Last night there was a TV program on PBS called Nova Marathon Challenge. A lot of people are commenting about it on the online message boards, and I just watched it online. Click here to access it. The premise of the show is the following: “Can a group of sedentary non-athletes be transformed in nine months into a team that can complete the Boston Marathon?” The reaction to the show on the online message boards has been very mixed, but the people who visit the online message boards are almost always marathon runners themselves. I suspect that people who aren’t very familiar with marathoning might find the show interesting.

I thought is was OK, but I didn’t think the monotone voice of the narrator really conveyed how uplifting the marathon experience can be. I hope that the movie Spirit of the Marathon (which should be coming out on DVD soon) is a little more inspirational. Just from its title, I expect that it will be.

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

I recently got another e-mail from Kiva:

Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:17:08 -0800
To: timtrowbridge@hotmail.com
Subject: Payment Notice from Monica Wanja Mwangi
From: contactus@kiva.org

Dear Tim Trowbridge,

The business you have loaned to, Monica Wanja Mwangi, has made a repayment of $42.00. The total amount repaid is now $42.00. This repayment will be divided amongst all the lenders who helped to fund this business, depending upon the percentage each lender contributed.

Please note that these funds will not be credited to your Kiva account until the loan is repaid in full or when the loan term is complete. At that time, you will be able to withdraw these funds from Kiva.org or to re-lend these funds to a new business.

Best wishes,

Kiva Staff

It’s great to see that Monica is already beginning to succeeed.

Tags: Kiva

I think I’m finally finished answer-checking the teacher’s resource appendices that I’ve been working on. Recently I finished answer-checking the appendices for chapters called Analytic Geometry, Solving Financial Problems Involving Exponential Functions, Discrete Functions: Financial Applications, and Sinusoidal Functions. Two of these appendices I wrote myself, so I was put in the interesting position of answer-checking my own work. Luckily, I didn’t make too many errors, but I did find a few. I’ve now been doing freelance mathematics writing for about one year. I’m really glad this opportunity came along – it’s been really interesting for me. There’s supposed to be another big project coming up, so it looks like I’ll be writing mathematics problems into the foreseeable future.

Tags: math, mathematics

Yesterday I went downtown to watch the Columbus Marathon. First I went to the starting line to help send off the runners. The starting line is a great place to be, because there’s a lot of electricity in the air. There are thousands of runners who’ve spent months preparing for the race, and naturally they’re excited and probably at least a little nervous. After the runners took off, I went and got some breakfast and hung out for a little bit, and then I walked over to the fourteen-mile mark and cheered the runners on. At the fourteen-mile mark, they’re still feeling pretty good, and usually everyone’s in a good mood, since they’ve already passed the halfway mark.

After hanging out at the fourteen-mile mark for a while, I went down to the finish line and watched the first-place runner come in. He just happened to be one of the coaches of the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group! Read about it here. After watching the winner come in, I went to just beyond the 25.2-mark, which is at the end of a little hill. After making it up this hill, the runners have it “easy” the rest of the way, so this a great place to cheer the runners on. At this point, they’re usually hurting pretty bad and don’t want to hear anyone, so hopefully I didn’t annoy anyone.

Finally, I went to the area beyond the finish line to congratulate some of the runners I know from the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. If you’ve never watched a marathon before, you should really consider it. I think I’ll be cheering on marathon runners even when my own marathon days are through (which hopefully isn’t yet).

Tags: marathon, marathons, running, Columbus Marathon

I’m still answer-checking the teacher’s resource appendices for a high-school mathematics textbook. I just finished a chapter called Trigonometric Ratios. Also, I recently placed an order on Amazon.com for the book Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology, and while hanging out at Barnes & Noble, I read the book The Tao of Warren Buffett. I didn’t actually buy The Tao of Warren Buffett – I just read it in the bookstore and put it back. I’m sure Warren Buffett would be proud of my frugality.

In addition, I’ve recently read a couple of good articles about the upcoming men’s Olympic marathon trials. The men’s Olympic marathon trials will be held in New York City on November 3rd – the day before the New York City Marathon. All of the best male marathon runners in the United States will compete, but only the top three finishers will make the Olympic team. By all accounts, it’s going to be a great race!

Tags: math, mathematics, book, books, Rewired, The Tao of Warren Buffett, marathon, marathons, running, New York City Marathon

I just finished answer-checking the teacher’s resource appendices for a couple more chapters of a high-school mathematics textbook. The names of the chapters were Properties of 2-D Figures and Exponential Functions. Also, I just renewed my membership to my local public radio station, WCBE. As a thank-you gift for my donation, I’ll receive a one-hundred percent organic cotton forest-green t-shirt with the words “Recycle Your Mind: WCBE 90.5” printed on it. I’m not sure what “Recycle Your Mind” means, and I’m not sure of the advantages of organic cotton in making t-shirts, but I do know that I don’t have any forest-green t-shirts. This will be my very first one.

Tags: math, mathematics, WCBE

The last couple days I’ve been working on answer-checking the teacher’s resource appendices for two chapters of a high-school mathematics textbook. The names of the chapters are Introduction to Functions and Equivalent Algebraic Expressions. Also, yesterday was the Chicago Marathon. The temperature in Chicago yesterday reached eighty-eight degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity, which is terrible weather for a marathon. One person died, and three hundred people were treated for heat-related problems. There’s always a group from the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group that runs the Chicago Marathon. I haven’t talked to any of them yet, but I hope they’re OK.

Tags: math, mathematics, marathon, marathons, running, Chicago Marathon

I just got the following e-mail from Kiva:

Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:10:19 -0700
To: timtrowbridge@hotmail.com
Subject: Kiva Update on Monica Wanja Mwangi: Loan has been disbursed
From: contactus@kiva.org

Dear Tim Trowbridge,

This is an update on Monica Wanja Mwangi:

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Monica Wanja Mwangi by Ebony Foundation (Eb-F) in Kenya. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 24 - 30 months, Ebony Foundation (Eb-F) will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Kiva very much appreciates your responses online. You can read and respond to this journal online at:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=comment&id=18258&ent=22330

Some of our partners choose to write their journal entries in the local language in order to keep their overhead low. If this journal entry is in a foreign language, please feel free to use an online translator such as Altavista's Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com).

Thanks!

-- Kiva Staff

I admire people like Monica who can start their own businesses. It takes a lot of courage and perseverance.

Tags: Kiva