This week I worked non-stop on a proof about a result that I decided to add into my dissertation. I thought I had finished proving it on Tuesday, however when I went to start writing it up on Wednesday.... not so much. I edited my procedure, and thought once again that I had finished.... this back and forth continued through most of Wednesday all day Thursday and into Friday until at 3:45 I hit the last key stroke and compiled my finalized Latex file. It was nice to work with such intensity for...

I often wonder if what ever it is I am doing is going to get me to where I want to be. I also wonder if my perception about myself is accurate. Sometimes I am very down on myself - I'm too fat, I'm too tired looking, I'm not smart enough, my past mistakes will haunt me... Then, sometimes I think I can market myself better than my grad school peers, I know how to work a room and demand attention, I know how to play the networking game and I do it well. As much as it feels good to every once in...

I was considering my students who took AP calculus as a junior in high school. I had an opportunity when I was in 7th grade to skip ahead in math. When my parents considered my mathematical aptitude, they thought at the time that it would be a good idea, but when they planned it out realized that after I took AP calc as a junior there would be nothing else for me to take in high school. They valued consistency and developing a in-depth core competency in the subject. It brought me back to remembering...

The last couple of days have been rough to say the least. On Thursday, I finally got my teaching contract, even though I've officially been teaching for the previous week and a half. It was 2,300 dollars less than what I had anticipated... Considering that I am not set out to pay roughly half of that in tuition and fees, I was shaken to say the least! When I went to talk to the main person that creates the contracts, I began the conversation upset but composed. About 4 sentences in I began to...

Today I had a very long day due to taking an opportunity to go to information sessions from 2 visiting companies after meeting with my adviser and after meeting with a student. This was a completely new experience for me as I've never gone to a company info session - not even when I was an undergrad. I always assumed that I was going on to grad school, so it seemed pointless then. Well, the economy being what it is right now, I decided to do learn a little from first hand experience about the...