And another day has been completed. I got up this morning around 7:30, got ready for the day, and went off to my office. Yesterday one of the guys in my class wanted to meet with me at 9 to go over the practice exam, so I did that. I guess I hadn't considered that it would snow last night, so when I got out my car had a couple inches of snow on it. After I got it cleared off I went to my office and helped the guy from my class with the rest of the practice exam. After he left I started working on finance. Then I just studied that until my office hours were over at noon.
A little after 12 I left to go get lunch. Joel Thomas was driving through Muncie today on his way to go visit some other people and go to a concert, so he stopped by for some lunch. We went to Qdoba. It was really tasty. We both officially decided that if Muse, Deadmau5, and Daft Punk ever put on a show that no amount of money would prevent us from going. It would be an absolutely mind and soul blowing experience. But it will literally never happen. Sad. I also gave Joel my revised explanation of what actuaries do. "Accountants take a look at money that has already been acquired and/or spent and figure out how to account for it. Actuaries try to predict what money will be acquired and how to prepare for it." I know that isn't 100% accurate, but it's much better than "I do math for insurance companies."
After Joel left for his next adventure, I went back to school to study some more finance. I ran into Timbo and thus decided to study with him in the computer lab. David was there also. I worked through the rest of the problems and felt pretty good about them. We have a quiz tomorrow but I feel decently well prepared. Between this quiz and the duration homework assignment I think that I should be well prepared for the exam on Monday. We had about 30 minutes to kill before stats started, so Timbo and I went down to the Atrium to get some coffee. For which I was grateful because I know it would have been nearly impossible to stay awake in statistics otherwise.
We got many things back in class today. Exam 2 (finally), our pop-quiz, and our project. I messed a couple things up on the project but she only took one point off. So that was ok. Then we proceeded to go through class. It literally felt like a repeat of Real Analysis from this past spring. And I don't mean that in the "so I already knew what to do" kind of way. It was closer to a "I must have done something terrible in my past to receive this punishment..." Real Analysis was not nice to me when I took it. And today just reminded me of every day of that class. About half way through class she started to do an epsilon-delta proof.... and I almost left. I have done (and by that I mean tried to do) way too many epsilon-delta proofs and still have no idea what I'm doing. That class was the one thing that made me incredibly set on not going into Pure Mathematics.
After class I went to Jessie's apartment for dinner. She made spaghetti and garlic bread. It was really good. I had a good time. We talked about our Thanksgivings and about school (and relating it to her experience), about her current job and such. That was a lot of fun. But then I had to come home so that I could get some more studying done. So home I came. I answered a few emails from students who had questions on the exam tomorrow, then studied for the finance quiz some more. And now I'm going to bed! Good night everyone.
11.30.2011
11.29.2011
Day 190
This was quite the day. I left a little bit late today again. This time it was mainly because I didn't know what the weather was going to be like. When I walked outside it was cold and raining, so I had to go back inside to change and dress accordingly. When I got to finance we turned in our homework, then proceeded to go through some examples of more option combinations. I think I get it for the most part. I'm going to work through some exercises tomorrow in preparation for the quiz on Thursday.
In between classes was... an adventure. I went to the computer lab to print some stuff off when Dustin mentioned that he had been looking over the spreadsheet I'd sent to him and noticed that some of my tables were wrong. So I looked at them and sure enough they were. Which is odd because earlier they had been correct. So then I got incredibly flustered and was trying to figure out why stuff had changed and how I was going to look through all my code for tiny little changes... and still get the stuff printed off that I needed to get done. But thankfully Dustin was able to help me figure it out, so we fixed it and I resubmitted it to Mr. Dean. But it definitely was not a happy time. I also found out that the math department does not offer summer assistantships, so I may talk with the graduate school office to see if they have anything to offer, in case I don't get an internship.
During life con we worked through a problem from the MLC practice exam, looked at some new equivalences, and some other stuff. Yup. Then it was off to go teach. Dr. Begum came to observe me today. I wasn't really expecting that, but I knew she'd be coming at some point. I just thought it was going to be earlier. But class went well. We went over the homework, talked about the project and the final, then went through some of the practice exam. I hope that they do well on this... I think most of them get it. But we'll see.
After class I came back, had lunch, and started working on grading and making answers for the practice exam. I did that for a couple hours, then I took a nice long break and cleaned. I sorted through papers I had scattered about, tidied up under my bed, cleaned my sheets, cleaned off all the surfaces in my room, put things away... it looks nice. First time all year. Including move in. When I was done cleaning I got dinner, then began writing the exam. It took me a couple hours to make good questions, but I think it's pretty good. I'll take it tomorrow to make sure it's not too long or difficult.
