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Monday, December 27, 2010

Semiannual update [December 27, 2010: 1537] Well, it's now been about 6 months since I left the Budapest story hanging. So, final notes on Budapest, first off. Also, there are pictures up, on my constantly rotating (curse you, non-Pro Flickr!) photo sets. Origins photos are also there. ( Return to Budapest, days 6-8, and Origins Game FairCollapse ) ( Other summer travelsCollapse ) ( The autumn of 2010Collapse ) Maybe I'll try to update more often in the coming year. I probably won't, but it's worth a shot. post comment

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Return to Budapestthe Puszta: day 5 [June 22, 2010: 0231] The scheduled activity for this day was a round of activities on the Hungarian prarie, known as the puszta, about which I'd known nothing. We drove on out to Bugac, where we were provided with a shepherd's breakfast, which is apparently pálinka and flatbread with sour cream and pork-fat. Afterwards we took a cart ride out through the meadows to a sheepfold and exhibition of sheep-herding tools. It's been a while since I'd been on any manner of horse-drawn conveyance, and there were a lot of wildflowers in the meadows: poppy, some manner of mustard, and some scrubby things which looked a bt like chamomile. We got a chance to get up close with a number of Hungarian specialty breeds: grey cattle, small long-haired Hungarian sheep, and the famous mangalica pig. Afterwards we went to a historical exhibition at Ópusztaszér, where there's a national heritage park. This is the alleged site of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian basin, and the site of a panoramic painting by Árpád Feszty celebrating this event. There are ruins local to this site: an ancient monestary which has been partially excavated, and, in addition there are several historic homes and elements of late 19th-century rural life which have been relocated to Ópusztaszér, whether in pieces, as whole buildings, or, where necessary, in reconstruction. So all in all there's a good feel for village life a century ago here. It was unfortunately a bit rainy, which reduced the pleasantness, but all in all it was a nice visit to a different sort of history than one encounters in the cities, which industrialized far earlier. For dinner we went out to a csadra in the neighborhood, which had excellent roast pork in ridiculously generous portions, and since there was still time in the evening after returning to Budapest, we went out for a few drinks. Next up: mathematical programming! And a little bit of striking out on my own. post comment

Monday, June 21, 2010

Return to BudapestPécs and Villány, Day 4 [June 21, 2010: 0144] Day 2 photos are mostly up. Enjoy! ( Two places which are not Budapest (but fun anyways)Collapse ) 1 comment|post comment

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Return to Budapest: Day 3 [June 20, 2010: 0122] Photos for Day 2 will be up soon. Future photos may come later, since I'll hit my Flickr update limit eventually. The day started out with a visit to the flea market way the hell south in Pest, which I'd heard about as a student but never visited. ( We never get more than a quarter-mile from the Duna, but we move from south to north.Collapse ) post comment

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Return to Budapest: Day 2 [June 19, 2010: 0136] Today was largely a tourism day. We all got up early for a tour given by the architect of the Ráczfurdő renovation. I'd never been to the Rácz before, but it's an interesting collection of interconnected sections from different periods. The tour was interesting although it got hung up on some details and dragged in places (the danger of getting an expert to speak on their field of expertise), and it was well worth it to see the place. It'll no doubt be splendid when it actually is done, but there was one distinct advantage in seeing it under construction: namely, being able to take pictures, which would be impossible or at least very gauche when it's full of naked people. ( In which our hero name-drops every major street in central PestCollapse ) Also: there are photos from day one of Budapest up on my flickr account. For some reason they got posted in reverse chronological order. Oops. post comment

