Warning: Sherlock Spoilers

It has been months since I have blogged but I finally something worth while to write about. Recently I finished the second series of Sherlock and I needed to figure out how he faked his own death (no way I could wait for series 3). The creators of the show claimed that there were clues in the show on how he did it. After re-watching the final episode, I think that I finally figured it out.

1. He asks for Molly's help
   Sherlock comes to Molly saying he needs her help because he thinks he is going to die. It helps fake our own death outside of a hospital whose coroner is in love with you.
2. Rubber ball to stop a pulse
   As Sherlock waits for John inside of hospital, he bounces a rubber ball against the cabinet. If you place a ball in the armpit, it can stop blood flow to the arm and no pulse can be felt at the wrist. As John approaches Sherlock's seeming dead body and reaches for the out stretched arm to feel a pulse. When John feels no pulse he is convinced that Sherlock is dead.
3. A well choreographed fall
   As Sherlock talks to John from the rooftop, he makes sure John is standing behind a building so he cannot see the road. John sees Sherlock jump from the building but does not see him land.
   When you see Sherlock on the ground, a truck full of bags can be see parked right beside the body. The fall from the truck bed to the ground is at most 3 feet. He landed on the bed of the truck and then rolled on the the ground.
   
   
   
   As John runs towards the hospital, a biker runs into him and knocks him to the ground. John does not see the truck pulling away. Sherlock has a network of homeless people and could easily have paid someone to knock John over.
   
   
   
   By the time that John gets to Sherlock, the truck is gone
   
   

Easy peasy.

Grace in Small Things #28

What I'm thankful for today:

• Leftover Halloween candy :)
• After looking for over a year, I found a new winter jacket! (Bottom right picture)
• Funny, little boy on the bus with the awesome afro
• My new health insurance information finally arrived so I can finally send in my claim form.
• Delicious tea after my allergy shot (weekly tradition)
• Had to wait a long time in line to buy transit credits but finished just in time to catch my bus.

Grace in Small Things #27

I've been slacking a bit. Felt a little convicted this evening when I saw that my friend Alana had started Grace in Small Things. This is what I'm thankful for:

• I did not get a call for subbing work today. I have a cold and I'd rather not get a call than have to turn down work because I'm sick.
• My cold didn't amount to much. I've been tired, have a sore throat and runny nose but I've had worse. In the past any cold I'd get would kick my butt for weeks. Not sure if all those years working in schools have built up my immune system to colds or if I'm just better at taking it easy.
• Might sound silly but Shopper's optimum points. Just the other week I accumulated enough points that I could get $60 worth of free merchandise. Last month I didn't get many subbing days so I definitely need to use them.
• A cheap place to live. I know I'm 33 year old that lives with my parents but I wouldn't be able to work as a sub if I didn't. Right now I'm getting known within the school division and it will take sometime before I'm working often enough to live on my own.
• Pomegranates are the only reason that I don't gorge myself on Halloween candy. I'm so thankful they are in season right now.

Grace in Small Things #27

Much thankfulness for the following:

• Top Gear marathon on BBC Canada! Only one episode I hadn't watched before had me in tears (strange, I know). It featured a group of injured soldiers who were training for the Dakar rally. Not only that but the show arranged for former Stig, Ben Collins, to train the team.*
• My mom won Lagostina pots though Touchdown to Win and gave them to me! This was the first weekend where I really got the chance to use them.
  
  
• I'm so thankful that I can live with my parents while I become better known as a substitute teacher in the school division.
• Not only is the current book I'm reading extremely interesting, I'm getting a lot of great ideas of how I could use it in my teaching.
• Egg, tomato and Havarti sandwich for supper.

*Sister, it is a must view for when you're here at Christmas time.

Grace in Small Things #26

It has been awhile since I did this but Thanksgiving Weekend seemed like a good time to start.

• Glad to spend the day with my parents, my brother and his wife.
• I'm thankful that I feel so much better than I did last year.
• Habs won! Habs won!
• Delicious apple crisp for breakfast. Being an adult is awesome.
• Probably had the 3 easiest days of teaching ever this week.

Dream Home: Art Nouveau & Art Deco - Master Bedroom

I was initially going to make all of my inspiration boards for my dream home in Art Deco but then I absolutely fell in love with this Art Nouveau bed. This was actually the second inspiration board I made using my favourite pieces but it would seem anti-climatic to show anything after it.

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The bed was a complete pain to cut out. I am not happy with the result but there came a point where I had to walk away before it drove me crazy. If anything, this project has helped sharpen my rust Photoshop skills.

