Music in the morning

I'm drinking lavender earl gray tea for breakfast. I had a full night's sleep yesterday and it was great. Sunday night I only slept for three hours because I had to get up so early to get to Bard, so I was yawning a lot, and I took a nap when I got to campus. I'm listening to Muse right now on Pandora, it's awakening.

My plants are doing great. The watermelon vines are spreading out across the desk, the tomatoes are reaching for the light but I re-potted them so the stems wouldn't get flimsy and would grow roots to create stronger plants.

Today shouldn't be too long of a day for me. I have to write a paper for tomorrow on "The Good Person of Szechuan" for my lit class. Music in the morning is very uplifting and generally signifies the start of a good day.

This morning I saw a yahoo article titled "What to wear to hide your figure flaws" and I thought to myself, okay, it's good to know what to wear that will flatter your figure, but why that word flaw? That makes it seem as though no matter what shape you are, you have some kind of flaw to cover up. I don't like the wording on that. Whether apple, pear, athletic or hourglass, every figure is in itself lovely, and nobody should feel like they have to wear certain anything to cover their 'flawed' body, but rather should feel comfortable showing off their gorgeous body in something flattering. Wording really makes a difference.

Moonstruck

Rose: "Do you love him, Loretta?" 

Loretta: "Ma, I love him awful."

Rose: "Oh, God, that's too bad."

I love that movie :)

Jim Hjelm

Another gown I like, Jim Hjelm. Between 1,600 - 3,000$. Ouch.
You may be thinking, isn't it a bit early to be picking out wedding dresses? Indeed it is, but wedding dresses are so much fun to look at! Cakes too!

Moderation

I officially moderated yesterday into CS and I don't have to worry about that anymore, so I'm happy. It was pretty nerve wracking, I sat in front of a board and was asked some questions. In total, it lasted 45 minutes (this includes the time before and after they were asking questions, when I was out in the hall and they talked amongst themselves).

I was reading this article today that said, "An eight-year study of 218 couples found 90 percent experienced a decrease in marital satisfaction once the first child was born." That sounded pretty astounding. I mean, 90%, that's a lot.

Lettuce and Watermelon

Lettuce above and Watermelon below

Tomatoes, they're nicer in real life

Plants

My ideal life would consist of painting things, stomping grapes, growing a garden, drinking clean water, and living in the countryside-- but not the boring countryside, it has to be a countryside not far from civilization so I can easily get anywhere I want to go, and be entertained.

Speaking of my plants, they are doing so well. I've been wiggling their stems twice a day and blowing on them, to pretend I am the wind. It is supposed to strengthen their stems so they are prepared to go outside, and won't flop over. I think it has been working, the stems are strengthening up. They won't be going outside for another month I think. All except the lettuce. Lettuce needs to go out. Its getting much too big.

botanical garden

I'd like to visit the botanical garden in May, when the lilacs bloom. It looks like they're having an orchid show now, which must be beautiful. I haven't been there in so long. I also haven't been to the zoo in a while, on free Wednesdays. I love the zoo.

The top 10 exotic fruits to try. I have tried #1,2,3,4,5,7,9. How about you? I must say, the only place I've had a dragon fruit (#9) was in Germany, and it was the most beautiful, delicious fruit I've ever eaten. I saw an african cucumber (horned melon) at the grocery store once, and it was a pretty bright yellow color on the outside, but I was afraid to try it. Anybody know if it tastes good?

plants

My plants are doing so well, it's very exciting! One of the watermelons flourished over the weekend, growing all of these new leaves. The lettuce is going outside as soon as possible, and many more will be planted because these lettuce-lings need to go into the ground, they get weepy if they're inside. It's too hot for them in here. There are a few other watermelons that are also doing well, and the tomatoes likewise. I'll take pictures soon!

Spuyten Duyvil- Spite the Devil?

SUNY New Paltz is pleased to host the fourth annual Spuyten Duyvil Undergraduate Mathematics Conference. This one day conference will feature presentations by undergraduate students and faculty in mathematics and related disciplines. There will be concurrent panels on undergraduate research and careers in mathematics.
April 25, 2009

So, apparently I'm presenting a poster at this conference.
Here is the abstract Jackie and I submitted for our poster.

Abstract:

Quandles are of increasing interest to the mathematics community. However, there lacks a comprehensive forum for mathematicians to share their discoveries in this area. To open the lines of communication, we propose a dynamic digital library, QuanDLe, to support the storage and sharing of finite quandles. By providing a cache of discoveries and ideas, it will facilitate further progress in the field. QuanDLe will extend the success of Knot Atlas, MathWorld, and PlanetMath through semantic web technology. The technologies we will employ for QuanDLe include SWiM, OMDoc, OpenMath, MathML and Mathematica.

What we're going to say about this poster, better yet what this poster will have on it? No clue.

In other news, we will be writing a 1-4 page paper for a different conference in Canada, the Conference on Intelligent Computer Mathematics, ORCCA.

Group 1: Bella, Jackie, et al
Workshop: DML
Paper: Short (1-4 pages)
Deadlines: Abstract on April 29, Paper on May 4
Subject: Overview of QuanDLe
Details: Utilize the Java/JSP-based SWiM semantic wiki for mathematics to get a prototype up and running. Place some quandles in there, take a few screen shots, add some prose.

I won't be attending this Canadian conference (granted our paper gets accepted at all) because i'll be in Iowa when it takes place over the summer.

Blah

I didn't get the Goldwater scholarship. I really thought I had a good chance. There were 278 chosen from a field of 1,035 applicants, and I guess I'm with the 757 applicants that didn't get chosen. Soo 756 other people are sad right now.

On the bright side, the pamphlets came out with my picture in them. I look alright. It says my quote and everything. I'll bring some home because there is no copy online.

What is my ideal job? I can wake up late, work flexible hours, and still have time to make a delicious roast for dinner. Maybe I'll work for myself. Have some clients. Make websites. It's an idea after all.