Back home for a day and a half

And just like that, I'm back home.
A hundred and fifty miles or so this evening, and I've returned to the house.  Our friends are bringing Boo and Skibo back once they've finished their dinner, and I'm catching up on sitting down and relaxing for a few minutes.

I felt really good about the review process I participated in: I really think that we did a good job with the oral presentation, making the case for some involvement from higher administration, pushing to make a few things happen sooner rather than later (and in a couple of instances, a few days difference could make the world of difference in the outcome).  So, I think that I have served my purpose well.  We still have to write the formal written review, but that should be relatively straightforward, I think.

Yours, thinking it strange to feel like a grown-up who's done a good job....
N.

Fun as a grown-up

Visiting another department, interviewing the faculty, students, staff, etc to do a review is rather fun.  Of course, there's a document to write at the end: this will take forming our good impressions and thoughts into coherent paragraphs, making a document that makes a good case that they are doing well, but with support can do better --- but it won't be hard to make that good case. 

Yours, not wanting to review a dysfunctional department, but enjoying this one,
N.

Playing catch-up

Having missed two days of work this week, I played catch up this morning.  This was made quadruply more difficult given that I had to leave this afternoon for a trip: I'm playing grown-up-academic for two days, helping a program with a self-assessment exercise.  I've never done this sort of thing before and am consequently a little nervous about it. 
This evening a group of us went out for dinner: the two external evaluators, some internal folks, and a half dozen people from the department.  Great food --- Indian, which I don't get anything like enough of at home, unless I make it -- and stimulating conversation, much of it about the department, where it is, where it needs to be, how it is served by the IT group, etc. 
And so now, to bed, with reading material for tomorrow.

Yours, not ready to play grown-up, but forcing myself to play ready to play grown-up,
N.

Parental pride and transitions

Boo stayed home with LOML today while I went off to my stress test: she was not feeling very well, so we kept her home.
When I returned, she was just about to finish reading a book.  A chapter book.  A chapter book with very few pictures, and 100+ pages.  Which she'd read in a little over two hours.  After a few questions, it was clear that she had actually read it, absorbed the story, and loved it.

This is a huge transition: she'd been able to do this for a little while: as a first grader reading at a fourth grade level (or so her teacher tells us) we knew this was possible: but to see it happen was lovely!

Yours, amazed at her transitions as a reader, and equally amazed by her brother,
N.

More stress == less stress?

A stressful morning, although much less stressful, and for much less time than I expected.  I went to the cardiologist for a "stress test", following up on yesterday's excitement: I had, of course, read ahead on the net as to what stress tests involve, and talked to someone who had had one recently, and so was completely unprepared for what to expect.
I was expecting a several hour ordeal, possibly with radioactive chemical tracers: I was pleasantly surprised to not have to have any injections: further, rather than having to be there for four hours, I was in and out (filling out forms included) in 75 minutes!  The treadmill was much less stressful than I had anticipated: about ten or fifteen minutes from start to finish on there, followed by a rush to lie down so that they could listen to my heart on the ultrasound machine, to compare with the rest state from earlier.

The good news is that things look good: my heart didn't display any evidence of blockages or problems on the ultrasound, my blood pressure is okay, etc.

So, it's back to normal levels of worry instead of the elevated levels of yesterday.

Yours, stressed out, in a good way,
N.

Scary things

It appears that I am okay.  But it was scary for a while.  I went to the ER this morning with some chest pains, more than a little worried, more than a little scared.  LOML drove me, and (thanks immensely to good friends) we were able to drop off the little ones first (it would have been much worse had they been with us.
After several hours of being hooked up to EKG/heart monitors, oxygen, blood pressure cuff, etc, and having met with an ER physician and a cardiologist, and having made an appointment for a stress test tomorrow, I was pronounced free to go.
Apparently the symptoms are unlikely to be heart-related, and hopefully the stress tests tomorrow will help clarify the picture --- i.e. rule out heart issues.

The hospital was something of an experience: being pushed on a hospital bed from the room to radiology, lying down, looking at the ceiling rushing by --- and better yet with eyes closed --- felt like a roller coaster ride: it gave a different perspective on motion.  Staring at the ceiling tiles for hours, noticing small details (a couple of stains, most tiles facing in one orientation, two rotated by a quarter turn from the others).  And the "representative from the business office" who came through about two hours into the process to explain how much the co-pay on (one part, I assume of) the process would be, and would I be able to take care of it right now?

This latter request left me speechless: fortunately, it at least came after the ER physician had explained that he didn't believe the pain was heart-related, but that he was going to run some more tests.  And I do understand them wanting to collect right away -- it probably saves them some expense in chasing down payment later. 

I was left impressed with everybody there (even the money collector -- I would not have wanted to have to do that job!): especially the nurse and the physicians.

Yours, feeling very relieved this evening,
N.

Happy Valentine's Day/ Gong Xi Fa Cai

A lovely Valentine's day: Boo spent a long time (much too long, but it was beautiful) making valentines cards for everyone we know in town, and then we went round delivering them --- first by foot, and then, realising that there was too much coughing going on, and it was cold, by car.

Then this evening, we had our Chinese New Year celebration: longevity noodles in a peanut sauce, chicken in a garlic ginger marinade, with stir fried vegetables, and cucumbers marinated in vinegar and mint.

Yours, wishing everyone a happy new valentine's chinese day year,
N.

If you're going to ask the question, you ought to know the answer

Not in general, of course, but if you are quizzing your older sister on math problems, you might want to stick to questions you know the answer to.

Skibo this evening asked Boo "what is eight hundred plus ninety hundred?"
But whatever she answered, I don't think he'd have known whether it was right or not!

Yours, amused by this, of course,
N.

An awfully lovely day

Indeed it was:  both awful, and lovely. 

The lovely?  The snow, the joy in the children (and the adults) walking and playing in it this morning: the beautiful sunshine sparkling through snow laden, ice dripping branches, snow angels on the ground, and laughter echoing through the air.

The awful?  How bad both LOML and Boo are feeling, both with dreadful dry hacking coughs -- no looseness to bring relief, that terrible tickle bringing frequent spasms of intense coughing.

