Emergency state

After yesterday's rains --- several inches in the afternoon, then a very violent, powerful storm early this morning, which, according to the local TV station "decided to just sit over the town", our mayor has declared a state of emergency for the town.  Various isolated disasters --- one couple have lost their house: there are railroad tracks with six feet of empty space floating beneath them: cars with trees on them: all isolated, but putting them all together, things are in a bad way for an awful lot of people.  

We're currently very lucky: the floods have happened to people nearer creeks, and our trees haven't been hit --- but they are promising worse storms tonight, and tomorrow, and we are certainly not sure of being out of the danger zone.

Yours, feeling terrible about what has happened to some good people,

N.

Goodbyes

And so, as every year, it comes time to say goodbyes to the REU students.  The group of three who worked with me this year were wonderful: smart, hard working, and capable: I'm hoping we get to write several small, or perhaps a couple of bigger papers --- this will depend on how things go in the next few weeks as they work on their own (in collaboration on the net via email, skype, writelatex, etc).

But all in all, one of my favourite groups of students ever!

Yours, sad to say goodbyes, happy to know them,
N.

Orange and Ginger Tofu

I had tofu cooked in orange and ginger a few months ago, and have been trying to recreate the recipe.  Finally, over the past couple of days, I have created something different, but good.

Orange and Ginger Tofu
1 block tofu
1 inch or so of ginger, grated on a microplane
1/2 cup or so of orange juice
Peanut oil

Slice the tofu horizontally into three slabs, each about 1/2 an inch thick.  Place on paper towels on a plate, with paper towels separating each slab. Place another plate on top, and weight it down with a large can of tomatoes or similar weight.  After a few minutes, replace the paper towels with fresh ones, and repeat.  Leave for several more minutes.

Cut each slab into appropriate sized pieces (I cut cross-wise into three slices, then lengthwise into two, so each slab becomes six squares, then I cut each square diagonally, so I end up with 12 triangles per slab, for 36 triangles in total).

Heat a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil in a large skillet: in two batches, shallow fry the triangles for a few minutes on each side, until they are light golden brown, and have a slightly crispy texture.   Drain the tofu on paper towels, and clean the oil from the skillet.
Add 1/2 cup orange juice to the skillet, and the grated ginger, bring to a boil, and add the tofu.  Simmer until the juice is reduced to almost nothing, about 10 minutes or so.

The tofu should have a delightfully meaty texture, and a delicious orange/ginger flavour to it!

Prepenultimate day of the REU

I took my REU group downtown this afternoon --- to visit my favourite bookstore,  and then, many books in hand, next door, to the lovely independent coffee shop next door.
It was a lovely lunchtime visit: lots of great conversation, good coffee, and general good humour.

I'll miss these folks when they leave on Saturday!

Yours, enjoying this group's company,
N.

Very proud

I'm very proud of the job my REU students did this morning: they presented their research results in a talk, and did a fantastic job!  I'm looking forward to working with them over the next few days to get their REU paper into great shape, and then over the coming months, deciding how many papers to prepare for publication in what my institution lovingly refers to as the "archival literature".

I'm always optimistic at this stage --- often somewhat overly so --- but this year I feel confident that we can get a couple of papers out: perhaps even three --- so provided I can persuade the students to keep working, I'm hoping that this will be a great year!

Yours, proud, in loco parentally,

N.

Cheese and onion pie --- and pastry notes

I made cheese and onion pie last night, as I mentioned yesterday: it was really really good, and definitely a keeper recipe!

The recipe is ridiculously easy, once you have pastry dough; dice a couple of large onions, saute them in a little butter or olive oil over medium low heat until softened --- about 10 minutes or so.  Allow the onions to cool, stir through with 8 ounces of very sharp cheddar (I used Cabot Farm's Seriously Sharp white cheddar), season with salt and pepper, then beat an egg and stir it in.  Roll out two rounds of pie dough: place one in the bottom of a pie plate: pour the cheese and onion mixture in, top with the second round of dough, crimp, cut a slit or three in the top of the crust so steam can escape, and bake at 350 or 375 until the crust is golden brown.

A note to myself on the pastry: the Vodka Pastry recipe I posted yesterday wasn't perfect (hubris on my part made that a likely outcome, I am sure!)  The dough didn't have enough liquid to bind together: I patted the base down enough that it worked, but with the topping, I decided I needed to reprocess the dough with more liquid, and did so, using vodka rather than water: I added perhaps another ounce or so of liquid: the dough was now easy to roll out, and despite the extra working, didn't toughen.  Pastry has become a forgiving recipe at last:-)

And the dish was a hit, except with the children.   Boo liked it okay (but didn't want any tonight when we had leftovers).  Skibo ate some, and pronounced it "two thumbs up" on one mouthful, but didn't want any more (and didn't want any tonight).

Oh well, they will develop real palates soon enough!

Yours, feeling cheesy,
N.

Comfort food

I was reminded this morning (somehow -- I'm not sure what brought it to mind) of cheese and onion pie: a speciality from the North of England: my mother used to make it on a fairly regular basis, and so I'm thinking of trying it tonight.  I'm hoping that it will hit all the high comfort notes that it triggers in my memory.

I was tempted to purchase pre-bought pastry to make it easier --- tempted briefly, but I was put off by the pictures on the boxes of pie dough: their images were of dough that looked more solid than flaky, and I am sure I can do better than that.  I'm tempted perhaps to buy a box at some point just to try it out, but not on a night when I'm planning to try to cook something I care about.

I've pretty much switched to vodka pastry now when I make it from scratch: the vodka retards the formation of gluten in the dough, and bakes off at a lower temperature than water does, making for a crisper, flakier result that is more workable prior to cooking.   I got the recipe from America's Test Kitchen: it calls for vegetable shortening, but when I don't have that around, I use all butter instead: and when I'm making it for a savory dish, I leave out the sugar.

Here's the recipe for vodka pastry: I'm going to hash out the recipe for the cheese and onion pie in my head for a little more --- that recipe will be added at a later date.

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices (1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 cup chilled vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup vodka , cold
1/4 cup cold water

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined,
about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until
homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds
(dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour).
Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor
blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed
around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses.
Empty mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding
motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and
sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into
4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes
or up to 2 days.

Yours, in search of comfort,

N.

Summer delights

We spent two hours in the pool this morning --- a delightful time in spite of the clouds (to be truthful, I actually like it when it's not so sunny --- being fair skinned).  Skibo even managed to play with some other children (it seems like a rare event when either of Boo or Skibo play with children that they don't know well, so it was nice to see him do so).  Boo explained to me that she wasn't comfortable playing with complete strangers, and even after I explained to her that the children were not complete strangers, she still demurred. Oh well.

