Step Into Christmas

I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC! Christmas music probably my favourite music genre, well after Disney soundtracks that is. And yes I do consider both of these to be "genres", at least according to my iTunes sorting they are. I have 118 songs on my iTunes under the genre "Holiday Season". There is just something about those sleigh bells jingling in the background or the excessive use of "Tis" that makes me happy.

Now most people think that radio stations switch over to Christmas music way too early - I think they don't start playing it early enough. I am obsessed with Christmas music, in case you didn't get that already and I like to start Christmas right after my birthday. It's a good thing I have those 118 songs to tide me over until the radio stations get with the program. It's actually pretty embarrassing considering how early I start Christmas that I waited til today to write about it. I guess I was just so busy jamming to my Christmas songs.

For those who perhaps are only embracing the Christmas spirit now I've included below some of my favourite songs. I actually just wanted to put sound clips but I could not figure out a way to do that so I'm just linking to the YouTube videos.

Step into Christmas - Elton John

OK so though this song is probably very very old, I only discovered it last year and O-M-G  ... I'm in love. It's got the feel of Crocodile Rock but with jingles and Christmas lyrics. It's so much fun and I will admit to dancing (likely the Carlton) when I'm home alone and the chorus comes on. There is a video with Elton John singing but the video and audio are both poor quality. And hey! Nothing's wrong with combining Christmas & Disney.

Deck the Rooftops - Glee Cast

Here's another really fun upbeat song. I ♥ Glee and if you're looking for some must-have Christmas CDs add this one to your list. Every song is a winner.

It's Christmas Time - Jules Larson

This song was actually featured on the Grey's Anatomy Christmas episode (well quasi-Christmas, I believe I saw a Christmas tree at some point). The song was actually available to download for free the day after the episode so Yay for free songs! I haven't a clue who Jules Larson is but perhaps now I will look into her other works (well after Christmas that is).

Winter Song - Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson

Two artists that I love oh so much collaborating on such a beautiful song. "Is love alive" ... ahh it just warms my soul. This song is actually from The Hotel Café Presents Winter Songs CD which was on my wish list but pretty hard to find so I'm not keeping my hopes up [edit: which I got for Christmas]. This song as the same kind of feel as Sarah McLachlan's Song For A Winter's Night, which is perhaps why I like it so much.

OK, back to something a little more upbeat:

We Need A Little Christmas - Glee Cast

That's right, I went back to Glee. That's how much I love this album. I actually wanted to find a video of the song being sung in the episode but sadly could not find any. The premise, for those interested, is that the Glee Club is going caroling in the classrooms to raise money for homeless children. Most students however don't like Christmas songs (shock of the year, I know!!) and the teacher actually throws her shoe at them. Yeah, there high school isn't very supportive eh? Regardless though, it's a really awesome song.

And despite the fact that I don't want to stop, I'll end with my all-time favourite Christmas song:

Baby It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin + random??

I love this song so much but I have issues with how many different versions there are and the lack of proper information on YouTube. Dean Martin preformed this song with like 3 other female singers and some of those have gone on to record this song with other mail singers so trying to track down the female lead in this version is downright impossible. Regardless of who sings this song with Dean Martin, I really do love it.

For those who were just getting into my Christmas music selection here are some other great songs to check out:

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee (Can't have Christmas without this one)
Happy XMas (War is Over) - John, Yoko & The Plastic Ono Band With The Harlem Community Choir
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Mariah Carey
Christmas Canon - Trans-Siberian Orchestra

And OK, I cannot believe I found a YouTube video for this! I just have to include ....

Ay, Ay, Ay It's Christmas - Ricky Martin

And it's live too! If this doesn't make you smile then you are one heart-less soul-less grinch. :)
- Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Richtree Café

Clearly I'm not blogging enough. I guess I just feel like every blog has got to be something epic. However, striving for epic randomness can be difficult (sometimes impossible) so here's a simple something to tide over what few readers I have. I'm actually taking a page from Leianne's blog and I'm gonna write about food - or at least try to.