Yours, hoping that since the snow will all be gone tomorrow, so will the rest of it.
N.

Snow!

And not only snow, but here!  It started a little after 3, and it's due to go until about 11.  Not tremendously heavy, but not too light either.  Absolutely beautiful!

Hopefully it will stay around long enough tomorrow for the children to run around and play in it for a little while.

Yours, thrilled,
N.

Keep the filibuster, but make them really make it a filibuster

There's a lot of discussion about getting rid of the filibuster these days, since the Republican party at the moment has gone completely overboard with it.  My feeling on this is one of frustration at the fact that every vote needs a super-majority, but I still don't think that we should get rid of the rule.
My reason?  I'm a conspiracy theorist at heart.  I believe that the whole use at the moment is an attempt on the part of republicans to get the democrats to get rid of the rule.  Then, next time they are in the majority, the rule is gone and they can pass laws as they please.

I'd rather see a different change in the rules: let's make sure that the use of the filibuster means that there has to be a continued presentation on the senate floor, a la Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, rather than the mere "we're blocking this: give up" rule we have now.

This way, filibusters will be very visible, and parties who use them frivolously (as now, by republicans, in my opinion) will pay a penalty at the ballot box.  Parties who use them wisely will reap benefits.

Yours, frustrated, but still certain that scrapping the rule is the wrong thing to do,

N.

Misery and joy

LOML is justifiably miserable --- coughing awfully, but unable get relief: we've all got something of the same thing, but much less bad: it's one of those coughs which sits at the top of the lungs, dry and hacking, no looseness to it at all.  Hopefully it won't last too many days --- or worse --- weeks.

The joy?  We went to a concert this evening by the African Children's Choir --- stunningly beautiful, even if I did have to leave halfway through with Skibo, leaving LOML to the second half with Boo (and I wasn't too sad to leave: in spite of enjoying the show immensely, I was falling asleep in my seat at the end of the first half).

Yours, commiserating and sharing in LOML's misery,
N.

Congratulations S!

One of the children's friends, a few years older than they are, recently won first place in the local elementary school's science fair.  To her, I say congratulations! 

Yours, wishing her further successes!
N.

Gingrich is still around????

Gingrich, of the Newt variety, is apparently still around.  He was bloviating pontificating on the Daily Show this evening.  Stewart pointed out that the shoe bomber had had his "Miranda rights" read to him (for those in other countries, you know about this: it's the "you have the right to remain silent" stuff that you see on US cop shows), just the same way that the underwear bomber had had similar rights read to him.  Gingrich responded with "But Richard Reed was an American citizen".   This apparently made all the difference for him.

Unfortunately for Gingrich, this means that he is either extraordinarily ill-informed, or mendacious.  As in stupid, or lying.  There was immense press coverage at the time regarding Reed's being a British citizen --- it was seen and is seen as a frightening thing: one of the nations closest to the US is spawning home-grown terrorists.  Surely Gingrich knew this at one time: either he's lying now, or he has forgotten an immensely serious fact.  And thus is stupid.

Yours, going with a combination both,
N.

Teaching runs in the family

This evening Boo spent the better part of an hour sitting with Skibo, reading words to him for him to spell, explaining why the "ey" combination in "they" sounds like "ay", and generally doing a lovely job of teaching reading to her younger brother.  It was heartwarmingly beautiful to watch, from out of sight behind a door, for fear of changing the dynamic.  If I could have figured out a way to do it without them noticing, I'd have set up the video camera for posterity.

According to LOML, her art teacher said this afternoon that Boo is wonderful, and that she is one of the ones she knows she can always turn to to help teach something.  After this evening (and similar occurrences lately) I am not surprised at all.

Yours, delighted to be surprised, but not surprised to be delighted, by my children,
N.

Down to double digits

I'm now left with 99 more to fold!  I think that I need to count down rather than up from now on.

Yours, contemplating taking a bottle of beer off the wall,
N.

Closing in on 200

I'm over 190 in my quest to fold 300 t-rexes.  And I'm really wanting to put into place the design changes that I've discovered --- but I feel that the models should all be as close to identical as I can make them. 
Still, in a week or two, I should be done with these, and then I will feel free to explore the design process of this model further.
There's a definite zen aspect to folding something over and over, carefully, as precisely the same as one can.  I understand the way the thing fits together better than before, even though it is my design.

Yours, aware that the next challenge will be to diagram the sequence of instructions,
N.

Apocalypse Snow

Not here, of course (weather permitting?  never!) --- we are still waiting for our annual single snowfall: but up north they are really getting hammered with the stuff.
So, I'm sending good vibes and luck up to all those completely snowed in: two feet of snow in a couple of days will bring everything to a halt and cause a lot of difficulty.

Yours, pointing out that the main reason for this post was the title,
N.

Webster's

Phew!  What a relief!  Webster's desk is not going to the newbie in the Senate!
Kerry has apparently staked a claim to Ted Kennedy's desk, so Scott Brown won't get to use the storied desk.

I'm a political junkie, as I may have mentioned before. I find the whole process fascinating, personal interactions included.  But this?  Even I find this story rather ridiculous.

Yours, ashamed to say that, yes,  I can find a political story I'm not interested in,
N.

Better behaviour

Apparently the whole class behaved better today.  Let's hope that the behaviour continues to be better rather than getting worse.

On the dinosaur front, it's all downhill from here.  Or at least, I'm more than half way through the 300.  Almost time to start counting down instead of up:-)
Now it's time to start thinking about my talks.

Yours, preparing ahead for a change,
N.

Critical transition points

In the ed biz, of which I am a small part, there is occasional talk of "critical transition points": typically this means the changes between undergraduate and graduate programs, or between high school and college, etc.  I don't know, but I suspect that similar critical transitions have been identified all the way down to birth.
But today, LOML and I encountered another critical transition.  And it's one in which the classroom and the teacher and the classmates remain constant.
We had a note today from Boo's teacher explaining that essentially the whole class had been misbehaving, being disrespectful to various teachers, not paying attention, and making a racket when quiet work was called for.  And Boo had a page of lines she'd written, along the lines of "I will be respectful at all times"...
To me, this is another critical transition: from child who is basically good in class all the time, to wilful, perhaps openly disobedient child, challenging authority.  And it appears that the whole class is at the transition together.
We've read the riot act to Boo.  We've apologised to her teacher.  We've told Boo that she needs to apologise to her teacher.  There's a buzz going around on the phone between various parents, discussing what's going on.

