Summer is finally over for me. It was all too short and I don’t know where most of the time went, but I must finally come to terms with the fact that I must leave Wisconsin and return to the University of Richmond. It’s not that school is bad, it’s just that I could still really use just a bit more time to recover and see familiar faces and old friends. A full calendar of meetings, training sessions, classes, organizational events and meetings awaits me. I have some issues of apprehension regarding a few situations, but I’m hoping they’re unfounded. I’ll soon find out.

However, that’s the future for me and a bit unknown. What I do know is what I have been doing this past week and how I ended my summer. I spent a lot of time helping my little sister with a 4-H project for the county fair. I was always very active in 4-H as a kid and the county fair was always one of the highlights of the year. I used my past sewing abilities (yes it is a bit strange, I know) to help her sew four placemats, one representing each season of the year. I would say that, in all, I spent 30 hours working with her on three separate projects. Even though it took a lot of time and work, it was nice to return home just in time to participate in the county fair again.

My little sister working on a 4-H project

The placemats that I helped my sister sew this summer

Of course, I actually attended the fair as well. Walking around and viewing the exhibits is always fun because it is amazing what some young adults are capable of creating. I also walked the midway, listened to live bands, watched a hypnotists, strolled the animal barns, and did everything else that the county fair has to offer. I brought my friend, Kristin, along as well and we attended the Demolition Derby on Saturday night. We also had tons of good fair food. We had a full bag of cheese curds, funnel cake, deep-fried Oreos, kettle corn, an apple bratwurst, ice cream cones, and maybe one or two things more.

My younger brother and sister won the contest for
largest flower and largest pumpkin.

Checking out the farm equipment

Yep, the cheese curds are back in my life!!!

One of the pigs in the animal barns

A chainsaw artist carving a Native American chief

Kettle Corn!!!

The Demolition Derby (originally called the Wreck ‘Em Rodeo)

Someone got knocked out of the derby

Other than the county fair, I just did some hanging out with friends, watching movies, and trying to relax. Highlights included:

Swing Dancing Night at The Wabasha Caves (a club that is built into a cliff)

Attending the North Hudson Pepper Fest parade…

which included a fair share of farm equipment

Pepper Fest also has a royalty spaghetti-eating contest that was fun to watch

Now, I’m back to Virginia. Who know how my sophomore year will go. I’m probably a bit overinvolved and overstressed, but maybe everything will be less time-consuming than I anticipate. That’d be a nice surprise. I’ll let you know everything that is on my horizon in my next post. Enjoy your end of summer. It’ll be here before you know it… if it’s not already.

Quote of the Week: By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” -Confucius
Thought to Ponder: Why do they call it a 10 gallon hat when it can only hold about 3/4 gallon?
Shout Outs: Anyone in 4-H
YouTube Video of the Week:

Something to make you feel a little bit better about your own abilities

While traveling home a few weeks ago, I had a three hour layover in Cincinatti, so I decided to use the extra time to read my local newspaper’s edition in which they printed brief biographies of the four hundred seniors of this year’s graduating class from my local high school. It showed what activities they did in high school, what their plans were for the future, memorable events from high school, and words of advice to underclassmen. I remember my advice from a year ago was, “Do today what others won’t so you can do tomorrow what others can’t.”

As I read through this year’s advice, I found some of them very well-put. Some people think that the younger generation doesn’t know much and can be ignorant, but I think that some of these go to show that we’re not as out of touch as some people make us out to be. Not only do these words of wisdom apply to underclassmen in high school, but I would find (after only one year in college) that these would be good advice to all those who will be entering college in the fall. I suppose, though that they also work for most teenagers and college students as well as some adults. So, since I had three hours to spare, I typed up the ones that I liked the best and decided to have this blog be words of advice to any prospective student that is in high school or entering college. I know that some are cliche, but I think my life might have been easier if I had listened to some of these. So, here are some of the best words of advice that I found (and yes, I know some of them seem to be repeats)…

“Keep your options open. There is such a variety of interesting classes here. Take them all!” –Jenna Anderson

“Be yourself and don’t compromise your beliefs and don’t let the so-called “cool” people dictate your decisions” –Keegan Beaumaster