Yours, enjoying a rare moment of summer quiet,
N.

Writing, and regularity

I have been trying to write blog posts on a daily basis for years now --- and have succeeded, with massive failures along the way.  Over the past few months, I've gone for long periods without posting.

This month, I'm going to try to sit down with Boo and have her write --- her writing is wonderful, and I want to encourage her to stick with it! --- and while she's writing stories, I'm going to blog.

This will be made more complicated by the fact that I'll be away for eight days --- but perhaps we can skype while writing.

Yours, looking forward to a magical interaction with my daughter,
N.

Independence!!!

Happy Independence Day!
Having grown up in Britain, my understanding of today is necessarily different, but I can celebrate the day nonetheless.

We had a lovely gathering this afternoon/evening: our twelfth annual party for this day: a combination of mathematics undergraduates about a week away from finishing their summer research program, a few fellow faculty members, and some friends from around town.

Yours, full of food and friendship,
N.

Menu thoughts

I'm contemplating what to cook for tomorrow: this will be our 12th annual July 4th party.
I definitely want to do beef rendang again: probably a chicken tagine, and perhaps carnitas.
Now I just need to decide what vegetables to go with this.
Oh, and perhaps a dessert or two too:-)

After more thought: it looks like the menu is converging to the following:

Beef Rendang

Chicken Tagine

Pork Carnitas

Lasagna

Mushroom Pate

Smoked Trout Pate

Bread

Rice

Squash Casserole

Guacamole

3 Bean Salsa

Cheesecake

Carrot Cake

Fruit

Yours, mouth watering already,
N.

Rendang redux

Beef Rendang

This first recipe is my modification of the recipe in
Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland


Flavoring Paste

1 nutmeg, cracked open with a meat pounder
5 whole cloves
3 big shallots, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
6-8 red chillis, seeded  and coarsely chopped
2 inches fresh ginger, grated on a microplane
2 inches fresh galangal, grated on a microplane
5-10 macadamia nuts

2-3 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon turmeric
2 13 oz cans coconut milk
3 stalks fresh lemongrass, gently pounded with the back of kitchen knife blade
1 piece cinnamon stick
7 lime leaves
1 teaspoon salt

Grind the nutmeg and cloves in a spice grinder (or a mortar and pestle: I use
a dedicated coffee grinder).  Add to a small food processor: add the rest
of the ingredients for the flavoring paste, and pulse until a coarse paste is left.
Stir the beef and the paste together in a large skillet. Add the remaining
ingredients, and heat over medium-high heat: bring to a low boil, and simmer,
stirring every ten or twenty minutes until the liquid has almost all evaporated.
Let the meat fry in the remaining oil , stirring to prevent scorching.  Cook
until the meat is the color of roasted coffee beans.

Remove the lemongrass, lime leaves and cinnamon.  Serve, for example with lemongrass
and coconut flavoured jasmine rice.

Happy Canada Day!

To all my Canadian friends, happy Canada Day!

Yours, in celebration!
N.

A childrens' book about Uncle Paul

Uncle Paul, as Palibaci was known to all, loved epsilons.  He would take a pill bottle from his pocket, hold it high in the air, drop it, and catch it.  The epsilon being entertained would laugh, and Paul would generate great joy.

There is a new book about his life: The Boy Who Loved Math: a lovely little book, which Skibo loved when I gave it to him a few days ago.

This morning, I discussed prime numbers with Skibo -- he's still a year younger, according to the book, than Palibaci was when he encountered them for the first time: I had Skibo construct the sieve of Eratosthenes for the numbers up to fifty, then had him discover that all the composites, the ones he had struck out, were indeed the product of smaller numbers, and that the primes, the remaining numbers, were not.  And the best part of all? The fact that I think that he really got what I was saying:-)

Yours, initiating the prime directive
N.

Bad numerology

My post from yesterday, it seems, was full of incorrect information.  I mis-read the stats --- I had had 2345 posts including drafts which have never made it to posts.  I have a few more posts to go to be  successfuly numerologist.

Yours, amateurly,

N.

Rendang, reviewed

I made Beef Rendang yesterday for potluck.  The reviews were all uniformly very positive -- the recipe is very good, though I think that I will cut the cubes of beef to a rather smaller size than 2-3 inches per side, which the recipe called for.  Other than that, if we could only find fresh lemongrass, galangal etc in the area, I'd be making this on a regular basis!

Yours, rendanged,
N.

Amateur numerology

I'm a professional numerologist, in the sense that I look for patterns in sequences of numbers: but here I am acting as a pure amateur.  As of until I publish this post, blogger informs me that I have posted 2345 times.

Yours, just wanting you to know,
N.

There is some hope

Having had no sink for the past several days, we are excited by the prospect that it may get fixed tomorrow. There is a definite upside to that --- I haven't been able to cook for several days, and I am missing it!

Still, there is a real hope that our 12th annual July 4th party will go ahead as planned!

Yours, excited!
N.

Business

As in busy-ness.  My summer course, boot camp for maths graduate students, began this morning.  And so begins the yearly ritual of making sure that the incoming students are prepared from day one!

Yours, playing the mean sergeant,
N.

That awful sinking feeling

This morning, we got that awful sinking feeling.  You know the one.  The one you get when you walk into the kitchen, and the sink has fallen out of its hole in the countertop, and has sunk into the cupboard below.
So, cooking? not so much, not for a little while -- not until we can get the sink reattached!
Hopefully it will be back in place in time for the July 4th party!

Yours, back from dinner at a restaurant,
N.

On not believing

I read an interesting article today on support networks for atheists (I think it actually applies far more broadly, to those of us who don't express a positive belief in the non-existence of deities, while at the same time not expressing a positive belief in their existence either).
The thing that I found most interesting was the support group they left out: the daily community that churches give to their members: the built in groups of friends who hang out because they believe in the same tenets and stories and sing the same hymns.
It's why we have potluck: over the years it feels like we have our own little community: we don't build it around religion or lack of belief: it is a community of friends who come together every few days to be a community: to hug and smile and laugh, and be friends.
And that's the network the article missed.

Yours, loving our community,
N.

Rendang

Yesterday I came across a list of exotic foods one really should taste before one dies --- and being in no hurry to have the latter happen, I'm certainly not rushing to experience one of the list --- fugu.  In fact, I'm not sure that I agree with most of the list: perhaps kobe beef someday, if I get to Japan.  Deep fried mars bar?  I'll skip it -- I have no idea how that made the list!

But beef rendang, that appeals.

Yours, thinking of slow cooking,

N.

A moment

Standing in the kitchen a few moments ago, I asked Skibo if he'd had an okay day.  His response filled me with happiness: "I've had a great day!"

Yours, happy to hear it:-)
N.