I wasn't ready for this yet.   I recall being a bit older when I was rebellious in class.  But ready or not, here it comes.

Yours, pondering what to do if bad behaviour continues,
N.

Boo and Skibo brushing hair at last

It's been a constant struggle now for years, getting Boo and Skibo to brush their hair (Skibo's not as difficult about it as Boo, since her hair tends to tangle rather more than his).  But today they came home from the local pharmacy with a couple of hairbrushes with mirrors attached, with swing-out handles: the sorts of hairbrushes James Bond would use.  Stealth hairbrushes.  Superhero hairbrushes.
And so this evening, Boo spent twenty minutes brushing her hair with this.  And loving it.

Yours, amazed how something so simple can cause such an effect,
N.

111

Having reached not just the magic 100 yesterday, but 110,  I rather failed to keep up today.  I folded exactly one.

Yours, failing the grade,
N.

YASMUC

In the story of our life this season (weather-wise, that is),  we were hit by another snowstorm just missing us today.  All around the area, heavy snowfalls: at 5 this morning, freezing rain heavy enough to let me know how deep the snow could have been had it been snowing, but it wasn't.

Fortunately, once again we got three ten thousands of an inch of snow (or thereabouts): just enough for the kids to run around in the falling flakes yelling "it's snowing!  it's snowing!"

But I'd love to have a bit more.

Yours, always wanting more,
N.

95 and counting

Thanks to a colleague teaching today, and a committee meeting this afternoon, I was able to fold a bunch of extra dinosaurs during the day.  This evening, I've set to with a vengeance as well, and I'm now up to 95, with a couple more to go tonight.

Yours, looking forward to triple digits tomorrow,
N.

Dinosaur update

I've been folding away in a mini-frenzy (well, at least a couple of hours a day) and am now at 75 dinosaurs completed.  That's about 25% of how many I think that I need to do, so at this rate, I'll be done by the beginning of March.  I'm probably going to fold a "few" extra --- a few dozen, that is, I guess.
It's interesting: I'm not sure that I'm getting particularly better at constructing them, but I'm getting new ideas as to how to make subtle changes.  Unfortunately, since I want all 300 to be close to identical,  I don't have the energy to play with the changes for a month or so!

Yours, with tired fingers,
N.

SOTU

(That's State of the Union, for those not in the US).
Obama gave his first SOTU address to Congress this evening (although strictly speaking, one could make the case that any address the President makes to Congress could be considered a SOTU, over here they insist on designating one speech a year in this way).  It's a bit like the Queen's speech, except that now that we have Obama and not Bush, we have have someone who really knows how to deliver a speech.
They have this persistent, and to my ears, very tired phrase: "The state of the Union is strong" which sounds worse year after year when I hear it.  But other than that, I thought that it was a reasonably strong speech.  He clearly threw a few tidbits to the left, and he beat up on the right a little, but only a little.  I suspect that it probably polled pretty well.  MSNBC didn't have the little lines tracking the focus groups with twisters to see how people were reacting, so I'll have to wait a day or so to find out how it hit those only occasionally engaged by politics.

The Republican response, on the other hand, was quite forgettable.  The brand new Governor of Virginia, surrounded by a carefully chosen group of clearly diverse individuals, all applauding tremendously.  It looked quite fake, especially compared to the reluctance of congressional republicans to applaud Obama.  And the speech?  Not any better, I thought, than Jindal was last year.

Yours, as ever, a junkie for politics,
N.

Folding 300

I'm now more than a sixth of the way through folding the dinosaurs!  I just finished number 51 this evening.

Yours, roaring,
N

Bella is back

Poor Bella is back from the vet, having had two injections to treat her heartworm.  Apparently these are painful, and likely to leave her a little subdued for a couple of days: this is certainly the case this evening.  Unfortunately for her, she's not allowed to run around or get excited for several weeks now, which I am sure is going to be difficult, both for her and for us.
We'll just have to give her lots of gentle loving for a few weeks.

Yours, sorry we had to do it, but knowing that it's the right thing,
N.

Some thoughts on politics

I'll scrunch all these thoughts into one post.

On the issue of health care: the Democratic party really needs to pass a bill: at the moment, the only option seems to me to be that the house pass the senate bill, together with some understanding, written or not, that the house and senate will both pass improvements via reconciliation (improving those parts that can be improved that way).  At least this way we can ban discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, get a good number more people covered, and make a bit of progress.  If we throw everything away, we lose a lot.

On corporate personhood: what a ridiculous notion: and now there is the idea that corporations --- as pseudo-persons, through a right to freedom of speech --- should be allowed to spend as much as they can to influence elections?  Two points here:  first, that the threat of spending is the real worry: not that corporations will actually spend, but that their threats to do so will have a really chilling, and untraceable, effect on legislators.   Second, the country has made a decision that we don't allow non-citizens to vote in our elections.  And yet we're going to allow corporations, international or not, to buy our elections?  Let's at the very least insist on a modest proposal: any company seeking to avail itself of its new-found political influence should be required to prove that it is 100% US owned.

Finally, yet another Republican voices his opinion: this time it is SC Lieutenant Governor, Andre Bauer.  He has said that his grandmother taught him not feed strays as it only encourages them to breed: he said this in the context of aid to the poor being a bad thing.  My response?  Don't vote for Republicans: it just encourages them to breed.  If they are out of office, they might well have more time to breed, but they will have lost the ultimate aphrodisiac, as Kissenger described it.

Yours, venting,
N.

Beautiful Bella

Our lovely new old dog --- Bella, a beautiful golden retriever, found over Christmas by a friend, and owners untraceable --- needs to visit the vet tomorrow.  She's tested positive for heartworm, and it is serious enough, apparently, to put her through some misery.  She loves to run, to chase balls, to play, and these are all going to be forbidden to her for a little while.  But hopefully, she'll be stronger for it in the end, and around for much, much longer.

