Random musings from high in the sky

On descent to San Fransisco, I recognize four things:
1. Alcatraz
2. Golden Gate Bridge
3. Stanford University
4. IKEA
I'm trying to read into these sightings more than I probably should.

I love flying at night and seeing cities lit up below. How it's a sheet of darkness interspersed with little clumps of lit up areas. A sign that there's life. And sometimes you can see thin lines of light connecting them. It's pretty magical.

Reno, Nevada (October 20-24, 2011)

Although I have traveled quite a fair bit, I really haven't had much of a chance to discover North America. This past weekend, I had the chance to visit Reno, Nevada. It was a long flight down. I had a stopover in San Fransico. A long one (thanks, "low hanging fog"). Anyway, I was pretty
exhausted on the flight out of Toronto and ended up sleeping most of the way. I did wake up at one point to see this lovely view out the window. I wish I knew exactly where we were. Can you see those faint lines on the ground? Are those really roads? Crazy.
The other thing that I couldn't figure out was what these round circles were. Alien landing pads, I'm sure!
I stayed in a pretty nice place while in Reno. A mini resort-type place of sorts. I haven't stayed at a place with a pool area like this in quite some
time. And of course seeing the Sierra mountain ranges in the distance was nice. But seriously, did it need to be so over-the-top in its Italian inspired decor? The stucco ceilings, gold gilded everything...it was a bit excessive. And a shocking contrast to the black walls and neon lights of the lobby interior. I guess there is no easy way to transition from Italian Renaissance to Gaudy Casino.
As I said, I haven't traveled much around North America. Especially in the States.
I didn't have too much time to do touristy things during this trip, but I'm pretty sure that there wasn't much to do. I'm really hoping that Lake Tahoe is very similar to Lake Louise because I can't see myself coming
back here anytime soon. Reno is, ummm, pretty sad.
I saw everything that there was to see in a 30 minute walkabout. Pretty depressing. Some 'highlights':
- University of Nevada and the big football stadium. The 'big-ness' of it was just so American. At least, my impression of American university life.
- Overheard while on the public transit bus: "My mom bailed on me. She took off. Last time, she took all of my stuff with her and sold it to buy dope. Hey, is that jewellery store still open? You can get $___ per 10g...if I'm going to get arrested today, it'll just happen. Oh, that sucks [pointing to a guy on the sidewalk getting arrested]. Hey, that's _____! Crap, ____'s getting arrested."
- A bride in the hotel wedding chapel wearing a bright purple poufy dress.
- I sorta get how to play craps now. And I've figured out how to play Pai Gow poker. I have no interest in playing them myself, but I like watching.
- Why had I never heard of the Cha-Cha Slide before this weekend?

I'm not entirely sure what's in the cards for me in the next couple of years, but this trip, seeing some sights and interacting with some people...it opened my eyes and gave me some new perspective on things. Everything happens for a reason, so in the meantime, I've just got wait it out and have faith.

Another thing

Pedagogy: pe-da-gah-gy or pe-da-go-gy?

Is this the to-may-to/to-mah-to of Canadian vs. American education researchers?

Tee hee

I get a little kick out of hear people say Toronto. I guess I always knew that 'we' call it Torono, but these past couple of days have really hit it home. Also, people love our city. That's no surprise though, it's amazing.

Find the baby bison

I knew that this was going to be happening awhile back but couldn't give more details at the time. This is so great on so many levels!

Bah ha ha ha ha!

I made $7.73 on the 1 cent slot machines here in Reno, so I cashed out.

A little kid at heart

Some of the movators in SFO are really bouncy. If there weren't so many people around, I totally would have hopped my way across them. Why is it a societal norm that adults need to act restrained and stuff?

What a rip off

$25 to check in a piece of luggage? Ridiculous. I'll have to rethink my strategies. My luggage is carry-on-able, but I like checking it in so that I don't have to worry about it while I'm waiting around in the airport and embarking and disembarking the plane. I know that most people like the convenience of grabbing and going, but I don't mind waiting for my luggage too much. Domestic AC flights are really slow to get the luggage out to the carousels at YYZ, but everywhere else I've been hasn't been too bad.
Anyway, $25 is super silly. I might have to downsize my ready-to-go toiletry kit. Or maybe just not take United Airlines again.

Probably not normal

Is it weird that after acquiring a package of math manipulatives I thought that it would be super cool if I put them in a nice little basket on my coffee table for guests to enjoy?
Among many other benefits, I think it would be a good conversation starter, something to keep folks busy and why not spread the mathy love?