Short Thought - Life

I find when I get together with friends, we spend time talking about what's happened recently. This is normal, of course, but sometimes I find I don't have much material to choose from. For example, when I get together with a few different friends at different times, I have to share the same stories with each of them because I don't have enough material. I realize I spend a lot of time talking about things, but not a lot of time doing things.  My goal is to spend less time talking about my life, and more time living it.

Short Thought - Friendships

If you try to surround yourself only by people that are exactly like you, how will you ever change or grow as a person? When someone disagrees with me, I find I am forced to rethink my position. In the end, I am either stronger in my conviction or realize I am wrong and make a necessary change. This is what has helped me grow as a person, and has helped me become more compassionate towards people.

Basically, surround yourself with people whom you share common ground with, but those who may differ from you in some ways. They will understand you and challenge you to try new things all at the same time.

Tamara's Tips: Killing Bugs

It's summer. If not able to enjoy the warm weather (on a beach, or poolside perhaps), people tend to hang out indoors in a comfortable air conditioned environment. Apparently bugs are wise to our wise, and do their best to join us in our comfort. Hence, the fun (dread) I endure each summer as I battle the army of insect invaders trying to escape the heat.

When encountering a bug, many would think just squish it with a tissue or whack it with a shoe, and the job is done. I personally am not a fan of this approach. Some bugs are just too crunchy to squish with tissue, and that crunch creeps me out. And whether it is with tissue or a shoe, squishing a bug leaves bug guts behind. Gross.

Here are some of my solutions for ridding your home of insect invaders:

1) Spiders

I don't really like spiders, but I have found they tend to stay out of my way and have little interest in messing with me. The downside to allowing spiders to live is while they are efficient at killing bugs, they're not always good at disposing of the bodies. Yuck.

2) Household Spray Cleaners

Sometimes the spiders get lazy. Like this morning, when a spider just sat there at watched as this bug waltzed around my home. I had to take matters into my own hands. Keep the enemy at arms length. And clean up while you do it! Usually I grab the nearest spray cleaner, and spray the bug until it dies. Some bugs take longer to kick the bucket than others. Just be diligent. Once the target has been eliminated, dispose the body by burial at sea (flush that sucker down the toilet). I have found that hand sanitizer is also effective, and the fact that it's a gel makes it difficult for the bug to escape your attack. The downside is that you have to get closer to the bug.

3) Trap and flush

If you are brave enough to deal with a live bug, get it to crawl onto a tissue and then quickly flush it down the toilet. This is good for slower moving bugs. Anything fast may crawl onto your skin. Don't use this method on fast bugs.

4) Get married

A spouse that is not afraid to kill bugs is the best thing anyone could ask for. I have been blessed in this way. I wouldn't say bug killing was a deal breaker, but it is important to me.

Math in my Sleep

The last few weeks I've been teaching summer school. I'm teaching a grade 12 math course, and all of the students in my class are taking the course for the first time around. It's been fun, for the most part, but I've been busy, busy busy! One day of summer school is like 4 classes (nearly one full week) of regular school, so each day I spend a few hours preparing for the upcoming lessons and assessments. Needless to say, I've got math on the brain almost constantly.

I've noticed in the past that the night (or a few nights) before something important  I'll often dream about the event (the first day of school, my wedding, an exam, etc.). Usually it's because the upcoming event is on my mind before I fall asleep, and influences my dreams.

Lately, I've been dreaming about math problems. In my dream I'll be trying to solve some sort of problem, and I'll wake up still trying to figure it out. Eventually I realize what I'm doing, change the subject in my brain and either get out of bed or go back to sleep. But these dreams concern me.

Dreams are a place where the impossible can happen, where you can be anything. And what do I dream about? Math. I dream of being a math geek. Not that this is a bad thing, but given that I'm a math geek in real life, it seems like a waste of good dreaming time.

Oh well. Asleep or awake, I'm a geek through and through. I guess I have to embrace it!