Correlation does NOT imply Causation

There. Now that we have that important fact established, I give you: Gapminder!

tools.google.com/gapminder

This interactive graphing tool allows you to observe a wide range of correlations between demographic data from across the globe (courtesy of Google and www.gapminder.org).

I want everyone to check out this website and report back on the most interesting correlations you discover (IMPORTANT NOTE--for those who weren't paying attention before: Correlation does NOT imply Causation!!)

As you explore the tool, note that it is longitudinal so you can observe trends over time. You can select specific countries and observe only their changes over time. (For one striking and sad example, select South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and see the devastating effect of HIV-AIDS on the average life expectancy in those nations.) You can choose from many different indicators on both the X and Y axes and alter many other characteristics of the graph.

I expect to be getting reports soon on things you have observed!

Ice Fishing, Snowcats, and Hold'em

I just got back from an enjoyable weekend with my dad and his brothers (at my uncle's cabin in Greater Minnesota) engaged in the above-mentioned activities. While I didn't actually bring along a camera, the following photos offer an acceptable approximation:

(Though no fish were actually caught.)

(Though I wore a shirt.)



(Though there were, in fact, no women present.)

A quick thanks to Mrs. Gubbins for letting me go hang out with the guys. All in all it was a pretty great weekend!

call me Instructor Gubbins

So, I have officially survived my first real day of teaching. That's right, one class session down, 28 or so to go...or something like that.

I am told by my co-instructor that my lecture went well. From my perspective, it went pretty much as well as I could have hoped--no major goof-ups, the class participated in the two little activities I had for them, and while they weren't exactly forthcoming with questions, they were paying attention and claimed to be understanding things every time I stopped to ask them if they had any questions. And, surprisingly, once I was 5-10 minutes into it, it wasn't even that bad in terms of anxiety for me...which is good news for someone who generally hates public speaking but is thinking she wants to pursue a career in teaching!

When Andy came to pick me up after school yesterday, he called me Professor Gubbins...not quite accurate...yet. But you can call me Instructor Gubbins if you like ;-).

Christmas with Andy's family

We spent Christmas itself in Red Wing, with Andy's family, and were able to see some friends in the days following. Here are a few photos from that part of our break:

opening presents Christmas day

Karlie & Pete were the official gift distributors

Hubert & Audrey

Katie, Alex, & Abbie stopped in for a litte (too little) while, and (below) we spent some quality time with some old friends

Christmas with Jess's family

Well, continuing with our tour of Christmas photos: on to Jess's family! Though her parents and sisters were in Cambodia, we joined the extended family for a pre-Christmas celebration in Wisconsin. Highlights included meeting the three newest members of the family:

Stevie, about 18 months old, is Jess's cousin's foster daughter

Alex, about 5 months old, is Jess's cousin's foster son (same cousin)

And, most recently, Bradley, about 2.5 months old, is Jess's cousin's son (different cousin) (shown here relaxing with great-grandma!)

Christmas Knitting

Over Christmas I gots lots of knitting done! First, I finished my Christmas stocking, to match Andy's:


It is made from this pattern, with an over-stitched snowflake adapted from this pattern, rather than the called-for cutsie felt holiday creatures.

So, when buying yarn for the stockings, we actually bought three colors--one green, and two shades of blue for Andy to choose from. As it turned out, one of the blues was really purple (which is what we suspected, but it looked more blue on the website, so we decided to order it anyway)--so Andy opted for the true-blue, and I was left with some worsted-weight purple and extra white and black from the stockings. What to make???

Last year I knit myself (and everyone else, it seems) a hat...but its getting a little ragged and isn't really warm enough for real winter weather (which we might get, someday...). So I decided to find a hat pattern, and knit myself this:


I also found an online tutorial on how to line a knit hat with fleece, which I finally got around to doing last night--so now I have a nice and toasty new purple hat and I made mittens to match (talk about a productive knitting break!). I don't have photos of those yet, though--I just finished them last night. I'm pretty happy with the hat (though it is awfully purple)...but truly excited about the mittens--they were so easy! I don't know why, but I just assumed mittens would be really difficult.

I'll have to post more photos from Christmas soon--but I thought I'd catch all my knitting friends up first :-).

We're back

We are back from our Christmas adventures, with photos to share. First, a few highlights from our trip to Chicago:




Sarah & I found some awesome glasses at her parents' house.










Erich & Susan joined us for dinner (note the ring!)









The three of us discovered the joys of black-light mini-golfing and arcade games...with all our combined ticket winnings, we were able to score some candy and random small toys that would have probably cost us a total of $10 less than the tokens we paid for in order to win the tickets...ah, arcades :-).








And, Andy thought he'd see what it's like to sit in the hot seat...don't worry, we left before they flipped the switch.