Yours, hoping she'll still be a ball-chaser after she's better,
N.

Biryani

Some lovely people over for dinner this evening, and some lovely food to share with them.  I made a chicken biryani for the adults, not particularly spicy, but fairly flavourful, and had spaghetti and meatballs (redux) for the children: (we'd had that last night, and there was sauce left: I threw together some more meatballs for the encore).
I've got to say that at the moment I'm feeling rather uninspired when I try to come up with what to eat: LOML and I have a tradition of being the first to ask the other "what do you want to eat this evening", and at the moment, I'm finding it hard to answer...  I'm fine when someone else tells me what they want to eat, however, and am really  looking forward to the day when Boo and Skibo are able to tell me what they'd like for dinner (other than the answer these days, which is always "ice cream"!)

Yours, currying favour, or favouring curry,
N.

300

I'm making three hundred (or so) origami dinosaurs --- my own T-Rex design.  They take, depending on time and place and motivation, between ten and twenty minutes each.  Nearer ten when I'm on track.  I have until mid March or so to fold them.  I've done 16 so far. 

Yours, knowing that you're wondering why, and whether I am crazy,
N.

Flew, shot

I'm guessing that it may be because I'm tired, and that it may be because I was on several planes over the past few days, and with 5000 of my closest friends for the best part of a week.  But the coincidence is just too good.

I got my flu shot this morning.  Completely painless, quick, sure to (perhaps) protect me (or perhaps lend a bit of protection: the experts differ as to how effective flu shots are).  I had been meaning to get one for a while.

Two hours later, as I prepared to listen to a talk by one of the leading experts in mathematical models of vaccine distribution (who gave a great talk on why we should vaccinate all school children first, then the rest of the population if possible), as I was thinking about the flu, and secure that I had been vaccinated, I started to feel, well, flu-ish.
Perhaps it's a cold.  Perhaps it's the flu.  Who knows.  But this evening, I feel crummy.

Yours, sniffling in public,
N.

Oh MA! Oh MA!

Oh MA!  How could you do it?  How could you vote for someone who has a history like he does?  Not just teabagging, not just curling irons.  But those are particularly out of sync, surely, with many of the voters who voted for him, or stayed at home and voted against her with their (lack of) feet.

Yours, disgusted,
N.

Tripping the flight fantastic

Just booked my next flights.  I get to stay home for over a month before the next trip.  And it's back to San Francisco --- or more accurately, San Mateo, south of SF by a few miles.  The hotel I'm booked into looks stunning, in a very modern sort of way, and I think that the conference --- on education and technology -- will be very interesting.  Hopefully I'm ready to travel again by then!
I feel bad for LOML and the children, my travelling so much, and also for my students: it is always disruptive to have a substitute teach a class.  But needs must, and all.  Two trips in February, two in March, and as far as I know, that's it for this semester.  But still, that's a lot of hugs to children not given, and a lot of classes missed.

I still haven't recovered my wanderlust, my love of travel --- and after last week, it may take a trip to a luxury hotel with no flight snafus --- self-imposed or otherwise --- to even start to get me back on track. 

Yours, flipping the trite fantastic,
N.

Mixing it up

Or not.
Our mixer died yesterday.
It was a tireless workhorse, but it was not without its complaints.
Indeed, every time I turned it on, it made loud complaining noises.

Supposedly, KitchenAid mixers are the best in the business, but we've had serious issues with them.  This is the fifth one we have had since we moved up here.  Others have just ceased to turn at all: this time, a whole chunk of the mixer, the bit that turns while holding the attachment, fell off, fortunately not into the bread dough.

Time for a new brand of mixer, I fear.  A shame --- I had always thought that KA were the best one could get, but unfortunately, experience is telling us something different.

Yours, mixing it up, but at the moment, only by hand,
N.

Gently does it

After a few days away, the last thing that I needed was to be back at work in the morning: and fortunately, since today was MLK's birthday, that fate was easy to avoid.  I'll have to go in tomorrow, but at least I can make the trip short.
And so, I  managed to spend  a lovely day with family.

Yours, readier for work tomorrow than I would have been today,
N.

Comedies of errors

In spite of mistakes over the past little while (including, most seriously, booking my return trip for the wrong day! the first time I've ever done that) it looks like I might actually make it home soon.

Yours, a little older, a little wiser, and quite a bit poorer,\
N.

This post was an accident.

Accidentally yours,
N.

Origami

How lovely it was today to spend the morning thinking about mathematics and origami!
And legitimately!   And to finally get to meet some wonderful origami people!
My day was made!

Yours, having had my day made,
N.*

Swag

Saw lots of people today at the conference, which was lovely.  Unfortunately a couple of people I'd really like to have seen couldn't make it:  but that's the way it is with global friends.

I did, however, manage to pick up some lovely swag.  You know, when you go to a conference and you want to find things to bring home to LOM:L or Boo or Skibo?  Well, let me just say that a non-existent spy agency has great swag:-)

Yours, looking forward to a swag-free tomorrow,
N.

At the conference

Today is a slightly less busy day for the conference schedule --- so I have to go around the book displays deciding which few new treasured volumes will meet my shelves.  I'll always visit my two favourite publishers first, A K Peters --- small, helpful, nicely priced, and with a fantastic catalogue for my interests: the other, CUP is a larger, academic press, but they have a wonderful staff, and a great collection of books.  With each of them, it's like seeing old friends again.
Strike that, it is seeing old friends again!

Tomorrow will likely be a busier day: I'm helping judge undergraduate research in the afternoon, there are a bunch of plenary talks I want to go to, and best of all, there's a whole session on origami and math in the morning. I"m really looking forward to that, even if it does mean catching  the 7:10 ferry!

Origami, mathematics, and friends: what more could I ask?  At least for a few days while I'm away:-)

Yours, planning the days out,
N.

Bad flights, bad airports

but I'm here safe and sound and seeing friends, mathematical and non mathematical, and enjoying spending time with people I have not seen in ages.
The scenery is stunning, as one expects in San Francisco --- and it's been really amazing to have great public transport --- ferries and all! --- to commute across the bay!

