Two mute swans running and flapping across wintery Geddes Pond in Ann Arbor, MI, with a third one watching. The picture is a composite of four separate exposures that I took within a total time span of two seconds.
Small size
Pretty cool shot, eh? It’s zooming in on a picture I took this afternoon, which itself was already a close-up. If your screen has good enough contrast, you can just make out the black pupil at the very center (about four times the width of the mouse pointer), embedded in the slightly lighter iris. Mirrored in the iris is a sidewalk next to snow-covered grass, basking under a bright winter sun. But look closely, and there’s more to see: trees, a car (far left), and two people (one standing, and kneeling).
Care to guess what animal this is? Leave your answer in the comments.
I like math and logic puzzles, so I got myself a copy of Math & Logic Problems by Dell Magazines. The magazine opens with a so-called figure logic puzzle, which is basically a crossword puzzle with numbers instead of words, and with clues like “5-Across plus 5-Down” or “One-third of 19-Across”. Of course, the clues to 5-Across and 5-Down and 19-Across mention other numbers, so you end up with one big circular reference. The trick is to find a few numbers or digits to start with and then the rest of the puzzle will fall into place. For example, if 5-Across and 5-Down are both two-digit numbers, and “5-Across plus 5-Down” has three digits, you know the first of those three digits must be a one. This unlocks a digit in another number, and so on and so forth.
The magazine contains some text like that, which is of course fine for the benefit of people unfamiliar with this kind of puzzle. It’s the next paragraph that has me worried that the puzzles are going to be too easy. I’ll quote it in full — if you’re a geek like me, you’ll appreciate it.
NOTE: A square of a number is that number multiplied by itself. For example, the square of 6 is 36 (6 × 6 = 36). A square root is a number whose square is the given number (6 is the square root of 36). A cube of a number is that number multiplied by itself and multiplied by itself a second time (27 is the cube of 3, since 3 × 3 × 3 = 27). A product is the number resulting from the multiplication of two or more numbers (24 is the product of 6 and 4). A multiple is a number that is the product of a specific number and another number (30 and 24 are both multiples of 6, since 6 × 5 = 30 and 6 × 4 = 24). A factor is a number that divides evenly into another number (4 is a factor of 12). A prime number is a positive whole number which is divisible only by 1 and itself (for example, 2, 3, 5, and 7 are prime numbers). A palindrome is a number that reads the same forwards and backwards.
Does this mean the difficulty level of the puzzles will be targeted at people who don’t know what a square or a prime is? I hope not, because that’s not going to be much of a challenge for me. Also, I think someone unfamiliar with basic algebra is unlikely to pick up a magazine titled Math & Logic Problems. Even if they did, this text would scare them off rather than encourage them to try their hand at some of the puzzles. Why, then, did the editors include this at all?
A male northern cardinal in Nichols Arboretum.
Time for another panorama. This one goes the full 360 degrees and comes in a nifty Java applet that allows you to scroll around. Click the image and drag the mouse left and right to do so. The panorama was shot on Silver Lake in the Pinckney State Recreation Area, about 20 miles northwest of Ann Arbor. You should be able to spot the trail of foot prints leading to my position out on the ice.
Although public transport within Ann Arbor is quite alright for getting to and from the university on weekdays, it isn’t of much use for anything during the weekend, when the buses in my neighborhood run only once an hour. So, in spite of the snow and cold outside, I’ve gone shopping for a bike. I happen to live close to Wheels in Motion, one of Ann Arbor’s better bike shops, and the folks there were very helpful in finding me the right bike. They were also very patient and forgiving of my lack of American cycling vocabulary. It happened twice that they suggested a type of bike or piece of equipment to which I responded enthusiastically, only to realize when they showed the bike or item in question that it was something different than what I had thought. (Similar moments have occurred in other shops. For all my fluency in scientific and everyday English, it’s interesting to discover how many words I don’t know in other areas of the language.) Still, it didn’t take too long to settle down on the FX 7.2 by Trek. It’s a fitness bike, or at least so I’m told. Whatever its designation, it looks to serve me well on my daily commute to campus, as well as on the occasional 20- or 30-mile ride.
