Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Stop By and Drop Off

First I should explain about OASIS -- it's an organization offering mini-courses to seniors.  That's where I heard those fascinating lectures about cemetaries I told you about some time ago -- matter of fact I've taught there myself, six sessions on Jane Austen.  The place has a paid supervisor whose title escapes me, but it's run pretty much by volunteers.  (The hourly pay for instructors, largely retired teachers, turns out to be pretty good, though.)
I've never found anyone there who knows what OASIS means.  I assume it's an acronym --  Older Americans,  Older American Seniors or some such?  Nor do I know where the funding comes from; I suspect places like the county's Office for the Aging.
At any rate, it occupies half a dozen rooms in the basement of an Art Deco building that once housed Sears Roebuck.  There's a long walk in from the parking lot, always a challenge these days, then the length of the building, escalators and the like.  So far, though, I've managed it.
Last Spring I registered for a five-session course on The Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Numbers, but it was over-subscribed and my check was returned.
Then last week the new brochure arrived.  I see they're repeating the most delightful title  -- I think maybe I wrote you about this -- Shop Before You Drop, which involves pre-planning one's funeral.  The bit of illustration on the right there accompanies the listing for that cemetary tour -- they're offering it again.  Great speaker; I'd listen to him recite the phone book. 
And they'll have the Fibonacci again! -- I hastened to put my registration and $38 in the mail immediately.  And a few days later, the phone rang.  For once I had  no trouble understanding the caller.  One of the volunteers said they could not complete my paperwork because I'd neglected to include a stamped self-addressed return envelope.
"You could mail me one," she said, "but that course fills up fast, so maybe you should come by today and drop it off."
!

2 comments:

  1. OK, you've got me on "Fibonacci numbers." Me, I would have thought Fibonacci was a type of pasta.

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  2. Aha, a question right up my mathematical alley. The Fibonacci series of numbers begins 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, ... What's the pattern? After the first two each number is the sum of the two immediately previous numbers. 1 +1 = 2, So the next one after 55 is 34 + 55 = 89. Who cares, you ask? Mother Nature apparently. Lots of naturally occurring things are numbered with Fibonacci numbers. The spirals of a nautilus and petals on flowers. Here's a piece on them: http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/fibslide/jbfibslide.htm

    Edith, see you next Sunday,
    Meg

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