The Internets.

I learned this evening that someone I have never met but listen to every week and respect greatly may actually look at my blog. Though of course I put all this stuff out here knowing it is publicly accessible, I never imagined people whose actual professional content I really enjoy might look at my random, crappy, often redundant musings about math, books, movies and most often loneliness. Anyway, the world is really quite an amazingly small place in general, but even more so with globalization and technological advancements in communication. Still, this was a rather exciting, albeit somewhat intimidating realization.

Speaking of communication technology, next week I will actually be traveling a ridiculous number of miles to attend a conference in Banff where mathematicians in nonlinear dispersive equations are going to interact with (hopefully at least a few) optical engineers to share knowledge, discuss open questions we may know answers to, models they might want studied and certain behaviors they might like explained theoretically. It should be rather exciting, albeit incredibly exhausting, to be there and hopefully find some problems with real cutting edge applications. On the other hand, it will undoubtedly be exciting because I will get to work on finishing my NLS paper with one of the organizers and get a lot done on my spectral theory project with one of the participants. In any case, it is a beautiful area with great soup and the center there always provides a great working environment, so if I can stay awake it will certainly be worth the trip.