Grand Canyon

I am glad that I have seen the Grand Canyon. Would I have had that opportunity had someone not punched a nice paved road right to the edge? Probably not. I did hike down to the bottom without an elevator. Someone else may have done the same without even the road to the edge. Should their committment/ability be the yardstick? Should mine? Should the 80-year-old in the wheelchair who will never get to the bottom set the standard for facilitated enjoyment?

I don't have those answers.

I hope Julian gets there some day and I hope that it's not a theme park or a shopping mall.

Maybe we should all take our youngins for an outing and inspect it ourselves. Anybody free in October?

The un-tech wife finally responds

Finally took a mom-ment (as a mom, I don't get many moments to learn something new, like blogging. Who thought of that word, anyway? Sounds like an uncomfortable health problem, like after sitting on an airplane for 10 hours, "Mom - my tummy hurts. I think I am blogged!)

PBS Kids

For those of you who have not already visited, PBSkids.org has lots of great stuff. Julian has learned to click and drag. They have jigsaw puzzles, pattern and shape recognition, stories, art projects, music, much more than we have even begun to tap into during our 7 or 8 visits.

We would appreciate similar tips.

Pi Day

"We few of us out there who are open with our love of math - who are unabashed math lovers - for us, this is the day where we get to let our hair down and be silly." - St. Olaf College's (Doug's Alma Mater) Luke Anderson, on celebrating Pi Day on March 14 (that is, 3.14) - as quoted in Newsweek.

Makes me wonder how many are not open with their love of math. Are they closet math lovers?

Monstrosity? Cool new thing?

What do you guys think of the new Skywalk at the Grand Canyon? It's a 4,000-foot high sidewalk over the vastness of the Big Ditch. Is it a new way to experience the grandeur or a blatant commercialization of national treasures?


Click on the pic for more pictures.

This is Dave and Shaun. Dave has the beard.

In trigonometry we have the Law of Sines. This law says that in any triangle the ratio of the length of side A to the sine of the angle A is equal to the ratio of the length of side B to the sine of the angle B.

In herbology, they have the Law of Signs. This law says that what you see is what you get. One can tell that broccoli is good for the nervous system because broccoli looks like a brain. Beets announce their benefits for the circulatory system with their blood red color. Cheeseweed, found growing up in cracks of sidewalks, is good for breaking up kidney stones.

David follows the Law of Auditory Signs.

The magnanimity of his soul manifests in the mellifluousness of his voice.

It's Growing

I may turn this bloggin thang into a math problem.

We started with 1 post on March 15th and by March 20th we had 14 posts. Assuming exponential growth, create a mathematical model that would predict the number of posts for any given date in the future. Use your model to predict the number of posts posted by March 31. How would your answer change if we assume that the growth followed a logistic model instead?

That makes each of you precalculus fodder.

Fashionably Late?

Tony's brainchild is up and running, and I have chosen this moment to sweep in and post. Here's a photo of myself, Aysha (the first offspring) and Karla (my co-offspringer). We, like Tony, Diana and Julian, are planning to leave the comfortable international lifestyle and return to North America. For us home will be a little ski town called Fernie in interior BC.

I had no idea when I pointed Tony towards a Calculus blog that such a community would develop.

Good work Tony on getting the feed setup.

Go Roooaaarrrr

The people I work with have got to be the funniest in the world. Everyday we all laugh and laugh. And it's the mix of people that make it work. We each have our quirks and our strengths.
And when one of us is gone, it's really not the same. But when we are together, it's like perfection.

Last week we were laughing about this video.
We are constantly quoting it. "Who's got laser eye?" (in a southern twang) "You don't got laser eye!" and "Come on. Say roar like you mean it!"

The people you work with make it or break it. And my friends make it awesome everyday. I'm very thankful for them.

I hope you all have something in your life that makes you smile everyday. Happy St. Patrick's Day!



pic by anindya_c

Test Question

It would seem that I have figured this out.

This question appeared on the quiz I gave yesterday. Try it if you want. If you can't figure it out then perhaps give it to your child to chew on.

Patty Machen, Tes Phillips, Jonathan Machen

Patty Machen, Tes Phillips, Jonathan Machen
Originally uploaded by elfhaiku.

Patty is the angel on the right. The angel in the middle, Tes, has flown home. The angel on the right is Jon. Can you see the wings in their eyes?

Doug and Rown

Happy Father's Day!
Originally uploaded by **Ann**.

Good dads are hard to find.
Here's one.

A & R on the Road to Hana mile 11

A & R on the Road to Hana mile 11
Originally uploaded by **Ann**.

Ann and Rowan looking quite happy amidst the greenery.

Favorite (internet) Hangouts

That story by Tony about Julian makes me think of the time Rowan pooped all down the front of me while I was standing on the sidewalk in Fairhaven - the trendy part of town. Oy.

Well, here are some other folks medling through the parenting thing. These are often visited by me. Maybe you will enjoy them, too.


Parent Hacks

In the trenches of motherhood

Metro Dad

The Opinionated Parent

and a new find which I'm really liking
Just one more book!
Their latest podcast at Just one more book! has celtic music playing in the background and sounds of latte's being made. Sounds like Seattle to me, but I don't know if that is where they are.

The Jamie

The family business of our finca friends
Originally uploaded by alcantaratony.

Jamie is the dude on the left. We have often been confused for each other (last year he had the same goatee thing going); something which Jamie unscrupulously tried to turn to his advantage when well deserved duty awards came my way.

Carla and Aysha are on the right.

Us and Them

If you find the following post a vilesome story that should not be written anywhere let alone in a public blog, then you are one of them.

On the other hand, if you give a shrug and a slight smile and say, "Yup," then you are one of us.

Julian's latest performances (note the plural):

He walks up to within one foot of me.

"Dad, I have crusty poops in my butt."

He then turns around, pulls his underwear down, bends way over, and using his hands, spreads his butt cheeks wide apart so that I get the best view possible.

Thanks & Facilitated Greetings

First, thanks to Annie for stepping up to the plate as my first blog friend. I knew I could count on her.

Introductions:

Jamie, that's Ann. Besides being a singing gardener, she's a tech weenie.
Ann, there will be a Jamie and he is a super tech weenie and the one ultimately responsible for this here blog. As soon as I find out how (tips?) I will post a picture of him and maybe of his offspring as well.

Oh, hi. I'm new here

Well, after a cursory search on Google for "ear method" fractions and "ear method" learning I still have no idea what the ear method is. I should have known Tony would make it a little bit hard. I will eagerly await the answer from someone more clever than me.

I'll start off with introductions too. I'm Ann and I live in Bellingham, WA with my husband, Doug, and my 1 year old son, Rowan. Here's a picture of Rowan:

Isn't he cute?

I'm a cartographer by trade and a singing gardener by passion.

I'm looking forward to meeting you all and your families!

Invitations

For those of you who don't know those of you, all of you have children 5 years of age or less. While this blog is not intended as a parental support group, postings with such a leaning may just find a sympathetic ear or two.

Speaking of ears, my 12th graders divide fractions by the "ear method". Bonus points for the first post that explains this method.

(Do you see how I oh so subtly shifted this blog in the direction for which it is intended)


IS ANYONE OUT THERE?!

In The Beginning

And the Lord said, "Let there be blogs."

And so there were.

And they were good.

Or not.