fix typo

casutton · Jul 10, 2017 · b891ef7 · b891ef7
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Showing 1 changed file with 1 addition and 1 deletion.
diff --git a/_posts/2017-07-01-context-switching.md b/_posts/2017-07-01-context-switching.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ So it is in your mind. When you switch between different tasks, it takes a while
 
 But as a professor <small>([in the US sense](http://www.theexclusive.org/2013/08/academic-ranks-in-us-and-uk.html))</small>, especially leading a research group, context switching cannot be avoided. The nature of the job requires us to make progress on many different types of tasks each day, from answering a student question about a problem set, to planning for the curriculum next year, to reading a paper related to one research project, to an impromptu meeting with a colleague about faculty hiring for next spring, to a scheduled meeting with a PhD student about a different research project. One of my mentors liked to joke, "Professors are stateless" (another computing metaphor). The reason that we seem stateless is that it takes some time for us to remember the previous context. Not only does it take time to context switch, but it is also a bit disorienting. A colleague once told me that the part of being a professor that they disliked the most was having to context switch many times a day.
 
-People sometimes ask me how I handle context switching. I have a few strategies. One is a bit embarrasing, but I will tell you anyway. Perhaps I made this a long post to drive people away before I revealed the embarrassing one.
+People sometimes ask me how I handle context switching. I have a few strategies. One is a bit embarrassing, but I will tell you anyway. Perhaps I made this a long post to drive people away before I revealed the embarrassing one.
 
 1. First is not to be afraid to ask questions. This is useful in one-to-one student meetings about a research project. You can say something like: "Sorry, what was the vorpal sort for again?" Of course, if you do this too much, you derail the meeting. But with practice I found that much of the time, simply asking the question silently in my head was enough. Once I had articulated the question clearly, I was able remember the answer, without bothering the student to repeat what we had already discussed. I'm sure this makes me look smarter, but more importantly it saves time.