Wednesday April 25, 2007 7:10 am Lethbridge Sunrise 6:20 Sunset 20:38 Hours of daylight: 14:18

A. Morning Musings

7:10 am It is +8 C with a high forecast of +16 C.

Here are the news.

CBC Headline: Military Expects Thousands To Attend Memorial For 8 Slain Soldiers

There will be a memorial today in Gagetown New Brunswick for the 8 soldiers killed in Afghanistan last week. This was the worst Canadian military loss since World War II.

Canadian Headline: see above

Australian Headline: (from The Australian): Australian Troops Come Under More Fire In Iraq.

Australian soldiers came under fire as they attempted to recover an armoured vehicle destroyed by a roadside bomb last week. It is hard to believe the rhetoric that we are winning the battles in Iraq. The daily stories of insurgent attacks continues unabated.

My weight is down 1 to 181. Excellent. I am now very close to my original goal.

From rear window	South patio
Both images taken at 2:36 PM

 

B. Actual/Notes

I am reordering the categories to bring my actual notes before the daily plan. The idea is to reduce scrolling for viewers who are not interested in the planning table that I use to keep track of items. I will also apply this to the other pages for this week (April 22 - 24).

2:40 PM Here are two more photos showing the beginning of the spring activity of the May tree in our backyard.

7:45 PM While shopping today I bought 2 new books:

• "Divisadero" (2007), a novel by Michael Ondaatje. I enjoy his writing and didn't hesitate to buy this book when I saw it.
• "Einstein" (2007), a biography by Walter Isaacson. This looks to be a definitive description of his life and his contribution to science. I am looking forward to reading this.

But first, I need to return to "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoyevsky.

	Literature 25 April 25
Literature Notes
It has been over a week since I last picked up this novel. Now to get back into the rhythm of it. Part II Book Four: Strains Chap. 1 Father Ferapont Alyosha wakes up the next morning and notices that the elder Zosima was noticeably weaker, but still conscious and aware of his surroundings. Alyosha receives a message from Madame Khokhlakov where she describes a situation yesterday where Zosima appeared to foretell the future and wants Alyosha to let everyone know of this 'miracle of prediction'. A visiting monk from Obdorsk meets with an elderly resident monk, Father Ferapont, who is very difficult to get along with. Father Ferapont tells him that he is able to see devils all around him, even though they are invisible to others. This visiting monk is perplexed by the conversation and is seen listening and questioning almost everyone in the monastery as he tries to understand what is happening. " 'Love God's people. For we [the monks] are not holier than those in the world because we have come here and shut ourselves within these walls, but, on the contrary, anyone who comes here, by the very fact that he has come, already knows himself to be worse than all those who are in the world, worse than all on earth ... And the longer a monk lives within his walls, the more keenly he must be aware of it. For otherwise he had no reason to come here." [p. 163 - 164] Chap. 2 At His Father's Alyosha then visits his father Fyodor who is recovering from the beating he received yesterday from his son Dmitri. Fyodor is in a foul mood and has nothing good to say about anyone. Chap. 3 He Gets Involved With Schoolboys On his way to visit Madame Khokhlakov, he meets a group of schoolboys throwing rocks at another. He intervenes, and when he approaches the single boy discovers that the boy knows him and runs away crying. "Alyosha began with this practical remark, without any premeditated guile, which, incidently, is the only way for an adult to begin if he wants to gain the immediate confidence of a child, and especially of a whole group of children. One must begin precisely in a serious and practical way so as to be altogether on an equal footing. Alyosha instinctively understood this." [p. 177] Chap. 4 At The Khokhlakovs' While Madame Khokhlakov is getting bandages for Alyosha's finger, her daughter Lise have a few minutes to talk alone. Lise asks for Alyosha to return the letter she wrote him yesterday where she announced her love for him. Alyosha tells her that when Zorisma dies he will leave the monastery, finish his studies and then will marry her. Chap. 5 Strain In The Drawing Room Alyosha then goes into the drawing room where he meets both Ivan and Katerina. Alyosha says that he thinks that Katerina really loves Ivan instead of Dmitri but Ivan contradicts him saying the opposite. Ivan then leaves saying he is going to Moscow and that Katerina will never see him again. Katerina then gives Alyosha 200 roubles and asks him to give them to the man who Dmitri embarassed in a fight a few days ago. She describes the event and mentions that a young boy tried to get bystanders to help him and that the boy was the man's son. Clearly the boy realized the Dmitri and Alyosha were brothers and that was the reason he knew him when they met earlier this morning. SUMMARY of the session: Good. I am back into the novel. I have the characters straight as well as the general structure of the interpersonal relationships. Now to make sure that I continue with the reading at a fast pace. The action is fast, and merits a similar response on the part of the reader.

C. Plan

Immediate
Mathematics	Continue reading "Algebra: Abstract and Concrete" by Frederick Goodman	1 hr
Literature	Read & make notes for book 4 of "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky	1 hr
Birds	Update database to include 2007 Mexico trip	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
	Read "Symmetry" by David Wade
	Make notes for "Mathematics: A Human Endeavor" ch 1
	Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves
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
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.

D. Reflection