Holly

For lunch today I met up with Holly who is fabulously interesting and fun. We were roommates for 3 months in an apartment in Seattle just before I left on my mission. We shared a large bedroom where we stayed up late talking, laughing, burping the alphabet, and having all sorts of riotous fun. Plus making our 3rd roommate insanely jealous that she did not share a room with us as well. That was 9 years ago.

Today Holly lives far away on the other side of the state. She has a degree in Anthropology which means she is basically Indiana Jones.

While rooming together I had a pile of 'Just Do The Math' window stickers and I hung one of them in our window by my bed. When moving out I left it so Holly would always remember me. Turns out she took that sticker and put it in the window of her car. So. Cool.

Third Times the Charm

Note: The events of this blog post took place one week, three hours, ten minutes and thirty-four seconds ago.

One of the most amazing experiences of my life happened at 13,000 feet as I stepped out of a plane into the open air.

The first time I experienced this was for my 29th birthday. I did a tandem dive with a few friends.

The second time was exactly 1 week later when Jason and I returned for the day-long class and jumped out on our own. Yes. I had my own parachute, pulled my own rip chord and did everything just right... up until I came in for my landing and, well, it was slightly ungraceful. I ended up with a minor tear in my MCL and on crutches. No fear, this did not stop my desire to go again.

The third time was just last weekend with a few new friends, 2 of them celebrating birthdays of their own. I must say it was even better this time! I went tandem again, to be on the safe side, and because this allowed me to go with my friends as well. This time I knew what to expect, I knew how everything worked, I didn't have to worry about my own landing. All I did was sit back and enjoy the ride.

The most thrilling part is the moment I left the safety of the plane and began to free fall. I cannot describe this, you must experience it for yourself. 13,000 feet is above the clouds, it's amazing to be there, in the sky, above a cloud. However we did not remain above the clouds for long. We quickly approached a small cloud and then went right through it. I've touched a cloud! It feels just like air, only slightly thicker air, if that makes sense. Breaking through suddenly we saw the beauty of the Northwest all around. Mountains, lakes, trees, airplane hangar. My friend Keri described this as "God's view" of the Earth.

Free fall lasts about 50 to 60 seconds before they pull the chute. Dennis, my tandem instructor, gave me a little tap on the shoulders to let me know just before he pulled the rip chord. Whoosh! We slow down and my legs come flying down back under me again. Once flying under canopy we are going slow enough to talk and Dennis points out some of the surrounding areas before handing me the toggles and letting me steer for a little bit. One hard pull to the left and we go swirling to the left--another sensation you'll just have to experience! After a couple minutes floating through the air we slide in for a smooth landing on the grass. (One day I'll figure out how to do that on my own).

Wow. Wow! Seriously, wow! What a rush!

I'd do it again any time the funds are available! Anyone else wanna come next time!?

I didn't get the pictures this time around, but here are a couple from Melissa's batch.

Melissa ~ Carly ~ Windy ~ Christie ~ Brenda
Here we are just before leaving the hangar, we're dressed up in our finest and ready to rock!

Dennis and myself walking out to the plane. This picture makes me laugh.

And here we are just moments after landing. Notice the smiles on our faces!!

This wouldn't be a complete blog post without at least one actual sky shot of me skydiving. I have a few older pictures from my first dive for your viewing pleasure. But remember, these are just about a year old now.

Classic. I love the look on my face.

I'm free!!! Free fallin'!!

And safely back on the ground.

A note on Dennis who you see in several of the pictures: I adore this man. I hardly know him at all, yet I just adore him. Dennis has been there for all 3 of my dives, my tandem instructor for the first and third, but he was also one of the instructors who jumped with me to make sure things went ok on my own. On that dive I noticed my altimeter was broken while flying up for the jump. I pointed this out to Dennis and he immediately, without hesitation, gave me his altimeter off his own wrist and jumped without one. What a guy. How could I not just adore a guy who has, quite literally, saved my life three times.

For another fabulous post and even more incredible pictures check out Brenda's blog.

