while since I've updated, and I haven't spoken with too many folks, so those of you who haven't forgotten all about me are probably wondering what the heck is up!
Well, the semester is well underway. I changed offices just after my last post, so I am now on the fourth floor sharing an office with Alex, another first-year from Russia, and an upper-level grad student from China. I have only seen her a couple of times. I don't know what year she is, what area she is in, or how to pronounce her name!
I usually get to campus early, around 7am. It's a great time to be up here and be productive because there are very few people around.
It's also easier driving in at that time. I've got about a 15 minute drive, as opposed to a 30 minute drive if I come in between 8 and 930ish. And after 10, parking is not a given. There is not a lot of parking here. There are a couple of lots that are close to LeConte, but they are very small and are usually full. From where I park I've got a 15 min (or so) walk in. It's a good time to unwind. When it rains I'm grateful that I'm comfortable walking barefoot as I find myself trudging through 6-10 inches of running water at several points in my journey! That would really suck in tennis shoes!
I'm taking analysis, modern algebra, and graph theory. Analysis is a blast, graph theory is pretty cool, and algebra is going to be the end of me! The whole situation surrounding that course is challenging for all of us, so I'll just do what I can to plug through. It is definitely a pretty major concern right now. But, when I spend time on my own going through the material I always get a kick out of it, it's pretty cool stuff. Unfortunately, we all find the class itself seem to be counter-productive.
The classes that I'm teaching are a lot of fun. It can be time consuming to prepare, but I enjoy my time with the students. They seem to enjoy it as well. Many of the students see me as their last hope to survive calc II. Unfortunately I've already had dealings with the Office of Academic Integrity. I knew I would have to deal with it eventually, but I didn't expect it three weeks into my first "assignment". The students that I reported were respectful of my obligations, and my rapport with them even seems to have grown stronger.
Outside of school...well, there really isn't much. There's Wednesday and Thursday night trivia with students from the department and Friday evening happy hour with students and professors from the department.
But, I've been laying low the last couple of weeks. I've never been big on going out a lot, and I've just been exhausted lately.
We had the annual departmental picnic a couple of weeks ago. It was a good time and included all of the professors, grad students, and their families. It was held in a park on the Saluda River, so I showed up early with another first-year and the kayaks. We spent some time playing on the river. The water was gorgeous, but we were limited to a stretch of about 400 meters of river. There were rapids upstream. Naturally, we tried to paddle up them and coast back down, but we couldn't get too far. :-| I wanted to portage the boats up a ways, but Ed wasn't too keen on the idea. I guess it might have had something to do with the fact that he left his shoes in the car. And, there were rapids downstream. I was tempted to take the ride and then call someone to pick us up, but we weren't familiar with the river, didn't know what we would find, or if there would be anywhere to takeout that wasn't twenty miles downstream. Of course, all of the "rapids" I am speaking of might be better described as swift water. I almost ended up in the drink a couple of times when I was trying to paddle up them, but that was more due to submerged boulders stealthily jumping in my way. I've got photos of the river, and a wicked awesome tree house that was actually a real, full-size (little dilapidated) house up in the treetops on the bank. I've kept the camera with me in hopes of finding time to share some images on here, but this weekend I took it out at the house to try to catch some photos of my otter, and it is still at home. (All of my blog posts are done from the office since, for the time being, I do not have internet at home.) I guess those photos are better placed on the 'yaking blog anyway.
Last weekend I finally made it to the local zoo. It's not bad. I'm not crazy on the crowds, and I've come to realize I'm not crazy on animals locked up in cages. It's been a very long time since I've been to a zoo. But, we had a good time. We were there for a little under an hour and a half and I think we pretty much saw everything that they have to offer.
It is actually a join zoo/botanical gardens kinda thing. I'd like to go back and checkout the gardens some time, but we were out of time that weekend. We had to get up to school to get some work done.
In a little over an hour I'll be giving my first exam---that is, the first exam that I've written. It doesn't really count as far as I'm concerned, as it is a lab exam. I've employed some techniques that I've learned from my days as an undergrad, and there is no reason everyone shouldn't earn an exceptional grade. But, not everyone will. Hopefully most will, though. The professor of record has given me carte blanche, and it would be nice if the lab helped the students' final grades rather than hurting them. We shall see...
