Spring Break in Pictures

We started out on Hollywood Blvd.

We hit the coasters the next morning.
Then Evan and I got some chopper action.


While Jennifer and Stephanie stayed at the park playing.
I think I look exactly like Brandy.

In fact, if I couldn't see Knottsberry Farm in the background,

Mark never would have been able to convince me that this wasn't her.

This was my favorite custom.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

I just got all my pictures back. I have stuff from last summer! So many things to show you. It takes time to put them up there, so I wil do a few a day for a little while to visually catch you up on some of the fun stuff.
...

First, remember when I told you that my cats

like to have boxing matches with each other?

Kazi is on the left, Akira on the right.

Kazi gets in a right hook, but Kira blocks.

And gets in a mean left to retain her seat as the undefeated cat boxing champion.

Girls rule. I cannot begin to tell you how funny this is to watch. It never gets old.

Business

A lot of little things are going on.

I am going to a lot of career fairs and pounding the pavement with the hopes of picking up an internship to complete my degree. Today, to hedge bets, I picked Fall classes for preregistration. What I want to take that would actually help me in real life never counts for my degree (such as Mat 210: analysis for business.)

The above involves fine tuning my resume, cover letter, and job description. Luckily, this will all carry over to my first job search, since the req's are identical. If you want to edit and make suggestions, let me know. I can use all the opinions I can get. I love beautiful paper. I love paper stores.

I am studying like crazy... both for school (three tests next week) and for the Actuary exam (56 days away.) I made a list of all the skills I am weak at and have been reviewing every math class I have ever taken to strengthen them and make sure I am sharp on everything. It is really making me feel smart and confident. (It's the new stuff that isn't there, yet.)

I am still dealing with trying to change my name with the Social Security Administration. What a nightmare! If it is this hard to change ones name, I can't imagine what people must have to do to get benefits!

I finally sent my pictures in to be developed. (Some of them are from the honeymoon, some from some of our roadtrips, and the lastest trip to LA.) You should be seeing them here soon!

Monday night, Mark and I had the funnest date. We had to stay up for 9 more hours after already staying up for 27, so we got the entire 5th season of CSI on DVD, a bottle of wine, and some take out and hung out talking and marathoning with TV (a rare treat, since we don't have it hooked up to watch.)

More φ

Mark wanted me to say a little more about φ (phi - my favorite number) because I didn't mention anything specific before. It is irrational, so its decimal place goes on forever with no
discernable pattern. It has been calculated out to many thousands of decimals. The first few are:

1·61803...

A simple definition of its unique property is that to square it, you just add one:
φ² = φ +1 This can be "simplified" to φ = 1 /[φ - 1]. -- equally strange.

(Which makes φ the smallest existing solution to the quadratic equation and the simplest continued fraction.)

It is explicitly defined as the positive solution to the quadratic formula (from the equation above):

[sqrt(5) + 1]/2 - The negative solution has all the same freaky properties, though.

It cannot be written as exact fractions of integers, but there is a sequence of fractional "fibonacci" numbers that approximate it sequentially better as it progresses farther down the sequence.

For more, check out some basic facts or more thorough information.

Phi

My favorite number is phi (pronounced fee or sometimes fye.) Mark was asking me what's so special about this number... or any number for that matter. I started thinking about how to answer that and I ended up with a deeper appreciation for all numbers in general. Maybe what makes phi special is easier to understand if I explain what makes 1 special, because 1 is an easy number to think about, where phi is an irrational number with very strange relationships with other numbers (kind of like pi.) 1 is such a simple integer, but it separates nothing from something, it defines the value of all "things," counting cannot happen without adding 1 to the previous number, and in a sense, 1 is the beginning of abstract thought. It is the first symbol of human problem solving, literally. This makes 1 crucial, yet it is super simple. Phi on the other hand is not simple. Books have been written about it. Lifetimes have been dedicated to understanding it, or finding its value to some record decimal place, and it is literally beautiful. Fraction approximations of phi are the proportions that Di Vinci used in his famous sketch "Vitruvian Man."

This view was majestic in real life. The photo doesn't pick up how enormous that mountain was because the sky overwhelms it. It was breathtaking. 

Home Again

I had a great time in Los Angeles this weekend. Not just the fun activities we enjoyed, but just being in Los Angeles felt right.

Anyway - highlights of the trip - we had a fun drive with a picnic in Blythe, CA. Jennifer, Stephanie, Evan, Mark and I rotated between naps, car games, and fun conversation. It had stormed recently both in LA and Phoenix, so there was snow at pretty low elevations, and on lots of the hills next to the freeway. It was kind of cool. We got behind a car that had a foot of snow on it's roof so it could "snow" on us.

Our hotel in the heart of Hollywood was literally 40 feet from the main area of the star walk (the Kodak Theatre where they host the Oscars). There were street performers out in force, so we walked around shopping a little and caught a little break dancing on the street by a Cuban B-boy group. They were pretty good. Lots of characters. We shopped and then met Mark and Scott up at Pocito Mas for good mexican food - sort of Scott's birthday dinner. Afterward, we basically crashed - Evan fell asleep fully clothed with his contacts still in - the rest of us followed suit, but had PajamaTime first.

Next morning, we woke up kind of early and went to a little cafe for breakfast and then headed out to Knottsberry Farm. For the record, it is better than Disneyland for adult-scary rides and a ton of good coasters. I thought it was a petting zoo with a Ferris Wheel or something. There were 4 coasters with upside-down loops... nearly everyone's favorite was a long wooden coaster, Ghost Rider. The Silver Bullet (suspended from above with legs swinging like the Batman) actually gives you vertigo when you step off it. Stephanie conquered some fear and went on two very scary ones. There was one funny moment when Jenn dragged Evan and I onto what we thought looked like a kid's ride. It was a circular pendulum swing that rotated 180 at the top of each swing. It started out really slow and we were rolling our eyes. Then it just kept picking up momentum, and picking up momentum and our eyes started watering from all the screaming. It went well above the 90 degrees of the bar holding the pendulum. It was pretty scary because neither of us were prepared for that kind of excitment. It was a great day to go because there were practically no lines whatsoever. The average wait for any ride was about 15 minutes. I realized I'm a thrill junkie. Pretty funny irony when you consider that I am going into a field that minimizes risk.

Evan and I decided to leave Jennifer and Stephanie at the park after picnic lunch in the parking lot and go do something else. We don't have the all-day stamina that they have - So we went to chopper Mecca. We drove to Long Beach to see Jesse James' West Coast Choppers Shop. They created a room for fans to hang out and drool in, with finished choppers lined up, some very neat custom cars, a coffin-keg on wheels, and lots of posters, newsclippings, etc hanging on the wall to see and a gift shop and an area where you can look into the garage where they are putting finishing touches on things. The whole place is a work of metal-art. All the doors, gates, signs, railings, etc are artfully crafted and beautifully detailed. It was sort of spiritual, in a hard to explain way. One of the buildings is an old church and their logo has a cross in it, and with all the beautiful architectural details, pilgrims silently paying respects to the craftmanship... and hoping to catch a glimpse of the icon, Jesse, supposedly upstairs in the offices (we did not see him.) I thought it was appropriate that the only place to sit was an old church pew.

We picked up Jennifer and Stephanie and inched home through rush hour traffic and right when we arrived at the hotel I became suddenly and violently sick. Afterwards, we picked up something to eat, crackers and water for me from the grocery and take out for Jennifer and Stephanie. Evan went out on the town with a friend who lives there and came home later. And again, we just crashed. It was a long exciting day.

It felt wonderful and reaffirmed for me our decision to move there when our lease is up here. I had this terrific moment this morning before we left. I woke up at 5am and got a latte and watched the sun come up over the old familiar neighborhood. It was so warm and nostalgic. And I also got to experience some of the realistic expectations one needs to properly make that kind of decision. It's really hard to live in LA. I mean, literally hard. Everything is inconvenient, more expensive, and a little more complicated. It's crowded and condensed, so the underbelly of society is unavoidably on the surface - and it raises one's social conscience. Since we dropped Mark off at Scott's house, I was in charge of taking care of our needs while we were there, so I did all the city driving, found our eateries, hotel, etc, and coordinated our activities a little. It was interesting to find that I could do those things. I had some driving moves that I'm really proud of. I only got lost once for every time I got behind the wheel - and made fewer than three U-turns per destination. I do worse than that sometimes in Phoenix.

The drive home was uneventful but pleasant. We were all pretty beat. There is still some snow on the mountains outside Phoenix. It looks strange as the backdrop for cactus. The trip felt like a long vacation rather than the 18 day-time hours that it was.

Plans

So we finally made plans for Spring Break. I did not get my days off to take an ample vacation, so Mark, Evan, Jennifer, Stephanie and I are driving out for a quick weekend in Los Angeles. We are going to drop Mark off at Scott's house to hang out while the rest of us go to Knotsberry Farm and bum around the beach or something.