So by this time it was about 9:30 and I was just worn out from working. So I stopped! And it was good. Now I'm going to bed. Night!
In between classes was... an adventure. I went to the computer lab to print some stuff off when Dustin mentioned that he had been looking over the spreadsheet I'd sent to him and noticed that some of my tables were wrong. So I looked at them and sure enough they were. Which is odd because earlier they had been correct. So then I got incredibly flustered and was trying to figure out why stuff had changed and how I was going to look through all my code for tiny little changes... and still get the stuff printed off that I needed to get done. But thankfully Dustin was able to help me figure it out, so we fixed it and I resubmitted it to Mr. Dean. But it definitely was not a happy time. I also found out that the math department does not offer summer assistantships, so I may talk with the graduate school office to see if they have anything to offer, in case I don't get an internship.
During life con we worked through a problem from the MLC practice exam, looked at some new equivalences, and some other stuff. Yup. Then it was off to go teach. Dr. Begum came to observe me today. I wasn't really expecting that, but I knew she'd be coming at some point. I just thought it was going to be earlier. But class went well. We went over the homework, talked about the project and the final, then went through some of the practice exam. I hope that they do well on this... I think most of them get it. But we'll see.
After class I came back, had lunch, and started working on grading and making answers for the practice exam. I did that for a couple hours, then I took a nice long break and cleaned. I sorted through papers I had scattered about, tidied up under my bed, cleaned my sheets, cleaned off all the surfaces in my room, put things away... it looks nice. First time all year. Including move in. When I was done cleaning I got dinner, then began writing the exam. It took me a couple hours to make good questions, but I think it's pretty good. I'll take it tomorrow to make sure it's not too long or difficult.
So by this time it was about 9:30 and I was just worn out from working. So I stopped! And it was good. Now I'm going to bed. Night!
11.28.2011
Day 189
First day back. And what a day it was.
I got started pretty well on time. I was a few minutes late... but I don't remember why. Oh well.
Finance went decently. We just talked more about combining puts and calls. We have a quiz on Thursday on this stuff. I'm going to start studying for it tomorrow with Dustin.
In between classes we went to the Atrium. A few people looked at my finance homework to try to solve a couple of the harder problems. Only Tim actually asked for a clarification. Even though other people who looked at it seemed confused, they didn't ask. Oh well. Their loss. Then Tim presented us with a question. He wanted to know why pi is an irrational number. His logic was that pi can be represented by circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. Therefore, it can be written as a fraction and must be rational. So I explained that a rational number must be able to be written as a fraction of integers, not just any number. He countered that since the circumference and diameter have definite lengths, then the decimal representation of those lengths must terminate (like the number 2.3124451231231243456768 terminates at 8). Since the string used to make the circle has a definite length, then the numerator and denominator of circumference/diameter division must certainly terminate. I could see where his confusion was. Since in his mind a number with a decimal keeps getting longer, the number itself must be getting bigger. So I asked if he was familiar with Zeno's paradox. I thought that as mathematicians everyone at the table would surely be very familiar with this. That was not the case. Everyone looked at me and just started laughing, sort of a "why would I have any idea what that is?" type of laugh. Not to be discouraged, I explained that it's the idea that if you run half the distance to the finish of a race, then half the remaining distance and so on that you would never actually reach the finish. Once I explained what it was everyone had heard of it. Anyhow, then I explained that fractions like 1/3 can be written as a decimal: .3333333333 which repeats forever. Furthermore, 1/7 can be written as .142857... but both of those are fractions with definite lengths, even though the decimal expansion goes on forever. I think he was convinced by the end. Someone made a comment about this being really deep. I guess I would have considered this to be about moderately deep. Nothing extravagant though. Deep is when you take mathematical ideas and combine them with other ideas and philosophies. So if you continued this idea of an infinitely expanding number that is actually limited and take that into a social context, you get some pretty interesting things. For instance, there is a saying that "it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse." The implication is that things can keep getting worse, or we could say that "badness" can continue growing infinitely. But is there some maximum limit on the amount of attainable evil? Like in Zeno's paradox, can we get arbitrarily close to the proverbial finish line (some ultimate level of evil, in our example) or will it expand without bounds? Anyhow. I didn't want to get into that with all of them... I might have killed their brains.
During life con we discussed our upcoming exam. It's going to be entirely take home (thankfully). Mr. Dean reminded us that we must have integrity when working on the exam and not work in groups. Since it will largely be on Excel he doesn't mind if we help each other use Excel, but not actually help on the problems. Which is fine with me. I'm pretty confident that I can do all of this given enough time to check my work. And I will check my work many many times.
