here we go again... not content to stay put, tomorrow is the beginning of another full week of quality time with my car.
memphis has been fun this time.... i'm finally to a point where i can get along with my dad for more than 5 days, which helps out a lot.
things i did this time i hadn't done in years: putt putt, national ornamental metal museum, mud island riverwalk, went to a bird sale with my dad
places i've eaten this time which i've missed: blue plate cafe, dixie cafe, o'charleys, patrick's, brother juniper's, huey's, the cupboard, sonic
new things i've done this time: saw the new horticulture center at the botanic garden that opens next month. it's actually named after my dad. (he understands it's an honor but, although the rest of the world seems tickled, dad's "embarassed to have something named after [him] before [he's] dead").
people i've seen: the usual wednesday night Bible study crew, alissa, jenny, leslie, and rose... some i'd seen more recently than others, but all were a blast.
end of reminiscing... next memphis trip is at christmas.
what's up in the next 7 days?
friday 5/26: drive from memphis, TN to sikeston, MO, lunch at lambert's cafe with dave, drive from sikeston, MO to manteno, IL
saturday 5/27: hang out with g-ma p.
sunday 5/28: more hanging out with g-ma p.
monday 5/29: drive from manteno, IL to valparaiso, IN, lunch with margie and a few of my old math profs, drive from valparaiso, IN to oak harbor, OH
tuesday 5/30: around and about NW ohio with roommate
wednesday 5/31: lunch with allison, drive from NW ohio to pittsburgh, PA, hopefully get in in time to see my step g-pa and/or go to my cousin rachel's concert(?)/other exciting school happenings that night.
thursday 6/1: NJ bound.
this brings me up to 10 states in the month of may... they're also the 10 most visited states that i go through twice a year anyhow ;-) (NJ, PA, WV, OH, KY, TN, AR, MO, IL, IN)
quality time with my car... that's what i do best. :-) happy weekend all!
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
even better...
a few days ago a local evening news story was a false myspace page for the city mayor... oooh, scandal...
tonight, i can't find it posted online (yet), but the local CBS news station ran a short story in the crime portion of the newscast. apparently a lady left a local TN walmart and went to her car this afternoon. while she was putting her stuff in her car, she felt something lick her toe and assumed it was a dog, so she looked down under her car to see what it was... apparently there was a man lying there and *he* was responsible for the licking... she yelled "what the **** do you think you're doing?", and he ran off, and hasn't been caught/identified yet.
a few weeks ago there was a story on the NYC news of some guy who turned himself in after being the "foot stalker" on the subway for several months. apparently, he would flirt with women on the subway in some parts of town by messing with their feet and not leaving them alone when they told him to, thus getting him charged with several counts of sexual harassment.
question: what is up with people messing with feet of people they don't know? any theories, or did i just happen to catch two weird news stories in strange proximity to one another?
tonight, i can't find it posted online (yet), but the local CBS news station ran a short story in the crime portion of the newscast. apparently a lady left a local TN walmart and went to her car this afternoon. while she was putting her stuff in her car, she felt something lick her toe and assumed it was a dog, so she looked down under her car to see what it was... apparently there was a man lying there and *he* was responsible for the licking... she yelled "what the **** do you think you're doing?", and he ran off, and hasn't been caught/identified yet.
a few weeks ago there was a story on the NYC news of some guy who turned himself in after being the "foot stalker" on the subway for several months. apparently, he would flirt with women on the subway in some parts of town by messing with their feet and not leaving them alone when they told him to, thus getting him charged with several counts of sexual harassment.
question: what is up with people messing with feet of people they don't know? any theories, or did i just happen to catch two weird news stories in strange proximity to one another?
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
hodge-podge
* there are so many things to see in memphis that i haven't done in years but make for a great afternoon
e.g. 1: yesterday, brother and his best friend and me spent the afternoon at putt putt. we were by far the tallest people around, but (1) the mini golf bit of the day is still fun as ever... and (2) i LOVE arcades. i beat brother 7-2 and 7-4 in air hockey, we won enough tickets to get each of the 3 of us a new paddleball game, and i made friends with a game that's basically dance dance revolution, only you're playing a drum set instead of dancing... it was a quality afternoon.
e.g. 2, this afternoon, brother and i spent an hour at the mud island riverwalk i hadn't been there since i was 8, but when i saw a picture of it on the wall of a restaurant i was at a few days ago, i suggested it and brother was game. it's a to-scale model of the mississippi river for its whole length located on an island in the river... you can wade, etc. at your own risk... it's a bit of fun.
* i like making new friends and reconnecting with old ones. had a good lunch with a HS friend i hadn't talked to in 6-7 years last week... am having lunch with a grade school friend i haven't seen in a couple years on thursday... yesterday was quality time too. rose, a 70 year old lady from my memphis church, stopped me on the way out of sunday morning's service and invited me out for lunch for yesterday.... we had a fabulous hour and a half of chatting. rose is absolutely amazing. she didn't go to college when she was younger because it wasn't the thing young ladies did, and she couldn't afford it, but she always wished she could have, so at age 42, she began college, and graduated with her bachelors and high honors at age 50... she then went right on to her masters. besides having the pluck to go through all that she's involved in a million and one other things, and generally has a handful of people who she informally mentors and does stuff for... she's amazing. and i'd not just sat down and talked with her outside of at church events ever before, so it was really nice to connect and just chat, especially with someone older who's supportive of what i'm doing with my life (my grandma isn't so much). it's special to me to chat with someone who not only cares and has a lot of life experience to share, but also understands what i'm up to and why and is encouraging about it. end of tangent.