I wanted to spend the whole week on the slopes learning how to snowboard - but this will do nicely instead. I will still have plenty of break left to study my little heart out. (And perhaps take care of some procrastinated tasks that always get bumped for school stuff - such as prepping for my pending job search in a few months.)

It is a really weird time in life. Feels very meaningful, compared to usual. All the decisions I am making will actually have lasting impact.

I have so many flashcards right now. My brain is full.

We saw the new Harry Potter (decent) and Jarhead (great).

Evan's Bday Party

We had The Birthday Boy over to celebrate him turning 28 (that makes me feel old.)

We played it lazy and picked up take-out from Rubios (Best Fish Taco In The World - coming from a person who won't eat fish) and a movie.

I made a brownie-ice cream desert with a layer of caramel and almonds between the fudge brownie and rocky road ice cream and hard chocolate shell frosting. But, I didn't think to defrost it a little before serving it. The brownie/caramel layer would not cut. Evan sat there on a mission to try to rescue at least one peice from the dish - and drew the comparison of trying to blow out those prank candles that don't go out... after about 15 minutes of prying and hacking on the brownie, we just ate the ice cream layer. It was really good (and funny.)

Then we watched what was left of the academy awards. Pretty fun. I love hangin' with my bro.

Time is passing too quickly. He's 28, I'm turning 30... it seems ludicrous. Speaking of ludicrous... what was up with that best original song "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp?" I thought that was a joke and I was totally laughing. There was nothing special at all about the repetitive lyrics OR the basic beat music staged behind them (coming from someone who can appreciate above average rap.) - Speaking of good rap, Mark just introduced me to a song called "Phantom" by Murs. Great social awareness commentary.

I want to do something today.

Utopia

One thing I notice about having a blog that is always updated is that no one ever writes or calls to find out how you are doing.

I had this moment of Zelda... I realized that maybe the reason I love the Zelda game now is that it is the perfect metaphor for life. You start out so weak that you can't even smash a pot with your sword, but as you learn new skills, and collect objects that help you along your way, you slowly get stronger. Sometimes you have to battle guys that totally suck or solve some puzzle that makes no sense, and it becomes so frustrating that you have to turn off the game or get help from someone whose already passed that part. And the game is littered with rewarding successes - you got the Earth element - or got another bottle - or found a secret... And each challenge takes you to the next. It's not always obvious what you are supposed to do, either. If you revisit places you have already been, there are always new things to find, new people to meet, and new insight into what you should do. And funny, when you beat the game and you're done, you're a little sad that it's over because you had so much fun on the journey and you realize that it wasn't about getting to the destination. That's life. It's a game that isn't about winning, but about playing well.

The movie of the day was Scrooged... I can't remember why I liked this as a kid. It's pretty shallow.

The Usual

We did a corporate litigation double feature this weekend. I almost forgot how good Erin Brokovich was and how bad A Civil Action was.

In the school front, I am doing both awesome and awful. I am way ahead and excelling in all my classes except fractals, in which I am completely crippled by the technology. I totally can't get past it. I spend so much time spinning my wheels. I haven't completed a single assignment and it doesn't look like I will. I've given up on hopeful optimism, tipped the scale beyond passive alarm, and am into dreadful resignation. If my teacher does not actually do the assignment for me step by step all the way to the finish line, I'll never get there. He must really be sick of me.
It's sort of sad, because this is the class I am the most topically interested in, and I really enjoy thinking about it, researching stuff on the side, and lectures.

Mt. Lemon

We just drove out a few hours to Tucson again, this time to scale the highest nearby peak and enjoy the pines. It was not to be. We kind of forgot that we've had .32 inches of rain since October - second lowest rainfall for winter since they started writing it down. Everything was dead. There might have been some wildfires or something. All the trees except a few pines were totally leaf-less and cactuses were wilty.

It was a pretty drive anyway, with lots of sweeping vistas.

We ate at a horrible fresh mex place - and were both immediately sick. (Mark literally so.) They didn't tell me that "the big one" I ordered was a full 15 inches long and an easy 4.5 inches in diameter. (They had to use two tortillas. If we knew this, we probably would not have ordered nachos as an appetizer to share. It was filthy.

I love our daytrip weekends.

I'm on the dean's list. Now if only I can figure out how to get on Santa's list... 

From the White House 

Ewww

I love Mark. Pretty saccharin, I know.

Try not to throw up.

We're always watching movies. I should sometimes mention the shows we're watching.

I finally made it all the way through 'pi.' Sadly, every math movie features an insane person. I don't thing you need to be insane to be a mathematician. I should write a script. The ones that actually feature real math usually get it wrong as well. This one called my favorite number, phi, "theta," which is a pretty big thing to get wrong. I guess the writers were not mathematicians, so I'll give them a break, but they could've called in someone who knew something as simple as the name of the number that the number theorist is talking about. Additionally, I couldn't figure out why the guy would write out stuff we knew thousands of years ago ... the formula for the circumference and area of a circle to learn about pi, or the golden rectangle to learn about phi ... when he has a computer that can compute stuff that has never been computed about these numbers. *phi has been calculated to 1,241,100,000,000 digits by Kanada and pi has been calculated to 3,141,000,000 digits by Gourden and Sebah as of 2002

We also watched 'The Weatherman.' This is just a commercial. We think some lobbyist for the fast food industry took out a bulk ad. Every shot has a wrapper, convenience food item, or store location in it. Lots of corporate labels too. I'm not recommending it for the gag factor.

The Weekend

I really need to mention what a fantastic weekend I had. We waited to celebrate Valentine's Day and our nine-year anniversary until now because Mark wanted more time to prepare. He really went all out for me and knocked me off my feet.

After work on Sunday he took me out on a day trip to Tucson and the Biosphere 2. It was really amazing and impressive. I can't believe we put seeing this marvel off for so long! There are some good pictures on Mark's site. They took us under the glass and inside the ecosystem. The rainforest had a huge cliff overlooking a coral reef ocean area (with a beach and everything)... it was so humid and smelled just like Costa Rica. We saw some of the familiar plants from our recent trip. The desert was pretty unimpressive (because we see it everyday) but they needed plant regions that could were productive at different times of the year to keep oxygen and carbon monoxide levels balanced in their artificial system. We went down in the basement where all the techology is, radiator systems to cool the air, the lung system to keep the pressure balanced, and all the tubes and pipes that circulate and filter the water. At one point, you can look into the ocean from glass in the basement. This was my favorite part. The coral was so beautiful. I was interested in finding out that all the coral that live in a community (clump) are genetically identical, even though they take on two different external structures.

We had lunch and a nice drive back. I love our drives. We always have interesting conversations that span every imaginable topic.

Then, Monday, while I was at school, Mark launched his secret plan. He rented a chick-flick I've always wanted to see (Shakespeare In Love), got some food and wine, and purchased/wrapped some very nice gifts. He must have really worked fast, because I knew that he hadn't had the car to do anything and was expecting nothing special assuming that yesterday was enough.

I was pretty blown away. He gave me "The Math Gene" by Keith Devlin (which reinspired me after burning out last semester to love math again) and "The Golden Ratio" by Mario Livio (the history of my favorite number, phi) and a very cool white and red (valentine-y colors) Puma hoodie.

It was a good weekend. I try to spend some time with Mark every week, and our dates really mean a lot to me. I have so many priorities, but I feel like you have to make time to balance your life. I could have worked non-stop on several ongoing school projects, or gone to the gym, or finished the laundry or prepped the taxes. Everything important will get done in the end.

Day of the Dead

I am taking a class on Death and Dying. Today, I sat down with a few classmates and interviewed the Director of a Funeral Home. This sounded terrible, but turned out to be really cool... I mean, aren't there just a thousand questions you would love the opportunity to sit down and ask a Mortician? We were free to ask anything, and we pretty much satisfied our curiousity about a lot of things. It was fascinating!

To top off the day, I watched the movie Donnie Darko with Mark. (Very appropriate top 50 pick)

{Proof}

I watched this movie that just came out on DVD yesterday - not a bad drama - could have been more "math-y" but for all you non-geeks, it's probably just right.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

We are just bumbling around the house today. We decided to "celebrate" valentine's day by exchanging gifts next weekend because I still haven't told Mark what to get me.

I feel like I have tons of things I am supposed to be doing, but I don't know what any of them are (except my laundry, which would be hard to miss.) I think school is going well. I haven't gotten any real feedback to tell me if I am working hard enough or need to give more, so it is sort of hard to say. I try to put forth my best possible effort, in terms of balancing all my priorities. I'm giving more of my time to Mark and my personal wellness because I don't have to go to school every day. Usually I feel isolated, burned out, and running constantly, so my schedule this semester providing for a life is really welcome. Especially since I only have this and maybe one more semester to go. As tired as I was, I need the benefit of variety.

