Bread Box

The best Christmas pageant

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:23:00 +0000

This afternoon, LOML, Boo, Skibo and I headed around the corner and across the street, to the local theatre. And not a movie theatre, a real stage.

We went to see a charming (all the more so for the fact that it was amateur) production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever", a little comedy about how the bad kids from the wrong end of the block decide they want to be in the local Christmas play --- and how it changes them and the production for the better.
The first half was a little slow --- the fault, I think, of the script rather than the production, but the pace picked up beautifully in the second half. The star of the show was the elementary school child playing the role of Gladys Herdman, who raced around the stage, through the aisles, and stole the show, and hearts.

Beautifully done.

A trifle expensive, but beautifully done.

Yours, beginning to find some spirit,
N.

Competing

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:31:00 +0000

Mathematics competitions are, almost as a matter of necessity, a question of speed rather than of strength: of quickness, not endurance. However, while this is still somewhat true of the one today, this one is also more than about how fast one can answer the questions, how many quick answers you can come up with.
The questions often have a reasonably simple solution, but it is rarely immediately obvious. There are two six-question, three hour papers, worth a total of 120 points. Of the students who take the exam across the nation, typically about half of them get zero. And these are among the very best students at their institutions.
One of my students yesterday remarked at the end that this was the mathematics equivalent of running a marathon. All of them looked completely drained by the end, but I don't think that a single one of them regretted getting involved.
This makes me happy:-)

Yours, done with the competition until next September rolls around,
N.

Classes are done

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:48:00 +0000

Now that classes are over, it's just exams to go. First, tomorrow: 10-6 for the big competition. Then Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

And after exams, grading, and after grading (hopefully after grading!) the party for the Christmas Parade. We've decided to keep the tradition going: we are going with more of a potluck than usual, since our normal partners in partyhosting are all busy: so it's bring a dish, if you like, and byo too. But we're making the party happen:-)

Yours, wondering where I put the party spirit... ah, there it is:-)
N.

More googlewave

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:38:00 +0000

I spent a little more time trying to get googlewave to be useful, seeing if I could video chat with a friend this evening. It refused to cooperate. And I realised that it really needs to be used in conjunction with a chat window --- although one can use the wave windows in that sort of mode, my friend and I switched to google chat after a few minutes because its design worked better for the conversation mode we were in.
Google wave looks like it will end up being quite useful for editing collaborative work -- but the chat feature off to the side would really help.

Yours, envisioning the use for breadmaking classes over the web,
N.

Colbert brilliance

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:43:00 +0000

Stephen Colbert just made an obvious, but brilliant point:"going into any war with a plan to leave is like going into a casino and saying I'm only going to lose a $100."
He goes on to suggest that one should go to a casino and gamble until one wins a jackpot.
This is, of course, Colbert's brilliance: to show the ridiculous nature of the world by suggesting that it is reasonable.

Yours, hoping the country can avoid gambler's ruin,
N.

Interesting new technology

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:54:00 +0000

I've been trying out googlewave this evening: chatting back and forth with a colleague, trying to figure out how to do some simple things.
So far, I am intrigued: the interface is far from intuitive so far (but that could just be because I am older than (young) dirt, and not used to these new-fangled mechanical gadgets. Hey, kid, get off my lawn!) but I'm managing to figure out a couple of things.
Probably in a few months we'll all be using at least its simpler features, and musing about how wonderful it is.
I can certainly see using it with colleagues to think about mathematics.

Yours, reaching for that new-fangled pen and paper,
N.

And another term comes to a close

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:13:00 +0000

I gave my last lecture in one of my courses this afternoon (they have an exam on their last day of class, Wednesday), and I've only got two more left in the other regular class I'm teaching.
The competition for which I train the team here is on Saturday --- we have one more preparation meeting for that. So, this time five days from now I'll be completely done with everything except for final exams.

This has been a loooooooong term, feeling far longer than any before. I'm looking forward to this break.

Yours, counting days, hours,...
N.

