at the start of the semester, fridays were my "day off"... now, check this out:
on the agenda today...
* breakfast
* tutor
* finish editing the paper i agreed to referee two months ago
* pizza seminar
* extra office hours
* book seminar rooms for the REU this summer
* figure out which math department secretaries i need to get to be friends with to get a free plane ticket to madison next month
* grade 76 calc 3 workshops
* write a quiz for my students for next week
* walk/jog 5 miles
* dinner
what does it say that this has become my "typical" day?
besides that, colleen is home in minnesota for the weekend, and leigh is going on a roadtrip to canada with sam, john, and paul, so starting in about 6 hours i'm home alone for the weekend.
with eric having a girlfriend and being really into the computer program he's been trying to write for awhile, and ben in delaware as usual, this means the only prospect of social interaction this weekend is church.
i did just leave out one of the usual suspects: scott and i did pinky swear last sunday that our sunday afternoon plans from here on out should be to study at panera for half the afternoon once i get back from church each week, but that's more math.
seriously, i'm a math machine and that's about it. (not complaining, just describing). apparently telling calculus jokes to students during office hours is my version of having fun.
heh.
the end.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Thursday, March 30, 2006
go figure..
i can't believe this is in yahoo's top 4 headlines of the day this morning:
Crazy Cat Terrorizes Connecticut Town
on the other hand this:
Photos: Eclipse Wows the World
and
Thousands Gather in Temple for Eclipse
were fairly awesome yesterday. Especially on the 2nd story, check out the slideshow on the left hand side.
yay cool astronomy stuff. go figure with crazy cats.
i called my mom last night to discuss tax stuff. apparently the new news at home is that they got a new dog named grace (nestle, the old dog, is insanely jealous), and that dad's getting put to sleep to have tooth surgery done this afternoon. we'll see how this goes.
high of 68 today and 71 tomorrow -- i'd say spring is officially here! :P
happy thursday?
Crazy Cat Terrorizes Connecticut Town
on the other hand this:
Photos: Eclipse Wows the World
and
Thousands Gather in Temple for Eclipse
were fairly awesome yesterday. Especially on the 2nd story, check out the slideshow on the left hand side.
yay cool astronomy stuff. go figure with crazy cats.
i called my mom last night to discuss tax stuff. apparently the new news at home is that they got a new dog named grace (nestle, the old dog, is insanely jealous), and that dad's getting put to sleep to have tooth surgery done this afternoon. we'll see how this goes.
high of 68 today and 71 tomorrow -- i'd say spring is officially here! :P
happy thursday?
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
oi...
the facts:
* two weeks ago sunday we had no hot water and it was 40 freakin degrees outside, hence no warm showers and freezing cold house.
* we tried to reset the water heater three times that morning but it kept shutting off.
* next step: call the landlord. colleen tried and got no answering machine, so we were out of luck for that
* next step: call the oil company to fix it. leigh called them and told them to come out and fix the darn heater.
* we never heard from the oil company that they did anything, but we had hot water later that day.
* just now, our landlord appeared at our front door all irritated. he just got a $150 bill for the service call, and said that we're not allowed to authorize service calls to the furnace without his permission. he wanted to know why he wasn't informed and why we couldn't have waited all day til monday. while he was chewing me out (since i answered the door), i ran off and got colleen (i made none of the calls... i was headed out for my maine trip with scott. colleen on the other hand could first-hand vouch that we actually tried to call him before we called for maintenance), and she at least calmed him down enough to go home and take care of it, rather than continuing to lecture us.
oh to not be a renter someday... in some ways it's nice... as if i could afford a real place and time/funds to do maintenance, but days like this, or when he makes it all the way to my room and chews me out for how much i have on the walls... oi...
the end.
* two weeks ago sunday we had no hot water and it was 40 freakin degrees outside, hence no warm showers and freezing cold house.
* we tried to reset the water heater three times that morning but it kept shutting off.
* next step: call the landlord. colleen tried and got no answering machine, so we were out of luck for that
* next step: call the oil company to fix it. leigh called them and told them to come out and fix the darn heater.
* we never heard from the oil company that they did anything, but we had hot water later that day.
* just now, our landlord appeared at our front door all irritated. he just got a $150 bill for the service call, and said that we're not allowed to authorize service calls to the furnace without his permission. he wanted to know why he wasn't informed and why we couldn't have waited all day til monday. while he was chewing me out (since i answered the door), i ran off and got colleen (i made none of the calls... i was headed out for my maine trip with scott. colleen on the other hand could first-hand vouch that we actually tried to call him before we called for maintenance), and she at least calmed him down enough to go home and take care of it, rather than continuing to lecture us.
oh to not be a renter someday... in some ways it's nice... as if i could afford a real place and time/funds to do maintenance, but days like this, or when he makes it all the way to my room and chews me out for how much i have on the walls... oi...
the end.
Monday, March 27, 2006
dude, i've finally been sucked in...
... to the craziness that is myspace.
my brother's been yacking about it for months, but i figured, i'm on facebook, i have a blog (and i like it not just being out there for anyone who knows my name, so i'm fine with not having a myspace blog), but curiousity and other such reasons got the best of me today. (namely, there are friends and family who aren't on facebook because they didn't go to college or just because they prefer myspace, so myspace is a less "selective" networking space with more personalization options... or whatever that means).
summary: as of today, i'm on myspace too (click here for my profile), and if you're on myspace and i didn't manage to track down your profile, then you should add me as your friend. ;-P (and if you're not on myspace and were somehow inspired by this bizarre post, make sure to add me as your friend too :P)
the end.
my brother's been yacking about it for months, but i figured, i'm on facebook, i have a blog (and i like it not just being out there for anyone who knows my name, so i'm fine with not having a myspace blog), but curiousity and other such reasons got the best of me today. (namely, there are friends and family who aren't on facebook because they didn't go to college or just because they prefer myspace, so myspace is a less "selective" networking space with more personalization options... or whatever that means).