Friday, June 18, 2010

Return to Budapest: Day 1 [June 18, 2010: 0153] At midday on Thursday I got on a plane to Detroit. And then a plane to JFK. And then a plane to Budapest. Other than inexplicable screw-ups and incompetence on the DTW-JFK leg, this mostly worked out. I got a bit of sleep on the JFK-BUD leg, and had a decent conversation with my seatmate, a physics studunt traveling with a group of colleagues for a 6-week study at the Eotvos. And so at 11 AM local I emerged only slightly wobbly into the Hungarian sun and took a shuttle to my hotel. I'm staying at the Golden Park Hotel, right across the street from the Keleti pályaudvar. It is convenient and extremely reasonably priced; on the other hand the room is tiny and a bit dingy (on long-term aspects like painting and worn carpeting; the linens and suchlike are clean). It's not like I'll be entertaining guests, so that's all fine. Immediately after my check-in there was a Budapest Semesters in Mathematics luncheon, so I made my way over to the facility in Bethlen tér, about 3 blocks away. Several old familiar faces were there, as well as some of the new crowd of young BSMes, and we talked about the changes in the city and swapped stories. After the lunch there was somewhat more of the same, with Paul Humke sharing photos and context for BSM's many years of ups and downs: Communism, tuition hikes, the panics-of-the-year like BSE and the Balkan War, as well as a couple of entertaining stories from BSM office staff, professors,and students about our delightful blundering (one brave soul, whose name should best be withheld here, stood up and told a story about his first night in Budapest, and how he and his roommate met some Czech girls on Váci utca, and, yeah, at this point we all knew where that story was going). Afterwards there was a little bit of free time, and since I needed a plug adapter and a clock, I figured on hitting the streets up to the Nyugati pályaudvar, which was close to our next destination. and finding them at the mall there (I'd been given a recommendation for a store, a sort of Hungarian Best Buy). The city is much as it ever was, and it's nice to see that the map in my head remains mostly accurate: down Rákóczi to the Nagykörút, up and aroiund past Oktagon. The face of the city hasn't changed much, and it's still a boulevard of little specialty shops, bars, and dining ranging from the ubiquitous hole-in-the-wall gyro places and kinai büfe to fine cuisine both Hungarian and otherwise. English still hasn't made extraordinary inroads here, so it was a bit of a test of my Hungarian just to get a feel for everything around. A couple of streets have become pedestrian-only areas, and they've added an amphitheater behind Nyugati, so things must be looking up. Also, they've installed posts every 5 feet along the street on several of the side streets, which seems to have somewhat reduced the popularity of parking on the sidewalk. I never actually did get the clock, although I did find a (not very good) plug adapter. At this point it was time for dinner, on a Duna riverboat. The cruise was pleasant, with good company, decent food, and some fine sights along the riverbank: it was still light enough to get acceptable photos of Parliament and the Várhegy, but that iconic night-time shot of the Lanchíd didn't come out at all (several drinks, a rocking boat, and a tourist camera do not add up to an ideal situation for night-time shooting). By this point it was quite late, but we still went out briefly to a nice pub buried behind Nyugati with a lively jazz band and half-liters of Sopron Démon. When I wasn't looking, Hungary started producing acceptable dark beer, and Dréher no longer has the stranglehold on the industry it had. We swapped more stories, both of Hungary and life since, and staggered back homewards: most of our crew was lsying their head near Blaha Lujza, and a few others out near Keleti like me, so we had a nice group headed back, and caught what seemed like it must've been the last #6 tram home. And that brings us to today. I'm fresh and ready to go, and we're meeting up for an architectural tour at 9AM. There's a window labeled "RÉTES" around the corner from the hotel, so time to go scare up a pastry and a coffee. More news and pics as I get them.\ post comment

