Saturday Morn

It's six in the morning, still tired, sleepy from staying up late the night before, (watching Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino) I hear sounds, what is that? The theme for Mickey's Clubhouse? wow, yes it is, I hear knocking on the door, is Anthony, and he is ready for a new day, next thing I know the bed gets overrun, Gaby, Anthony, the cat, Martha and I are crammed up, Anthony is constantly jumping, Martha is checking her email, and I am trying to squeeze another 15 minutes of sleep. It's futile, I wave the white flag and prepare for a brand new day.

There's so much to do, I have to pack for tomorrow's trip, I have a research paper, a midterm, homework questions and a programming assignment, not to mention the fact that we need to pick up around the house, do laundry, and watch Anthony while Martha goes to yet another baby-shower. So many babies that we know, must all our acquaintances have kids at the same time?

In any case, here I am, deciding what has priority, and I think I'd rather spend the day doing Fatherly stuff, I am going to miss Father's day, Martha's b-day, and a whole week of interaction that I am never going to get back. The school work can wait for my hotel room in Chicago. (well, it's Schaumburg to be precise)

Of Books and other Projects

Two weeks ago I finished reading "Journey through Genius, a history of Mathematical Masterpieces" a look a Mathematics's greatest theorems from a historian's perspective, it went over the lives of the world's most influential math masters, I was fascinated with the elegance of the greek's Geometry, the simplicity and genius of their proof. Archimedes proof of the Pythagoras Theorem is breathtaking. The amazing skills of Newton and Euler left me in startled. 500 years from now, our computing and communication technology will be obsolete but their theorems will still be sound and relevant. Math theorems are forever, we can always add to the knowledge but we can never make it obsolete.

Take Euclid's proof that there is an infinite number of Primes, he uses redutio ad absurdum.

1. Suppose that there exists a finite number of primes, and the largest prime is Pn.

2. Now take all the primes up to Pn and multiply them together and then add 1.
1 * 2 * 3 * 5 .......Pn + 1 = N

3. Now, this number N by construction, is either another prime or divisible by a prime number larger than Pn.

4. Q.E.D.

Thousands of years have passed since Euclid's time and nobody has been able to put a dent on his proof. It's simple, concise, elegant and pure genius. If you can appreciate that, then you can see why so many say that math is the language that god speaks. I don't know about all that, but it's the best language to describe natural phenomena and it's the best tool to model and understand our world, not to mention that it's beauty is captivating.

I have also been reading Bart Ehrman's books, Jesus, Interrupted, God's Problem and Misquoting Jesus, and studying the bible from a historical perspective. I am interested in knowing what's in the Bible. It's good to know the circumstances around it's many authors, the story of the people who wrote them and why it matters. I have learned a lot about the New Testament, things that you don't learn in Sunday school. I don't think that knowing about the Bible is necessarily a stumbling block for people of faith. Although it can open up the doors for more doubts. It'll let that be for now.

I have so many side projects that I have started and left open...

***Breaking****
Just found out Gaby has a 100.4F temperature, so I have to go to deal with that. No worries, I am sure she's going to be fine, but I am going to have to cut this short.

Be good to each other.

J.V.

Bicycle

When I was ten years old, on Christmas day I woke up to the best Christmas gift of my entire life. As soon as I opened my eyes, there was the nicest bike, right in my room! From then on, I would spend my days after school riding around Barcelona, that's how I remember my childhood, racing my buddies, going places too far for my parent's comfort, I would head out there, just myself and the bike, and I would savor the day, feel the hot breeze of the Venezuelan East Side, I would stay in the sidewalk the whole time, but the rides could always be dangerous, there's no such thing as a pedestrian right of way down there, and I almost got hit many times, but I learned to be careful, to be alert on the road. When you are riding a bike it's the exact opposite of patrolling in the infantry, the key is to be seen. So I would make sure that I was in nobody's blind spot.

I liked to ride so much because it gave me time to think about stuff, I would ponder upon the things that seemed so important back then, plans for the future, questions about life, about school, friends, later about girls that I never had the courage to speak to. I remember the last time I rode the bike in my town, I knew I was about to come to the United States and I was conscious of the fact that this would be the last time I would see my neighborhood like this, I tried my best to take a mental snapshot of the park I used to ride trough, my park, it was basically a wide sidewalk lining up the main avenue that connects Barcelona to Puerto La Cruz. I don't remember what else I did that day, all I can recall is how it felt, to know that life was changing, to be aware that after that day things will never be the same. It hasn't.


Today, I rode a bike again, not trough the old park of my childhood, but trough my current neighborhood. Today was one of those nasty hot muggy Florida Summer days, the thunderstorm clouds lurking nearby, threating with rain and lighting, the multitude of little bugs hitting my eyes, the fiery hot air that burns my lungs. Sweat sticking to my shirt, and I am loving it, I traverse all the streets in my block, looking at all the houses, all the palm trees, mango trees, the local dogs, rednecks working on their cars, teenagers hanging around, people fishing in the canals, (will they eat whatever they catch?) I ride around, feeling like I am twelve again, I swear I must have been smiling the whole time, although I am sure I must have swallowed a bug or two.

I think I am going to do this more often.

J.V.

Chicago

I'm in Schaumburg IL, in a work-related trip to the Mother Ship (Company Headquarters)thankfully, work has been uneventful, which means things are going according to plan. It's interesting to see other sides of the business doing their thing. I am at one of the factories doing some quality control work, actually, my job is to standby, in case a major catastrophe or something comes up. The thing about that is that I am there representing my whole department. People here are not shy to tell me their opinion of the Development team from Florida. I think it's natural, because the feeling of love is mutual. Other than that, I am having a good time. I kind of like Chicago, it seems like NYC with a Mid West mentality. Everywhere you look there are people with Cub's shirts, hats, etc, and you can't help but to smile and sympathize, for a city that still loves their baseball team after 100 losing seasons can't be all that bad.

The only thing missing is Martha and the kids. I know they would love it here, the weather is nice, and there are a lot of things to do here. It's too bad they could not make it. In the other hand, it's nice to wake up in a quiet room. Lately I've been starting the day with a hyper three year old and two cranky women, one is two and the other 24, they both act the same in the morning. The funny thing is, I can't live without any of them.

Well, it's time to go to work.

J.V.