Status

To find my current status, view the comments. Whereas the about page gives a more long-term picture of what’s I’ve got cooking, I’ll be making status comments here to indicate new stuff that’s going on that isn’t quite big enough of a deal to make an entire post about. Or stuff that is enough of a big deal, but needs to be fleshed out a bit first.

4 thoughts on “Status”

  1. I’m working on a paper dealing with a category of linear relations over finite-dimensional vector spaces, and how it relates to signal-flow diagrams. I’ve been drawing the diagrams with TikZ to at least get familiar with some of its functionality. I can’t say I’m terribly impressed with its ability to align edges correctly. I wonder if the troublesome spots could be fixed with expanding the distance between nodes. The good news is I’ve got all the basic diagrams drawn, along with several of the more involved diagrams.

    I’m also doing a reading course that has to do with exact categories. My first assigned problem was to show two categories based on the same underlying category are equivalent. I sort of get how one is a subcategory of the other, but there are a couple of things I still don’t see for the other direction. I can build the necessary morphisms in the underlying category, but I still can’t show that one of them is a monomorphism.

    In more pedestrian news, I went to the DMV and took care of the registration on my car, and I ordered new checks. The cupboard space I’m using for storing spices is getting somewhat cramped. The only reason that’s a problem is I don’t have nearly all the spices I want yet. -_-;;

    I am going to be taking the Complex Analysis qualifying exam on 8 June. Hopefully I can improve on last year’s Master’s pass. Once the signal-flow paper gets to a complete draft, I’ll probably shift my focus to mostly Complex Analysis for a while. Oh yeah. There’s another thing on my to-do list… I want to make a .gif animation that shows composition of spans is associative (up to the appropriate equivalence relation). I am quite sure it would be appreciated by the intended audience.

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  2. 112 midterms graded. I’m going to get to the quizzes after I go to bed and get back up.

    I saw Young Kirk Star Trek II on Thursday. It was pretty good. Stood well on its own, but of course there was plenty hidden for the fans of the franchise.

    The animation I mentioned in my last update may have to wait for after the Complex qual. We’ll see. I’ve already got the basic sketch made, but I think I want it to be something drawn in LaTeX, animated in GIMP.

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  3. Now that the Spring quarter has ended and my Summer teaching starts on the 27th, I have the appearance of having some time on my hands. That is, in fact, a pure illusion. I have been spending some time learning how to use the LaTeX package TikZ more effectively, as I am working on a paper that already contains several dozen TikZ pictures. I’ve considerably cleaned up the code and the diagrams I drew back in May. A lot of what irked about TikZ then was a matter of being on the wrong side of the learning curve. Anyway, I need to spend more time working on Real Analysis for that upcoming qual. I’ve asked about whether there will be a qual prep seminar, though the latest word on that is essentially, “Please stand by.” I feel like I’m a bit behind with my Hebrew studies, as well.

    In other news, I have a new apartment-mate for the summer. That should take some of the stress out of paying utilities. As long as I don’t find my food going missing, I think we’ll be able to get along just fine.

    Oh. Last time I posted, I hadn’t retaken the Complex qual yet. I Ph.D. passed it. Yay! That means there is now just a little bit of a safety net — I only have to get a Master’s pass on the Real qual in order to get through the qualifier exams hoop.

    E: 8 July
    I will work on that .gif I keep mentioning on 11 July and hopefully have it done on Thursday, too.

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  4. Took the Real qual again about a week ago, which means I will probably find out the results some time this week. I acquired a backlog of homeworks to grade while studying for this last written qual, and I still have a ton of homework to grade. Also, about a week before the qual, I created some problems on my primary computer. It looks like I’m going to have to re-install the operating system. I have all my install discs, so the main thing getting in the way of that is finding the time. It is not absolutely essential to get it fixed right away, so that’s probably going to stay on the backburner for a while yet.

    In the meantime, I am learning more about TikZ and its PGF core. I want to do a post in the near future about the importance of symbol selection. Many of the diagrams I’ve made will have to be redone – for several reasons. First, some of the original diagrams suck, from the coding side of things. It’ll be good to clean it up with the stuff I have learned in the past half-year of working with TikZ. Second, the diagrams really should be in a figure environment, possibly with links. That is probably the biggest design flaw in my paper so far. Third, some of the compound diagrams are drawn as multiple TikZ drawings instead of a unified whole (another design flaw). Fourth, some resizing will be necessary, so I need to make things able to scale more nicely. Finally, the symbol set got a recent facelift. Many diagrams will have to be changed to reflect the most current set of symbols.

    Some good news in all of that is that I have the seeds for my next paper partially worked out. I still need to make sure everything works out in the first paper first, but once that’s done and written, I can start working on writing the next thing. I am excited about that.

    My Hebrew studies are still chugging along. They kind of took a back seat to the Real qual, so I feel a bit behind. I need to make some time to reimmerse myself in my studies there. I would love to have at least about five hours per week that I can concentrate on just that. Time management has never been my strong suit, though, and there’s definite room for improvement there.

    edit (19 November) – I got my Real qual results back today. Ph.D. pass.

    edit2 (5 December) – Got my computer fixed ereyesterday. It only took a month.

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