After life con I went to go work out. I lifted biceps and triceps. It was alright. When I got home I had a salad for lunch. I really wish that there was a way of having fresh produce during the off season. The lettuce I buy is turning brown at the store. Bleh. Oh well. After I showered I went to go help Tim with the life con homework. He doesn't have much experience with Excel so I wanted to explain how to use some of the fancier things that I did with mine. It took a while but I think he was getting it by the end. He catches on pretty quickly, but I think he's going to need some more practice before it really sticks. That's ok though. The things that I did were a bit complicated. Definitely not the most extensive things you can do in Excel by any means, but far more than what most people do with just entering data and possible doing some basic calculations or table filtering.
Then we had stats. That's always a treat.
When I got home I had some turkey and potatoes for dinner, then worked on making my life con homework all pretty. When Clifton came home I talked with him for a bit. Then we did a little experimentation in the kitchen. He had just sauteed some onions and mixed it with peanut butter. It was pretty good, so I suggested that we try to candy the onions with peanut butter while still in the pot. And that was really good. Next time I want to make a glaze with peanut butter, a little vegetable oil, maybe some honey, boil it, then let the onions simmer in that for a while. I think that would be really good.
Dustin came over to ask some questions on finance. I told him that he really needs to start coming over to do homework with Timbo and me because the three of us work well together. He agreed. So hopefully he starts doing that, since he said he doesn't get too much out of his current method.
Then it was starting to get late, so I just played a few minutes of Team Fortress with Miles and James. And now I'm getting ready to go to bed!
I got started pretty well on time. I was a few minutes late... but I don't remember why. Oh well.
Finance went decently. We just talked more about combining puts and calls. We have a quiz on Thursday on this stuff. I'm going to start studying for it tomorrow with Dustin.
In between classes we went to the Atrium. A few people looked at my finance homework to try to solve a couple of the harder problems. Only Tim actually asked for a clarification. Even though other people who looked at it seemed confused, they didn't ask. Oh well. Their loss. Then Tim presented us with a question. He wanted to know why pi is an irrational number. His logic was that pi can be represented by circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. Therefore, it can be written as a fraction and must be rational. So I explained that a rational number must be able to be written as a fraction of integers, not just any number. He countered that since the circumference and diameter have definite lengths, then the decimal representation of those lengths must terminate (like the number 2.3124451231231243456768 terminates at 8). Since the string used to make the circle has a definite length, then the numerator and denominator of circumference/diameter division must certainly terminate. I could see where his confusion was. Since in his mind a number with a decimal keeps getting longer, the number itself must be getting bigger. So I asked if he was familiar with Zeno's paradox. I thought that as mathematicians everyone at the table would surely be very familiar with this. That was not the case. Everyone looked at me and just started laughing, sort of a "why would I have any idea what that is?" type of laugh. Not to be discouraged, I explained that it's the idea that if you run half the distance to the finish of a race, then half the remaining distance and so on that you would never actually reach the finish. Once I explained what it was everyone had heard of it. Anyhow, then I explained that fractions like 1/3 can be written as a decimal: .3333333333 which repeats forever. Furthermore, 1/7 can be written as .142857... but both of those are fractions with definite lengths, even though the decimal expansion goes on forever. I think he was convinced by the end. Someone made a comment about this being really deep. I guess I would have considered this to be about moderately deep. Nothing extravagant though. Deep is when you take mathematical ideas and combine them with other ideas and philosophies. So if you continued this idea of an infinitely expanding number that is actually limited and take that into a social context, you get some pretty interesting things. For instance, there is a saying that "it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse." The implication is that things can keep getting worse, or we could say that "badness" can continue growing infinitely. But is there some maximum limit on the amount of attainable evil? Like in Zeno's paradox, can we get arbitrarily close to the proverbial finish line (some ultimate level of evil, in our example) or will it expand without bounds? Anyhow. I didn't want to get into that with all of them... I might have killed their brains.
During life con we discussed our upcoming exam. It's going to be entirely take home (thankfully). Mr. Dean reminded us that we must have integrity when working on the exam and not work in groups. Since it will largely be on Excel he doesn't mind if we help each other use Excel, but not actually help on the problems. Which is fine with me. I'm pretty confident that I can do all of this given enough time to check my work. And I will check my work many many times.
After life con I went to go work out. I lifted biceps and triceps. It was alright. When I got home I had a salad for lunch. I really wish that there was a way of having fresh produce during the off season. The lettuce I buy is turning brown at the store. Bleh. Oh well. After I showered I went to go help Tim with the life con homework. He doesn't have much experience with Excel so I wanted to explain how to use some of the fancier things that I did with mine. It took a while but I think he was getting it by the end. He catches on pretty quickly, but I think he's going to need some more practice before it really sticks. That's ok though. The things that I did were a bit complicated. Definitely not the most extensive things you can do in Excel by any means, but far more than what most people do with just entering data and possible doing some basic calculations or table filtering.
