April 30, 5:20 am Musings
My top two priorities remain. Job 1 continues to be fitness. Today is the fitness center and a few weights.
My second priority is to continue updating this website for the first two weeks of April. I finished April 6 yesterday. I recall reading something a long time ago that more than two priorities is no priorities.
But I do have to take the Rav4 in to have a rock chip in the windshield repaired and I have 2 meetings with various people at the university.
April 29, 6:50 am Musings
The rain seems to have stopped. I will put the coulee walk on my agenda for today.
My second priority is to continue updating this website for the first two weeks of April. I finished the March dates yesterday, including the Activities and Activity Summary pages.
April 28, 5:20 am Musings
There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish all that I want to.
- The weather is the pits. But I will head out to the fitness center this morning to continue my efforts to get in shape.
- Priority two is still to complete the web pages for our Australian trip. I will start on this shortly. I hope to finish the March pages and then add these entries to my Activities summaries.
- Cooking is rapidly becoming a fun activity. I have already tagged a tomato sauce recipe from the Annabel Langbein book for today. This will go well with the chorizo sausages we have on hand.
- Looking at all the pictures I took while in Australia, I see a need to improve my technique for photographing birds. I am seriously thinking of reviewing the specifications of some lenses to see if there is a better solution. It needs to be fast, powerful, and affordable. Affordability is the tough one. I may not need a zoom capability. That can be handled later when I am on the computer.
- I now have "Aptitudes and instructional methods : a handbook for research on interactions / by Lee J. Cronbach and Richard E. Snow. The 2004 article in Educational and Psychological Measurement by Cronbach on coefficient alpha and reliability turned out to be a surprise. It is now possible with a university library card (mine has just been activated) to download copies of many journal articles to my home computer. Done. Excellent. The times they are a changing.
- Plus reading! Eliot Perlman's novel, "The Street Sweeper", is captivating but grim. Definitely more than just a light read.
My efforts at keeping the list to a manageable size are failing miserably. But the list itself is not so miserable. Now to work on the second item.
April 27, 5:30 am Musings
Winter is back. No snow, but no temperature either.
No change to my weight as well. But I am feeling energized. Weird, but I'll take it. I really think the introduction of even a minor workout is making a difference. I can feel a slight tightening in my abdominal region. I remain an optimist. Surely it isn't just gas. Given the weather, I may try returning to the center and spend some time on the treadmill. I'm curious to see what type of workout that provides.
Priority two is still to complete the web pages for our Australian trip.
Priority three is emerging. I have identified the book I was thinking of as a result of our visit with the Fitzgeralds in Canberra. It is:
Aptitudes and instructional methods : a handbook for research on interactions / by Lee J. Cronbach and Richard E. Snow. Even better, there is a copy in the university library. I note that my library privileges have expired. Next step is to set this up. While in the building I want to have a look at a 2004 article in Educational and Psychological Measurement.
April 26, 6:05 am Musings
Mmmm. The coffee tastes good this morning. My weight crept up this morning - a gain of 1. Darn. I have my first fitness session scheduled for noon today. I am looking forward to this. It will be good to get a program established. This is still priority one.
Priority two is now to get the pages for our Australian trip completed.
Then I can focus on maths and reading.
April 24, 7:40 am Musings
This is a good time for a quick review of my activities:
- Birding: I should have a look at a few spots such as Henderson Lake and Picture Butte to see if there are wildfowl. I also want to review my exposure settings - I would like to try setting the exposure time to something like 1/100 sec and see if that prevents blurring due to motion.
- Cooking: Hopefully the book "The Free Range Cook" will arrive before the end of the month. I want to make a batch of granola with rolled oats instead of steel-cut oats so I can compare the two.
- Geocaching: I would like to make a trip to the Crowsnest Pass to look for a few caches. This would give me an opportunity to check the condition of the campground at Chinook Lake as well. I am curious to see if it is open and if the snow has melted.
- Life: I want to begin using the facilities at a fitness center.
- Literature: This needs improving. The Perlman novel is my top priority.
