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.
August 2009
S M T W T F S
« Jul   Sep »
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  

Visitor counter

Visits since May 2016

Recent visitors

Is Melbourne home?

I was browsing the online version of The Age newspaper today, and came across an amusing article. The full text, by Catherine Deveney, is here (be advised that it’s rated PG). She listed a large number of things that let you know if you’re from Melbourne. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that, having lived there […]

The last 5%

I’ve been working on writing a research paper with my friend and colleague Robyn. I think we’ve finished it about 4 or 5 times so far … only it still isn’t done. The old cliche* about the last 5% of a job taking 95% of the time is all too frequently and frustratingly true! What’s worse, […]

The best laid schemes …

Today was a fun day, but not quite the day that we’d originally planned. My intentions were to go caching with my brother (known in caching circles as SG-3), two of my nephews, and a Tasmanian caching friend known as Snuva. Our intended target was a cache up in the hills behind Risdon Brook Dam. This […]

Quirks 2

Why does mizzle turn into downpour just when you are about to go out […]

Mizzle

I’ve met this word before but had forgotten it until someone used it yesterday: it refers to really fine rain that just sits in the air rather than really falling. Sort of like fog only wetter; somewhere between mist and drizzle. 

Actually, given the drought we’ve been experiencing back in Victoria, the whole concept of two consecutive […]

Milestones 1

With a bit of careful coordination, one of my brothers, a friend of ours, and I managed to organise it so that we’d achieve simultaneous geocaching milestones today. We headed off into the wilds beyond New Norfolk, parked the car on a dirt side road, and headed up into the bush along an old 4WD track. […]

A different thread

At Church we have a women’s organisation which has a focus on service. It also has a focus on developing skills and talents (among many things). All of these are good things. There is, however, probably a bit of a bias towards the more traditional womanly crafty type things than the more macho kind of skills; […]

Situation back to normal

It was all too good to last.

The office is now … well, you can see for yourself.

The wonderful few days I had of “concentrate on one job at a time” has suddenly reverted to the usual “five things to do at once, to be finished by yesterday”!

Actually it’s not quite that bad, but the “To Do” […]

Quirks 1

1. Why do I struggle to remember the names of things in general, yet I can readily recall the term “nominal aphasia”?

2. If people know you so well that they recognise exactly when the circumstances are such that you’re going to make a really bad pun, do you actually have to go to the effort of […]

Now you see it …

Brrrr.

It is more than a little chilly today. The heater in my office is on high, and I look rather Dickensian in my fingerless gloves, but at least they help warm my hands a little while still allowing me to use the computer*. The weather was pretty miserable overnight, and when I woke this morning I […]