It's hard to get into the spirit

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:29:00 +0000

With our going away for much of next month, we've decided not to get a tree, not to put up decorations, not to get into the house-part of the holiday spirit. And that, I find, makes it harder to get into the non-house-part of the spirit too.
And now, it seems that our long tradition, with several other local friends, of having a joint party for the Christmas parade, is at risk of not happening this year. It's not terrible, but it is a little sad. There is still some hope, and it is possible that it may still happen. We shall see.

Yours, wanting to feel more in the spirit,
N.

How soon they learn

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:39:00 +0000

Yesterday afternoon we went to the town square to look at the Christmas "tree". (Christmas traffic cone, enlarged by a factor of 30, and coloured green, is more like it) At one point she and Skibo and I were talking, and she came out with

"If Santa Claus isn't real, then who delivers all the presents?"

at which point Skibo, sitting on my lap, leaned over to her and whispered, too quietly for me to hear

"I think it is Mummy and Daddy!"

(at least, I think that is what he said).
I pointed out to Boo that that was a conundrum indeed, and that perhaps she could consider the fact that presents are indeed delivered, and she should draw some conclusions. All in language more conducive to a conversation with an incredibly bright seven year old, of course. She smiled happily and nodded.
A few hours later they each got to sit on Santa's lap after the tree-lighting ceremony. While there, Boo noticed that Santa appeared to have a mustache underneath his fake beard. On returning to me, she explained that she knew that this was just a fake Santa, because of the beard, and that she thought that he probably flew to the North Pole each night to let the real Santa know what all the children asked for for Christmas.

I thought this a delightful explanation:-)

Yours, keeping the legends alive,
N.

Buy nothing day

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:37:00 +0000

I almost managed it. The only thing that I bought was a couple of loaves of bread for dinner (I'm running behind on the baking schedule, as I am on the knife-sharpening schedule, as I am on the grading schedule, etc).
But we all managed not to go out at three in the morning to hit the post-Thanksgiving sales and do all of our Christmas shopping.
For which I am,

Thankfully, yours,
N.

Giving thanks

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:40:00 +0000

We've given thanks, hopefully genuinely enough to be understood to be really meaning what we say! My favourite thanks this evening were from young mister M, aged 5, who declared that he is thankful for carrots.

We feasted, roast beef, roast turkey, five or six different vegetable dishes, and have tons of leftovers.

And now it is back to a day-to-day basis.

Yours, giving thanks today, tomorrow, and every day,
N.

Tolerance

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:14:00 +0000

I'm very thankful for tolerance --- I try to be tolerant of other people (and being somewhat unusual, I occasionally need that tolerance!) And I try to encourage tolerance in others at all times.
Fortunately, in spite of living in a small southern town, most of the time we are surrounded by tolerant people, tolerance, and good will.

Yours, in the hope that this may long continue,
N.

Smart children

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:19:00 +0000

There -- the "what I'm thankful for" is in the title.
This evening, Boo decided to take her Thanksgiving placemat, (hand-shaped cut-outs and foot-shaped cut-outs pasted onto a sheet of card stock, laminated: quite lovely) and write -- in cursive yet -- all the things that she is thankful for upon it.
It was quite lovely.
Skibo is reading away like crazy -- pretty much further along than Boo was a year ago, I think: and he's 21 months younger.
Amazingly wonderful, both of them.
Yours, wondering how could I be more thankful for anything else,
N.

A one-day week

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:18:00 +0000

As this week is Thanksgiving here in the US, and as we are off from Wednesday on, and as I don't teach in the mornings on Tuesdays, and as my afternoon class on Tuesdays is on a volunteer basis and the students told me none of them were coming tomorrow:

I am now officially on a six-day weekend. And you know what? I'm grateful!

Yours, thankfully,
N.

Grandparents

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:54:00 +0000

With living so far from where both LOML and I grew up, I'm particularly thankful that we occasionally get to see the childrens' grandparents. It's not as often was we would like, but still, Boo and Skibo have spent more time with Grandma, Grandpa, Nana and Granddad than I ever did with my Grandma, and perhaps even more than I did with my Grandpa. I'm very glad that we're going to be able to spend some time with each of them next month, provided life doesn't throw any obstacles in our way.
I'm also incredibly grateful that we have friends like K&K, who are willing and happy to be surrogate grandparents in Boo and Skibo's lives, to be amazed and delighted by them day by day, and to tell them how wonderful they are, to be believed in a different manner than Mummy and Daddy can be believed.