I picked up the bike Thursday evening and immediately chickened out of riding it the next morning, because it felt like the bloody coldest morning I’ve had here yet. For which of course I got made fun of by my nice friends on Facebook — and never mind that the real reason was that I wanted to try the route first on a non-work day. So, despite even lower temperatures on Saturday, I went ahead and biked to campus for the first time. First, though, I went for a short warm-up run to the grocery store. An elderly man there remarked it was quite cold for cycling, recalling he’d never ridden below 18 °F (-8 °C). I had just faced something like 5 °F (-15 °C), with wind chill in the negative F, so I beat him by a fair margin.
The three-mile ride to campus was not too bad as far as the cold went. In fact, there was one nasty hill that had me sweating as on a summer’s day by the time I reached the top. The downhill return would have been fun if the road surface were in better condition. As it was, it was something of a challenge to dodge cracks, potholes and patches of ice at 20 mph on an unfamiliar bike, with a freezing wind battering my eyes to tears.
Yesterday morning, with the temperature up to 11 °F (-12 °C), I took a slightly different route to avoid that hill and also to avoid the moderately heavy traffic on Saturday’s route. The attempt was successfull on both counts, although the quieter roads do mean poorer road conditions now that there’s been some snowfall again. The additional twisting and turning also increases the likelihood of me getting lost, especially cycling home in the dark — which didn’t take long to actually happen. I added an extra mile and a half to yesterday’s homeward journey by missing a turn and not recognizing an intersection later on where I could have fixed my initial mistake with minimal damage. I suppose it’s a good way to get to know the city a bit, but I’d rather do that in warmer weather. Note for tonight: check the map extra carefully before heading home.
The main waterway in Ann Arbor is the Huron River. About a mile north of where I live, the Huron River widens into Geddes Pond. I went there yesterday and found river and lake covered with ice and snow, gleaming under a cold winter sun in a stark blue sky.
Small size
Saturday wasn’t my first birthday in the US, but it obviously was the first one as a resident. The lack of a social circle here was easily made up for by a large number of text messages, emails and Facebook posts. I talked to my parents, grandparents and brother on Skype, so even if I didn’t have a party this year (unless having a piece of cake on my own counts as a party), I still felt like a proper birthday boy.
It just so happened that I was due for a haircut, so I went to a hairdresser around the corner called Lady Jane’s. Their primary target is The Man, and since The Man likes football, the whole shop is football-themed. To make sure The Man doesn’t have to miss a minute of his favorite pastime, the waiting lounge is equipped with four big plasma TVs. On top of that, every chair comes with its own screen, too. It’s only while getting his hair washed that The Man has to go without TV, but of course there’s still the radio. Besides, with a bit of planning, washing can be done during half time. With all of that football hoopla you’d almost forget why you went there, but the stylist consultants don’t. The service is fast, excellent and cheap, so this shop is definitely a good find.
Another good find: the mixed berry and cream cake at Wholefoods.
After a few days in Ann Arbor, I’m happy to report that I’m still alive, haven’t gained forty pounds yet, and am still fluent in Dutch. (The first one is kinda obvious and you’ll just have to take my word for the other two.) I’ve got a neat apartment at the edge of town, about 5 km (3 mi) from the university and close to two big supermarkets and a host of other stores. There’s a bus connection straight to campus, which is free for university students and employees. That’s very handy as long as I don’t have a bike or if the winter weather turns too bad. So far, it’s quite alright: some light snow (not nearly as much as in the Netherlands last monght) and only a few degrees below zero.
The apartment is clean, well maintained and furnished rather tastefully with two couches, a dining table and chairs, a bed, a desk and lots of closet space. The kitchen comes with a fridge (US sized, of course), a stove and oven, a microwave oven and a dish washer. I spent most of the first day in town buying basic stuff like pots and pans, china, cutlery and bed linens, so I could at least cook dinner and get some sleep. The difficulty with all that is the huge number of brands and sizes and designs to choose from at Bed, Bath & Beyond. And it’s the same thing in the supermarkets. It’s good to have some choice, but shopping would go a lot faster if I didn’t have to pick from 347 different types of pasta sauce.
Meanwhile, I’ve got computer access at the university, so I’m able to get some work done. I also have a bank account, but many other things still need to be taken care of: insurances, a bike, a tv and cable subscription, cell phone, internet at home. The upside for now is that without tv and internet, my evenings are nicely quiet.
The weather forecast predicts more snow for tomorrow, followed by some clear skies on Sunday. If that holds, I’ll head out to stroll around the campus and downtown area, and snap a few pictures.
