Saturday October 4, 2008 5:30 am Lethbridge

It is +4 C with a high forecast of +17 C. Sunrise 6:36 Sunset 18:04 Hours of daylight: 11:28.
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This page last updated on: Sunday, October 5, 2008 6:58 AM

A. Morning Musings

The forecast for rain has followed us. The car is dusty from the trip as we were on a few gravel roads so the rain will be welcome. As is normal with returning from a trip, there are chores to do: groceries, washing the car, checking the yard, and finding one's regular routine.

Plugging in the hot water jug instead of the toaster would be a good start. Another would be to bring myself up-to-date with my daily Rumi readings.

Both the coffee and Rumi were excellent. Now where am I?

Mathematics, model trains, geocaching, birding and literature. All of these require attention. Only two of these are outdoor activities.

I am beginning to realize that geocaching requires careful planning. We tried a couple of times in the last week to find a cache but qquickly abandoned the venture because I did not have enought information to complete the quest. Either I did not have the coordinates, or I forgot to download the location to my Garmin unit. I also need to make better notes of the description and hints.

Learning Category	Planned Activities for Today	Time
Technology	Install system updates	1 hr
Literature	Reread Rumi for September	1 hr
Geocaching	GC1F6Y6	3 hr
Literature	Continue slow reading "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie	1 hr

B. Actual Learning Activities

6:00 am

I am going to try to create a form for taking with me when I go geocaching.

1:30 PM

I have created a form, printed it out (1 hour), went searching for a nearby cache, found it (1 hour), returned home, modified the form (1 hour), and logged the find on the geocache web site. This was my 20th find. The form is saved as a separate web page which may be printed.

9:30 PM

	Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Book One	chapter 4 Under the carpet
Characters	Saleem Sinai: the narrator Dr. Aadam Aziz: the narrator's grandfather Naseem Ghani: the narrator's grandmother, also called Reverand Mother Nadir Khan: the hummingbird's assistant, a poor poet and a coward Alia: daughter, 21 years, rational Mumtaz: daughter, 19 years, black complexion, takes the food to Nadir Khan Emerald: daughter, 14 years, foxy Major Zulfikar: while investigating the hummingbird's murder, he falls in love with Emerald. Ahmed Sinai: a young merchant courting Alia
Quotes	"... a man whose short sight obliged him to take life one step at a time, which gained him a reputation for thoroughness and dullness, " [p. 54] "Mian Abdullah [the hummingbird] wa a false start for a lot of optimistic people; his assistant [Nadir Khan] ... was my mother's wrong turning. But those were the years of the drought; many crops planted at that time ended up by coming to nothing." [p. 64] this implies that Mumtaz is Saleem Sinai's mother. It is also a clever comparison with the general situation in India at the time.
Summary	The novel contrast important events in the development of India as a country, which it treats in a trivial manner, with trivial events in the Sinai family, which it treats with great importance. Aadam Aziz agrees to shelter Nadir Khan in his basement, against the strenuous objections of his wife who is concerned about having a man living in the house with their three unmarried daughters. Mumtaz falls in love with Nadir Khan and they are married. But Nadir Khan continues to live in the basement, and the secret of his existence is kept within the family. Dr. Aadam Aziz disocovers that after 2 years of marriage, Mumtaz is still a virgin. This is the same day that Hiroshima is bombed. Emerald realizes that Nadir Khan is a problem for the family and tells Major Zulfikar about his hidout. But Nadir has escaped and disappears. Emerald and the Major are married. Mumtaz remarries, to Ahmed Sinai. And they change Mumtaz's name to Amina.

This chapter needs to be read carefully as the inter-relationships are complex and only mentioned briefly. But this is also another advantage of "slow reading", particularly when the novel is complicated. I now have the story under control, at least so far.

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