Not math, strictly speaking (but certainly real life)

Here’s a real life math problem for you: Tyler is at the university. It takes him twice as long to walk to his car as it does to drive home. Walking the entire distance home takes three times longer than walking to his car and six times longer than driving home. Where is Tyler’s car?

Answer: not on campus.

Proctoring the 2013 state math contest

I woke up at 6:40 this morning and realized I’d perhaps underestimated the power of time. I needed to be in the Animal Science building by 7:30, checking in as a proctor for the state math contest. By some miracle I scored one of the first spots in the Aggie Terrace parking structure—free during spring break!—and arrived at check-in around 7:20, ten minutes ahead of schedule.

Let’s just be honest up front: I expected chaos from there on. But really, the contest was pretty straightforward. When I arrived at my assigned classroom in Old Main building the other proctor (Hira) was already there, but we waited a few minutes before a custodian came to unlock the door. Schools from all over the state gradually pulled up to campus in their buses. Until 9:30, we read and chatted. (About movies and TV shows mostly.) By 9:30 all of our students had finally arrived and the testing began.

Which was also pretty straightforward. Answer questions, replace pencils, update them on time remaining—you get the idea. I basically stood at the front of the classroom and studied for my next actuarial exam (Exam FM) for two and a half hours with breaks here and there to help the students and to monitor their activity. At noon everyone remaining was forced to hand in their tests and then left for lunch in the Taggart Student Center.

Again, pretty simple. We grabbed lunch and kind of monitored the hallways to make sure the junior high and high school students weren’t damaging property or climbing on trees and such. (Which, I’m told, did happen.) Gradually the students left to their buses and we were pretty much done by about 1:30.

When we checked in this morning, I grabbed my official math contest t-shirt. Looking at it just makes you want to do some math in your spare time, doesn't it?

Hazel's tasty heels

Lately I’ve been visiting Hazel’s, which is a bread place in the eatery on campus. They sell a thick slice of bread with a topping for less than $1.50 and it’s amazing. Well yesterday morning, just before catching the bus, I went to Hazel’s because I was starving. On the counter, I saw a bag of what looked to be bread heels. I looked at the menu.

ME: So...this is two dollars?

LADY WORKER: Yeah. It’s a really good deal. You get every kind of bread, so it’s great for sampling if you don’t know what you want.

I purchased the bag, some raspberry butter, and some cinnamon honey butter all for less than $3! It was amazing. And the best part of it all is that Karen ate several slices when I got home because she liked it so much. She wasn’t able to keep much down today, so it was amazing that she could eat the bread and enjoy it.

Too cold for snow is too cold for me

Nine degrees below zero at 6:40 this morning. That’s when you step outside your apartment and walk only a block before your nostrils freeze over. At least, that’s what happened to me. It’s not something I can describe very well, other than to say that in that moment of frozen nostrils I was shocked that the university allows chaps like me to get up and go to school on such days and at such times. They should say, “Oh, you’re from California? You get an A for the day. Stay home and get some rest.” Unfortunately, the university doesn't agree with me. (You can imagine the complete bewilderment I feel when I see people wearing shorts on campus and the temperature outside isn’t even a positive number.)

It's too cold to snow, but the upside is that it has snowed recently. Moisture's a good thing.

My real live conversation with an actuary wizard

This morning, something amazing happened. Using some connections, I got in touch with an experienced actuary and spoke with him on the phone for about 45 minutes. I emailed him my resume the night before so that he could give some advice, and he walked through every bit of it with me. We also talked about my education at USU and why I’m getting this degree and he said something very interesting. It went something like this:

“Many internships end in an offer for full employment. If I were you and in your position, I would take it. At that point, getting a degree in math doesn’t even matter because all of the experience you needed up to that point is all you needed to get where you are and everything that follows from that will naturally further qualify you. Companies are usually just looking for someone with a four-year degree who can pass exams. If you have that down, you don’t need the second degree. If you want to pay student loans and try to provide for your family in your own way, that’s up to you. But given that opportunity, I would take it.”

Interesting, right? It's something to think about as I get to know the industry and try to find my way in. This isn't the first time I've heard such advice.

Of course, I'm just concerned about passing Exam P in November. Once I do that, I'll feel so much better about everything.

I made the Dean's List!

I open the mailbox and what do I see?

Dear Tyler,

On behalf of the faculty of the College of Science, I would like to congratulate you on being named to the University honor roll for summer semester 2012. This recognition is based on the fact that you completed at least 12 graded credits with a grade point average of 3.5 or better.

...

Sincerely,

James A. MacMahon

Dean

That's about 40% of the letter, but you get the idea. Isn't that awesome? I didn't even know the qualifications for it. This is like winning a prize without entering a contest. So, so cool.

Rubbing shoulders at a picnic

As a family, we attended the annual Math/Stat Fall Picnic in a local park this evening. I noticed that the original email announcing the picnic was sent to 128 of us and that we were encouraged to bring family, friends, etc., but I actually saw a flyer on the wall today that said it was for faculty, staff, and grad students. When I saw the flyer, I had to stop and think for a moment. Why was I included in the email? I’m not—. And then I realized that I am considered staff because I am an instructor for a stats recitation course.

