Recent Events from my "Life"

• Left town for almost a week to St. Louis, where I attended a very nice conference in honor of Al Baernstein's 65th Birthday [1]. It was much like going to a family reunion: I saw some old friends, my advisor from my undergrad days, and my current research collaborator.
  
  
• Returned to Ann Arbor with my collaborator in tow, and played the occasional role of host. Research work ensues, and some spaghetti sticks to the wall, so to speak: we have results!
  
  
• The Ahlfors-Bers Colloquium begins and on one weekend afternoon I made coffee for over fifty people. It didn't end up too bad. Paradoxically I begin to cut down on my coffee consumption.
  
  I also see old friends, and my acquaintances from separate worlds collide.
  
  
• I continue to play an occasional host, and life almost returns to normal: I scramble to read more for my weekly meetings with my thesis advisor, and during my downtime I think of research ideas that are both doable and interesting.
  
  
• the Near Future: my collaborator leaves town, and my share of the writing begins. Meanwhile I struggle with reading and learning new things, and my advisor might forgive me with my continual shortcomings.

Life isn't so bad. It's nice to come back to the daily grind. Too often during conferences I feel as if I'm not being productive, and listening to others expound on their work, paranoia ensues. I fear that I haven't done enough as a mathematician, that I haven't proven myself, and perhaps I never will.

It's fine, now. A day of steady work took care of that. I've a few new ideas and some goals from before, so it will remain a busy summer. Who knows? Maybe by summer's end I'll actually know what I'm doing! q:

[1] Actually, his birthday had been two weeks before the start of the conference.