Steve Kass

Mom, in front of a Resort Airlines C-46 Commando, probably on her honeymoon in 1950, but surely before September 28, 1953. The plane in the photo crashed at Louisville airport that day and was subsequently written off.

 
 
 
 
 
 
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• someone who’s shown an interest in baking pans and irons
• someone who has shown an interest in classical music recently
• someone who has shown an interest in toys
• someone who has shown an interest in hot cocoa
• someone who has shown an interest in men’s clothing
• someone who has shown an interest in men’s apparel
• someone who has shown an interest in men’s dress clothes
• someone who has shown an interest in Gillette, Old Spice, and Zest [1]
• someone who has shown an interest in cutlery
• someone who has shown an interest in joint health for your dog [2]
• someone who has shown an interest in computers and wireless devices
• someone who has shown an interest in camcorders
• someone who has shown an interest in men’s shoes
• someone who has shown an interest in GPS, sporting goods, or automotive
• someone who has shown an interest in headphones
• someone who has shown an interest in HDTVs
• someone who’s shown an interest in rice cookers
• someone who has shown an interest in Frito Lay chips and snacks
• someone who has shown an interest in Leonidas chocolates
• someone who has shown an interest in Haribo gummies [3]
• someone who has shown an interest in air tools and compressors
• someone who’s shown an interest in car care products or grinders and polishers
• someone who has shown an interest in plumbing fixtures
• someone who has shown an interest in hand tools
• someone who has shown an interest in mice, keyboards, and tablets
• someone who has shown an interest in groceries
• someone who has shown an interest in seasonal lighting
• someone who has shown an interest in ornaments
• someone who has shown an interest in seasonings

[1] I’ve never shown an interest in Old Spice.
[2] It wasn’t my dog. It was my God dog, Scudder (below).
[3] I’ve shown more interest in Albanese gummies.

The Mathematics Genealogy Project now traces my mathematical genealogy back to Galileo, passing through Benkart, Jacobson, Chrystal, Maxwell, Hopkins, Sedgwick, Jones, Cranke, Postlethwaite, Whisson, Taylor (Walter, not Brook), Smith, Cotes, Newton, Barrow, de Roberval, and Viviani along the way. Cool.

Yesterday was my scheduled departure date for a two-week planning trip for a May/June 2007 Drew International Semester to Beijing, Xi’an, and Dunhuang. Boarding pass in hand, I arrived at gate C123 for the nonstop flight to Beijing. The flight was oversold, perhaps because it would arrive in China on a lucky day, 8/8, and the gate agent called for volunteers to take the next day’s flight. I don’t pretend to believe in fate, but I couldn’t help feeling some validation of the ambivalence I’d had about the timing of this trip, and I volunteered. Continental needed my seat, and I collected a boarding pass for today’s flight, two $350 travel vouchers, a taxi voucher to get home, and another day to consider postponing my trip.

I cancelled my itinerary last night, and I’ll make new plans to go in December or January. This month, I’ll spend a week in Phoenix with my mom instead of two weeks in China away from her. Dad died in June, and spending time with mom (and dad’s spirit) can’t wait until winter as easily as the trip to China can.

My father’s mother’s family name, Chaletzky, is a rare one in the U.S. – the Social Security Death Index lists only four Chaletzkys, compared with 1269 Kasses. I figured there were some living Chaletzkys, but I didn’t know of any. I found one last week, when I happened upon Aaron Chaletzky’s web site at www.chaletzky.com. Aaron’s great-grandfather was my grandmother’s brother, which makes Aaron my second cousin once removed.