Dear Kid,

We had a very disappointing dinner this weekend.

I decided we should go out. Pi kindly provided a list of 57 possible restaurants. I consulted Yelp! and began a thorough analysis of not ridiculously expensive Italian places.

Based on 614 independent factors and a little bit of eeny-meeny, I chose Cucinova. Cucinova got great ratings on Yelp! They serve pizza, pasta, and salads and you get to pick your own ingredients (think Italian Chipotle).

I had penne, Dad and Pi had salads (the key ingredient in the proteins and the roasted veggies is pepper which explains why Dad made the salad choice). The meals were served in heavy paper bowls that clearly said compostable (both in feel and in the pressed message on the bottom of the bowls).

My whole life has been spent waiting for an epiphany, a manifestation of God’s presence, the kind of transcendent, magical experience that let’s you see your place in the big picture. And that is what I had with my first compost heap. Bette Midler

There was no compost bin in the restaurant. None.

This did not sit well with your sister.

Not at all.

Especially since Cucinova is right next to Fusion where they have a whole compostable/recycling message.

The average US. Household generates 650 lbs. of compostable materials each year.

So not only did Pi ask the mostly indifferent staff (except the dude who made our meals—he was awesome) where their compost bin was (they didn’t have one and didn’t seem to care much) she started tweeting.

Kinda strange that @Cucinova has compostable bowls but no compost bin. #SaveThePlanet

As of this writing that one tweet has gotten 4 RTs, almost 40 favorites (we’re trying to hit a record—please feel free to retweet or fave), and no response from @Cucinova. Which goes to show why monitoring your social media accounts is not a 5 day 40 hour responsibility.

“Why,” says Pi, “would you go to the trouble and expense of buying compostable bowls and then NOT have a compost bin??”

I’m queen of my own compost heap and I’m getting used to the smell. Ani DiFranco

I raised good kids.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

It’s Pi Day! Unlike Pi Approximation Day, this is the Real Deal. Especially if you happen to think about it at 1:59 because then it will be 3.14159. (Careful, don’t overexcite yourself.)

Pi Day is also Albert Einstein’s birthday which is excellent because without Albert E we wouldn’t have crazy Albert E wigs or know how to say E=MC2. Perhaps I’ll look up more about Al next year.

There will be many celebrations around the world for Pi Day, most of them organized by scientists and mathematicians. This is great news for students whose teachers decide to do away with the standard lesson and focus on Pi. Especially if they celebrate Pi with pie.

The second best idea I found for celebrating Pi Day (the first being: Eat Pie) is to create a human pi sculpture. It requires four people, two of whom hold the third horizontally. The fourth person is for taking a photo to send to your mother.

I found a lot of other ideas that I am not going to share with you because they would make you roll your eyes, and I don’t think you need any help with that. They are generally aimed at elementary school types. I didn’t find any fun Celebrating Pi Day at College Ideas (please let me know if you come across any as I will save them for next year).

It will probably stun you (and by “stun” I mean “bore you to pieces”) to know that I have no interesting plans for celebrating Pi Day. Except to say things like “Happy Pi Day” a lot. I’m hoping I don’t have to explain it too often. Explaining it will depress me.

But I will have a marvelous time dating all my emails π. Wonder how many people will think it’s a typo?

Have a fabulous π Day.

Call (or text) your sister.

Love, Mom

Dear Kid,

Yesterday was Pi Approximation Day. Only I got so excited about your new bike that I completely missed this Important Day. So here we are, slightly imprecisely, celebrating Pi Approximation Day. Approximately.

FACT: Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22 (or 22/7 in the day/month date format), since the fraction 22⁄7 is a common approximation of π.

Turns out that not much has been written about Pi Approximation Day. Personally, I’m stunned, because it seems like Hallmark would have been all over this one. Sadly, not so.

I would also have thought there would have been enough net nerds to litter the web with interesting Pi Approx stuff. From what I could find during my in-depth, highly scientific, four and half minutes of research, most people have focused on Pi Day (March 14), and the stuff about Pi Approximation Day is just dull.

So I am left to fill the void.

The problem is that I am neither a mathematician nor a scientist. Not having any original ideas about Pi Approximation Day, I turned to approximation research. As far as I can tell, nothing particularly interesting has ever happened on July 22. E-ver. Certainly nothing that would be an interesting Pi Approximation Day fact. I must make a note to create some interesting, if fictional, facts for next year.

Hoping your Pi Approximation Day is was more interesting than most.

Call your sister.

Love, Mom

Dear Pi,

We take a break from our regularly scheduled blog to bring you this happy birthday wish to Sister of Kid.

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

Today, in 753 BC, Romulus founded Rome. In 1816, Charlotte Brontë (English author and one of the three Brontë sisters–but you knew that) was born.

April 21st is also Saint Wolbodo‘s Day. Wolbodo is the patron saint of students, so he seems like as good saint as any for you to be acquainted with.

Hope you have a wonderful, sugar-filled day stuffed full of love and happiness.

Love, Mom