Brett Sisman Blogspot

I owe my passion for physics to my uncle Bob.  I hadn't realized he was an internationally known scientist when he visited us and made paper airplanes for me.  I loved those paper airplanes and said, "Why didn't anyone ever tell me about Uncle Bob?" Later in life I visited Uncle Bob, a physics genius; we had a marvelous conversation about the books he has written. When I left, he said, "Why didn't anyone tell me about Brett?"  Uncle Bob is the greatest!

Because I am a bibliophile, and I have an extensive library, I have a recommended reading list for students who want to excel as I did.  I will gradually update my list

Life is good when you have Norwegian Grandparents.   Christmases at my grandparents ranch followed the traditional Norwegian Smorgasbord  with such marvelous treats as Lefse that was made in Iowa by a friend of my grandmother's and shipped overnight to Texas on dry ice. Lefse looks like a tortilla; it is buttered and sugared and rolled up.  Papa (Grandfather) loves Lutefisk; it is cod soaked in lye that is served with mashed potatoes and a lot of melted butter.  Grandmother usually prepared beef tenderloin with a Christmas ham, scalloped corn, sweet potato casserole, a frozen salad made of cream cheese, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries, a green salad, and a huge array of desserts.  The Norwegian desserts were rice pudding, fattigmand, Kranskakke, krumkakke, and rosettes. The large family of aunts, uncles and cousins brought food that included a lot of cookies and candies, although all of the food wasn't traditionally Norwegian. Grandmother went all out decorating the ho

 I moved overseas in late summer  of my third year.  My mom's memory of moving to a new country with a 2.5 year old and a 7 month suggests it was supreme chaos.  She sent a letter to family in the states with a story of finding me outside sobbing, "What's wrong?" she wanted to know.  I responded, "Papa and Grandmother's boy is in a new country."  Obviously I missed my grandparents.  No doubt they missed me, too, because they quickly booked a flight to see me a few months later. My grandmother described the house as having a shower, restroom and laundry room combined.  The drain for the shower was in the floor of the bathroom.  One could sit on the toilet and shower.  The problem with the system was the drains did not work well. After a shower the floor flooded.  After draining a load of clothes from the washing machine, the floors flooded.  Sometimes flushing the toilet the floors flooded.  Hence, we had shower shoes without soles to prevent our feet f