Hello!

Cinia has been so gracious as to let me co-own her blog! I will begin my blogging career by posting a few of my favorite quotes:

"When did it ever happen that a man had confidence in God and was lost?"
~St. Alphonsus Liguori

"Melancholy is the poison of devotion. When one is in tribualtion, it is necessary to become more happy and more joyful because on is nearer to God."
~St. Clare of Assisi

"You must accept your cross; if you carry it courageously it will carry you to Heaven.
God commands you to pray, but he forbids you to worry."
~St. Jean Marie Vianney

"Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine."
~St. Thomas Aquinas

"Do something good for someone you like least, today!"
~St. Anthony of Padua

What-Not

Today I made Cranberry cookies. I took a shower, cleaned the upstairs floors, and played hockey in the driveway with Louie. I fixed a string of lights on our tree. found two ducks (whom I named Bert and Janie) in the pond, and I let Anna hop outside. I wrapped presents, and watched Louie & Luke throw rocks into the pond. I watched the Nativity Story last night. I loved it. St. Joseph was my favorite. Fr. Jose gave me a wonderful Confession yesterday, I love our priests! Fr. Bernard was also hearing them, but I felt like going to Fr. Jose instead. So far, I have only eaten one candy cane this year. Most remarkable. Our new neighbors gave us a huge bag brimming with different homemade gifts. They live to give. They are quite sweet! I have ventured into the world of card making and so far have made 12. I used calligraphy and Christmas rubber stamps. I was bored so I made them for all of our near neighbors. It was satisfying. Today it hasn't rained! Most remarkable, if you ask me. Now I think I will go outside, and fine something to do, perhaps in the fire barrier, perhaps somewhere else. May you have the rest of a Blessed Advent and a Joyful and Peaceful Christmas.
Love,
Michelle

Another week of the life of Meechy

Well, another week has gone by, my butterflies are only shadows, I have seen Dead Sea Scrolls, gotten ready for my first tournament :D:D:D:D:D:D, tried a failed recipe, and lived life. I had forgotten how much I love Advent. It's a retreat for me from the hustle and pressure of commercial Christmas. (Not that I succome to that but it is everywhere.) I learned about the ancient fort of Qumran and the Esseans who are believed to have written the scrolls. The ancient coins facinated me the most. There are over 50,000 shards of scrolls, some no bigger than a fingernail. In the 1950's scientists, completely oblivious to the harm they were causing, taped the pieces together in an effort to decode them. When they realized their huge mistake they started to painstakingly take the adhesive off in an attempt to save the damaged fragments. It takes 1-3 months to salvage 2 or 3 shards and they're only about half way done. Completely amazing, I think.
I also made this pretzel/hazlenut/chocolate bar but it DID NOT turn out right. Needless to say, they still taste wonderful.
My posterboard is laid out for the tournament on Tuesday, please pray for me that I do my best, and all I need is some more PEZ. It looks pretty rad, if I do say so myself. The large wookie which plays the Star Wars theme song was a big hit at practice. (I personally hate it but since it is different and interesting, I have to use it.) I already got into a debate with Ian about the Beatles so I decided not to bring up my feelings about Star Wars. Ian is a senior, Kate's (who is really nice and whom I really like) brother. He is basically really good in all the aspects of debating and is often called upon to offer advice. Even as I write, about half of the team is competing right now :(. I really wanted to go but mom wouldn't let me. Oh well, more time to work on my expose.
May you continue to have a fulfilling Advent!

Happy Advent! plus yesterday

Yesterday was pretty fun, if I do say so myself. It started with homemade Candied Ginger Gingerbread which was delicious. Then I cleaned the church for four hours while Louie had server training. Jesson was setting up Advent decoration and I successfully disposed of two more parishoners, human or otherwise. After that the servers ushered me back to the conference room for their leftover pizza. Mom then took me home, where I indeed got to carry out my dire threat,"DEATH TO BUTTERFLIES" I have the first coat of primer but those ___ things will need about 3 or 4. I'll paint some more today. I then got to babysitt these two boys. One is partially deaf so that was super fun. I got to learn the colors and the word,"jaw" in sign language and I'm sure I'll learn a bunch more from them. They live super close, too. I am about to put on the 3rd coat of primer over those unnamed butterflies. They just don't want to disappear! Humph. I think about most of you a ton and the rest of you occasionally flit through my preoccupied mind.