Then we had stats. That's always a treat.
When I got home I had some turkey and potatoes for dinner, then worked on making my life con homework all pretty. When Clifton came home I talked with him for a bit. Then we did a little experimentation in the kitchen. He had just sauteed some onions and mixed it with peanut butter. It was pretty good, so I suggested that we try to candy the onions with peanut butter while still in the pot. And that was really good. Next time I want to make a glaze with peanut butter, a little vegetable oil, maybe some honey, boil it, then let the onions simmer in that for a while. I think that would be really good.
Dustin came over to ask some questions on finance. I told him that he really needs to start coming over to do homework with Timbo and me because the three of us work well together. He agreed. So hopefully he starts doing that, since he said he doesn't get too much out of his current method.
Then it was starting to get late, so I just played a few minutes of Team Fortress with Miles and James. And now I'm getting ready to go to bed!
11.27.2011
Day 188
Well, today officially ended break. Sadness.
I got up and went to the early service of church this morning. I sat with Mom and dad. After the service I saw the Vandekoppels and talked with Kelley for a few seconds. Probably about 17. Then Kimmy and I went home. During this time she and I discussed some theology that we've been separately pondering for a while. The thought that I've been considering is that there is a certain rationale for God's existence that I really do not like. When people use the argument that God must exist because there are things science has yet to answer, I just kind of cringe. Like people saying that because scientists haven't yet explained how the universe began, then God must exist. I dislike this because if scientists did discover how the universe began, then either your logic has become flawed or you have to change the premise of your argument, neither of which put you in a very good position. For instance, 200 years ago scientists were just discovering atoms but had not yet grasped their contents or make-up. But the lack of scientific knowledge didn't make God any bigger to compensate for scientific deficiency. So I don't believe that we should use God as an answer to things that science has yet to discover. Because if science ever does answer those things, then the "God created it" answer holds nothing. Now, don't go away thinking that I'm suggesting that God didn't create everything. I don't ever believe in using "God" as a solution to a question I can't answer. My answer to the beginning of the universe? "God has created a natural order that humans have not yet fully discovered. But I'm pretty excited to see what scientists are able to discover of God's handiwork."
The other thing we talked about (in continuation of the God-science controversy conversation) was how evolution fits into the Bible. Kimmy and I don't really like disregarding science simply because it seems to contradict the Bible. The Bible isn't a science book. If there is something scientifically wrong the Bible... ok. That's fine. The Bible is a narrative about a loving God who wants to be with us (the created) forever. Try to use the Bible for something else and you're going to run into problems. So I have no problem accepting evolution as an explanation to how life began. I think that God has the capacity to create everything in six literal days. In fact, I believe in a big enough God that if he wanted to create everything in an infinitesimal amount of time that cannot be measured... he could. But I personally believe that God made a set of rules that allow creation to move naturally without him having to move every piece. Like a Rube Goldberg machine: God set everything up in the beginning so that when he hit the big "GO!" button, things had the ability to move without necessitating his intervention at every step. Not eliminating the need for God, just eliminating the need for him to move every single piece along the way. Anyhow, I think that God set up a natural order that allows for change. So something that Kimmy's capstone class discussed was that if you allow for the condition of evolution into creation, it is imperative that certain things in the creation story be taken as a metaphor and not literally. Things like the 7 days, Adam and Eve, and the fall. This is a lot to consider if those three things have always been literal interpretations for you. But consider this (in brief): the 7 days could be 7 areas of creation that may or may not have occurred sequentially; Adam and Even could be a metaphor for the final stage in evolution where the created being finally had consciousness and reasoning skills like you and I do (unlike animals); the fall (in light of everything being gradual) becomes a process (for instance, an animal killing a family member for survival becomes murder when humans do it). But the beauty of this is when you consider that God stated that creation "was good." Since God is not restricted to any state of time, that means that (in this theory) "it was good" is actually a reference to our state of perfection once we enter heaven.
There was a lot more, but those are the main ideas.