So, today is kind of the day we use to track how long Mark and I have been a couple. Today, the odometer rolls over to 9 years. Boy, that sounds like a big number. Mark said he didn't realize that it had been so long. He's been telling people we've been together 5 or 6 years. I guess time flies when you are having fun. It seems like it just gets better and better.

Date Day

Mark and I had a great Date Day yesterday. He posted a synopsis and some pictures on his blog. I realized that my rockclimbing skills are rusty and that I want to get back into that sport. I also remembered that small towns close up shop on Sunday. We were looking forward to browsing tons of little shops in small town America, but they were all in church.

I want to go to the Renaissance Festival this year but I need someone to go with me. I want to get really into it: rent a costume, watch all the shows, browse all the shops, see the joust, ride the elephant, the whole enchilada. It's on now until April 2 - $10 per. Takers? Evan - You think we should call the Vegan if she's still around? DJ - you would love this thing. You should come down, bring Kathy and the kids.

Today, one of my classes got cancelled so I think I am going to go home early and have another date. Seems like the thing to do on Valentine's Day weekend - go on two dates!

I think sitting on the floor eating chinese take out with chopsticks and watching a movie is romantic.

I just found out that most crossdressers are not gay. I did not know that. You see a girl in a suit, you don't automatically assume she is gay, but you see a guy in a dress and it's the first thing that crosses your mind. I guess that is why gender issues are so interesting for me. They are the final frontier in social taboo. And the double standard runs both ways. You usually don't think of sexism as hedging straight men, but they are the group that had the most rigid rules. I saw a funny related quote yesterday.

If high heels were comfortable, men would still be wearing them.

It just demonstrates how dynamic our social rules are. Once it was perverse for women to wear high-heels or lace and now the reverse is true. If Jesus was born during the golden age of Europe, would he have worn high-heels instead of sandals?

Why I Hate Federal Programs

I went to the social security administration to change my name for valentine's day. I learned a few things. So, a bit of advise for anyone entering a federal building.

Read the fine print on the door of all the things you aren't allowed to take in. Or better yet, leave your whole purse in the car. Especially your cell phone.

Don't show even the mildest of contempt when the security guard dumps your purse out on the counter no matter how humiliating you feel this is.

Don't bother explaining to the security guard that you were planning to take your cell phone to the car but wanted to see if they had any forms by the door. They expect you to read the door and not have anything with you on the list. They only tell you so that they can trespass you from the property so that you can never come back and conduct whatever important business it is that dragged you there in the first place.

I am so glad that I am not some little old lady who can't read signs very well who depends on her social security check to get by.

I called to complain about this power-trip of a guard, and the lady on the line said he must have had some reason to assume that I was an urgent security risk - and that I should have read the sign. It must have been my deep exhale when he grabbed my purse and dumped it on the counter. He told me to "take my attitude and leave." I would've shown him my attitude, but I figured this power happy idiot would probably have my in guantanimo bay by dinner.

I Love Evan and Mark / Date Day

I had the funnest day with Evan yesterday. We went to the thrift store. He walked away from me for a minute and came back decked out in the funniest outfit. He was wearing cowboy boots, brown polyester pants, a bolo tie, corderoy jacket, a pimpish looking cowboy hat with tiger printed band, and BIG square fade-down sunglasses (which he just had to buy.) I totally did not recognize him. Then he picked out a super-B girl outfit for me, red/white star bikini top, yellow bikini bottom, wonderwoman belt, knee high boots and a cape. I didn't try it on. But I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

Today, Mark is taking me to dinner and a movie after school. I am really looking forward to it. We are going to see "Good Night and Good Luck" about McCarthyism. Appropriate because in religions class today, we talked about Galileo's trial in the Spanish Inquisition "are you now or have you ever been a Copernican."

I want to go on a study abroad. Can you take your husband on those things?

Busy Again

What a relief. I decided to reschedule my Actuarial exam for May. I was really breaking my back to be prepared and then suddenly, school got very demanding. I agonized over putting it off, but there is no way I would pass without hitting the last few topics very hard, and I just can't do that without setting something else aside that is equally important.

The upside is that I can go about changing my name now. It's been weird with a pseudo name. It's will be officially McCowen pretty soon. Weird, but in a good way.

I'm writing three essays this weekend, trying to get some studying done for a few classes, and have a test in a couple of days. Not enough to skip the yoga class. I've been going to the gym 6 days a week lately. It's really kept me energized and focused on everything I am trying to do. You'd think the time spent would be lost, but it isn't. I actually hit a new milestone. I worked out so hard I threw up. (Or it might have been the carne asada I ate before the spinning class, I'm not sure.)

But, things definately feel paced again. There's a certain comfort in that. I just wish I hadn't gotten hooked on Zelda, and a few other fun time-management nightmares before the rush got back underway. (I'm at the second to last dungeon and am fighting the bad guy right now - after this, I fight the big-bad guy and free the princess from her curse and we're back to flashcards full time.)

I feel like a contradiction in motion. (I guess that is better than a static contradiction.)

Another thing... I really love my family. I try to be unselfish and unconditional about this love. I think that is the main definition of family. I love all of the people in my family regardless of who or how they are. I feel like I don't have to like them or how they live their lives in order to love them. But I am really repulsed by the ones who do not share this attitude. But, like I said... I still love them.

I think I've covered all my major thoughts for the week.

Use it even after you start to lose it

Apparently, a new study reveals that moderate exercise of 15 minutes a day can delay, prevent or improve symptoms of dementia, Alzheimer's Disease and other cognitive degenerative disorders.

On related news, I went to the cycling class again yesterday and I LOVE IT! My seat hurts, though. I need to get some of those fancy padded panties.

Oh, and aside from that peanut butter cookie I just ate, I'm back on my healthy food thing. I really love vegetables. When we are used to eating a lot of them, we get sick when we don't - so during the last month of what Mark lovingly refers to as "the fast food diet" I've been feeling
nauseous half the time. Of course, he lost 5 pounds eating Taco Bell and hasn't looked this good in a while.

I am listing some of the topics I am mentally engaging, because my world-curiousity is up and I am thinking about so many things... interesting things. Things that you might actually want to read about - as opposed to what I had for dinner (chicken southwest burritos with grilled peppers, black beans, zuchinni and corn, in a creamy chile verde sauce -- Mark didn't notice the zuchinni... I snuck it in for the veggies-in-disguise factor.)

They are: physiology, particularly of the brain, memory and time, existential crisis, death and the purpose of life, how complex systems in nature are poorly designed, dimensions of the universe, matter and our experience of matter, dark matter, the reality or nonreality of the abstract world, how/why our brain abstracts (and all matters associated with abstraction,) and I that's all I can think of at the moment, but I know there are more.

When I ask Mark, "Honey, what are you thinking about?" I'm apt to get some kind of list such as the above. I think that's why we never run out of things to talk about or get bored.

Meanwhile, feel compelled to comment to this post with what you think about. If you don't think about anything, start.

Some quotes I liked this week:

An unexamined death is not worth dying. --Some Death Researcher from my
textbook.

There is a fine line between a religious experience and a psychotic
episode. --My religions teacher on founders of new religions and thier claims of
talking to/experiencing god firsthand.

Have A Spin

I finally made it back to the gym after the long hectic break. I decided to hit it really hard to that my muscles would be so stiff that I'd feel compelled to go again in order to normalize the feeling. Anyway, my plan worked perfectly. I ran for 1/2 hour, lifted weights for my back and arms for 1/2 hour (and I interval train so that's a lot) and then decided to take a spinning class for the first time ever. It was fine, for the most part. Very difficult. My seat hurts, but not as much as the legs I can barely move. It is a welcome soreness. I'm already pumped to get back in. It's always only hard for me the first time after being away for a few weeks. After that, I love it!

Me and My Guys

I'd like you to meet a few of my amazing friends. On the far left is Nick. He is extremely travelled, speaks Japanese, and attends Duke Law. The fellow to my direct left is my new husband. As you can see by the twinkle in his eye, he is a genius. There is more to say there, but you let Mark speak for himself. To my right, Josh has a bachelors in Chemistry and is currently in the last phases of medical school. And far right is the right-brained business mogul and tech savvy artist, David. I am of course, in the center because I am the prettiest.

This is an incredible group of people. We need a scientist and a chef and we are the perfect group of people to get stranded on an island with.

My little brother. In this photo he sort of looks like a criminal about to chop your head off. However, I assure you he is quite tame. (Just don't feed him rolling rock.)

First Day of School

School's officially underway again. I had just gotten my goofing off groove going, too. (We got a gameboy for Christmas... I'm suddenly a girl-gamer. Who would've guessed, but I'm really hooked!)