Karen got to meet Matt, my differential equations instructor from this summer, and we got to meet his wife and kids.

MATT to KAREN: Tyler is one of the best students I’ve ever had. No, he actually is the best. I have never been asked so many questions by one student before. He knows me better than I know myself.

Of course, how do you respond to something like that? I was embarrassed for a moment.

MATT: I mean, you know what his grade was. What was his grade?

KAREN: (slight hesitation) It was a 4.0!

MATT: Exactly!

On our way to finding a table, we passed by two of my three teachers this semester, both of which were seated together—Yan Sun, my probability teacher; and Guifang Fu, my linear regression teacher. Guifang was very surprised to see me, so she stopped us.

GUIFANG: What is your name again?

ME: Tyler.

GUIFANG: I didn’t know you were part of our department. What do you do?

ME: Yeah, I’m a recitation leader for Stat 2300.

GUIFANG: Oh, so you’re part of our department, then?

ME: Yep!

Guifang and Yan spoke with us for a bit as they met Karen and Rich. Guifang tried to say hi to Rich, but he cried—his general response to every stranger tonight.

It was kind of weird seeing my current professors in attendance at the dinner because...they’re my current professors. But it was awesome! We enjoyed getting to know a few people better, and I think it was good for me to be exposed more to the amazing faculty and staff of the Math/Stat department. There were probably 60-ish people in attendance.

Give and take at Utah State

Spencer, my calculus teacher, asked at the beginning of class yesterday that someone be willing to take notes for a classmate for the remaining week of school. The notes need to be well organized and thorough, which I think my notes usually are, so I offered my services via email yesterday evening.

This afternoon, Spencer replied to my email. He said that someone else is on it, but that I was one of three students he had in mind for note-taking. Then, he said this:

By the way, let me know if you want any information about studies in mathematics. I can tell you about graduate schools, careers in mathematics and things you can do now at USU (like hooking up with a professor and even starting to research as an undergrad) to prepare you for whichever career path you are thinking of taking.

Isn't that awesome? You just never know how a relationship with a professor will pan out. Spencer worked as an actuarial assistant for a few years, so I know he will be able to offer some great advice.

Granola bars made me smart

It's official: I have a 4.0!

It took almost a full week for all grades to be posted to my transcript, but now my first semester at Utah State shows a solid 4.0, a great beginning to my career here. That's an A in calculus, an A in economics, and an A in statistics. Karen and I are very, very happy about this. (McKay tells me that good grades and passed exams are likely my best bets for landing a super internship next summer.)

While there a lot of reasons I did well in my first semester, my ability to get little sleep and still stay awake in class is at least partially attributable to granola bars. That's right, granola bars. I take two with me every time I go to campus so that I have something to nibble on when I get sleepy during class. While my peers are tuning out and snoozing on their desks, I'm taking 15 minutes to very slowly consume a Great Value granola bar.

Tomorrow, my first accounting exam!

I did my very best this semester

Well, my first semester at Utah State is over. I knew it was going to happen when I woke up at 5:30, but it was a long road to get there. I took the eight o’clock bus to campus and studied until 10:20, and then went to the Fine Arts Visual building to take my calculus final.

It was a pretty relaxed one. I was prepared for most of the things I saw and surprised by a few, but I knew I only needed a C+ on the final to keep my A in the course. My final hasn't yet been graded, but I’m certain it’s good enough to keep my A. In fact, I’m willing to bet I got an A- on the final alone.

Statistics was not as fun. Alek (my stats buddy) and I met up a little more than a half hour before the exam to go over some last minute details in our notes. But once we got in, the test went by in what felt like 15 minutes. In all, we had an hour and 50 minutes, but it was not enough. Alek told me before going in that he was probably going to skip to the free response section to knock that out first. After two multiple choice problems at the start of the test, I knew I should move on and take care of the big stuff because there were more points at stake. As it turned out, I had about 10 minutes at the end to go through the multiple choice and true/false questions, so I guessed on a lot of them.

More flames, please

Calculus let out early, so I headed back to Lund Hall to talk with the math department about employment. Linda Skabelund, my advisor, had another student show me down the hall to talk to someone about getting on the list of graders for fall semester. It turns out that the list is probably not very long and I probably will have a good chance at being a grader, especially because math and stats majors are preferred over others. The only requirement is that I get an A- or better in the class I want to grade for. And then if I’m chosen, the professor and I arrange how it all works out. That’s in the fall, so it doesn’t solve my employment problem right away.

But I did tell Janice about my unemployment this morning, and another grad student overheard me. She said that a woman emailed her about tutoring a high school algebra student, and she said she'd respond with my contact info. We got on USU's website and she showed me how to sign up as a tutor. She said she had about three students, at $10 an hour (a standard rate), when she tutored. So...at least I have a few irons in the fire.