homework

Sixth grader: I have homework in all four classes! This is the best day of my life!

young scientists

Talya: So, what are you going to do this three day weekend?
Sixth grader #1: Quantum physics!!!!!
Sixth grader #2: Computer science!!!!!

tote bags

You know what I hate? Whenever I go grocery shopping and go to check out, I give the bag boys like five tote bags to use instead of plastic bags. But they always overstuff three of the five bags with all my groceries — including the milk, fruit punch, and orange juice all in one bag! It always makes for three really heavy bags that I’d rather not carry. Just because my bags are more durable than cheap plastic bags doesn’t mean I can carry more per bag.

I’ve got to lay off on Agatha Christie

Last night, I dreamed I was in a small European-style city located in a small island. I walked down an alley into a house, and in the house I saw a group of seven people socializing in a finished basement. A young man was hitting on a brunette woman. She was wearing a stone trench coat, boots, and a matching skirt. He asked for her number, and she gave it to him. He did not hear her say the last four digits of her number, but was too shy to ask her to repeat it to him. She eventually left, without him.

Suddenly the room went dark. It was dusk, so our eyes eventually adjusted, and when they did, we could see that the door outside had been closed and bolted.

Then a voice came over a speakerphone. It told us that there was a bomb in the house, and it would explode in 20 minutes time, unless we could solve a puzzle.

At first the group was panicky. We tried to unbolt the door leading outside, but it wouldn’t budge. Finally we calmed down and decided to search the house for a way out. There was another door in the basement, on the far end. We opened the door, but it triggered a bomb — BOOM! Terrified, we backed off into the lounge, tripping on each other. We realized no one was hurt, that the bomb was probably planted there to convince us that whoever set this up was serious, and he really meant to destroy the house in 20 minutes. So we searched the room for clues but found nothing. Then we realized we would have to search the house, if we weren’t afraid to brave more bombs.

We stepped out into the hall. I was leading and didn’t notice I was walking into an infinitesimally thin string — BOOM! Another bomb went off in the hallway, though farther away this time. Our group realized it was probably very dangerous to explore the house together, for we all might die in an explosion if we weren’t careful. So I volunteered to go by myself while the rest waited in the lounge.

I got a good look at the hall. There were four doors, two on either end, all looking the same. I chose the farthest one on the left. It led to a simple room with floor cabinets on either side, and an open frame door to a dark room on the far end. I searched inside the cabinets. There it was! A device that looked like a smoke detector in one cabinet, and on the next cabinet was a keypad. Both seemed wired to some bombs that went up into the cabinets, out of reach. On each device was a Post-It Note. The first Post-It note, on the smoke detector, said, (630) 279-_____. The second Post-It Note said to look at the big picture.

It was clearly a clue, but I didn’t understand it. I went through the door frame to the next room. It was dark, but I easily found a light dimmer switch on the left side. The room was huge, but the most prominent object was an end table near the steps, and on the end table was a cell phone and a framed picture of the girl in the trench coat. I took the cell phone and the picture, then I returned to the basement lounge, where the group of people were waiting anxiously.

I showed them the clues. They asked if I found anything else, to which I said no. It was clear that we had to find the last four digits of the girl’s telephone number. Two people in our group decided to search the house for more clues, but did not find anything. While we searched, I noticed the only thing unusual about the phone number was that the digits, when grouped, added up to 9 — 6+3+0 = 9, and 2+7=9. So perhaps the last four digits were 8, 1, 4, and 5, the remaining digits between 0 through 9. We realized that for that to be true, we had several options — 1845, 8145, 4581, 5481, 5418, and 4518. So we used the cellphone to try these numbers. All were unlisted numbers, until we reached (630) 279-4581. The phone rang! We received an answering machine, with the same voice from before. It said that if we entered the wrong number, the bomb would explode.

So that was it. All the clues led to putting the girl’s phone number into the keypad to disable it. Could that be true, a gentleman asked? What if we only had to put in the last four digits? Ah, but again, look at the big picture — the entire phone number.

