writer's block

I've been having trouble writing lately.

where's wendy?

My 10 year high school reunion is today.
Here's us 10 years ago:



Click on the photo to see it bigger.

For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great

Take that citicard!
I owe you NO MORE MONEY!!!
You too, Bank of America! I owe you NOTHING!


YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME

bats!

There was a bat in our apartment last night.

We were asleep and we heard the "clicking" of the bat, and roja jumping around, trying to catch it.

Kayin chased it around the house and then knocked it unconscious. Then he got the fish net to scoop it on to a pile of paper plates and let it loose outside.

The cats and I hid in the bedroom.

death in the family

This is a link to an interview that my friend Amy and her sisters did to talk about their brother.
http://www.wbur.org/news/2007/67191_20070516.asp

On one hand, this is a very personal loss to their family, but the death of every soldier needs to be mourned by the country. I'm glad people know that he was killed and that he will be deeply missed.

fucking war

My good friend's brother was killed yesterday morning in Iraq.
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=10871
I'm so angry--it's such a waste. I spent yesterday and this morning crying with her. This shouldn't be happening. People should not be dying this way.

artistic license

This is the photo that the portrait is based on.

my internet alterego

Here's the final version of my portrait. I like her. Especially because she matched her lips to the background and her sweater to her eyes. And she has a nose ring--not a zit. I'm worried her boss may say she needs to loose the nose ring. I am disappointed in her choice of hair ties. A universe of possibilities and she chose black. ah well.

dress up

If you were going to dress up as yourself for halloween (or just for fun), what would you look like?
Would you need to buy new clothes? Would you need to get back a piece of clothing that has been separated from you?
Ok, so you might say, "I'd just wear the same thing I wear everyday." But, (with very few exceptions) no one really wears the same thing each day. You might always wear jeans and a t-shirt but which jeans are The Jeans? Which shoes are The Shoes? What season would it be (yeah, so if it was halloween it would be fall--but what if you could choose)? Would you need sunglasses? a hat? a scarf? How would you wear your hair?

Ska Star

Actually, I think I'm more of a Ska Star.

Now this rude girl is going to dance around the livingroom.

Rock Star!

I passed my prelims today!

I've already forgotten how unfun it was to write them. I am overwhelmed with the joy of being finished! I am incapable of being upset about anything!

Today rocks. I rock!

WOOT!

Here's another portrait possibility. What do you think?

prelims

I get my prelim questions tomorrow.

I'm not too worried.

I got my lapdesk in the mail yesterday, so I'm ready to turn our one and only living room chair into a home office.


(photo curtisy of levenger.com)


This might actually be fun.

new pic and link

Here is a newer version of the picture, and a link to Mindy's website. Mindy is the artist who made these wonderful portraits.





http://www.umich.edu/~steffenm/

who's that girl?

My picture and bio for my research project website. What do you think?






Wendy Rose
Graduate Student, Mathematics Education, University of Michigan
Research Assistant, Geometry Reasoning and Instructional Practices

MA Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles
BA Mathematics, University of California, Santa Cruz


Wendy’s research interests are geometry instruction and classroom social dynamics, as well as qualitative research methods and the use of animations to co-construct narratives of instruction with experienced high school teachers and their students. Within the context of ThEMaT she has worked on developing these animations, planning and leading study groups of geometry teachers, and studying our corpus of data. She is also a graduate student instructor of mathematics courses for pre-service teachers, and interested in questions of what knowledge is needed to teach mathematics.
Wendy grew up in the foothills of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, on the brim of California’s Central Valley. She studied mathematics in Santa Cruz, California and Los Angeles, California before she moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan to study education.

I had a wonderful trip to California.

I can't wait to live there again.

slimed

Ann Arbor got slimed last night. Sometimes I think it looks more like glass and sometimes I think it looks more like snot.


It's been raining and freezing for the last couple days so everything has been coated in half an inch of ice.


I took these pictures on my walk to school this morning. As the sun was warming things up whole messes of icicles would fall from trees and power lines.


It really is beautiful. The whole town shimmers. Each blade of grass, each leaf, has it's own casing of ice.

fun with squirrels

I was worried that the cats were bored at home alone all day so I invited the squirrels to come over. It took ten minutes from the time that I put peanuts out on the balcony until the first squirrel showed up. And man! Did we have fun then!


See how smart Maus is? He put his ears flat so the squirrel won't see him behind the windowsill. Not that the squirrel cared. He was eating peanuts so he couldn't care less about the big mean Maus on the other side of the glass.




The fun lasted for about 2 days. Now the cats are bored again.

we're impatient kids

I know it's only the 20th, but we've already had pretty productive Christmas. It turns out we're not very good with the whole "open on Christmas" idea. There are still three packages under the tree, however: two from Kristien and one from Santa. I think that's the problem with not having an advent calendar-- instead of opening a little cardboard window each day we feel the need to open a new present.

I was going to upload photos of my new underwear and jeans and K's new coat, but those are not nearly as photogenic as Kayin's most recent pre-Christmas present.









We brought it home on Monday night, and you can see it evicted the Jesus family from the corner of the living room.

Then last night we got four more packages in the mail and opened them as soon as we got them in the door. Only after we had finished ohhhing and awwwwing did we realized that these were probably Christmas presents and should have be left wrapped and placed under the tree. But it was too late for that, and there was no wrapping paper to rewrap them, so I wore mine to work today. (Kayin wore his for his photo shoot with the organ)




Then, today, I found Birthday Boots. I'm going back to buy them in a few hours. Pictures to follow.

christmas music

We found this organ yesterday at Salvation Army (or one very similar, anyway). We're going to bring it home tomorrow, and when we get it set up I'll take a picture.
It's a beautiful organ and it sounds wonderful! Everything seems to work as it should and not a scratch. Kayin's going to enjoying playing it and I'm going to enjoy listening to it.
Merry Christmas to us! Thanks mom and dad!