Asking for it
In my post about Dr. Barefoot, I forgot to mention another cool thing he did. In my senior year of college, I decided that I wanted to go to a mathematics conference in San Antonio, Texas. In some sort of fit of optimism not to be repeated until years later, I asked the math department head, Dr. Barefoot, if the department would pay for it. (Obviously, I couldn't afford it.) He said yes! I went and it was marvelous and wondrous and completely over my head.

Which reminds me that I updated HOWTO Negotiate Your Salary and Benefits - for Women and the now defunct Val Henson Women in Computing Book Scholarship to reference Ask for It, the new book on negotiating techniques for women. The most important technique is to realize that you can ask for something at all. Happy asking!

Note: If you are planning to post something about how as a man, you are not good at asking either, or that men also need to get better at asking, I'd just like to let you know in advance that you are completely missing the point. Cheers!