Sunday October 5, 2008 6:10 am Lethbridge

It is +7 C with a high forecast of +13 C. Sunrise 6:37 Sunset 18:01 Hours of daylight: 11:24.
See current Lethbridge forecast here. See current Lethbridge news here.

This page last updated on: Friday, October 17, 2008 4:10 PM

A. Morning Musings

First, a sip of hot coffee.

I want to play with my format for a geocache activity a little. I think I have all the necessary fields, but the overall design is visually unappealing. Then I want to try it with another venture outdoors. I value the exercise and fresh air. I will try attaching my camera to the tripod for this trip. That will give some added weight to the walking and I will be ready if I happen to see any birds.

I am pleased with my "slow reading" of Midnight's Children. I definitely want to continue this today.

That leaves Mathematics and Model Trains. I have just learned that I can put in a search request to eBay and receive an email if an item matches that search request. This will remain active for 6 months. I have just done this for "Constructed in Kingston", a book I would like to read. Perhaps I should first look in a library and see if it is worth having.

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

Learning Category	Planned Activities for Today	Time
Geocaching	modify form for geocaching activities	1 hr
Geocaching	Attempt to find GC16ZFP NS West #2	1 hr
Model Trains	Set up link from this web site to Dales Depot web site	1 hr
Model Trains	Begin building Proto 2000 Series 52' 6" Drop End Mill Gondola	5 hr
Mathematics	Begin reading "The Calculus Lifesaver"	1 hr
Technology	Debug problem with downloading geocache information to nuvi	2 hr
Literature	Continue slow reading "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie	1 hr

B. Actual Learning Activities

7:00 am

Model Trains: I have just added a one-way link from this web site to Dales Depot, a web site that I have created for keeping track of the activities related to this hobby. The link is one-way in the sense that all of my pages for this journal web site will have a link to Dales Depot (see the top of the left margin). However there are no links in the Dales Depot to this journal web site. To return to this web site one must use the "back arrow" feature of the browser. I will be posting a message to a couple of model train forums that I subscribe to giving the URL for Dales Depot. Thus people who may be interested in what I am doing will be able to follow my model train activities but they will not be aware of this web site.

Regular viewers of this web site who are interested in following my model train activities may want to add a bookmark (aka favorite) to the Dales Depot web site.

7:40 am

I have modified, slightly, the form for geocaching trips. Here is the form for a trip I plan to make later today. I have it printed and placed in my geocaching back pack (a Crown Royal bag that we received when we bought a bottle of Crown Royal at a duty free shop).

9:30 PM

I managed to find an hour earlier this afternoon to have a good look at the first chapter of "The Calculus Lifesaver". I love it! It is the exact opposite of almost all calculus books: there are almost no exercises. Instead there is a detailed explanation of the ideas that are covered in each chapter. I made good use of my yellow highlighter.

I think the three books that I have selected:

The Calculus Lifesaver. (2008). Adrian Banner.
The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems. (2006). W. Michael Kelley.
The Mathematics Survival Kit. (2005). Jack Weiner.

make a good team. Banner discusses the ideas in detail, Kelley provides practice with problems, and Weiner focuses on the essential activities. I am now set for the next few months.

I spent a good part of the afternoon and evening working on a model train kit for a Proto 2000 Series 52' 6" Drop End Mill Gondola. Details are in the Dale's Depot web site.

11:30 PM

Another example of time not unfolding as expected. At 9 this evening I began downloading the geocache information from the web onto my Garmin. But when I then checked to see that I had the new caches on the Garmin nuvi 850 I was surprised to discover that they were not there. Or if they were, I was not able to find them. I spent the next 2 hours trying to figure out what had happened and to get this feature working, but with no success. Aggravating, particularly as I have a geocaching trip planned for tomorrow.

Books on the Go Today

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