The Doctor

Skibo has discovered Doctor Who --- he (and to a lesser extent Boo) have been watching episode after episode over the past couple of weeks.  This has been fun for LOML and me, since we both grew up watching the original series --- and I've enjoyed the latest three incarnations immensely too.
Skibo has been led to consider all sorts of questions by watching the show: whether there are really aliens, are sonic screwdrivers real, and if not, will someone invent one, etc.  It's been fun (and slightly challenging) to field his queries!
Yours, thrilled that he's discovered the series,
N.

Spinach and mushroom roulade

I just tried this spectacular recipe recently: in preparation to teach a cooking class on mushrooms, to see how hard it would be, and how it would turn out.
It turns out that it's easy, if involved, and also that it turns out really nicely.
I also tried adding some kale to the spinach, and that worked pretty well too, though I think I prefer the lightness of using just spinach!

Spinach Roulade with Mushroom Filling
(From Fresh From The Garden, by Perla Meyers)

For the filling
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, trimmed, wiped and finely minced
3 tablespoons finely minced scallions
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2-3 tablespoons finely minced dill

For the roulade
1/2 cup homemade breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 pounds fresh spinach, stemmed, washed and dried
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 extra-large eggs, separated
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Garnish
10-12 ripe cherry tomatoes, lightly sauteed in 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh dill
The filling:

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat.
Add the mushrooms and saute quickly until lightly browned
and all the liquid has evaporated.  Remove the skillet from
the heat, add the scallions and toss until just wilted.  Season
with salt and pepper and allow to cool completely.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and sour
cream, and mash together with the back of a fork.  Add the
mushroom mixture, Parmesan, and dill.  Taste, and adjust the
seasoning as necessary.  Cover and chill until firm.

The roulade

Preheat the oven to 350 C.

Line a jelly-roll pan (15x10x1) with parchment.  Butter the
paper and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and Parmesan.  Set aside.

In a large pan, cook the spinach in the water that clings to its
leaves over medium low heat, until just wilted.  Transfer to a
colander and let cool.  Place the spinach in a kitchen towel, and
squeeze out all the excess  moisture.  Chop the spinach finely and
set aside.

In a large stainless steel or glass mixing bowl,  combine the
chopped spinach and softened butter, set the bowl over a pan
of warm water, and stir until the butter is thoroughly incorporated.
Add the egg yolks and mix until well blended.  Season with salt and
pepper and reserve.

In another large mixing bowl, combine the egg whites and a pinch

of salt, and beat until the whites form soft peaks.  Fold gently

but thoroughly into the spinach mixture.

Spoon the spinach mixture into the prepared pan, using your hands

to spread it evenly into a thin layer.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or

until just set (a knife when inserted will come out clean).

Remove the pan from the oven and immediately invert the spinach

roulade onto a dry kitchen towel.  Carefully peel off the 

parchment paper and trim off a piece, about half an inch wide, from

each short side.  Leave flat or roll up gently in the kitchen towel.

Set aside to cool completely.

Spoon a thick layer of the mushroom filling over the entire spinach

surface and roll the roulade from a long edge into a tight roll,

jelly roll fashion, using the towel as a support.  Transport 

carefully to a serving platter and surround with the sauteed cherry

tomatoes.  Sprinkle the tomatoes with the minced dill, cut the 

roulade into 1/2-inch slices, and serve at room temperature.

Serves 10-12.

Yours, hoping you'll be inspired to try this!

N.

It has been a long time since I posted.....

I was just asked if I had a blog.  Yes, I replied.  But it's been a while since I posted....

So I'm posting.  Perhaps there will be some pictures of mushroom dishes soon: I taught a class recently, and some of the recipes are really good....

Yours, in arrears,
N.

In memory of a great man

Paul Erdos was born a hundred years ago today.  He was perhaps the greatest mathematician of the twentieth century: certainly the greatest I ever had the privilege to meet, to spend time with, to do mathematics with.   I think that it's likely he'd make everyone's list of top ten mathematicians of all time (and with competition like Archimedes, Newton, Euler, Gauss, Hilbert, etc, that's a tough list...)

He was an amazingly gentle soul: he spent the last forty years or so of his life travelling the world, spending a week here, two days there, as Cambridge mathematician John Cassells put it: he was like a bumblebee, spreading mathematics as though he was pollinating.  He'd take news of a new theorem around the world, telling exactly the people who would know best how to extend it, use it, generalize it.

He died in 1996, at the age of 83.  And he is still much missed.

Yours, in memory,
N.

How many emails????

I was struck today by the claim that was made in the disgraced-generals-have-inappropriate-relationships case that there is a strange assertion floating around: that Kelley and Allen had 20000-30000 emails etc going back and forth (and that some of them were inappropriate).

Now, a standard work week in the US (2 weeks holiday, 40 hours per week) runs 2000 hours.  This means that assuming that they have been communicating for a couple or years, say, they are still sending an average of 5 emails per hour.  Now, over short periods I could see someone doing that, but over a sustained period, of months?

Wondering if Allen/Kelley both have verbal diarrhoea...

Yours, having an email load rather smaller,
N.

The Undead Hotel

A short story, by Boo.

The Undead Hotel

Today, my family and I are going on a Halloween vacation.  The hotel is called The Undead Hotel.  I guess it's called that because it's a theme for Halloween.

We've just been told our room number.  The person behind the counter told us that to get to our room, we have to go up some "possessed elevator."  Well, here we go.  My brother is about to press the floor number three button when "don't press that button." my mum say!  "Why?" Skibo asks.  Suddenly, he spots it.  There's a face on the panel.  It's a ghost face!  It starts moving.  We look around the cramped elevator and notice lots of other moving ghost heads.  My brother presses the button really fast and finally we're on the right floor.  We step out of the elevator and into a long hall. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this place.

We walk down the long hall.  I see millions of wax statues.  I notice George Washington, Henry Hudson and Rosa Parks.  "Anybody hear something behind us?" I ask uncertainly.  We all turn around. "Ahhhhhhhhh!"
we all scream together.  There are wax figures following us.  I remember the man at the counter telling us to beware because there's danger lurking around every corner.  My family and I dash to our room.  We lock the door behind us.  I can hear the wax figures pounding at the door.  I can hear my heart beating as loudly as the wax hands at the door.  We all turn around to catch our breath.  Uh oh, the wax figures aren't our only problem now.