____________________

"Once you have flown, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward; for there you have been, there you long to return."
-Leonardo da Vinci-

Oneirology

Did you know Oneirology is the scientific study of dreams? This is a topic that has always interested me. I even own a dream dictionary or two.

I have been blessed with extremely vivid dreams. I used to think everyone had these until I started describing the detail to friends who would always be shocked. Typically I enjoy my dreams as I find them immensely entertaining. Although last nights dream was not entertaining all. It's now 15 hours later and I still can't shake the images.

So to take my mind off things I spent some time looking up songs that talk about dreams. Here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order.

Dream On by Areosmith

All I Have To Do Is Dream by The Everly Brothers

A Bad Dream by Keane

Dreamin' by Weezer

A Kiss To Build A Dream On by Louis Armstrong

Daydream by Lovin' Spoonful

I Have A Dream by ABBA (Mamma Mia Soundtrack)

Book Review: The Well of Lost Plots

The Well of Lost Plots
A Thursday Next Novel
by Jasper Fforde
Rating: 5 starts out of 5
"it was amazing"

It is true: Fforde gets better and better with each book! This is number 3 in the Thursday Next Series and I enjoyed it the most (so far).

There is so much detail I hardly know where to begin. Our last book left us off with Thursday pregnant and her husband eradicated. She decided to take a vacation and go somewhere safe to have this baby, where the Goliath Corporation cannot touch her. Only there is no place in her world they cannot touch... so she must leave her world and enter the Book World. Thursday decides to particpate it the Character Exchange program and resides in a book that is still being written in The Well of Lost Plots. She is also apprenticed to Mrs. Havisham, of Great Expectations, at Jurisfiction (the book world policing agency).

As usual where Thursday goes trouble will find her. This time a new and improved Operating System for the book world is about to be unleashed. It's perfect. It will be the ultimate reading experience! Except the Jurisfiction agents assigned to test out the new system are dying in what appears to be normal everyday accidents. At the same time Thursday is fighting off Aornis Hades who is out for revenge for her brother's death. Aornis is a mnemonomorph capable of altering anothers memories, slowly she is removing all memories of Thursdays husband. Thursday finds herself fighting the BookWorld enemies by day and Aornis by night.

There are 2 things I love about this book. First the attention to detail Fforde uses. There were so many little seemingly insignificant things that all managed to come into play at some point in the book. Clever. Brilliant.

Secondly is the style of writing. There's only one way to know what I am talking about, and that is with a sample that had me laughing and confused and rereading a number of times. This will be taken out of context, but all you need to know is Jurisfiction is meeting to discuss the proper use of certain terms in books. These things need policing, or they could get out of hand...

'Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren't you working on this?'

Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. 'Indeed. The use of had had and that that has to be strictly controlled; they can interrupt the ImaginoTransference quite dramatically, causing readers to go back over the sentence in confusion, something we try to avoid.'

'Go on.'

'It's mostly an unlicensed usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had had had sixty-three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim's Progress may also be a problem owing to its had had / that that ratio.'

'So what's the problem in Progress?'

'That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice. Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked but not if the number exceeds that that that usage.'

'Hmm,' said the Bellman. 'I thought had had had had TGC's approval for use in Dickens? What's the problem?'

'Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,' explained Lady Cavendish. 'You would have thought that that first had had had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had approval but that that other that that had not.'

'So the problem with that other that that was that—?'

'That that other-other that that had had approval.'

'Okay,' said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a chocolate orange, 'let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike Pilgrim’s Progress, which had had had, had had had had. Had had had had TGC's approval?'

There was a very long pause.

'Right,' said the Bellman with a sigh. 'That's it for the moment.'

Dang it Carly, I'm a Mathematician, not a Writer!

{said in a Dr. McCoy voice}

I don't recall how it came up, but after mentioning the fact that I have no talent for writing Carly exclaimed, "Yes you do, I know you do, I've read your blog!"