- Mathematics: I have just begun this. Now to keep it up!
- Musings: Okay.
- Technology: I am vacillating between buying a MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro. Both models are due for an upgrade so it makes sense to hold off for a bit.
- Trains: Next task is to finish building the viaduct model.
There is a light drizzle at the moment. The smell of fresh cool air is a delight in the morning.
April 23, 8:30 am Musings
Yesterday was primarily spent outdoors. I cleaned up the front yard and mowed the lawn. This was the first mowing this year. Then in the afternoon I did my coulee walk. The net result this morning was a drop of one pound in my weight. It is a beginning. I plan to contact the fitness center this morning and arrange for my first visit. I am determined to get in shape.
Today is election day in Alberta. My personal view is very positive. Regardless of who wins, it is already clear that there will at least be an opposition for the first time in decades.
April 21, 7:00 am Musings
Finally! I have slept through the night. Now to see if I can stay awake all day. I am feeling normal for the first time since we arrived home from our trip to Australia.
And I have just had my first sip of coffee. And now my second sip. Aaaahhh.
I have 2 priorities. First - fitness. Second - reading.
I went shopping yesterday and we now have some fresh fruit (navel oranges, pineapple) but we still need a couple of granny smith apples and some grapes in order to make a bowl of fruit salad. I also bought the ingredients for homemade granola. I will start on that in a few minutes. I plan to visit a fitness center later this morning and see what they offer in terms of programs and facilities. I feel that I have both diet and cardiovascular fitness under control but I think I need some help with muscular fitness.
Now for reading. I am pleased with the list I created last night. I was particularly impressed with the brief article by Nicholas Carr on the effect the Internet is having on changing our intellect to one of shallowness. It struck a responsive neuron in my head. I also found myself reading Dale's (not me) version of the Tao Te Ching and am delighted with this book.
But the first goal this morning is to make some granola ...
April 16, 7:00 am Musings - Sydney, Australia
I view the trip as a hop, skip, and jump. The hop is from Sydney to San Francisco, the skip is from San Francisco to Vancouver, and the jump is from Vancouver to Calgary. Definitely an olympic event.
Already I have my head at home. Now to get the rest of my body there.
- Top priority is to lose some weight and gain some muscle tone around the abdomen.
- get URL for Don's article
- order a few books
- (especially a cookbook from New Zealand) "The Free Range Book" Annabel Langbein
- David Eagleman "Sum"
- Barry Maitland
- Henning Mankel
- A. J. Mackinnon
- Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow
- Well at World's End
- Frank Moorhouse
- Grand Days
- Dark Palace
- vol. 3?
- Edmund de Waal
- The Hare with Amber Eyes
- "The Reader"
- update my web site for this trip
- begin some focused learning on linear algebra.
- Geocaching will ease back to single trips within the Lethbridge area that fill in dates that are empty on my yearly grid.
- Birding will involve a few trips to see what waterfowl I can find. I will also do some reading on birds (particularly warblers) in Eastern Ontario.
- Technology
- Synchronize iPad and Macbook Pro files
- Edit photos on iPhoto
- Review data on Macbook Air
- Slide converter "PhotoMaker" by Kaiser baas
- Model Trains
- complete assembly of viaduct
- begin running trains according to session 3
- Go
- make detailed notes while playing SmartGo and Igowin
- read yellow book on Go
- set up schedule for solving Go problems
- Magazines
- Walrus
- Dumbo Feather
I will begin my weight loss and fitness program by setting up my own schedule. If this doesn't work, then I will look into joining some fitness facility. My activities begin NOW (while still in a hotel room in Sydney).
One phase is to monitor my diet. I will use an app called MyFitnessPal that I have used before. I will weigh myself as soon as I arrive home and will begin a schedule of alternating days between a coulee walk and a home exercise routine. But I can begin my dietary program now. The goal is to restrict my calorie input to 1200/day. The main idea is to keep track of what I eat. So far I have had nothing today. That is a beginning. I will forego coffee and have a glass of orange juice for breakfast.