Now, I'm not a food person and I should make that known upfront. Sure I eat food (well I kinda need to to survive) and I have my favourites but I am no food connoisseur (thank heavens for spellcheck!). I do have one love though, and that, my friends, is pizza. I'm too exhausted today, but someone remind me to talk about my love of pizza. Now that could be a blog and a half but for today, I just want to share my experience at Richtree.

So, today I went with my mama to Square One and we stopped at Richtree to eat. From all the shopping, I was so tired and definitely needed a break (and this was at 12 noon). I didn't know this before but they have a pizza station where they make pizza for you, fresh -- like on the spot! Picture an omelette or crepe station, but 10x better. The chef (pizza-maker) runs the dough though this flatting machine (similar to what Buddy would use on Cake Boss for fondant), throws in some flour, then tops it with whatever you want before throwing the pizza in a pizza oven. True, a pepperoni pizza is so standard, but this one was made just for me!

My mama got a steak sandwich with vegetables. I'm sure if this was Leianne's blog there would be like 20 adjectives describing the texture, taste, and possibly aroma, of the steak. But seeing how, like I said, I'm not a food connoisseur, I will simply say that it looked alright. I  personally hate steak but my mom did say that it was very delicious, and she commented on the bun and how it was perfect meat to bread ratio. She finished her meal off with a latté. I'm clearly not as classy.

 p.s. Blame the poor quality on my cell phone. Neither of us brought our cameras.

This is Jeopardy!

I get so excited (and I just can't hide it) when I hear the Jeopardy! intro music start. For those who don't know me already, I watch Jeopardy! 5 days a week, talk about it with my boyfriend on the phone almost every night, and lately (I must admit) I've even been reading the Jeopardy! forums. Given the blog name, I suppose it's fitting that I watch Jeopardy!. I'm just a curious soul and Jeopardy! has all the answers (or questions I suppose ...).

I'm hopeful that most people watch Jeopardy! already but if you don't you definitely should start. It's not all about the trivia or competition. Jeopardy! is pure entertainment! Alex Trebek is absolutely amazing. I'll watch some episodes and honestly only be listening for him. He has the perfect reading skills. He never missed a beat on reading the clues and can do like every accent imaginable - that is except for the Pillsbury doughboy. Listen around the 2:05 mark:

Alex Trebek with #3 all-time
 winner Larissa Kelly

But aside from that, he does pretty good accents, whether it be of nationalities, celebrities, or presidents. Sometimes I know the answer (uh, question) just based on the type of accent he's using. Secondly, what is very amusing about Trebek is his condescending ways. I'm sure he means well but sometimes he is such a jerk when he says "Sorry, that incorrect". I thought I was the only person who thought this of Alex Trebek but A.J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All feels the same way.

On a bit of tangent, this book is absolutely amazing. It's basically an autobiography of Jacobs as he goes on the "humble quest to become the smartest person in the world" by reading the Britannica Encyclopedia. Every chapter is a different letter of the alphabet (I'm currently in L) and under the entry for frigate birds he says this:

"Truth is, I have conflicted feelings about Trebek. One the one hand, I love Jeopardy! and respect the way he runs the show with stern colonel-like authority - not a moment wasted on buffoonery. On the other hand, I want to pop Trebek in his smug Canadian mouth. I mean, this is the man who pretends to know every potent potable and every presidential pet, who oozes faux sympathy for mistaken contestants  with his famously condescending "sorry," who pronounces "burrito"as if he went to kindergarten with Fidel Castro and "Volkswagen" as if he grew up on the banks of the Rhine."

