fidlmath

Diana the Spider Wrangler

Happy Trails

Saturday, daughter L and I  went up Millcreek Canyon to the Pipeline Trail.  That is where I took my first hike in Utah, 10 or 12 years ago.  This time I rode L's mountain bike.  For a 60+ acrophobic flatlander I didn't do too poorly.  The thing is, I'm used to paved, flat trails devoid of loose rocks.  Not that I necessarily prefer that, but I did get rattled at one point, lost control of the bike and ditched - but only a couple of scratched legs and scraped elbow to show for it - nowhere near dramatic enuf!  Beyond this point

it gets hillier and rockier, so I decided to give it a miss and only rode about 2 miles.  It is very beautiful, and only about a 20 minute drive from where L lives.  Yesterday and Thursday we rode about 4.5-6 miles in Liberty Park - flat, paved and no rocks - a great place to skate [L] and bicycle [me].  We also took a short ride up to Cucina, a very nice coffee shop that also has a few things other than delicious looking sweet rolls - like quiche, which I can eat.  It isn't far, but does go uphill more than I'm used to.  Wednesday we did 5 or 6 miles along the Jordan River Parkway - another of Salt Lake's great projects that encourage people to exercise.  It runs for miles along the Jordan River and is even being extended.  Today we are driving up to Logan, where  L'  boyfriend, J, has bought and is refurbishing [in a big way] an old house.  I'm excited to see it.   Oh, and yesterday we drove around a neighborhood where we'd found several houses for sale that might be within my price range - since there's a chance I might move out here in a year or 2.  Tuesday we'll look at a different neighborhood.  Okay - enuf already.  Later TTFN, Ciao.

posted by: mafidl at May 28, 2007 12:52 | link | comments (3) |

roundabout

In Australia it is what we call a traffic circle.  This written and performed by the rock group "Yes", which I was lucky enough to hear a couple of years ago when they came to South Florida.

 

posted by: mafidl at May 23, 2007 23:07 | link | comments (4) |

greetings

I'm in Utah and took an awesome train ride [California Zephyr] into Colorado with daughter, L.  Then rented a car and did a loop south, then west and back north and east.  First went to Leadville [over 10,000 ft and not yupified - whoopee!] but didn't realize our route of choice was still closed because of a 12,000 ft pass and winter not officially over!! So the drive which should have been 2.5 hours turned into 5 hours - but all beautiful.  Next day, on to Gunnison, CO and visitedthe Black Canyon of the Gunnison River - stunning - then on to Montrose with a side trip to Crested Butte, thence on a scenic route back up to the interstate, through Cedaredge, and, 3 days later, on the train again.  The Eastbound train was 4 hours late leaving Salt Lake City and the Westbound was 2 hours late, then delayed for close to an hour just before Salt Lake City.  You don't take a train trip if you're in a hurry - and we weren't.  Fun.  I'll post a couple of pictures when I get back to Miami near the end of the month.  I tried to get this the color of the red rocks out here - but although this looked pretty good against white, not as good on my blog color.

posted by: mafidl at May 23, 2007 14:48 | link | comments (1) |

getting ready

Today is going to be a bit frantic for me.  Yesterday, I had a little party for older daughter, J, who is getting ready to move to Utah just after the public school year is over.  Now I have to get ready for my trip.  I'm flying out to Salt Lake City tomorrow morning early to spend about 2 weeks with younger daughter, L.  We're going to take a train trip - from SLC to somewhere in Colorado, where we'll rent a car and travel around for a couple days before going back to SLC.  It will be beautiful and I'm really looking forward to it.  So today after my doctor's appointment, I have a bunch of errands and then have to do laundry and pack.  I have been thinking about packing, but I realized a few minutes that I rank packing about even with grading tests - at about the same level of fun as having teeth pulled.  I agonize about what to take with me - besides the obvious items.  Since we'll be in the mountains a bit, I have to have layers and never am sure what sort of coat I'll be happy with.  The practical one, that has a zip-in lining, is never my first choice.  The red, soft, cuddly one that J brought me from Australia when she was there several years ago will be too warm for non-mountain nights, but I'll probably take it anyhow.  Funny how attached I get to some items like that. Later, ciao, TTFN.

