Fri 10 Aug 2007
*tap tap* Is this thing on?
Posted by Sea Anemone under Blabby Blabby
*cough cough*
Hi everyone!
…cricket noise…
Anyone still here? If you are, I’ve got a lot to tell you about.
I’ll take this in bullet points and if I ramble too long, I’ll split it into two posts.
- I’m officially done with my algebra class. We had our final on Wednesday night. It was a joke. The final that he gave us was verbatim a copy of the review we had worked on ALL WEEK LONG. Do I remember any algebra at all two days later? Well…kinda. Funny enough, I suck at doing matrices and such and what do I remember the most? How to find the determinant of a matrix. Dammit. It was suppost to be gone from my head by now! But you know what?
CONTEST!!!
Obviously I remember this stuff about matrices and their determinants and how to find them, etc. So leave me a comment telling me why you think my brain has chosen to retain this information and how it will be helpful to me in my daily life. GET CREATIVE. I’m thinking that I’ll choose two winners. One will be drawn randomly using a random number generator and one will go to the answer that I think is the most creative.
- I got some massive love in the mail. (In order of arrival on my doorstep) I got a lovely lovely package from a Ms. Lupinbunny. See, apparently Berroco will not ship to Australia. I stumbled across her post on the Ravelry boards about this and how she wished she could get her hands on a copy. An email or two later, and we’ve got a swap set up!
Look what I received!! I felt so totally spoilt that I had about a two second brain fart wondering whether she would like her package as much as I loved mine.
May I just say that I had been drooling over the fabric a couple of weeks before and trying to justify buying some and having it shipped from Australia? I. Love. It. Also, the reddish yarn, so squooshy. I see a shawl in my future! I really adore the package you put together Ms. Lupin. THANK YOU!!!
- Then a few days later, I got another surprise. A while back, I had sent off a little package of fabric to my fellow Night Owl, Jen, one of the Piddleloop gals because she had seen a picture of it on here and liked it. I kind of think I got the better end of things. She sent some of the fabric back to me. In the form of my very own travel bag and matching baggie.
Oh, but that wasn’t all. She completely and thoroughly spoiled me rotten.
One last thing I found in the box of magic fun, was a small piece of art made by her boyfriend Nat (of The Moustache Factory fame) (Hello! Talk about a super crafty couple! yay!) It’s a kitty. (Yay for kitties!)
The frame that it will be framed in is sitting around it. It’s an old frame that my mom picked up at a garage sale. There are two matching frames and once I get glass and a piece of cardboard cut, I’ll cut up some nice colored paper to go behind it to fill out the frame and it will go on my wall with the rest of my art.
There may have also been a fingerpuppet that the cat claimed. If you feel like watching a wee video, its below. (I tried to edit it to only leave the good part (the end of it) but it was too late since it was off my camera. Oh well.)
Woo. Talk about a lot there, huh?? There’ll be more, but that’s for another post tomorrow or Sunday. I’m exhausted and I’ve got more pictures to take. There’s a box from my SP 10 and one from my Sockpalooza pal. But I want to properly take photos!
Oh! The contest will close next Saturday, August 18th. Get creative! 2 winners!
August 11th, 2007 at 7:49 am
As much as I use algebra and geometry in my everyday life, I have never had the opportunity to use a matrix for real. So obviously, something special will have to happen for you to need matrices (i heart irregular plurals). My guess is space aliens. A space alien child will come to earth and will need your help getting home again. And it will involve finding the determinant of a matrix. Somehow.
Don’t ask me about that last bit, he’s your alien.
August 11th, 2007 at 8:21 am
I don’t know anything about matrixes other than that Keanu Reeves lives/works/plays (???) with them. Maybe if you remember them well enough Keanu Reeves will come ring your doorbell.
That wasn’t meant to be a euphemism….but I sure wouldn’t mind if he came and rang my doorbell *grinz*
August 11th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
First off, I second Jill’s emotion on Keanu Reeves. Rrrowr.
Second, gaaaah! You have guaranteed that I am half as likely win your contest as I might otherwise be! I don’t think I’d walked out of my college algebra final before I deliberately forgot it all. But here’s a stab:
Something about the ability to handle a matrix will at some point become indispensable as you design a lace shawl.
(I like the other answers too, though.
)
August 14th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Hmm, I thought I remembered algebra but I sure don’t remember maxtrices. Perhaps you will be chosen for a game show and will have to find the determinant of a matrix in order to win a million dollars. It could happen!
August 14th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
determinants huh? they’re kinda useless for most day to day living. you can use them to find areas/volumes of parallelograms/parallelpipeds and the orientation or direction they are facing. perhaps you will one day use this skill to knit 3 dimensional objects or design computer programs to make mathematical quilt patterns.
or maybe you will win a million bucks on some quiz show and buy me some noro yarn
August 14th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I’m decent in algebra, but I absolutely suck with matrices. Maybe it’s because I never had anyone teach them to me properly. I was half asleep the last time they were discussed in a class of mine.
Maybe you just hate them so much that they stuck in your mind. I still remember the time when I was in kindergarten and the daycare lady wouldn’t let me take a nap with everyone else until I had eaten more of my tuna fish sandwich. I refused b/c that shit was so nasty. What an awful lady.
August 16th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Obviously, you remember those darned matrices and determinants so you can figure out the orientation of roadways and random pieces of nature so you can move here to the hinterlands and be my GPS and save me from a life of getting-lost-in-parking-lots-itis, of course
August 20th, 2007 at 11:36 am
I was reading the Yo-Yo Knits blog, and she mentioned you as having gifted her a fun knitting bag, so I happened to stumble upon your contest — I am the worst at math, so and tend to forget all of it almost before i learn it, but to retain the information about the matrices seem sto be an indication that perhaps you have a future as an international spy … like Matt Damon in the Bourne series — or a brilliant janitor/math tutor like Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. This can only mean that you will have meet Matt Damon in rwal life and will be able to freely converse with him over cavier and champagne about his motivation in portraying these characters, the learning curve he had to overcome in getting into character so he could comfortably and convincingly play brilliant people , and parlay that conversation into getting an invotation to the next George Clooney party in Italy.
Or conversly, your mind may have held onto it for the final round of Jeopardy (man will you impress your friends when you answer “what is the determinate of a matrix, Alex?”)