Yours, in relief,
N.

Leaving, on a jet plane

but I do know when I'll be back again.  Going west to a conference, going to have a chance to meet mathematicians I haven't seen for a while (weeks, months, years, possibly even decades).  Also to catch up with a good friend from many years ago.
And now that I'm at the airport, and no longer have to remember what to pack, or decide which computer to take, or make any other decisions, I can relax a bit more.  So far, the only thing that I've realised that I forgot to pack is my noise cancelling headphones, and I can manage without them.

Yours,  uncancelled,
N.

Alone again,

naturally,.... but not as depressed as Gilbert O'Sullivan...

Second evening in the house by myself -- tomorrow I fly off to San Francisco.  Again, the house feels very strange, knowing that it's just me.   I could, of course, go over and check on the children, but it's far better not to, I think: it would just be disruptive and get in the way of them enjoying extended sleepovers.  So I'm just sitting here, thinking about packing my suitcase for the trip, wondering whether to take one computer or two, etc.

LOML is apparently having a great time: the hotel is lovely, and rather more comfortable than the one we stayed in in England last month.

Only a few more hours before the trip: I hate this day-before-trip thing.  Tomorrow will be much better.

Yours, off to pack,
N.

All by myself (don't wanna be, all by myself,....)

LOML left this afternoon for a conference.   Since I'm leaving on Tuesday, we arranged for Boo and Skibo to have an extended sleepover with best friends for the next few days (thanks, E&C!) 
And so now I've kissed the children goodnight, walked home, and I'm sitting here humming an old song. 

Yours, thinking what a strange feeling it is to be alone in the house at night,
N.

Demons

As a sucker for shows about the supernatural, I just watched the premiere of Demons, the new British show about the descendent of Van Helsing.  Thoroughly enjoyable, until the final moments.  Did they really think that it was absolutely necessary to toss off a line about how worthless his schooling was?

Yours, in praise of education, even for vampire hunters,
N.

Where travel is concerned, I'm Scrooge

Not because I object to the cost of travel (which, of course, I do --- doesn't everyone?) but because it makes me want to say "Bah.  Humbug."
When did this happen?  Back when I live near a major airport, when I could hop on the subway, and be at checkin within twenty minutes, and get a direct flight to most major destinations, travel was fun. 
Part of it, now that I have family, is that I don't want to be away from them.
But it's more, I'm sure.  It's not helped by the fact that flying from MAI, (minor airport international, one flight per year to somewhere other than the US gets them their "international" status) is more expensive: flying to San Francisco next week is a twelve hour trip, three flights, each way.  At least coming back it will give me a chance to catch up on my lack of sleep. 

Yours, Dickensianly,
N.

Fin de semaine

The end of a week, shortened by starting on Wednesday, and my schedule this semester is far less crazy than last semester.  And I'm already exhausted!
I think that my tiredness is in anticipation of next week's trip out west: making sure that I'm already beat will make me enjoy a 12 hour trip, three flights, so much more.  Especially coming back overnight!

Yours, wondering whether this semester will ever end,
N.

Snow!

No:-(
For the past two days, they've predicted snow for today.
This morning, the prediction was for this afternoon.
This afternoon, the prediction was for this evening.
This evening, the prediction is for snow.  Somewhere else.

Yours, precipitation free, and sad about it,

N.

Short posts

One of these days, I will post more than three lines again.  At the moment, my blogging is facing almost a perfect storm.  I'm starting the new term at work, taking way more time than I have to spare: I'm just back from two trips, and heading off on a third, taking way more time than I have to spare: the children are back in school, and so LOML and I have to help get them to bed early, do their homework, shuffle them off to school in the morning (granted, this is 93% LOML, but still, it seems to take more and more time!): write notes, recommendation letters, etc.  All of which takes more time than I... oh, you get the picture.  Still life is good, but I have no time or energy to blog about it.

Plus, I have nothing to say.  And still, it takes me three lines (or more, today) to say it!
Yours, three-lining it in general,
N.

Going to San Francisco

Having flown twice in two months, I'm going to do it again this month.
Next week I'm off to San Francisco -- to a conference, and to see friends from long ago, from short ago, and in between.

Yours, feeling like there should be a song there,
N.

Back to work

I went back to work today, for the first time in a couple of weeks.   I managed a full half-day before deciding I needed to go home and have a nap:-) Hopefully by the time classes start on Wednesday I will have recovered my energy enough to teach from 12:20-3:30 straight!

Yours, preparing for a new beginning,
N.

Retrieving our status as pet carers

Not long ago we had two dogs and two cats (and three cats before that):  after all our pets reached a long-life end, we found new ones (or rather, let them find us).
Today we went from a dog and two cats to two dogs and two cats: we've brought into our house, with the intention of keeping, a lovely female golden retriever by the name of Belle.    She's a sweetheart with people, appears to love to play, and we are looking forward to a very happy time with her!

Yours, retrieving a retriever,
N.

Everything is going swingingly

We dropped the children with friends, and went to pick up the swing set.   Santa had very kindly dropped it off at a neighbours house, since we were not here to keep it safe at Christmas.
Then LOML and I, with the much appreciated assistance of a friend, spent a couple of hours sorting through the various parts, and getting started on assembling the contraption.

It looks like it will be, in concept at least, reasonably simple to put together.  However, the instructions could do with much fine tuning, and just finding which bolt is B-TB, and which washer and nut go with it, has already proved rather irritating.  At two points we had to go back and reverse pieces because
(a) the instructions didn't make it clear until three steps later that we had them in the wrong direction, and (b) it was physically possible to insert the pieces upside down.
Fortunately the weather, while cold, was bright and sunny, and promises to be the same today.  We'll go out in the heat of noon (just below freezing) to finish the job.