posted by: mafidl at May 14, 2007 07:15 | link | comments |

update

I now have 2 working computers!  Even got most of my programs loaded into the new hard drive on the laptop. One small irritant: I have ordered 3 CD's and 1 book from Amazon, ordered them May 5, but they weren't "shipped" until May 9 and now when I try to track the package, there's no new info and I can't get to the USPS website that I was able to get through to on the 9th - hmmmm.  I was hoping the package might get here before I leave Tuesday morning - but now I'm not sure.
I am worried about leaving Voodoo for 2 weeks.  Last night I tried to give him an antibiotic pill that I'd given up on.  It went down, but then he threw it up.  This morning NN managed to get 1/2 a Viokase tablet down [to help him digest the tuna I then gave him] and that was successful.  Monday the vet is suppose to get the "compounded" version of the antibiotic in - as a liquid but with the apparently vile taste masked.  Then, if NN can give him both the Viokase and that liquid, maybe he'll still be here when I get back.  It isn't that he acts sick - but he's losing weight too quickly.  Poor younger daughter, L,  had to deal with older sister, J, who was having to deal with the fact that her 17 year old dog was not doing well, and so J was feeling like a bad dog mother.  Now I'm going to visit L and she'll have to deal with me feeling like I'm a bad kitty mother, abandoning my poor Voodoo for 2 weeks.  At least L has had the recent practice in this with J! 
OK - friend A, who's coming over tomorrow afternoon, is already scrambling around getting ready to leave Monday for 2 weeks - and here I am not getting ready to leave Tuesday for 2 weeks.  At least I've figured out what food I'm having for tomorrow and will get some help cleaning from NN - I hope.  So that's it for now. Ciao and TTFN

posted by: mafidl at May 12, 2007 13:14 | link | comments (1) |
computers, kitties

computer

For the time being, I have a working one.  A couple of days ago my PC started running [wrong word] verrrrrrry sloooooowly.  Wouldn't shut off, etc.  Finally, I managed to get the McAfee virus scan working and that went for several hours.  Next morning PC was OK - and scan stats didn't show anything wrong.  Gremlins again?  and this had to happen when my department-loaned laptop is getting a new hard drive.  It crashed a few days before.  Maybe it's contagious?  Emma Pele is having problems with hers, too, also NN.
Today I decided that it might help PC if I eliminated some of the dreck on its desktop.  It is always easier to find stuff after downloading, if I save it on the desktop, but then I forget to get rid of it or put it in someplace sensible.  Hence very cluttered desktop.  It's amazing what I found.  One very useful thing that I could have used last night.  A map of all the railroad routes in the US.  They are a poor substitute for what was available back in, say, the 40's and 50's - maybe a bit later.  My mother and I took a trip in 1954 that left, I believe, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, down to St. Louis, Missouri [that's Missoura to natives] for a week with relatives, then down and across Texas to El Paso for a day, and on to Phoenix for a week with relatives, after that to Los Angeles for a week with relatives, finally up to San Francisco for [you guessed it] a week with relatives, then on to Klamath Falls, Oregon for a day and night, on through Pasco, Washington, Butte, Montana, then across and down through the Badlands of South Dakota, winding up in Chicago.  I was about 14 and had never seen most of the states we went through - it was absolutely lovely.  Funny thing - there was a New York City couple who, according to the porter, stayed in their stateroom reading the entire way across Texas, even getting their meals in there.  Now I know some people think a lot of Texas is boring - but I saw shrubs and occasional animals I'd never seen before and found it fascinating.  Anyhow, the reason I wish I'd had that map yesterday is that younger daughter, L, and I were on the phone discussing a possible train ride out west, probably leaving from Salt Lake City.  One way was to Denver, then bus to Trinidad, Colorado, where we could then catch a train to Flagstaff, Arizona, spend a couple of days, followed by another bus back to SLC.  I believe that it used to be possible to do more of that by train.  At any rate, we probably won't do that since I do want to be able to spend a few days in SLC.  Another, shorter possibility by train, SLC to Truckee, California and then back.  Also will go through beautiful country.  A problem with another possibility - between Seattle, Washington and, say, Glacier Park is that although the territory is gorgeous, the hours that the train runs would mean most of it in the dark.  In addition to fewer routes, their is usually only one train per day - so the times don't adapt to maximization of scenery.  Disappointing.  Later, TTFN from Miama [lol].