Flattering as this may be, every English professor I've had appears to disagree with you. Perhaps that had to do with the fact I was being forced to write about topics I could care less about. Here I can write what I want. Although I'll stick to being a Mathematician as it's what I do best.

On the subject of my writing I recently stumbled upon my essay for my application to grad school. I think it's funny and I enjoyed writing it. This is for you Carly, and anyone else out there interested in sampling my writing.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Master Math Geeks

Throughout my undergraduate studies I would look at my geeky mathematics professors and secretly swear to myself that I would never end up like them.

“Does he realize his shirt is only half way tucked in?”

“I didn’t know glasses still came that thick.”

“Bet she hasn’t bought new clothes since 1985!”

Ouch. That was a little too harsh. A few years have gone by and now I look back at those professors with a feeling of hypocrisy as this is everything that I aspire to be. Not a geek exactly, although that title officially came after receiving my bachelor’s degree in mathematics, but a brilliant math professor who inspires students to learn more about such a pure subject.

Mathematics has inspired me to learn and to teach for years already. The other day my mother reminded me that when I was just 8 or 9 years old I would drag my younger siblings into our play room, sit them down in front of the chalk board, and proceed to teach them how to add. I considered this our play time, but looking back, I’m not sure my siblings enjoyed it as much as I did. Now years have passed and I find I am still doing the same thing. After graduating in 2005, I started my own business doing private instruction for mathematics. I primarily work with high school students and a handful of college students as well. I still consider this my “play time” and I enjoy what I do immensely.

Although I enjoy teaching, my real passion lies with math, specifically, applied mathematics. I discovered the subtle differences in these two departments as an undergrad. I found my applied math classes more invigorating. They involved sitting in the computer lab watching models of math problems come to life verses sitting at home working through a proof I was pretty sure someone else had already proved. More than once I found myself saying, “If I were to ever come back for a Masters Degree, it would be in applied mathematics.” I should probably watch what I say, as that will likely prove to be an expensive statement. Nevertheless, the time has come. I am ready to push myself a little more.

I am excited and look forward to the opportunities and flexibility an online degree can offer as I continue with my current career. Even more than this I look forward to one day teaching math at a higher level institution. There I will be able to use the skills I will be acquiring from a Masters Degree in applied mathematics every day. I will secretly enjoy my students chuckling to themselves about how much of a geek their math professor is. Even though I have learned to tuck in my shirt, and instead of thick glasses wear contacts, everyone who knows me will know that I am a math geek—and proud of it!

This one's for you Josh

Happy Birthday Josh!

Today is the birthday of my long time friend Josh. We met over a MxPx t-shirt he was wearing. I commented on it as I liked the band and mentioned I'd seen them live... Josh was amazed I knew who they were. We became instant music friends.

Before long we were going to every concert we could. Here we are in the pit just before we saw AAR in 2006.

And here is a picture I took of Josh before our Green Day show. I think it's easily said we've seen well over 100 bands together, wouldn't ya say Josh?


Josh has a love of sports as well. He always has season tickets to all Seattle sports. Here we are at a Mariners Game earlier this year. "Hey! At least we still have the Sonics!!"

Ken Griffey Jr hit the 5000th home run that night!

Josh has introduced me to a lot of firsts, he took me to my first professional soccer game (Go Sounders!!) and my first professional football game too. Here we are in our Seahawks attire at the game. (Thanks again for letting me borrow your sweatshirt!)


We've seen musicals together, midnight showings, and had countless 2am Denny's/Sheri's runs after the shows. Thanks for all the fun times Josh. You've been a great friend. I hope you have an awesome birthday this year.

Josh, this song is dedicated to you.

In which Windy gets crafty

Sometimes I crochet. I used to do this all the time and now miss having the time for it. I've made most of my scarves and hats for winter, and I have a couple full size afghans around, lots of baby blankets and even some doilies too. But yesterday I decided to try something completely new: a little teddy bear. It's was given away this morning as the bearer of a gift card for a baby shower present. I think it turned out rather cute. The bear sits about 4.5 inches tall and even has a cute little tail in the back.

