The Week in Review
Nov. 15th, 2009 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowThis past week went pretty well, all things considered.
Monday: The landscaper completed the drainage job. (Well, almost. There are a number of bare patches resulting from the digging; he'll come back in another week or so to lay down some seed.) Also, I made a big batch of spaghetti all'Amatriciana, and, thanks to Tupperware, was able to take servings to work to eat for dinner Tuesday and Thursday.
Tuesday: The course assignments for 2010-11 are out. In addition to the mandatory section of calculus, I'll be teaching four senior-level courses: Euclidean/non-Euclidean Geometry, Differential Geometry, History of Math, and Advanced Linear Algebra. It's been a while since I last taught linear, and we're using a new text, so I'll have to do some prep work, but that's a pretty good lineup.
Wednesday: Another tiresome faculty meeting, but progress was made, and we agreed not to meet again until after the Thanksgiving break.
Thursday: I finished up the hyperbolic geometry segment in E/NE Geometry, and the students voted, as usual, to go on to spherical geometry. (The syllabus allows either that or a return to Euclidean geometry at this point. I usually manage to fit both of them in, but I like to give the students a choice just in case.)
Friday: The student who's working with us in the geometry seminar has made a breakthrough in his corner of the problem. That just makes it more imperative for us to settle a couple of other questions, which combined with his work would help us settle the problem as regards dodecahedra.
Saturday: I took care of maintenance problem #3, which leaves one more, much smaller one. It was an entertaining hour or so; it went more smoothly than I expected. (I'm not quite convinced the problem is completely settled, but it will take a week or so before I can be sure.) Also, it was trivia day again. The questions were pitched at a reasonable level, and the race was very tight: at the end of the next-to-last round, we were in a three-way tie for first, with two or three more teams within a point or so. The last round was hard. We finished tied for first on points, but lost the tiebreaker. There was a secondary "Survivor" contest: each round, one question was designated as the Survivor question, and missing that question meant elimination from that contest. We were one of two teams to answer all ten Survivor questions, and we won that tie-breaker. On top of that, three of our ten people won door prizes; I got a very nice set of screwdrivers, which would probably sell for about $20. Combine that with the $6 I got in second-place money and the nice blanket which was the Survivor prize, and I more than made up for the $14 entrance fee.
A good week.
Monday: The landscaper completed the drainage job. (Well, almost. There are a number of bare patches resulting from the digging; he'll come back in another week or so to lay down some seed.) Also, I made a big batch of spaghetti all'Amatriciana, and, thanks to Tupperware, was able to take servings to work to eat for dinner Tuesday and Thursday.
Tuesday: The course assignments for 2010-11 are out. In addition to the mandatory section of calculus, I'll be teaching four senior-level courses: Euclidean/non-Euclidean Geometry, Differential Geometry, History of Math, and Advanced Linear Algebra. It's been a while since I last taught linear, and we're using a new text, so I'll have to do some prep work, but that's a pretty good lineup.
Wednesday: Another tiresome faculty meeting, but progress was made, and we agreed not to meet again until after the Thanksgiving break.
Thursday: I finished up the hyperbolic geometry segment in E/NE Geometry, and the students voted, as usual, to go on to spherical geometry. (The syllabus allows either that or a return to Euclidean geometry at this point. I usually manage to fit both of them in, but I like to give the students a choice just in case.)
Friday: The student who's working with us in the geometry seminar has made a breakthrough in his corner of the problem. That just makes it more imperative for us to settle a couple of other questions, which combined with his work would help us settle the problem as regards dodecahedra.
Saturday: I took care of maintenance problem #3, which leaves one more, much smaller one. It was an entertaining hour or so; it went more smoothly than I expected. (I'm not quite convinced the problem is completely settled, but it will take a week or so before I can be sure.) Also, it was trivia day again. The questions were pitched at a reasonable level, and the race was very tight: at the end of the next-to-last round, we were in a three-way tie for first, with two or three more teams within a point or so. The last round was hard. We finished tied for first on points, but lost the tiebreaker. There was a secondary "Survivor" contest: each round, one question was designated as the Survivor question, and missing that question meant elimination from that contest. We were one of two teams to answer all ten Survivor questions, and we won that tie-breaker. On top of that, three of our ten people won door prizes; I got a very nice set of screwdrivers, which would probably sell for about $20. Combine that with the $6 I got in second-place money and the nice blanket which was the Survivor prize, and I more than made up for the $14 entrance fee.
A good week.
