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Sunday April 8, 2007 5:20 am Lethbridge Sunrise 6:54 Sunset 20:12 Hours of daylight: 13:18
A. Morning Musings
5:20 am It is -5 C at the moment with a high of +14 C forecast.
Here are the news.
CBC Headline: Harper, Family in France For Vimy Ceremonies
These ceremonies will mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in World War I. "The battle, an assault on a strategic escarpment held by German troops, is considered one of Canada's most important military victories. It was a breakthrough that had eluded British and French troops for two years. The battle, which left 3,598 dead, began on April 9, 1917." I recall hearing elsewhere that the main memorial has recently undergone major renovations to repair damage due to weathering as well as to correct some mispellings on the plaques. I also notice that the CBC is providing a number of special programs that provide details of the original battle. I am pleased that the Canadian government is finally beginning to pay some attention to important historical events. Now if they would only add support for numerous local histories and events that occurred within our borders.
Canadian Headline: see above
Australian Headline: (from The Australian): Fury As Hostages Sell Stories
The British Ministry of Defense has given permission for the recent captives to sell their stories but the relatives of many others who have lost their lives are upset because they were not allowed to do so. I tend to agree with the overall concern that the media are creating a "circus" but view this as a criticism of our current culture that appears to revel in such publicity.
My weight is back 1 to 187. I had a particularly long strenous walk yesterday that likely helped.
B. Plan
Immediate Mathematics Read "Symmetry" by David Wade 1 hr Model Trains Continue assembly of coaling tower 1 hr Literature Begin reading "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
1 hr Birds Bird watching trip around Nicholas Sheran park 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 Purchase DCC system Birds Create notebook pages birding in Mexico 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 Literature New York Times easy crossword puzzles 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
5:40 am One of my "Major Goals" is to review the previous week's pages each Sunday. I will put the coffee on and then give that a try. Although the days are clearly getting longer, it is still dark outside at the moment. This observation is based on looking out my "office" window which faces west. I noticed a light blue glow to the east when I looked out the front door.
One of the obvious features of the above table of planned activities is that I finally have the list of tasks for the immediate day down to a more realistic set.
I am prepared to purchase a spotting scope tomorrow that will give me the equipment to take some high quality photos of birdlife. This is becoming one of our major new activities, which is great as it gets us outside and enjoying nature. Now that I have the data base operational, I can begin each year with a new count of all the regular birds that we see. For example, in 2006 we saw a total of 126 different birds and 53 of these were in Canada. I am confident that we will beat the 126 total this year (the recent trip to Mexico will help) and we should also beat the Candian total as we are getting a bit better at both spotting birds as well as taking short trips specifically for that purpose. It will also help to be sure to add those birds, such as the American Robin, that we tend to take for granted. An example of this latter activity is that yesterday I noticed both a Ring-billed Gull and a Black-billed Magpie while taking my exercise walk. That brings my 2007 totals up to 5! Daily sightings should also include House Sparrows, House Finches, American Crows and Canada Geese. I will try to add these today.
A lot of the past week was spent on updating various online files: scanning the covers of novels that I have read this year, creating web pages for our trip to Mexico (I still have to create some pages specifically for bird watching), and revising and updating my bird watching data base. It is a good feeling to have these tasks all behind me. On a similar vein, but taking a few more months, are the converting of my LPs to MP3 format and inserting them onto my iPod as well as updating my bird watching files for Mexico (I am waiting for a book I ordered that describes Mexican birds).
Literature reading has been fairly steady. I have begun "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky. I recall reading this many years ago, but this is a new translation (1990) by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. These two have translated a number of Russian classics and are definitely worth rereading. I have previously read Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) and Demons (Dostoevsky) by them.
The main catch-up task for the coming week will continue to be the converting of my LP records to digital format. Both Birding and Literature seem to be well established routines. The two activities that have been sliding are Mathematics and Model Trains.
My weight loss program is still on track.
6:50 am Here is an early morning sunrise, taken from our front door.
9:00 am I took a walk around Nicholas Sheran park this morning to see if I could add a number of common birds to my 2007 lists. I saw the following: House Finch (1), European Starling (6), American Crow (5), Canada Goose (1), Black-billed Magpie (4), Ring-billed Gull (6), Redhead (2), Mallard (3), Tundra Swans (20),
Northern Flicker (1). The Tundra Swans were a group flying directly overhead, heading north.
9:40 PM Here are two more photos showing the beginning of the spring activity of the May tree in our backyard.
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D. Reflection