I'm taking Fractals, Death & Dying, Ritual/Symbol/Myth, and my personal favorite, Intermediate Probability. (I took Advanced Probability last semester, did well, and this particular course is designed to help pass the actuary exam... convenient because I have to do that anyway. Now I get credit for it!)

The Death one may sound strange. It's for a cultural perspective credit and I am really looking forward to it, mostly. (Except for the part where I have to interview a funeral home director.)

The Fractals is my sweet spot. It is a nuance of math that fascinates me and I have always wanted to have more than a superficial understanding of this interesting facet of math. If you don't know what fractals are, they are complex, infinite, symmetrical geometric figures. Check out some pretty graphical demonstrations here.

A Boxer is a Dog, I thought.

My cats are boxing. They do this thing where they sit on the tallest surface they can find, face off and stare each other down while standing on their back legs with their dukes up. And then every once in a while, one will punch the other, the one who gets punched punches back, and then they get in a headlock (just like regular boxers) until they break it up and start over. It is seriously hilarious. I took a couple pictures, but I'm sure it won't capture the humor of the routine.

Odds and Ends

Did you know that your post-holiday weight is actually a random number?

I mailed pictures on CD to practically everyone, so you should be seeing yours pretty soon. Print quality may not be fantastic. If you want to order a quality print, I can have them reproduced for you from the master. Regular 4x6 are $0.18, 5x7's are $1.60. I don't know about the larger sizes. Just reference the name the picture is saved as (most of them are numbers.) The master file sizes are too large to transfer but produce excellent quality prints.

Congratulations to the Knouses... welcoming our family's newest addition. Welcome to the world, McKayla. You are beautiful.

I want a program that organizes your contact info in the family tree format so that you can see the card profiles by generation, keep track of whose kids are whose and do searches by, say, Birthdays in January, or search by things like, age (so that you can get a list of all adults for Christmas cards) or generation (so you can get only siblings or only aunts & uncles, etc), that is compatible with mail merge so that you can print labels or envelopes or mailing lists, and has a spot for all contact info (such as email, fax, etc,) is compatible with outlook, and common calendar programs (and can program alerts or auto messages for birthday's, anniversaries, etc) and a comment section so you can write things you don't want to forget (their major in school, where they work, hobbies or interests, etc.)

I guess keeping track of family members isn't difficult for smaller families, but ours is big enough to pose a challenge... I have so many documents in different places - a birthday list that I can sort by generation and catagory (Mark's or mine, immediate or extended, month, age) but doesn't hold contact info, a contact list in table form with household members and important dates (which is impossible to search on and impossible to organize and is never fully completed but is pretty comprehensive) and a contact form in list form with address only. It's hard to keep track of them all and keep them updated.

I'm getting set up for classes. I start back up in 10 days. Still working on what I'll take... some interference with my schedule for work, so I'm waiting to hear back whether my work, my teacher, both or neither will cut me some slack. That answer will determine what classes I can take. Right now it's between Intermediate Probability (exam P prep - awesome - doing the work anyway,) Linear Programming (programming, yuck and class 5 days a week) or an easy religions class to go toward a minor (but it would force me to take a summer physics class that requires that I get off work early every day for 5 weeks and would kill me with 5 hour classes every day.) So, obviously, I'm hoping to compromise the probabilities course with work and the teacher since it is offered at a conflicting time.

I'm kicking butt with my exam prep. I have my average time per problem down from 11 minutes to 5 minutes. My goal is 2 minutes. My accuracy must be 90% or better. I'm halfway through the prep curricula. I'm optimistic, but there is always May if I don't make the very small and elite cut of those who pass on the first try. It's pretty much all I think about these days. (Which makes coming up with something to post that is interesting a decent challenge.)

Even in my fantasies, I am a very boring person.

Di Vinci Code

I just finished reading the Di Vinci Code and I can't figure out what the big deal is. I asked someone at work if he had read it and they guy went crazy about not reading blasphemous texts. I guess drawing fiction based on religions that come too close to Christianity is crossing some line. I don't assume that a novel is supposed to be religious. I read a triller conspiracy on the same thread as an alien invasion... inventive, fun, and suspenseful storytelling. Regardless of the authors intentions, the meaning of a story ultimately lies in the hands of the reader. I don't think that Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is actually promoting the view that fairies are real. It's called literary freedom, plot device, etc.

I don't think Jesus should be off limits to creative people who want to use religion as a creative tool for storytelling. I think Jesus, a storyteller, would agree.

And hear is the spoiler if you are planning to read the book... the church wins, in the end. A literary critique of the book could suggest a promotion of Christian traditionalism just as easily as any other message. Read what you want to read into it.

Happy New Year!

Time is really flying. It feels like last week that Scott was explaining that the big Chandler Christmas tree is made out of silver spray painted sage brushes, but it was last year. I guess a lot has happened this year to help the illusion of time passing quickly.

My New Years resolutions are the same every year. Go to the gym regularly, eat raw foods more often, floss more often, pick up after myself everyday, go somewhere exciting, and do my best in school. This year I get to add "graduate with disctinction," "pass actuary exam 1," and "find a real job."

I had this wonderful memory of my dad at Christmas one year. We were driving up North in his big truck and we were singing in duet acapella harmony "Silver Bells." I thought our voices blended very nicely. Sometimes I miss having someone around to harmonize with. Eva and I always do a few favorites when she visits. It has a calming effect. We should record them. I'll put them on my CD when/if I ever get around to recording anything. I lost all my songs in the fire. I have to write new ones.

I got our pictures printed today. Man, they turned out really, really good. The detail does not show up on the computer the way it comes out on print. There are some really nice ones. Mark posted a few more on his blog. I think he's putting a few every day.

Back to Normal

I wouldn't say we are back in a routine, per se. But the days are taking on some normalcy.

We went to see King Kong and about midway through, someone pulled the fire alarm to get better seats. Everyone had to evacuate and we had to wait about a half hour for the show to start again. We had arrived at the theatre an hour in advance to be the third through the door and had perfect seats. Some guy went crazy when we tried to return to them. The holiday season can really bring out the reverse of peace and love in some people. (We were all o.k. with the seats we ended up with and the son of the guy who made an idiot of himself apologized.) So funny. I've never had anything like that happen before...

We enjoyed some quality time with Scott and the family. I've been splitting my time at work between working on burning the photos and studying for the actuary exam. I'm going to be focused on that for the next couple of months. It is going to be a real challenge, and one that matters.

I decided to use Mark's last name and today, I started that. I couldn't really use it on the honeymoon because all the reservations were made under Christensen and all my travel documents were still Christensen. So today at work, I switched my paperwork, let everyone know what to call me, and started answering the phones "Officer McCowen." It sounds so odd. I hope I get used to it. I have to wait for the legal part until after I take the exam or I'll get disqualified from taking it.

What an amazing season we have had this year. It really stands out as one for the ages.

If you have any stories from the wedding I would love to have them. I realized that the stories are usually about what went "wrong" because it stands out against the backdrop of beauty and elegance that one hopes the event will reflect. However, I also consider those "hiccups" to be what sets off the day as so miraculous. Since I know (for my part) how many very important things nearly didn't happen, it makes how beautiful and perfect it was all the more amazing and reinforces the view that things can go wrong and still be exactly right.

I think being flexible is the most important human quality. Change is the only constant.

Wrapping Up

The butterfly farm was one of the best things we did. We walked through the gardens where so many very beautiful butterflies were flying all around us. A really pretty blue one let me hold it in my hand. We got some great pictures and souvenirs. We had a cool taxi driver who talked to us a lot about Costa Rica, answered some of our questions, and was very friendly.

We did end up going to the zoo. We missed out on seeing the animals in the wild because all that stuff was scheduled for the days that Mark was sick and by the time he felt better, we were in a different part of the country outside the rain forest areas. (As I mentioned before, we did see big iguanas and a couple of white-nosed coati.) I really wanted to see a parrot, a toucan, and a monkey. The zoo, like most in Central and South America, caged their animals too narrowly - which is great for spectating, but terrible for the animal - they did have a lot of programs to support humane treatment and reduce trafficking of exotic animals as pets, which was good to see.

After running around town, we went back to the hotel. Mark's tummy was hurty so I went to dinner by myself. It was a special menu for Christmas Eve, and many people including myself had not thought to make a reservation, so I ended up sharing my table with a couple from El Paso. We shared a nice conversation, an even better four course gourmet dinner and some tropical drinks. Mark came down for a moment to get the room key and sat down and joined us for a few moments.

Our flight was very early, so we tried to tuck in early. This would not be, however. People were setting off fireworks, caroling and otherwise celebrating nearly all night long all over the city. We got up at 4:30 a little red-eyed and went straight to the airport. What an adventure. America West is really slacking. They didn't have signs up for their desks so noone knew where to go, no one came to check us into our 8:15 flight until 7:00 (they say show up so many hours early...) they didn't start boarding us until 7:45 and even then it was to put us on a bus and truck us out to the plane where we actually walked out onto the tarmack and up the ramp into the plane - an Airbus seating 5 across - tiny. We watched our own DVDs and our 5 hour flight flew.