* i also made another new e-friend this week. my grandpa was the oldest of 20 some cousins, and one of the youngest ones has written a family newsletter for all descendents of my great-great-grandparents for years now. my mom gets the newsletter but i don't. when i came across the most recent edition earlier this week, i emailed kristin (the author = my grandpa's now-65 year old cousin)... turns out she loves typing as much as i do if not more, so she's become my new e-penpal, with 10k emails going each way every few days. how much fun is that?
* southern food is soooo goood... after this trip i'm going to have to get back to some diet, but while i'm here, how can i say no to baked sweet potatoes and corn pudding and gallons of sweet tea? yay memphis.
* funny how "going home" makes me realize how much i don't really have a "home" anymore. NJ is in some sense of the word anymore, but in a few years it won't be so it's not quite the same. there's not much permanence to my life these days and while most of the time i enjoy that, it's still a little strange when i think about it too hard. makes me wonder if/when/where i'll find someplace to "settle down" and begin a more "permanent" existence... who knows...
* done rambling. the end. :-p
e.g. 1: yesterday, brother and his best friend and me spent the afternoon at putt putt. we were by far the tallest people around, but (1) the mini golf bit of the day is still fun as ever... and (2) i LOVE arcades. i beat brother 7-2 and 7-4 in air hockey, we won enough tickets to get each of the 3 of us a new paddleball game, and i made friends with a game that's basically dance dance revolution, only you're playing a drum set instead of dancing... it was a quality afternoon.
e.g. 2, this afternoon, brother and i spent an hour at the mud island riverwalk i hadn't been there since i was 8, but when i saw a picture of it on the wall of a restaurant i was at a few days ago, i suggested it and brother was game. it's a to-scale model of the mississippi river for its whole length located on an island in the river... you can wade, etc. at your own risk... it's a bit of fun.
* i like making new friends and reconnecting with old ones. had a good lunch with a HS friend i hadn't talked to in 6-7 years last week... am having lunch with a grade school friend i haven't seen in a couple years on thursday... yesterday was quality time too. rose, a 70 year old lady from my memphis church, stopped me on the way out of sunday morning's service and invited me out for lunch for yesterday.... we had a fabulous hour and a half of chatting. rose is absolutely amazing. she didn't go to college when she was younger because it wasn't the thing young ladies did, and she couldn't afford it, but she always wished she could have, so at age 42, she began college, and graduated with her bachelors and high honors at age 50... she then went right on to her masters. besides having the pluck to go through all that she's involved in a million and one other things, and generally has a handful of people who she informally mentors and does stuff for... she's amazing. and i'd not just sat down and talked with her outside of at church events ever before, so it was really nice to connect and just chat, especially with someone older who's supportive of what i'm doing with my life (my grandma isn't so much). it's special to me to chat with someone who not only cares and has a lot of life experience to share, but also understands what i'm up to and why and is encouraging about it. end of tangent.
* i also made another new e-friend this week. my grandpa was the oldest of 20 some cousins, and one of the youngest ones has written a family newsletter for all descendents of my great-great-grandparents for years now. my mom gets the newsletter but i don't. when i came across the most recent edition earlier this week, i emailed kristin (the author = my grandpa's now-65 year old cousin)... turns out she loves typing as much as i do if not more, so she's become my new e-penpal, with 10k emails going each way every few days. how much fun is that?
* southern food is soooo goood... after this trip i'm going to have to get back to some diet, but while i'm here, how can i say no to baked sweet potatoes and corn pudding and gallons of sweet tea? yay memphis.
* funny how "going home" makes me realize how much i don't really have a "home" anymore. NJ is in some sense of the word anymore, but in a few years it won't be so it's not quite the same. there's not much permanence to my life these days and while most of the time i enjoy that, it's still a little strange when i think about it too hard. makes me wonder if/when/where i'll find someplace to "settle down" and begin a more "permanent" existence... who knows...
* done rambling. the end. :-p
Friday, May 19, 2006
Thursday, May 18, 2006
headline news?
this was the top story on the memphis news tonight:
memphis mayor on myspace?
... as if it's totally a scandal that people make up pages about other people, especially celebrities.
could *not* believe with all the drug busts and stuff they told about later, that *this* is what makes the top spot.
go figure...
there's a fake one for the mayor of NYC too which is slightly more tastefully done, but the day i see that on the 11pm NY network news is... well, safely NEVER going to happen.
oi...
yay memphis? :P
memphis mayor on myspace?