summary: as of today, i'm on myspace too (click here for my profile), and if you're on myspace and i didn't manage to track down your profile, then you should add me as your friend. ;-P (and if you're not on myspace and were somehow inspired by this bizarre post, make sure to add me as your friend too :P)
the end.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
all for the love... of a book
one of my favorite books on the planet is the hitchiker's guide to the galaxy i have the edition that has all 5 books of the "trilogy" in one volume, and while i've read it cover to cover several times, i'm all about lending it out to others to share the joy.
several rutgers people have borrowed the tome from me (with 5 books in one, it's several inches thick and hard to miss) over the past couple of years, and last i knew it had been living in scott's room for months.
anyhow, that's fine, until yesterday, when i asked scott if he still had it, and he didn't. he thought he remembered giving it to leigh.
so i asked leigh, and she thought she remembered me giving it to ben.
so i called ben, and he had no clue where it was, but it wasn't with him.
so as a last resort, i called eric, who didn't have it, but had another suggestion for me. he said he could have sworn he had seen it on hoon's shelf when walking down the hall recently.
hoon is one of eric, scott, and jared's current roommates. hoon is from korea, and his english is not the best. he also has some interesting living habits such that eric, scott, and jared are regularly confused by him. (and probably vice versa).
either way, at my request, eric went to visit hoon, and basically asked
"hey, that's a good book -- is it yours?"
hoon's response?
"no. what's it about? it's decoration. it came with the room."
eric told hoon was the book was about and checked the front cover (which had my name in it) and retrieved the book for me (hoon had no intention of reading it, otherwise he'd be welcome to too). seeing as it was in scott's room as recently as november/december, and hoon's explanation doesn't go any further than above, how it got from point a of scott's room downstairs to point b of hoon's room upstairs is a mystery.
nonetheless, yay eric for solving it. of all places, i would NOT in a million years have thought to check hoon's room for my book.
the end.
several rutgers people have borrowed the tome from me (with 5 books in one, it's several inches thick and hard to miss) over the past couple of years, and last i knew it had been living in scott's room for months.
anyhow, that's fine, until yesterday, when i asked scott if he still had it, and he didn't. he thought he remembered giving it to leigh.
so i asked leigh, and she thought she remembered me giving it to ben.
so i called ben, and he had no clue where it was, but it wasn't with him.
so as a last resort, i called eric, who didn't have it, but had another suggestion for me. he said he could have sworn he had seen it on hoon's shelf when walking down the hall recently.
hoon is one of eric, scott, and jared's current roommates. hoon is from korea, and his english is not the best. he also has some interesting living habits such that eric, scott, and jared are regularly confused by him. (and probably vice versa).
either way, at my request, eric went to visit hoon, and basically asked
"hey, that's a good book -- is it yours?"
hoon's response?
"no. what's it about? it's decoration. it came with the room."
eric told hoon was the book was about and checked the front cover (which had my name in it) and retrieved the book for me (hoon had no intention of reading it, otherwise he'd be welcome to too). seeing as it was in scott's room as recently as november/december, and hoon's explanation doesn't go any further than above, how it got from point a of scott's room downstairs to point b of hoon's room upstairs is a mystery.
nonetheless, yay eric for solving it. of all places, i would NOT in a million years have thought to check hoon's room for my book.
the end.
words of wisdom
passed along by margie:
No matter how good teaching may be, each student must take the responsibility for his own education. ~ John Carolus S.J.
No matter how good teaching may be, each student must take the responsibility for his own education. ~ John Carolus S.J.
oi
the maple grader for my classes gave one of my students a -1/20 on the most recent assignment. that's right -- by turning in the assignment, the student gets a 0 for the assignment, MINUS ONE MORE from the rest of his average. i hope the prof rounds that up to a 0. i don't think that the rest of a student's grade should go down for turning something in!, but it's not my decision.
we shall see....
we shall see....
Friday, March 24, 2006
people, people, people
i am exhausted. not just tired exhausted. like could stay up for hours, but don't want to interact with another human being in any way shape or form for awhile exhausted.
i've been running on low for quite some time, and tonight sealed it.
scott and me talked a lot on the road trip last week about how i should stop overanalyzing why i don't hang out with people outside of formal academic settings more than one at a time anymore, and just start acting on it. i agreed i have a tendency to overanalyze and that maybe i just need someone to "yell" at me nicely but seriously enough to convince me to get out of the house once in awhile. i resolved to at least try to get out a little more, and in the last week i've done moderately ok...
the night after we got back from our trip i had dinner with scott and eduardo (scott i see plenty, i don't think i've hung out with eduardo ever outside of the math building)
earlier this week i was going to do dinner with eric to talk about math, but scott and colleen joined, and i had a decent time with all 3 of them at once.
but last night, there was dinner for a prospective student and there were 8 of us in all, and i went into it in a decent mood but quickly became exhausted, quiet, and overwhelmed.
leigh passed her oral exam yesterday, and her requested celebration was for people to come bowling with her. it's been several years since i last went bowling, but leigh came out to dinner after i passed, so i figured i could at least try to show i cared back. eric and i drove to the alley together in his car, and as soon as we got there i started having a mini social anxiety attack. i understand it's all "in my head" or whatever, but i'm so good at being a hermit anymore, that that's still a huge jump and i'd prefer to be on my own reading or with just one friend chatting and not DO-ing anything. scott bought me a beer and i got over freaking out, but...
scott, ben, and eric took turns entertaining me throughout the evening. there was no one there i'm uncomfortable around (in fact it was *exactly* the list of people in the department i enjoy hanging out with one on one, minus like 2, plus a prospective), but while everyone else loosened up and was being silly and having a blast, i was rather inconspicuous and low key, wishing i wasn't around smoke and so much noise. scott and ben both gave me a bear hug after the last game and were like "YOU SURVIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD JOB!!!!!", to which i started crying on scott's shoulder.
seriously, my people energy is at zero. even though colleen, leigh, and the prospective student staying at my house this weekend were coming back here, i caught a ride back home with eric again since he actually gets me when i'm in this wretched of a mood on account of people -- not anyone doing anything wrong -- people doing everything RIGHT, and i'm just overwhelmed.
usually i care plenty about people,... right now though, in general, i'm just exhausted and run ragged and really need the world to give me a break for a bit. i really have zero energy to input anything more from anyone. i don't know what that makes me, but....