A.J. Jacobs is talking about Trebek because he's actually given an opportunity to interview him for Esquire (his day job when he's not reading the Britannica Encyclopedia). Jacobs discovers that Trebek isn't the mustache-twirling villain that he was thought to be, especially since he doesn't even have a mustache anymore. He gardens, and wears baseball caps (crazy, I know!) and doesn't remember most of the clues he reads. When asked of the quarter million clues, what was his favourite fact was he responded:

"You know how in nautical law, a country has jurisdiction over the first three miles from its coast? Well, that came about because a cannon's range was three nautical miles"

Not exactly the epic response I, or Jacobs, were expecting but interesting all the same. At the end of their interview Jacobs asked Trebek for his philosophy of knowledge. He responds: "I'm curious about everything - even things that don't interest me." Powerful words eh? I think that exactly how I feel. It's not that I'm particularly interested in Wholphins but I want to know about them all the same.

I really went on a much larger tangent with the book than I wanted to but oh well. For those left wondering, the connection to frigate birds is that after his talk with Alex Trebek, A.J. Jacobs went home to read about things that don't interest him, including friendly societies and frigate birds.

Everybody remembers the glory days of Ken Jennings but how many of you actually watched the show when he was on? One of my favourite moments ever (to this date) is the following response Jennings gave:

When Jennings gave his response, I agreed with him whole-heartedly. I actually think I gave that response before he did. His answer makes definitely more sense than a rake. A rake? Seriously? OK I looked it up and it apparently is a man who is habituated to immoral conduct but who would know that? For only $200 as well!

I'll end this blog with a very perplexing Final Jeopardy! clue. The category is PRIMETIME TV:

Now it season 23, its producer says it's the only show with "no script, no actors, no host & no re-enactments"

I certainly did not get this and neither did anyone else I asked. Do you know the question? You have 30 seconds. Good luck ;)

Math is Not Linear

So my friend Shannon from McMaster posted this on Facebook the other day. I think the point is very clear. In math, I always felt like you did it just because it was a challenge (well at least I enjoyed the challenge - most I suppose give up). The part in the presentation about learning something because it's "the next chapter in the textbook". OMG I remember hearing that oh too many times in high school.

Math is not linear on Prezi

I don't really have much to add because I think this presentation or "Prezi" (has anyone even heard of this before?) says it all. I don't quite know what the solution is yet but I do know that something has to change in the way mathematics is taught.

Pink Ribbon Teddybears

So we're nearing the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I'm very upset. Reason for being upset is forthcoming, but don't worry, it's not because I, or someone I know, has breast cancer. My reason for being upset is much more shallow.

I'm all for charities as much as the next person and yes breast cancer is a big deal - however I'm more likely to donate to any cause if there is something in it for me. I actually tried to Yahoo! search "What do you call someone who only donates to charities when they get something out of it?" but apparently there's no such word to describe the kind of person I am :S. Another example: I love the Girl Guides cookies (not the crappy minty ones but the good vanilla and fudge ones). I will pay the ridiculously overpriced amount for girl guide cookies not because I'm all that concerned for the cause (what do they raise money for anyways?) but because the cookies are so damn good! Let's just say that I'm a good Samaritan when it's convenient for me.

So anyways, Sears has been selling for the past whatever years these cute little teddy bears for $10 with proceeds going to breast cancer. I bought one in 2003 because I thought it was cute and have been getting them ever since. Each of them as the year stitched on one paw and the pink ribbon on the other.

I'm upset because I have 7 teddybears in my collection and now Sears has decided to stop making them. No more cute little teddy bears with pink ribbons. Instead they have a gigantic teddy bear (well bigger than my teddy bears) with a gold ribbon for Childhood Cancer. Oh come on! I can't start a whole new collection now! I didn't even check the price - I just left the Childhood Teddy behind and went home.

 To honour the end of an era, I decided to host a little mini-shoot with my teddybears. The collection unfortunately won't be getting any bigger than this.

2003, 2004, and 2005

2008 - He's the cutest with his little grey hoodie :)

The whole gang

And this is how my teddybears are usually kept - jumbled up in a sea of misfits which includes Toro (pronounced Tor-RUU) from Portugal, the Honeynut Cheerio bee and the A&W bear.

Yes I'll admit that this is a pretty lame blog. The only thing sadder is the fact that I took a lot more pictures than I actually ended up posting. I had the bears arranged in so many different poses. I probably shouldn't admit to this eh? Oh well! I'll redeem myself next time.