... as if it's totally a scandal that people make up pages about other people, especially celebrities.
could *not* believe with all the drug busts and stuff they told about later, that *this* is what makes the top spot.
go figure...
there's a fake one for the mayor of NYC too which is slightly more tastefully done, but the day i see that on the 11pm NY network news is... well, safely NEVER going to happen.
oi...
yay memphis? :P
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
go lara! :)
no getting sick and no fainting already makes today a successful day...
add to that finishing and submitting a 7 page report on ways to make maple labs in calc 3 at rutgers better, finally getting AT&T to set a date for an REU field trip this summer, planning catering for 3 weeks of REU fun, getting 100 pages of reading done in my new book (letters to a young mathematician by ian stewart... it's pretty darn good), and it's even better.
best of all... went to the Memphis college Bible study i've been going to for years, and hadn't been to since last summer. daniel, a guy i went to K-8 with, is getting married next month, so tonight's meeting was more a wedding shower for them... that was nice in and of itself, but i couldn't believe i actually won one of the shower games.
they laid out 10 grocery store items and had us guess prices... whoever had the closest to the right total won... my total? $23.40. actual answer? $23.27. when asked how i got so close, i commented "easy: new jersey prices minus $1 per item." that got a laugh.
out of the deal i got a new devotion book... not bad for a day, right?
lunch plans that got cancelled on account of fainting yesterday are back on for tomorrow. i'm excited.
back to new book. :) night y'all!
add to that finishing and submitting a 7 page report on ways to make maple labs in calc 3 at rutgers better, finally getting AT&T to set a date for an REU field trip this summer, planning catering for 3 weeks of REU fun, getting 100 pages of reading done in my new book (letters to a young mathematician by ian stewart... it's pretty darn good), and it's even better.
best of all... went to the Memphis college Bible study i've been going to for years, and hadn't been to since last summer. daniel, a guy i went to K-8 with, is getting married next month, so tonight's meeting was more a wedding shower for them... that was nice in and of itself, but i couldn't believe i actually won one of the shower games.
they laid out 10 grocery store items and had us guess prices... whoever had the closest to the right total won... my total? $23.40. actual answer? $23.27. when asked how i got so close, i commented "easy: new jersey prices minus $1 per item." that got a laugh.
out of the deal i got a new devotion book... not bad for a day, right?
lunch plans that got cancelled on account of fainting yesterday are back on for tomorrow. i'm excited.
back to new book. :) night y'all!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
eh... a quote
apparently my body is so used to being asked to do 50 things at once that it just CAN'T HANDLE relaxing or slowing down for a bit.
this morning? 1.5 hours before i was supposed to meet a friend for lunch, i managed to pass out while getting ready... this meant i spent a day lying alternately in bed and in the recliner downstairs and had to postpone plans.
really, i can handle being insanely busy with stuff i'm supposed to do... i can handle being busy with things i want to do instead of what i *should* be doing... i have a really hard time sitting still and doing absolutely nothing.... once the lightheadedness and overall yucky feeling went away, i spent the afternoon starting in on new book. (letters to a young mathematician) this quote i thought rang especially true:
"Some careers seem to accumulate people who might easily have preferred to do something else. You will run into people who tell you that they practice law as a day job but they are really novelists or playwrights or jazz trombonists. Other people can't settle on something, or they see their careers in more purely practical temrs, and they drift into human resources management or advertising sales. Which is not to say that these people are not dedicated or fulfilled in what they do, but few of them consider their work a calling. No one drifts into being a mathematician. On the contrary, it's a pursuit from which even the talented are too easily turned away."
this is exactly a topic that has bothered me a bit this semester... i claim to like being around people who are "passionate" about what they do... not necessarily passionate about their job (because certainly for some people a job is just that and nothing more), but passionate about *something* that they do. because there are definitely people out there who i've encounted who i can't find a single thing that they're passionate about... these people completely baffle me and i don't know how to respond to them. seeing it explicitly in print that math people are passionate about their job and that *is* different from how many other people operate in the context of a much larger essay was affirming. i like knowing my connundrums aren't just in my head.
now to sleep and hope for a less health-wise traumatic day tomorrow.
night y'all.
this morning? 1.5 hours before i was supposed to meet a friend for lunch, i managed to pass out while getting ready... this meant i spent a day lying alternately in bed and in the recliner downstairs and had to postpone plans.
really, i can handle being insanely busy with stuff i'm supposed to do... i can handle being busy with things i want to do instead of what i *should* be doing... i have a really hard time sitting still and doing absolutely nothing.... once the lightheadedness and overall yucky feeling went away, i spent the afternoon starting in on new book. (letters to a young mathematician) this quote i thought rang especially true:
"Some careers seem to accumulate people who might easily have preferred to do something else. You will run into people who tell you that they practice law as a day job but they are really novelists or playwrights or jazz trombonists. Other people can't settle on something, or they see their careers in more purely practical temrs, and they drift into human resources management or advertising sales. Which is not to say that these people are not dedicated or fulfilled in what they do, but few of them consider their work a calling. No one drifts into being a mathematician. On the contrary, it's a pursuit from which even the talented are too easily turned away."
this is exactly a topic that has bothered me a bit this semester... i claim to like being around people who are "passionate" about what they do... not necessarily passionate about their job (because certainly for some people a job is just that and nothing more), but passionate about *something* that they do. because there are definitely people out there who i've encounted who i can't find a single thing that they're passionate about... these people completely baffle me and i don't know how to respond to them. seeing it explicitly in print that math people are passionate about their job and that *is* different from how many other people operate in the context of a much larger essay was affirming. i like knowing my connundrums aren't just in my head.
now to sleep and hope for a less health-wise traumatic day tomorrow.
night y'all.