Anyhow, I had to go back to school. So I left around 11, stopped to get gas and a Full Throttle, then headed off to Muncie. Apparently my auto-pilot misguided me though, because I got lost in thought and forgot that I was going south from Findlay and not north from I-70. But I got it all figured out and made it home. I stopped at Aldi and Wal-mart on my way back for groceries. When I got back I unloaded my car and had Timbo come over to work on finance. I only had number 6 left and we worked on that for a long time. I tried to explain number 2, but it's a complicated problem and I just couldn't think of a good way to explain it. So we moved on to number 6. It took us a long time to figure out what we were supposed to do and there were many calculations, even a little bit of matrix algebra. But we got an answer that works. After I'd had dinner and Timbo went home David called me to discuss some of the answers for the homework for both life con and finance. When I was done talking with him I answered some emails, cleaned up my spreadsheet for life con, then re-wrote my answers for finance. I'm probably going to need to show my work to some of my classmates, so hopefully it all makes sense.
My laundry is taking forever, but I think it's about done. So I'm going to bed now. Good night!
I got up and went to the early service of church this morning. I sat with Mom and dad. After the service I saw the Vandekoppels and talked with Kelley for a few seconds. Probably about 17. Then Kimmy and I went home. During this time she and I discussed some theology that we've been separately pondering for a while. The thought that I've been considering is that there is a certain rationale for God's existence that I really do not like. When people use the argument that God must exist because there are things science has yet to answer, I just kind of cringe. Like people saying that because scientists haven't yet explained how the universe began, then God must exist. I dislike this because if scientists did discover how the universe began, then either your logic has become flawed or you have to change the premise of your argument, neither of which put you in a very good position. For instance, 200 years ago scientists were just discovering atoms but had not yet grasped their contents or make-up. But the lack of scientific knowledge didn't make God any bigger to compensate for scientific deficiency. So I don't believe that we should use God as an answer to things that science has yet to discover. Because if science ever does answer those things, then the "God created it" answer holds nothing. Now, don't go away thinking that I'm suggesting that God didn't create everything. I don't ever believe in using "God" as a solution to a question I can't answer. My answer to the beginning of the universe? "God has created a natural order that humans have not yet fully discovered. But I'm pretty excited to see what scientists are able to discover of God's handiwork."
The other thing we talked about (in continuation of the God-science controversy conversation) was how evolution fits into the Bible. Kimmy and I don't really like disregarding science simply because it seems to contradict the Bible. The Bible isn't a science book. If there is something scientifically wrong the Bible... ok. That's fine. The Bible is a narrative about a loving God who wants to be with us (the created) forever. Try to use the Bible for something else and you're going to run into problems. So I have no problem accepting evolution as an explanation to how life began. I think that God has the capacity to create everything in six literal days. In fact, I believe in a big enough God that if he wanted to create everything in an infinitesimal amount of time that cannot be measured... he could. But I personally believe that God made a set of rules that allow creation to move naturally without him having to move every piece. Like a Rube Goldberg machine: God set everything up in the beginning so that when he hit the big "GO!" button, things had the ability to move without necessitating his intervention at every step. Not eliminating the need for God, just eliminating the need for him to move every single piece along the way. Anyhow, I think that God set up a natural order that allows for change. So something that Kimmy's capstone class discussed was that if you allow for the condition of evolution into creation, it is imperative that certain things in the creation story be taken as a metaphor and not literally. Things like the 7 days, Adam and Eve, and the fall. This is a lot to consider if those three things have always been literal interpretations for you. But consider this (in brief): the 7 days could be 7 areas of creation that may or may not have occurred sequentially; Adam and Even could be a metaphor for the final stage in evolution where the created being finally had consciousness and reasoning skills like you and I do (unlike animals); the fall (in light of everything being gradual) becomes a process (for instance, an animal killing a family member for survival becomes murder when humans do it). But the beauty of this is when you consider that God stated that creation "was good." Since God is not restricted to any state of time, that means that (in this theory) "it was good" is actually a reference to our state of perfection once we enter heaven.
There was a lot more, but those are the main ideas.
Anyhow, I had to go back to school. So I left around 11, stopped to get gas and a Full Throttle, then headed off to Muncie. Apparently my auto-pilot misguided me though, because I got lost in thought and forgot that I was going south from Findlay and not north from I-70. But I got it all figured out and made it home. I stopped at Aldi and Wal-mart on my way back for groceries. When I got back I unloaded my car and had Timbo come over to work on finance. I only had number 6 left and we worked on that for a long time. I tried to explain number 2, but it's a complicated problem and I just couldn't think of a good way to explain it. So we moved on to number 6. It took us a long time to figure out what we were supposed to do and there were many calculations, even a little bit of matrix algebra. But we got an answer that works. After I'd had dinner and Timbo went home David called me to discuss some of the answers for the homework for both life con and finance. When I was done talking with him I answered some emails, cleaned up my spreadsheet for life con, then re-wrote my answers for finance. I'm probably going to need to show my work to some of my classmates, so hopefully it all makes sense.
