The day after labor day, Peter and I awoke to a rude surprise. Peter stepped outside to go off to his consulting job at 5 am (both of have learned to start early and work long on consulting gigs), only to find out his car had been stolen–right out of our own driveway. To say…
Month: October 2010
My War with Fiend Squirrel
I have been at war with fiend squirrel for almost two years now. Each year, I plant a summer garden, eagerly looking forward to the fresh tomatoes and pumpkins I’ll have come late summer. And every year, as I go out to pick the tomatoes, I find little bite marks, left by my nemesis. Last…
Voting Early
I decided to vote early this year. I wanted to get it over with, as politicians, pundits, and sadly, even friends, are getting shriller and openly adamant about this mid-term election. This way, when I’m pushed, I can just say I already voted, and there’s no “October surprise” that’s going to effect what I did…
The Martin Gardner Celebration of Mind and the Stalking of Don Knuth
My mathematics- and puzzle-loving son Neil was looking forward to the Martin Gardner Celebration of Mind, a posthumous Gathering-for-Gardner-like event held worldwide for what would have been Gardner’s 96th birthday. Our local event was at Stanford, and as seems to be a personal pattern of mine, the first thing I did was find a party…