Oh, here's a random photo that I took while at trivia in the Vista...
Well, the semester is well underway. I changed offices just after my last post, so I am now on the fourth floor sharing an office with Alex, another first-year from Russia, and an upper-level grad student from China. I have only seen her a couple of times. I don't know what year she is, what area she is in, or how to pronounce her name!
 |
| LeConte, home of the USC Department of Mathematics, my second home. |
I usually get to campus early, around 7am. It's a great time to be up here and be productive because there are very few people around.
 |
| Taken while walking into the office early on a wet morning. |
It's also easier driving in at that time. I've got about a 15 minute drive, as opposed to a 30 minute drive if I come in between 8 and 930ish. And after 10, parking is not a given. There is not a lot of parking here. There are a couple of lots that are close to LeConte, but they are very small and are usually full. From where I park I've got a 15 min (or so) walk in. It's a good time to unwind. When it rains I'm grateful that I'm comfortable walking barefoot as I find myself trudging through 6-10 inches of running water at several points in my journey! That would really suck in tennis shoes!
I'm taking analysis, modern algebra, and graph theory. Analysis is a blast, graph theory is pretty cool, and algebra is going to be the end of me! The whole situation surrounding that course is challenging for all of us, so I'll just do what I can to plug through. It is definitely a pretty major concern right now. But, when I spend time on my own going through the material I always get a kick out of it, it's pretty cool stuff. Unfortunately, we all find the class itself seem to be counter-productive.
The classes that I'm teaching are a lot of fun. It can be time consuming to prepare, but I enjoy my time with the students. They seem to enjoy it as well. Many of the students see me as their last hope to survive calc II. Unfortunately I've already had dealings with the Office of Academic Integrity. I knew I would have to deal with it eventually, but I didn't expect it three weeks into my first "assignment". The students that I reported were respectful of my obligations, and my rapport with them even seems to have grown stronger.
Outside of school...well, there really isn't much. There's Wednesday and Thursday night trivia with students from the department and Friday evening happy hour with students and professors from the department.
 |
| Departmental Happy Hour at Jake's in Five Points |
We had the annual departmental picnic a couple of weeks ago. It was a good time and included all of the professors, grad students, and their families. It was held in a park on the Saluda River, so I showed up early with another first-year and the kayaks. We spent some time playing on the river. The water was gorgeous, but we were limited to a stretch of about 400 meters of river. There were rapids upstream. Naturally, we tried to paddle up them and coast back down, but we couldn't get too far. :-| I wanted to portage the boats up a ways, but Ed wasn't too keen on the idea. I guess it might have had something to do with the fact that he left his shoes in the car. And, there were rapids downstream. I was tempted to take the ride and then call someone to pick us up, but we weren't familiar with the river, didn't know what we would find, or if there would be anywhere to takeout that wasn't twenty miles downstream. Of course, all of the "rapids" I am speaking of might be better described as swift water. I almost ended up in the drink a couple of times when I was trying to paddle up them, but that was more due to submerged boulders stealthily jumping in my way. I've got photos of the river, and a wicked awesome tree house that was actually a real, full-size (little dilapidated) house up in the treetops on the bank. I've kept the camera with me in hopes of finding time to share some images on here, but this weekend I took it out at the house to try to catch some photos of my otter, and it is still at home. (All of my blog posts are done from the office since, for the time being, I do not have internet at home.) I guess those photos are better placed on the 'yaking blog anyway.
Last weekend I finally made it to the local zoo. It's not bad. I'm not crazy on the crowds, and I've come to realize I'm not crazy on animals locked up in cages. It's been a very long time since I've been to a zoo. But, we had a good time. We were there for a little under an hour and a half and I think we pretty much saw everything that they have to offer.
 |
| Alex feeding the goats at the zoo. |
In a little over an hour I'll be giving my first exam---that is, the first exam that I've written. It doesn't really count as far as I'm concerned, as it is a lab exam. I've employed some techniques that I've learned from my days as an undergrad, and there is no reason everyone shouldn't earn an exceptional grade. But, not everyone will. Hopefully most will, though. The professor of record has given me carte blanche, and it would be nice if the lab helped the students' final grades rather than hurting them. We shall see...