My laundry is taking forever, but I think it's about done. So I'm going to bed now. Good night!
11.26.2011
Day 187
I officially decided to simply match my day count with that of the post numbering system in blogger. So I think I'm going back a couple days, but in a few weeks no one will remember.
Today was a good day. After we got up we headed over to the grandfolks for fun and food! But first we had to stop at Hobby Lobby and Kroger. Then we went to the grandparents! It was a fun. Mom heated up all the food, Kimmy interviewed Mama and Poppy about married life for one of her classes, I did some homework, and dad trollied off to watch the OSU football game. Then when all the food was ready we ate. It was really good. There was definitely plenty of food. We got a pre-cooked meal from Kroger and apparently the smallest quantity we could get was for 6 to 8 people. And I think it could have fed 6 - 8 people who eat as much as I do. So it was more than enough for us. But it was all really good.
After dinner we cleaned up, did some more work, then played a game of Settlers. Kimmy won by quite a bit. She took a pretty big gamble at the beginning of the game and was on 3 different numbers to start. But it just so happens that those three numbers were rolled nearly every turn, so she made bank. It was fun. Someday I really want to just roll those dice like, a few hundred times just to see what numbers come up. Maybe I'll do some statistical analysis over Christmas. That actually sounds pretty interesting.
After the game we had pumpkin pie and ice cream. I had been working on one of my finance problems off and on for most of the day, trying to get something solved. I had been emailing back and forth with one of the guys in my class and by the end of the night I finally had it figured out.
Poppy and dad were in a pretty heated game of Words with Friends. I think dad eventually won, but they were just battling it out for most of the day. It was pretty intense.
Then we came home. After we unpacked the car Kimmy and I went to Steak and Shake for food. It was quite tasty, as is to be expected. Then we went for a nice long walk down Main Street. We looked at houses, pointed out ones we liked and ones we didn't like. Especially the creepy looking ones. It was fun.
And now we're home and I'm going to bed! Good night all.
Today was a good day. After we got up we headed over to the grandfolks for fun and food! But first we had to stop at Hobby Lobby and Kroger. Then we went to the grandparents! It was a fun. Mom heated up all the food, Kimmy interviewed Mama and Poppy about married life for one of her classes, I did some homework, and dad trollied off to watch the OSU football game. Then when all the food was ready we ate. It was really good. There was definitely plenty of food. We got a pre-cooked meal from Kroger and apparently the smallest quantity we could get was for 6 to 8 people. And I think it could have fed 6 - 8 people who eat as much as I do. So it was more than enough for us. But it was all really good.
After dinner we cleaned up, did some more work, then played a game of Settlers. Kimmy won by quite a bit. She took a pretty big gamble at the beginning of the game and was on 3 different numbers to start. But it just so happens that those three numbers were rolled nearly every turn, so she made bank. It was fun. Someday I really want to just roll those dice like, a few hundred times just to see what numbers come up. Maybe I'll do some statistical analysis over Christmas. That actually sounds pretty interesting.
After the game we had pumpkin pie and ice cream. I had been working on one of my finance problems off and on for most of the day, trying to get something solved. I had been emailing back and forth with one of the guys in my class and by the end of the night I finally had it figured out.
Poppy and dad were in a pretty heated game of Words with Friends. I think dad eventually won, but they were just battling it out for most of the day. It was pretty intense.
Then we came home. After we unpacked the car Kimmy and I went to Steak and Shake for food. It was quite tasty, as is to be expected. Then we went for a nice long walk down Main Street. We looked at houses, pointed out ones we liked and ones we didn't like. Especially the creepy looking ones. It was fun.
And now we're home and I'm going to bed! Good night all.
11.25.2011
Day 188
I've noticed that somehow my day numbering is off from my number of posts. Theoretically it should be the same. I'm not sure how they got off. This will be my 186 post, but somehow I'm (supposedly) on Day 188. Someday I might just change it to be congruent with the number of posts I have. I don't know that it's a huge deal to anyone... Hopefully not anyhow.
So today. I woke up around 7:45 so I could shower and such. Mom made eggs and sausage for breakfast. And dinner rolls from yesterday. They were quite tasty. After breakfast we all got packed up and went to go malling! I was in search of a suit, mom and dad were in search of... something. Whenever they go looking for gifts for my sisters and me they say they're either going to the pet store or the health food store. So they trollied off to the health food store today. Kimmy and I went to JCPenney, but first we had to go see friend Becky who was working at the linens counter. She didn't have to be at work until 7, so she was quite happier than if she'd had to be there at 5. Maybe. She's a pretty happy person in general, so she might have at least seemed to contain equal amounts of happiness. But I'm sure she was much happier that since she didn't have to be there at 5. So yeah. We stopped and talked with her for a few minutes. Then we went to go acquire a suit for me. I found one that fit. I think it's the same brand as the one I got last year. For the same price. So I guess technically that means it was cheaper this year (with inflation and all). Either way I was happy. I also got a plain white button up shirt, since I didn't have one. But I couldn't find any socks. So for now I'll wear my argyle socks, but at some point I need to find grey socks.