Monday, May 15, 2006
misc.
new book: letters to a young mathematician that i found at David Kidd this afternoon. it was published just over 2 weeks ago and i'm greatly looking forward to it.
chest muscles still hurt a bit... mom talked to my old 7th grade teacher who is also the head gym person at my grade school (where she teaches). apparently he had something similar to what i had on friday too... and he said he had never had such a hard vomit reflex in his life either (lovely topic for discussion, right?), so summary: he affirmed that it's definitely possible to pull muscles from that... what sucks is that if i move, there's not a way to just stablize and not move the part of me that hurts at all... at least it's slowly getting better... i'm just ready to be done with it.
got a new driver's license. it looks dumb. i was smiling, and the lady took it right after i stopped smiling, after i thought she had already taken it. i don't look happy. at least i'm good again til 2011. :P
lunch tomorrow with a long-lost HS friend i haven't talked to in years... should be fun. :)
the end.
chest muscles still hurt a bit... mom talked to my old 7th grade teacher who is also the head gym person at my grade school (where she teaches). apparently he had something similar to what i had on friday too... and he said he had never had such a hard vomit reflex in his life either (lovely topic for discussion, right?), so summary: he affirmed that it's definitely possible to pull muscles from that... what sucks is that if i move, there's not a way to just stablize and not move the part of me that hurts at all... at least it's slowly getting better... i'm just ready to be done with it.
got a new driver's license. it looks dumb. i was smiling, and the lady took it right after i stopped smiling, after i thought she had already taken it. i don't look happy. at least i'm good again til 2011. :P
lunch tomorrow with a long-lost HS friend i haven't talked to in years... should be fun. :)
the end.
a weekend of nonstop "fun"
how's this for fun...
friday, after i got done rambling about what a great day i had, i ended up with stomach flu or something of that sort... i spent friday night feeling ill...
moreover, in the process of being violently ill on friday, i somehow managed to pull a muscle in the stomach area, so for the past few days it's felt like i have a stomach ache when i move, but really everything else is fine. it wasn't until last night that my brilliant mother deduced what the problem was, and based on how i feel today, i think she's right... how many people have the talent to pull that off? (both managing to pull a muscle near my stomach and being able to figure out that's the problem)
saturday mom wanted to go clothes shopping and brought me along for moral support. tons of fun. she got a bathing suit for her 8th grade class trip to gatlinburg this week, and i got one for the hot springs in reykjavik next month.
yesterday after church, brother paid for dinner for us all and then i spent much time curled up in bed again from being sore... on the upside, i've made it through 2 of the 3 discs in scrubs season 3. unlike parts of seasons 1 and 2, i actually remember seeing 90% of season 3 while it was on TV live... i knew i liked it a LOT, but i had forgotten what an excellent streak they get on starting halfway through with "my catalyst"... that one, followed by "my porcelain god", "my screw up", "my tormented mentor", and "my butterfly" make for a streak of 5 of my all time favorite scrubs episodes... brilliant.
today? brother's off work... this means that we're doing lunch (most likely dixie cafe), and then he's coming with me for the fun of renewing my drivers license. the epitome of a fun day, right? one of these days i really *should* get around to finishing up planning for the REU and some of my own math... we'll see when that actually happens.
be parties one and all?
friday, after i got done rambling about what a great day i had, i ended up with stomach flu or something of that sort... i spent friday night feeling ill...
moreover, in the process of being violently ill on friday, i somehow managed to pull a muscle in the stomach area, so for the past few days it's felt like i have a stomach ache when i move, but really everything else is fine. it wasn't until last night that my brilliant mother deduced what the problem was, and based on how i feel today, i think she's right... how many people have the talent to pull that off? (both managing to pull a muscle near my stomach and being able to figure out that's the problem)
saturday mom wanted to go clothes shopping and brought me along for moral support. tons of fun. she got a bathing suit for her 8th grade class trip to gatlinburg this week, and i got one for the hot springs in reykjavik next month.
yesterday after church, brother paid for dinner for us all and then i spent much time curled up in bed again from being sore... on the upside, i've made it through 2 of the 3 discs in scrubs season 3. unlike parts of seasons 1 and 2, i actually remember seeing 90% of season 3 while it was on TV live... i knew i liked it a LOT, but i had forgotten what an excellent streak they get on starting halfway through with "my catalyst"... that one, followed by "my porcelain god", "my screw up", "my tormented mentor", and "my butterfly" make for a streak of 5 of my all time favorite scrubs episodes... brilliant.
today? brother's off work... this means that we're doing lunch (most likely dixie cafe), and then he's coming with me for the fun of renewing my drivers license. the epitome of a fun day, right? one of these days i really *should* get around to finishing up planning for the REU and some of my own math... we'll see when that actually happens.
be parties one and all?