Yours, putting it all together.
N.

fin de décennie

It seems, as we approach the fin de décennie (no, the decade didn't end yesterday....) that the world is rapidly approaching hell in a hand basket. The news from Afghanistan, from Pakistan, from Juarez, and from everywhere regarding flights, has been very depressing. 
Our experience with flights and security was interesting: fortunately the folks at Heathrow were able to save the world from disaster by discovering the honey which LOML had packed into our carry on bags, but other than that, getting into the departure lounge was relatively straightforward.  Getting from there to the gate took an inordinately long amount of time, though.  We waited, standing in place, for over an hour to get body-frisked and have our hand baggage searched (this, remember, after we'd gone through detectors and our bags had gone through x-rays to get into the area!)  I don't mean to demean any risks, but this seemed to me to be an ineffective method of eliminating risk.  And at the expense of seriously pissing off passengers.  I've never resented business class passengers quite the same way before as I did watching them get to walk through and get frisked early!
My worry is that we'll all say "we're doing something about it" and not worry whether what we are doing is going to deter, detect or destroy any danger.


And as to the end of the decade snark above, the first decade went from years 1 to 10.  There was no year 0.  Thus, every subsequent decade in the counting scheme should also start with 1 and end in 0.


Of course, I won the argument in 1999 with everyone I explained it to, even if they didn't accept that I was right.  And yet I celebrated the beginning of 2000 with everyone regardless.  After all, no matter how well I'd won the argument, I knew nobody would be celebrating a millennium with me a year later!


Yours, finally celebrating,
N.

Home again

Back in the house, after a day starting at 4:30 GMT and ending (travel-wise) at 9pm EST.  Although it was really lovely to visit relatives for the last two weeks, it is very nice to be home: I'm looking forward to a shower, and to our own bed, and to our kitchen, and of course, our friends who we've missed.
Much to miss on the flip side, of course: especially parents, siblings, nieces and nephews and cousins.

A new year starts here in a couple of hours: it started a few hours ago in Europe.  And so, to all, a very happy, productive and successful New Year!

Yours, looking back, looking forward,
N.

I'm leaving, on a jet plane

Don't know when I'll be back again

Yours, hating to go, looking forward to being back.
N.

All good things must come to an end

and visiting family and friends is a good thing. Today is our last day here: this time tomorrow we'll be about to take off on the final leg of our flight home.  Four hours later, I hope, we'll be pulling up at the house.

It's been a lovely trip, but at the same time, we are ready to be home.  So, we're doing goodbyes, and getting ready for hellos.

Yours, missing people already, and looking forward to seeing those we've missed,
N.

Did I say weather permitting at some stage???

The theme of our trip seems to be that the weather has been stuck in non-permissive mode.
First, on arrival we had to travel a day early to avoid the snow, next: the snow avoids us, so the children don't get to enjoy it.  In Canterbury the rain puts a damper on the day.  Oh, it's true that the trip to Windsor was okay, although it would have been a lot nicer with blue skies all day instead of the dark clouds which came along.

But today was perhaps the least permissive.  We knew ahead of time that it was going to rain, and hard.  But we  decided that if we were going to go to London we had to do it today.  So, LOML was up in the middle of the night looking up train times, opening hours, etc, and we set off: along the way, our plans changed, making most of LOML's research irrelevant --- we went to the Science Museum instead of the National Gallery, for example --- and the weather really ruined much of the day.  But given the conditions and constraints, it went okay, and we had a pretty good time.

Next time, though, can I have the number to set the weather to "fine", please?

Yours, closer to dry now than a few hours ago,
N.

Families

Families are ties of blood.  Often.  But just as often, they can be tied by love.

We visited my cousin today: we've stayed in touch over the years, and when we are in the same country often try to get together for a visit.  Today was, however, the first time that I had seen him since he and his family started fostering children in difficulty, children in need.  And it reminded me very much of the seasonal message that is often so easy to forget: that peace and love and understanding of others is tremendously important.
We had a lovely time visiting, but perhaps the most memorable image was that of the smile on the face of a small child, a child I will never see again, and whose life will be briefly, but brightly illuminated by good people.  They will make a difference for now, for sure, and a difference, in the future, perhaps.  And I have no idea where they find the courage!

Yours, always in praise of those doing a good thing,
N.

Windsor Castle

After months of planning all the things that we want to do while we are here, and having many of the plans end up the way of mice in traps, it was nice to have another one go fairly well.
LOML and I took Boo and Skibo to see the castle today: Skibo in particular had been thrilled with the prospect of seeing knights in armour, swords, shields etc.  It was a lovely visit, a little chilly (which with small children who have refused to wear or let us bring along their hats and mittens can depress the mood slightly) but fun.  We spent a couple of hours going around the castle, especially the state apartments, drawings, and the dolls house --- needless to say, the dolls and their acoutrements were the biggest hit, although some of the paintings in the state apartments and the weaponry on display were a close second for the children.
And, of course, we got to ride on trains.  And I managed to mess up which coach we were on, so that we were unable to get out at our (short) station, and had to travel on (illegally) to the next station, and then call for a ride back home again!

There will be more on all of these things later --- but at the moment I have no way of connecting my laptop to the net, and so pictures, in particular, will have to wait.  More words will have to wait too, until I have a lap in a comfy chair in which to write:-)

Yours, tunelessly whistling "Oh, what a lovely day!"
N.

Foods I miss

There are various foods that I miss from England, interpreted in a broad sense: Marks and Spencer's mini pork pies, good sausages, real ale pulled from the keg.

Yours, salivating,
N.

Happy Birthday Izzy!

Today was Izzy's birthday --- Happy Birthday, Izzy! --- the first time I've been able to help her celebrate it.  And so, I am,

Yours, wishing Izzy a happy birthday,
N.

Christmas Day

My first Christmas with my family (other than LOML, Boo and Skibo) in probably 26 years: a lovely time had by all, presents galore for the children: lots of hits amongst the presents, very few meltdowns among the children or the adults.
I got to cook again --- turkey and roast potatoes with gravy: LOML cooked sprouts, and we rounded it out with carrots and parsnips.  Delicious.  Eleven people seated round the table, and almost every plate licked clean.

Now I think I need to assist in bedtime,
Yours, wishing the children could have gone to bed a couple of hours earlier,
N.

Christmas Eve

Here, it is still Christmas Eve for another few minutes.  Back in the US there would still be time for another few hours of shopping and last minute preparations.

LOML finished the final touches on gifts while I put the children to bed --- a couple of hours or more later than they should have, but after all it is Christmas Eve --- and perhaps if they go to bed late we can sleep in until at least five am!