Oh, here's a random photo that I took while at trivia in the Vista...
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Five Points
Five Points is THE place in Columbia. One of my undergrad profs had his major dissertation break through while sitting in a bar in Five Points with the house band (later known as Hootie and the Blowfish---if you don't know who they are, you are entirely too young to be reading my blog!) playing in the background. The first bit of advice that I received upon learning that I would be moving here was to go check it out. This is where one finds most of the "urban recreation" venues. So, for you USC folks out there, I have down as commanded! I walked away from my first Five Points experience with a $10 giftcard to the local bar & grill, Harper's. This was the third place prize from trivia. We would have won first had it not been for all of the college football questions. Oh well, we'll get 'em next week!
Department Orientation
We had the math department orientation this morning. It consisted of a lot of the typical welcome, paperwork, and administrative stuff, and they went over the degree plan. For the next two years, this week will be consumed with qualifying and comprehensive exams, respectfully, so I should enjoy any leisure time now! I will qualify in Algebra and Analysis (rather than taking the more applied route). My comp topics are to be determined, but if my current interests hold and the offered course work out, I'm planning for functional analysis, topology, and perhaps graph theory.
More importantly, we recieved our office and course assignments today. I'm sharing a very long, narrow, windowless office with three other grad students. Two of my office mates are first year guys that were over the other night, both pure math (this pleases me). The third is a chick who is already established in the program and of whom I know nothing. I do not actually have a key to the office yet, but they are ordering more and one chick is meant to move out by Monday, so I should be getting one in the next couple of days.
I will be TAing two sections of a calculus 2 course. I will run a recitation and a Maple lab for each, so I'll be "teaching" four late-morning classes each week. Calc 1 (which most of the other students were assigned) would have been an easier assignement for a couole of reasons, but this is definitely the assignment I would have selected if given a choice. I'm thrilled with it. I am TAing for Dr. Kustin. I don't know much about him, but I'll be calling on my external resources (you know who you are!) for advice.
The university-wide grad student orientation was this afternoon. I sat with a large group of the new math students on the back row. After the first half hour of welcome addresses by various people (which many of us ignored in favor of browsing the calculus text, dept specific info, and training assignments we received this morning) we were given a break to meet people around us. A couple of my counterparts and I took this opportunity to discretely depart from this very boring, only slightly informative session. We wondered about campus a bit then called it a day, at least until we all meet up for trivia night and drink specials in Five Points in a couple of hours. Don't worry, living so far from campus I am shackled with the inevitable and eternal responsibility of being my own designated driver. :-/
I had some concerns about coming into a program that I had not visited, particularly since I did not get a great feel from the few programs that I did visit. But, all in all, I couldn't be happier with USC. It is definitely a "pure" program, and a good fit for me. I have only met the grad director and the chair, but they are both cool enough. And the other students are great. I was not impressed by the current or potential students at the programs I visited, so this is a huge relief. And having spent time with most everyone before hand was really beneficial. We were all comfortable with each other going in, many have interests that are similar to mine, and there is already a strong sense of camaraderie. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
More importantly, we recieved our office and course assignments today. I'm sharing a very long, narrow, windowless office with three other grad students. Two of my office mates are first year guys that were over the other night, both pure math (this pleases me). The third is a chick who is already established in the program and of whom I know nothing. I do not actually have a key to the office yet, but they are ordering more and one chick is meant to move out by Monday, so I should be getting one in the next couple of days.
I will be TAing two sections of a calculus 2 course. I will run a recitation and a Maple lab for each, so I'll be "teaching" four late-morning classes each week. Calc 1 (which most of the other students were assigned) would have been an easier assignement for a couole of reasons, but this is definitely the assignment I would have selected if given a choice. I'm thrilled with it. I am TAing for Dr. Kustin. I don't know much about him, but I'll be calling on my external resources (you know who you are!) for advice.