Friday, May 12, 2006
happy friday!
it's been a relatively eventful day in lara terms...
jenny (one of two HS friends i still keep in touch with) is in town this weekend since her sister graduates from college in arkansas tomorrow. today though, we:
* had breakfast at brother juniper's (a small breakfast cafe in midtown memphis that's been voted "best breakfast in the city" for years and years... it was great)
* visited the national ornamental metal museum, which was quite fun. the rest of my family has all been there at various times in the past but not me. it's a cute little place, and usually you can see blacksmiths hard at work, etc. and they always having rotating displays of cool metalwork... the current exhibit is "from mineral to metal" so for each metalwork piece they had on display, they had raw copper, titanium, etc. on display next to it. some of the pieces are really elaborate and cool... the museum grounds is high on a bluff right over the mississippi river south of downtown and used to be an old military hospital complex, so it's interesting to wander about outdoors too.... lots of fun.
* after the metal museum we were hungry again so we parked on beale street, which is currently packed thanks to memphis in may type tourists, etc.... after walking a bit, we finally settled on huey's... i'd never been to the downtown one before, so that was fun... as they have "the best burgers in memphis", we decided we were creating our own "best of" tour for the day...
now, no more jenny... she and her folks are headed west, and my mom wants me to come visit her classroom before she takes her 8th graders on their class trip to gatlinburg next week... so like a good kid, i'll show up and say hi to everyone and let her show off... i was *only* a student there for 9 years, an employee for 4 years, and been back there several times a year ever since... :P
before i turn this off and head out to the school, here's one more reason to love memphis:
i DON'T feel like an out of place ogre of a person. in NJ, yes, there's diversity, but most of the white girls i come into contact with are quite a bit shorter than me, have much smaller frames, and aspire to dress quite a bit differently than me. i'm fine how i am, but i definitely am not "from around there"... here, being tall and a little rounder doesn't make me stick out, it's more the status quo. being me and being here, i don't feel too tall or too round or too anything, i feel like i actually more or less fit in here, which is rare and nice! maybe it's local prejudice but i feel like people are friendlier here too. unlike the innate prejudice *against* the South i find frequently when elsewhere, i don't find prejudice against other regions as much here. people are fine with just being without worrying about who's better or who's worse, and i like that.
done rambling... time to go make faces at a room full of 8th graders who i last worked with when they were in kindergarten... this should be entertaining.
later dudes!
jenny (one of two HS friends i still keep in touch with) is in town this weekend since her sister graduates from college in arkansas tomorrow. today though, we:
* had breakfast at brother juniper's (a small breakfast cafe in midtown memphis that's been voted "best breakfast in the city" for years and years... it was great)
* visited the national ornamental metal museum, which was quite fun. the rest of my family has all been there at various times in the past but not me. it's a cute little place, and usually you can see blacksmiths hard at work, etc. and they always having rotating displays of cool metalwork... the current exhibit is "from mineral to metal" so for each metalwork piece they had on display, they had raw copper, titanium, etc. on display next to it. some of the pieces are really elaborate and cool... the museum grounds is high on a bluff right over the mississippi river south of downtown and used to be an old military hospital complex, so it's interesting to wander about outdoors too.... lots of fun.
* after the metal museum we were hungry again so we parked on beale street, which is currently packed thanks to memphis in may type tourists, etc.... after walking a bit, we finally settled on huey's... i'd never been to the downtown one before, so that was fun... as they have "the best burgers in memphis", we decided we were creating our own "best of" tour for the day...
now, no more jenny... she and her folks are headed west, and my mom wants me to come visit her classroom before she takes her 8th graders on their class trip to gatlinburg next week... so like a good kid, i'll show up and say hi to everyone and let her show off... i was *only* a student there for 9 years, an employee for 4 years, and been back there several times a year ever since... :P
before i turn this off and head out to the school, here's one more reason to love memphis:
i DON'T feel like an out of place ogre of a person. in NJ, yes, there's diversity, but most of the white girls i come into contact with are quite a bit shorter than me, have much smaller frames, and aspire to dress quite a bit differently than me. i'm fine how i am, but i definitely am not "from around there"... here, being tall and a little rounder doesn't make me stick out, it's more the status quo. being me and being here, i don't feel too tall or too round or too anything, i feel like i actually more or less fit in here, which is rare and nice! maybe it's local prejudice but i feel like people are friendlier here too. unlike the innate prejudice *against* the South i find frequently when elsewhere, i don't find prejudice against other regions as much here. people are fine with just being without worrying about who's better or who's worse, and i like that.
done rambling... time to go make faces at a room full of 8th graders who i last worked with when they were in kindergarten... this should be entertaining.
later dudes!
Thursday, May 11, 2006
crunching numbers...
while balancing my checkbook from the drive south, i thought this was interesting:
many people i know always ask "why on earth do you *drive* the 1100ish miles from NJ to TN every year instead of flying... wouldn't flying be simpler and cheaper?"
the usual suspect reasons are:
* i love driving, it's my stress relief.
* if i drive, i can visit family and friends along the way (e.g. i can visit my grandma in chicago, old profs in indiana, my aunt in pittsburgh, and many other friends along the way that i wouldn't see if i flew instead.
