Dear Diary,
Kieron's mastery of disguise and subterfuge has come with him to the conference. I saw him walking around with a different name tag! But it looked mysteriously like Kieron!
Then later, I saw someone walking around with Kieron's name tag, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Kieron! Maybe this is where they make Kierons....
But there can be only one!
Showing posts with label Where's Burke?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Where's Burke?. Show all posts
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Pretending to be Justin
Dear Diary,
Today I walked into Kieron's summer class to proctor some quizzes. Justin is the official TA and had some car trouble (oil change).
So, I went in and pulled Kieron's old trick of introducing yourself as someone else so they'll take the heat if something goes wrong! Normally if I introduce myself as someone else in the group (we're all interchangeable, really), then things go swimmingly.
Not so much this time. The students practically called the police on me.
Gotta dash!
Today I walked into Kieron's summer class to proctor some quizzes. Justin is the official TA and had some car trouble (oil change).
So, I went in and pulled Kieron's old trick of introducing yourself as someone else so they'll take the heat if something goes wrong! Normally if I introduce myself as someone else in the group (we're all interchangeable, really), then things go swimmingly.
Not so much this time. The students practically called the police on me.
Gotta dash!
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Li
Dear Diary,
During my individual meeting with Kieron, Li walked in and asked if Kieron would go see a poster presentation by Kevin or if he should. Kieron, flabbergasted that that was even a question allowed Li to answer:
"Or should I go as you?"
So clever! This must be how Kieron gets so much done...
During my individual meeting with Kieron, Li walked in and asked if Kieron would go see a poster presentation by Kevin or if he should. Kieron, flabbergasted that that was even a question allowed Li to answer:
"Or should I go as you?"
So clever! This must be how Kieron gets so much done...
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Don't pull the eject button!
Dear Diary,
I had to run my first meeting in place of Kieron. Really, I found it was easy. I let everyone else do most of the talking. The group wisdom is usually best here and kept the pressure off me.
We were going over abstracts for the American Physical Society meeting in March. I put up mine first because I'm the newest, and it went over well! It only took 45 minutes to iron out the kinks and make sure we broke everything down didactically! I think everyone else's benefitted from it because it didn't take as long! I actually think we're going to have a golden set of abstracts for the APS.
Guo is sitting in with us for a few weeks since he's new to the program and pointed out that I didn't add any firm conclusions. I could add a few points to the content; however, I don't have any yet...I'll have to work hard so I'll have something to say in Colorado! I showed it to Kieron beforehand, and he could only say good things about how broad the abstract is. Huzzah!
When I finally submitted, I had to cut it even further because the new affiliations for Miles and Lucas (especially Lucas') put me over the limit. APS gives you a little line that you can't go under, so beware. I can write as much as I want with you, though, diary!
Oh, Lucas! I finally fit your dervatives! Yay! I'll add them to the paper in an appropriate place. Don't pull the eject button too soon and submit, Lucas!
I had to run my first meeting in place of Kieron. Really, I found it was easy. I let everyone else do most of the talking. The group wisdom is usually best here and kept the pressure off me.
We were going over abstracts for the American Physical Society meeting in March. I put up mine first because I'm the newest, and it went over well! It only took 45 minutes to iron out the kinks and make sure we broke everything down didactically! I think everyone else's benefitted from it because it didn't take as long! I actually think we're going to have a golden set of abstracts for the APS.
Guo is sitting in with us for a few weeks since he's new to the program and pointed out that I didn't add any firm conclusions. I could add a few points to the content; however, I don't have any yet...I'll have to work hard so I'll have something to say in Colorado! I showed it to Kieron beforehand, and he could only say good things about how broad the abstract is. Huzzah!
When I finally submitted, I had to cut it even further because the new affiliations for Miles and Lucas (especially Lucas') put me over the limit. APS gives you a little line that you can't go under, so beware. I can write as much as I want with you, though, diary!
Oh, Lucas! I finally fit your dervatives! Yay! I'll add them to the paper in an appropriate place. Don't pull the eject button too soon and submit, Lucas!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
We don't need no education
Dear Diary,
Whew! What a day! With Professor Burke away, I had to cover his math preparation course. When I walked in, the students couldn't even tell that there was someone different teaching them (or was it Professor Burke the whole time and I'm at the conference?!).
A few days ago, Professor loosely mentioned to me that I should book the conference room in order to have a place for those young students to take their quizzes and sit. I went over to the chemistry office and signed out the conference room, writing my name down in the book, and getting the key.