Yours, thanking a third time,
N.

Humour

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:54:00 +0000

Another thing that I am thankful for: my sense of humour, and other people's putting up with it. I enjoy telling jokes, many of which are, unfortunately, awful: so when people find them funny nonetheless, it makes me happy. Usually these days it is Boo and Skibo who are my audience -- what will I do when their senses of what is funny matures?

On a related note, I just watched the fifth of six episodes of the Monty Python documentary, having missed episodes 1-4. It's been an absolutely brilliant, hilarious time watching it.

Yours, feeling pythonesque,
N.

Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:12:00 +0000

There are a bunch, indeed, a bundle, a whole huge pile of holidays celebrated by the US which are not celebrated in the rest of the World --- or are celebrated under a different name, on a different day, and with appropriate seriousness instead of barbecue.
Of the holidays that I get to enjoy and participate in now, the one that I think is the best is Thanksgiving. It (and its Canadian version, by some accounts something of a predecessor, certainly in the calendar) is a wonderful day, a day to give thanks for all that is good in life, a day to contemplate how lovely, regardless of the difficulties of the daily grind, one's lot is.
And so, for the next few days, I am going to try to give a few thanks in advance of the day.
Tonight, I"m thankful for the love of LOML and Boo and Skibo, (even when the children sometimes have trouble showing it, it is only a few minutes before the love pops out its head again). The fact that we are all basically healthy and happy, headstrong and sassy is good!

Yours, thanks the first,
N.

Children when I return

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:22:00 +0000

It always takes a few days for the family to settle back into the fact that I am home, after a trip, and today the children seemed like they were back to normal. Now, by normal, I mean "usual behaviour" -- I'm not tying their behaviour down to any special social constructs. After all, I like being able to describe them as "back to normal":-)

Yours, celebrating normality,
N.

RH Day

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:13:00 +0000

What a wonderful turnout! I'm guessing about a hundred people came out for our local little celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Riemann Hypothesis! Admittedly, we had a bunch of faculty offer credit to students to attend the lectures, but still, a nice turnout!

Yours, all talked out,
N.

Home again

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:14:00 +0000

Home again, home again, jiggety jog. As my parents would say.

Back home, safe, sound, and happy to be with LOML, Boo and Skibo.

Yours, tripped out,
N.

Airport wireless

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:54:00 +0000

It's quite a wonderful thing --- all three airports this trip (beginning, middle and end) have had free wireless available. It's meant that I can update LOML on progress, and check email, etc.
Quite lovely.

Yours, gratefully,
N.

Our talks are over

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:27:00 +0000

Our talks are over --- good audiences, good attention, good questions, good interaction. And now it's time to think about getting on a plane and going home, tomorrow early afternoon (local time).

And so tomorrow night I get to sleep back in my own bed, next to LOML, Love Of My Life, rather than in a lonely hotel room.

Yours, not counting the hours, just waiting until they are over,
N.

Another difficulty with being away

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:47:00 +0000

is that I want to be home, with LOML and Boo and Skibo, able to give hugs and kisses and say "I love you" in person.
Another 48 hours and I should be home, asleep, and worrying whether I have all my ducks in a row for Wednesday.

Yours, home and away? I'll take home!
N.

One difficulty with being away

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:02:00 +0000

One minor difficulty with being away from home, especially three time zones west, is that blogging before bed is no longer enough. Now I have to try to blog before 9pm as well so that the post goes up with the appropriate day!

Only three more days, and it's back to my time zone.

Yours, off-sync,
N

Day one of the conference

noreply@blogger.com (BreadBox) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:58:00 +0000

The first day of the conference went well: our session was very well attended: about thirty people, which was about as much as the room would handle. Other than some minor problems with computers (and since the conference is about computers, minor problems magnify immensely!) things went pretty smoothly. Lots of compliments afterwards.
All in all, I'm enjoying the trip, except for the fact that our hotel is about half an hour's drive from the conference centre, and nowhere near anything else: as a consequence, I will not get any time to be a happy tourist. Oh well, that is not why I'm here.

Yours, away from home,
N