After JCPenney Kimmy and I went to Sears to look for an FM transmitter for her. But we didn't find one. So we went off to Best Buy. They were both selling them for more than Kimmy wanted to pay, so the transmitter was not purchased.
When we got home we got lunch, then went off to go pick a Christmas tree! We were successful in this endeavor. So yay. As were leaving dad spotted someone wearing an MVNU sweatshirt. So Kimmy and I awkwardly approached (as is customary in the land of our people). It turned out to be Meghan who we did indeed in fact know. She helps teach dance. So we saw her and met her mom. And kind of her little sister...except she was hiding behind mommy the entire time.
And we arrived at home again. Mom and I left after we dropped people off so that we could go find jeans for me. Which we did. And they were purchased. After the purchasing of the jeans we stopped by one of dad's player's house (I'm not quite certain of the proper conjugation there) to buy some chicken eggs. And we were successful in this as well.
Once I was home again I began doing some school work and teaching work. I didn't read nearly as much of derivatives market as I should have.. but that's ok. I'll get through it. Mom and I also made pizza for dinner. She helped me figure out what I was doing wrong when I'd been making pizza earlier. Mainly it's my mixing bowl. It's not big enough to mix everything, and apparently metal bowls aren't good for yeast. Also when all the flour is done you're supposed to spray cooking oil on the dough and bowl, which I'd never done. So I think I'm going to try it again soon and hope it turns out better.
So yeah. Dinner was good. Except we forgot the salt :( After dinner Kimmy and I worked on school for a while. Then we made green jello salad for tomorrow. When we were done we played Bananagrams and ate apple pie. It was fun. And now... it's bed time! Good night and thanks for reading!
So today. I woke up around 7:45 so I could shower and such. Mom made eggs and sausage for breakfast. And dinner rolls from yesterday. They were quite tasty. After breakfast we all got packed up and went to go malling! I was in search of a suit, mom and dad were in search of... something. Whenever they go looking for gifts for my sisters and me they say they're either going to the pet store or the health food store. So they trollied off to the health food store today. Kimmy and I went to JCPenney, but first we had to go see friend Becky who was working at the linens counter. She didn't have to be at work until 7, so she was quite happier than if she'd had to be there at 5. Maybe. She's a pretty happy person in general, so she might have at least seemed to contain equal amounts of happiness. But I'm sure she was much happier that since she didn't have to be there at 5. So yeah. We stopped and talked with her for a few minutes. Then we went to go acquire a suit for me. I found one that fit. I think it's the same brand as the one I got last year. For the same price. So I guess technically that means it was cheaper this year (with inflation and all). Either way I was happy. I also got a plain white button up shirt, since I didn't have one. But I couldn't find any socks. So for now I'll wear my argyle socks, but at some point I need to find grey socks.
After JCPenney Kimmy and I went to Sears to look for an FM transmitter for her. But we didn't find one. So we went off to Best Buy. They were both selling them for more than Kimmy wanted to pay, so the transmitter was not purchased.
When we got home we got lunch, then went off to go pick a Christmas tree! We were successful in this endeavor. So yay. As were leaving dad spotted someone wearing an MVNU sweatshirt. So Kimmy and I awkwardly approached (as is customary in the land of our people). It turned out to be Meghan who we did indeed in fact know. She helps teach dance. So we saw her and met her mom. And kind of her little sister...except she was hiding behind mommy the entire time.
And we arrived at home again. Mom and I left after we dropped people off so that we could go find jeans for me. Which we did. And they were purchased. After the purchasing of the jeans we stopped by one of dad's player's house (I'm not quite certain of the proper conjugation there) to buy some chicken eggs. And we were successful in this as well.
Once I was home again I began doing some school work and teaching work. I didn't read nearly as much of derivatives market as I should have.. but that's ok. I'll get through it. Mom and I also made pizza for dinner. She helped me figure out what I was doing wrong when I'd been making pizza earlier. Mainly it's my mixing bowl. It's not big enough to mix everything, and apparently metal bowls aren't good for yeast. Also when all the flour is done you're supposed to spray cooking oil on the dough and bowl, which I'd never done. So I think I'm going to try it again soon and hope it turns out better.