Before the lecture, I had to familiarize myself with all the course material. So, I made solutions for all the quizzes they were about to take (on differential equations, basic complex analysis, and linear vector spaces) and read key passages of the book ("Basic Training in Mathematics" by R. Shankar...a big name in applying Quantum Field Theory methods to condensed matter systems...Happy 80th birthday year, Shankar!). Unfortunately, as soon as I walked in the door, they asked me a question I hadn't reviewed!
So, I had to improvise a bit, but it worked out well. 30 minutes later, they were taking their quizzes. Hopefully now they'll pass the differential equations quiz, but I have to find out since I need to grade and send the scores to the boss before the end of today! I even answered one question about Hessians, huzzah! The students seem to be a little worn down...but they're sure learning a lot!
Oh, and I made sure to return the key so someone else can use it.
Whew! What a day! With Professor Burke away, I had to cover his math preparation course. When I walked in, the students couldn't even tell that there was someone different teaching them (or was it Professor Burke the whole time and I'm at the conference?!).
A few days ago, Professor loosely mentioned to me that I should book the conference room in order to have a place for those young students to take their quizzes and sit. I went over to the chemistry office and signed out the conference room, writing my name down in the book, and getting the key.
Before the lecture, I had to familiarize myself with all the course material. So, I made solutions for all the quizzes they were about to take (on differential equations, basic complex analysis, and linear vector spaces) and read key passages of the book ("Basic Training in Mathematics" by R. Shankar...a big name in applying Quantum Field Theory methods to condensed matter systems...Happy 80th birthday year, Shankar!). Unfortunately, as soon as I walked in the door, they asked me a question I hadn't reviewed!
So, I had to improvise a bit, but it worked out well. 30 minutes later, they were taking their quizzes. Hopefully now they'll pass the differential equations quiz, but I have to find out since I need to grade and send the scores to the boss before the end of today! I even answered one question about Hessians, huzzah! The students seem to be a little worn down...but they're sure learning a lot!
Oh, and I made sure to return the key so someone else can use it.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Web Updates
Dear Diary,
Whew! What a week. I wanted to come up for a breath of fresh air and let you know what was going on, Diary.
I got to update the website! A group alumni, Attila Cangi submitted a paper with E.K.U. Gross and Professor Burke to Physical Review A. I had to update the bibtex file for the website, add the pdf to the master respository, and pick a pretty picture from the paper. I went with a swanky function diagram even though all the submitted figures were worthy candidates!
Professor Burke came back, but Lucas left for the week. You know, you almost never see Lucas and Professor Burke in the same place at the same time...I have a list of questions to ask Professor Burke about the website updates, and I bet he'll want to see all the progress I've made on the research! Hopefully individual meetings will start up soon!
Remembering back to the Burkely Quarterly submission, I see that I have not heard back. Sometimes reviewers take a while to process the information you've thrown at them and get behind on reviewing. So, maybe a gentle, courteous query to the editor would let me know what's going on.
Oh, and Diary, one person is following us!
Whew! What a week. I wanted to come up for a breath of fresh air and let you know what was going on, Diary.
I got to update the website! A group alumni, Attila Cangi submitted a paper with E.K.U. Gross and Professor Burke to Physical Review A. I had to update the bibtex file for the website, add the pdf to the master respository, and pick a pretty picture from the paper. I went with a swanky function diagram even though all the submitted figures were worthy candidates!
Professor Burke came back, but Lucas left for the week. You know, you almost never see Lucas and Professor Burke in the same place at the same time...I have a list of questions to ask Professor Burke about the website updates, and I bet he'll want to see all the progress I've made on the research! Hopefully individual meetings will start up soon!
Remembering back to the Burkely Quarterly submission, I see that I have not heard back. Sometimes reviewers take a while to process the information you've thrown at them and get behind on reviewing. So, maybe a gentle, courteous query to the editor would let me know what's going on.
Oh, and Diary, one person is following us!
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Meeting people is easy
Dear Diary,
John ran the meeting today while Professor Burke was out (or is it the other way around?!).
We started by introducing everyone to the new summer interns. Jessica is going to be a senior in high school but doesn't think she has anything interesting to say; however, she does have an identical twin sister (so maybe her identical twin sister has nothing interesting to say?!). Isabel is a junior in college and was raised in Shanghai. Tarik is a senior in high school and captain of the improv Comedy Sports team.
For the record, my position on improv comedy favors Improv Olympic over Upright Citizens Brigade, but maybe we'll be treated to a pan left/pan right, a game of superheros, or a long form before the summer is finished!
Li also gave a stellar presentation, and I got to talk about you, diary!
I can't wait to get to know everyone and pump out some high quality physics. It was great to meet everyone!
John ran the meeting today while Professor Burke was out (or is it the other way around?!).