posted by: mafidl at May 10, 2007 09:16 | link | comments (2) |
computers, landscape

Hooray and damn!

I bloody well did it again - wrote most of a post, got distracted and inadvertently closed it.   Well anyhow, there's great news - Howard and crew have apparently fixed my IM - maybe yours, too, if you've been having problems.  They've been trying to fix this for weeks, at least off and on - and today Howard Momailed me to try it - and it worked!  Now if only someone were one to chat with - anybody?  anybody?  I also got one of those odd windows saying heathos visited my profile at 19:?? and click to chat - that didn't work, maybe because heathos was no longer on.  Anyhow, many thanks to the Motime crew and especially Howard.
On another note.  Last week I slipped, tripped, whatever and yesterday morning when my toes were X-rayed, it seems that I managed to fracture the big toe on my right foot.  My poor right foot that I seem to frequently pick on.  Let's see:  in addition to discovering a fracture in the metatarsal area at the base of my 2nd and 3rd toes back several years ago, I then managed to break the 2nd one, which caused it and the 3rd to become hammer toes, which then necessitated surgery and because I wasn't given the right post surgical sandal, one of the pins that had been inserted temporarily to keep the toes from buckling again bent and then broke when the podiatrist, who shall remain nameless, went to remove them.  So I still have a piece of one of them, in the bone where this doctor said it would stay - funny, I have a constant sore pretty much over one end of it on that toe.  Anyhow, I have a "splint" - piece of foam rubber between 1st and 2nd toes, tape around to keep the fractured piece in place.  However, I'm not sure how well that will work, since it was nearly a week from the injury to when it was splinted.  The alternative was a 4 ft cast - but I'm not sure how much better that would be.  Then there is what is almost certainly a fungus infection which I am treating daily now.  There are evidently 3 surgical options for my 2 sad 2nd and 3rd toes [did I mention that they hurt and are often swollen at the base, did I?], none of which are guaranteed to eliminate pain or even be permanent fixes.  I am going back to this podiatrist, who, in all fairness, is a new one recommended by friend and colleague, R, and he seems very good.  He is one of those doctors who teaches you everything about what he's doing, can do, what the X-ray actually shows, and all options.  A lot of information.  One thing I'm not sure about is that he felt the bottoms of my feet with his fingers, lightly, and determined that the pulse there is weak.  Now he must have a lot more sensitive fingers than I do to be able to feel pulse there.  I even have trouble feeling it on my neck and have never been sure, when I've tried to feel my cat's pulse, whether I'm feeling his or mine.  OK back to right foot again.  I just recalled that when my parents and I returned from a summer vacation when I was a child, the grass in our yard was quite high, we were cutting the grass, my Dad had used one of those rakes with stiff, curved metal prongs, left it in the grass and grace and poise [me] managed to step on it and drive a [probably rusty] tyne into my right heel.  Our doctor, a neighbor, probably gave me a tetanus shot [great memory I don't have], cleaned it up and told me to stay off it for awhile.  My Mom had a pair of Daniel Green slippers that I really coveted and she said I could wear those - after that I don't even think it hurt.  Children are so easily distracted or comforted, sometimes.
OK Heathos contacted me, I'm on IM with him, playing his latest post - he's a muso from Oz - and NN is playing my bass with him.  As H said, Sweet!
Enuf for now.  TTFN, Ciao, etc.