Friday, January 29, 2010

In 1929 I sold short [January 29, 2010: 0115] Why do I only seem to write here once every couple months? Certainly it's not for want of events. Working through things roughly chronologically: when last seen, I was wigging out about assembling my pre-tenure triptych. I already told all the Hieronymous Bosch jokes I really had owith regard to that, so I'll cut to the chase. My review occurred and I would sum up the committee's report as "cautiously positive". In the following weeks, many in the department got together with me for one-on-one chats, and I have a pretty good idea of what's up here at this point: the overall view is that they like me, like what I do, and would like to tenure me, but that I need to pull my shit together on all fronts (except service, which they'd just as soon I ease back on if it makes time for other stuff), so I received a lot of good counsel about how to make it work. I'm optimistic myself -- my research has a lot of nice partially-completed projects I can pull together, and the publications I've pushed out have been well-received at good journals. My teaching hit a rough spot last year but is breaking into a new stride where hopefully it can work out. So this is all cause for optimism (some of this is not quite chronological, and is my retrospective-from-where-I-am-now of the process). I'm glad of the review. I'm relieved it's not actually negative, and actually glad of the reservations attached to the approval: I want to know where I need to be switching it up. Other fun stuff: winter break! Taken up almost entirely by a visit home and then a family trip to Florida. The home-trip was planned to include some reconnection with some important people in my life, to wit the Research Science Institute and the Children's Chorus of Washington. Alas, the events for both were scheduled right over the SNOWCOPALYPSE. So instead I shoveled out cars, drank tea, played boardgames, and updated my movie reviews. But then we went to Sanibel, and things were very right for a week, hanging out with the whole immediate family and playing with my nephew, who is developing into an interesting kid (babies are boring. Toddlers actually do stuff). That was all kinds of great, and a good way to get away from it all for a while. On the downside, I had to hit the ground running on my return, kicking into the new semester more or less immediately. "Or less" turned out to be the operative part of that, since it snowed that Thursday, and Louisvillians are timid weaklings who will seize on any snow-related excuse to not actually hold classes. This bugged me more than it usually would, because the following Wednesday I was leaving for the Joint Mathematics Meetings, so my scheduled plan to meet with my class twice before buggering off was in shambles. But somehow things worked out, and I have (mostly) earned my class's trust and appreciation since returning, I think. It's a 105-minute twice-per-week class, and those things are never that good for anyone: it's less class time in terms of absolute time per week than the 75×3 schedule, and far worse for knowledge retention. It's been a very busy several months. There is surely much I've forgotten. It's mostly been a good time though. Some stress there, but mostly positivity and good vibes. Being so busy has distracted me effectively from how little I get out, anyways. Although this semester it looks like we're successfully moving a game night to Monday, which is nice (my Tuesday/Thursday class schedule basically nukes the previous game nights, although it gives me a good incentive to hang around for 7:30 or 8PM music events on campus). Maybe in my copious free time in February I'll hunt around for more scenes. 1 comment|post comment

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Énekelj, ha szomorú a szíved! [November 1, 2009: 2314] It has been several months since I updated, so I've sort of let a lot of life fly by. This semester's been punctuated by a lot of just-barely-keeping-my-head-above water. It's not like my duties are that onerous, but I've not really gotten things to click at any point. However, several exciting things have happened while I've been busy wibbling. First off, I'm teaching a new class this semester, which is most of what's been eating up work time. It's a really fun class: grad-level combinatorics and graph theory, but it's not as free-form as the last graph-theory class I taught, and it wants more structure than I'm prepared to provide, but I think things are going well. Hopefully the students would be willing to tell me if things weren't. In other work, it's my third year, which means it's pre-tenure review time. I had to prepare a triptych in early October. It's no The Garden of Earthly Delights but it's halfway respectable; put in one place, the things I've done over the past 2 years seem almost notable. I managed to get a paper's provisional acceptance in right before the deadline, which is nice. My parents came to visit in mid-October, and that was a lot of fun. We got to go to a lot of places I hadn't visited, like Berea and Falls of the Ohio. The former's given me a goal to apply for admission into the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen, which could be interesting. Anyways, we had a good time, hanging out and gaming and chilling. The house is feeling more and more like home, and more and more like somewhere where I can actually entertain. That's a lot of the big news of late. Seems there should be more. I've been making half an effort to get out of the house. I'm still working on finding my social niche (aside from the game group, which is a great but small bunch). Over the past few weeks I've gotten out to listen to the Gold Jacket Club (which is apparently a Louisville Legend, but not a Louisville Legend like Muhammed Ali so much as a Louisville Legend like the Pope Lick Monster), Galactic (which was awesome, as always), Pretty Lights (which, despite my enjoyment of their music, is really not my scene), The Flaming Lips (not live; album listening party at Bellarmine), and Ut Gret (making background music for Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari). This is all healthy distraction but probably not getting me any closer to true social comfort. Still, I got time. Not like I'm going anywhere. I actually have grown to like this town. 1 comment|post comment

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair [August 11, 2009: 1954] So, it's state-fair time again. I'd hoped to have a lot of entries this year, and I kinda do. They're in some ways underwhelming, though. It'll be fun to enter, but I have no real expectations. ( 3 blankets, and other necessary elements of a happy homeCollapse ) 5 comments|post comment