Many things to write about which happened today, but without wireless and a laptop on which to write them, they may have to remain memories.

Yours, wishing everyone a lovely Christmas,
N.

Weather (not) permitting

Well, we went to Canterbury this morning: we caught the bus, a double-decker, both ways: this will, we suspect, turn out to be the highlight of the day (and perhaps the week) for the children.  They had tremendous fun sitting up top in the front row, swaying from side to side as the bus turned corners, lurching backwards and forwards as it started and stopped.

The cathedral was, as always, magnificent: we were only able to spend about an hour or so in there (small children and quiet spaces requiring good behaviour are only compatible for short periods of time) but it was delightful.  And Boo and Skibo were extraordinarily well behaved, especially during the turning of the page in memory of those killed in wars.

Unfortunately, as soon as we got outside, it started to drizzle: and when we passed through the gift shop/exit, it started to rain.  We hurriedly found a lovely cafe to sit in and have lunch (Pret, on a corner of Parade, near the cathedral: excellent coffee, fantastic fresh food).  Afterwards we had decided to see a few more interesting sights, but the skies opened.  It didn't pour, it drenched, a mixture of snow and a little sleet, temperature above freezing, but not by much.  We huddled in doorways for a few minutes, then finally braved the weather back to the bus station. 
Naturally, the sky cleared just as the bus drove off.  But that's okay.  It was a really lovely visit, weather notwithstanding.

Yours, drying off,
N.

Canterbury tomorrow

Since the cousins will not be around tomorrow, we postponed today's planned outing to Canterbury until tomorrow so that Boo and Skibo could play with them today.  As LOML wanted to go off to look for Christmas presents, I stayed at the house with the four children: this gave me the fun of making bread with them (I am, after all, BreadBox, and am going through withdrawal symptoms).
After recent experiments with sourdough, and, of course, not having access to my tools or counterspace, I'm happy to say that the results were on the good side of dreadful.  Quite good, quite edible, and nothing to be ashamed of:-)

In the afternoon we took a walk down through village streets, across fields, and into a country churchyard.  Not sure that the children yet appreciate it, although I think that Boo realised that churches over here look rather different from their much more modern american counterparts.  Hardly surprising: the one we visited today dates back seven or eight hundred years: about twenty or thirty times as old as some of the ones around our town!

So, tomorrow to Canterbury --- on the bus, yet, for the children's enjoyment --- and then the next day, to visit my parents.  Too little, way too little time, but we will have fun with family.

Yours, enjoying being able to experience not-so-recent history again,
N.

Cold, fun, soup, and the internet

A lovely day, today --- we went down to the sea front late this morning, so that that children could see the sea (far too cold to even put a toe in the water...) and took photographs of butchers shop windows, bakeries, etc --- all the things we don't see in the US to show to Boo and Skibo's classes next year (along with LOML's shot from yesterday --- a lone milkman-delivered milk bottle sitting on the step next door).

We had fun, but it was damp and chilly --- miserable weather: all the better for making soup with.  With having had Christmas dinner of turkey yesterday, we were set for turkey soup today: and it was good.  Between the nine of us, we polished off almost all of the soup I made: essentially, in two days we demolished an entire turkey!  (there's still a bit left for sandwiches, but mostly it's gone).

Tonight has been incredibly frustrating, internet-wise: our hotel is connected with some shady group (probably very big and powerful, so I won't name them) who don't like giving us consistent access to the interwebtubes.  And so I've taken to downloading blogs, reading them at my leisure, and waiting for yet another hour to get access to the net to post, read email, etc.

Still, internet notwithstanding, quite a nice day.  In the English sense of quite.

Yours, contemplating Canterbury tomorrow,
N.

I wish it could be Christmas every day....

Yesterday we saw Father Christmas on a float going down the street, and the loudspeakers were playing "I wish it could be Christmas every day".  I started singing along to Skibo, whose hand I was holding at the time.
With a very serious face, he turned to me, looked up at me, and explained "if it were Christmas every day, it wouldn't be special any more!"

Today, however, is Christmas: we've just finished a feast of ham, turkey, potatoes, sprouts, carrots, parsnips, gravy, Yorkshire pudding, peas, cauliflower, and probably a couple of other things that I've forgotten. 
The children have opened lots of little presents, making them happy beyond belief, and they are now playing on the floor with crayons, colouring books, games, etc.

We've celebrated today so that we get to have Christmas with LOML's half of the family, and then on Christmas Eve we travel to my parents to have Christmas with them.

So, to all, I say,

Yours, wishing you a very happy Christmas today with us,
N.

Origami with my nephew

I was delighted this afternoon when Skibo asked me if I was going to make any origami for the Christmas tree --- I took his suggestion, and folded a Saar Star out of silver foil paper, watched by Skibo's cousin, my nephew (LOML's brother's son: does nephew transfer that way by marriage?) 
He was fascinated, so I folded him a T-rex, after which he asked for various other pieces: those I could recall how to fold (boats, birds, dolphins, roses) I folded for him: those I couldn't remember (cats, horses, etc) I put off until I can get access to diagrams.

His fascination was beautiful to watch: it wasn't just that he wanted me to fold something for him, he wanted to see me fold it for him.

Yours, inspiring the next generation of folders,
N.

Snow!

Snow!  At least, that was what the little ones exclaimed when they got up this morning.  There was nearly a dusting, a salt-and-pepper shaking of white on the ground outside.  But to Boo and Skibo, snow had fallen.
All around the area, folks were struggling with six to eight inches of snow, and in our little microclimate area, we had six to eight thousandths of a millimetre  Or thereabouts.
Most of the day was quite lovely: in particular, we took a walk to the local windmill, one of the sites we'd promised ourselves we would show the children.  And several times it looked like there was going to be a heavy snowfall, and the children ran outside to play in it for the few minutes that it lasted.

Unfortunately, the day ended with (probably overtired) children (in this case, especially Boo) trying to push buttons and push boundaries: it ended with tears, and with leaving Nana and Granddad's place earlier than we would have liked to head back to the hotel.  Not what we wanted to do, but sometimes we have to follow through on consequences for bad behaviour.
Hopefully after a good night's sleep, things will be better tomorrow.  Jetlag, begone!