Well, we were terrified to do it, because of what the answering machine said. But since we could not find any other clues, that it all pointed to this, it had to be this easy, if only death wasn’t the other option.

A man came forward. He said he used to dismantle bombs for a living, and he thought he might try to disable it if given the chance. The problem was, most modern bombs immediately exploded if they detected anyone trying to dismantle it. But we thought it might be a chance to live, so we scrounged up some wire cutters and wire strippers for him, and also a leather jacket for protection. He put it on and had me lead him to the bomb. We knew there wasn’t much time left.

He opened the cabinet and got to work. I looked for a Triangle of Life position near the doorframe in the other room. There was a cat I didn’t notice before in the room, and I held the cat as I watched him work, ready to face death. The cat jumped away and ducked into its litter pan, as though knowing what to expect.

“I think I got it,” the man said. He showed me how he rewired the keypad to go to the smoke detector instead of directly at the bomb. This way, he said, we might just have a second chance in case the answer is the last four digits, not all of them. But he said he wasn’t sure, so we best enter the code we’re most sure of.

I hesitated. What if the number was wrong, or if the terrorist wanted us to do some other combination, such as adding a number to each digit? But it was all we knew, so we decided to enter it. Holding my breath, I told the man the number. He repeated it back as he entered it in. He pressed the # key when he finished. We waited, not sure if we were going to die or not.

Then I woke up.

today’s big thing

I’m a fan of Today’s Big Thing, which is a video blog about (surprise, surprise) the big thing on the Internet for the day. Anyway, today they shared a rather moving Obama speech that brought tears to mine eyes.

Amazing, Moving Obama Speech

Finally, a candidate that speaks my language. This country has been waiting for a candidate that won’t give us up, let us down, run around or desert us for too long.

Link

funny

Sucker punch!

dog days

Yikes! August is nearly here, which can only mean school is starting very soon. No more obscene amounts of Civ 4 and Star Trek, how sad.

Today I closed my WaMu account because I haven’t used it since 2005. I thought I had $27.something in there, but it turns out I had $48.33. So now I feel rich! Whoohoo! Except we also just paid a bunch of wedding expenses, so maybe I’m not so rich after all.

wedding, honeymoon, back to normal

Well, not too much is new, aside from getting married and all. Wedding pics can be found here and a bunch of other places, so definitely IM me for the full load. Special thanks to Wendy, Stephy, and Mandy for taking the pics, and Kevin’s mother for Photoshopping them! Here’s a quick pic of our first dance:

A wedding leaves one exhausted and yet so grateful — I felt incredibly lucky to have many of my closest friends and relatives there on the big day, willing to help out with all those details to make things happen. There were also so many people who were there in spirit, and I’m so grateful to them, too.

The honeymoon (backpacking in the Alps) was also really fun. I had never been overseas and really enjoyed the French culture in particular. It was awesome to meet up with Caitlin and Jeremy in London, and to take in all the natural beauty and interesting sites. We hiked half of the Tour du Mont Blanc. I’m not done Photoshopping pictures, but here’s a quick shot of the Alps. It felt like we were in LOTR most the time:

I might make a few separate posts about Europe later. More to come on that!

Finally, we bought a couch today. Here’s a badly lit pic!

summertime

I approve of several things this month. The end of the schoolyear and beginning of summer. Hillary Clinton suspending her candidacy and endorsing Obama. The new Wordpress interface. The fact that I’m on a regular workout routine again. (The last one being due to pre-wedding jitters and an eagerness to be ready for the Tour du Mt Blanc — it’s a win-win situation.)

Not too much is new aside from all that. I’ve been taking up lots of summer reading and running lots of wedding-related errands. Thank you to everyone who has RSVP’d thus far, by the by. Now all that’s left, it seems, is doing a bunch of Sun Dances to the sun gods.

happy audit season

So I walk in to my classroom today, and on my desk is a missing computer mouse with a note from my students:

“You’re $15 short. We took your mouse instead. –The IRS”

Nice.