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

July (and early August) in a nutshell [August 4, 2009: 1323] So I never did finish telling Boston travel stories. Not that there's much "story" there: I went all over the place hanging out with old friends and connected with some of the new blood at APO, Random, and ET. I really must get back to Boston more often than once every 7 years (I'll actually be back in September!). The last night I managed to stumble into the one activity I hadn't really had a chance to take part in earlier: a Mary's mob. So, really, the Boston trip was very much a success. Back home, I've spent the last month trying to get back into a groove. It's easy to get distracted, I'm afraid, and my work has been mostly rather erratic. I've got a syllabus worked up for the easier of my two classes and I'm poking at a research paper. I really need to get down to brass tacks on preparing for the other class, however. As well as many other things. Around the home I'm also trying to get my act together: one project is getting my grill working, which probably means replacing the grates which have been rusted through, giving a good clean to the grates which aren't, adjusting or perhaps replacing the burners... At least the garden is mostly coming out successfully. The strawberries are stubbornly barren this season, but they may be a long-term project. The green beans and peppers have been a terrific success, and the tomatoes are perhaps a victim of their own vitality: I staked but did not cage them, and while I was gone they spread pretty viciously. Even post-facto staking hasn't done much for them. Next year, caging and aggressive trimming. An innocent bystander in the tomato lunacy is the basil, which is mostly lost in the sea of tomatoes. One dill plant and a few cilantroes came up; the mint I got from Katie's clippings is doing well. Today it rained insanely. Insanely enough that they declared an emergency state on campus. The basement took on water, to my chagrin. This is just adding to the general feelings of foreboding I've had recently, which have been predicated by a number of things, not least among them my lack of progress on a lot of projects, my travel soon (which is low-pressure, but traveling always makes me a bit uneasy), and what feels like a somewhat stagnant social life. Tomorrow I depart for Portland for Mathfest. The summer has really been flying by! And I've never quite caught it. post comment

Friday, July 3, 2009

Back in Boston for a few days [July 3, 2009: 1736] Bostonians whom I have not seen: I'm back, briefly! I'm in town through the morning of July 6th (my flight is at 1 PM, and add in transit and usual buffer times, so unless I can meet someone for breakfast or somesuch, I'm probably not going to be doing anything social that day). Tomorrow is the 4th, and I'll go to Fulton's Folly and/or RSI's camp for much of the day. Right now I'm just chilling at Random, being crufty among the undergrads (there may be a boardgame night later). Anyways, if people I haven't seen are free in the near future, it would be excellent to see y'all (I've touched base with many but not all of the awesome people in Boston with whom I'm still in anything resembling contact, and some others I know have things going on this weekend, but I'm terrible at keeping track of names and addresses and who-all is still actually in Boston, so I'm sure there are some folks I haven't acounted for at all). This has been a generally awesome visit, but I'm kinda winding down and spinning my wheels at this point. I should write about recent events at some point, but the capsule version of the New York visit: my nephew Nevin is cute and active and cool. It was wonderful to see Jon and Carla again. The City proper is full of people. I'm glad I had the chance to make the quick run out there. post comment