We started by introducing everyone to the new summer interns. Jessica is going to be a senior in high school but doesn't think she has anything interesting to say; however, she does have an identical twin sister (so maybe her identical twin sister has nothing interesting to say?!). Isabel is a junior in college and was raised in Shanghai. Tarik is a senior in high school and captain of the improv Comedy Sports team.
For the record, my position on improv comedy favors Improv Olympic over Upright Citizens Brigade, but maybe we'll be treated to a pan left/pan right, a game of superheros, or a long form before the summer is finished!
Li also gave a stellar presentation, and I got to talk about you, diary!
I can't wait to get to know everyone and pump out some high quality physics. It was great to meet everyone!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Presentation Tips
Dear Diary,
Raphael gave a practice talk at today's meeting. Professor Burke has decided to hood Lucas at the coming graduation, so Raphael will be substituting for Professor Burke at the conference.
Or will Raphael be at the Graduation and Professor Burke at the conference?!
Professor Burke called on me afterwards to give constructive criticism and pitted me against Raphael Hunger Games style. The odds were certainly not in my favor, but I had fortunately been taking notes and had a few comments:
1. Avoid acronyms
2. Make sure items are large enough to be seen from the background
3. Use a sans seriff font to avoid curly characters
4. Don't shift around
5. Have a sense of humor, but don't be funny (no xkcd cartoons)
6. Practice the first few slides a lot of time to avoid hiccuping in the beginning
7. Practice often
8. Smile!
and that was about it. Number 5 was controversial because while xkcd cartoons are amateurish, putting Spock and evil Spock onto a slide in a careful way is classy.
Raphael managed to avoid all of these and gave a great presentation. Hopefully I can sharpen my skills up to his level quickly!
Raphael gave a practice talk at today's meeting. Professor Burke has decided to hood Lucas at the coming graduation, so Raphael will be substituting for Professor Burke at the conference.
Or will Raphael be at the Graduation and Professor Burke at the conference?!
Professor Burke called on me afterwards to give constructive criticism and pitted me against Raphael Hunger Games style. The odds were certainly not in my favor, but I had fortunately been taking notes and had a few comments:
1. Avoid acronyms
2. Make sure items are large enough to be seen from the background
3. Use a sans seriff font to avoid curly characters
4. Don't shift around
5. Have a sense of humor, but don't be funny (no xkcd cartoons)
6. Practice the first few slides a lot of time to avoid hiccuping in the beginning
7. Practice often
8. Smile!
and that was about it. Number 5 was controversial because while xkcd cartoons are amateurish, putting Spock and evil Spock onto a slide in a careful way is classy.
Raphael managed to avoid all of these and gave a great presentation. Hopefully I can sharpen my skills up to his level quickly!
Friday, May 24, 2013
Professor Burke, I presume?
Diary,
Professor Burke stopped me in the hallway during my meeting with Lucas because he's looking for someone to pretend to be him at functions where he's double booked.
It's sort of like the movie Dave where a guy impersonates the president.
In particular, the department throws tours in the spring so that prospective students can survey the department and avoid making the biggest mistake of their physics careers. Professor Burke wants someone to present a poster on the research that we're doing. Thinking back on all the conversations we've had, I'm trying to see if I've been talking to Professor Burke or a body double. In the future, I'll have to be on my toes about this. I think one time Aurora sat in for Professor Burke at a group meeting.
He was also dismayed that I got a haircut (due to excessive friz), because I don't look quite like Dr. Who as much anymore, and he wanted a photograph. I'll have to start using conditioner and grow it out again. So, I need to start bringing in a jacket, scarf, and the current iteration of my good-looking female side kick with whom I have a strictly platonic adventurship with from time and space to time and space. I am to leave my TARDIS and daleks at home.
Professor Burke stopped me in the hallway during my meeting with Lucas because he's looking for someone to pretend to be him at functions where he's double booked.
It's sort of like the movie Dave where a guy impersonates the president.
In particular, the department throws tours in the spring so that prospective students can survey the department and avoid making the biggest mistake of their physics careers. Professor Burke wants someone to present a poster on the research that we're doing. Thinking back on all the conversations we've had, I'm trying to see if I've been talking to Professor Burke or a body double. In the future, I'll have to be on my toes about this. I think one time Aurora sat in for Professor Burke at a group meeting.
He was also dismayed that I got a haircut (due to excessive friz), because I don't look quite like Dr. Who as much anymore, and he wanted a photograph. I'll have to start using conditioner and grow it out again. So, I need to start bringing in a jacket, scarf, and the current iteration of my good-looking female side kick with whom I have a strictly platonic adventurship with from time and space to time and space. I am to leave my TARDIS and daleks at home.
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