So how is this for random? From math to teddybears! For the record, if anyone doesn't get my sense of humour, I'm really not such a jerk. I do (and have) support(ed) causes when gifts and/or perks aren't involved - sometimes ;). I'm just sad that Sears has stopped the Breast Cancer Awareness teddybears.

The Housekeeper and the Professor

So I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while.

I didn’t start it earlier because I was trying to think of a theme for my blog. I thought that if I was going to start writing entries that they should have something in common. Some people write about their travels while others zone in on a specific interest (for example, Leianne with food and belly dancing). However, I don’t have one (or two) things that I could make all my entries about so I’ve given up on choosing a theme. On Shannon’s advice I’m just going to write my blog on random things - basically whatever comes to mind.

I’m always pondering the randomness of things, questioning how the world works, etc. You’d be surprised how often something like a commercial or comment from someone spawns a couple hour search on the internet in the weirdest of trails. For example, have you ever heard of a False Killer Whale, or a Wholphin for that matter? Didn’t think so!

This blog will be the perfect place to share my reservoir of knowledge and random comments for whoever’s interested. Also, it will be a great place to practice my writing skills - an added bonus I suppose.

So for my first entry I’m going to talk about what may possibly be the coolest book ever! I actually haven’t read it in it’s entirety yet but I just know that I’m going to love it. The book I’m talking about is The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. It was written in Japanese in 2003 and was translated to English in 2009. The Professor is a mathematician who suffered brain damage and has lost short term ability. After 80 minutes his memory resets so he has a housekeeper to take care of him. The Professor is obsessed with mathematics and so has countless conversations with the housekeeper and her son about the beauty of numbers and just mathematical concepts in general. Though it is a novel, this book is rich with math, and more so it’s math that everyone can grasp.

I was first introduced to this novel by Ron Lancaster who was a guest speaker in my math instruction course at OISE (not to be confused with someone who apparently played in the CFL). He is so passionate about mathematics, he actually reminds me very much of the Professor (without the brain damage of course). He spoke of many things at OISE but this past Tuesday I went to a conference of his where he talked exclusively about this book and the potential to include it in teaching high school mathematics.

Here’s an excerpt from the novel. Here the Professor asks the housekeeper to take a break from working to discuss “amicable (or friendly) numbers”. Don’t worry, I had no idea what they were either but it’s actually rather cool (well, I think it is):< [ For the non-mathematically inclined, a factor of a number A is just a number that divides into A "nicely". For example, factors of 6 are 1,2, 3 and 6 since 6/1 = 6 , 6/2 = 3, 6/3 = 2 and 6/6 = 1.  4 and 5 are not factors of 6  since 6/4 = 1.5 and 6/5 = 1.2 (not so nice!) ]

So hopefully you digested everything and enjoyed reading the excerpt. The novel is just full of cute things like this. I swear this isn't just a math textbook in disguise. It's a novel that fuses math beautifully into it's story.

In Japan they actually make this novel into a movie, The Professor's Beloved Equation (which for you mathies out there his beloved equation is e^πi+1=0). I hyperlinked a YouTube video from what I believe is the last scene of the movie. Unfortunately there's no English subtitles here - however Ron Lancaster (who I just have to reiterate, is so cool) has a few copies of the DVD from Amazon on hand and that has English subtitles. Because I've shown such an interest in the book, he's ever so kindly is going to send me a copy of the DVD as a gift. So once I get that perhaps we can have a movie night? Anyone interested?

So yeah, I think I've made this first blog perhaps too long. This is my first time blogging so feedback would be awesome. What did you like? Not like? What would you like to see more of? Were the hyperlinks just stupid? OK maybe that one was. I promise math will rarely come up in future blog entries. I just seriously love this book and I just want to shout that from the rooftops. However, we live in a tech-savvy world where blogging is the new shouting from the rooftops. Hopefully you enjoyed reading and will continue reading. Become a "follower" if you liked it :).