new place, same (old) goals.

these last few days have been unproductive. i blame the anxieties of traveling and planning. hopefully now i will have a short break from that.

my european visit has begun: amsterdam, not for any conferences or collaborations, but because a pretty german woman invited me to stay for a while ..

.. and well, i couldn't resist.

there will be some traveling in between, but this will be a solitary part of my summer: writing and reading, mostly.

this past year i've retraced my thesis steps but with no avail (or new results, anyway). i wouldn't give it all up and start over completely ..

.. but perhaps it's time to step back and look at the theory again and look at similar or related theories. maybe a different point of view will work better, or suggest a new but related direction in which to work.

(put another way, i'm just saying that the same old ideas of mine never seem to work. best to have some new ideas.)