Danica McKellar

Remember Winnie Cooper? Y'know, from The Wonder Years on TV in the late 80's and early 90's. Well, I just read a little bit of her 'then-and-now' bio and I must say I am inspired. She does math! And very well! She majored in it Summa Cum freakin' Laude, co-authored some physics paper, and even offers math pedagogy on her website!

She does math! Wow!

She does other stuff too, y'know. She still acts, does filmmaking, keeps up with the charity work, and did quite a jaw-dropping photoshoot for Stuff magazine.

I enjoyed reading her math Q&A section from her website. That's what set off the inspiration. I'd always thought of mathematics as an enigma, so to find people who take the time to explain it all sufficiently and with patience...well, I just find that impressive and commendable. I've met very few who've done this, especially in my times of need, and so I just had to email her like some giddy and obsessed fan. I thanked her for her explanations and asked if there's any higher math topic she has yet to study. I'd probably go bonkers if she replied. See, I have turned into a looney zealot.

Anyway, now I feel like cracking open my calc text and digging into some integrals. Hmmm, yummy yummy!

Nighty night.
--well

ps:
1. Danica endorses FigureThis.org for some fun math activities for the young ones.
2. Here's the link for more 'then-and-now' celebrities.

Space, the final frontier...

Space exploration is amazing. Truly amazing with a capital F. And I've never ceased to feel such wonderment when looking up at the dark, clear and sparkling sky.

Did you know that NASA landed a satellite (Shoemaker) on an asteroid in Feb 2001? It was an historic first ever landing. Well geez, I was clueless about it until I watched the Science Channel on cable a few weeks ago. (In fact, I'm clueless about most current events ever since the kids were born.)

What astounds me is how NASA managed to land the satellite on an asteroid (Eros) that at best resembles a 21 mile long potato rotating in space. With such an oblong shape and thus an ever changing gravity field, it certainly was an improbable feat to accomplish. But they did it, and without any landing gear, since Shoemaker was not originally intended to touch down. 'Wow that's hot!' as Paris Hilton would say.

So what's up for this week? Well, the 3 brightest planets will be humping each other--Venus, Mercury and Saturn. I mean, they'll be visible in a local area of the sky so you could view them together in a single glance. I haven't gotten a looksie myself, but I'm just waiting for these starry nights to clear up a bit first.

Additional highlights for the 2005 skies may be found here. I'm mostly anticipating the Perseid Meteor Shower since it takes me way back to 1986 (was that the year?) when my closest friends and I roughed it on a week long adventure in the campgrounds of Pennsylvania. We weren't aware then, but it so happens that the plethora of shooting stars (and I mean a friggin helluva lot of shooting stars) that we were tracking above us were the Perseids. Goodness, there were so many! And how beautifully fortunate we were to have crystal clear skies then to just lay back and gaze. It's since become one of the most memorable moments of that summer as well as of my childhood, and it's forever kept me looking up in appreciation. In appeciation of the wonders of space ... and of the beauty of friendship.

Miss, Mrs., or Ms.?

Tomorrow is Tina's last day of Pre-K. I'll be writing a Thank You note to her teachers following this blog entry, but first needed to clarify the addressing issue. That is, would it be Miss, Mrs., or Ms.?

I thought a simple Google search would turn up an official conventional use of the terms, but I was surprised to find that there really was none, and that there were many postings of people who were adamant and disagreeing of how women should be addressed. In one thread, a married woman was proud to use her Mrs. status while another used Ms. so as to tell everyone to mind their own beeswax.

After further searches, I found the Ms. term to be favored by those wishing to have their marital status kept discreet. Seems quite fair to me. After all, men are addressed by Mr., which gives no indication of whether or not they're married. How convenient for us!:-) So it's only appropriate then that women are provided with the similar term of Ms.

Certainly the MissMrsMs issue runs to deeper avenues where many feminists are contesting other male-favored conventions. A couple of examples are the addressing of Mrs. HisFirstName HisLastName (e.g., Mrs. John Smith) in formal wedding invitations, and the use of he/him in many writings when the gender is unknown. (For all you men, would you twinge if you were addressed as Mr. Jane Mistress -- Mr. HerFirstName HerLastName?)

Probably a few years ago, I would've figured this discussion as trivial and given it less thought had it not been for my daughters. Ever since Tina and Mindy started innocently placing female terms to their play toys (that I had assumed as male), I became more conscious of my male-term centered lingo. I've since then decided to give the she/her usage (and other feminist-endorsed conventions) a try and see what comes of it.

So as for the Thank You note, I guess I'll be going with the Ms. thing and hope that would be fair. After all, I don't know if either one of Tina's teachers is married, single, divorced or widowed. And if so, maybe they'd want to keep it personal. Certainly, Mr. John Doe has.

Ms. it is.