“What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?”- Laura Beemer

“Find your real friends and stay true to them. Never lose sight of your faith or yourself, and life in the moment because it goes fast.” –Amanda Benjamin

“Hard work can never be underestimated” –Andrew Berglund

“If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good” by Dr. Seuss- Sarah Branson

“Work hard but don’t let homework get in the way of what really matters to you.” –Elizabeth Burns

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything!” Phillipians 4:6 – Christine Claflin

“Don’t try too hard to fit in. Just be yourself. That way you are most likely to make only true, lasting friendships.”- James Cleveland

“Don’t be afraid of what people think of you. Just be yourself!”- Brittany Constant

“Extra effort is the key to success”- Catherine Cumming

“If you want to be successful, always believe in yourself. Always study hard to reach your goals” –Colter Denison

“Pay attention to your grades but don’t let class control your life. Take time for yourself and your friends” –Dan Dodge

“The only two things in life you can control is your attitude and your effort” –Amy Frye

“Prioritize-you can’t do everything so find what’s important to you and do it well. It’s not what you do. It’s who you are!”-Lindsay Ganong

“Do it right the first time”- Callie Gilbert

“Everyone will like you as long as you’re nice and you listen to what other people have to say.”-Charlie Hammond

“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true”-Kelsey Hansen

“Don’t be shy or scared of anything. Most memories are made when you are being yourself and outgoing”-Sarah Hanson

“Separate your work and play”-Jennifer Heffron

“Life is like a roller coaster. You’ll have your ups and owns but you’ll never regret the ride”-Meagan Hennekens

“Don’t start drama if you don’t want to deal with it” -Dana Hernandez

“Be yourself, be respectful, don’t be afraid to do something nice for someone else.” –Julie Juchno

“Focus on the good, not the bad, and believe in yourself”- Jayme Kennebeck

“Laugh often and smile a lot. It goes by fast!”- Abigail Klatt

“Try a little bit of everything- you never know what you’ll learn, who you’ll meet or how much fun you’ll have. – Becky Kriger

“Always stand up for what you believe in, no matter who you have to overcome.” –Courtney Larson

“Though you’ve got time, always plan ahead” –Kuamojua Lee

“Studying and getting good grades are important but don’t forget to have a life and some fun with your friends.” –Andrew Linderman

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something”- Zach Line

“Don’t worry about what you have no control over.” –Andrew Maher

“Focus on the good each day” –Melissa Mayr

“Find something you enjoy and get involved.” –Ian McGinnis

“Don’t let little issues anger you and be nice to everyone you encounter, otherwise you will regret it”- James Meincke

“Remember that education is a privilege. Don’t take it for granted and study hard.” –Brock Peterson

“Have confidence in everything you do.” –Jacob Proue

“Challenge yourself but know your limitations so that you can still learn what you love.” –Michelle Ruppert

“Do what you really love to do and get really good at it and always keep your head high.”- Joshua Schroetter

“Honestly, stop complaining and just do your work, and no you don’t know it all.”-Anna Shaver

“Don’t take things too seriously, enjoy the time you have with the people around you.”-Anna Shoemaker

“Get to know people besides your best friends—you’ll never regret it.”-Kinsey Shurden

“Have fun with no regrets.”-Kristine Stensgaard

“Education is a gift that will open doors to the future. Accept it and use this gift wisely.” –Emily Stone

“Respect your elders and respect yourself most of all!”-Ashley Sukowatey

“The harder you work now, the easier things are later.”-Mike Tennant

“Life isn’t measured by the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away.”-Jeryn Waldera

“Don’t be afraid to take on a challenge. The rewards will be greater than you’ll ever know.”-Kyra Wangert

“Prioritize. Don’t spread yourself too thin.”-Gillian Yoerg

“Take the time to find what really makes you happy and do it! Don’t take life so seriously.”-Ella Zak

Quote of the Week: “I long for the day when chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.” - Anonymous
Thought to Ponder: Why is a group of geese on the ground called a gaggle, but a group of geese in the air called a skein?
YouTube Video of the Week:

A man tries out his roller suit in the Swiss Alps

So, it’s now been a little over a week since I’ve been home and I’ve been pretty busy catching up with family and friends that I haven’t seen for seven months. Needless to say, I’ve had a nice welcome home, especially from the family dog who loves to see me, even though I stole back my bed from her.

