Handmade wallets!

So I did one of those pay it forward things, and had to come up with something handmade. I thought about crocheting a scarf, making a boquet of origami tulips, or crocheting something else, but I thought that at least one of the people who signed up would not appreciate these types of handmade things. But then today, inspiration came and I flew to the store and bought some duct tape AND some duck tape. (Yes there is a difference.) I then used my good friend, Internet, to help me make a wallet. It turned out great! So I made another one. These wallets are so great! They're nice and thin, customizable, and I suspect rather durable as well. Next I plan to buy some other color of Duck tape and make myself a multicolored wallet. Woohoo!

And for the two of you who I haven't made something handmade for yet... if you would like a duck tape wallet, just tell me what color(s). Or if you want to be surprised with something else, that's fine too, just let me know!

Springtime is nearly over.

It's so crazy. I've never seen so many flowers in my life. Everyday I walk around admiring the beauty around me. I think a new type of flower blooms everyday. I've taken a lot more pictures this past month; however, I never did quite get all of the different types of flowers, and most of them are dying out because it's too warm for them now. And it's just time. They don't need to stay flowers forever afterall.

Springtime is here!

I've never experienced such a colorful flowery spring. And apparently, it's just getting started. I am really grateful for the beauty around me!


I never would have guessed that such pretty white flowers would be...
in such large numbers and...

on so many trees!


I don't think I've ever seen so many purple trees before or if I've ever even seen any purple trees before.

I found these flowers in my front yard. Can you guess which one was pre-planted by my landlord and which one just popped up in my lawn one day?

Duke

I visited Duke University this past weekend. I thought the buildings were pretty neat.


The chapel was especially neat. The architecture on the inside was beautiful!

Snow Day!

Apparently this town doesn't look like this very often. The pictures above are of my house and street. For pictures of where I spend my days go here.

graduate school

I'm happy to report that I survived my first semester in graduate school. It was a bit harder than expected, but I didn't realize how good of a school I am at until part way through the semester. As it turns out, Chapel Hill is a really, really good school. And so, I'm very happy to report that I have passed all of my classes.

On an even better note, I recently discovered that I am now doing exactly what I told myself I wanted to do 4 years ago. Four years ago, I took a class called discrete mathematics. I loved the class. The topics we learned in that class are still my favorite topics that I've ever learned. At that time, I told people and myself that I wished I could major in discrete mathematics, but unfortunately it appeared to me that there was nothing in discrete mathematics beyond that course. My school did not offer any classes on the topic, and I thought that was the end of it. I'm happy to report that most of the things I do in my new program are advanced topics of the things I did in discrete mathematics---graph theory, discrete time markov chains, and others. Furthermore, I've discovered a new pastime that I might spend some time with this winter break---binary programming. Maybe I'll write a program that can solve these hard Sudoku puzzles for me. Or maybe I can write a program to solve this impossible riddle I tried to do a few years back.

My New Nephew

I went to Texas for Thanksgiving to visit my sister's family. While I was there, I met my new nephew, Kyle, for the first time. I promised my mom I would take some pictures, so I did. I now I realize, that I didn't take very many, but I promise that there are a lot more on Kyle's mom's camera and Kyle's grandpa's camera! Just tell Kyle's mom to post them on her blog. I think it's time for more pictures on her blog.