All oriented

The last of the orientations is done... alot of the review sessions weren't all that helpful. Perhaps in future years they can do an elementary review week one for folks entering the department without a Math/Stat degree, and then put the more advanced material in week 2.

Classes start Monday and I think I'm as ready as I'm going to get. I've got my books, reloaded the school supplies, etc.

I'm still not quite able to ride all the way to campus. The ride that seems pretty flat until the last bit in a car turns out to be a very gradual uphill the entire way. After a couple of miles uphill, even on a gradual grade, my thighs feel like they're going to burn completely off. I've reached a compromise... taking my bike to campus on the bus, then riding home. *Downhill* all the way, now that's an easy ride. The route I take is about 3.5 miles and it usually takes me a little over 20 minutes, including time spent waiting at stoplights and such.

I finally hauled my lazy rear end down to the DMV today. They don't seem to want to accept my married name without a marriage license, even though I've explained to them that in Pennsylvania it's entirely legal to get married without a piece of paper. I'll have to go back in with all the myriad records (Penn. DMV, Social Security, Student Loans, etc.) all of whom accepted my married name. The CA DMV was even perfectly willing to put my married name on the vehicle registration, but not on the driver's license. Ugh.

For once, one of those annoying flyers left on our door was actually useful... it seems California has a low-cost insurance program for low income people. We qualify, since we're below 250% of the poverty level. I'm going to a meeting on Sunday to find out how to sign up... if all goes well it will cut our insurance bill by more than 50%.

Weather is still absolutely gorgeous... the mornings are getting a little foggier and the evenings are a little cooler.

Big news in the math world in the last week as the Fields Medals were announced. There are medals awarded in 4 mathematicalstatistical categories every 4 years. It's often comapared to the Nobel Prize in terms of prestige, though the Fields has 2 significant differences from the Nobels... the aforementioned 4 years between awards, and that the medals are awarded for outstanding work done before the age of 40. No "lifetime achievement" type awards here.... The *really* big news on the Fields Medals this year is that, for the first time ever, someone declined one. Grigori Perelman of Russia, who is believed to have proved the Poincare Conjecture, claimed that he feels distanced from the mathematical community and has no desire to be its figurehead. He's a loner... if he was trying to avoid reknown and publicity, he got far more notice by declining than he ever would have by accepting. The Poincare Conjecture was one of the "great unsolveds" of the math world... statements that a widely believed to be true, and haven't been shown as false, but that remained without formal proof. Some time ago the Clay Mathematics Institute put bounties on the proofs of these "great unknowns". Perelman's proof of Poincare has been reviewed and seems to be correct, and now there's a 2-year clock ticking; if no one finds a flaw in the proof in that time, then he'll be eligible for a one million dollar bounty. Yep, one MILLION dollars for proving a mathematical (topological, actually) theorem. However, he's also said that he wants to part of that. Wow.