Saturday March 31, 2007 6:00 am Edmonton

A. Morning Musings

I do not have Internet access this morning, so there is no update for the weather or news.

The plans for today include a visit to Greenwoods, one of my favorite bookstores in Edmonton.

B. Plan

Immediate
Technology	Create Feb pages for Mexico trip using iPhoto images	1 hr
Birds	Create notebook pages birding in Mexico	2 hr
Literature	Continue reading "Of This Earth" by Rudy Wiebe	1 hr
	New York Times easy crossword puzzles	1 hr
Later
Technology	Convert LPs to MP3 format
	Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac"
	Burn backup of images onto DVD
Mathematics	Read & make notes on The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems
	Make notes for "Mathematics: A Human Endeavor" ch 1
	Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves
	Begin reading "Algebra: Abstract and Concrete" by Frederick Goodman
Model Trains	Add ground cover to oil refinery diorama
	Follow tutorial for version 8 of 3rd PlanIt
	Continue assembly of coaling tower
	Purchase DCC system
History	Begin reading "Maya"
	Read Watson "Ideas"
Philosophy	Read & make notes for "Breaking the Spell"
	Begin reading "How Are We To Live?" by Peter Singer
GO	Complete reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go"
Puzzles	The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #10
Major Goals
Learning	Review week's pages each Sunday
	Review all pages for the month at the end of each month
Technology	Review & edit iPhoto files for 2006
Model Trains	Become proficient with 3rd PlanIt software
	Install DCC on model train layout
GO	Learn to play GO at something better than a beginner level
Drawing	Learn to draw!! (I keep saying this, yet I have yet to put a pencil to paper).
Mathematics	Continue to play with mathematics.
Literature	Continue to read Literature
Bird Watching	Continue to engage in bird watching activities.

C. Actual/Note

4:00 PM I bought a Walrus magazine while waiting for the bookstore to open. Then, as expected, I bought a few books at Greenwoods:

• I Am A Strange Loop (2007) by Douglas Hostadter. He is one of my favorite authors. I will buy anything he writes. This book looks like a natural extension of his first book, Godel, Escher, Bach which is a classic of cognitive science.
• Symmetry (2006) by David Wade. This is a tiny book but full of superb drawings of different kinds of symmetries.
• The Difference (2007) by Scott E. Page. The subtitle is How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies. I was attracted to this by the subtitle as it reflects one of my fundamental principles about universities - that their strength lies in their diversity.
• In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World (2005) by John Thackara. This looks like a fascinating book that examines the poorly designed technologies that annay us as well as innovations that help us maintain our humanity. Looks like fun. I also have a positive bias toward books published by MIT Press.
• The Culture Code (2006) by Clotaire Rapaille. This looks like a nice complement to the previous book.
• Why Good People Do Bad Things (2007) by James Hollis. I was attracted to this title as I can think of a number of situations where this title might apply. The book has a strong Jungian perspective, which intrigues me.
• Hashi: The Bridges Puzzle (2006) by Alastair Chisholm. This contains 202 logic puzzles of a kind that is new to me.

6:00 PM I finally returned to reading a book that I brought with me, Rudy Wiebe's "Of This Earth". I then tried the first 5 puzzles from Hashi. They are great fun.

D. Reflection