I celebrate a number of holidays that are standard for most Americans: Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July. I also observe a number of personal holidays that some would find puzzling, such as the birth, ascension, and death of the only Emperor of the United States. One holiday that seems to straddle the line between the two, embraced by many for its seeming whimsy in the last few years, is Pi Day. The primary mathematical holiday (the other is Tau Day, but laypeople aren’t ready for that controversy) resonates with me, especially because, besides being a geocacher and an armchair mathematician, I am also a baker who specializes in the creation of apple pies. Suffice it to say that I, with the help of my girls, paid obeisance to that most special of days with our labor.
It was only mete and proper to do so. We spent the morning in preparation and baking and our night in consumption and merriment (three-player Castle Crashers is a heck of a good time). But our evening? How did that pass in a way befitting numerical holiness? With an Event, of course!
A local cacher held a Pi Day Event at a pizza place. Pizza is a kind of pie composed of 2π radians of food, so it was only fitting to attend! He held it for the sake of another cacher who was working on an old pi-based challenge that required attending an Event on March 14th. I was impressed to see that about twenty people showed up, but I was hardly able to document the assemblage. I got roped into discussions of various types, mostly centering around the upcoming Texas Challenge, and managed to fail you all as a correspondent. This is why I never went into journalism. Well, that, and being far more interested in math and physics, but that’s a different discussion for another time. All that really mattered, though, was that a good time was had by all, and some radians worth of leftovers remained to bring home.
This entry is a little short because the next few will be a little more packed. When next I write, I should be on location in Longview, attending the early events before the big day. Before I become a Chatty Kathy, I’m taking a turn as Taciturn Terrance. But watch this space! Shenanigans are only a few days away!
Geocaching While Black 