As I discovered, the dress code for G4G9 is “math professor.” I made the mistake of dressing “business,” and ended up being confused with Ritz-Carlton staff. However, my costume turned out to be handy for crashing a business party upstairs and making off with a free glass of champagne. G4G9 is Neil’s ultimate party: it’s…
Our G4G9 Pre Preview
Bill Gosper travelled with us to Atlanta for G4G9. He gave us a first taste of what it might be like, when at 5:30 am on Tuesday morning, he absent-mindedly accessed the 6th dimension and bypassed the security check at the airport. Since I was holding his boarding pass, this confused everyone, so we called…
Ghost Jobs
Recently, a friend of mine quit her job because she objected to the ethics of her most recent employer. For one thing, he’d ask her to post job positions on Craigslist, with no intent of ever filling the job. For him, it was a cheap research tool–he’d cull the incoming resumes for the most qualified…
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Me is Already Public
A few weeks ago, I went to a job interview, and I was surprised how well-briefed all my interviewers were about me already. Did they want a copy of my resume? Well, no thanks, they’d already downloaded it from my LinkedIn profile. How about examples of my previous work? No worries–they knew who I had…
Lutherans Against Living In Sin
Peter and I are taking a 14-week Bible course: Kelly’ school requires it of all the non-church families like us. It’s kind of like catechism, but not;overtly, it’s to fill us in on the Lutheran lessons our child is learning in class. You know, over in public school, the spirit of Caesar Chavez is faith-healing…
The Lawrence Hall of Science and Miro
We haven’t gone on field trips for a while, and when I offered the chance to Neil, his first choice was the Lawrence Hall of Science. Of all the science museums in the area, it has the most puzzles. It doesn’t update or rotate its exhibits as much as other science museums in the area,…
Neil and Julian and the Exploratorium, Oh My
Via Bill Gosper and the regional math circles, Neil’s gotten to know Julian, another homeschooled boy his age who loves math as much as he does. So we naturally included him our round of adventures during Kelly’s winter break and invited him to join us at the Exploratorium on Friday. I wondered whether they’d relate…
A Hike to Sempervirens Falls
Before my life took a few unexpected turns last year, I often took Neil and Kelly on field trips, especially when there were school vacations. That wasn’t the case so much at the end of last year, since I was busy working, but now my work is in, as I think of it, a state…
A Parking Ticket Leads to Some Random Relevations
A few days ago, I received a parking ticket in the mail. It was a surprise, especially since my car itself had not had a ticket on its dashboard after having been cited. I had parked in downtown San Jose in a metered parking spot, and carefully checked the meter, which was posted as only…
Private School is Nice
Yesterday and today, I volunteered at Kelly’s school. My contract has been held up ( I often fear, permanently), so I finally decided to take advantage of it and do what I’d done years previously–and work on my childrens’ education. Understandably, I was nervous about volunteering. Going into the local neighborhood classroom to volunteer last…