November 17, 2005 Time Capsule

On November 17, 2005, when computers did not work as well as they do today, Bush was serving his second term and I was a youngster of 47, I stumbled across the time capsule portal on the Forbes website and wrote myself a letter from that simpler time.  Here is what it said:

Today is the day before my new Megrez Triplet Fluorite refracting telescope arrives.  I am so looking forward to getting it.  Both our children are doing well in college, our careers are successful (but hectic) and the sun is out on this almost-freezing beautiful November morning.

I just had my "optical cantilever" paper accepted by JOSA B, I corrected the proofs of my new PRA paper on the dipole free SOS expression, and I am anxiously awaiting word from PRL about the "ultimate limit" paper.  In the meantime, I am working on the symmetry paper with David Watkins.  All this while teaching two classes and doing lots of service - not to mention my debate with Bob Olson on religion.  Gotta run to a staff lunch. Oh yeh, and I scored 3 goals and had one assist in my ice hockey game two nights ago!  --Mark

It is interesting to see how some things have changed and others have stayed the same.

I still play hockey and coincidentally scored three goals in my last game.

But, my telescopes have been gathering dust.  I was into telescopes at that time and the Megrez is truly an exceptional instrument.  I enjoyed it for many outings and for a while I stored it on our upper deck, which towers above our neighborhood; well, that is, until I got a frantic call from a neighbor that the tarp was acting as a parachute and the telescope was hovering over our roof.  Given that my memory of those times is fading, perhaps it was a different telescope.  But I can state with emphatic certainty that this beautiful piece of art graces our study today and I still enjoy its elegance.  Some of the photos of the heavens that I took at that time can be found on my website at http://nlosource.com/Astro/Saturn2003-12-06.htm.

The PRL paper was rejected, but I found a good home for it in the still-respectable Physical Review A.  The other papers appeared and have done well, especially the dipole-free paper, which has been used extensively since then to take our work to the next level.  What I didn’t mention was that I was sitting in on a class on general relativity and traveled to Australia for the first time to attend a conference in Sydney.  The famous opera house was truly majestic from a distance, but up close its curved walls of white tiles was dirty as a frat house shower.  Though I spent an afternoon walking around town, visiting the government buildings and the gardens, I spent most of my time at the conference and evenings working on my general relativity homework.

What impresses me most about this window into the past is my efficiency, doing so much with so little time.  Now that I have more time, I spend too much of it trying to get everything just right.  Yesterday, I was telling a student that being on a teaching assistantship might take time away from research, but it makes you more efficient – and I was right.  The lesson from my past self is to take on more and worry less about being perfect.  I also need to remain passionate and engrossed in my activities, like working on our cabin in the wilderness.

All right, here I go…