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Goings-on in Boston [June 30, 2009: 1351] I haven't been much in touch on goings-on in Boston. And it has actually been pretty awesome! Last week I was helping out with the Research Science Institute, where I think I did more good than harm. I was talking to high school students about arithmetic combinatorics and it was really a great deal of fun: it was hard to reach the right level for this audience but I think everyone left reasonably satisfied. It's a good group and a fun time, so I'd definitely like to do some sort of RSI-thing again. And now I'm cut loose, so I've been seeing people in Boston. Special thanks to Jen Tu and Chris Laas, who have been very cool about letting me sleep on their couch. Almost all the awesome people in Boston seem to live within a one-mile radius of them, so it's been easy to get out to see people. Thus far I've touched base with at least a significant subset of the people I vived with and hung out with as an undergrad, and it has been great to catch up. I think many of us are fundamentally unchanged in the last 7 years although folks have moved into the real world, gotten jobs, formed living groups, partnerships, couples, &c. But we're all much as we were. Some highlights so far of my days of freedom: Sunday started off with dim sum with Emma and Boris Zbarsky and their adorable son whose name I would like to say is Aldren but have probably managed to get wrong somehow. Dim Sum is one of those things I don't get in Louisville at all (alas), and it was great to catch up with them, especially since Boris went off the radar for a while, to enough of an extent I didn't actually know if he and Emma were still together (they'd been dating when I lost sight of them). Early afternoon on Sunday was hanging out at ET, where I know very few current residents, especially during summer, but still managed to get roped into a few games of Dominion (which, as is my tradition, I lost badly). Sunday evening was the APO barbecue, which was a good chance to hang out with the current brotherhood and a smattering of cruft (Joe Foley passed through, Gremio and Beth stayed for a while). Saturday got off to a late but awesome start -- I visited Lokie and Ian and spent a few hours in general outhangitude, then headed to campus and ran into Jenny Sendova and Laura Dean, apparently coincidentally, in the space of 30 minutes hanging out in a cluster. Then was the Boston IF meeting, which was well worth going to: zarf had a copy of the new Textfyre game to poke at, and it was generally nice to get to hang out with people talking about IF (and other gaming, but then, nm's academic mandate is pretty broad and we're all into narratives-in-games issues). It was a nice long evening of chat and general conviviality. And now I'm on a bus to New York (current location: I-95 near Bridgeport, CT), to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law and nephew, which will surely also be a great time. I still have plenty of time in Boston too, and there are a lot of folks I haven't seen, so I'll try to continue the social rouds on my return. Until then: family! Yay! 1 comment|post comment

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Down to Earth (in Boston) [June 21, 2009: 1052] Hello, wacky friend-type peoples, some of whom are in Boston! I'm in Boston too for a couple weeks (with a as-yet-undetermined-date side trip up to NYC), so it'd be good to connect for lunch or dinner or general outhangitude. This first week I'm busy with some duties to the Research Science Institute, especially classes at 9:45 and 1:10, but I'll be roundabout the MIT campus in between, so folks, give me a heads-up. Incidentially, folks associated with any of the various groups I was a member of -- are there good e-mail lists to reach alum-types? I'm thinking apo-pftgoto, et-summer, and, er, some-or-other Random Hall list, but I don't want to bother people who don't knowme (not that I'm averse to getting to know current members/residents, but I'd like to diminish the 'who's this guy and why is he on our list?' factor). Incidentally, Simmons Hall is a fantastically unlivable place. I'd describe its many crimes against habitability, but I already did so back in 2002, before it was even finished (I think we're past the statute of limitations on trespassing, so I have no problem with sharing this). Pretty much everything which annoys me about them now was true then, and conspicuously awful enough even to a nonresident to inspire a rant. Except for the unfinished ceilings, which at the time I probably assumed they were actually doing to do something about. 1 comment|post comment

Sunday, April 5, 2009

A few months of life [April 5, 2009: 2226] I've been (except for an announcement a little while back) a bit silent of late, and things have been happening! Things, for the most part, worth sharing. I hosted my parents in my house in mid-February, and it was generally awesome except for the somewhat unexpected skylight in my garage after the ice storm (which I have still not fixed, because I am lame about some things). About a month later, I threw a party (combined housewarming/Hungarian independence day) which also went quite well. Amid all of this, we had a crazy flurry of prospective-hire interviews during which I met a number of awesome and interesting people, none of whom we actually have the means to hire (so I am still the junior member of the faculty). Other life-swallowing events included the Bullitt lecture, which was Thursday a week ago. We got in a truly engaging speaker, Jenny Quinn, and I advertised the hell out of the event. We got a respectable but not enormous crowd (I would've liked enormous, but we do only what we can). Dr. Quinn had a good time. So the event (and specifically my role therein as a member of the Bullitt Committee) went well. Apropos of professional development, my pretenure review comes up next fall: time to panic! Some other things have eaten my weekends of late: last week was the meeting of the Kentucky Chapter of the MAA. That went well: I was presenting (on fiber arts!), and an old out-of-town friend was a plenary speaker. It's always a pleasant surprise to be well-liked and respected at these events: I feel very much like a newcomer to Kentucky and to mathematical professionalism, but I get a real collegial sense from the local MAA chapter, and of authentic friendship from much of the leadership. I imagine that sometime over the next few years I'll start taking a more active role in our chapter's administration, because I really like these people and it would be great to work with them. And this weekend was Alpha Phi Omega Sectionals. Our section is smallish, with only 5 chapters, but with lots of spirit. And much like last weekend, it was a chance to interact with some of the leadership of the local group (and even the national). Unlike last weekend, I'm not really part of the target group of the event: alums and advisors have an important role in APO, but the organization is for the actives. Oh, to my old friends: Maggie Katz chuckled when I told her I was an AXcoAPO alum. What have you people been up to? And this week I give some exams, so it's time for a little crunch. Again. I'm so ready for semester to be over! Also, Bostonians, if you missed the last announce: I'm first week staff at RSI. I'll be there from June 21 to, uh, roundabout the 2nd or so of July (definitely extending past the end of the first week, but not sure yet by how much). I'll be pretty busy June 21-June 26, but at leisure after, and hope to get a chance to catch up with people and whatnot. 2 comments|post comment

