turning a page

in just a few days i will be celebrating my 30th birthday. each year as my birthday approaches i like to learn a little bit about the number that will be associated with me for the next 365 days. some ages have real obvious stuff, like 25 is a perfect square. others have mildly obvious stuff, like 27 is a perfect cube. for other ages i have to search a little (read: wikipedia).

as the big 3-0 approaches i thought it was time to get to know that number a little better. obviously 30 ushers in my fourth decade of life, but what else is there about it that makes it special?

it is a primorial number (?)

it is the sum of the sum of the first four squares (1+4+9+16), making it a square pyramidal number

it is the smallest sphenic number, as it is the product of 3 distinct prime numbers (2*3*5)

Adding up a subset of its divisors (e.g., 5, 10 and 15) gives 30, hence 30 is a semi-perfect number

it is also a harshad number (really tough to figure out what a harshad number is)

finally, 30 is the atomic number of zinc

so, there it is. although i won't be able to trust myself anymore, once i'm 30, there will be a lot to be excited about. i've never been a square pyramidal before!

aretha franklin!

our brat fest is bigger than your brat fest

every memorial day weekend, madison holds the greatest eating contest of all time. the question: how many bratwurst can we, as a community, eat in one weekend? the answer: 189,432 and counting. we bought 5 brats at brat fest this weekend to help the cause. i'm sure the guiness book of world records is watching very closely.

exhibit a: david attacks 2 bratwurst as he becomes part of history.

exhibit b: how do you eat the world's most brats, madison? by using the world's largest grill. period. brilliant!

that is a grill the size of a semi-trailer. take that, weiner mobile!
we jest, of course. the weiner mobile is a madison icon, and we respect it deeply. we're not sure how we feel about the mini-weiner mobile (to celebrate cocktail weinees?), but we'll let it go. i'm sure it doesn't claim to double as a mobile grilling unit, so it's a moot point in this posting. but here's a picture of it anyway.

the neighbors

we've been told that the house next to ours is uninhabited and somewhat run-down. we were inclined to believe this when we noticed that the left corner of the front porch is precariously perched atop a car jack. however, yesterday i made a discovery that discredits the "uninhabited" rumor. behold, the next door neighbor!

nothing, to date, gets aretha franklin more excited than spying on hairball next door neighbors.

family and gnomes

my sister julia and her husband dana came to visit this weekend. they became good friends with the garden gnome and squirrels. a good time was had by all!

wheels on willy

today there was a criterum bike race in our neighborhood. i won't go into a lot of detail on what a criterium is (that can be found at the previous link), but i will say that it provides a good deal of spectator excitement. the cyclists go round and round a short course for an hour. you get to see the racers frequently as they complete lap after lap. the course was just a block from our house.

there were different races for different levels throughout the day. this is a video clip of the men's masters division. the camera could hardly keep up with the racers.


in other news, aretha franklin has started hiding in various places around our house. finding her usually results in a pretty adorable scene.

it turns out she likes to hide amongst my sweaters after she plays in the wet bath tub. she leaves my clothes with the enticing aroma of wet cat. it is a little unfortunate, but adorable.

alexander the grape

do you remember the candy alexander the grape? it was brought to us by the fine folks at ferara pan. i think they also make lemon heads (another fine confection).

i think that atg is probably my favorite candy ever. it was much like a lemon head, but obviously grape flavored. it was an intense flavor. a small box could last even a candy-addicted child for a decent amount of time. on the inside of the flap it had some kind of say no to drugs slogan.

i stopped seeing them in stores a number of years ago. around the same time i started seeing a product called grape heads. i thought that this might just be some kind of change in marketing, but grape heads was an altogether different, and vastly inferior product.

yeah, alexander the grape was one of a kind. definitely my favorite candy ever.

the office

i'm quite pleased with my new office. i've never had one before. the best part of it is the elvis on black velvet painting that dons the wall behind my desk.


i found it in the hallway outside my office earlier this week, and promptly incorporated it into the otherwise undecorated space. i'm told it has moved from office to office over the years. i like to think that his single tear is for all the people out there who haven't sought sufficient protection for their intellectual property.

pssst...

aretha franklin: i have a secret for you


david: you don't say

let's go motown!

the pistons finished off the orlando magic this evening in a game that went pretty close to the wire. now it is on to the eastern conference finals to face either the celtics of boston or the cavaliers of lebron james. they are stuck in the middle of a 2-2 series while the pistons will be resting up in sunny detroit.


in other detroit sports news the red wings will face off tomorrow night against the dallas "couldn't handle the north" stars. if the wings finish them off tomorrow it will be their 10th win in a row.


take it sammy!

dude + skateboard

who is that cool kid?


thanks, louise!

r-e-s-p-e-c-t...

...find out what it means to us.

this is our new cat aretha franklin. she came from the humane society in this nifty box.

she is six months old and not more than a couple of pounds. she enjoys cuddling, racing from one end of the house to the other, splashing in water, and licking marta's palms.

isn't she gorgeous?

the big rally

perhaps you heard about the big rally this afternoon. it didn't get a lot attention, but it was really moving. this guy is an up and comer.

meat growing robots

this is one of the best websites the superhighwaynet has to offer.

well done mgr inc.

the great plains

we've been life long supporters of the midwest and its people. we love the midwest's great lakes region, from which we hail, as well as the great plains region that stretches out across our great land.

the land of nebraska, which we recently drove across, stands as a symbol of the qualities that make the midwest great. when one looks out on the nebraskan landscape, qualities like predictability, continuity, and simple beauty come to mind. these are the qualities of the midwest and the midwesterner.


"the good life", indeed.

we made it!

after two days of driving through beautiful colorado, nebraska and iowa, we arrived in madison 4 days ago. it was pretty exciting. after all the hiking, driving, unpacking, and general moving-in business, we were tired and hungry. on sunday, we set down the boxes and headed to the terrace, where we feasted on popcorn and bell's oberon.

we're glad to be back.