yeah... exhausted.
i think i'm hiding from everything except math for the weekend. -- hope all of YOU have a good one.
i've been running on low for quite some time, and tonight sealed it.
scott and me talked a lot on the road trip last week about how i should stop overanalyzing why i don't hang out with people outside of formal academic settings more than one at a time anymore, and just start acting on it. i agreed i have a tendency to overanalyze and that maybe i just need someone to "yell" at me nicely but seriously enough to convince me to get out of the house once in awhile. i resolved to at least try to get out a little more, and in the last week i've done moderately ok...
the night after we got back from our trip i had dinner with scott and eduardo (scott i see plenty, i don't think i've hung out with eduardo ever outside of the math building)
earlier this week i was going to do dinner with eric to talk about math, but scott and colleen joined, and i had a decent time with all 3 of them at once.
but last night, there was dinner for a prospective student and there were 8 of us in all, and i went into it in a decent mood but quickly became exhausted, quiet, and overwhelmed.
leigh passed her oral exam yesterday, and her requested celebration was for people to come bowling with her. it's been several years since i last went bowling, but leigh came out to dinner after i passed, so i figured i could at least try to show i cared back. eric and i drove to the alley together in his car, and as soon as we got there i started having a mini social anxiety attack. i understand it's all "in my head" or whatever, but i'm so good at being a hermit anymore, that that's still a huge jump and i'd prefer to be on my own reading or with just one friend chatting and not DO-ing anything. scott bought me a beer and i got over freaking out, but...
scott, ben, and eric took turns entertaining me throughout the evening. there was no one there i'm uncomfortable around (in fact it was *exactly* the list of people in the department i enjoy hanging out with one on one, minus like 2, plus a prospective), but while everyone else loosened up and was being silly and having a blast, i was rather inconspicuous and low key, wishing i wasn't around smoke and so much noise. scott and ben both gave me a bear hug after the last game and were like "YOU SURVIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD JOB!!!!!", to which i started crying on scott's shoulder.
seriously, my people energy is at zero. even though colleen, leigh, and the prospective student staying at my house this weekend were coming back here, i caught a ride back home with eric again since he actually gets me when i'm in this wretched of a mood on account of people -- not anyone doing anything wrong -- people doing everything RIGHT, and i'm just overwhelmed.
usually i care plenty about people,... right now though, in general, i'm just exhausted and run ragged and really need the world to give me a break for a bit. i really have zero energy to input anything more from anyone. i don't know what that makes me, but....
yeah... exhausted.
i think i'm hiding from everything except math for the weekend. -- hope all of YOU have a good one.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
earlier tonight...
ben, scott, and i are sitting at marble slab downing ice cream, after we served as the 3 person panel for the 1st year students to ask "how to be a good TA" questions of for an hour and a half. obviously i've seen scott plenty recently, but ben and i hadn't hung out in about a month... the THREE of us hadn't hung out all at once in about a year and a half... anywho, enough background... me, ben, scott, ice cream, happiness, when...
suddenly, scott goes on the following tangent:
scott: lara! i have the best story... i just have to tell you, but you're probably going to get mad and slug me.
me: why? what did you do?
scott: nothing
me: then why am i going to slug you?
scott: you just will... so you know shalin?
me: who?
scott: shalin... psych grad student... he knows everybody
me: except me... i have no clue who you're talking about
scott: ok, well, i ran into shalin this afternoon, and he asked me how my spring break was... i told him it was great... told him i went on a road trip with you. and of course since shalin knows everyone, he immediately started thinking... he was like lara? lara? do i know lara?
me: i have no clue who he is, so the answer is NO, right?
scott: no, actually after a minute he goes, "oh wait, she's the girl who wants to learn to dance?" isn't she?... he found it strange that that's the only fragment in his head about you and otherwise he knows nothing. i found it so strange that that's the only thing he had to say that i couldn't stop laughing my ass off for like 5 whole minutes.
me: (actually slugs scott)
scott: told you you'd hit me... i promise, it's not my doing... just thought you should know that somehow, parts of the universe just know you as "the girl who really wants to learn to dance" and that's it... you should try and live up to it.
what a weird day. the end.
suddenly, scott goes on the following tangent:
scott: lara! i have the best story... i just have to tell you, but you're probably going to get mad and slug me.
me: why? what did you do?
scott: nothing
me: then why am i going to slug you?
scott: you just will... so you know shalin?
me: who?
scott: shalin... psych grad student... he knows everybody
me: except me... i have no clue who you're talking about
scott: ok, well, i ran into shalin this afternoon, and he asked me how my spring break was... i told him it was great... told him i went on a road trip with you. and of course since shalin knows everyone, he immediately started thinking... he was like lara? lara? do i know lara?
me: i have no clue who he is, so the answer is NO, right?
scott: no, actually after a minute he goes, "oh wait, she's the girl who wants to learn to dance?" isn't she?... he found it strange that that's the only fragment in his head about you and otherwise he knows nothing. i found it so strange that that's the only thing he had to say that i couldn't stop laughing my ass off for like 5 whole minutes.
me: (actually slugs scott)
scott: told you you'd hit me... i promise, it's not my doing... just thought you should know that somehow, parts of the universe just know you as "the girl who really wants to learn to dance" and that's it... you should try and live up to it.
what a weird day. the end.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
misc
misc part 1:
still working my way through the one year bible... when i finish with my few pages each night i occasionally bug other people about it... tonight:
me: summary of bible reading tonight: moses gets mad about strange things
me: now, lara goes to sleep
dave: that happens a lot
me: moses or sleep?
dave: moses
dave: lara sleeping should happen a lot, too
me: reuben and gad said they wanted land on the other side of the jordan from canaan to raise sheep and moses spazzed for a page about it
me: it was entertaining
me: this is the lara translation of the bible
me: what do you think?
dave: it's certainly entertaining
me: you wouldn't buy a copy if i published it, would you?