"Any body else getting the creeps?" I ask.  "Wow." James exclaims.  We can't hear the wax figures anymore, so we walk away from the door.   The room is so quiet, it's horrifying.  The room is full of zombie figures.  I see some in chairs and there's two on a bunk bed.  It looks like a zombie family.  I  see two zombies that look like kids, two that look grown up and, oh look, a zombie dog!  I thought that they didn't allow animals in hotels, but I guess they make an exception for zombies.  "This is so cool!" announces my brother.  "Shhh, don't talk so loud." I whisper to him.  Uh oh, it's too late.  The zombies in the bed began to sit up.  They got out of bed and headed our way.  The ones in the chairs followed them.  The dog started to bark.  "Brains, brains!" the zombies started shouting.  They were about to attack us when we ran right through the middle of their group.  "Look, a door!" I shout.  We run straight through the open door into a dark, smelly place.

We stumble around the dark place for a while, trying to find our way around.  "Ow!" I shout as I stumble over something on the floor.  I fall flat on my face!  Luckily, I fall on something soft and furry. "Grrrrrrrrr! I feel a slow rumbling underneath me.  Then, the object I am laying on, stands up!  I hear a growl coming from the object!  Finally my dad lights a match, and puts it in the lantern he found.  The whole room escapes with light.   I look around.  There's a fifteen foot bear standing on its hind legs in front of me!  Two tiny cubs stand beside it.  "Don't make a sound, and don't move!" Mama whispers.  The bears charge towards us. We make a run for it.  There's an opening at the end of the cave.  We run out right before the bears catch us.

Finally, we're out!  I never thought that I'd see the light again!  We're surrounded by millions of trees.  Wait, what's that lurking in the shadows?  Suddenly, something jumps at me from behind.  I duck down just in time!  Vampires appear from the shadows.  They slowly come closer and closer.  When they were just inches away from us, they took one whiff of us, paused, and flew away into the night.  I was puzzled by why they flew away, when, it hit me.  I remembered reading that vampires were allergic to garlic, and we had garlic bread for dinner, so we still smelled of garlic.  We have made it out of the woods, and are standing at the edge of a maze-like place.   I wonder what horrors await us inside.

We enter the maze.  I touch the hedge.  "Ouch!" I exclaim in pain.  Electricity shocks my whole body.  I fall to the ground in pain.  "Are you ok?" Dad asks with a worried look in his eyes.  "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little dazed." I answer in a small voice.  I stumble to my feet.  "Now let's get out of here!"  I announce.  I stumble around, still feeling dazed.  We walk around the maze for a while, feeling lost.  We come to a a few dead ends a couple of times.  I hear a groan coming from around the corner, I look up, up, up, and there stands Frankenstein!  "Grohhhhh!"  He groans again.  He walks toward us.  The ground shakes as he walks.  Thud, thud, thud, goes his shoes on the ground.  Now, this may seem asbsurd, but Skibo and I got these little water pistols for Christmas, and now we carry them everywhere.  So, we take out our water pistols and start shooting Frankenstein.  We short circuited him and as he fell to the floor, we ran around him and out of the maze.

Now we're standing at the top of a tube.  I think that it's a slide.  It curves and twirls around and around.  "Looks like this is the way out." James announces.  We each hop into the slide.  It twists, twirls and curves.  It takes us over small bumps.  Finally, at the end of the slide, we land in a small pit of sand.  "Yes.  We're outand I'm alive!" I shout, happy to see daylight again!  After everyone's out of the slide, we journey home, exhausted from our long adventure!

And now, a word from Boo's sponsor.  I'm thrilled by this!  It is so far beyond anything I was asked to do at the age of 10!
Yours, publishing her story, copyright Boo, 2012,
N.

I've been remiss in posting...

But tonight I have an incentive to post!  Boo had a writing assignment, due tomorrow, and sat down with me as she finished it.  She's to write a short story, a scary story: and I'm stunned by the job she's done.  I don't think I was expected to work at this sort of level until I was 12 or 13, not just turned 10!

Yours, thrilled,

N.

Happy Birthday, Boo!

Double digits!!!

Yours, parentally proud,

N!

Bullshit!

Lawrence O'Donnell, on MSNBC this evening, talking up President Obama for re-election, spent many minutes discussing whether he could use the word the President had been reported as using to describe Mitt Romney: Obama used the word "bullshitter", which in the context of the lies and misrepresentations that the former Governor of Massachusetts has used seems rather tame.

But apparently the MSNBC lawyers are unwilling to let L O'D use that word on the air.

Such bullshit!

Yours, wishing that the US would lighten up a little (actually, a lot) where swearing on TV was concerned,

N.

Cycling

I love cycling.  I don't do it often enough, and I'm not particularly good at it.  I do it for fun, for exercise, not to race or compete.
But I have to say that I am sorry that international body in charge of cycling has taken all of Lance Armstrong's record from him.  I understand their view that he was cheating by taking steroids or other chemicals: it appears that it's undetectable still, so we don't know who else took it....

But my feeling is this: he brought such hope to cancer survivors: he was so inspiring to those who need hope: he took a "you're dying" diagnosis, and came back to show incredible resolve: I'd rather we never knew about the drugs.  I'd rather we still were all screaming his name, taking inspiration from his feat.
What he did was incredible, cheat or not.  Without the wins, we'd merely celebrate him as a mildly inspiring individual who went back to bike races.... and the inspiration would be nice, but mild.  With the wins, he had the potential to really inspire.  Now that those wins are gone, he's back to human.

Yours, missing when he could be considered stronger than any human I knew,
N.

Nice conference

Spent a couple of days away at a conference: I was the first plenary speaker, and naturally I stayed around for the rest of the meeting.  I really enjoyed lots of talks --- mainly by undergraduates about research they had done, and felt good about encouraging them, and pointing them to new potential directions to examine.
I've received some wonderful mentoring in the past, from several directions, and it always makes me happy to be able to pay back some of this by passing the advice on forward.

Yours, suddenly realizing that I'm a "senior" mathematician, not a "junior" one any more.
N

Getting stuff together

Spending a few minutes printing out an agenda, directions, hotel reservations, etc, in preparation for a trip tomorrow.  Off to give a conference talk:-)

Yours, sure to forget something,
N.

A more enjoyable debate last night

As a committed leftie, last night's Presidential Debate was rather more fun to watch than the previous bout between these two: as much fun as the VP version last week.

Yours, hoping this helps the polls swing Obama's way a bit,

N.

Ooops

I miss a day of posting, and suddenly it's nearly a month that's gone by.  Oh well.  I won't pretend and catch up: let's just see if I can restart.

Yours, jolted,
N.

Great grades!

Boo and Skibo brought home report cards this week: straight A's for both of them!  Skibo 100% down the line, while Boo had 97, 98, 99, 100 and 100.

Yours, pleased as punch with how they are doing,
N.

Way to go, Skibo!

