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.)

Franz Kafka

"I stand on the end platform of the tram and am completely unsure of my footing in this world, in this town, in my family. Not even casually could I indicate any claims that I might rightly advance in any direction. I have not even any defense to offer for standing on this platform, holding on to this strap, letting myself be carried along by this tram, nor for the people who give way to the tram or walk quietly along or stand gazing into shop windows. Nobody asks me to put up a defense, indeed, but that is irrelevant."

Kaizen

I learned a cool word.

Kaizen: The Japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from words 'Kai' means continuous and 'zen' means improvement.

The same japanese word Kaizen is pronounced as 'Gai San' in chinese meaning : The action to correct.

~
The principle is to apply kaizen in miniscule doses on something you've tried unsuccessfully to correct in big ways in the past.

I am feeling some noticable differences by doing this. Particularly with my eating. I just decided to only eat while seated at the kitchen table, and only foods that take my personal time (not the microwave) to prepare. So, I reduce my desire to snack unnecessarily, since I am fundamentally too lazy to prepare something if I'm not genuinely needing to eat.

I've added lots of little things since I started and it's pretty cool.

On the wedding front, I got all the decorations and flowers set up. There are only a few things left to do, but they are all pretty time consumingly major.... Food, renting stuff, registry, and announcements.

I have four weeks until school drops back in. I can't wait to flex my brain again. I've had a great time turning it into a sponge with novels and projects, but it likes the challenge.

Back to Work

I got my certification just in time to ruin my fine vacation I was having and I started back up Tuesday night. I've been spending time over at Jennifer's since Mark and Scott got back from LA so that we can all enjoy each other and I come home only to sleep. We've been firing up the grill every night and really relaxing.

I still would rather be in Utah, but at least I only missed a week of work, so figuring out the money won't be as complicated.

I found all of my accessories except my slip and jewelry for the Big Day. If any of you has a balldress slip (the kind that add volumn with tulle, not bone hoop) or jewelry I could borrow, let me know.

Wedding Planning

I don't want to clog my blog with wedding planning, but I do want to share it with you if you are interested, so I have created a wedding site.

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/MonaChristensen&MarkMcCowen

You may RSVP online there, find information, and follow along on the planning if you like. I'm ordering my dress today, so it's starting to get exciting. I tried it on yesterday and it was an easy choice.

On a different note, I'm on administrative suspension from work because I accidentally let my certification expire, so I am temporarily doing a day schedule and have lots of free time. I could be off for 4 weeks. DJ's friend has agreed to take me to Utah for the family camp, so I will get a little vacation out of the deal.

My Wedding Rings

This is my ring. The brilliant sparkle makes it hard to capture the detail. It is around 100 years old and is a family heirloom. Mark gave it to me on our recent trip to Northern Arizona. We camped in the White Mountains, went to the Petrified Forest, walked Flagstaff, hopped rocks in Oak Creek, Sedona, and walked around Prescott, Jerome, and more. It was lovely.

Getting My Rings

Right before getting my engagement ring we were watching the sunset that is almost peeking out in this picture. We walked down to the lakeside, and Mark was standing behind me with his arm around me while we watched the colors. It was a beautiful moment and we compared it to our relationship... it just gets better and better. He turned me to face him and he was holding the ring at his heart. He couldn't remember what he had planned to say, but no words were necessary. I put it on and we bear hugged while I, of course, cried big happy tears. It is symbolic and ironic that we went straight from that moment to the Petrified Forest.

Scrapbooking

I'm out of school and enjoying the freetime. My sister got me interested in scrapbooking and the rest is history. I've been putting together the memories from our first Europe vacation to England and Wales. It's been a fun outlet for relaxing and troublesomely addictive.

The Moon and the Ants on Earth.

New out in theatres today is Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. I can recommend the book; I plan to reread it during my Summer Leisure. I hope to catch the movie this weekend - I heard that it ends with "Six times nine is fourty-two." (Which is silly. Unless you're in base 13. Then it's just remarkably cool, since it was not on purpose, to the happy surprise of the author.)

Someone in NASA has a crack-smoking crazy plan to beam sunlight off of Mars through radio waves onto Earth to fill our energy deficit. (So, I guess radio waves wouldn't contribute to planetary warming? - I'm not a trekkie, so I'm not sure.)