Dream Home: Art Nouveau & Art Deco - Family Room

I had the hardest time with the family room since I couldn't find any Art Deco cabinets that would suitable for entertainment units. I broadened my search to include Art Nouveau and then I found one I loved. The Art Nouveau period came right before Art Deco so pieces still go together quite well. The white cabinet is early French Art Deco which was sort of a transition period between the curves of Art Nouveau and the more angular geometry of Art Deco. I think it ties the two styles together nicely.
My real inspiration for the room was the painting The Starry Night. I choose pieces that mimic the swirls and colour palate. The couch originally a wretched olive green but that is the only piece that I changed.

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Feedback is appreciated!

Side note: My dad is such an engineer. He doesn't understand how I could be planning what furniture to put in without making a floor plan of the house first.

In Response to Roger's Mathematical Frustrations

This started as a comment on a blog post but then turned very long...

Trust me, I know that math is hard. I have cried many times with frustration over how difficult math is. After a year, I had to humbly except the fact that I was not capable of an Honours degree in mathematics. It had been too long since the prerequisite courses. It would take too long for me to relearn the what I had forgotten in time to make sense of the new material. I understand what 99.9% of the world population does not but that 0.1% completely KICKS MY BUTT

So why learn math in the first place? Why is it worth all the effort?

Ken Dryden in his book In School describes it perfectly:

But so little of math is really x’s and y’s, learning, recalling, applying theorems twenty days and twenty years later. It’s learning how to find your way to an answer when you have none. Taking what you know and discovering what you didn’t know you knew...To puzzle and stumble, to know what it feels like when you do understand, that vibration of excitement and pleasure, and the addictive need to feel it over and over (p. 25).

Somethings that have help me along the way:

Find a study buddy
The only reason I made it through Abstract Algebra is because I had a classmate who explained almost everything to me. At first I felt bad because I took up so much of her time until I realized that it was part of her studying process. She knew that explaining to someone else gave her a deeper understanding.
Similarly, you might find a benefit of trying to explain it to someone else. There have been many times as a teacher I started to answer a student's question where I didn't feel completely confident. The more I explained the more I realized "Hey, this actually makes sense!" Sometimes questions from others can lead you to an understanding.

Learn when to walk away from a problem
Many people don't realize that even if you haven't solved a problem your brain keeps working on it (whether you are conscience of it or not). A familiar example: you remember someone's name and just can't. Three weeks later you are in the shower and out of no where it pops into your head. You're brain was working on it the entire time. Sometimes you need to just walk away from a problem, give the conscience part of your mind a break and do something else.
I've been part of group projects where a single problem takes weeks to solve. Sometimes your brain gets so fried you become completely unproductive. We'd stop a couple times a day to go outside and play Frisbee. From experience we all knew that taking a 45 minute break actually saves you time in the long run. A frustrated brain only takes long to solve the problem. Similarly, if I started feeling fatigue from studying I would run up and down the stairs of the library until all I could think about was how tired I was.

Know you are in good company
A little girl wrote a letter to Einstein complaining about her difficulties with arithmetic. His response:
"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Roger, don't worry that you find math hard because even Einstein did.

Dream Home: Art Deco - Office

I couldn't really find any Art Deco office furniture I liked so I repurposed a dining table as a desk and a buffet and a curio as bookcases. [nerd alert] I'm overjoyed that my laptop and external hard drives will fit right in.[/nerd alert]

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10,000 Awesomeness Bonus Points: Can you spot the piece I used before? I change the shape of it slightly.

Fantasy on Ice

It is starting be that time of year when I get antsy for the new hockey season to begin. Today I set up my fantasy hockey teams and I starting to get even more anxious:

The Burninators	Organized Anarchy

Same as last year, I have two teams. Organized Anarchy is in a competitive league and I picked my players in a live draft. The Burninators are in a casual league where players are auto-drafted based on my preferences.
James, you'll be happy to know that Brooks Laich is on both of my teams.

One month and five days until the new season...

Older than the Ganges

Intradermal injections are a tricky thing; in the past I've had RNs who have refused to give them due to the degree of difficulty. You could imagine my concern when I saw the walk-in doctor looked like the walking dead.

As I waited for my name to be called, I wondered if it would be rude to ask for another doctor. I grew more worried as he called for each patient with a small, weak voice (not even leaving his desk to do so). He finally called my name. I took a deep breath, walked into his office and prepared for the worst.

He seemed to come to life as he greeted me at the door. He even clapped with joy upon discovering that I was done my build-up shots. He tried to stay very organized as to not confuse the bottles. Very sloooooooowly he set the bottles, needles and papers in place. I tried not to giggle as he farted loudly with every shuffle.