Misty eagerly welcoming me back

Part of me just doesn’t want to do anything and relax, while the other half just wants to go out and do as much as I possibly can for the three weeks I’m home. I’ve managed to a bit of both, depending on the day. So, here’s what I’ve been up to. With my friends, I have…

gone to the local drive-in with my friends for “Dark Knight”,
“Hancock”, and “Get Smart”…

attended the 2nd Annual A.P. Physics Party
(which really isn’t as nerdy as it seems)….

where the eight of us in the class spent a day tubing…

cruising the river…

and having a barbecue into the late night.

I also went disc golfing with friends…

and to the area amusement park to ride roller coasters and
thrill rides with family and friends…

including Power Tower and it’s 27 story drop

Of course, I have also spent a considerable amount of time with my family. With them, I have…

helped my sister for twelve hours with quilting four placements for the county
fair since I actually have some decent skills with sewing…
as well as going for a Night Out with my younger brother and sister
in which we went bowling and visited a candy and fudge shop…
as well as got ice cream and walked along the riverfront in Stillwater, MN

So, it’s been nice to relax. However, I’ve still been busy organizing InterVarsity events, scheduling my return trip to Richmond and the ensuing Leadership Training for both Senate and InterVarsity,  deciding if I want to accept a job offer from a Math professor to be a homework grader for two of  his classes, trying to figure out my options for Study Abroad, buying my textbooks for the fall, as well as plenty of other business items. So, it hasn’t all been fun and games with bonfires and disc golfing and watching movies.

Finally, I get to mention the trouble that I’ve been getting into. Normally, I am very healthy and avoid injuries. I mean, I’ve never had a broken bone, sprain, or even stitches. However, I somehow came into contact with a virus and got several warts, so I had to go to the doctor to have those frozen off. That was the day after I got back. Then, I was playing beach volleyball with friends and had a bit of miscommunication that resulted in my head colliding with my friend’s head and maybe having a very mild concussion. He was alright, but I also received a minor laceration on the inside of my ear. Also, while tubing at the AP Physics Party, I jumped from one tube to the other. However, I didn’t land on the tube and my arm got caught between the canvas covering and the actual tube. So, I was dragged for a short while and got a rather large canvas burn right on my inner elbow. It’s only been a week that I’ve been back and I’ve already had continued pain to my feet, elbow, and ear. Needless to say, I think I’ll be happy to arrive back on-campus in one piece.

This was my tubing injury after a full week of already healing. You can
see the entire mark of where it was at first

Quotes of the Week (Computer Theme):
“There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don’t”
“Microsoft: You’ve got questions. We’ve got dancing paperclips.”
“If at first you don’t succeed; call it Version 1.0″
“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.”
Thought to Ponder: Are eyebrows considered facial hair?
Shout Outs: Anyone I’ve hung out with back here in Wisconsin
YouTube Video of the Week:

A spoof of “The Dark Knight”. I think anyone who has seen it will understand it, but those who haven’t seen the movie may not. 

At first, I thought that the conference would be very boring. At least it started off as uneventful. I had no issues traveling to Michigan. I flew separate from the rest of the Richmond group since I booked my own flights. However, the rest of my group was not so lucky. We had:

1. One of my research partners had his luggage lost at the airport

2. My other research partner lost all of her luggage that she had for the next month.

3. One person flew on his own from his home in Philadelphia, but missed his flight in Detroit, so a professor who drove to the conference from Richmond had to stop by Detroit to pick him up.

4. Another researcher had his CARRY-ON baggage lost. It was a really small plane and so he had to leave his garment bag and other small possessions for the crew to store in the plane’s underbelly before getting on the plane. Somehow, in the 50 feet between the airplane’s door and luggage compartment, all of his clothes and possessions were lost. This was one of the strangest airport stories I’ve heard in some time.

