I recently purchased my airplane ticket to Boston for next year’s Boston Marathon. My hip is feeling pretty good, so it looks like I’ll at least be able to make an attempt to train for and run it. I haven’t run since mid-July (although I’ve been doing a lot of cross-training), and my plan is to go cheer on the runners at the Columbus Marathon on October 21st and then come back and run my first mile to see how it feels. If everything seems OK, I’ll go from there. I’ll be starting from zero, so I’ll really have to take it slowly at first. It will be like training for my first marathon all over again. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Tags: marathon, marathons, running, Columbus Marathon, Boston Marathon

I recently picked up the book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood at Half Price Books. John Wood is the founder of Room to Read, a non-profit organization that helps establish libraries and computer labs in developing countries, such as Nepal, Cambodia, and Vietnam, among others.

One of the points that I found interesting in the book is Room to Read’s belief in coinvestment – in other words, the communities in which libraries and computer labs are built are required to match the donations given to them with money or physical labor. Because of this, they have more of a sense of ownership and are not just receiving a handout. Another interesting point brought up in the book is that a relatively small amount of money can make a huge difference in the developing world. In other words, the return on investment is much greater when donating to the poorest countries. John Wood is a very impressive person – he even ran the Boston Marathon!

Tags: Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, Book, Books, John Wood, Room to Read, Half Price Books

I recently made a couple of online purchases. First, I ordered the novel In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami. Also, I ordered the CD Songs from the Analog Playground from the Charlie Hunter Quartet. I rarely buy CDs, so there has to be a really good reason for me to buy one. The reason I bought Songs from the Analog Playground is because there are two tracks on it sung by Norah Jones. I’ve long been infatuated with Norah Jones, and recently Chipotle started playing “More than This,” sung by Norah Jones. I hadn’t heard it before, and it wasn’t on any of her albums, but luckily I recently discovered that it’s from Songs from the Analog Playground. I’m looking forward to owning the CD.

Tags: In the Miso Soup, Book, Books, Ryu Murakami, Songs from the Analog Playground, Charlie Hunter Quartet, Norah Jones

I just made a small loan to Monica Wanja Mwangi from Kenya through Kiva. I’ve had Kiva in my Internet favorites list for a long time, but I kept putting off signing up. Today I heard a story about them on the radio, so I finally got around to making a loan. Here is what Kiva says about Monica Wanja Mwangi:

Monica Wanja Mwangi is 47 years old and married with five children, all of whom are in school. She supports herself and her family by selling tomatoes from a stall in the main market of the town where she lives. Her customers come from all over to buy her produce because her prices are low and she maintains high standards of cleanliness. Monica would like to expand her business by building a shop where she could store a large number of tomatoes and keep them fresh and safe. To do this, she is requesting a loan of $1,000. She will use half of it to purchase a variety of tomatoes, $300 to build her store, $100 for transport, and $100 for a municipal license. We are very confident that Monica will repay the loan because she is hard-working and a good businesswoman.

By the way, I didn’t loan her the whole $1,000 – only $25. That’s the most Kiva is letting anyone loan right now because they’re getting so many hits to their website.

Tags: Kiva

I’m now working on writing mathematics problems for the teacher’s resource appendix of a high-school mathematics textbook. The chapter I’m currently working on is “Solving Financial Problems Involving Exponential Functions.” Today I wrote problems about determining the present value and future value of regular annuities.

For example, let’s say that you’ll receive yearly payments of $1000 for the next 10 years from an annuity. It’s useful to know how much that annuity is worth today—that’s the present value. You might be tempted to say it’s worth $10,000, but you also have to take into account the fact that if you had all the money today, you could earn interest on it. Therefore, it’s actually worth less than $10,000 today.

Also, let’s say that you’ll make yearly payments of $1000 into an annuity for the next 10 years. It’s useful to know how much the annuity will be worth in 10 years—that’s the future value. You might be tempted to say it will be worth $10,000, but you also have to take into account that the annuity will pay interest. Therefore, it will actually be worth more than $10,000 in 10 years. Fun stuff, isn’t it?

Tags: Math, Mathematics

I just got another e-mail about the movie Spirit of the Marathon. Here is the update:

Spirit of the Marathon has been accepted to the Chicago International Film Festival and will have its world debut with back-to-back screenings on Friday evening, October 5th, 2007! This is two days prior to the 30th running of the Chicago Marathon. For all you Chicago natives, or runners who plan to be in town for the marathon, please stay tuned for more details regarding tickets. You can view more information on the Chicago International Film Festival at http://www.chicagofilmfestival.org/.

Speaking of marathons, today I filled out my application for the 2008 Boston Marathon. I’m still not sure if I’ll be healthy enough to train for and run it, but it will give me something to shoot for.

Tags: Spirit of the Marathon, marathon, marathons, running, Boston Marathon

I recently placed an order online for the novel Pound for Pound by F. X. Toole, This novel was edited down to 384 pages from a nine-hundred-page manuscript by F. X. Toole’s agent and a freelance editor after Toole passed away. F. X. Toole is also the author of Rope Burns, which is a collection of short stories including “Million Dollar Baby,” upon which Clint Eastwood’s movie is based. Million Dollar Baby is one of my favorite movies (along with Lost in Translation), so I’m looking forward to reading this novel. Speaking of movies, I recently saw Talk to Me with Don Cheadle at the Drexel. Not a bad movie.

Tags: Pound for Pound, Book, Books, F. X. Toole, Million Dollar Baby, Talk to Me, Drexel