The next triathlon

I've just signed up for the Sunset Sprint Triathlon (7/23), which has a .5mi swim, 16mi bike and a 5k trail run. It'll be my 2nd race of the season and another incentive to keep up the workouts. Although still relatively overweight, I'm about 5 lbs lighter since my 1st race, so I expect my running and biking to improve more readily. I already feel the ease when I run on the treadmill. That is, my joints don't feel so weighted down and achy.

Tonight, I'll write down my 'countdown' plan so I don't overdo the training and get all burned out. Tomorrow morning, I hope to do a very early morning bike ride before the family wakes up. I look forward to it more for pleasure than a workout since the ride'll take me through nice suburbs and farmland.

My need for music

I'm a gadget guy. Periodically, I get all into a tizzy about the latest and greatest gizmo out there that I just have to preach about it. Lately, it's my MP3 player that's got me worked up. It's so gosh darn small and ergonomically perfect for my running sessions. Teamed up with a beautiful set of earplug-style headphones, I fall into this Calgon-take-me-away state (i.e., 'nirvana' for you newer whipper snappers) where happiness is all that exists.

But the bread and butter of this wonderful sound comes from my relatively small but growing MP3 collection, which I've been fortunate to experience via MusicMatch On Demand (or Rhapsody) and recorded using Replay Music. ("Free music?" you ask. Well, the subscription isn't, but the songs are. And the recordings are legal, according to Replay's FAQ's.) The net cost of each song turns out to be only pennies, although it really depends on the number of recordings.

So enough about this shameless plug. If you love music, at least try the free trial periods. Having access to an entire CD store on your desktop is quite nifty. Any artist, any album, any song, any time. Sweetness, huh.*

* These products are not intended to treat or diagnose persons with liver or heart disease. Side effects may include nausea, drymouth, euphoria or reclusive listening leading to spousal and child abandonment. If you take an alpha blocker drug for high blood pressure or prostate problems, talk to your doctor.

More on 'passion'

My Fight for Fame post kept me thinking overtime, rekindled appreciatively by Rick's comment: ..."my passion is my family. But it took a while to get to that answer"...

Ahhh yes...mucho thanks for that. Glad to know I have pals walking the same streets with me. My revelations are similar in that they took time to be noticed because my focus was elsewhere. For me, I was forcing myself to feel strongly about other things for which I eventually cared least.

I've now put the "What am I passionate about?" question permanently on the back burner without trying to actively answer it. I'll only do what I do and see what affections are brought forward. I guess only then could the answers be obvious and sincere. And if I feel an abandoned display of emotion coming about, then I believe I've struck gold.

Fight For Fame

Have you ever had anything that you were so passionate about that it made you cry just talking about it?

This evening, I watched the premiere episode of Fight For Fame. It's yet another reality show where 1 out of 5 competing people wins a one year contract with a top talent agency.

Tonight's episode winner was Gretchen. And she had her emotions gushing when asked the final question: why did she feel she deserved to win the audition? She replied that she loved acting most of her life and that ... (she pauses, gets choked up and then the tears start pouring) ... she wanted to do this for her daughter; to show her that dreams do come true when you work hard for it. Good answer, I thought. Banal perhaps, but well delivered. I believed her sincerity, which she later confirmed was genuine. And I got choked up as well, else she was indeed a great actor!

Anyway, it got me reckoning afterwards. What things am I so passionate about? Past and present. What things bring that surge of emotion when I give it some thought?

I mull over questions like these night and day. The answers expose the amount of drive I have in the things I do, and provide reasons to stay the course. Now while I readily have some answers in my head, I think I'll keep them momentarily hushed until after some further reflection. And yup, I feel the emotions swelling up already...

Hmmmm....

Devilman Tri Pics

There were official photographers that took pictures of all the competitors during the past Devilman Triathlon. Here are their snapshots of my jump across the finish (Greg Welch style) and on the bike.

Here's Bill Schweizer of 82 years--the oldest in this race--on the bike and at the finish.

On being a responsible grownup

I had a website project a while back that I let slip through the cracks. I let procrastination rule over me for those days, so I never finished the work and had all intentions of just letting it go in defeat. Irresponsible and immature, yes it was. Today, a few months later, my client called to let me know that he still would like to see it completed. He wasn't angry about it, but rather just wanted to see it done and over.

This inability of mine to get some things done makes me feel like Jimmy Neutron's arch-enemy, Professor Finbarr Calamitous--a man "who could never finish anything, not even a sentence." I could think of a million previous tasks that support this sentiment, but perhaps that's just seeing the glass as half empty.

Okay then, the good thing is that I've gotten a second chance to do the right thing. After all, most of my victories have arisen from that saying, "If at first you don't succeed..." (or was it "The show must go on." :-)). So I guess it's best that I keep up with that tradition.

Once again, yet again, we'll see what the next few days pan out.