Through my independent travels, though, I happened to meet students from Olin College, another school that was attending the conference. Honestly, I thought they were a bit strange at first. They talked about math and theorems for fun and seemed to have rather strange social skills, if you know what I mean. I didn’t think I was like them at all. However, the more that I got to know them throughout the conference, whether by going out to eat together, discussing our projects, or just hanging out, the more my opinion of them changed. Actually, my favorite event from the conference was with them. We spent the last night playing over two hours of Charades followed by three hours of Taboo. It was a really great time. In all, there were five schools there: Coppin State, Sam Houston State, Olin, Central Michigan, and us. I would say that a lot of us became really good friends. Yes, we may not exactly be typical teenagers. I mean, what “normal” teenager decides to spend almost their entire summer doing math research? However, I guess I’m not as different from them as I thought.

Meeting new people while playing Taboo. Ben was a hilarious person.

Making friends with students from other colleges

The actual conference went well. Central Michigan was a great host. The had fantastic dorms and food for us. Every possible break, they had trays of fruit, cookies, breads, and so much more and it was all delicious. I easily think that it ruined several of my trips to the gym. For the actual conference portion, there were eight 30-minute presentations. They were a huge range of topics, from oscillations in blood flow to time-minimizing curves to increased efficiency in wireless communication to knot theory to Hadaran matrices to the history of mathematics in America. My group’s presentation went really well. We received many compliments and my mentor said that he received a lot of compliments on the PowerPoint that I had created for it. Some of the others weren’t as interesting and very hard to follow, but there were several others that were quite fascinating. The  remaining groups all had a chance to show off their work during a poster session.

A presentation on “Sequence Design in Wireless Communication”

Kosh presents her research on chaos

The conference was a good experience and a great way to end the summer and I do think that my presentation skills have come a long way. The friends were great and there were lots of fun times. It’s great to end on a happy note. I think I may have actually had my views of summer change over the past few weeks and days. I didn’t like it in the beginning, but when I look at everything as a whole, I am glad for it. However, that could me be seeing it through rose-colored glasses. Still, I’m so anxious to get home. I sent home a list of foods that I’ve been missing and I’m ready to have some of them. My friends from high school have been calling me and asking me to come hang out and all I can say is “Soon”. There is so much that I want to do, but so little time. I’ll tell you all about my adventures after I’ve been home for a while.

Leaving my summer research office for the last time

Quote of the Week: “The only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well.” -Joe Ancis
Thought to Ponder: If nothing sticks on Teflon, how do they make Teflon stick to the pan?
Shout Outs: My new friends from the LURE Conference
YouTube Video of the Week:

And I thought I was a bad skier 

What a way to end my summer of research! While research has not exactly lived up to my expectations and it wasn’t as exciting as I would have hoped, this past week was actually fun for me and was definitely my favorite week. The reason for that, though, is that we weren’t actually doing much math. We were compiling our findings and our research into a presentation for a conference in Michigan that will occur early next week. I was finally back into my element. I was organizing and using multimedia and doing things that I really enjoy doing. While the rest of the group had written the “script” for the presentation, this was my task. I had a strict timetable and knew what had to be done and when. That was the structure that I had been missing all summer. So, while it may not sound like fun, I actually enjoyed the challenge of putting together our work. Even better, it solidified the knowledge in my mind and I actually have a very clear understanding of what we’ve accomplished the past ten weeks.

Us math researchers weren’t the only ones wrapping up our work. As a culmination of our summer research, all of the student researchers got together for a lunch and a presentation from each department (computer science, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and math) on what they’ve been doing this summer. Somehow (I have yet to figure out how), I was selected to represent all of the math researchers. Needless to say, I was terrified because I would present my research (on which I felt my understanding was shaky at the time) in front of sixty other students (most of whom had far more experience and knowledge than I did). However, I put together what I felt was a good slideshow and presented it to the best of my abilities. I thought it went great. Plus, I had lots of people come up to me and say that they thought I did excellent and that I had the most easily understandable presentation by far. So, that made my day and gave me a lot of confidence. Now, I don’t need to fake confidence as much in my presentations. However, the one comment that was repeated several times in jest was that I needed to work on my accent. Apparently, my Northern accent comes shining through when I talk about the square “rut” of a function instead of the square “root” of a function.