dave: i'd take a free copy
me: thanks for the vote of confidence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
misc part 2 (completely unrelated):
song lyrics stuck in my head today are as follows:
Pull the hair back from your eyes
Let the people see your pretty face
Try not to say anything weird
Save your questions without answers
'Til your old enough to know that things ain't as they appeared
Before you go out in the sun
Cover your skin and don't get burned
Beware the cancer, it might kill you when you're old
Be first in line, raise your hand
Remember everything you hear
And playing in the rain is worth catching cold
[Chorus]
Sooner or later
We'll be lookin' back on everything
And we'll laugh about it like we knew what all was happening
And someday you might listen to what people have to say
Now you learn the hard way
[Verse 2]
We only want what's best for you
That's why we tell you what to do
And nevermind if nothing makes sense
'Cause it all works out in the end
You're just like us without a friend
But you can build a privacy fence
[Verse 3]
Somethings you have to learn them all on your own
You can't rely on anybody else
Or the point of view of a source unknown
If it feels good and sounds nice
Then it's your choice don't doubt yourself
Don't even think twice
Pull the hair back from your eyes
Let the people see your pretty face
You know they like it when you smile (Find a reason to smile)
Try not to focus on yourself
Share that love with someone else
Don't let the bitters bring you down
Don't let anything bring you down
(sooner or later/michael tolcher)
go figure.
night y'all.
still working my way through the one year bible... when i finish with my few pages each night i occasionally bug other people about it... tonight:
me: summary of bible reading tonight: moses gets mad about strange things
me: now, lara goes to sleep
dave: that happens a lot
me: moses or sleep?
dave: moses
dave: lara sleeping should happen a lot, too
me: reuben and gad said they wanted land on the other side of the jordan from canaan to raise sheep and moses spazzed for a page about it
me: it was entertaining
me: this is the lara translation of the bible
me: what do you think?
dave: it's certainly entertaining
me: you wouldn't buy a copy if i published it, would you?
dave: i'd take a free copy
me: thanks for the vote of confidence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
misc part 2 (completely unrelated):
song lyrics stuck in my head today are as follows:
Pull the hair back from your eyes
Let the people see your pretty face
Try not to say anything weird
Save your questions without answers
'Til your old enough to know that things ain't as they appeared
Before you go out in the sun
Cover your skin and don't get burned
Beware the cancer, it might kill you when you're old
Be first in line, raise your hand
Remember everything you hear
And playing in the rain is worth catching cold
[Chorus]
Sooner or later
We'll be lookin' back on everything
And we'll laugh about it like we knew what all was happening
And someday you might listen to what people have to say
Now you learn the hard way
[Verse 2]
We only want what's best for you
That's why we tell you what to do
And nevermind if nothing makes sense
'Cause it all works out in the end
You're just like us without a friend
But you can build a privacy fence
[Verse 3]
Somethings you have to learn them all on your own
You can't rely on anybody else
Or the point of view of a source unknown
If it feels good and sounds nice
Then it's your choice don't doubt yourself
Don't even think twice
Pull the hair back from your eyes
Let the people see your pretty face
You know they like it when you smile (Find a reason to smile)
Try not to focus on yourself
Share that love with someone else
Don't let the bitters bring you down
Don't let anything bring you down
(sooner or later/michael tolcher)
go figure.
night y'all.
teaching quotes
it was one of *those* days today... enjoy.
* me (to the room at large): you all look so tired and not excited to be here... did you at least have a good break?
students: (mixed reactions)
me: at least you didn't have to learn calculus for a whole week!
steph: trust me, going to calc recitation every day would have improved my break... seriously.
* me: and as jonathan pointed out 5 minutes ago, z=9-y^2 is a parabola in the yz-plane...
jonathan (looks extremely surprised and blurts out): she knows my name!!!!
me: dude, i know almost everyone's name, of course i know who you are!
* kenneth: hey, do you know joe? like math major undergrad joe?
me: yup, why?
kenneth: because the way you explained that is totally a joe thing to say
me: um, ok, thanks... i think... next question... zach?
zach: do you know jack?
me: i know *everyone*... next MATH question?
* me (to the room at large): you all look so tired and not excited to be here... did you at least have a good break?
students: (mixed reactions)
me: at least you didn't have to learn calculus for a whole week!
steph: trust me, going to calc recitation every day would have improved my break... seriously.
* me: and as jonathan pointed out 5 minutes ago, z=9-y^2 is a parabola in the yz-plane...
jonathan (looks extremely surprised and blurts out): she knows my name!!!!
me: dude, i know almost everyone's name, of course i know who you are!
* kenneth: hey, do you know joe? like math major undergrad joe?
me: yup, why?
kenneth: because the way you explained that is totally a joe thing to say
me: um, ok, thanks... i think... next question... zach?
zach: do you know jack?
me: i know *everyone*... next MATH question?
Monday, March 20, 2006
for the record...
... a TA is NOT a magic answer genie you can conjure up early in the morning on 15 minutes notice.
(i got an email at 9:45 this morning asking if i was going to be in my office at 10... i was still in my pajamas eating breakfast and working on my own homework and nowhere ready to leave the house in the near future... oi...)
however, a student who requests a meeting on short notice, and agrees to one later in the day at a more convenient time without complaining, who actually comes in having worked through the whole assignment and with good questions is MUCH preferable to....
a student who makes an appointment two days in advance and then comes in not having looked at the homework at all and waiting for you to just magically them tell how it all works.
frankly, i don't mind the first case at all as long as they're willing to be flexible and show they've done work. the second case is moderately frustrating, but i have no problem telling the student in person that they're not going to get anything out of the encounter and to email me questions once they've actually looked at the assignment.
eric says i'm only flooded with students all the time because they *do* like me and realize that i *do* give clear explanations, so i guess that's good.
i just wish that the prof i teach for were all about giving clear explanations too. on homework he does... on computer assignments, he doesn't have the background to explain programming commands so it all falls on me, and even if it runs me ragged, i believe my students should have *someone* to ask questions of if they're trying to do the work.
summary: my monday? computer stuff all day... plus some of my own work besides... now, time to catch up on my students homework so that i actually understand what i'm teaching tomorrow. the fun never ends.
