A Holiday for Geeks

Not only is today Pi Day (March 14 = 3.14), but it's also Einstein's birthday. NPR ran an interesting story about Einstein's life. The tidbit that I found most interesting was how Einstein wrote his best stuff outside of academia while working at a patent office. His mind was free from the constraints of academic expectations and the judgments of his peers so he could be completely creative with his ideas. I think my experiences at my last job have shown that this scenario wouldn't work for me (aside from the fact that I'm not nearly as smart as Einstein), but once in a while I have to remind myself to let my mind work in its own way and not force it to be so structured by the "little things," like tenure.