To attempt to sum up my research is difficult, but I’ll try. We studied the historical figures of Gottfried Wilhelm von Liebniz and the Bernoulli brothers and what they stated regarding the optimization of travel between points. Then, we studied papers by Gary Lawlor and my adviser Michael Kerckhove about the shapes of time-optimization curves as well as the proofs by which they are proven to be time-minimizing. The foundation of these proofs rested on the “slicing method” in which we divided our paths into many “slices” using the extension of the normal vectors along the curve.

Our own extension of the research began as we attempted to not just prove a curve was time-minimizing, but to actually create a curve that was guaranteed to offer the least time of travel between points on the curve. All of these problems used a variety of speed functions. Of course it’s easy to know the fastest route with a constant speed (a straight line), but it gets more complicated when you have the speed function as “x^3-3xy^2″. Using osculating circles [Imagine driving along the road (curve) and having the steering wheel lock in place while turning a bend. The resulting circle you drive is the osculating circle] we approximated the time-minimizing path. Of course we ran into complications. For example, we had to begin using slicing circles instead of slicing lines. We also had to eliminate part of our proposed minimial-time paths because of slight accuracy errors. “Good regions” created by eigenvalues and eigenvectors, however, gave us the guaranteed-to-be-accurate regions. It is way more complex than this, but I’ve tried to “simplify” it for you.

I know this is all very complicated to you, so I will stop and say that it at least makes sense in my mind. I’m amazed right now how much I learned. I dealt with math that was way beyond the classes I had taken. Still, research isn’t something I expect to continue with. It is only for a specific type of person. I enjoy learning, but I need to actually apply it a lot more than simply investigating one area for a long period of time. I need variety. I think a lot of the other researchers also feel that way. While the summer revealed that research isn’t my main interest in life, it was beneficial in many other ways. I experienced a regular Monday to Friday 9-5 job. I also found out my comfort zone was in a workplace with a consistent routine and timetable as well as the ability for me to organize things. So, even though I thought I had ruled math out from my future earlier this summer, I may take a few more classes. There are some business routes that exist which would require several more math classes. However, if I were to take them, I have a very nice jump start due to this past summer. All told, I’m still very grateful for this experience.

Looking ahead, we have a conference in Michigan. It brings together the four colleges that participated in the LURE program. There are 30-minute presentations that eight groups will give (including ours) as well as poster presentations by the other groups. While it may be a long and tedious test of mental stamina to sit through two days of math talks, I’m sure I’ll make it out alive. However, actually getting home is my final test. One might think that there are plenty of flights from Lansing, Michigan to Minneapolis, Minnesota, but that would not be correct. In order to get home, I fly from Richmond to Lansing (for the conference) to Cincinnati to Atlanta to Minneapolis. Just for fun, I discovered that if someone left the Lansing airport at the same time as me and drove to the Minneapolis airport, we would arrive at the exact same time. However, I’m not going to complain since the LURE program reimbursed me for the equivalent of a roundtrip from Richmond. Since I didn’t want to waste time flying back to Richmond, I’ll just fly straight home. All told, I’m flying home for $2.50. That’s pretty sweet. I am so excited to get back.

I know this got really long and I don’t have any nice pictures to entertain you, so I’m sorry. I do feel as though I did not do a great job this summer adequately conveying what I’ve been up to with regards to research. It’s difficult to explain and I know that most of my posts didn’t live up to my standards. So for that, I apologize. My schedule this fall is teeming, so I’ll make it up to you then. Thanks for reading about my summer research. The next time I’ll check back in will be when I’m back home in Wisconsin!!!

Quote of the Week: “Mathematics is not a careful march down a well-cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost.” -W.S. Anglin
Thought to Ponder: How is it possible for a Lansing to Cincinatti to Atlanta to Minneapolis flightplan to be the cheapest route? It’s 1,542 miles while it’s only 454 miles for a direct flight.
Shout Outs: The University of Richmond Class of 2012
YouTube Video of the Week:

This one has been around a while and has 37 million views