(i got an email at 9:45 this morning asking if i was going to be in my office at 10... i was still in my pajamas eating breakfast and working on my own homework and nowhere ready to leave the house in the near future... oi...)
however, a student who requests a meeting on short notice, and agrees to one later in the day at a more convenient time without complaining, who actually comes in having worked through the whole assignment and with good questions is MUCH preferable to....
a student who makes an appointment two days in advance and then comes in not having looked at the homework at all and waiting for you to just magically them tell how it all works.
frankly, i don't mind the first case at all as long as they're willing to be flexible and show they've done work. the second case is moderately frustrating, but i have no problem telling the student in person that they're not going to get anything out of the encounter and to email me questions once they've actually looked at the assignment.
eric says i'm only flooded with students all the time because they *do* like me and realize that i *do* give clear explanations, so i guess that's good.
i just wish that the prof i teach for were all about giving clear explanations too. on homework he does... on computer assignments, he doesn't have the background to explain programming commands so it all falls on me, and even if it runs me ragged, i believe my students should have *someone* to ask questions of if they're trying to do the work.
summary: my monday? computer stuff all day... plus some of my own work besides... now, time to catch up on my students homework so that i actually understand what i'm teaching tomorrow. the fun never ends.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
revelation
scott and me just read stop that ball for the first time in ages.
revelation: replace "that ball" with "my brain" and "the string" with "my head" you have an exceedingly hilarious, mostly sensical, analogy for the life of a grad student. :P
consider the first few pages:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i hit my brain. i made it fly.
i hit my brain as it went by.
it went around and then came back.
i gave my brain another WHACK!
i hit it high.
i hit it low.
i hit so hard my head let go!
my head let go.
there went my brain.
away up high, out past the wall!
so i ran fast around the wall.
i had to get my big fat brain.
i saw it jump. i saw it roll,
and head right for an open hole.
the hole was deep. the hole was black.
how could i get my poor brain back?
what could i do?
say! this was bad!
this was the only brain i had!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
heh. night y'all. :P
revelation: replace "that ball" with "my brain" and "the string" with "my head" you have an exceedingly hilarious, mostly sensical, analogy for the life of a grad student. :P
consider the first few pages:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i hit my brain. i made it fly.
i hit my brain as it went by.
it went around and then came back.
i gave my brain another WHACK!
i hit it high.
i hit it low.
i hit so hard my head let go!
my head let go.
there went my brain.
away up high, out past the wall!
so i ran fast around the wall.
i had to get my big fat brain.
i saw it jump. i saw it roll,
and head right for an open hole.
the hole was deep. the hole was black.
how could i get my poor brain back?
what could i do?
say! this was bad!
this was the only brain i had!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
heh. night y'all. :P
dude
the visualizer on itunes is highly addicting. i thought i used to be mesmerized by the one on windows media player, but i could leave it on and get to work and not pay attention to the screen. this is not true with the itunes one (i keep catching myself staring at the pretty colors instead of doing my work... ooops)... no clue what makes this one more able to command my attention, but go figure.
the end.
the end.
yay?
*finally* done grading!
i've had "spiders" (moby) and "do you want to" (franz ferdinand) alternating in my head all night... such a weird mix...
the end.
i've had "spiders" (moby) and "do you want to" (franz ferdinand) alternating in my head all night... such a weird mix...
the end.
Friday, March 17, 2006
happy friday?
i've been so sluggish on doing my own work this week... obviously gone up until wednesday night, but then, yesterday, other than tutoring for 2 hours, i spent time playing with CDs and downloading album art into itunes for all my CDs (itunes doesn't automatically put the art in when you copy in a CD you own instead of buying stuff online)... ever so important and productive, i know. :P
today was good... jessica and i spent the day wandering around peddler's village, just over the border into PA. it's a cute collection of small shops with lots of random stuff. i came home with several non-math books for some leisure reading, and some candy. jessica ended up with some cool jewelry. mostly it was nice to have a slow day and to chat for awhile. it made me happy.
now that i'm back home though, i've finally convinced myself to get grading/writing a quiz for my students out of the way. i hate grading workshops. i believe that they're valuable for the students to practice writing technical prose, and that they should get good feedback on them to help them improve their writing, but making worthwhile comments and actually grading prose instead of right or wrong computations takes a lot more energy. so far i've made it through 1 section worth of papers, and have 2 sections to go. i'll be glad when it's done.
periodically i get incredibly frustrated with myself. i put a LOT of energy into doing things well for my students and other people i work with, and i really want them all to do well. i was sad to see the spread on my students' midterms, but some of the mistakes i saw made sense what they were thinking. i just wish that if they're stuck they'd ask questions rather than struggling through on their own. i *want* them to do well, really i do, and i wish i knew what i could do to make things go more smoothly for some of them. i get the class to talk to me a lot during recitations so that they're actually showing me what they know instead of me droning... i send weekly reminder emails to them of what all's going on and always include a plug for office hours. i already hold double the amount of office hours required just to be convenient and i answer emails in detail at all hours of the day and night etc., etc., etc. i'm as available as i can be (and more so than the average TA) and in class i get them to talk to me and be interactive... i'm doing all my energy level can handle to do plus some, and yet many students are really struggling. i know that it's a two way street and they have to put the effort in too, but i really wish there was more i could do to see more universally positive results.
in the same vein, i thought working with my directed reading program mentee was going really well, up until yesterday when he wrote me an essay to cancel our meeting for this week. he basically said he's realized he doesn't think he's quite ready for the competative nature of math and needs time to explore other things and he's dropping the program for now. from what all he wrote, there are bigger things going on than our meetings that he's processing and deciding what's best for him, which is good. just his essay came as a complete surprise to me, and i wish we could have at least discussed to see if we could format our meetings differently to be more helpful to him or something first. i was kinda sad when i read all he had to say, even though i completely respect it.
summary: i've had a great week of escape, but now i'm getting back to work. i hate grading workshops, and although i'd like to think i'm good at teaching/mentoring, other circumstances (blant lies about math and unclear writing on workshops... my mentee dropping the reading program without warning) make me question myself, and it's frustrating.
hopefully i'll get over myself and cheer up by monday... we'll see... in the meantime, back to grading for me. woohoo?
night y'all.
