Dramatis persona*

helenhead Helen Chick

I've always wanted a bumper sticker that said "I'm a female, LDS/Mormon, Scout leading, geocaching, piano-playing, bicycling, mathematics educator with a PhD in maths ... and I VOTE"!

I think this makes me a minority group of cardinality 1!

* Since there's only one of me and "personae" is plural (I think), I've gone with dramatis persona.
January 2009
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Grumblebum

Hrrumph, whinge, sulk, pout.

It’s 36°C, it’s New Year’s Eve, I’m supposed to be on holiday, and I am in my office working (actually, mostly NOT working: my brain is melting and I’m not in the mood to work anyway!).

Time to go home, I think … except it’ll be too hot there and I won’t get any […]

Who needs Capability Brown?

Capability Brown was the famous landscape architect responsible for the gardens and waterfall at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, near Oxford (see earlier post). They’re all very pretty, but, well, nothing compares with the cool temperate rainforest and the subalpine vegetation of Mt Field National Park.

Mum, Dad and I headed up the Lake Dobson area yesterday, where […]

Boxing Day picnic

One of our family traditions is the Boxing Day picnic on the day after Christmas. We get together with Mum’s side of the family, at a venue where the kids can run around, where an approximation of cricket can be played, and where there is water suitable for swimming (where suitability is a function not just […]

The hospital gig

When I was at the University of Tasmania over a decade ago, working and doing my PhD, I used to sing with TUMS (the Tasmania University Musical Society). We’d do various concerts throughout the year, and then, come the festive season, we’d do carols in shopping centres and the like. The culmination of this sequence of […]

Secrets of a secret Santa

Warning: This blog post may reveal truths that have been kept secret for more than — ooh, I don’t remember exactly — let’s say 25 years. If you did not cope well with “finding out” about Father Christmas in general (oh, you didn’t know? oops, sorry!), then you may want to skip this post. My suspicion, […]

Returning ruminations

I would like to know who left my Melbourne office in such a state!
My shadow is but a shadow of its former self: it is now only 1m long at 2:30pm (in comparison to 8m)
It’s still light at 4pm … and 6pm … and 8pm
Oh, and it’s light at 6am … which rather affects jet-lag recovery […]

Happy Christmas 2009

In case (a) my card to you was held up in the mail, or (b) you’re not on my list (please don’t take this personally; constraints shrank it a little this year), or (c) you’re some random reader (hi!), and because (d) there’s something cool (and possibly slightly disturbing!) about being able to make a blog […]

Things I must not forget from study leave

Maths still matters to me. A lot.*
Students should be involved in doing maths and being mathematical.
So should teachers.
Maths is the point of maths lessons.**
I need to think more about what shifts I want my students to make.
I need to think more about the shifts I want the teachers I work with to know about for their […]

Final night

Sigh.

Where has the time gone?

On occasions in the last few weeks I’ve caught myself thinking “I could get used to this”, and then it occurs to me that it’s too late, I already have!

I’ve had such a wonderful time, with lots of intellectual and academic stimulation, papers finished and started, great experiences, friendships made, sights and […]

Swanning around Ely

Sunday 13 Dec

[I don’t really have time to do this blog entry, but if not now then when? Besides, I have some photos I want to share.]

On Sunday John, Anne and I had a great day in and around Ely. We got up very early and went to Welney wetlands. Here there is a stretch of […]