Overall, I was happy with the talk I gave.

Part of the key is to have a good time slot. In this respect, I was two for two: I was scheduled on the first day of the conference, and was the last speaker before lunch.

Being on the first day of the conference generally means people haven’t yet slacked off (last day talks are suicide); and being the last speaker in a session means you’re not as pressured to finish exactly when your time is up (first speakers have to contend with the majority of people arriving late).

Attendance was strong. Part of the reason for this was that during the coffee breaks, I had made a conscientious effort to advertise my session to some of the big cheese related to my field. The result? People arriving for the sole purpose of listening to the final talk of the morning.

I’m a little bit jet lagged and tired, so sleepy time now.

Tomorrow: more talks. And then the banquet.

Q: It’s 11:00 PM. How do you feel about your talk tomorrow?

A: Meh. I’ll just wing it.

Top 4 thoughts about the State of Georgia

1. A change of colour

There are a lot of African-Americans here. A lot. It’s pretty incredible. According to Wikipedia, the Black-Canadian population of my hometown Ottawa is something like 5% (though of course this depends on where you are in Ottawa. I grew up in an area with a slightly higher figure).

England is even lower with about 2-3%. Oxford, by the way, is a freak town: in 2006, only 26 black students were offered a spot. So as you can imagine, we don’t see a lot of black people around.

Now in Georgia, it’s something like 30%!. You see what I mean?

2. What? You mean it’s not natural to look like a vampire?

For the last little while, I’ve gotten use to the fact that the natural state of being for an English woman is to have a lovely, but pasty-white complexion. That, you see, is just a function of the weather and overall lack of sun (and warmth) in Britain.

But here in the south, all the women have golden sun-kissed legs and wear itty-bitty shorts.

Thus I’ve come to the realisation that there are still some pleasures left in life. Naturally, this realisation is accompanied by a bit of guilty leering.

3. Southern drawl

This morning, I heard a girl say “yall” three times in one sentence. That sort of blew my mind.

Are Canadians even allowed to say “eh?” three times in one go? Nevertheless, I like the southern accent. It lacks the clipped pretentiousness that some accents suffer from.

4. Awkward mathematicians

I took the airport shuttle from Atlanta to Athens with another mathematician attending the conference.

“What’s your name?” I asked. He told me. Seconds past as I looked at him expectantly while he stared at me blankly.

“I’m Phil,” I continued again, offering my hand to shake. He shook it, then continued to sit there in silence.

“Where are you from?” I asked. “Italy.” he said. Silence.

“What kind of work do you do?” “Hamiltonian PDEs.” Silence.

“Oh…”

Man, I have a feeling it’s gonna be one long-ass conference.

I’m heading to the University of Georgia tomorrow. That is, in Athens, Georgia, USA.

Just a quick trip. I’ll be attending the IMACS 2009 conference. ‘IMACS’, by the way, stands for International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation. I’m giving my talk on the first day of the conference (Monday), then heading home on Thursday.

Nothing special planned. Just in and out.

It’s a little bit strange. Apparently this year, the organisation decided to split the conference up into two parts: One in the northern hemisphere (University of Georgia), and the other in the southern hemisphere (Cairns, Australia). The one in Georgia is more oriented towards the theory and computation of nonlinear waves. The one in Australia is oriented towards mathematical modeling.

And so it happens that Oxford personnel — all of them gung ho modelers — are attending the one in Australia (my boss is the keynote speaker).

Whatever. I don’t need them.

Now excuse me for being a little bit sexist, but am I wrong in thinking that there is something inherently manly about the ability to pack light?

I mean, you always hear about those kind of men who can go on a four-month trek across the Himalayas with nothing but a toothbrush and a whip and you think, “Shit. That’s a real man.”

Now me, I usually spend an hour debating whether or not I’ll regret leaving my 840 page textbook on Fluid Mechanics at home.

And it’s important to dress well, right? Which means suit, shirts, ties, and so on. And so if manliness were measured in terms of one’s ability to pack light, I guess I wouldn’t quite be up there with the alpha males. I’d be more like an average Joe with the beery gut and the receding hairline.

So this time, I’m really making an effort to pack light. Which means a single backpack and a garment carrier for a six day trip. No luggage check-in thank you very much.

So other than the usual things like toiletries and boxer shorts, as well as the pair of jeans, t-shirt, and jacket I plan to wear to the airport, my bag contains:

Clothes:
1 x blazer (for the banquet)
1 x blue tie
3 x shirts
3 x t-shirts
2 x trousers (one brown, one black)

Electronics:
1 x Macbook
1 x power adapter
1 x network cable
1 x camera (40D)
1 x lens (17-55)

As well as various documents, scrap paper, a photocopy of a chapter I’m reading, a tiny A5 binder, a pen, a highlighter, and a pencil.

Now am I a man’s man or what?

One of the great things about working in Oxford is that, so long as you’re not shy, you have easy access to some of the world’s leading researchers on topics which may (perhaps one day) relate to your own work.

Those of you who are up to date with my current predicament(s) will know that I’ve been struggling with the issue of numerically calculating stern waves — a problem which has plagued me since last year. I wrote about it here and here.

Ever since New Year’s, however, I’ve been working on a fundamentally different method of solving the equations using so-called Chebyshev basis functions (suitably modified).

Well, tomorrow I have a meeting with one of the world’s experts on numerical analysis, who just-so happens to work across the road.

This stuff should be right up his alley, so I’m pretty excited.

I guess it’s a bit like how some people feel when they’re about to meet the Pope or the Dalai Lama, and they ask something like, “What’s the meaning of life?”, or “Does the Earth revolve around the Sun?”, or “Do you believe in creationism…seriously?”.

You know, as if this one man or one woman possesses the answers to your deepest and most burdening questions.

Man, I hope I’m not disappointed.

I tell ya what, though. He better tell me something friggin’ amazing. Something that I haven’t thought of already. You know, like, “Punch X, Y, and Z into the computer and it’ll solve all your problems.” Something like that.