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The orange cat Diggy sits on my shoulders

Diggy, my best furry friend of twelve years, passed away this week. He was full of sass, love, energy, mischief, curiosity, and affection, and will be deeply missed.


Diggy was found as a kitten on the streets of Kamloops in 2012, and Leah and I took him in on November 1. As soon as he was out of the carrier, Diggy was wandering around our apartment like he owned the place. Diggy slept on the bed between the two of us the very first night we had him.

Diggy was a cat full of mischief. Under his watch, no bag would be left unoccupied, no nook would stay unexplored, and no paper would remain unchewed. Diggy zoomed around as a kitten, usually ending with a parkour climb up our bathroom door jamb and once leaving me to shower in the dark after he caught the light switch on the way down. Diggy slowed down later in life but was no less of a brat, climbing on counters, getting water all over his face, and yowling at night to report he had found his favourite toy.

Cats have their people, and I was Diggy’s person. The two of us were inseparable: first thing in the morning and last thing at night Diggy would hop into the bed to snuggle. If I sat down on the couch to read or play video games, he would force himself onto my chest and nuzzle my face. And any time I called his name, he would trot over with a purr that could be heard across the room.

In 2018 we adopted our second cat, and Diggy became a big brother. Although Diggy and Pazzo were never super close, they were true partners in crime. The two frequently played together: grooming, wrestling, racing down the hall, or batting at one another from different heights of furniture. For a while we kept the office door closed to protect its contents from the cats, but despite our best efforts Diggy would break in and Pazzo would follow to make mischief.

Diggy was constantly making us laugh and smile. He was a true master of the “blep” technique as shown in the photos below. And his dedication to “flumping” came with it a complete disregard for gravity; he has been known to do an unintentional barrel roll right off a piece of furniture.

All in all, Diggy was an adorable cat, full of sass, love, energy, mischief, curiosity, and affection. He brought Leah and I together as a family and brightened up our lives and our home. Diggy was the first cat I ever had, and I was incredibly lucky to have had such a special relationship with him.

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Dr Robb Fry, one of my professors from my Thompson Rivers University days, passed away earlier this year at far too young an age. Robb was a real character, a great teacher, and a lot of fun to know.

I took my second course in linear algebra with Robb, and it was one of the most entertaining courses of my first two years. While visiting my parents over the holidays, I dug out my course notes — the only full set of notes I ever took in undergrad — so I could share some memorable episodes from my time with him.


Introducing the notation ”∃!”

It means “there exists a unique…” but I always read it like it’s a William Shatner thing. THERE EXISTS!

On terminology

ROBB: An oval…

CLASS: Don’t you mean an ellipse?

ROBB: Yeah, whatever the real term for that is.

On yellow chalk

I’m going to avoid yellow chalk today, because I have a suspicion that one day they’ll find that the stuff that makes it yellow is toxic. That’s going to be someone’s Ph.D. thesis one day, The Toxic Effects of Yellow Chalk, and I don’t want to be part of the study group.

On the kernel (which gets “killed” by a map)

The best bumper sticker I’ve ever seen had a picture of the colonel from KFC with “I am dead.”

On writing

If you’re ever reading a paper, and they say they have to prove a technical lemma, brace yourself for some horrific math.

On stable/invariant sets

I use “invariant” instead of “stable.” A stable set sounds like something for horses. I like horses, mind you, but they shouldn’t be confused with mathematics.

You taught me, inspired me, and motivated me to continue on the path to becoming a mathematician. But more importantly, it was a lot of fun to know you. Thanks, Robb.

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