Once home, it really started to seem like Christmas day. The McCowen house was simmering with those wonderful smells and dinner was almost ready. We ate a big, scrumptious (thankfully normal homecooked) meal. Of course we were excited to impart all the details of our trip, so we gave a little showing of our video footage, a photo slide show, and demonstrated all our souvenirs. We snacked on chocolate covered cashews and papaya. And after all that, we opened presents together. It was great. Some very priceless moments. (Aubri will be glad to know that we got a new office chair. Her comment when she saw the one we were using went something like, "Mommy, the chair's head fell off and it's buttcrack is showing.")

We played some cards and games, mom baked some cookies and the guys had some good conversation. Overall, it was very nice. When we got home, I talked to Evan on the phone until I literally fell asleep.

A few notes about the wedding...

The wedding photos came out really good. DJ really captured all the emotions and highlights. I'm going to burn them to disk along with a little travel highlights slide show and send them out relatively soon as wedding favors... I'm not sure how soon, but before school starts up again or never would be a good guess. If you came to the wedding and don't want a CD of all the pictures let me know. If you did not come to the wedding and do want a CD of all the pictures, let me know. I am posting the very best on a post-wedding website that should be ready fairly soon. When I get it set up I will link to it from here.

Thanks again to everyone who helped. Particular credit should go to Mom, Pat, Don, Eva, Paula, Brandy, DJ, Huff, Ben, Evan, Tiff, Lindsey, and Jenn.

Last Day Here

Well... here we are. It's Christmas Eve and I'm sitting on a private balcony overlooking an amazing tropical garden back where we started this whole adventure. Yesterday we checked out of our resort hotel at Sugar Beach right after breakfast. That place really went beyond our expectations. We had an amazing three days lounging and saw more tropical wildlife there than we did in the rain forest... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We drove and drove and drove. The roads. My goodness, someone could make a fortune in government contracts if they decided to repair, or in most cases pave them. The unpaved ones were the blessings, because at least you can grate a dirt road and don't have unexpected feet deep pot holes to contend with. Deadly. Driving the longest distance of any day we journeyed, and in this case, through mountainous passes in which unmarked, we were never certain whether we were even on the right road. (Hard to be sure if you are on a major interstate when suddenly it seems like the road has only been used to herd cattle.)

Don't get me wrong. The driving might have been our favorite part, despite the discomfort of actually doing it, we saw some of the most lovely parts of the country. We went through a really cowboy area where everyone was on horseback and had leather-holstered machetes (or were out in the feilds machete-ing away.) One guy was hitchhiking with a 12 inch knife on his hip. (We didn't pick him up.) These cowboys have a swagger that reminds me of home in a way. My dad would've loved it.

We paid my trumped up traffic ticket at a national bank in Liberia and made our way to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Finding the forest was a little tricky. When we got frustrated, we stopped at an Italian place for lunch. We ordered pizza expecting little personal sized ones and got two full sized pizzas. (Mine had gargonzola cheeze, asparagus, mushrooms, and motza with a homemade sauce... Mark got ham, both were wood-fired.) So cool. We ate outside and they served the pizza with flavored oils. One had hot peppers, and was actually so hot that even a little drop of the oil on the pizza made the bite flame with smoke out your ears. It was great. (I could have discovered this before I finished my diet coke.)

But we made it to the Cloud Forest and went on a short hike. We didn't hire a guide. We only had a hour or so before the park closed (at 4:30 pm... we left Sugar Beach at 8 am. That's how long it took us to drive approximately 200 kilometers.) We did pass some groups on the trail that had a guide. One guy was doing bird calls to try to get a quetzal to call back. They had a scope to view through. I watched for a while, but no birds were calling back and I was having a very hard time not laughing. This guy was doing some pretty good bird calls. The hike was really, really amazing. We went to a waterfall and then circled back to the beginning. There were some really lovely plants, a Ferngully tree that really amazed me, and moss and those rope-thingys hanging from everywhere. No one should miss how pretty the rain forest is. It started raining a really soft mist just as we left. We were trying to beat the sun down the mountain because these switchbacks were pretty daring and of course, there are no street lights. We didn't quite make it, but we got the worst of the pass behind us. When we finally made it to the freeway, some truck was backing up the traffic for miles going only 5 mph. We followed him for about an hour. Very agrivating because this road was paved and sans pot hole. We could've gone 80 kpm easy and should have been the easiest part of the drive. We drove up and down the streets of Atenas looking for our hotel. At this point, we had been driving for 12 hours. The hotel was not well marked and we spent about an hour looking for it. When we finally found it, it lacked amenities. It didn't have shampoo, or a tub (just a stall,) air conditioning, a tv, a coffeemaker, anything. And the plumbing was the kind where you have to put the paper in the wastebasket. It was actually more expensive than the all-inclusive resort. If it had been cheap, we probably would not have minded the lack of amenities... but it was priced at about four times what you get, so we were not excited about staying two days. (We reserved the "master suite" which was so small I kept hitting the walls on accident changing my clothes. -- We were expecting this to be the nicest place we stayed.) As soon as we woke up this morning, we checked out cancelling our second day on the chance that we could find something else. We drove around town for a while and I called the hotel we stayed at the first day when Mark was sick. It was very nice and he sort of missed out on enjoying the gardens. We got a room and relaxed a little.

It is Christmas Eve and everyone is very festive. They are setting up for the carnivals and parades during the Semana de Santas (Holiday week.) We ate at Denny's and returned the car. The car rental place shuttled us back to the hotel where we got showered and ready for the day. Today we plan on getting a taxi out to see a butterfly garden, the zoo, and if time permits, the "world of insects."

Tomorrow we fly home early. It would be nice if we could just stay on vacation for a month like the French do. We are having an amazing time.

Sugar Beach is Sweet

Yesterday was one of the best days I´ve had all year. Mark is better... he was starting to get better the day I last posted, but since then he has gotten to the point where he can really relax and enjoy himself. We have had such a blast! We alternate between holding hands walking on the beach, sitting in lounge chairs reading or watching the waves come in, sitting in the hammock by our patio and taking our meals with a beautiful panoramic view. Everything has fresh avocado in it.

We have seen some pretty crazy wildlife. I saw a coati (some cute long tailed rodent) walk past my hammock with a french photographer in tow. I saw a friendly one early that came up and licked my hand but this one was pretty scared (there was a guy with a bikini swim suit stalking him, so I don´t blame him.) We have also seen some very large lizards. I think the bigger ones, over a foot long, are iguanas. A couple were very, very bright green and as big as my forearm.

This has been fantastic. It´s hard to believe that we only have a few more days left. I think we stay here for one more night and check out tomorrow. On the way to the coffee plantation where we stay for the following two nights we are going to catch Monteverde Cloud Forest and a rain forest. The next day we want to see some butterfly gardens and one of the animal exhibits... a snake or crocodile farm, the ¨world of insects¨ or something like that. We already saw some kind of grasshopper as big as my hand.

I wish sitting on the ocean was a career.

More Later...

Mid-Honeymoon Update

Well, so much to say. Tabacon was really worth it. We relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of the place. Neither of us had ever gotten room service before, so we got Mark some ice cream and that was fun. The food is really good. So far, Mark hasn´t been able to eat anything, so I am enjoying this stuff myself. The flavor is unique - some kind of blend of Europe, Spanish (but definately not Mexican) and a strong influence of the tropical environment. I have tried many new things.

The evening we arrived at Tabacon, I went out for steak San Carlito style while Mark laid in bed feeling terrible (this is a recurring theme, so far). We had a balcony at Tabacon, and I sat out there and wrote in a journal after dark and drank coffee. It was really pretty. The volcano actually errupts. I don´t know why this is a surprise from an active volcano, but basically, I wasn´t expecting to be able to hear it. It sounds like thunder. The jungle is a noisy place at night. Lots of creatures come out. It was really peaceful to hear the mix of frogs, crickets, birds, and whatever else was out there.

The next morning I went to the buffet, which was amazing! Enchiladas for breakfast! Fresh tropical fruit, cut or in a smoothie, cheeses, delicious pastries (I had one with some kind of coconut and fruit filling) palm leave wrapped tamales. Everything was terrific. I can´t describe. Anyway, I got some pictures. Mark felt good, no fever for a few minutes in the morning so we went for a short walk. He gets wiped out quick, so I walked him back to the room. Luckily we had this huge bath with water piped in from the hot springs, so he took lots of baths. (And thank heavens for cable television).