Skibo tested for his second yellow stripe on his white belt this morning!  He did really well --- and the senior black belt invigilating the testing told us that apart from improving his balance a little bit (which is normal), she didn't have a lot of things to write down about how he was doing.
Boo will get to test on Wednesday, assuming that she's feeling up to it: this morning her throat was really sore, and she really didn't want to do it -- we weren't about to force it on her.

Yours, proud of Skibo, and hoping Boo's better soon,
N.

Poor Boo

Unfortunately Boo has come down with a sore throat, and had to come home from school early.  Hope that this doesn't mess up the martial arts testing in the morning!

Yours, hoping my little girl gets better really soon,
N.

Magic, the gathering

Just finished with my undergraduate group: we meet every week to discuss magic tricks, and to talk about the mathematics behind some of them: they are going to be working to generate some lesson plans and other ways to incorporate them into math classes in the school system.  A nice bunch of students, and I love the fact that they are excited by this project!

Yours, letting them pick a card, any card, and forcing the outcome,
N.

Damned elections

Every four years at this time (and to a lesser extent every two years) I end up spending way too much time reading online posts, blogs, news, about the elections.
This year, it seems, Romney is generating even more buzz than ever, and almost none of it good.  Of course, given that my political leanings are rather further to the left than his (even when he was in Massachusetts as a relatively centrist Republican) I'm quite happy for him to continue to gaffe.

Yours, enjoying some of the commentary
N.

Proud of Boo and Skibo

This morning we met with Boo's teacher, so that she could discuss with us her progress, and in particular, her scores on the standardized tests they've been taking.
I'm not a believer in the standardized tests: I don't think that they test the right things, or that they are valid metric of achievement.  That said, I'm still tremendously proud of Boo's scores, which are not just higher than they need to be now, not just higher than they need to be to demonstrate a mastery of the material at the end of the year, but higher than they need to be for "exemplary" at the end of the year.

We haven't yet met with Skibo's teacher, but he told us what scores he was making, and we're expecting a similar report for him.

Yours, happy they are doing so well,
N.

I am the 47%

So Mitt Romney thinks that the 47% who support Obama and oppose Romney are moochers?  Wow!  That's surely going to help persuade me to change my mind and vote for Romney!

Yours, amazed....
N.

A nice dinner with friends

Last night we spent a lovely evening with our friends who own the bookstore in town: their daughter was visiting, and it was a lovely, gentle, time.  Great food, great company:-)

Tonight it was the kids turn: their friends are finally back down from New England: three weeks or more late for school but they made it, finally.  We had them over for dinner to welcome them home, and they immediately slipped right back into the routines that great friends have.

Yours, so happy for the easy adjustment,
N.

A funeral

A fairly big funeral, at that, for our friend Jim from across the street: Uncle Jim as he was to Boo and Skibo.  Especially to Boo.  She accompanied LOML and me to the ceremony, held outside in the graveyard at the old church down the street, the one only opened occasionally, it's so old and small.
A lovely, simple, moving service.  Short, and, of course, sad.

Yours, in memoriam,
N.

A wake

Tonight the sprogs were at their martial arts dojo for a "parents' night out": a fundraiser, where we pay $20 per child, and we get to go off and enjoy the evening.
As we were on our way to go out, we realized that tonight was the wake for our friend Jim from across the street: so we walked down to the square to the pub, and hugged, and reminisced, and generally celebrated our friend, now gone.  Tomorrow, we'll go and be somber at the memorial service.

Yours, celebrating a life, and sorry for a death,
N.

Magic:-)

I'm working with a handful of undergraduates this semester, getting them to think about how to incorporate magic tricks into math classes, and I'm just delighted by the joy in their eyes when I show them a trick, and even more delighted that they show even more joy when I show them how to figure out how it's done!
I'm hoping that they are going to be able to spread that joy to children in school!

Yours, thrilled,
N.

Productive meeting

Tuesday afternoon I met with the principal of the school, and more importantly, with the new sixth grade science teacher.  She is full of ideas for projects for students, including a lego competition (this is a precursor to the high school robotics competition), the science olympiad, and is very open to other ideas too.  The meeting felt very productive, which was good (especially because there is a grant which we may need to apply for which is due by the end of the month!)

Yours, somewhat more encouraged,
N.

Poor Boo

Poor Boo: for the second time this term (and we're only a few weeks in) she is sick.  She went to bed complaining that she felt like throwing up, and was still feeling bad this morning.  Since I don't teach on Tuesdays, I stayed home with her: Skibo was very upset: "She hasn't thrown up!!!" he protested.
And five minutes after I got back from cycling him to school, he was proved wrong.  A couple of hours of misery, but now it looks as though she's feeling better.
Yours, hoping it's just a 24 bug again,
N.

Welts

Unfortunately, one of the outcomes of yesterdays trip to the fair was that, going down a very large slide, I managed to inflict friction burns on the insides of both arms, just below the elbow.  So today, I have two large red welts, slowly turning to scabs.  Painful!

Yours, sporting slide injuries,
N.

Serendipity

Today we had planned to go walk in the gardens, and later, to go to the zoo.  But Skibo insisted that he didn't want to go to the zoo, so he and I stayed home, while LOML took Boo to the zoo.
So I thought.  Skibo and I, after a discussion about how he wasn't going to watch tv, play on the computer, touch the ipad, handle the kindle, or go anywhere near the wii or the 3ds, decided that going for a bike ride would be a wonderful thing: the temperature today was lovely, the humidity was low, and so off we set.
There was one hill in particular which had had Skibo beaten for the past two years --- so I suggested, knowing how much stronger he is now, that we try that first: and sure enough, he rode up it with ease!  We continued to ride for 15 or 20 minutes, and headed home.
Reaching home, we discovered that LOML and Boo had been sidetracked: they hadn't gone to the zoo at all: they'd seen a fair, and had stopped, and stayed.   Skibo and I got on the road and joined them a little later.
Lots of fun was had by all!    Our friend Sh had gone with LOML and Boo, so there were three adults and two children --- and Sh was willing to go on some of the rides that LOML and I were hesitant to go on.
All in all, it was a lovely, lovely day, one that I'm tremendously pleased we've let the children experience!

Of course, the next time we pass a fair, we'll *have* to stop......
Yours, still shaken, but happy,
N.

A visit to the library

The four of us went to the library this morning (LOML had a meeting there) and for a little while there was a lovely interlude with Boo, Skibo and me sitting on a sofa, the three of us reading silently.

Yours, tranquilly,
N.

Skibo, reading for pleasure!

Boo has long been reading for pleasure, but Skibo, while extremely proficient at reading, would resist doing so very strongly.  Ten days ago we discussed this with his teacher (she's taught him for over two years now) and she insisted that we needn't worry, and shouldn't push him too hard to read if he didn't want to do so.
But then, just a few days later, what happened?  Skibo suddenly started reading!  Without being prompted to do so.  For pleasure!

