Math degree

Well, I am officially on track to complete my degrees. I have started to take the core classes needed to complete both the Math and Information Management degree. I started out just wanting the math degree. But after completing all of the lower level requirements in English, social science, physical science and humanities, the only upper level electives I wanted to take (of the available) were computer management classes. My academic adviser was kind enough to point out to me that if I used computer management classes to complete all the upper level electives, I would only be a few classes away from a dual degree.

Which is good. I am often asked what degree I am pursuing. When I say ‘Math’, there is always a long pause. I am never sure if that is because I am a woman or the math degree. Now, I can say computer management, and everyone understands that. After all, computers may be annoying, but they are useful machines.

I have never understood why the myth regarding women and math started, let alone how it continues to exist. I look at what we, women, do on a daily basis and I see math at every step of the day. It might be that I am just geared towards seeing math, but it is there. My noticing it does not diminish or increase that presence.

My day technically starts at 5:40 a.m. It’s a good thing I am a morning person. Even so, while half asleep, I calculate, on a regular basis, just how many times I can hit that snooze bar before I absolutely have to get up. It’s a common human behavior, I think. Somewhere, on a cave painting, we will find a scratched out image of a cave woman throwing a stone at the early morning bird.

On my way to work, I glance at the gas gauge. Once again, a calculation: do I have enough fuel to reach my destination? My day is filled with either Boolean logical decisions (yes or no possibilities) or a series of if-then-else conditional decision making.

On the way home, I pick up groceries. My decisions are based upon: 1) the likes of my family; 2) the current contents of my pantry; 3) my monetary budget. The first two criteria are amazingly similar to a database, which is an organized arrangement of related data. They also consist of a concept known as a Venn diagram. A Venn diagram is a picture of two sets of data and how they relate to each other. Draw a circle and put in that circle all of the food that person A likes. Now, draw another circle, slightly overlapping the first. In the second circle, list all of the food that person B likes. In the space occupied by both circles, list the food that person A and person B likes. That small space contains my potential grocery list. Now, remove any item from that list which contains a dish made of ingredients already in my pantry. Probably nothing has changed, otherwise I would not be grocery shopping.

(A good example of a Venn diagram:

Yes, I own the t-shirt.)

Explaining the budgeting in mathematical terms is easy enough. Most people realize that topics regarding money have the potential to be explained in mathematical concepts. However, when you factor in time….In other words, is my time worth more tonight and I buy frozen lasagna or is my money worth more and I purchase all the ingredients for chicken stir-fry?

We use math every day. Women use math every day. We have just been brainwashed to believe that we do not. At this point, I am not sure which is worse: that we believe the lie or we allow it to continue to exist.

Conventions

This weekend we finally went to our first local science-fiction convention, AggieCon. We had checked out one convention when we first arrived here. We did not realize that Armadillocon was a writing convention, not a science fiction convention. Neither of these conventions have what I would call extremely informative websites. Most of Armadillocon’s website seems to be under construction. It has the traditional science fiction convention items: art show, dealer’s room, gaming schedule. But no costuming. Very little panel discussion that does not deal with writing. We paid too much and stayed only a short time. The hallways were cramped and not well suited for convention traffic. And I was extremely disappointed in the general atmosphere and presentation of the convention.

We have hopes for AggieCon, despite the shortcomings of the website. It is only two hours away, which did not seem that long going there. One the way back, we missed a turn, which made the trip about 20 minutes longer.

Even staying only one day, it was fun. It’s a smaller con, so there were not that many people. The cosplay contest dominated Saturday, which made the later panels a bit empty.

Our first panel was an instructional on how to steam punk your nerf gun. Unfortunately, the instructions forgot to mention to prime your gun, so we did not do anything to ours. But I took furious notes (still need to transcribe those scribbles) and learned some good techniques. The panel was put on by the Captain of the Airship Isabella and other members of his crew.

I had never had the opportunity to use Rub ‘N Buff, and they had plenty there and let us try some on their primed weapons. They also gave plenty of tips for making the guns realistic, along with other costume tips. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find a steam punk group in Austin, so I will just continue working on costume ideas for next year. If all goes as planned (for instance, I have a full-time, non-contract job), we will get a hotel room and stay for the weekend.

In the meantime, I found two conventions that occur here in Austin. They are anime conventions, not sci fi, but we should have fun none-the-less. I ordered fabric for the kidlet’s costume last night. She wants to have a Princess Mononoke costume, which is not that difficult to make. For hubby and myself, we are going to wear state uniforms from Full Metal Alchemist. There are some great websites created by others who have made these costumes, so at least I will have some guidance. I only have until July to create them, in my vast quantities of spare time.

Delayed post...

I apologize for the delay. Every time I sat down to write, one more task interrupted me. The up side of all the delays, however, is that taxes are done, refunds received, everyone in the house has new beds (including the cats and dog) and school finals are over.

In theory, I know have a few moments of peace before the next term starts. My next two classes should be interesting. I have Federalist Period, which should take care of my upper class history requirements. I thought it would be an interesting viewpoint on ancient Greece until I read the description. It is actually a study of the American Federalist period. Which is good, because I happen to like that time period; some very exciting events happened during that time period. I am not sure what happened to the fashion world as the clothing is some of the most impractical and silly clothing I have ever seen, but the politics are interesting.