I went down to the springs. Talk about hot tubbing. They had thousands of little rivers connected by waterfalls with many different pools of varying hottnesses and mineral contents. I sat under a waterfall and let it hit my back (very powerful) for a while and then moved to a private, quiet place to read from The Di Vinci Code, which I have wanted to read for a while.

After a nap, we left and drove this crazy windy road up this huge hill and actually got to use our 4WD to get to our next hotel. It was at the top of a hill next to the volcano. The accommodations were sparse, but the view was wonderful and it had AC and a bath, so Mark survived (we had the laptop so he watched movies... no tv.) I went for a short walk and went to sleep for 12 hours. The combination of altitude and humidity is very tiring.

That brings us to this morning. Today was our longest drive from the volcano to the beach so we left early while Mark was feeling better and right after we ate. (I had fried plantain!) The roads are so filled with pot holes that it was hard to exceed 40 kph, which I think is like 20 mph. This went on for 5 hours. The scenery was basically savannah, like what you would expect to see in the desert in Africa. Those cool trees included.

We arrived at the Sugar Beach Hotel where we will be for the next three days around 3. I ate while Mark napped from the trip. I think his fever finally broke, because he was much, much better today. This hotel is really incredible. Infinity pool overlooking the beach, AC controlled by remote control, very nice menu (I had chicken nachos) and huge private balcony with two sets of sliding doors and our own hammock. I´ll spend a lot of time there.

Tonight we will drive in to town for medicines and supplies that we don´t want to get at the hotel and rest. Over the next three days we plan on lounging. Because Mark was sick and we missed our canopy tours through the jungle, if he gets feeling better, we will go on one here. There are a few rain forests nearby.

More to come...

Welcome to Costa Rica

Wow!

The flight was very exhausting (especially for Mark, who is still feeling under the weather) but we made it. We took a very exciting taxi ride to our hotel marking the fact that we are in a foreign place. Our driver was muy rapido.

Luckily my Spanish is coming back really quickly. I'm sort of surprising myself and Mark with how much I can understand and communicate.

Our hotel is VERY luxurious. I was nervous because to get here, we had to drive through a neighborhood where every building had a barbed wire security fence around it... and then we turned the corner to see this huge pillared beautiful building with a big brass statue and gardens in the turn about. Service was so courteous and I felt like we entered a palace where we were king and queen.

Our room has a private balcony with a hilltop view of the city. It was pretty last night, sparkling with the city's lights, but this morning was even better. We are surrounded by beautiful mountains and the flora makes the cityscape worth enjoying over a cup of homegrown coffee.

When Mark felt up to it we walked through the gardens on the hotel grounds. They were huge, with tons of ponds, mini waterfalls and fountains, crazy tropical plants I've never seen before that look fake, and several birdwatching towers (we went up there just to get a different view of the gardens).

Then we went into the restaurant and got some fresh tropical fruit, and assorted breads for breakfast. I felt sorry for Mark for being allergic to pineapple because I don't think I've ever tasted any so delicious.

That pretty much brings us up to date, and it's only 7:00 am. This country is very beautiful. I was worried about driving on the streets after that taxi ride, but today is Sunday and the roads are very quite. In a couple hours, our car rental will be delivered and we will drive up to the Arenal Volcano area. If we feel up to it, we planned on stopping by the La Paz waterfall for lunch on the way. We spend tonight at the Tabacon Resort at the base of the active volcano.

I think I will have opportunities to update my blog regularly while we are away. This is so wonderful. It sounds cliche, but I wish you were here. We could've gotten married in these gardens.

I will say, the wedding was everything I hoped and more. I thought is was very nice. I hope those of you who shared it with us concur.

Later,
Mrs. McCowen

0 - Wedding Day

Wow. We're married. Sorry I didn't post over the last couple of days. Things got crazy. I didn't sleep at all for several days.

Mark got the flu. Marissa broke her arm and Eva had to spend all day in the ER getting her casted.

But, it all went together so beautifully. Everything was very beautiful, the weather was perfect, the backyard looked really nice. The food was as delicious as it looked and the deserts were so great. I really have a lot of people to thank for pulling together so many of the details that made the day great. Thank you.

3

I am too busy to even post how busy I am.

I took my last final today, so the semester is finally over for me and I can move on to things I actually care about.

It's 5 hours passed my bedtime, so I'm obviously making the most of the fact that I don't have to do any higher level thinking when I wake up.

I rented the VIP clubhouse at our apartment for Thursday from 3 pm-midnight so we have a bigger venue to continue our set up party when the set up part is over. They have a big screen, big couches around a table that should be good for games, a kitchen, and a private patio with a pool. We don't have to use it, but it's there for us if we want to.

Ben would really like to go see a hockey game. Wayne Gretzky coaches our team and there is a homegame on Thursday night at 7. It would be great if someone else wants to go to, since he can't drive himself. Let me know if your a fan and this sounds fun to you.

Beyond that, I'm going to go wash my face, brush my teeth and drop into one of the deepest and shortest sleeps of my life.

But first, I want to give a big shout out to all my slaves. You know who you are. Thank you.

5

This just occurred to me today: I'm getting married on FRIDAY!!!!

Very exciting... very hard to concentrate on tasks at hand. We're having a blast and trying to stay on task.

I don't know what to say because everything that is going on is task-oriented so the only thoughts I have time for are "only x more days" and "can you believe how fast this time is going?" and "It's already time to do last minute stuff!"

That last one is the one that keeps getting me. I took my pill to prevent malaria for the honeymoon yesterday. Yet another marker of the time.

Mark is reconsidering his fashion statement and I'm trying to talk him out of bending to social pressure to conform. I think it is important that the day reflect our personalities and tastes when it's appropriate. If major label designers can do it, I say, so can he. (I wanted him to wear clean looking destroyed jeans with a colored shirt and sports jacket with elegant shoes and belt.) Post on the link to his blog to support me!

Things To Do In Phoenix Next Week

ACTIVITIES IN CHANDER/PHOENIX AREA - Cheap or Free - more expensive as you go down the list

Comment: Phoenix is a BIG metropolitean city. Whatever you want to do, phoenix can provide it for you. You want a Turkish Heritage Days? We probably have that. You want full nude motorcycle racing? We probably have that, too. So consider this list heavily abridged and get a “New Times” or “Rep” magazine when you get here if there is something specific you want to do (or to imagine the possibilities)

CASA GRANDE RUINS - Indian ruins from the extinct Hohokam tribe - adobe complex and standing multistory “big house.” You can walk right up to the ruins and touch them. 20 minute drive. A couple of bucks (1 or 3, not sure) for admission. Includes museum and informational video.

SOUTH MT HIKING - Free. Trails range from easy to very challenging, most offer beautiful panoramic views of the city at the top. Don’t hike without water. (But if you want something insanely beautiful, you need to hike Camelback Mt just before sunrise… however this hike is Extremely difficult - it took me three tries to make it to the top. If you are in good physical condition, this is the best. Take a snack to enjoy at the top.)

GEMINID METEOR SHOWER - City light pollution and a full moon the next day may wash out the effect of this once a year meteor shower, but we are just a short drive from the middle of the barren desert, where you might see more. If you're back home before this occurs, you'll probably get a better view in a rural location.

BACH ORGAN RECITAL - Free. 7pm Dec 16, St. Barnabas on the Desert, Scottsdale

CHINESE CULTURAL CENTER - Free. Japanese gardens, food, usually some kind of presentation (dancing, martial arts display, etc) museum, etc. (20 minutes away)

ARIZONA’S LARGEST GINGERBREAD HOUSE -Free. On display at Pointe South Mountain Resort (the resort has a waterslide)

SCOTTSDALE INDIAN MARKET - Free. Swap meet for Native American food, jewelry, rugs, pottery and other art. Parada Hall and Convention Center 7303 E Earll Drive Scottsdale.

GIFT TRUNK SHOW - Free. Dec 14 only arts and crafts trunk swap meet. (www.thetrunkspace.com)

MILL AVENUE SHOPPING - The hip drag to be seen at with all kinds of eclectic shops, entertainment, restaurants.

MESA TEMPLE - CHRISTMAS PAGEANT? (I know they do one for Easter and have touristy stuff)

SKATEPARKS - free. cement ramps/street obstacles - world famous (I’ll even loan you my skateboard if you don’t have one)

CASINOS - There are ten local casinos. They always have free concerts and fun events to lure gambling naives to their doors. Too much to list.

ZOO LIGHTS - this event starts at sundown at the zoo. You can see some nocturnal animals, but you should be there mainly for the light show. Some animated to music displays are pretty cool. Great fun for the kids, who are going to want you to buy them a glow stick, guaranteed. Tickets (if purchased in advance at Fry’s Grocery Store) are $1-3 each. ($5-8 otherwise) 20 minute drive

IMAX, MOVIES, SHOPPING AREAS - The “Big” Mall is the biggest Mall in Arizona, has a 24-Plex, and IMAX theatre and 3 miles of shops. King Kong debuts Thur Dec 15.