The university-wide grad student orientation was this afternoon. I sat with a large group of the new math students on the back row. After the first half hour of welcome addresses by various people (which many of us ignored in favor of browsing the calculus text, dept specific info, and training assignments we received this morning) we were given a break to meet people around us. A couple of my counterparts and I took this opportunity to discretely depart from this very boring, only slightly informative session. We wondered about campus a bit then called it a day, at least until we all meet up for trivia night and drink specials in Five Points in a couple of hours. Don't worry, living so far from campus I am shackled with the inevitable and eternal responsibility of being my own designated driver. :-/
I had some concerns about coming into a program that I had not visited, particularly since I did not get a great feel from the few programs that I did visit. But, all in all, I couldn't be happier with USC. It is definitely a "pure" program, and a good fit for me. I have only met the grad director and the chair, but they are both cool enough. And the other students are great. I was not impressed by the current or potential students at the programs I visited, so this is a huge relief. And having spent time with most everyone before hand was really beneficial. We were all comfortable with each other going in, many have interests that are similar to mine, and there is already a strong sense of camaraderie. We'll see what tomorrow brings!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The Adventure Begins
The initial entry of any great blog must include justification for its existence... So, I've moved away from family and friends (and friends that might as well be family) to start the next chapter of my life. But, I'm not always great at keeping people updated on what's going on with me, and some people, particularly my family, find this to be one of my more distressing qualities. Hopefully, if I manage to keep this updated, this blog will serve as a good supplement to individual communications. Also, I am continuing a USC legacy started by several of my undergrad professors. These professors, and others, are eager to relive their gradschool days vicariously through me. Some folks won't believe it, but I'm not really a fan of blogging. I enjoy doing it, but I'm not presumptuous enough to think that all that many people really care what I have to say! None-the-less, here it is...
I've been in Columbia for a little over a week now. I'm about 10 miles from downtown (where the campus is located) so I haven't really seen much of the city yet. I'm in a two-story duplex on a lake. The neighborhood might be considered "questionable", but I feel comfortable and safe, and the neighbors that I have met seem to be pretty cool. I'm liking the house more an more, and I'm loving the lake and my daily kayaking trips. The downstairs (kitchen, living/dining room, utility room) is unpacked and awaiting the arrival of a new tv and drumset. The upstairs (bedroom, master bed converted to an office, and bathroom)...well, it's not nearly settled, but perhaps today will be a productive one.
I invited all of the new students over last night. Of the 12 entering (including myself) 10 were here, plus one fiancé. Looks like it's going to be a good group. Everyone is pretty chill, and the social awkwardness that is the math student stereotype is minimual if it's there at all. 5 chicks, 7 guys. Everyone seemed to have fun and we all got on smashingly.
Training and orientation sessions begin tomorrow. Classes begin the 18th. I'll meet for advising Friday, but I expect I will be taking Analysis, Algebra, and Graph Theory. I also expect to be teaching a few sections of Calculus lab and recitation, but I reckon that assignment will be finalized after my class registration is official. I've no idea what to expect, but I'm planning to have fun with it!
I've been in Columbia for a little over a week now. I'm about 10 miles from downtown (where the campus is located) so I haven't really seen much of the city yet. I'm in a two-story duplex on a lake. The neighborhood might be considered "questionable", but I feel comfortable and safe, and the neighbors that I have met seem to be pretty cool. I'm liking the house more an more, and I'm loving the lake and my daily kayaking trips. The downstairs (kitchen, living/dining room, utility room) is unpacked and awaiting the arrival of a new tv and drumset. The upstairs (bedroom, master bed converted to an office, and bathroom)...well, it's not nearly settled, but perhaps today will be a productive one.
I invited all of the new students over last night. Of the 12 entering (including myself) 10 were here, plus one fiancé. Looks like it's going to be a good group. Everyone is pretty chill, and the social awkwardness that is the math student stereotype is minimual if it's there at all. 5 chicks, 7 guys. Everyone seemed to have fun and we all got on smashingly.
Training and orientation sessions begin tomorrow. Classes begin the 18th. I'll meet for advising Friday, but I expect I will be taking Analysis, Algebra, and Graph Theory. I also expect to be teaching a few sections of Calculus lab and recitation, but I reckon that assignment will be finalized after my class registration is official. I've no idea what to expect, but I'm planning to have fun with it!
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