fidlmath

Diana the Spider Wrangler

Politics

Billary or Obama, hmmmmm.  I read an interesting article yesterday,  This from Jack Cafferty.  He asks if the American voters really want change.
"Hillary is part of the monopoly on the White House between the Clintons and the Bushes that goes back 28 years." and "McCain has been a part of Washington for 26 years."  And "  The problems they [people in hundreds or thousands of those contacting him]complain about exist solely because of the actions of the Democrats and Republicans in Washington. The political establishment, if you will, that is in bed with the lobbyists and the corporations and, quite frankly, couldn’t care less about you.Except now, at election time, when they need you"
Hard choices?  Is Obama really experienced enough?  He sounds pretty good, but then so did my choice, John Edwards - sorry, John, but maybe Attorney General? or ?
Oh yeah, have you heard/seen that Ralph Nader is seriously considering running again?  OMG  One of my friends emailed me that he'd gladly contribute to him - IF HE PROMISED NOT TO RUN! 

posted by: mafidl at January 31, 2008 10:51 | link | comments (2) |

Tee Shirts and a movie

On my way to class this morning I saw 2 cute tees.  The one had on it" i never finish anyth   " and the other, "Waste the day".  I can identify with either of those at times.
Then a student asked to see me during office hours, but instead of having questions about the math, he wanted to show me a video, specifically the one below.  If you go to YouTube and put in "waking life" there are some 1400 examples, many showing quite different short sections of the movie.  The one my student
wanted me to see is below.

posted by: mafidl at January 31, 2008 10:11 | link | comments (3) |
stuff

The real thing or ?

posted by: mafidl at January 27, 2008 14:29 | link | comments (2) |
little grey men

Musings

I'm becoming addicted to CNN.  Been thinking all along that it was entirely a liberal group, but just heard Keith Olbermann being questioned about that.  He pointed out that for probably about a year near the end of the Clinton presidency, he was very outspoken about Clinton and at that time no one would have accused him of a liberal bias.  Given the time we're in, as in the last 8 years, I don't know how anyone could not have become at least anti-Republican.
As far as the coming primary in Florida, I will, of course, vote in the Democratic one, but I will either flip a coin for Hillary or Barack, or vote for John, whom I like very well, also, knowing full well that it would probably be a wasted vote.  I really do think Edwards has remained the adult Democratic candidate - but then I also liked Joe Biden a lot.  Oh well, at least we have good choices.
Another thing that is bothering me.  Our Republican-controlled legislature is responsible for moving our primary up, but the DNC punishes us, their own.  That seems crazy to me.  I've heard that they  had to punish us or more states would do the same thing - but isn't that going against what they need?  I also heard that Hillary intends to contest that.  One of my friends said that, especially if she loses in Florida, she will probably force a floor fight at the Convention over that.  I hope that happens regardless of whether she wins here.
My condo yearly elections are Monday, the day before our primaries.  We have a group of certifiable wackos running against a group who have mostly served on the board previously, and have been dealing with hellacious problems over the past few years, gradually making headway.  For some reason, the owners here [we have some 785] units, have resisted having reserves,  and have voted against them since the place was built in the 1970's.  Consequently, not only do our monthly dues/fees have to be pretty hefty [they're now up to $440/mo], but we now will have, for 7 months, an additional assessment of some $400/mo, necessitated by someone calling the county and complaining about the bad lighting throughout the community [truthfully, one resident suffered a broken leg, possibly due to the lighting].  The problem is that now the County is insisting that the lighting be brought up to current code, which will cost a lot - not just poles and bulbs, but underground wiring.  So, understandably, there are a lot of people hurting financially.  However, the problems won't go away just because a group is elected who disagree with the assessment, and, who, for the most part, don't know what they are doing.  In fact, some of them did manage to get elected several years ago, and then had to be recalled because of the mess they were making of the job.
One last item.  This morning I became inspired, or possibly possessed, by the idea of making a different sort of pancake.  I took 1 cup of whole wheat flour. 1 beaten egg, 1 cup of milkl [meant to use plain yoghurt, but forgot] about 1/8 cup veggie oil, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt and finely chopped onion and green pepper.  cooked as pancake, it wasn't too bad with Smart Balance on it, but seemed as if it was missing something.  Maybe next time I'll use baking soda instead, less liquid, and make it into biscuits instead.  My typical homemade biscuits are only good for throwing at stray critters, anyhow, so why not?

posted by: mafidl at January 27, 2008 13:08 | link | comments (2) |
politics, cooking, condos

A bit late, but this is worth listening to

I couldn't resist posting this, sent by friend L upon cleaning out her email today:

posted by: mafidl at January 15, 2008 10:55 | link | comments (5) |

S Florida Wuss

Amazing - after I got the down jacket in Salt Lake City I stayed warm.  Now that I'm back in S Florida, 70°F seemed, last evening, cold with no long sleeves or jacket.  This morning it was just under 60°F and I was happy to wear my light jacket.  However, I still prefer this weather to our summer muggy heat.  Actually, yesterday it was around 80°F  and felt fine due to low humidity. 
I guess I'm going to have to make a list of pros and cons - both for staying in S Florida and for moving to SLC.  Of course the biggest con for the move is just that - I hate moving.  My daughter L has offered to come home and help me, which will, of course, be great. But one thing that I'm determined to do prior to this is sell a lot of stuff - take as few items as I can.  That is a daunting task.  For example, I have a solid oak dining room set that my folks purchased from either Macy's or Gimbel's basement [NY] in the early 1940's, when a department store basement was used for storage, not for bargains.  Dad had looked for something that he liked, couldn't find anything, finally asked whichever store he found it in if they didn't have something different.  It seemed that someone had ordered this set, then either had it repossessed or changed his/her mind so it was sitting under sheets in the basement.  It has an oak veneer over the wood and, as far as I was able to find with a web search, it looks a bit like a French set from late 1890's or early 1900's.  I've always loved it, but it has not only a table with 2 drop leaves, 6 chairs, but also a china closet and 2 buffets or servers [one smaller than the other].   All of it needs some TLC, some of which is pretty easy - like changing the seats.  I intend to clear everything off [the table has pads to protect it], take pictures and put them somewhere.  I don't think Ebay or Craig's List would be suitable for such a large item.  Also, despite searching the web and discussing it with an antique dealer in SLC as well as a couple in this area, I haven't a good idea of what it might be worth.  When I had a couple of small antique dealers come look at it, they wound up asking me what I wanted for it.  I said that, tentatively, I might just decide that I'd take $1000, at which point the one man  quickly said [too quickly?] that he'd buy it for that and put it in his own home.  Hmmmmm.
Another item that I have is a punch bowl with a separate base, that is at least a copy of a Limoge one and hand painted.  I haven't found any initials, which means it's probably a copy, has beautiful flowers and a thin gold rim.  Then there are 2 sets of dishes: my mother's Spode Pink Tower, my Royal Dalton Chateau Rose,china, my Lunt Lacepoint silver flatware and my mother's silver - all 4 of which are complete sets.  A cousin of mine, J, who lives in N. Carolina, moved there from Central Florida, had a lot of antiques, and wound up selling a lot of  them for much less than they were probably worth.  The problem that I'm having is how to hit on a fair price and at the same time try not to give them away. 
This morning I got to school before realizing that I'd left my eyeglasses home.  Note to self: keep spare pair [older one] either in car or office.  I could read my notes for my first class, but had trouble with the textbook.  Squinting helps a bit, but isn't sufficient.  If there are too many errors in this post, that's why [lol].

posted by: mafidl at January 15, 2008 10:33 | link | comments (6) |
weather, family, moving, homes

What do you think?

Does this decade have a name?  Do you have one that you think is catchy, would work?  Check out this article or this one [cursor down for the topic of naming it] and let me know what you think.  I am coming to the conclusion that there is probably no good choice.
BTW, I've finished the scarf for daughter L that I got the yarn for and started yesterday.  Actually, I finished it last night - the yarn of choice is Lyon Brand, Wool-Ease, which is quite heavy, necessitating use of large [size P] hook and so didn't take long as a result.  Now what to do, what to do?  L didn't want a matching hat, but I am playing around with a semi-matching one, since I have some of the 3 colors left.  Could also make myself one, which, as NN says, I won't have a lot of use for here in Miami, but I'm at the very least going to go back out to SLC for visits until I move there, and some of those will be in weather cold enuf for this South Florida "wuss" [thanks PSM - hmmmm - change the letters and one has PMS] to wear something warm.

posted by: mafidl at January 12, 2008 14:41 | link | comments (2) |
crocheting

Request from NN

posted by: mafidl at January 12, 2008 10:53 | link | comments (4) |

Nostalgia

This is for NN:

posted by: mafidl at January 12, 2008 10:48 | link | comments (1) |

Garlic and other trivia

I can't believe it - I can still smell the garlic on my fingers - and no, that doesn't mean I haven't washed my hands, thank you very much.  I wash them several times during the day and had a shower this morning - so I guess it's just tenacious.  As I said earlier, I really don't mind that.
Since I finished both the scarf and hat that I crocheted for my daughters, even mailed them yesterday, I'm now reduced to twiddiling my fingers.  I am anxious to get on with another project.  Daughter L wants a scarf, went to Michael's [craft shop ?] in Salt Lake City, called me from there and named 3 colors she likes.  Wouldn't you know, the closest Michael's to me didn't have any of those, the next closest had one and the only other one in the area had 2 and is expecting a shipment today.  So tomorrow I'll call the nearest one and the last one to see if they've gotten in the colors.  If not, I'll probably buy what is available and have L send me the other[s].
I also like Eric's Ultimate Solitaire CD - but mostly play only one game, Klondike, rather obsessively, when I haven't any hobby to occupy me.  Maybe I should try another game.  When I was in grad school I learned to play [with actual cards] Spider and Spiderette.  But, for whatever reason, I don't enjoy them as much on the computer.  Even using cards, I seldom won either of them, but still liked to play them.  Wonder why I'm not as happy on the computer.  While I was in SLC my daughters and I played Scrabble a couple of times and NN and I play it occasionally.  I do enjoy that, but use a Scrabble dictionary quite a lot sometimes.
OK - nearly time for my second class today, which is the last one for the week.  Thanks to friend and colleague, R, I am only teaching M-Th, so get to play and work tomorrow.
It's definitely starting to get too warm for me.  Winter is pretty much over - but there's the possibility of cooler weather early next week.  Please let it be so!
Later.

posted by: mafidl at January 10, 2008 11:48 | link | comments (1) |
teaching, work, weather, family, crocheting

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