Let me start with Michelle's questions.
What do I spend most of my day doing?
Math, whether it's teaching class, thinking about research, typing up research and/or job application materials, or doing homework for my education classes.
What do I wish I had more time to do?
Well, I think I'll answer a slightly different question--I think I'll tell you about some goals that I've recently written down. Here are some of the main ideas, in no particular order:
- Spend fun and quality time with my family.
- Learn lots about my family history (with an emphasis on the stories).
- Get my own life stories written down and scrapbooked.
- Get a decent job teaching at a school that also values research. Publish lots and be an excellent teacher.
- Learn more about the basics of car and home maintenance (the key word there is "basics." You'll know how well I've succeeded if that gets upgraded to "intermediates" as the years go by).
- Learn to play Rhapsody in Blue and other Gershwin favorites on the piano. (I have the Rhapsody music, but I don't have piano music for any of Gershwin's songs. I'd like, one day, to take Michelle to Crazy for You--it's a great show.)
- Decide what I like from classical music, and build a library. (I'm going off the list of 50 greatest composers from the book Classical Music by Phil G. Goulding, which I own. I've looked mostly at Bach and Mozart at so far, and not much at all of the other 48.)
- Maintain my Portuguese at a proficient level.
- Do something about physical fitness.
- Develop habits of productivity and efficiency at work.
- Read widely about mathematics.
They're all pretty much math-related. I suppose it would be helpful to have a wireless clicker for advancing the slides of my talk when I give computer talks.
Where are your favorite places to purchase clothing, entertainment, hobby materials?
Ask Michelle about the clothing--I don't really clothe myself. (I do get dressed all by myself every morning, though.) For music I usually go through Rhapsody or walmart.com. For books or movies I go through Amazon or deseretbook.com, though I like Borders and Barnes & Noble.
What Internet sites do you stalk?
Hmm...I have email notifications set up for phdcomics.com (and a couple of job search websites, though those emails sometimes just stress me out). I've been known to watch an episode of such things as Doogie Howser or The Incredible Hulk on fancast.com, too, during my lunch break. Other than that, my own webpage is where I am most of the time.
Well, I'll stop there. To be continued? Stay tuned!
4 comments:
So this entry is making me laugh. I wondered if Mike watched Doogie Howser as a kid and that was his inspiration for starting college early. He tells me he never watched it as a kid.
Yes, Mike does know how to do his own buttons and tie his own shoes, although he sometimes opts for his ugly shoes (which slip on) when he knows the bus is about to come.
It's actually Mike's parents who buy clothes for Mike. I think I've picked up a few pairs of jeans at Walmart, a bunch of shirts we found at Sears three years ago, and the University of Illionis T-shirt at TIF Booksore. Pretty much we don't buy clothes for the adults in our family.
Oh, and you can comment anonymously, but I don't think you can post anonymously.
So, Mike, what is your website again? I have a bad memory.
My website is http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~mbarrus2/
There's really not that much there, unless you're one of my students, but knock yourself out. :)
Thanks. It might knock me out. : D
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