Changes

Well, I finally did it -- I decided to start blogging again, in a very different way!

First things first: here's a link to my new blog: http://dcclark.blogspot.com/.

I'm moving away from this blog and over to blogger. My main reasons are pretty simple: I can't accept comments here because of the massive amount of spam that we get, and blogger makes it much easier to set up an attractive appearance. It's certainly possible here with MovableType, but I don't want to spend that much time worrying about layouts, colors and HTML.

My new blog is going to be rather different -- it's a photo blog, a place to post interesting photos, with stories and commentary. With any luck, focusing on photography will help me keep going better than I have with "regular" blogging!

So head over and check out my new blog -- I've already got a photo up over there!

I'm not dead...

... yet! :P

Another Magic Moment

Today, my friend Becca and I headed south towards Baraga, to check out Tibbet's falls. I'll put that in another entry, but here's something that happenened along the way.

Shortly before the waterfall, we stopped at a small gas station near Covington. There were two people at the counter -- the cashier and someone else, both working really, really hard on some sort of homework involving lots of formulas and acronyms and numbers. As I brought my bag of chips up to the register, he didn't notice me until I started looking at what he was doing. The cashier apologized quickly and took my money, and then he noticed me looking at his homework and said these magic words:

"I don't suppose you know any math, do you?"

So I said, "Well, actually I do, what're you working on?" At this point Becca appeared. As it turns out, the fellow was working on something which boiled down to order of operations. He was pretty confused about what to do in what order, how to solve an equation for a variable (he didn't need to -- the equation in his book gave the answer he wanted), and apparently didn't understand about temperatures not being percentages.

We got him set on his way with a few useful hints ("Do everything in the bottom of the fraction first, then divide!"), and then left on our own way. Meanwhile he seemed a bit befuddled about how two mathematicians appeared before him at exactly his moment of greatest need.

I think we should develop some kind of Bat Symbol... no... Math Symbol!

Waterfalls: Montreal River Falls (at last!)

It's been over a year, but I finally made it up to the least accessible waterfalls in the entire Keweenaw: The Montreal River Falls, upper and lower. It's also the end of the 2006 Summer Of Waterfalls... just a year late. :) Read on for the fun and photos.

Notes on the State of Texas

Some of you may know that I'm in the midst of a 3 week stay in Texas. Why, you may ask, would I spend my time in a vast boiling wasteland known for large belt buckles and strangely similar presidents?

Go ahead, ask.

Why, glad you asked. The answer is: math!

Texas

... is hot and muggy. And I'm going to be here for three weeks, at an IMA seminar on Algebraic Geometry. Here's hoping I don't liquify...

Bikety bike bike

Whooeee, check out my new baby!

I bought this lovely bicycle about a month ago and I've been riding like crazy ever since. Ain't she pretty? So far I'm up to about 30 miles on a trip, and finding lots of new places I've never been to before.

And yes, that is a transformers magnet on the back of my car.



Perhaps I'll even go so far as to post actual news here... sometime!

Thunder and Lightning and Snow, oh my!

Right now we have a huge blizzard: 55 mph winds, a ton of snow coming down, and ... thunder and lightning! Yes, really! It's awesome. I've never experienced a thunder-snow-storm before.

My housemates and I have determined that this is probably the apocalypse. Tech's policy: "If the rapture has occurred and you find yourself still on earth, class is not optional."

Tag! I'm it

I was recently tagged by Mandolin and I'm blatantly copying the rest of this intro from her... Here’s the drill:
Once you are tagged you MUST write an entry about 6 weird habits / things you do / odd information, as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next 6 people to be tagged and list their names.

Read on for more random information than you ever wanted to know about me...

It's the end of the term and I know it...

Once again, my best intentions of keeping this blog updated just don't work out... so I get to do an end-of-term wrapup again instead!

I survived my first term back at Tech remarkably well. My classes were remarkably varied: The most interesting (by far) was Finite Groups and Fields with Don. It's always fun to take a class that Don teaches, at least if he wants to be teaching it. There's no such thing as a syllabus or even a plan, he just teaches what he's interested in. Luckily, it's also some good stuff that I'm interested in too! My knowledge of group theory just jumped forward to nearly the level it should have already been at. The other relevant class was Senior Linear Algebra with Mark -- essential for any field I've thought about going into, including algebraic graph theory and coding theory. The last class was the required "Teaching College Mathematics," half with the new first-year director Ann, and half with Allan. It was pretty disjointed, but at least I got to teach a few times.

Other interesting events include a whole lot of Troupin'. We've been working a lot on longform lately, and we've started having some really good scenes -- getting away from "character development via unusual quirks" or god forbid, mystery meat and fridge packs! We've hit some interesting topics like -- being pressured to go to college or the military, forestry and conservation, the responsibility of airline pilots, and accepting new technology into the old ways. I really hope we'll be able to do some longform performances next term, maybe at a No Pants show or two.

Speaking of that, we say Baby Wants Candy early in the term. It was excellent, but it left me wanting MORE. MUCH MORE!! I think that one of the best ways to get the "idea" of improv is just to see a lot of it, and for most of us here in Troupe, all we see is Troupe. When you see other groups, you get more ideas for what you can do in scenes. It's started really bothering me whenever someone says "hey, you're not supposed to do that!" or "You can do that?!". Of course you can! Improv isn't about the "rules" -- if you stay in the moment, have an idea, and find a way to realize that idea, then there you go. If everyone else is in the moment too, they will be able to deal with it and not trip up because you decided to do a swinging-door split-scene.

I've also been getting into some research -- mainly computational at the moment, trying to find quantum codes which beat the best known examples. I've been re-learning C for it, which will be useful. Next term, I'm actually taking some research credits, so I can devote more time to it.

Next term is also the start of the Grad School Hoops of Jumping Through. The week before classes start, I have proficiency exams to take. These are officially exams which test undergrad-level knowledge, to "make sure you are ready to do graduate work." Since I already have a Master's, I assume I've proved myself -- but I still have to take them. Oh well -- I should definitely be able to do that!

Oh, and I'm off to Waterloo over break. The ToTE folks there always have a New Year's party, but I never made it while I actually went to school there. So, this year is my first chance to go! I'm looking forward to it.

More later, when I'm severely bored at home over break.