Yours, thrilled!
N.

And more sad news

Our neighbour, Jim, across the street, lost his battle with an inoperable tumour yesterday. That marks the fourth death in our community of about 3000 people in the past week.  Four of which I'm aware: there may have been others.
Not a good week.

Yours, raising a glass to departed friends,
N.

Better

Yesterday, late in the day, I came down with chills and aches.  Felt miserable.  Even went to bed before 8:30.  Today, I'm feeling much more human.

Yours, blindsided by the misery, but happy it seems to have lasted just a few hours,
N.

Tai Chi

Back thrumptysevix years ago, when I was in gradual school, I spent seven or eight months taking tai chi classes: I really enjoyed them, and had I not graduated, I'd probably have continued until I knew the entire 108 move form.  Fast forward until about 97 or 98, when LOML and I took classes for a few months at a local fitness center: I didn't enjoy it as much as I did back when: too much focus on the chi aspect, and too little on how to move.
Today, I tried again.  Boo and Skibo's martial arts teacher also teaches tai chi, and I went along to a class this morning.  Lots of fun: a completely different experience, though, as he begins with the 24 move form, so all of my old muscle memories were in the wrong order.  Still, we worked through the first six moves, and I sort-of kind-of got them.  I think that I need to work to make sure I don't overwork my knees, but hopefully I can manage it.

I'm giving it a month at least!

Yours, moving,
N.

Labor day

This year, it seems particularly appropriate to celebrate Labor Day: for the past couple of years, the labor movement in this country has been demonized by the right: in Wisconsin, teachers who gave up pay raises for pensions and other benefits are now being portrayed as greedy bloodsucking leeches, and are being stripped of those other benefits.  They are having their unionizing rights stripped from them too.
And with it's "we did build this" meme, the right is suggesting that anything great done by a business was done by the head of the company.  Obama is right on this: anything great was done with the help of infrastructure: roads, internet, post office, utilities, and every one of those did what they did with the help of their workforce.
But over the past two years, things have been paradise in corporate america: record profits, ridiculously low taxes.  All the while, working stiffs have seen jobs cut, pay curtailed, rights stripped, and workers demonized.
So I say, enough!  Here's to the great mass of workers!  

Yours, in unity,
N.

The annual labor day post

Every year, around now, I decide to post about Labor Day.  How here in the US it often means a day to labour.  Especially where I work.

Oh well, a few more hours, and I'll be

Yours, hiho, hiho, it's off to work I go,
N.

A new month

And a beautiful full moon yesterday, the second of the month, of course.  Blue moons are nothing like as rare as people think: this occurs every two or three years on average.  Heuristically, for any given month, the first full moon is equally likely to be on any one of the first 29 or 30 days, so we'd expect blue moons about every 30 months.  It's complicated slightly by the shorter and longer lengths of various months, but it's pretty easy to compute.
An older definition of a blue moon,apparently, was the fourth full moon in a season.  Watch for the next time this happens with the full moon on September 19th 2013!

Yours, rarely,
N.

Sad to lose a friend in town

One of our friends died two nights ago: she was getting on, and had been in very ill -- and declining -- health for a while, but it is sad to see her go.

Yours, saddened,
N.

Clint Eastwood, Republican Hero

7 children, 5 wives.  He could have been a Mormon.

Yours, conventionally incredulous to the very end,

N.

Meeting with teachers, and hearing from the principal

This morning the principal called, with some interesting ideas put forth by his new sixth grade science teacher:  participating in some national science events, and he wanted my take on it.  It felt like he was actually asking from my input, and was a much more pleasant interaction than previous ones.
Then this evening we went out to dinner with Skibo's teacher, and her husband, the fifth grade teacher and Skibo's wrestling coach: a really really pleasant evening, lots of interesting conversations about the school, kids, curriculum, and life in general!

Yours, calming down,
N.

Meeting with the superintendent

We met with the superintendent today: trying not to be confrontational, but wanting to let her know how we feel about the situation with the school at the moment.  She was reassuring on many issues, and promised to get the principal to slow things down and consult more.  She's clearly a pol, though, and it did feel a little bit like we were being played.

Oh well, we'll stay alert and aware, and assess things as and when they change.  For now, it looks like the garden is going well, at least, and the hang-tag issue may be addressed.

Yours, squeaking like a wheel,

N.

The garden

On Saturday morning a couple of dozen of us: parents, teachers, students, alumni of the school, gathered in the garden, weeding, pulling up beds, mulching, planting, and the garden, which admittedly was a little overgrown, is now looking in much better shape.  Some of us stayed for a couple of hours, others were there from 8am until late in the afternoon.
To everyone who came out, we want to say a huge Thank You!!!

Yours, in gratitude for all the hard work at short notice,
N.

And in mathematics, a loss as huge

Here's hoping that Bill Thurston gains access to the book.

Yours, doubly sad,
N.

One big death for a man

One giant loss for mankind.

Haunt the stars, Neil Armstrong.

Yours, sadly,
N.

Progress

LOML met with the principal yesterday, and he seems to be backing down on the garden: so this morning we're heading over to the school for a work day.  Lots of weeding in our future.  At least on this issue he's showing signs of being reasonable.  I'm still very concerned about him, but at least the immediate "we've got to get the kids to another school" feeling has been diminished.
Yours, still concerned about the principal of the thing,
N.

Poor Boo

And tired me.  Boo got up at 3am and came into our room, ready to vomit.  Since LOML doesn't respond well in this circumstance (that is, immediately needs to vomit in sympathy), I was up for the rest of the night, trying my best to comfort my little girl as she threw up every seven or eight minutes.  I'm not entirely sure how well I will get through the rest of the day, though.  At least Boo seemed to have stopped throwing up by the time I left for work.

Yours, exhausted,
N.

A letter, in progress

I'm so angry right now that I need to compose this letter in public before I send it.  Or in semi-private, except for those of you who know me.

Dear Superintendent of our school district,
I am writing to you to let you know what you have wrought on our Elementary School with your choice of principal.  In three days of school you have taken us from being super-engaged parents, willing to come into the classroom and teach origami, to shelve library books, to build a garden and help teachers build hands-on science lessons, to organize amazing science events, and to try to help the school, the teachers and the students in every possible way --- you've taken us from that --- to being disgusted with the decisions being made by the principal, and with the manner in which the decisions are being made, discussed and carried out.