today was good... jessica and i spent the day wandering around peddler's village, just over the border into PA. it's a cute collection of small shops with lots of random stuff. i came home with several non-math books for some leisure reading, and some candy. jessica ended up with some cool jewelry. mostly it was nice to have a slow day and to chat for awhile. it made me happy.
now that i'm back home though, i've finally convinced myself to get grading/writing a quiz for my students out of the way. i hate grading workshops. i believe that they're valuable for the students to practice writing technical prose, and that they should get good feedback on them to help them improve their writing, but making worthwhile comments and actually grading prose instead of right or wrong computations takes a lot more energy. so far i've made it through 1 section worth of papers, and have 2 sections to go. i'll be glad when it's done.
periodically i get incredibly frustrated with myself. i put a LOT of energy into doing things well for my students and other people i work with, and i really want them all to do well. i was sad to see the spread on my students' midterms, but some of the mistakes i saw made sense what they were thinking. i just wish that if they're stuck they'd ask questions rather than struggling through on their own. i *want* them to do well, really i do, and i wish i knew what i could do to make things go more smoothly for some of them. i get the class to talk to me a lot during recitations so that they're actually showing me what they know instead of me droning... i send weekly reminder emails to them of what all's going on and always include a plug for office hours. i already hold double the amount of office hours required just to be convenient and i answer emails in detail at all hours of the day and night etc., etc., etc. i'm as available as i can be (and more so than the average TA) and in class i get them to talk to me and be interactive... i'm doing all my energy level can handle to do plus some, and yet many students are really struggling. i know that it's a two way street and they have to put the effort in too, but i really wish there was more i could do to see more universally positive results.
in the same vein, i thought working with my directed reading program mentee was going really well, up until yesterday when he wrote me an essay to cancel our meeting for this week. he basically said he's realized he doesn't think he's quite ready for the competative nature of math and needs time to explore other things and he's dropping the program for now. from what all he wrote, there are bigger things going on than our meetings that he's processing and deciding what's best for him, which is good. just his essay came as a complete surprise to me, and i wish we could have at least discussed to see if we could format our meetings differently to be more helpful to him or something first. i was kinda sad when i read all he had to say, even though i completely respect it.
summary: i've had a great week of escape, but now i'm getting back to work. i hate grading workshops, and although i'd like to think i'm good at teaching/mentoring, other circumstances (blant lies about math and unclear writing on workshops... my mentee dropping the reading program without warning) make me question myself, and it's frustrating.
hopefully i'll get over myself and cheer up by monday... we'll see... in the meantime, back to grading for me. woohoo?
night y'all.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
"maine" -- the very brief summary:
now that i've been back in jersey for a little over and hour and just finished catching up with email from the past 4 days, here's a quote from an email i just wrote:
"we left sunday afternoon for "maine", and got back about an hour ago... pictures will be ready for me to pick up in 20 minutes. maine really means a night is rhode island, a night in maine, and a night in upstate new york with a tour of the ben and jerry's factory, beer flavored ice cream, a large bottle of whiskey, getting stranded in a thunderstorm on a small island, meeting a life-sized moose made out of chocolate, getting free drinks at a serendipitous middle-of-nowhere diner, meeting plymouth rock, scott trying to do pushups with me on his back, and yelling our lungs out at frozen lake champlain at 10:30 at night."
more details when i get pictures back (in 20 minutes) and actually scanned into the computer (later tonight, or tomorrow)
happy wednesday y'all! :P
"we left sunday afternoon for "maine", and got back about an hour ago... pictures will be ready for me to pick up in 20 minutes. maine really means a night is rhode island, a night in maine, and a night in upstate new york with a tour of the ben and jerry's factory, beer flavored ice cream, a large bottle of whiskey, getting stranded in a thunderstorm on a small island, meeting a life-sized moose made out of chocolate, getting free drinks at a serendipitous middle-of-nowhere diner, meeting plymouth rock, scott trying to do pushups with me on his back, and yelling our lungs out at frozen lake champlain at 10:30 at night."
more details when i get pictures back (in 20 minutes) and actually scanned into the computer (later tonight, or tomorrow)
happy wednesday y'all! :P
Sunday, March 12, 2006
sunday bloody sunday
* we woke up 2 hours ago to our hot water being out... this happens from time to time. we have a crazy oil-powered furnace that we drain every week or so. from time to time it goes out, and we have to reset it. we reset it 5 times this morning before giving up. this means colleen and leigh and i all got no showers and we all feel gross. at least for colleen and me... she was on a hike yesterday, and i walk/jogged 5 miles last night, so both of us were not in perfectly clean condition. :P... my last resort was to boil water on the stove and deal with that to at least handle the hair and wash my face... either way, i'm crossing my fingers for a hot shower after church and before leaving for maine.
* scott emailed me at 6am. he was at a concert in NY last night... but stopped at a bookstore to get a cool book to help us make more informed decisions about what to do in maine... apparently while leaving the bookstore, his car got hit... he's fine, but his car is not, so he's not the happiest. (and he's been asleep for less than 4 hours now)
* i'm so behind on phone calls and being in touch with friends. last weekend was rough emotionally... my students have been stressed on account of their midterm grades which means they've been talking to me even more than normal about things, which is fine, just adds to the overall busy-ness level... i'm behind on stuff i should have been working on for dr. z.... and the list goes on and on and on... the hot water issue this morning was just icing on the cake.
summary: i feel completely disgusting and exhausted. scott is exhausted and stressed for different reasons. we both really NEED a few days of non-math to eat good seafood, have no demands on our schedules whatsoever, and to go out in the middle of nowhere and scream our heads off. and if we raid the ben and jerrys factory in vermont while we're at it and fill ourselves with sinfully good dessert after maine, more power to us. the next 4 days in maine, new hampshire, vermont, rhode island, canada, or whereever the heck we end up will be a much needed break, and i can't wait.
catch y'all on wednesday.