Book Review: Cybele's Secret

Cybele's Secret
by Juliet Marillier
rating: 5 starts out of 5
"it was amazing"

You may recall a book review from last May called Wildwood Dancing, Cybele's Secret is the companion novel to Wildwood. This book picks up the story of Jena's younger sister, Paula the scholar, who is on a trip to Istanbul with her father to help him in his Merchant duties. However this trip is a special trip where her father has a particular religious artifact in mind. This is a treasure that must be handled carefully and with secrecy as the city officials do not like the idea of pagan religions or their religious artifacts anywhere nearby.

Istanbul is not the safest place, upon their arrival they receive news their contact had been murdered. They must tread carefully, and get a strong body guard as well. Enter: Stoyan. Stoyan is tall and muscular with a menacing appearance and fighting skills unmatched by all, not to mention young and single and deliciously handsome if a little uneducated about reading and writing -- nothing a scholarly girl would (initially) find interesting. But Stoyan can't be the only love interest around or the book wouldn't be so good. Enter: Duarte de Acosta Aguiar. A tall and handsome pirate captain who catches the eye of every woman he passes. He is a scholar as well with a somewhat bad-boy reputation that always gets what he wants. He is in Istanbul for the same artifact, Cybele's Gift. (I fall for Duarte every time I read this book.)

And it wouldn't be a Wildwood book without a few visits from the Other Kingdom where fairies place tests for human folk to learn from in order to pass.

I liked this book even better than Wildwood Dancing. The story is captivating, feeding my imagination and making me dream.

Smith's Luau

Following our visit to Fern Grotto we went next door for our Luau. I mean, you can't go to Hawaii without attending a Luau. Smith's is voted the best on the island, and it was a lot of fun.

Upon entering there was a brief ride around the beautiful garden. We had some time to kill while everyone arrived so we enjoyed walking around the garden and seeing some beautiful sights. We also had the chance to feed the peacocks that were wondering around.

The Luau officially began with the Imu Ceremony.

Here they pulled our dinner, Kalua Pig, out of the ground, or Imu oven.

At the feast we ate tons of delicious food and made friends with the nice couple sitting across from us. We had live Hawaiian music played and even a little Hula training for the kids to participate in.

During dinner, and unbeknownst to me, the man sitting not far away from me tried to hit on me a number of times. Apparently he would look at me and say really loudly, "gosh it was humid today" to try and start a conversation. But I honestly never once heard him. His mother was sitting next to him and would then mutter to him, "say it louder!" so he would, and I continued to miss it the whole time. I didn't find out about this until Andrea and Erica informed me afterward. I thought it was strange how every time I looked in his direction he was staring at me, but he never once said a word when I was looking toward him. I just politely smiled at him and looked away. Go figure, the one guy in all of Hawaii that hits on me turns out to be old and creepy and I don't even catch on until it's all over.

As dinner wound down we headed to the theater for our evening show. Here we saw all the traditional Hawaii dances as well as all related Polynesian dances. This place reminded me a lot of the PCC on Oahu, but smaller. The PCC is definitely cooler, but we still had a lot of fun at this Luau.

Fern Grotto

I really am almost done with my Hawaii vacation posts. It's been fun (for me) to document my vacation and have the chance to look back and write about what we did. I don't keep a journal so this will have to suffice.

While on Kauai we did a couple formal tours owned by the same family, The Smiths. We started with a bout tour to Fern Grotto, which is a type of cave that is covered in ferns and very cool to see. Unfortunately there was a hurricane a few years back that destroyed a lot of the surroundings. It's still cool to see, but not quite what it used to be.

After arriving we all lined up to get on the boat.

The boat took us down the Wailua River.

The ride took us only about 15 minutes to get there. We saw lots of cool sights while our captain gave us more information about the area. We even had a live band that played Hawaii music for us on the boat.

Once there we followed a short path that lead us to the Grotto itself.

While there the band played the traditional Hawaiian Wedding song for us as this is the location of numerous weddings.