So yeah. Dinner was good. Except we forgot the salt :( After dinner Kimmy and I worked on school for a while. Then we made green jello salad for tomorrow. When we were done we played Bananagrams and ate apple pie. It was fun. And now... it's bed time! Good night and thanks for reading!
11.24.2011
Day 187
For those of you who are unaware, today was Thanksgiving.
I woke up to my alarm at 7:45 this morning because I wanted to have plenty of time to eat, shower, and help finish preparing for today's events. I was still pretty tired when my alarm went off, so I decided I would just take one more nice long blink..
Then it was 8:45. That was going to make leaving by 9 tough..... I still showered and ate and everything. In true Pagano fashion we left by 10. Part of that was my fault. Not necessarily from sleeping in, but from not cleaning up the dishes I used last night for baking. Mom needed some of them this morning so had to spend unanticipated time cleaning prior to the anticipated cooking. But we made it out the door and to Columbus without much further instance. Kimmy and I both took naps on the way down. It appears that napping is far more interesting that my Derivatives Market book. Odd....
So yes. Pagano Thanksgiving was fantastic as always. I pretended to be official photographer, even though I really don't know anything about taking pictures. But it was fun! As usual I mostly just say and talked with Nick, Colton, and Kimmy. During the meal Nick was feeling lazy so he paid our little cousin Guyatano a dollar to get him a plate of food. It was pretty funny. Nick also decided that Guy should sit at the awesome kid's table. It was pretty entertaining. Nick was trying to put all sorts of evil ideas into his head but I was the voice of reason and was able to make sure that only the truth was perceived. Naturally. Nick tried to convince Guy that "newer is always better." Clearly this just is false. Sometimes Nick is just full of the nonsense. After food we just sat around and chatted. Nick and I discussed math classes, which I know Kimmy loved. Then I went off to go take pictures. I talked some with Uncle Paul. He wanted to know if I was, in fact, engaged. No one made a formal announcement to the group so he just wanted to make sure that his source was correct. So he and I talked for a bit. Apparently Tyler (his son) is starting to look at colleges and getting recruited and such. So one of my tasks is to email him pictures of the baseball diamond at Ball State.
Then some of us played Apples to Apples. I won. Which is odd because I never win that game.
Then we left. I slept on the way back. Except when I was driving. I don't mix those things. When we got back I had some food, did some studying, and started to write the study guide for the class I'm teaching. I also did a little internet research to see where I should go suit shopping tomorrow. And now I'm probably gonna go to bed! Night!
I woke up to my alarm at 7:45 this morning because I wanted to have plenty of time to eat, shower, and help finish preparing for today's events. I was still pretty tired when my alarm went off, so I decided I would just take one more nice long blink..
Then it was 8:45. That was going to make leaving by 9 tough..... I still showered and ate and everything. In true Pagano fashion we left by 10. Part of that was my fault. Not necessarily from sleeping in, but from not cleaning up the dishes I used last night for baking. Mom needed some of them this morning so had to spend unanticipated time cleaning prior to the anticipated cooking. But we made it out the door and to Columbus without much further instance. Kimmy and I both took naps on the way down. It appears that napping is far more interesting that my Derivatives Market book. Odd....
So yes. Pagano Thanksgiving was fantastic as always. I pretended to be official photographer, even though I really don't know anything about taking pictures. But it was fun! As usual I mostly just say and talked with Nick, Colton, and Kimmy. During the meal Nick was feeling lazy so he paid our little cousin Guyatano a dollar to get him a plate of food. It was pretty funny. Nick also decided that Guy should sit at the awesome kid's table. It was pretty entertaining. Nick was trying to put all sorts of evil ideas into his head but I was the voice of reason and was able to make sure that only the truth was perceived. Naturally. Nick tried to convince Guy that "newer is always better." Clearly this just is false. Sometimes Nick is just full of the nonsense. After food we just sat around and chatted. Nick and I discussed math classes, which I know Kimmy loved. Then I went off to go take pictures. I talked some with Uncle Paul. He wanted to know if I was, in fact, engaged. No one made a formal announcement to the group so he just wanted to make sure that his source was correct. So he and I talked for a bit. Apparently Tyler (his son) is starting to look at colleges and getting recruited and such. So one of my tasks is to email him pictures of the baseball diamond at Ball State.
Then some of us played Apples to Apples. I won. Which is odd because I never win that game.
Then we left. I slept on the way back. Except when I was driving. I don't mix those things. When we got back I had some food, did some studying, and started to write the study guide for the class I'm teaching. I also did a little internet research to see where I should go suit shopping tomorrow. And now I'm probably gonna go to bed! Night!
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