* scott emailed me at 6am. he was at a concert in NY last night... but stopped at a bookstore to get a cool book to help us make more informed decisions about what to do in maine... apparently while leaving the bookstore, his car got hit... he's fine, but his car is not, so he's not the happiest. (and he's been asleep for less than 4 hours now)
* i'm so behind on phone calls and being in touch with friends. last weekend was rough emotionally... my students have been stressed on account of their midterm grades which means they've been talking to me even more than normal about things, which is fine, just adds to the overall busy-ness level... i'm behind on stuff i should have been working on for dr. z.... and the list goes on and on and on... the hot water issue this morning was just icing on the cake.
summary: i feel completely disgusting and exhausted. scott is exhausted and stressed for different reasons. we both really NEED a few days of non-math to eat good seafood, have no demands on our schedules whatsoever, and to go out in the middle of nowhere and scream our heads off. and if we raid the ben and jerrys factory in vermont while we're at it and fill ourselves with sinfully good dessert after maine, more power to us. the next 4 days in maine, new hampshire, vermont, rhode island, canada, or whereever the heck we end up will be a much needed break, and i can't wait.
catch y'all on wednesday.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
100 CDs
tomorrow, scott and i take off for maine. i have warm clothes, i have my telescope already in my car (how often do i get that far away from the NY lights?), i have snacks, and a fully charged ipod (with a brand new converter that lets me charge it from a wall not just from a usb port)), and i just finished the most important part -- picking what CDs to throw in the car... scott and i are both really big on music going ALL THE TIME, so having a good selection for 4 days in the car is key. he'll bring his own besides, but i just sat down and filled my 96 CD book with whatever i could reach that sounds reasonable to throw in in the next few days... of course not all will be listened to in the course of the trip, but whatever, options are good...
to further exhibit my bizarre/eclectic taste in music here's the top 96 CDs that just got pulled from my shelf for the trip (the first 40 or so were already in the case and got to stay, the rest were added)
1. coldplay -- parachutes
2. coldplay -- a rush of blood to the head
3. josh kelley -- for the ride home
4. guster -- keep it together
5. barenaked ladies -- all their greatest hits
6. cat stevens -- the very best of cat stevens
7. maroon5 -- songs about jane
8. the calling -- camino palmero
9. sting -- fields of gold: the best of sting
10. sting -- brand new day
11. lifehouse -- no name face
12. lifehouse -- stanley climbfall
13. better than ezra -- deluxe
14. better than ezra -- closer
15. john mayer -- room for squares/inside wants out
16. train -- train
17. train -- drops of jupiter
18. train -- my private nation
19. lilo and stitch soundtrack
20. tarzan soundtrack
21. country mix for lara (courtesy of jessica)
22. elvis -- 30 #1 hits
23. phantom of the opera soundtrack, disc 1
24. phantom of the opera sountrack, disc 2
25. cats soundtrack, disc 1
26. cats soundtrack, disc 2
27. the producers soundtrack
28. aida soundtrack
29. mxpx -- life in general
30. mxpx -- slowly going the way of the buffalo
31. billy joel -- greatest hits volume 1
32. billy joel -- greatest hits volume 2
33. billy joel -- greatest hits volume 3
34. billy joel -- greatest hits volume 4
35. savatage mix (courtesy of travis)
36. eric's CD of "WOW" (courtesy of eric)
37. songs for my friends 2004 (courtesy of nicole)
38. the most random CD ever (courtesy of me)
39. skillet -- alien youth
40. switchfoot -- the beautiful letdown
41. exit east -- exit east
42. toby keith -- greatest hits
43. switchfoot -- learning to breathe
44. swtichfoot -- the legend of chin
45. relient k -- mmhmm
46. switchfoot -- new way to be human
47. chris rice -- short term memories
48. relient k -- two lefts don't make a right... but three do
49. delirious -- glo
50. delirious -- mezzamorphis
51. mellow mix (april 2005) -- (mine)
52. calm mix (april 2005) -- (mine)
53. joy mix (april 2005) -- (mine)
54. eh mix (september 2005) -- (mine)
55. eh mix 2.0 (march 2006) -- (mine, see previous post)
56. johnny cash -- 16 biggest hits
57. garden state soundtrack
58. scrubs season one soundtrack
59. movin' out soundtrack
60. kirk franklin's nu nation -- God's property
61. rent soundtrack, disc 1
62. rent soundtrack, disc 2
63. dixie chicks -- top of the world, disc 1
64. dixie chicks -- top of the world, disc 2
65. coldplay -- x&y
66. mxpx -- before everything and after
67. madonna -- confessions on a dance floor
68. james blunt -- back to bedlam
69. kirk franklin -- hero
70. barlowgirl -- another journal entry
71. patty griffin -- a kiss in time
72. patty griffin -- impossible dream
73. patty griffin -- living with ghosts
74. schmidt vera -- nezhetnelek
75. princess -- a hegedu hercegnoi
76. princess -- hegeduvarasz
77. princess -- tancok buvoleteben
78. burlap to cashmere -- anybody out there
79. enya -- a day without rain/the memory of trees
80. jars of clay -- the eleventh hour
81. brother bear soundtrack
82. bend it like beckham soundtrack
83. memphis: the album (courtesy of memphis jenny)
84. michelle tumes -- listen
85. michelle tumes -- center of my universe
86. michelle tumes -- dream
87. groovehouse -- hajnal
88. unique -- uttalan utakon
89. las ketchup -- hijas del tomate
90. best of communism: a selection of revolutionary songs
91. michael w. smith -- freedom
92. the simply fabulous $1.99 new music sampler
93. savatage -- dead winter dead
94. third day -- conspiracy #5
95. lost and found -- live at valpo, disc 1
96. lost and found -- live at valpo, disc 2
ta da, and all that jazz... the end :P
to further exhibit my bizarre/eclectic taste in music here's the top 96 CDs that just got pulled from my shelf for the trip (the first 40 or so were already in the case and got to stay, the rest were added)
1. coldplay -- parachutes
2. coldplay -- a rush of blood to the head
3. josh kelley -- for the ride home
4. guster -- keep it together
5. barenaked ladies -- all their greatest hits
6. cat stevens -- the very best of cat stevens