posted by: mafidl at May 08, 2007 14:03 | link | comments (5) |

end of term

Grades are in and as NN said on someone's blog [not mine, I think] 95% of my students don't study and the other half cheat [he signed it Norman Yogi ... - as in Yogi Berra].  I think I would amend it to 70% of my students don't study and most of the other half pass [chuckle or sob - I can't decide].  Now all that's left until I fly to Utah the 15th are a couple of interviews for instructor positions in my department, a couple of doctor appointments and of course my hair and nail appointments.  Younger daughter and I are trying to plan a train trip of some sort out west - haven't decided definitely on it yet, but are discussing it.  I also would like to try and visit Cousin D in Seattle area, if I can work it out.  Later.

posted by: mafidl at May 05, 2007 22:01 | link | comments (5) |

Update

OK - grades are in and in 1 case, worse than NN nicely contributed earlier.  I even talked to my chairman about this today and he said it wasn't my fault - but it is hard to have to flunk so many students.  I have to find a way to get them to study.  I even tried putting practice exams on the website for the 3rd and 4th tests for my Calculus I class - including solutions.  That only works if they access them.  My College Algebra classes did very badly - the afternoon one, especially.  The best one was my Trigonometry class.  For Spring, I'll be teaching Calculus I and II and a Trig class.  I probably should teach another one - right now I'm recovering from teaching the 4 classes, being on 2 active committees and gathering data for my chairman on another class for which I am the coordinator.  The administration, in all it's wisdom, has redone our class schedules in such a way that a large proportion of our classes, mostly Calculus, will now be taught on a MWF schedule - 50 min each.  Our 3 credit classes will fit nicely into this scheme, but our Calculus classes are all 4 credit hours, so will meet, for example, say MWF at 9 AM and again M at 10, or some variation of this.  It will be a real trip to redo our schedules.  I've been teaching here since 1982 and until a couple of years ago, all of our [Math] classes met either MW or TuTh.  Now the TuTh schedule will remain the same - 75 minutes twice weekly for 3 hour classes and 100 minutes twice weekly for the 4 hour ones - and all the latter go to tenured faculty, of course, of which I am not one.  Now the truth is that for the last couple of years, the Math Dept has been one of the only departments to honor the admin's request for some classes to be taught on Fridays.  We had Calculus classes which met MF, WF and MW which, apparently dovetailed nicely in several classrooms. So we were doing our part to comply with that request, which utilized the classroom space better.  However, when push came to shove, even tho' that arrangement would satisfy the requirements for space utilization, the administration at first seemed to be ready to OK it's continuation, but then changed what passes for their mind.  Oh well, enuf bitching about that.
On a less complicated and for me happier note, younger daughter L is now on her way back from Australia, via Korea and Seattle, to Salt Lake City and I will fly out to SLC to be with her May 15-May 30.  We are thinking of taking a train ride - either up north somehow to Seattle, where I have a cousin, or down south somehow through or near to Deming, NM where I own a couple of lots. 
On a less happy note, older daughter, J, had to have her 16 or 17 year old dog put to sleep today.  She's had him for about 11 years and he was a lovely, sweet, stubborn, great dog.  RIP Burr.
I left out the fact that we're on severe water restrictions that are due to get stricter, due to not enuf rain.
It's been a long day.  I was sad about my grades and fact that older daughter is moving in June, so drank too much.  Then had to submit the grades for my two worst classes.  So guess that's enuf for now.  Later. TTFN

posted by: mafidl at May 01, 2007 20:21 | link | comments (6) |
teaching, weather, family, pets

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