Sunday October 08, 2006 7:30 am Edmonton

A. Morning Musings

7:30 am The sky is clear, it looks like we are in for some sunny, but cool, weather. If so, we are likely to drive to Jasper tomorrow as we take the mountain loop back to Lethbridge.

Getting the ToDos page back up to date was a good feeling. I am still playing catch-up on a few of my computer files. My North American bird database is still a month behind, the iPhoto files are in need of editing and keywording, and my Projects web page is out of date as well. But I am making progress on all fronts. I think I will have a close look at the Project pages.

B. Plan

Immediate
Health	Walk & exercise	1 hr
Birds	Add September birds to North American data base	1 hr
Mathematics	Read & make notes for "Fearless Symmetry" chap 2	2 hr
Later
Chores	Investigate water softeners for home
	Paint new bathroom vanity cabinet
Technology	add keywords to iPhoto records
	Read manual for cell phone
	Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac"
	Begin reading "iPhoto"
	digital photography - learn about using the various manual settings	1 hr
Literature	Read "The Art of Living" by Epictetus
	Read "The Song of Roland"
Mathematics	Larson "Calculus"
	Read "The Computational Beauty of Nature" Chap 3
	Gardner "The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles"
History	Continue reading "Citizens"
	Watson "Ideas"
Model Trains	Continue wiring outer mainline
	Build oil refinery diorama: add ground cover
	Assemble second oil platform kit
Puzzles	The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #9

C. Actual/Notes

10:15 am I have substantially revised my Project page for Learning Mathematics. There is still much to be done with this, but it will have to wait until I am home and with my books and internet connectivity. I have yet to look at revising my project pages for other Learning topics, but this morning was a good start.

	Mathematics 07 October 08
Mathematics Chronology
10:15 am I have just created a concept map for the first two chapters of "Fearless Symmetry". This is one of the clearest introductions to group theory that I can recall. I still want to make a few additional notes on chapter 2 where I capture some important sentences and ideas, but it is time for a break and a return to reality. 10:30 am 4:40 PM Chapter 2 Groups [p. 13 - 20] "The definition of a group is the most common way mathematicians have of formalizing the concept of symmetry. " [p. 13] "A group is a set along with a rule that tells how to combine any two elements in the set to get another element in the set." [p. 14] "We usually use the word composition to describe the act of combining two elements of the group to get a third." [p. 14]

1:20 PM I have been able to totally revise my project pages for Mathematics and Model Trains. These are my two most active projects and were the ones that had fallen far behind what I was actually doing. Not a great endorsement for this approach, but I want to get back on top of this.

4:30 PM I now have a new project page for Technology. To summarize I have 4 main projects to focus on at the moment: Mathematics, Technology, Model Trains and Literature. I have finally learned how to use the time delay on my digital camera.

Here are 4 images of our thanksgiving dinner:

 

D. Reflection