* my family lives on the fringe of town in a neighborhood with no sidewalks or safe place to walk... when they're all gone at work all day most days, if i didn't have a car, i'd be stuck at home the whole time instead of able to run errands, go to the library, etc., etc., etc... there's only so long i can deal with hyper parrots singing up a storm before i need a break.
but here's the deal sealer...
despite all my arguments which totally work for me (the 2nd out of the 3 above is the one that gets most people to say "ok, i guess that makes sense").... most people still comment "isn't it cheaper to fly, especially with all these rising gas prices?
the answer is actually no.
cost of gas for me to get from NJ to TN in the past two days: $126.48 (and i still have over half a tank left in the car)
double that and you get to $252.96
on the other hand, looking at expedia for round trip tickets between newark and memphis a month in advance, they start at $324 round trip and go up from there. this does not include taxes or the round trip train ticket from the train station near my house to the airport.
summary: driving STILL saves me $100ish dollars for the round trip, plus i have mobility while i'm home, and the ability to see people along the way.
not bad, just thought that was interesting.
the end.
many people i know always ask "why on earth do you *drive* the 1100ish miles from NJ to TN every year instead of flying... wouldn't flying be simpler and cheaper?"
the usual suspect reasons are:
* i love driving, it's my stress relief.
* if i drive, i can visit family and friends along the way (e.g. i can visit my grandma in chicago, old profs in indiana, my aunt in pittsburgh, and many other friends along the way that i wouldn't see if i flew instead.
* my family lives on the fringe of town in a neighborhood with no sidewalks or safe place to walk... when they're all gone at work all day most days, if i didn't have a car, i'd be stuck at home the whole time instead of able to run errands, go to the library, etc., etc., etc... there's only so long i can deal with hyper parrots singing up a storm before i need a break.
but here's the deal sealer...
despite all my arguments which totally work for me (the 2nd out of the 3 above is the one that gets most people to say "ok, i guess that makes sense").... most people still comment "isn't it cheaper to fly, especially with all these rising gas prices?
the answer is actually no.
cost of gas for me to get from NJ to TN in the past two days: $126.48 (and i still have over half a tank left in the car)
double that and you get to $252.96
on the other hand, looking at expedia for round trip tickets between newark and memphis a month in advance, they start at $324 round trip and go up from there. this does not include taxes or the round trip train ticket from the train station near my house to the airport.
summary: driving STILL saves me $100ish dollars for the round trip, plus i have mobility while i'm home, and the ability to see people along the way.
not bad, just thought that was interesting.
the end.
back in memphis...
some things are always the same -- dinner late at night at perkins with my family and a waitress who has known us all by name for the past 10 years... tons of rain makes the front yard a swamp, etc. etc. etc.
but some things are subtly different
* there's a new dog (who i've met) and a new llama (who i haven't met yet)
* alice, our oldest cat went from being quite a tubby cat (we used to call her the watermelon kitty because she looked like she had swallowed one whole), and since january she's lost all her weight to be literally skin and bones... you can see her ribs even though she eats well... i didn't recognize her and she's looked identical for 10 years... she goes to the vet on friday
who knows what else has changed... the cat thing worried me a bit...
mostly just an excuse to post and say "i'm here"...
tomorrow: day one of entertaining myself while everyone else is out at work... TONS of fun. :P
first, to start watching scrubs season 3 on dvd (it came out yesterday and i bought my copy at a mall in pittsburgh last night :) ) until i crash.
night y'all! be parties.
but some things are subtly different
* there's a new dog (who i've met) and a new llama (who i haven't met yet)
* alice, our oldest cat went from being quite a tubby cat (we used to call her the watermelon kitty because she looked like she had swallowed one whole), and since january she's lost all her weight to be literally skin and bones... you can see her ribs even though she eats well... i didn't recognize her and she's looked identical for 10 years... she goes to the vet on friday
who knows what else has changed... the cat thing worried me a bit...
mostly just an excuse to post and say "i'm here"...
tomorrow: day one of entertaining myself while everyone else is out at work... TONS of fun. :P
first, to start watching scrubs season 3 on dvd (it came out yesterday and i bought my copy at a mall in pittsburgh last night :) ) until i crash.
night y'all! be parties.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
more things that make me smile
(1) huge barbeque dinner with ben; it wasn't southern barbeque, but it was still respectably good.
(2) new eclectic music playlist for the car this week:
1. i'm gonna be (500 miles) ~ the proclaimers
2. the entertainer ~ billy joel
3. song of the south ~ alabama
4. working days ~ echelon
5. the modern age ~ the strokes
6. i still haven't found what i'm looking for ~ U2
7. stuck in a moment you can't get out of ~ U2
8. bittersweet symphony ~ the verve
9. closing time ~ semisonic
10. south side ~ moby & gwen stefani
11. where the streets have no name ~ pet shop boys
12. since i met you ~ dc talk
13. tubthumping ~ chumbawamba
14. mmmbop ~ hanson
15. when i think about angels ~ jamie oneal
16. the light ~ michelle tumes
17. walking in memphis ~ marc cohn
18. go light your world ~ chris rice
(3) emails like this:
(just as with last semester, i'm going through a bit of "student withdrawal". during finals week it's exhausting and i'm about ready for things to be done, but after spending so much time working with students for several months, to instantly not see/hear from most of them again ever after the final, it's suddenly a very quick change and a little lonely (word choice?)... especially with as much fun as i had with my sections this semester... so getting this tonight while feeling that way, made me smile)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lara,
I kind of rushed out of the exam so i didn't get to say good-bye
I want to thank you for a wonderful semester of recitations. THey helped me so much. Your reviews
were amazing. You put all the information together in such an organized way!!!!! it was
beautiful. You're a great teacher!