Just before the first needle, the phone rang. "Always ringing!" he shouted. He picked up, exclaimed "I have no time for that! I'm busy shooting!" and I tried not to giggle.

Fiiiiinaly after the first needle, he pointed, clapped and shouted "There look, perfect!"

As I was leaving, he noticed my name on his papers. He told me his cousin has the same last name and asked if my family was from England. I explained they were actually from the Ukraine but the spelling of our name was changed when my great-grandparents moved to the US. "If anyone asks, you have relations in South Asia. Goodbye, cousin!"

Most adorable doctor, ever!

Dream Home: Art Deco - Guest Room

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Full disclosure:

• The fairy poster is Art Nouveau
• I changed the colouring in several of the pieces so they match better

but it is my dream home so I can do what I want.

Dream Home: Art Deco - Dining Room

Hmmm, I'm not entirely happy with this one. I don't know if I'm just annoyed by how difficult it was to colour correct the silver objects* but I might have to redo it.

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*Silver objects reflect their surroundings so the lamp was purple, the candle sticks were brown and the tea set was yellow. I did the best I could.

Dream Home: Art Deco - Living Room

This is actually the 3rd inspiration board I made for my dream home in Art Deco. My second inspiration board was made using my favourite pieces so it would seem anti-climatic to show anything after it. Saving the best for last...

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Dream Home: Art Deco - Front Entrance

I've been in a creative funk as of late. I've taken a cue from Dooce's inspiration boards and decided to create some of my own. For several years I've been collecting pictures of art deco furniture as inspiration for decorating my future home. BBC Home describes the style of Art Deco as

• Geometric and angular shapes


• Chrome, glass, shiny fabrics, mirrors and mirror tiles


• Stylised images of aeroplanes, cars, cruise liners, skyscrapers


• Nature motifs - shells, sunrises, flowers


• Theatrical contrasts - highly polished wood and glossy black lacquer mixed with satin and furs

Here is my first attempt at an inspiration board:

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I'd appreciate your feed back and let me know if you've created your own inspiration board.

Cleverness Found

Eights years ago, I lead a professional development workshop at another high school. I took less time than expected to prepare so I started thumbing through magazines left on the teacher's desk. I found on a scrap piece of paper stuck stuck between the pages. It read:

Politics is the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a close resemblance to the first.

Take a lesson from the weather: it pays no attention to criticism

Health nuts will feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals, dying of nothing.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again. :)

#1 Thing I Have Learned: Never take life seriously, nobody comes out alive anyways!

The nice thing about Facebook

is I can hide all the posts of the idiots that I'm too polite to unfriend. Seriously, once upon a time if you found someone annoying you could avoid them. With social networking it seems like you can never get rid of anyone.

30 Days of Living Strong

Over 6 weeks ago, I began a post about my frustrations with food allergies and meal planning. I was tired and frustrated. Before I finished it, my sister suggested that I need to keep track of what I eat and then decide what to do.

A month ago, I set out to find a computer program that could help keep track when I came across Live Strong's Daily Plate. Not only can it let me keep track of what I eat but also my daily fitness (as required by my physiotherapist and chiropractor). I enter in foods I eat and the activities I complete everyday. I can then view my "Food Diary" and see all my entries for the month. Here is the entry from today:


A by-product of tracking my foods, I've been learning a lot about portion sizes, calories and daily recommended intake. For one thing, I don't consider myself to be a big meat eater but I still consume more protein than needed


I'm not content with simply filling my stomach. I want to give my body what it needs to function properly. I'm considering getting a paid account so I can track nutrients as well as calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, sugars, fiber and protein.

In short, YAY me for keeping with it for a month!

My food goals for myself

• reduce my intake of refined sugars


• eat more fruit and vegetables


• eat more food made from scratch


• return to a more carefully planned rotation diet

My fitness goals for myself

• reduce my resting heart rate


• strengthen the muscles of my left hip


• strengthen the muscles of my left shoulder girdle


• be "at level" in my Pilates classes (Reason: see previous 2 points)


• reduce the need for chiropractic and massage therapy appointments

Let's hope that I can keep with it and meet my goals.

How many points are fractional Scrabble tiles?

For WEEKS, I've been having problems with the Facebook Scrabble app:


The bottom part of the board is from a game my mom and I are playing. On top of that, when I put Scrabble tiles on the board they disappear.

Beware the Lion in Waiting

I've been trying to install OS X Lion since yesterday. Today, after many hours, I was at least able to purchase it. It has been sitting, waiting for over 3 hours now to start to download.