Yours, catching up on the lag,
N.

Arrival

We've arrived, and have visited my parents, and moved on, a day early.  The weather was threatening lots of snow, and so we decided we'd better travel before it knocked out the train service.  We've checked into the hotel, and enjoyed a lovely meal of fish and chips with Nanna and Grandad.
The children have, by and large, been very well behaved, and the trip was pleasant.  It all augers well: wish us luck!

Yours, on holiday,
N.

At the airport

Boo and Skibo are running around excitedly, LOML and I are taking tons of photographs documenting their first trip, and we've run into our friend, neighbour, and adopted auntie, who is on her way to the west coast.

All in all, pretty good so far:-)

Chapter 14 of Harry Potter is ready, and we board in a few minutes.

Yours, ready to read to them on the plane,
N.

Cameras

Having longed for for a long time, I finally gave in to temptation today: I persuaded LOML that we needed to buy an SLR digital camera.  And the great news is that we both love it.
So, in coming days, weeks and months, I'll try to take some good pictures (LOML too) and post them.
Yours, snappy,
N.

We're off tomorrow: Boo and Skibo get to fly, for the first time in memory/his life, respectively.
Wish us luck: we expect magnificent behaviour from them, and will be happy if it is pretty good (and if the other passengers don't want to rip us limb from limb!)

I've spent a while figuring out how to get dvds from my laptop (with small battery) to my tablet (with 10 hours, or so, of battery) so that the children can watch a couple of movies on the plane.  I think that I have it sorted out.

Sporadic posting to come, but hopefully some nice pictures:-)

Yours, excited,
N.

Rest peaceful, Paul Samuelson

Many, many years ago, I studied A level economics from Paul Samuelson's textbook.  It was great: readable, with concise passages which summarised things, and expanded texts which explained the details: great figures, tables, and diagrams.

Much later, no longer a formal student of economics, but much more an informal student of the world, of politics, and yes, economics, I discovered how influential he had been outside of the influence of that text.  But Krugman says it better than I possibly could, so see his post today.

He was an old man, but many of his ideas and his writings are still fresh today.

Yours, in praise,
N.

Parade party

The parade party went off today with only a single hitch.  Even the weather smiled on us --- the rain dried up an hour or so before the parade, and the sun even poked out from behind the clouds.
The one hitch: even though the weather had dried up, and even though the forecast had been steadily improving all morning, they cancelled the parade.  Too many of the floats were paper and cardboard glued together, in danger of falling apart from the damp.

In the end, the only vehicle in the parade was the pickup truck bringing Boo, Skibo, and a number of others back up to the house, everyone in the back waving and crying "Merry Christmas" at the top of their lungs.

We managed to have a lovely little party, nonetheless: we had somewhere between thirty and forty people (far fewer than if the parade had co-operated, of course), a nice mix, young, young at heart, but all happy and joyful.

And we've continued a good tradition of having a party on the day of the Christmas parade:-)

Yours, partied out,
N.

Cats, catastrophes and aphorisms

The butler did it.

Or in this case, the cats and the dog.  In our house, the usual suspects.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, one of the cats knocked half of the pieces for the gingerbread house onto the floor.  The dog helped clean up some of the mess.  By chowing down on it.

So we're decorating gingerbread walls for the party.  Not a house, more modules for a mobile home.  Delicious, I am sure, but not structurally correct:-)

I'm remaining calm about this --- a task made rather easier for me, given that it was all LOML's hard work that got destroyed.  LOML, of course, is justifiably fuming at the pets.

And the aphorism?  "Don't rain on my parade!"  Unfortunately, the forecast right now is that it's going to rain our our little town's parade tomorrow: leading to the cancellation of the parade: so we will have to rely on our party to bring everybody's spirits back in the Christmassy direction.

Yours, about ready,
N.

Festivals and parties

In our never-ending quest to introduce Boo and Skibo to aspects of cultures, ours and others, we celebrated the first night of Hannukah this evening.  Pot roast, latkes, roasted vegetables (the first two of which were lovely; the last, inedible), Hannukah gelt and dreidels for the children, plus some a gift for each of them and their friends.

Of course, what made it lovely was the inclusion of friends --- most especially, J, who came over, inquired what we were having for dinner, and in spite of the answer, decided to go to another friend's for dinner.  The fact that she could choose that path, knowing that we wouldn't be offended, was very nice.

Yours, rolling gimmel every time we do this,
N.

Almost done

Last exam given, most grading still to happen.
Goodbyes said to friends leaving town next week to look for a new place to live.
Preparations in place to travel soon.

All these are almost done.
Yours, in preparation to be fully done,
N.

Such depressing news on health care

This is such a depressing day, politically.  On days like this, I wonder: is it better to stay and fight in such a socially backward place?  Or move to a civilized country like Canada or the UK?  We've made a life here, and we personally are only financially affected by the healthcare mess here: premiums jumping every year meaning that raises are smaller, and such raises as there are are cut into by increases in my share of the premium.
But this is small potatoes compared to the tens of millions who have no insurance, or whose employers don't provide insurance.  For them, today, my heart bleeds.  We have a solid majority in the house and senate, and we hold the presidency, and we can't pass an incredibly weak health care bill to ensure that everyone is insured?  This country, if you'll pardon the language, sucks.  Big time.

What this fight has done is to break my hope in the democratic party. I have no faith in the opposition: they are awful.  But the left is now worthless too.

Yours, disgusted enough to move to Tunbridge Wells,
N.

Reports on health care reform

This is depressing.  It appears that after months of argument, after concession after concession from the left, the public option has been pulled out of the senate version of the health care reform bill.

This is terrible.  This was the only thing in the bill which would work to pull costs down, to keep the health insurance industry from shafting society for another twenty years.

Yours, thinking feet need to be held to the fire,
N.

Happy anniversary, LOML!

Today is the anniversary of the day LOML and I went out together on a date, for sushi -- at a lovely family-style Korean restaurant.  We've been together ever since:-)

Yours, still in love, and loving every minute,
N.

The best Christmas pageant

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.