CELEBRATION OF LIGHTS - $12 per carload to drive 2 miles through an animated light display. 45+ minute drive.

ORGANSTOP PIZZA - The pizza is o.k. Go there for the Organ. It’s one of those big pipes all over the walls kinds. The player is a showman, the organ rotates on a raised platform while he plays - you request the tunes - he knows all of them. Light shows. Very fun. You just pay for the meal - $15-20 per pizza. It might sound dumb, but it is a total blast.

FIDDLESTICKS, GOLFLAND, CASTLES & COASTERS - Three typical amusement venues, mini-golf, water bumper cars, buggies on race tracks… that sort of thing… in ascending order they get “bigger” and more expensive. We can find discounted admissions or coupons for these if someone wants us to look.

DESERT BOTANICAL GARDENS - ($8-$16) 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm 45,000 candles illuminate trails. / or an alternative is Boyce Thompson Arboretum (a more expensive admission Desert Garden, but of course, better gardens/trails - no light show that I know of)

PHOENIX ART MUSEUM is doing a lingerie over the years display for all you perverts.

OTHER FREE ART GALLERIES (with featured displays )
Artspace in Scottsdale (all works)
ASU downtown center gallery (high school advanced work)
Burton barr central library (humour illustrations)
Chandler Center for the Arts (quilts)
Cline Fine Arts (“eyes”)
Danela/May Gallery at the Borgata (Southwestern art)
Desert Eagle Fine Arts (rocks: from fossils to diamond jewelry)
Kerr Cultural center (Local artists)
Larsen Gallery (pastel life drawings - that’s the art-word for “nude” for all you perverts)

THEATRE/CONCERT/COMEDY -
Temple Little Theatre presents: Over the River and Through the Woods, Downtown Tempe Daily 8pm, 2pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
Shakespeare Theatre presents: Much Ado about Nothing. W-Sat 2pm, 8pm at Phoenix Little Theatre, $15 adv -20 at the door
Actor’s theatre presents: A Christmas Carol, Herberger Theatre - Tickets (602) 252-8497 ($16-25)
Ballet Arizona presents: Nutcracker Symphony Hall - Tickets (602) 381-1096 ($10-102)
Phoenix Symphony presents: Handel’s Messiah - Tickets (602) 495-1999 ($28)
Center Dance Ensemble presents: Snow Queen, Herberger Theatre - Tickets (602) 252-8497 ()
Phoenix Boys Choir Concert 16th, 17th, 18th only ($10-30)
DJ BT plays at club MYST in Scottsdale Dec 16.
Glen Miller Orchestra , Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, Scottsdale Dec 16 ($25 - gen, $5 for students 5-18)
Rogue Wave 8:30pm Dec 15 Modified Arts, Phoenix ($9)
The Aquabats with Goons of Doom and Valiant Thor at Marquee Theatre, Mill Dec 15, 7pm, $13-15
The Lovemakers play with She Wants Revenge and Rock Kills Kid at the Brick house Dec 16, 7pm $10
Clutch with Elliot Whitmore play at Marguee Theatre, Mill, Dec 18 at 8pm ($18-20)
All I never wanted for Christmas stand-up with Jeremy Scott, Stu Baker, Don Steinmetx, Robert Fata, benefits Toys for Tots, 7:30pm Dec 15 ($10 or $5 with new, unwrapped toy)
Valley Youth Improv at Valley Youth Theatre, Dec 17 at 7pm $5

“SHOWS” (Car shows, boat shows) Desert Sky Pavilions

GOLF - Phoenix is a golf mecca, but it is peak season, so start your game after 1pm and The Legacy Resort only charges $35 any day of the week (1-800-796-4461) 6808 S 32nd Street (10 minutes) - This is a pretty typical green fee… you shouldn’t have to pay more… shop around, lots of competition (of course the world class greens go for 100+ per round…).

SPORTS - (College season will be over, so just pro - see listings for home game days/times)
I am not totally sure what all the sports in season are. I think we have football, baseball, and hockey right now. Tickets range from $10 in the upper bleachers to $1000 courtside and everywhere in between.
Cardinals Football,
Diamondbacks baseball
Suns baseball
Coyotes Hockey (Dec 20 home game)
Roadrunners Hockey (lower division)

SANTA’S THEME PARK - ($23-adult $18-kids/seniors) Firebird Int’l Raceway sponsored event, 74 foot tree, 50 amusement park rides, carnival… I don’t know what admission tickets cost. 10 minute drive. Muscians, Magicians, puppets, white tigers, fireworks. There are also races every Friday night - amateurs…

7

The more real this whole thing gets, the more unreal it feels. It's a race against time to see how many loose ends I can trim. Nothing left is terribly important - yet I feel compelled to complete every last detail.

My tooth is mostly recovered, so I'm back on the job as a full-time math geek.

I love that I get excited about math. I mean, some people never get excited about anything. At least I have something I enjoy thinking about, even if it removes me from most social conversation circles. ("Here comes Mona. As soon as she starts talking about math, if I do this with my pinkie, ask me to help you find the bathroom.")

Anyway... Eva's here tomorrow. Let the crafts begin.

My friend Tiffany mixes her two interests: math with anthropology. And it works, because ancient societies had numerical systems and calculated complex calendars and stuff. If I can figure out how to combine math with crafts... then life will be perfect.

8

Make that 3 coldsores...

I think I did passable on the final I took today. I did something funny early in every problem that gave me bad algebra and it took me a while to figure out that every answer was wrong. I had time to rework all but one, once I realized my error.

Tonight is another study marathon.

I need sleep.

9

I'm only allowed to think about school right now. Final right after work.

I'm getting a cold sore.

My Papers

Should I post my academic writings? Is anyone interested in reading them?

10

It is so hard to focus on school right now. I have a final in two days and I still need to do the homework for the whole chapter. It just hasn't been as exciting as everything else that's got to be done.

It's just little details now. Everything left is fun stuff. I think what I like the most is that each day when we (Mark and I) work on stuff, it feels so epic. Even doing the dishes feels epic (because at this point even keeping the housework up is part of getting ready for the wedding.)

Maybe it's the vicodan, (for my tooth) but everything feels so surreal.

Yesterday the painter finished our wall, I got all the final numbers to the caterer, finished all the major assignments for most of my classes, got my tooth pulled, and coordinated stuff. Today, I attended my last day of class, set up some food orders to finalize tomorrow, did my household jobs for the week (not all of them, I'm kind of a slacker right now - need a maid,) and my weekend is over. Tonight... homework, homework, homework. (I hope I can concentrate!)

From the Beginning

Everything always works out in the end. That's something to keep in mind.

I had a tooth extracted this morning, so I've been hopped up on narcotics, feeling weird and icky all day, and trying desperately and unsuccessfully to take care of very important details that I thought HAD to be done today: the rental equipment (without a final RSVP count,) my last chapter work for one of my math classes (advice: don't attempt complex mathematics while hopped up on narcotics,) and two research papers (note: you can proof read while hopped up on narcotics, that's not impossible.)

As it turns out, the rental people gave me until tomorrow. The math teacher mysteriously extended our due date to Wednesday. The only thing I had to accomplish today was the only thing I could handle, and the papers are looking pretty good.

Because everything always works out in the end.

And Counting

Two weeks to go.

My thoughts are so all over the place that I am not even sure where to go with them. As if I don't have enough to do, I'm squeezing in oral surgery next week for a tooth that decided it had to act up right now. Crazy.

I am really appreciating mathematics right now in ways that are hard to describe. I'm writing a paper about the summary of what mathematics is and how it evolved. It is like DNA. There are maybe three simple ideas that capture all the information in the world.

Side Note: The length and width and decahedran spiral of DNA follow golden proportions of phi, a single healthy cell can be inscribed into a golden rectangle, and the ideal adult body made up of those cells is made up of hundreds of phi ratio relationships.

Everything in math is like this. Some little thing bundles all of this greater information. The more complex ideas basically prove themselves... fall out of basic ideas. The fact that such a wealth of interrelated ideas comes from such a simple core of axioms is impossible to grasp. My class had a small discussion that led to God in trying to understand how this all works.

As far as school goes, I'm scheduling my time very carefully so that I can be well prepared for finals in advance. As the wedding approaches, I don't want to be cramming. If I don't have it down by then, cramming probably won't help anyway.

Thank you for reading this. I don't keep in touch, and I feel like I've made some kind of intimate contact with someone who loves me everytime I see my counter move.

I think there comes a time in life when it becomes very important to foster these relationships of meaning with family. It's so easy to do your own thing and get caught up in the excitement of whatever life is giving you at the moment. But, I'm at that time where having a network of loved ones who know me is more important than having an exciting anonymous life.

