Friday, November 25, 2005

Where the time goes



I spend most of my life thinking about and working on physics. It's an odd obsession to have. There's very little social motivation -- I don't talk to many people about it, and that's over email when it happens. So, really, it's just like a kid sitting in a room and working on a hard puzzle because he wants to. I suppose it's fairly harmless as obsessions go, and it's probably better than playing video games or watching tv. And it's certainly inexpensive -- I seem to need a new pencil about every two years. Anyway, it gives me something to immerse myself in when the surf is flat, there's not enough wind to fly a sail, and C is working.

And every couple of years or so, when I cook up something good I think a few others might be interested in, I put out a paper. Here's the one I just posted:

Clifford bundle formulation of BF gravity generalized to the standard model

I figure it will be looked at by maybe twenty people, and some of the stuff in it will be grokked by, hmm, maybe two or three. If I look at it that way, it makes me feel pretty darn silly. I mean, I could be spending my time building something that would be more widely appreciated, or at least make me some money. But, no, this is what I do, even when making the choice to do it costs me other opportunities. At this point, I guess it's what I am, and I'm happy about it.

It would probably drive me completely crazy if I didn't have other things in my life that were so good, like C and surfing. Ho'okipa was really good yesterday. Nice big waves rolling in. Unfortunately, right before I was going to come in I got caught by an outside set and broke my biggest board -- the 8'3". I had previously buckled it at Honolua and repaired it with lots of resin and popsicle sticks. The break happened away from my repair job, which was encouraging, but the board is done. Something to save my pennies for I guess. Pennies that are going to be in short supply since it looks like my teaching gig is coming to a close. I'm thinking I'll try applying for a research grant or two.

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