My second class is an IT Project Management. Not a requirement, but it does use one of the random elective slots that need to be filled. It is very useful for work, or at least will be when I have completed it.

On the work front, I have another contract. I would not mind contract work, except for the complete lack of benefits. If I were younger or older, it would be an interesting mode of work. You certainly never get bored moving from contract to contract. There’s little need to engage in politics because you are not participating in the internal review system. However, as a parent of a tween, the medical insurance would be nice. I am not sure what real benefits the new health care bill will provide in the long run, but it appears affordable health care is not one currently on the list.

On the knitting front, I have begun a new project. My tween stated to me that I have been knitting items for everyone but her. It’s true. So we discussed potential projects. I have two problems knitting larger items for her. First, she literally grows overnight. One day her jeans fit just fine, the next day they are an inch too short. One day her t-shirts fit, the next day they are too short or too tight across the shoulders. The second issue is that her idea of fashion has about a four month span. One item that is cool, in fashion today, will be stuffed in the back of the closet (current avoidance technique), never to be seen again. Or at least until I brave cleaning her closet. Coincidentally, 4-6 months tends to be about how long clothes last. After that time frame they are either too small, too short or out of season. Not that Texas has real seasons, but it was a tad on the nippy side of what they call winter here for a few weeks.

Then end result of all this is that we decided on a pair of socks. I do believe her feet have stopped growing. Or at least slowed down enough that the socks may wear out before she outgrows them. In that case, I just un-Kitchner the toes and make them a different color. She could not find the ‘proper’ color orange for her socks, so we tried the Kool-Aid method of dying some white sock yarn. I think it turned out rather well. It’s been some time since I have dyed anything. We used my soup stock pot, lots of packets of orange Kool-Aid and white sock wool. Because she wanted a variegated yarn, I did not soak the wool first. You can find the directions we used here:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

And the sock yarn can be purchased from Knit Picks here:

http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Bare_Stroll_Fingering_Sock_Yarn__D5420145.html

We also did a hank of red yarn, for the next pair of socks. So far, I have finished the cuff on the first sock. I had one cuff completed, with about two inches of the sock, but when my tween tried it on, it was too large. The sock yarn has quite a bit of stretch to it. So, time to rip it out and try again. I just finished the cuff last night. Once I have about two inches of sock, she will try it on again. Hopefully, second time is the charm with this sock.

Completed project...

I just finished knitting up a gift for friends of ours. They are expecting their first child.

The picture is not the best, but you get the idea. I modified the pattern a bit. I knitted the first booties in blue, just to learn the pattern. It is a very easy pattern to memorize. The second pair I originally thought I would include cables, but that proved to be a bit difficult with the gray yarn. So, I simply made a stockinette stitch instead of garter stitch. For the third pair, I chose a nice washable wool in green. I included a twisted stitch along the top of the boot. The difference in the stitches and yarns created three slight different sizes. I had hoped for that result. The pattern for booties here:
http://www.spindleandwheel.com/content/view/91/167/

Now for the hat...I wanted something that would incorporate all three colors. I decided on this pattern:
http://sarahpeasley.com/freepatterns/cameronscap.pdf

I chose the gray as my base color. I made one slight change to this pattern. I cast on as directed by the pattern. I knot three rows, purled one row and knit three rows. I then picked up stitches from the first row and folded the the band up. For the fourth row, I knit one stitch from the picked up row together with one of the active stitches. And then I purled one row, continuing on with the pattern. The pattern conveniently has a spot to add your own color or texture stitches, so I included the blue and gray colors.

I think it turned out well. It goes in the mail sometime this week.

Christmas

So, we survived Christmas. It was a good holiday, spent mostly with friends and relatives. Only one small snafu…a surprise gift was spoiled by technology.

Like most businesses these days, GameStop has a card that you sign up for which gives you deals and discounts. I had been searching for a game for some time as a surprise for R. We lost the original Tetris game when we moved. It was one of his favorite games. I had called around to a variety of stores in the area over the past six weeks looking for it. Finally, one store said they had it. I emphasize the verb ‘said’. When I arrived at the store, I discovered that they actually had Tetris Party. Not the same game at all. But they were kind enough to look in the database to see if any other store had it. They even drew me a map. Mission finally accomplished.

Little did I know that the GameStop website reports the ‘points’ of the membership card. So, you log in, see your points….and the associated purchases that created the points. Surprise spoiled.

But it was still a great Christmas. I managed to find a decent amount of good sugar-free chocolate to fill R’s stocking and the traditional chocolate orange for E’s stocking. But I must say, I really miss the very good, old-fashioned candy store in Martinez. They had quite a selection of good, hand-made sugar-free treats. I can honestly say I am enjoying parts of Texas more than I did California. I miss the people I left behind terribly. I do not miss the politics.

Soon....

I have a goal to create a blog and post to this blog on a regular basis next year. Notice I did not say 'resolution'. Resolutions fail; goals evolve. As a blog is a continuous event, I believe that evolve is a better description.