I wish you the best in all that you do from here on out.
Again thank you sooo much for your time... and your patience
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i think i'm actually going to miss teaching in the fall even if a semester off is good for my research agenda... who knew blabing calculus at lecture halls full of students could actually feel rewarding?
time to sleep... ben is actually coming to church with me and paul in the morning. born and raised catholic, last weekend going to lutheran church with jessica (his girlfriend of 6+ months, who is also one of my undergrad friends) was his first time in a non-catholic worship service. i told him he's welcome to come with me and paul anytime he's in NJ instead of in DE with jessica, and he decided tomorrow morning is the perfect time to take me up on it... should be fun.
first, though, to sleep!
night.
(2) new eclectic music playlist for the car this week:
1. i'm gonna be (500 miles) ~ the proclaimers
2. the entertainer ~ billy joel
3. song of the south ~ alabama
4. working days ~ echelon
5. the modern age ~ the strokes
6. i still haven't found what i'm looking for ~ U2
7. stuck in a moment you can't get out of ~ U2
8. bittersweet symphony ~ the verve
9. closing time ~ semisonic
10. south side ~ moby & gwen stefani
11. where the streets have no name ~ pet shop boys
12. since i met you ~ dc talk
13. tubthumping ~ chumbawamba
14. mmmbop ~ hanson
15. when i think about angels ~ jamie oneal
16. the light ~ michelle tumes
17. walking in memphis ~ marc cohn
18. go light your world ~ chris rice
(3) emails like this:
(just as with last semester, i'm going through a bit of "student withdrawal". during finals week it's exhausting and i'm about ready for things to be done, but after spending so much time working with students for several months, to instantly not see/hear from most of them again ever after the final, it's suddenly a very quick change and a little lonely (word choice?)... especially with as much fun as i had with my sections this semester... so getting this tonight while feeling that way, made me smile)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lara,
I kind of rushed out of the exam so i didn't get to say good-bye
I want to thank you for a wonderful semester of recitations. THey helped me so much. Your reviews
were amazing. You put all the information together in such an organized way!!!!! it was
beautiful. You're a great teacher!
I wish you the best in all that you do from here on out.
Again thank you sooo much for your time... and your patience
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i think i'm actually going to miss teaching in the fall even if a semester off is good for my research agenda... who knew blabing calculus at lecture halls full of students could actually feel rewarding?
time to sleep... ben is actually coming to church with me and paul in the morning. born and raised catholic, last weekend going to lutheran church with jessica (his girlfriend of 6+ months, who is also one of my undergrad friends) was his first time in a non-catholic worship service. i told him he's welcome to come with me and paul anytime he's in NJ instead of in DE with jessica, and he decided tomorrow morning is the perfect time to take me up on it... should be fun.
first, though, to sleep!
night.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
dude...
someone broke into the math server. if you go visit the main math page, it's black with a strange message in italian on it. we'll see how long it takes them to fix that back...
in other news, yesterday was eight consecutive hours of entertaining students with math and chalk without even a lunch break... i'm TIRED
tomorrow, i gotta be out the door by 7:15 so as to entertain my students for their final. i'm wearing my new "math is hard" shirt for moral support. :P then grading all the live-long day.
this is the weekend to learn french. i made it through 9 pages of a book on hypergraphs while waiting on my oil change earlier today... we'll see how much i get done while my students are testing tomorrow (seriously, the prof told me to bring something to work on... you answer questions while they work but not consecutively for 3 whole hours)
at least there's no problem with falling asleep quickly lately... i'm too exhausted to do anything less.
night y'all.
in other news, yesterday was eight consecutive hours of entertaining students with math and chalk without even a lunch break... i'm TIRED
tomorrow, i gotta be out the door by 7:15 so as to entertain my students for their final. i'm wearing my new "math is hard" shirt for moral support. :P then grading all the live-long day.
this is the weekend to learn french. i made it through 9 pages of a book on hypergraphs while waiting on my oil change earlier today... we'll see how much i get done while my students are testing tomorrow (seriously, the prof told me to bring something to work on... you answer questions while they work but not consecutively for 3 whole hours)
at least there's no problem with falling asleep quickly lately... i'm too exhausted to do anything less.
night y'all.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
getting there...
as of 15 minutes ago, my final project for my one and only graduate class this semester is done.
to do between now and monday?
