Weathering the Trip

If you are coming from out of state to the wedding, you might benefit from the following information:

• It is not that cold here, but we do have some low temperatures in the mornings and evenings... nothing long pants and a good sweatshirt, sweater, or hoodie can't handle. Midday temperatures are in the mid 70s. (Lows can be mid/low 40s)
• I'm thinking about having games on Thu night, the 15th. Obviously we can't stay up too late, because we have a big day the next day... but it might be fun. If we have gifts we want to exchange, we can do it at that point.
• I want to know when you are arriving and departing so that I can spread my time out to spend a little with everyone. Please let me know as soon as your travel arrangements are in place. (So I can also help coordinate where you will stay when you get here.)

Love ya,

Mona

PS - Check out Angie Debo's books. Particularly "Geronimo."

The Speed of Life

It is life's cruel irony that doing something dreadful slows time to a stand still and when you really want to enjoy the high times, they speed along so that you can barely catch a breath of the moment your in before it's gone. This is especially true when your to-do list is 8 typed pages long.

I'm sure I will remember this time in life for a long time... despite the details spinning me by so fast that I can barely pin them to the wall.

Evan and I scheduled Thanksgiving dinner tenetively for January 3. That's sadly the soonest we both have time.

I talked to Brit today. She sounded good, cheery. She starts back into school Monday at her old school. She's a little nervous about that. It didn't sound like she had much going there when she attended before in the way of friends or connections. They're with their mom now, which is great.

Gift Suggestions

I know we have a gift registry, but I think the best gift would be helping us finance the memories we will make on our fanastic dream honeymoon.

Check out this lady's vacation website to see some of what we will be doing (in common with her, we will be going to Arenal, Tabacon, and Monteverde.) But, warning... looking at her site is going to make you want to go. She takes really good pictures.

The Emperor's New Clothes

This is my funny story of the day.

It is getting a little cooler and Mark is working outside, so he asked me if we had an appropriately manly scarf he could wear to work. (He didn't think my eyelash multi-colored tassly one was appropriate.)

I checked a few places and remembered this big box in the closet marked "seasonal clothes."

It had a garbage bag full of coats on top. Underneath... all my favorite cute clothes that I haven't been able to find since we moved (a year ago) that I thought were lost forever. We're talking a major landslide of really, really cute (and not inexpensive) clothes, including my souvenir shirt from Holland and some tan "tilt" cords. It's like finding something you thought you'd never see again. In fact, it's exactly like that.

Mark never got his scarf. And there was nothing in the magical box for him.

Book Of The Week

I just finished reading The Joy of Pi by David Blatner and it really lived up to its name. It was so fun to read. Blatner cleverly compiled every interesting fact, joke, puzzle, poem, cartoon and side note having anything to do with π.

One example: 2π times the diameter of an elephants foot = the height of the elephant. (I want to know who figured this one out, and how.)

A Shot in the Arm

I got my vaccinations for our trip today. Basically, I'd rather get typhoid fever than get another typhoid vaccination. That's all I can say... considering I only have the use of one arm.

Meticulous Details

I have realized lately that every daunting task is really just a seemly infinite series of small and ordinary tasks.

I really don't like filing, so it stacks up. But, it is such an easy little task. If I just filed it instead of throwing it in the "to file" pile... this terrible task would never get the best of me.

I just took a differential equations exam for which this observation is most true. Every problem taking so long to complete, and none of the steps difficult to keep your attention from slipping. I actually caught myself writing 1 times 1 is 2.

It seems like people with OCD should be the overacheivers in this world. (Or, maybe they are?)

I hate saying "everything's going good" but, that is really the sum of things at the moment. It's crunch time.

A limits law of the universe:

patience ~ time/tasks. As tasks goes to infinity, patience approaches 0.

December Schedule

Here is my schedule for the first couple of weeks of December for those of you who need to plan around me:

T 6 last day of class
R 8 Final for Differential Equations 7:40 am
F 9 Final Presentations for Math History 7:40 am
Su 11 off work
M 12 Final for History of Native People 6:40 pm / off work
T 13 Final for Probabilities 10:00 am

R 15 Off work – Set up / Prep (all-hands welcome)


F 16 9:00 Breakfast meeting with helpers (you know who you are)
10:00 Hair (all family members welcome to join)
1:00 Seating
1:30 Ceremony begins
Pictures (just until the food is ready)
Early Dinner

S 17 Flight for Costa Rica Leaves midday
M 18 Pick up car, La Paz waterfall for lunch, Drive to La Fortuna for two days where we plan to hike Arenal Volcano, relax in hot mineral pools heated by the volcano, explore the hanging bridges in the rain forest canopy, class III river rafting, and if we have the energy, windsurfing lessons.
W 19 Drive to Manuel Antonio. Three days of relaxing by the beach/Hike nearby National Rain Forest Preserve if we feel like it.
Fri 23 Monteverde Cloud forest.
Sa 24 return car by 10 am. Explore San Jose city.
Su 25 Return flight arrives midday - Christmas

T 27 Return to work
Only 5 weeks to go!

A Good Job

This brilliant mathematician, Charles Something-Or-Other, innovated the math on electricity. So, Thomas Edison offered him a job at GE. He said he would take the job if instead of a set salary, GE would just pay whatever bills he sent them. And they agreed.

Imagine, just buy a house, send the bill.
Buy a Mercedes, send the bill.

Now that's the negotiating advantage of being brilliant.