Thursday, April 2, 2009

A quick pre-life-update-bulletin (expecially for Bostonians) [April 2, 2009: 0806] I need to write a detailed life-update at some point, but right now I'm just in request-for-comments territory on one thing: I'll be in Boston from June 21-27 to help with RSI, and am planning to extend that visit from a few days up to a week on one end or the other. So I'm wondering about other people's schedules. Will y'all be in town either before June 21 or after June 27? Also, anyone have crash space for the part of the visit where I'm not staying on RSI's dime (in EC, woo)? 1 comment|post comment

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Nature is trying to kill me [February 11, 2009: 1649] The temperature Fahrenheit and the wind speed in miles per hour are roughly equivalent right now. There are very few situations where such an occurrence would be pleasant, and it's a warm day (read: really fucking dangerous outside). The good news: Louisville is running out of trees to knock over. post comment

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Snowbound (let's sleep in today) [January 28, 2009: 1249] The frozen wrath of God has been raining down on Louisville for over a day now. Today I poked my head out and decided, in a fit of insanity, to go to the office (school has, of course, been canceled, but I have a key). It's beautiful out there. Everytyhing is covered with a thick glaze of ice, which has its own fascination. The dogwood in my yard looked like an inverted chandelier. Crossing the road at Preston, I pushed the crossing button, whcih caused the glazing on the face of the crossing switch to peel off, hang in the air for a moment as an inverted replica of the switch's facepanel, and then shatter to a million pieces. There's a fair bit of destruction, too. During the night, I heard ominous rumbles which my mind interpreted as sheets of ice tumbling off of roofs (I'm still not sure if it was). Walking to the bus stop, I saw trees snapped or bent to the ground under their weight of ice. The bus never did come, and I gave up and came back home. On the way back, an ominous crack overhead heralded a falling tree branch. I scurried out of the way, avoiding getting hit by a heavy chunk of wood but not avoiding blasting by icy shrapnel. It may not be a good idea to try to go in to the office today. Far better to stay at home, drinking tea and watching TV on DVD. 1 comment|post comment

