Stephan Paukner :: syslog

Write lots of dialogs and boring stories about conflicts, intrigues and affairs. Take some actors, many costumes and simple stage designs. Make a TV show out of it. The episodes should only consist of dialogs, closeups to faces, conflicts, costumes, closeups to faces and dialogs. The viewer should be bored and surprised that actually “nothing” happens during the whole episode, i.e., no explosions, no blood, no action, no tension. At least this was my impression whenever I zapped over the TV show “The Bold and the Beautiful”.

But there’s another TV show which at first sight is located in a complete opposite corner but finally consists of the very same ingredients: The characteristics I mentioned above could just be a description of another episode of... Star Trek! A sci-fi freak actually is living from explosions in space, laser guns, fantastic alien worlds, alien technology and aliens themselves. But a sci-fi freak will soon notice that Star Trek is definitely not Star Wars.

Es geht mir jetzt schon auf den Hammer. Schei0 Fußball! In jeder noch so depperten Fernsehwerbung die nicht im entferntesten damit zu tun hat kommen depperte Fußballer vor. Schei0 Fußball! Dabei hat die WM noch garnicht angefangen. Wie wird sich das noch steigern!

Nichtsdestotrotz weiß ich jetzt schon dass ich mich an irgendeinem Abend einfach vor die Glotze knotze und mir mit Chips und Bier ein willkürlich ausgewähltes Spiel reinziehe und brav mitfiebere: Schias!!! Wappla!!! Ja, ich wurde in der Schule immer als letzter gewählt, wenn es um die Aufstellung einer Fußballmannschaft ging. Und auch beim Basketball. Und auch beim Volleyball. Und auch beim Handball. Und auch beim Woswasiwosdonuoisgibtball. Ich war ja schließlich auch der Mathe-Wissenschafts-Strebertyp, der nie eine Freundin hatte und. He, ich verfehle das Thema. Schei´Fußball!

On Thursday, I got another reply from HGFei to my “quality demand” mail. He told me that if I were interested to apply for the Initiativkolleg—a promoted doctoral program in association of NuHAG and DIANA—, one of the criteria I’d have to fulfill is to have the master thesis finished by January 2007. I replied that this still is my target date, but I don’t feel so sure about whether I’m qualified for pure mathematical research. He suggested to file the master thesis in May/June and asked me to pre-register as an applicant for the Initiativkolleg, as this doesn’t force me to anything, and all ways are kept open.

At the beginning of June, some colleagues of him will come to Vienna, and he will give some introductorial talks about the research at NuHAG, which I should listen to. As I’m on holiday until June 12th, I hope I won’t be missing much.

Some time ago, I have finished Werner’s Functional Analysis, according to schedule. I’ve gone through the whole book, but I’m still insecure with spectral theory and weak*-topologies. I thought about repeating some chapters, but I want to try a different approach, and as Conway’s Course in Functional Analysis is cited so often in the literature I currently read, I finally bought it. I’m still going through my notes of Prof. Cigler’s lecture. Additionally, I want to go through the “real part” of Rudin’s Real and Complex Analysis, accompanied by selected topics from my more general books about analysis and linear algebra.

I also finished Blatter’s Wavelet Primer as planned, but skipped the last chapter. So now the road is open for Feichtinger/Strohmer’s Gabor Analysis and Algorithms. I’m already progressing in Gröchenig’s Foundations (about 1/3) and Christensen’s Frames (about 1/4). My plan is to have those books (almost, modulo some skipped chapters) finished by the end of August. From September on, I only want to focus on additional literature like papers and specialized books, which my thesis will deal with. Among these are topics about Banach Gelfand triples and Wiener amalgam spaces.

I contacted HGFei again and made clear that my original aims have changed: I don’t just want to get my studies finished anymore, I want to deliver a qualitative work. After my studies, I want to work in the area of signal processing; my current job is just an existential assurance. I don’t just want to have an engineering-level approach to my master thesis, it would be a pity in my eyes. He answered that we should talk in July the latest about a long-term proceeding. He didn’t mention a possible topic, so I’ll proceed doing general reading on the subject.

I thought about Karin’s master thesis, which wasn’t of such high quality to HGFei as she had expected. She did her master exam and now simply has finished and doesn’t want to get into contact with the surroundings of the university again. I simply find that a pity. She works in insurance mathematics.