It began with the first day that the principal was in the school, before he even took over.  He decided that he would eliminate casual Friday dress for the teachers --- on the grounds that one day they might have to stand in front of a TV camera for some reason.  At the time I thought that he was just a poppycock-peacock, that his cufflinks for show were way too much, that he was attempting to win a battle where whether he won or lost the battle he'd lose the teachers' hearts.  And my heart felt sad.
That same day, he he announced the end of the "Words of Wisdom" moment before school starts: apparently those three minutes a day can be better used.  I wasn't too bothered by that, but Boo was intensely upset.  She even wrote an email to him about it expressing her dismay.  I'm in agreement with Boo on this issue, since she's upset --- it would be easy to find another three minutes in the day by cutting the end-of-day recess by three minutes.  As much as the words of wisdom were pablum, they were good thoughts, and the children liked them.

Third, in an effort to supposedly make the school safer, the new principal decided that when picking up children, parents had to have a hang-tag with their kids names on.  A bright yellow hang-tag, made of cheap cardboard.  With some extra words on.  This will, apparently, keep unauthorized individuals from picking children up.  But it would be a trivial manner to scan the card, print off a few copies, write some kids names on, and play the pied piper of Hamelin.  And when we cycle to school to pick up the kids, we have to take a near-letter-sized sheet of card with us to show who we are.
Now, if I were to write some other child's name on a sheet of card, and take it with me, I'd fail, because the teachers and staff outside would recognize that I wasn't the child's parent.  But here's the thing: this has nothing  to do with the card, and everything to do with the incredibly competent teachers.  They would be the ones stopping it, and I sing their praises to the ceiling.  They basically know every child and every parent, and put them all together.  There may be some need for more security -- I don't feel that it's a big issue in a small school, but I can see an administrator feeling a need for it --- but this is not a solution, this is begging for a lawsuit, it's so misguided.

And then, today, after all the hard work LOML and others have put into the garden at the school, we receive word it's to be pulled up.  No thought to the uses it's been put to: to students going out to plant, to watch seeds grow into shoots, then plants, then fruit: no thought to the study of insects: butterflies, ants, etc: no thought to the kids who run through the gardens at recess smelling the flowers: no, the principal would rather it be grass.  Actually, I suspect he'd rather it be concrete.  As of Monday the raised beds are to go, and then we have a two week moratorium to make a case for the non-raised portions of the garden.

Rarely have I had such little respect for an individual in education.  One person comes to mind, my history teacher from high school., who, 32 years ago, ruined my brother's educational prospects.  I can't think of another educator I can detest as much.  And the school term is only 3 days old.  We're contemplating switching schools.  I hate that, but I can see our beloved school circling the drain so quickly, it's ridiculous.


Yours, having to try extremely hard to keep the expletives deleted,
N.

First class, done

And I'm off to the next in a few minutes.

Yours, second class,
N.

Cycling to school again

The children are back in school again, and the weather being beautiful, we decided to cycle.  It's wonderful to see how much better cyclists they are now than a year ago: much stronger and faster!  And there was very little complaining too:-)

Yours, spinning my wheels,
N.

Snake Charmers

Yours, charmed too,
N.

Still searching

Every year I try to get that perfect shot of a pelican.  This is not it.  That said, I do like this picture.

Yours, not that gullible,
N.

Another semester begins

A couple of days before I teach, but today marks the start of another semester: finalizing syllabi, preparing for early mornings, and generally getting ready for the term to begin.

Yours, in anticipation,
N.

Won't you come into my parlour

Said the spider to the (dragon) fly

Seen at the nature interpretive center near the beach.

Yours, impressed,
N.

Back home

It's been a wonderful week, but it's now over.  A longish drive home, shorter in reality than we expected, made longer by Skibo being in a mood to squabble, and we are back at the house, unpacked, and ready-ish to face the first week of school.

Yours, having enjoyed the week behind, and looking forward to the week ahead,
N.

Last day blues

It's always a little sad when we get to the last day of the beach.  Everyone realizes that we only have a few hours left before we have to pack up the van and head home.
Still, it has been a lovely week, great to reconnect, and reconnect so well with old friends whom we had not seen in so long --- and wonderful to see how the three children immediately fit together again.  We've continued some traditions, and, I hope, started some new ones.  I really hope that the kids will look back in the future and remember how lovely it was to go to the beach each year....

Yours, building the memories, one at a time,
N.

Runs in the family

This morning, we took a side trip, to a local nature interpretive center: we've driven past it many many times over the past few years, and finally decided we wanted to check it out.  It was a delightful place, very well run, and with a fantastic interpreter at the information desk: we spent a good half an hour or more chatting with him about their exhibits and the property.

Boo showed just how much she takes after LOML, showing Skibo several of the exhibits, and demonstrating just how wonderful an historical interpreter she is, at one point getting Skibo to lie down in a small space to demonstrate how cramped slave quarters were.

And then at lunch, we tried a lovely little diner a couple of miles down the road, where they covered the tables with butchers' paper: Skibo took out the crayons they provided, and immediately started writing down division and multiplication problems.  Like Breadbox, like son!

Yours, thrilled in each case,

N.

What's that, you say?

Pictures, or it didn't happen????

Yours, presenting proof positive,
N.

Low country boil

Being that we are here, and that there is seafood around, even if we didn't catch any shrimp yesterday, we did a low country boil today.
The recipe is ridiculously easy, and flexible.  What I did is the following:
Boil three quarts of water, or so.
Throw in several tablespoons of old bay, and a crab boil bag.
Throw in 20 or so small red potatoes.
Cut up a couple of kielbasas or smoked sausages and add them to the boil.
Pour in a couple of bottles of beer.
Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Throw in several ears of corn broken into halves.
Simmer for 5 minutes, turn off the heat, add a couple of pounds of shrimp, and let them cook in the heat until pink.  Strain into a big serving bowl, and serve with crusty bread.

Mmmmm......

Yours, traditionally,
N.

A three hour trip

With the theme from Gilligan's island stuck in my head, we set off at 5:45 this morning to go shrimping and fishing.  A gorgeous morning awaited us, complete with a double sunrise, peaking first through a low band of clouds, and subsequently rising above the band.  

The shrimping here has been off for the past few days, apparently --- and today was no different.  We caught essentially nothing.  To be precise, we caught a shrimp.  And a 90 count shrimp at that!  

So, we moved on from the shrimp grounds to fishing, all of us dropping lines over the side of the boat, mostly  thrilled by catching whiting.  There were some more moments of excitement though: Boo's first catch was a sand shark (which distressed her a little), as was her second.  She finally caught a couple of fish too, though.

Skibo was disappointed not to catch any sharks, but thrilled with catching fish.

For me, the highlight was when the rod bent much further than before: clearly something bigger was on the line.  The boat captain took the rod from me, and passed it out along the side of the boat, and told me to stand on the wooden platform at the stern: I lowered the rod, reeling in as I did, then lifted the rod, lowered and reeled, lifted, over and over, until finally I had pulled up a very large ray.  Very large for me, at least: probably two, perhaps three feet across.  I didn't land it in the boat: the captain unhooked it and released it.

