"Those were hard things for me to come by, and I offer them to you for what they may be worth." - Toby Wolff



Monday, September 26, 2011

Fibs and Fibonacci




I have a talent for avoiding math, cultivated by my extreme anxiety over same. I think I am the first and last person to get a BA without taking one single math course. Perhaps I should have. I'm sold! I find this riveting, compelling and mysterious. I want to go find a sunflower and start counting!

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It's difficult for me to just accept someones word...no matter how accredited. ARE YOU FIBBING ME? When they told me Pergo flooring was nearly indestructible, I balked. "You do understand I have two little boys?" So I took a piece home and lit it on fire. They were right. I ran Hot Wheels and Tonka trucks on it, Crayons and Sharpies. I generally beat the hell out of that plank and it still smiled at me with nary a bruise. Pergo got several of our paychecks and we got sore backs learning to lay it down tongue and groove. I have not been sorry, and for someone with acute buyers remorse over just about everything...that's REALLY quite an endorsement!

I am bartering my bookkeeping services for a new granite kitchen counter. I was told granite would hold up to just about anything. I balked. "Have you seen the mess I make when I cook? It looks like the top blew off the blender!" So...I got me a sample chunk. I smushed a blackberry and a tomato on it and left them all day. No stain. I left a puddle of olive oil, and another of wine, coffee, balsamic vinegar, and let them sit over night. NO STAIN! I burned it. I lit it on fire (yes...I'm a bit of a pyro) and I am sold on granite!

My husband told me to look into buying a Mac, because I am always yelling at my PC for hobbling along behind me when I need it to giddy-up! I had to poll Facebook, everyone I met, and bang on one myself at the Apple Store (they wouldn't allow my torch in there, so I'm not sure how it will hold up in a fire). I'm sold! I'm getting a iMac this week. I'll be without my PC for awhile and deep into the Mac learning curve, which hopefully isn't too steep. But I want to learn it now before I'm too old to remember which room my desk is in, much less how to work a computer. I'm excited. Be back soon.

16 comments:

  1. should give linux a shot! +followed, come check my blog out when you get the chance! http://mightyideas.blogspot.com

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  2. i'm not sure what to make of the why of it, nor do i know that it means necessarily that it is the fingerprint of the creator, but for darned sure, it is mystifying!

    xo
    erin

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  3. Giddy-yup....

    Love...

    ~shoes~

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  4. I thought of buying a mac, but they're soo much more expensive. So I got a little HP netbook instead and named it Hot Pocket.

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  5. Math as a science can reveal much. Many coincidences can be derived from the patterns of numbers. I have always been skeptical though. It is too easy to squiggle a line, to change a number, just a little, and a whole new theory will be found.
    I think you’ll like the Mac. I’ll never go back..

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  6. good for you girl - i'm a mac girl myself and my purple iMac went strong for ten - yes TEN - years. only thing i will say is do NOT get the new OS (Lion) on it. we have it on our newer Macs at work and it's awful - tons of bugs. Mac used to never get viruses but they do now so get a good antivirus for Mac. And get yourself a copy of MS Office for Mac - worth every penny I tell ya :)

    PS - I got my BS with no math. Last class was Pre-Calculus when I was 15 and I said 'never again'. My BS required a year of science OR math (didn't get the BA cuz I'd have had to do 2 years of foreign language), so i took Bio pass/fail when i was 17 and never got near math or sci again, wahoo! :)

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  7. the video is fascinating. this does seem to be a major building block of creation.

    i always wondered about pergo flooring.

    i've cooled on my mac. i've had it for three years. i need a new c drive. i've already brought it in for work. but even though it has slowed markedly, i still would rather use a mac on the internet than a pc. but i dislike the mac as a word processor. just me:)

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  8. Aha... You're going to other side!
    Don't forget to check if they truly have cookies there. : j
    Have fun storming the apple!

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  9. You're Awesome, I failed maths, but can proofread anything, my learning proofreading skills are eyes of an eagle, well someone told me that once, I don't think I could write like you do, but watch make one typo and I'll be all over you hihi

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  10. oh jeez, i could write a book here but i have to get myself to work.

    so in a nutshell: i just got corian countertops. i thought the granite felt too cold and was too shiny. i love the corian! for what it's worth

    i need a new laptop. please convince me that i can handle the learning curve with an apple. because i the writer am ready to travel down a safe toshiba path.

    i'll be back. of course!
    love
    kj

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  11. Thanks everyone. Appreciate the Mac advise. Damn straight I'm getting MS Office. I'm addicted to Excel (it does math FOR you!). No Lion operating system eh? Hope there's another choice. I absolutely HATE Windows 7. Why do they always have to change things. I LIKE pull down menus. I don't need to see a damn button for every little thing. But then again...I think MAC is like that. So...

    I don't think I would even consider a MAC if it weren't for all the photography and greeting cards I'm doing. Photoshop and AI are enormous programs!!!

    @KJ - I work on a granite desktop at my barter job. You're right. It is cold in the winter...but I could friggin lay on it naked in the summer. Ahhhh. Closest thing I'll get to a pool. Also...Corian has no depth. The granite I chose is visually amazing. BUT, my sister in law has Corian and just loves it. If you don't do a lot of creative visual stuff then I'm not sure you would need to go mac. But you can damn well handle the learning curve if I can. I think the world will turn Apple eventually. That's my 2 cents prediction. I'm getting a seat. I think that keeping up with technology keeps my mind oiled :) And..the "safe" path often is lacking in any other adjective.

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  12. the OS they just had before the recent Lion release is great, Lion is just getting a lot of boos by my IT guys for being so buggy :( i love it too for graphics - when i was in photo school it was dreeeeamy! :)

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  13. Luck for me EcoGrrl, I got one of the last iMacs loaded with the previous operating system. They told me I could "upgrade" for free at any time, so I left well enough alone for now. Thanks for the tip!

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  14. Macs are great and OSX in general is much easier than Windows, for most things. Plus you can actually run Windows on a Mac, if you feel you must.

    The Golden Ratio is so fascinating. It really is a beautiful example of the intricacies of our universe. Have you ever read Contact, by Carl Sagan? It has a very interesting take on math, creation, and spirituality.

    And it's much better than the movie.

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  15. Matt - No I haven't...but I remember the movie being intriguing, especially the instrumentation and how things were being recorded and analyzed. I'm really kind of a simple girl, but I love to read about these kinds of things. I'll break out the book :)

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  16. I've also spent my life avoiding math - my sister got all of the math brains in our family. This video is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

    I love my Mac and would never go back to a PC. I think you will find that learning the Mac is very simple.

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Thank you for listening.