Another confession

A couple weeks ago I went to the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, CA; my advisors were both out there, and you know what they say: if the mountain will not come to you, you must go to the mountain. 

Anyway, I've been home for awhile and you know what?  I haven't bothered to finish unpacking.  I also haven't done laundry (except for once when I dropped it off and had it done for me... a totally wonderful if expensive splurge!), or gone on a real grocery shopping trip (with a list and a plan for the week ahead).  What have I been doing with myself?  Math, writing my dissertation (currently on hold while my advisors look at a draft), thinking about math and writing some notes to Future Courtney about ideas, sleeping, and watching Doctor Who.

I would really like to get out of my apartment and enjoy the weather, but I'm wiped out!  I am so tired from the job hunt and the traveling and the writing and math... well, there's not much left of me right now.  Do they make cocoons for people?  Can I emerge as a beautiful, entertaining, witty, and charming butterfly in about a week?  That's about how long I'd like to sleep for.

So, there you have it: I've been utterly lazy.  And that's something mathematicians are known for, although usually they are being lazy about trying to solve a problem.  Me, I'm just being lazy, period.

But watch out!  In a week -- here comes the butterfly.

Yes, and?

(I'm having trouble starting my dissertation writing today, so I thought I'd start with a blog post instead.)

I have a confession (finally, right?).  I used to be one of those math people that would answer this question:
"But can you use it for anything practical?"
like this:
"I hope not!"

But about a year ago I decided I would start using improv comedy techniques while teaching.  You know, instead of shooting down an idea that doesn't go anywhere, I'd say, "Yes, let's try that, and let's see where it goes."  Whoa.  It really changed the classroom dynamic.  But you can google "improv and teaching" and read lots more about that.  What I noticed is that not long after taking that approach to the classroom, I started to think about my research in the same way.

So when I started hearing about algebraic statistics, instead of being all, "Why would you want to use pure, beautiful, lovely algebra for gross, icky statistics?" I was, "Yes! And I want to do that too!"

Now, I've heard that if you have a serious goal, you should make it public so you are shamed if you don't follow through.  So here goes: within the next year, I want to start work on a project that involves applied algebra.

Keep me honest, folks!