May you all have a very peaceful and fruitful Advent!

Way beyond being random...

How to Calculate Pi by Throwing Frozen Hot Dogs

Throwing a pie in someone's face is good. Throwing food at pi is better. Believe it or not, of all the countless ways to approximate the most prolific irrational number in the universe, there are none quite as interesting or as surprisingly satisfying as throwing perfectly good food around your kitchen. In fewer steps than it takes to circumscribe your house in a circle of baguettes, you, too, can easily add a slice of pi into your dinner menu tonight. The best part is...it really works!

Steps

1. Select your food item to throw. There are a couple of qualifications. First, it must be long, thin, and straight, like a frozen hot dog, for example. There are lots of other items that fit this criterion including Otter Pops, celery sticks, and churros. (If you simply can't come to grips with throwing perfectly good food, see the Tips section for some additional ideas.) Second, it must be a reasonably stiff item. Third, it should be somewhere between six and eighteen inches long. The experiment can be performed otherwise, but read on, and you will see why this size is optimal.
2. Select the spot from where you will throw your mathematical cuisine. You will probably need about 6-10 feet in front of you as you will be throwing straight ahead.
3. Clear the area. The place at which you are throwing should be devoid of objects that your food item could possibly run in to. So, if you are throwing in your kitchen, consider moving the table into another room or at least throwing in such a way that your food won't hit the table during its flight.
4. Measure the length of your projectile (i.e. your frozen hot dogs). A tape measure should do the trick. Be as accurate as you can, even down to the millimeter, for best results.
5. Lay down masking tape in parallel strips across the floor as far apart as your projectile is long. The strips should be perpendicular to the direction you will be throwing (see picture below). Do about 6-10 strips if your item is 6-18 inches long; fewer, if longer; more, if shorter.
6. 

   

   The throwing set-up
   Get a piece of paper and across the top make a column for “Tosses” and another column for "Crosses." The "Tosses" column is to keep track of how many times you throw your food item. The "Crosses" column is to keep track of how many times your item, once it lands and stops moving, is laying across one of the lines.
7. Now, get into position, and THROW YOUR FOOD! Throw just one item at a time. Once it is at rest, observe whether or not it is crossing one of the lines. If it is, put a tick under "Crosses" and a tick under "Tosses." If it isn't, just put a tick under "Tosses." Repeat this as many times as you like. You should start seeing some interesting results by around 100 to 200 throws (it doesn't take as long as it sounds, especially if you use a pack of 10 frozen hot dogs so you're not out retrieving the one hot dog after every throw).
8. Once you are done throwing your food, multiply the number of tosses by two and divide by the number of crosses. For example, if I threw 500 times, and it crossed 320 times, I would calculate 500 x 2 / 320. And, as if a miracle has occurred, you will have an approximation for pi! Now, don't you feel less stressed?

Tips

• For those who are troubled by throwing perfectly good food, consider throwing sticks, dowels, bats, or a very stiff person. In fact, any item will do so long as it is long, thin, straight, and stiff.
• If room is a concern, consider just drawing lines on a piece of paper and dropping toothpicks onto the paper from about three feet up. This definitely is not as refreshing as throwing food across the room, but it works.
• The more the merrier! If two or three throw food together, you will get a better approximation faster because you will be able to get more throws in a shorter amount of time.
• As long as you have your calculator, you could just press the "pi" key.
• For the mathematically-inclined, this experiment is actually real! The proof and other details can be found at mathworld.wolfram.com: Buffon Needle Problem

Warnings

• Remember that this is an experiment, so the idea is not to TRY and get the food to land on one of the lines. Just throw it randomly towards the lines. It should still land amongst them, but don't jinx the experiment by encouraging your dinner to land onto the tape.
• Resist the temptation to use bananas. Not only are they not really straight, but they really won't last more than 50 throws before creating a big mess. Really.

Things You'll Need

• Pen and Paper
• Masking Tape
• Calculator
• Long, Thin, Straight, Stiff Food. Preferably a pack of frozen hot dogs