tomorrow:
* tutor from 10-1
* run a calc 3 review session from 1-4
(that's 6 straight hours of entertaining undergrads with math without a break)
thursday:
* meeting with several of my students who want to talk about calc in addition to the review session
* oil change for my car
friday:
* proctor my students' final from 8-11am
* grade finals until 7 pm or so with the prof. i TA for
besides the above which has specific times, there's also:
* learn to read math in french and pass that exam before i leave town
* accomplish at least *something* more research-wise to show my advisor by monday
* pack
getting there... will be glad when *all* of the above is done!
the end.
happy wednesday?
to do between now and monday?
tomorrow:
* tutor from 10-1
* run a calc 3 review session from 1-4
(that's 6 straight hours of entertaining undergrads with math without a break)
thursday:
* meeting with several of my students who want to talk about calc in addition to the review session
* oil change for my car
friday:
* proctor my students' final from 8-11am
* grade finals until 7 pm or so with the prof. i TA for
besides the above which has specific times, there's also:
* learn to read math in french and pass that exam before i leave town
* accomplish at least *something* more research-wise to show my advisor by monday
* pack
getting there... will be glad when *all* of the above is done!
the end.
happy wednesday?
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
new playlist...
what does *this* say about my mood recently? (only *i* would put U2, hungarian techno, country, and a "song" that's really a spoken graduation address put to background music on the same disc)
1. where the streets have no name - U2
2. hey you, it's me - michael w. smith
3. how do you like me now? - toby keith
4. my next thirty years - tim mcgraw
5. parizsi lany - groovehouse
6. isaac - madonna
7. take me out - franz ferdinand
8. better days - goo goo dolls
9. bad day - daniel powter
10. how to save a life - the fray
11. boston - augustana
12. hallelujah - john cale
13. as long as we're here - kristy starling
14. you raise me up - josh groban
15. all will be well - the gabe dixon band
16. oakey mountain stomp - big city sunrise
17. everybody's free (to wear sunscreen) - baz luhrmann
1. where the streets have no name - U2
2. hey you, it's me - michael w. smith
3. how do you like me now? - toby keith
4. my next thirty years - tim mcgraw
5. parizsi lany - groovehouse
6. isaac - madonna
7. take me out - franz ferdinand
8. better days - goo goo dolls
9. bad day - daniel powter
10. how to save a life - the fray
11. boston - augustana
12. hallelujah - john cale
13. as long as we're here - kristy starling
14. you raise me up - josh groban
15. all will be well - the gabe dixon band
16. oakey mountain stomp - big city sunrise
17. everybody's free (to wear sunscreen) - baz luhrmann
Monday, May 01, 2006
tired
scott: so there was a farmer with two cows and he couldn't tell them apart, so he weighed them and the white cow weighed 2 pounds more than the black cow
me: ok
scott: no, no, no. you're supposed to laugh. it's a funny joke.
me: i don't get it.
scott: really? do i need to explain this to you? (repeats himself with more dramatic pauses between words)
me: (silence)
scott: seriously, dude, it's a cow joke. it's not deep. still nothing?
me: nope, i'm that exhausted.
scott: the cows are freakin different colors. wow, you ARE tired.
me: ok
scott: no, no, no. you're supposed to laugh. it's a funny joke.
me: i don't get it.
scott: really? do i need to explain this to you? (repeats himself with more dramatic pauses between words)
me: (silence)
scott: seriously, dude, it's a cow joke. it's not deep. still nothing?
me: nope, i'm that exhausted.
scott: the cows are freakin different colors. wow, you ARE tired.
i like my advisor...
this is proof yet again that i have an ideal thesis advisor.
i came into our weekly research meeting an hour ago and he asked how things were going with life in general.... he's concerned about student stresslevel around finals week, etc. i said overall things were going well, but i needed to draw a map on the chalkboard of who proved what.
i gave him all the facts of who has what bijection and that i think what i've been working on is kind of implicit in the paper i found yesterday.
z: "so you're saying you may have been scooped by m------ by a year?"
me: "i think so.... and i just found out yesterday"
z: "well then, i think your proof is more explict and you can be very complementary of m------ in your abstract so that you don't get into trouble. it's still worth submitting."
me: "i guess"
z: "yeah, really it's all about marketing, and you have a month to figure out how to market yourself appropriately... besides m------ is a brilliant and wise and very experienced mathematician... to be beaten by him and only be beaten by a year is very impressive"
still moderately irritated, but at least my advisor is good at putting happy and believeable spins on even really frustrating days.
the end.
i came into our weekly research meeting an hour ago and he asked how things were going with life in general.... he's concerned about student stresslevel around finals week, etc. i said overall things were going well, but i needed to draw a map on the chalkboard of who proved what.
i gave him all the facts of who has what bijection and that i think what i've been working on is kind of implicit in the paper i found yesterday.
z: "so you're saying you may have been scooped by m------ by a year?"
me: "i think so.... and i just found out yesterday"
z: "well then, i think your proof is more explict and you can be very complementary of m------ in your abstract so that you don't get into trouble. it's still worth submitting."
me: "i guess"
z: "yeah, really it's all about marketing, and you have a month to figure out how to market yourself appropriately... besides m------ is a brilliant and wise and very experienced mathematician... to be beaten by him and only be beaten by a year is very impressive"
still moderately irritated, but at least my advisor is good at putting happy and believeable spins on even really frustrating days.
the end.
