Tuesday, February 21st, 2006
Last night I stayed up until 2:00am finishing the block theory of Rudvalis, the fifth and final sporadic group whose modular atlas is available for p=2. Before bed, I talk to Christine about how I now have the bare minimum to get my PhD. Prof. Smith is going out of town tomorrow afternoon, and so I wanted to get this done and show him tomorrow morning. I want to confirm with him that indeed I have enough for my degree at this point right now.
I get up at 6:30 and change my mind from taking the train, deciding to drive. I also decide to forget about lifting as originally planned, because I’m so tired and also because my back is sore from moving the coffee table. I get ready and make a couple of ham sandwiches (using Christine’s Smithfield ham), then head out just before 7:30. I’m cramming 3 TAC visits into 2 hours, the 8am and 9am time slots, which will free up my Thursday and finish my TAC rounds for good. I get those done, planning my own teaching lesson during the breaks. I realize all that I’ve got going on this morning: TAC visits, follow-up discussions with the TAs, teaching my own class at 11, and-oh by the way-meeting with Prof. Smith in the 10:00 hour.
Cramming three TAC visits into 2 hours is not a big deal, except for the follow-up discussions. Fortunately I pick the right TAs to follow up with, and the one left out-Natalie Kremer-has her office in 408. I come back to my office at 10 and hear her coming to her office, so I get the last follow-up visit taken care of, so my TAC job is done. I see Kari and Steve Hurder in the hallway and mention trying to apply for a University fellowship. Then I go meet with Prof. Smith.
I show him the block theory of Rudvalis, and he says that we are at a “Watershed.” Just like I had thought, he says that-though this is “bare bones”-it is enough for a thesis. He encourages me to start writing it up, while also spending half my effort looking at my calculations to see if I notice any patterns. He questions the likelihood of my getting a University Fellowship, so I may end up not applying for it after all. We talk about how I should go about my efforts in the coming months, and he gives me a goal of trying to defend in one year, February 2007. I leave his office pretty excited, and even put my finger up in the air as I run down the stairs.
