Ideas

[ad_1] Talking to people who I know is hard enough. But ask me to talk to strangers? Well, I’d rather be doing calculus problems.  Imagine, though, that I don’t have a choice. Imagine a world where I cannot choose calculus over conversation. Then, I focus on asking good questions and follow ups, which takes some…

[ad_1] One of my least favorite things to sit through (and one of my favorite thing to rail against) is the encore. The first problem is that the encore is supposed to be a surprise bonus—the fans demanding more; the artists giving just a little extra. Now, though, the encore is baked in. Regardless of…

[ad_1] Over the weekend, my graduate program invited recently admitted students to campus so they could learn about the department and meet the faculty and current students. I was talking to one of them who was not so unlike myself. He has a job now and is trying to choose between our program and life…

[ad_1] On Friday night I performed in Cagematch, an improv show where two teams compete for audience votes. The winner (that was us!) performs again the following Friday. Some terrible photos of me, courtesy of my wife. Later on at the bar, a man came up to me. He told me he’d never seen an…

[ad_1] In my house, I do the lion’s share of the cooking. I can’t say it’s my favorite thing to do, but it’s not so bad. Plus, there are ways to make it less burdensome: It’s batchable. You can make a lot at once without loss of quality. It’s flexible. You can modify almost any…