Good BONGs and Maximal Splittings

Not that kind of bong! I mean Bases of Norm Generators, of course. There was one talk today about BONG theory, and perhaps this speaks to my juvenile nature (mathematically speaking), but I could not stop giggling. But either could the guy next to me, so perhaps it's generally accepted that BONG theory is a funny name.

What a day! Mathematically, spiritually, and physically-- I've left no stone unturned. So, today was the first day of talks, and I am delighted to report that I was able to hang on for quite awhile. One particular talk was about a generalization of spinor norms (my bread and butter), which was really neat. It was interesting because when you work with a particular object all the time, you approach it from the same direction every day, and you forget it has a back side. So, what I mean to say is, it's refreshing to rearrange the furniture occasionally...and sometimes even stand on it.

I'm also getting really excited talking to the people around here and hearing about their work. There's so much going on in this field, it makes me look to the future and have extreme thoughts about research.

I was a little unnerved by those overcast skies yesterday, but nil desperandum, the sun came out today! Here are some pictures I snapped on my afternoon run:



Vew of the Andes across the lake.



Some ewes hitchin' a ride.

I haven't even made mention of the gustatory pleasures that Chile's had to offer, so allow me to impart: tonight's dinner was gnocchi with grilled tomatoes and a bechamel (which I'm quite sure had some essence of pork in it). I always forget about grilled tomatoes, which are always a good idea.



Also, I got to sit at the "German Table" at lunch today, and was able to hold up my end of the convo with a reasonable amount of ease. Of course I was sweating the entire time, and must have drank about a gallon of water...but I was able to hang, which is ausgezeichnet.

Now it's time to rest my brain. Hasta manana!

<3