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.

Am I too old for this?

I am cutting out of class early to go trick-or-treating. I'm going as a princess this year. Last year, I was a courtesan... so I'm moving up in the universe.

I am not having any candy, though. I decided to be healthy leading up to the wedding, since I have enough to worry about without my body feeling crappy...

Good thing I love salad. What princess doesn't?

Square-ty Plants

I plant a plant every year on the anniversary of Dad's death, and every year, without fail, the plants quickly dies. This year is no exception. The leaves on the rose Evan and I put in just over a month ago are already turning brown. Irony?

Maybe I should just plant perennials.

FoxTrot

Yesterday's comic was so funny, that I'm providing you with a link.

Puzzling

I have started a new daily ritual. Instead of "relaxing" while I drink my morning coffee, I've been doing a logic puzzle. Afterward, when I tackle my homework, my mind seems to be more alert and functional. My recent favorite is a new kind of puzzle called Sudoku. Try it and you'll be hooked. ASU also has a puzzle of the week which is pretty fun.

If you want to be a millionaire, just solve a Millennium Problem. There are 7 one-million dollar prizes available.

Another all time favorite learning game is TextTwist.

Have fun!

Two to much too coincidental

So, I had two math classes today on two totally unrelated fields/topics with two very different teachers, who within 20 minutes of each other randomly went off onto their own storytelling tangent and completely coincidentally told exactly the same story.

The story was interesting, but so was the fact that Math professors must not have too many interesting stories to tell. They're plagerizing each other's best stuff.

So the story goes, that this kid (true story) is some kind of amazing genius, but gets himself into a social situation so he has to be in a duel. He knows he's going to lose, so he spends all night writing down all of his genius Math stuff, gives it to his friend to give to Gauss, who he thinks might be smart enough to understand it. Then he dies the next day in his early twenties. The stuff he wrote down is an entire field of Mathematics (ha ha - Field theory.) And he's one of the most famous dudes in Math. (He wrote down a bunch of other stuff, apparently that gets him noted, at least today, in more than one discipline as a father of the stuff.

Someone in my class cracked that by using his last night to record his discoveries, he studied for the wrong exam.

Speaking of exams, can you hear the deep sigh of momentary relief?

Math-ter of my Domain.

I mailed our wedding invites yesterday. It felt like I was doing something momentous that I should take a cheesy picture of me slipping them through the mail slot. Until I realized that I forgot to put on the pretty return address stickers I bought. Oh well. We have the lease for a year. I'll still get to use them.

If you don't see an invitation soon, you're probably not invited. Don't take it personally. We're only inviting 24 people. Everyone else just gets an announcement. Call me if you want to come and weren't invited and maybe you can persuade me. (Maybe it was an honest mistake that I didn't think you would want to come or want to make you feel obligated. But keep in mind, it's a really small event in a really small venue. -- However, there were three people I would've invited if I had addresses for them.)

We're well along with the wedding stuff. We have our caterer, attire, flowers, rental equipment, vendors, invites, decorations, celebrant, honeymoon reservations, and rings. We still have to sew up the details on music, alterations, replacing lost passports, and those kinds of last minute things. Otherwise, it came together pretty easily.

School is going really splendedly. I love having to coordinate this many things in my brain. I have a lot going on.

If you are in my DQ class, we're having a open invitation study session on Sunday 2pm in the Nobel Library to prep for Exam II.

My Math History teacher said that early philosophers named the math theories and formulas so that you could swear at them in particular instead of just cursing the entire subject. Pretty clever idea, I think....

We're just going on and on and on about the baffling properties of the Fibbinacci numbers. Very weird stuff happens. The relationship is like this: F = 1 + 1/F. Isn't that mysterious? It also has a lot to do with constructing pentagrams. Maybe that's why some people associate science and witchcraft (paganism.)

I also learned that the Pythagorean Society (secret society symbol: pentagram) collectively murdered a guy for revealing that square root of two was irrational. It gives a new meaning to the cut-throat culture of academia.

Typing Math Stuff in Word

I don't know how I never figured this out before, but you can type in symbolic math notation in Word (and I use an older version.) I've always wanted to type nice fractions that actually stack on top. Now I can and so can you. Here's how you do it:

Go to "Insert" from the pull-downs and select "object," then from the "create new" menu, "Microsoft Equation Editor 3.0." From there, you will get a massive menu of options that is not to hard to figure out. There are shortcuts (I kept accidentally making an integral.) To get the object to act like any other character in your text, right click on it and select "format object" and under the tab "position," uncheck the box marked "float over text."

It takes a while to get used to but make very beautiful notes or typed homework assignments.

I Heart Los Angeles

So, for the first time in history, I celebrated Labor Day NOT at work. We found out on Thursday that we both had the three day weekend off... so we wisked ourselves off to Los Angeles. We stayed in a very nice hotel. We met the bf's family for dinner - take out from my fave place there, ZanKou. It's middle eastern food. Yum.

On Sunday we woke up super early and had a big day. Farmer's Market, Breakfast at a Hollywood Blvd cafe, book collecting at some specialty shops, Melrose for some fashionable clothes for me - hit a flea market for more. Off to the beach, lunch in Santa Monica. To the hotel to rest a bit... then to a play with a few recognizable stars leading (We saw "Dead End" at the Almanson Theatre) and walked around the area. We ate pizza for dinner in our hotel room and then caught up with the bf's family again - they also had a big day at Magic Mountain.

Monday we lounged around, went out to eat and then went to the largest music store in the West to get some great finds (I got a collection of Django Reinhardt and we discovered an experimental group called Muslim Gause... check it out if you can find it. The CD we got is called "Sufiq" and it is amazing.) We had a private screening of some film school reels and some extra home footage that was very fun to see for the first time. And then, sadly, it was time for the drive home.

It was Europe-league fun.

Summer's Over

Last night - at roughly 9pm, I took off my ill-fitting shoes and walked barefoot for a fateful five minutes. As a result, I have huge burn blisters all over the bottom of my feet. So, make no mistake, summer is still here in Arizona. I'm walking very carefully. Bad timing, since I have to walk nearly a mile to get from the parking lot to class (one way) and I guess I should be grateful that I'm not doing it barefeet in 5 feet of snow, but at least that wouldn't hurt as bad.

On the other hand, I've sampled all of my classes and I am very excited for the semester. It is going to be a real serious challenge, but I am relieved to think that it's nothing I can't handle! (And don't let me kid myself - I love to challenge myself.)

Marriage

When I hear news that someone is pregnant, the question that pops into my head is "am I supposed to be happy for them, or sad?" That's bad, but not all pregnancies are greeted with equal anticipation and, technically, this could be bad news.

Likewise with marriage. Since I've been divorced, I know that all marriages are also not greeted with equal anticipation because some are made in such bad judgement at the time that when I hear the news, the question that pops into my head is "I wonder how long this one's going to last." It's sad, but the national average on marriage longevity and the "it's just not working out" mentality justify the thought. Most engaged couples are carried away by romance and have unrealistic expectations anyway.

Knowing this, it is still irritating when people ask me "are you still getting married?" I guess people either don't expect an engagement to last more than six weeks or expect me to come to my senses and decide that the lending my eight year relationship the cultural credibility of marriage is a bad idea afterall. And when someone who hasn't talked to me in a while asks, "are you still with that same boyfriend?" it reinforces our expectation for failure. What happened to our society? Why are we so cynical? Why is it a social anomaly that both our parents were never divorced? What happened to making an effort?

From Discovery to Invention to Discovery

My journey with math has traversed a richly textured landscape of emotion: from the highest highs of discovery to the lowest lows of invention… I struggle with the question: "if we make up math as we go to fit the conditional desirability of the result, is the coincidence of getting that result elegant?" Today, I feel like the roller coaster has swept me up into the mysterious beauty of the world of math once again. The answer today is "Of course the result is elegant! It reflects the beautiful world we are desperately trying to describe – and so, our approximation of this world lends beauty to the math world." It is not pure invention, in the sense that we define math to reflect the actual world we live in. I am reading "The Math Gene" by Keith Devlin. I am finding it to be inspiring, motivational, and recommend it as a simple read for anyone who doesn’t like or feels they don’t have an aptitude for math. It makes the relevancy of all the arbitrary notions of math apparent.

I like what Devlin says about the invention/discovery debate. He points out the fact that two people on different sides of the planet can come up with basically the same idea in much the same way at roughly the same time... If Shakespeare had not lived, no one else could have written "Hamlet." But, it is likely that eventually we would end up with the same mathematical ideas regardless of Euclid or any other "great inventor."

I wish I had read it prior to taking "Math Structures." Because, I didn’t know what I was supposed to be learning until the end of the class when I "figured out" what math was (and how it has nothing in particular to do with manipulating numbers and notation at all.)