Road trip math

It's only fitting that, in my last weekend before school starts back up, I spent 8 hours making up math equations in my head.  Hey, I had to pass the time somehow...

College visit math:

View of Lake Michigan from admissions building

Great location + impressive facilities + good academic reputation + great mens volleyball team = Carthage College

Carthage College tuition = my annual salary - $5000

Grants + scholarships (?) + healthy doses of additional financial aid might = Carthage College

Naturally, N. loved it there (I did, too), and Carthage set the bar high for subsequent college visits.


(Carthage College tuition/2) - $3000 = University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

Oshkosh, which didn't impress me too much last year when I took N. to volleyball camp there, made a much better impression when we got to see the entire campus instead of one little corner.  I think he could be happy there, too.  The volleyball program is just  club program, though, so I'm thinking it's a little silly to go 7.5 hours away from home to play for that kind of a program.  We'll see.

Travel math:

My bank account
Cost of gasoline

8 hours on a bike > 8 hours in a car

Counting colored cars + looking for pictures in clouds + playing the alphabet game > watching movies in the car (mommy guilt edition)

Counting colored cars + looking for pictures in clouds + playing the alphabet game < watching movies in the car (time actually spent in these activities)

8 hours of bickering < 8 hours of peace

(Amount of bickering on a trip)^n+1** 
8 hours of kids getting along = Heaven on earth***
Cost of staying with friends < cost of staying in a hotel
Staying with friends + swimming in hotel pool**** > paying for hotel room

Old friends + being able to call up out of nowhere and invite yourself to stay for a few days = priceless

And, last of all...

Teenagers > piano benches

* to properly understand these, assume ">" is defined as "is greater/better than", not necessarily greater/more than


**where "n" is the number of children in the car


***moving into theoretical math now


****they had family and friends staying at the hotel;