Being a new student, I had no real need to take the exam now. And in fact I didn't pass it. It did provide something for me to think about, however, during my almost monthlong winter vacation. Then, after the exam, I didn't need any artificial stimulus; the normal routine of classes and problem sets resumed immediately.

I've just begun the second week of my second semester. Since it's only the beginning of the semester, classes are just starting to get under way. Much of what we're doing right now is a review of our previous studies. I'm finding that I have a lot more free time now than I had at the end of last semester.

My officemate, Francis, said his second semester of grad school was a lot easier than his first ― not because the workload got any lighter, but because he got used to the routine. I'm hoping this means I'll be able to do more extracurricular activities than in my first semester.

Whenever I have an extra "chunk" of time, I like to catch up on answering postcards and e-mail from readers. I don't like having these hanging over my head, so I try to reply to them as soon as I get the chance. In the past I got feedback from readers via the editors at ST, but ever since I published my home address and e-mail address in the column, I've been getting personal mail.

Judging from that mail, it seems a lot of my readers are "ambitious young women." Maybe I get mail from that type of reader because it's intimidating to write to a stranger unless you feel you already have something in common with that person.

It makes me happy to hear directly from readers, but through my Web page I've come to realize that there are also many more shy readers out there. There is a way for me to find out how many people have been looking at my Web page, as well as the location of the computer from which they're browsing. So this is a kind of indirect contact with readers.

I used to write for a computer magazine, and I noticed then that most of my e-mail was from young men. This is because women (and older people) are not as likely to have computer access. Even in the States there are far more male Internet users than female users. I imagine, therefore, that many people who have read my Web page recently are men.

I've spent a lot of extra time working on my Web page this week since I don't want to have to tinker around with it when I'm really busy. Now there are three main pictures of me, each very different in style. One is a "regular" black-and-white snapshot. The next one is a cross section of my brain (I had it MRI scanned this winter as part of an academic study ― I don't have any tumors!).

This week, I added the third picture; it's a cartoon self-portrait. I sketched it right on the computer screen using a drawing software program. It's a lot harder to do this than to scribble on paper, and for that reason I could only manage a simple line drawing. However, I think it captures the flavor of my personality just as well as the photographs do.



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