Today on NPR - Talk of the Nation "Science Friday" the topic was:
"Appearances of and references to mathematics in popular culture have been used creatively and effectively in mathematics courses to reduce math anxiety and motivate students.With math sneaking in to primetime television, can we learn to love fractions and geometry, even calculus? We’ll also talk about the clash of cultures between mathematicians and TV writers behind-the-scenes. "

The program was interesting enough to recommend and will be archived for your listening pleasure sometime in the very near future on the Science Friday Homepage.

The most interesting was a certain desert ant which can zig-zag all over the place looking for food but once it is located, it can turn face home and walk exactly the distance required... if you move the ant it will turn the way home would have been and walk exactly the distance it should have been able to walk, get there and get confused. This is a very complex multivariable type of Trigonomotry called "dead reckoning" which, NASA supposedly used to retrieve the crew of a space mission that crashed - but I can't find anything supporting that.

Puzzling Handshake

A fun puzzle: [hint- try making a chart - this is geared for 5th graders so it's fun not hard.]

A group of people met at a party. Each person shook hands with everyone else only once. Mr. Li shook hands with 3 times as many men as women. Mrs. Li shook hands with 4 times as many men as women. How many men and women were there at the party?

I hate shaking hands. Especially because it is such a socially masculine thing. If a woman shakes strong, people think she envies men or wants to overpower men or some such nonsense. But if she shakes weak, people think -typical girlie-girl- the poor thing barely has the strength to grip. So no matter what, you are regenerating a stereotype everytime a woman shakes hands. What's a girl to do?

Tensioners

Question: What does an insomniac agnostic dyslectic do late at night?
Answer: Lie awake wondering about the existence of dog

So finals are next week. I’m trying to stay calm but if there’s anything I’ve learned in my statistics class, it’s that I can predict with 95% confidence that I should fail to reject my hypothosis that I’ll have to retake analytical calculus. Even my sense of humor right now is pretty geek-tastic.

I am trying to postpone concern over non-school related pressing matters until a week from Monday when it will all be over. I am also trying to work in my best scholastic effort without murdering anyone. One really can’t critically think on this level all day long everyday for sixteen weeks. It’s just not healthy. So after studying for 5-6 hours, I went to the gym today and cuddled with Mark on the couch watching a documentary on the history of video games. [It was actually really cool. I had totally forgotten about Conseco.]

Simpsons

I wondered today in class if "Simpson's Rule" has anything to do with the Simpsons, so I looked it up and I found these gems... (for more, go to simpsonsmath.com)

Lisa, armed with a measuring tape, helps Bart play miniature golf.
Lisa: The basis of this game seems to be simple geometry. All you have to do is hit the ball … here.
[The ball is hit, gets bounced around, and goes into the hole.]
Bart: I can’t believe it. You’ve actually found a practical use for geometry!


Stark Raving Dad
Michael Jackson: Homer, this is Floyd. He’s an idiot savant – give him any two numbers and he can multiply them in his head, just like that.
Homer: OK, 5 times 9!
Floyd: 45.
Homer: Wow


Homer is taking his physical exam at the nuclear power plant.
Scientist: This can't be right. This man has 104% body fat! [turns to Homer] Hey, no eating in the tank!
Homer: [eating a chicken drumstick] Go to hell.

Programming

This seems ironic. Mind control uses a process called programming.

... and so does TV.

This is creepy, too. It's from dictionary.com:

To train to perform automatically in a desired way, as if programming a machine: programmed the children to use perfect table manners.
To prepare an instructional sequence for (material to be taught) in programmed instruction. (I.E. School)

Surprises

I found out on the way home from school today that my friend Meraj had her baby girl two nights ago! Very early, so scary but exciting. It's her first.

As I finished my workout at the gym, the Sun Lakes Big Band was just finishing setting up for a special free event in the aerobics class room so I rolled up a exercise ball and watched until intermission... so cool. I was grinning from ear to ear! And I thought all the gym was good for was the equipment.

I Still Can't Believe It

My sister, brother and nephew are here. Ben is improving, but his situation really sucks. He's in for a lot and he still doesn't know he's lost his wife.

I have to go to court for the burglary, which means staying up for 30 hours straight before a test Wednesday.

Everything is chaotic.