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Rest of the Homevisit, and Return to Normalcy [January 25, 2009: 0039] So I only really told half the story of my time at home in DC. Maybe even less than half. I mentioned visiting with Jon and Carla and Nevin, which was gloriously awesome. Nevin is more responsive and interesting than when I last saw him, although he's yet to develop any really entertaining behaviors. But it would have been a pleasure to see them all even if nothing had changed. Hannukah with the folks (or holidays with the folks, really -- Hannukah isn't even the big deal) is just extra-special, and a good time was had by all. Many other people were also in town for the holidays, which meant getting together with some folks I went to high school with. I managed to get to see two largely distinct crowds at a get-together to watch football (at which we did not watch football) with a few UMD alumni (including grysar), as well as at a New Year's Eve party thrown by shogun_lunn. So it was good to touch base with people, see we're all surviving, and that some of us have gone in unexpected directions (that "some" does not include me. My life- and career-arc surprised nobody, except maybe for the ending up in Kentucky bit). In among this I and the folks had an enjoyable time together, boardgaming, eating well, and visiting a few museums (the Udvar-Házy Center is impressively complete, thoughtfully laid out, and spacious; the National Museum of American History is, despite its recent makeover, none of those). I pretended to work on my research and actually worked on the classes I was teaching in the spring. And then came the Joint Meetings. The JMM was, as always, an exhausting madhouse. I'm rocking some of the networking, building connections I hope will be valuable. My talk was also a success -- I had an excellent crowd response, and some folks took enough of an active interest in my work to request copies of slides, notes, etc. Another notable event was the AMS Fiber Arts Session: the last time we did this was Atlanta in '04, where I got to talk about Sierpinski triangles. I had neither a talk nor a project to exhibit this time, alas, but it was excellent to see what everyone else was up to, and people are still coming up with interesting things to say about mathematical fiber arts (and in spite of not beign involved this year, I got my ego stroked by Ted Ashton, who is, like me, exploring Sierpinski triangles and gives me a lot of credit (I keep trying to remind people it's really meep's idea and that I just played with it for a while, but I guess we can all only see the shoulders of the person we stand immediately on). And then came the return to DC. The trip was uneventful except for terrifying freezing rain which glazed instantly onto my windshield outside of Morgantown, and by evening I was home and unpacking. It is worth mentioning, of course, that the reason I drove out was in order to cart a lot of stuff out of my parents' basement, which I did! I now have much of my arts and crafts here in Louisville, as well as a hell of a lot of books. Amazingly, there seems to be a place in my house for most of it without too much rearranging of furnishings. On Monday I had to get classes together. I'd missed the first week, which I hate doing, and started off on the wrong foot. As always, a new class involves a period of adjustment to the students' proficiency level, which I'm still in the midst of doing. In addition, I'm getting my research together, shipping out papers and suchlike, hoping to pull my act (which I've let slip for too long) together. Things are going well, I think. Whyever do I feel such a sense of trepidation? There's a lot about life that could be better, I guess. My social circles are still kind of insular, and I need to be working harder on my professional development, but still, these are things I should be able to weather and work out. 1 comment|post comment

Thursday, December 25, 2008

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY HAPPY CHRISTMAS [December 25, 2008: 1231] This year, as every year, Shonen Knife wishes you a happy Christmas in the only way they know how. (Yes, I've linked this before, but, hey, it never really gets old) post comment

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Holiday season (with a surprising emphasis on food) [December 23, 2008: 1719] So I never got around to writing about Thanksgiving. Or, indeed, anything which happened since Thanksgiving. WHich is a pity, since things since then have been generally awesome. Starting with Thanksgiving: I spent the better part of a week in DC, getting to spend time with the folks, and in particular with my nephew Nevin, who is, as babies do, changing a little bit every day, so it was definitely a joy to see him in his second month of life. It was mostly just nice to see the entire immediate family, although getting well-fed doesn't hurt either (I always eat better off my parents than I do on my own, although I do OK for myself). Then came the one truly unpleasant part of Thanksgiving: getting home. The Monday after Thanksgiving the entire Midwest stopped working. Flights out of Midway were delayed 3 hours; my cab in Louisville oozed slowly towards the university. My safe buffer of time before my class melted into being 30 minutes late -- the first time I've been late for a class in my time at UofL. That kinda sucked, although fortunately I got a colleague to explain the situation so my students weren't completely lost. So, in the interim, I've been wrapping up loose ends. I applied for an early-faculty award, have been steadily but slowly working on my papers, and just trying to get stuff together. My game-group-and-occasional-dining-out-society found a quite excellent Indian restaurant in Buechel, a pretty good Korean place in Lynnview, and quite good pizzarias in the Highlands and New Albany (actually, we already knew about NABC, but went there for special seasonal beers). Also, I've been halfheartedly taking up knitting again. Cables are confusing! Maybe I'll do something without cables. And then, last Friday, I drove 600 miles back to DC. Like my last trip, this one was extremely unpleasant, raining through most of Kentucky and the beginning of West Virginia. But now I'm back and will be for the next three weeks. This vacation features a few holiday and New Year's parties, Hannukah with the folks, a visit from my brother, ister-in-law, and nephew, and a paper presentation at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (OK, that part isn't technically vacation -- in fact, technically none of this is, and I need to get some work done in the next few weeks). But, anyways, to my Kentucky friends: I'm out of town for the next few weeks; let's connect some other time. To my DC-area friends: I'm in town for the next few weeks; want to meet up for lunch or somesuch? To my San Diego and Boston friends... uh, yeah, just go on and do what you normally do. 1 comment|post comment

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