Most of the above items will remain on hold until I am in Lethbridge. At the moment I do not have wifi access, so I am limited to iPad apps that do not require connectivity. The Across Lite app that I installed a week ago requires connectivity to obtain a new crossword. Hopefully I can do this in the airport.
My choices at the moment are Go (smartgo & igowin) and magazines (The Walrus, Dumbo Feather). It is time for The Walrus.
April 8, 8:00 am Musings - McLeans Ridges, NSW, Australia
The last hour has been magic. Simply sipping a cuppa while listening to the birds and looking at the distant hills in the mist. There is no better way to begin the day.
Scaly-breasted Lorikeets
Eastern Rosella
I continue to think about making mathematics an important component in my day. Two immediate thoughts come to mind. This should be an early morning activity that lasts a minimum of 2 hours. It is a pen & paper activity. I have good resources at home so this is best left on hold for the moment.
Another activity that I have not engaged in for some time is medium level New York Times crosswords.
And a third activity is learning to play the game of Go at a higher level. I will try this now.
I clearly need to work on this. I began playing SmartGo on the iPad at level 13- and proceeded to lose 7 games in a row before winning 1 game, at level 10.
I think I need a 3-prong approach to improving my game: doing some serious reading about the game, working through a series of problem books, and playing software programs such as SmartGo and Igowin.
The first two approaches will wait until I am home. But I can get a start by playing both SmartGo and Igowin. Now to have a try at Igowin and re-familiarize myself with that software.
A review of the stats for Igowin showed that I had previously played 21 games and won 13 of them. The current level I was playing at was 9.5 with my best level being 8.6. I reset the statistics for Igowin and then began playing at level 27.5. I won that game and the next at level 23, but then lost the game at level 19. I should have won that game. I will play again until I lose and see what level that puts me at. I won at levels 21, 19, and 17 before losing at level 13. I seem to be near levels 10 to 15 with both software programs. My next goal will be to see if can get this down to single digits.
All three activities (Mathematics, NYT crosswords, Go) are mental stretchers. That is what I need - a mental challenge.
April 6, 9:30 am Musings - McLeans Ridges, NSW, Australia
I have been struggling with the idea of why this web site exists for the last couple of days, thanks in large part to Sue's prompting. This has brought back memories from when I first began creating such learning journals. The original idea was very personal and myopic. I was curious to see if I could keep some form of record of my learning activities.
At the same time I wanted to be able to share these records with a few colleagues. The sharing led quickly to the idea of a website rather than a word processor.
One of my interests has always been mathematics. Unfortunately technology is (still) unable to handle the notational intricacies of most mathematical notational conventions. This is much more easily handled by cursive writing and the creation of special symbols. Thus I quickly realized that for mathematics, paper and fountain pen are my tools of choice.
I MUST get back to this! The notes I have made on this website provide an excellent way to return to what I was doing previously. A quick check shows that it has been over a year since I began reviewing some abstract algebra. At the moment I am away from both pen and paper so I will put this on temporary hold until I return home. But then it will be a priority.
Behind the idea of creating a Learning Journal was the idea of trying to create a role model of an approach that seemed to work for me, while at the same time adapting the approach to that of web page development. I have liked the idea of a personal dialogue with myself. Thus I often try to make some form of content note and then follow this with some form of commentary about the note (see March 5 entry).
I want to capture the notion of learning in two different senses: one is that of a student taking a course or courses, the other is that of a self-motivated learner who is trying to learn more about a topic of interest. Thus the student could be trying to learn about Abstract Algebra as taught in an introductory course at MIT. Or one could be trying to learn more about birds while engaging in the recreational hobby of bird watching.
At the moment I have a number of books that deserve attention. Let's have a look at Elliot Perlman's latest novel, The Street Sweeper". I have read 2 of his previous novels: "Three Dollars" and "Seven Kinds of Ambiguity" and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Perlman is an Australian author who is recognized as being a particularly incisive social commentator.
Now to try a little dialogue.