every time i see a preprint on the arXiv that is written by someone i know, i get nervous.
shouldn't i get to finishing that one draft ...?
mathematics isn't a competition, of course. then again, the job market is.
my morning calc 3 class is fast becoming my rehearsal or opening-night sort of lecture: it's where i get used to my "lines" (i.e. my lecture notes), see what works and what does not. the afternoon class goes more smoothly ..
.. though it feels less organic, more routine.
i'm also starting to wonder if i'm lecturing well. i try to make the topics meaningful and how things fit together, but here's the rub: in a calculus class, there is (almost) always a textbook, and too often students only care about solving the assigned homework problems. so i wonder if my lectures are pretty but not very useful towards applying to problems.
i do examples, but as i said: i wonder.
i was right. i'm probably slated to talk soon at our departmental analysis seminar.
it's also interesting how the U of M model for analysis seminars has been exported: i've heard from a colleague at KSU that they have a "Thursday seminar" and i think ours will be of the same model. then again, the original format is a finnish one .. i think. [shrugs] on a slightly related note, i also heard word of a postdoc visiting our department from finland, for the year.
so again: it's pleasantly odd how certain characteristics here are similar to ones i've gotten used to, in ann arbor.
i wonder, though, if i have enough clout to invite my cronies for talks? (;
odd: today, more people visited my mathematical homepage than this blog. as far as i've checked, that's never happened before.
then again, most of the hits have been from servers in this university. i did give out a url to my students which links to the main page, so perhaps it's not so surprising it's happened. some people will click on anything.
anyways, so begins the weekend: i don't teach again until wednesday. that means, of course, trying to catch up on research and writing. wish me luck!
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