Today I heard something I just don't understand: abbreviations.  It's not that I didn't understand what this person was saying; it's the fact that she said it.  In two distinct conversations I overheard, she said, "I'll b-r-b," and, "B-t-w, I thought we were..."  It used to be that these abbreviations were used for instant messaging or texting, and the whole purpose of them was to make it much faster to type these common phrases (and maybe to hide things from your parents).  But in spoken language, those particular abbreviations gain absolutely nothing--"be right back" is the same number of syllables as "b-r-b" and "by the way" is actually fewer syllables than "b-t-w," not to mention that this 20-something person was obviously not trying to hide anything from her parents (who weren't even there "btw").  So why would a presumably intelligent person do something like this that seems so illogical?  Maybe I'm just losing touch with people of that age...or...wait...she's probably about my age.  Hmmm...

In other news, Bambi is now considered one of the top 25 horror movies of all time: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1676793_1676808_1676840,00.html

Last night I found myself cheering for Ohio State to beat Tennessee.  When I came to my senses, I felt so ashamed.  I mean, I used to have standards!  How could I come to this point where a lowly NCAA bracket suddenly dictates my moral convictions?  I can only attribute this horrific act to the sinful nature.

Fortunately, also last night, my small group was discussing Romans 6 and the fact that, having died to sin, we are no longer enslaved by that sinful nature.  We have power, through Christ, to say no to sin!

From now on, I will zealously resist any temptation to cheer on evil in any form, no matter what kind of temporal benefit I might receive from that evil triumphing over...well...anything not so evil.  No longer will a prediction, however despicable, dictate my morality.

I hope my bracket goes down in flames with Ohio State!

Well, I must say "Thank you" to those who were praying, but unfortunately the qual did not go as I hoped (for me anyway).  For those who looked at the qual from January, you would probably find today's exam just as unintelligible, but for those who understand the language, it turned out to be much harder.  Basically, the first four questions come from specific topics (group theory, ring theory, field theory, and linear algebra, respectively) and the fifth can be from any topic or a mixture of topics in algebra.  On recent quals, this fifth question has been from what is called module theory.  In studying this summer, I focused on everything except linear algebra because I would not have had enough time to learn enough linear to get the question on the exam.  Today's exam, though, had a second linear question as that random fifth question of the exam and no module theory question, so I was automatically at an even greater disadvantage.  Add on top of that the fact that the other questions were even harder than usual, and you can see why I did not do well.  However, I praise God for what I was able to get since nothing came easily this time.

Now I have to continue studying so I can pass it in January.  I guess I'll be learning more linear algebra.

I'm writing to ask all of my faithful readers (and maybe not-so-faithful readers) to pray hard for me tonight and Tuesday as I will again be taking the algebra qualifying exam here at UW.  I've already failed this exam twice, which is a testimony to it's difficulty, and I know I probably haven't studied nearly as much as I should have this summer, but I've picked up the pace over the last couple weeks and especially the last few days.  Please pray that God will remind me of the things I've studied and that he will give me the creativity that is necessary to solve these problems.  I would ask that you pray the same for the other students who are beginning their second year of grad school with me and who still need to pass this exam as well.

The exam is 10am-4pm on Tuesday, so I would appreciate your prayers especially during that time if you think of me.

And I know some people wonder what a graduate level algebra exam is like, so if you're one of those curious folk, here is a link to the exam from this past January: http://www.math.wisc.edu/~passman/qualjan06.pdf.  Enjoy!