As you all should know, today was pi day. Every year, the math department at BYU puts on a great party to celebrate (complete with a countdown to 1:59:26pm), but without fail, I have had class. This year was different. After I finished substituting in an ensemble for a pep band friend (though I seem to have become a permanent fixture in this class), I headed out to Brigham Square to find out how the math people party.
It was great fun, really. Sometimes I forget how horribly nerdy I am, but it's times like this that it's really brought into sharp focus. I really do quite like math people. There was music playing in the background the whole time. At one point, "American Pie" came on. Once it got to the chorus, the emcee started a little shuffle dance, and then said, "...pi," right in time with the music. I started laughing, and he noticed. He grinned like it was so clever. Perhaps it was.
Other highlights of the party include:
-Getting a math pencil from a Plinko game.
-Getting REALLY close to solving the pi day sudoku. (perhaps I'll have to scan this in; it's kind of funky)
-Learning about Buffon's Needle, which is an interesting idea of how to estimate pi. The math students were conducting trials and entering the numbers into the computer to find the estimate (click the link for more complicated info). We had an error of 0.022 for most of the time I was watching, though it was as high as .032 and as low as .015. Watching the number change as new trials were entered in was almost as interesting as a sports game. But not quite.
-Seeing the math professors run around spraying people with silly string after we hit pi time in the countdown. Professors are fun.
-Standing next to the one and only Sam Dittmer (if you don't know who he is, watch the video). If I was braver, I would've said something... but I'm not. Maybe some day. I kind of have a crush on him--the admiring from afar kind. Math people are too easy to fall for.
This Friday, I spent a couple hours giving blood (though most of that time was spent waiting). The nice man who took my blood pressure and blood sample said that I was very healthy and that he wished his blood pressure was as good as mine. I was also happy with my resting heart rate. I'm very thankful that I am healthy!
Part of the reason I made this blog was to stay accountable to my goals, so this will make much more sense once I actually finish posting those. Just thought I'd post this before I forgot, and also to let you know I'm still alive. Just busy.
I heard this song lyric during dinner yesterday, and realized how well it fit. As it was New Year's Eve, the new beginning of 2012 came from the end of 2011. A new year has always symbolized a clean slate, a time to try again, and never quit hoping, while always building on what we've learned in the past year. Yes, I am sad to leave 2011 behind, but as that beginning ends, we are embarking on a whole new adventure. That is the real reason I have started this blog. I want to keep better track of everything that happens this year so that I might more thoroughly absorb it and learn from it. You may notice many layout changes occurring over the next week or so, but bear with me. I hope that this will become a place where others can learn from my experiences and where inspiration can begin. The adventurous reader will find many different things here, including quotes, recipes, progress reports--all things that will mean enough to me that I will want to share them. So please, sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey that we call life.