Yours, with my very own fishy story to tell,

N.

A Boo quote

Boo, today, coming in at about noon, scraped up, stung by jellyfish a couple of times:
"Ow, ow!  I think I got stung right here!  This is one of the best days of my life!"

(She'd been boogie-boarding and body surfing all morning)

Yours, thrilled,
N.

While watching the closing ceremonies

Boo, watching the Spice Girls, said "Seriously?  David Beckham is married to one of those?  He could have made a way better choice!"

Yours, in full agreement,
N.

Saturday afternoon drop-in

Following the driving experience, the kids decided they wanted to do the "big drop". one of those amusement park rides where you are strapped to a chair on a big piece of equipment which lifts up fifty feet or so, then drops precipitously, and repeats many times.
Squeals of joy and laughter rang through the air, and when it was over, there were multiple requests to do it again, and so this time we all went on.  Once I'd decided to suppress my fear of heights, it was actually really fun: a great rush of adrenaline as my stomach went out from under me each time!

Yours, thrilled,
N.

Driven to succeed

On the way to the beach this morning, we stopped at a mini-golf plus place: halfway through the round of mini-golf we managed to spy our friends playing the parallel course: after several minutes of frantically waving and shouting their names they finally spotted us back.  Nice to be able to converge en route, rather than meeting at the beach.
Following the golf, we took the kids to the go-kart track, and Boo and Skibo had their first experience behind the wheel.  Both were rather nervous to begin with, but after a lap they both got into the swing of things: Boo's face turned to nothing but smile, while Skibo had a look of intense concentration.

Yours, anticipating relinquishing the wheel in few years,
N.

Beach life

Sun rising over the waves: a beautiful sight!

Yours, beach inspired,

N.

Happy Birthday, Skibo!

Skibo turns eight today!!!  Happy Birthday!!!

Yours,wondering where the decade has gone....
N

Preparing for the trip

Preparing to leave early for the beach: looking forward to catching up with old friends, hanging out in low-key places, eating well, and laughing loudly.

Yours, looking forward to returning refreshed, relaxed, and rested,
N.

Yellow Stripes

Boo and Skibo went to their martial arts class this afternoon --- much to Boo's dismay, and against her adamant protests: and much to their and my surprise, it was a wonderful thing that they did!
While LOML and Skibo and Boo were in Michigan, their entire class had a testing session, allowing them to move up one step in the belt/stripe hierarchy: we knew they were going to miss the testing session, but the trip was important.  Then we realized that the next testing session is the day we are travelling back from the beach, meaning we'd have to wait until September for any chance for them to move up.
But today, their teacher surprised us at the end of the class by announcing that there were a couple of students who had missed the testing session: he called Boo and Skibo up by name to break a board (a ceremonial part of the testing), then conferred stripes on them, congratulated them, and shook their hands.
We're very proud of them!

Yours, thrilled,
N.

Flea markets

In England, they have car boot sales.  Here in the southeastern US, they have "flea markets", and occasionally other, stranger terms -- names like "jockey lot".  Flea market at least makes some sense.

Anyway, today I visited a local flea market, and I was absolutely astounded by the magnitude of the thing: there were dozens of aisles of tables, each aisle having several hundred tables.  I'm guessing perhaps a couple of thousand tables, with one table selling vegetables, the next bottles of painkillers, next to a table with old video tapes of 80's movies. There were lots of interesting tables selling strange combinations of things: and then, after walking around 80% of the tables, we happened upon the distressing table.  Very disconcerting.  A table draped with a swastika (four feet square, or so, I'd guess.  Next to it on the table, a portrait photograph, apparently signed, of Hitler.

Yours, very distressed,
N.

Swimming, and martial arts, and cooking, oh my!

Today felt nicely busy: the kids went swimming in the morning, with the unexpected pleasure of a thorough downpour during their swimming team practice: we then took them to school to register them (seriously, I'm expected to remember the address and phone number of their doctor?), and a couple of hours later it was off to martial arts.
At the same time, I'm getting requests for extra calls on my time for the semester, and am feeling very reticent about accepting them.  I know  that I am inclined to accept them, and that they'll be fun, but I am already so very well committed already....

Yours, wanting to learn how to say "no",
N.

I've finished a book!

Not writing, unfortunately, but reading.  As I have probably whined about before, I've found it very hard to read books for pleasure for the past five or more years.  My friend F, however, sent me a copy of American Terroir, by Rowan Jacobsen, and though it took me a few weeks (and two copies!) I've finally finished it.
A wonderful lyrical, soaring book about food.  I recommend it very highly.

Yours, well read, at least temporarily,
N.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Many many happy returns of the day, Dad!

Yours, from a grateful child,

N.

Staying up late

There are a few occasions when it is worth staying up late.  I remember moon landings, launches, and other NASA highlights from when I was young.
These days, NASA is rather more hobbled it seems, at least for the near future, except when it comes to Mars landings.  I'm going to try to stay up another 90 minutes for the landing of Curiousity.  Technologically speaking, it should be amazing -- I'm hoping that given the way they plan to make it land they will have video of it from above.  And given everything that could go wrong, I'm crossing fingers and toes and eyes and legs.  Even though I know that doesn't make any difference!

Yours, on tenterhooks,
N.

In the mood for

I'm in the mood for Fettuccine Alfredo this evening, garlicky, with shrimp, and lots of salt and pepper.  Not the healthiest of options, but I'm giving in to temptation.....

Yours, looking forward to it,
N.

Origami conference

I've just attended my first origami conference.  Unfortunately, not in person --- Origami Heaven, a two-day conference in Long Island is streaming some of their conference live: there are still some bugs with the technology: especially crackly audio and jumpy video, but it's amazing how easy it is to do something like this now!

Yours, virtually participating,

N.

Happy Birthday LOML

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear LOML,
Happy birthday to you!

Yours, as always,
N.

Finals

A long five weeks is coming to an end: we're spending the day getting students to present solutions to final exam problems on the board.  By and large they've done a good job, but I think that by the time 3pm rolls round we're all going to be exhausted!

Yours, in picky mode,
N.

Bazinga!

I've been watching The Big Bang Theory for the past few months (I first watched some episodes on trans-oceanic flights last fall), and Boo has clearly taken note of this.  In fact, when she decided she had to bring me a gift back from Michigan, she insisted that it be a t-shirt. A bright red t-shirt.  A bright red t-shirt with Sheldon's face on it.  A bright red t-shirt with Sheldon's face on it, and underneath his face, the word BAZINGA!

Yes, I'm wearing it today.

Yours, making people smile,

N.