I wanted to make an early start this morning, and so I planned to go to bed at around 22:00 so that I can wake up at 06:00. Unfortunately, I was translating a project from Finnish to English and then I started reading a new book. In the end, I went to sleep at around 3:30 and only got up at 10:00. Oh well, at least the rest of the day was pretty productive. The OHJ5016 class went well, except that the students do not read. Granted, the text book is not yet availble from the book store, but it is in the library (too much effort?) and the slides are on the web.

After I returned from class and after lunch, Antero and I talked a little more about his thesis. It sounds like a lot of work (much of which he has already done), and it also sounds complicated. He mainly needs a sounding board, and most of the advice I supply are for him to explain it really well. One has to be realistic: there will be few readers who are interested in the finer details, and most will gloss over most of it. The challenge is then to draw as many as possible in to the topic, to tell a coherent story that most people can follow, without sacrificing the mathematics of the work. I find this kind of challenge interesting. I don’t believe that I’m such a good writer yet, but I think I can see the hill beyond: after learning how to explain things, the next lesson is how to sell them. The thought that this is related to marketing gives me a bit of a chill, but on the other hand, communication is marketing to a large extent.

I didn’t sleep enough, so in the late afternoon it was time for a nap. Only two hours, but enough for me to be here, back at the office for another couple of hours of work. And at the top of my list is Mr. Wang and his thesis.