7. maroon5 -- songs about jane
8. the calling -- camino palmero
9. sting -- fields of gold: the best of sting
10. sting -- brand new day
11. lifehouse -- no name face
12. lifehouse -- stanley climbfall
13. better than ezra -- deluxe
14. better than ezra -- closer
15. john mayer -- room for squares/inside wants out
16. train -- train
17. train -- drops of jupiter
18. train -- my private nation
19. lilo and stitch soundtrack
20. tarzan soundtrack
21. country mix for lara (courtesy of jessica)
22. elvis -- 30 #1 hits
23. phantom of the opera soundtrack, disc 1
24. phantom of the opera sountrack, disc 2
25. cats soundtrack, disc 1
26. cats soundtrack, disc 2
27. the producers soundtrack
28. aida soundtrack
29. mxpx -- life in general
30. mxpx -- slowly going the way of the buffalo
31. billy joel -- greatest hits volume 1
32. billy joel -- greatest hits volume 2
33. billy joel -- greatest hits volume 3
34. billy joel -- greatest hits volume 4
35. savatage mix (courtesy of travis)
36. eric's CD of "WOW" (courtesy of eric)
37. songs for my friends 2004 (courtesy of nicole)
38. the most random CD ever (courtesy of me)
39. skillet -- alien youth
40. switchfoot -- the beautiful letdown
41. exit east -- exit east
42. toby keith -- greatest hits
43. switchfoot -- learning to breathe
44. swtichfoot -- the legend of chin
45. relient k -- mmhmm
46. switchfoot -- new way to be human
47. chris rice -- short term memories
48. relient k -- two lefts don't make a right... but three do
49. delirious -- glo
50. delirious -- mezzamorphis
51. mellow mix (april 2005) -- (mine)
52. calm mix (april 2005) -- (mine)
53. joy mix (april 2005) -- (mine)
54. eh mix (september 2005) -- (mine)
55. eh mix 2.0 (march 2006) -- (mine, see previous post)
56. johnny cash -- 16 biggest hits
57. garden state soundtrack
58. scrubs season one soundtrack
59. movin' out soundtrack
60. kirk franklin's nu nation -- God's property
61. rent soundtrack, disc 1
62. rent soundtrack, disc 2
63. dixie chicks -- top of the world, disc 1
64. dixie chicks -- top of the world, disc 2
65. coldplay -- x&y
66. mxpx -- before everything and after
67. madonna -- confessions on a dance floor
68. james blunt -- back to bedlam
69. kirk franklin -- hero
70. barlowgirl -- another journal entry
71. patty griffin -- a kiss in time
72. patty griffin -- impossible dream
73. patty griffin -- living with ghosts
74. schmidt vera -- nezhetnelek
75. princess -- a hegedu hercegnoi
76. princess -- hegeduvarasz
77. princess -- tancok buvoleteben
78. burlap to cashmere -- anybody out there
79. enya -- a day without rain/the memory of trees
80. jars of clay -- the eleventh hour
81. brother bear soundtrack
82. bend it like beckham soundtrack
83. memphis: the album (courtesy of memphis jenny)
84. michelle tumes -- listen
85. michelle tumes -- center of my universe
86. michelle tumes -- dream
87. groovehouse -- hajnal
88. unique -- uttalan utakon
89. las ketchup -- hijas del tomate
90. best of communism: a selection of revolutionary songs
91. michael w. smith -- freedom
92. the simply fabulous $1.99 new music sampler
93. savatage -- dead winter dead
94. third day -- conspiracy #5
95. lost and found -- live at valpo, disc 1
96. lost and found -- live at valpo, disc 2
ta da, and all that jazz... the end :P
new playlist
what does this say about my mood today?
1. Ebudae (Enya)
2. Everyday People (Nicole C. Mullen)
3. Sooner or Later (Michael Tolcher)
4. All Will Be Well (The Gabe Dixon Band)
5. This Isn't What We Meant (Savatage)
6. Who I Am Hates Who I've Been (Relient K)
7. I So Hate Consequences (Relient K)
8. The One I'm Waiting For (Relient K)
9. Be My Escape (Relient K)
10. High of 75 (Relient K)
11. Redemption (Switchfoot)
12. Tempus Vernum (Enya)
13. Not What You See (Savatage)
14. Mirror (BarlowGirl)
15. All I Know (Art Garfunkel)
16. Imagine Me (Kirk Franklin)
17. Better (Kirk Franklin)
18. Only If... (Enya)
19. Enough (BarlowGirl)
20. Everybody Free (Michael W. Smith)
21. When You Believe (Prince of Egypt soundtrack)
1. Ebudae (Enya)
2. Everyday People (Nicole C. Mullen)
3. Sooner or Later (Michael Tolcher)
4. All Will Be Well (The Gabe Dixon Band)
5. This Isn't What We Meant (Savatage)
6. Who I Am Hates Who I've Been (Relient K)
7. I So Hate Consequences (Relient K)
8. The One I'm Waiting For (Relient K)
9. Be My Escape (Relient K)
10. High of 75 (Relient K)
11. Redemption (Switchfoot)
12. Tempus Vernum (Enya)
13. Not What You See (Savatage)
14. Mirror (BarlowGirl)
15. All I Know (Art Garfunkel)
16. Imagine Me (Kirk Franklin)
17. Better (Kirk Franklin)
18. Only If... (Enya)
19. Enough (BarlowGirl)
20. Everybody Free (Michael W. Smith)
21. When You Believe (Prince of Egypt soundtrack)
creed of the modern thinker
this struck a chord earlier in the week. i disagree with most of the lines, but i thought it was well written and an intriguing thinking topic/point of discussion... reactions?:
Modern Thinker's Creed
Steve Turner, English journalist
We believe in Marx, Freud and Darwin. We believe everything is okay, as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt and to your best definition of knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun. We believe that sodomy is okay. We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything is getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence. We believe there is something in horoscopes, UFO’s, and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammad and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher, although we think basically his good morals were really bad. We believe that all religions are the basically the same, at least the ones we read were. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God and salvation.
We believe that after death comes nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing. If death is not the end, and if the dead have lied, then it’s compulsively heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Kahn.
We believe in Masters and Johnson. What is selected is average, what’s average is normal, and what’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament. We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good-it’s only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society; society’s the fault of condition; and conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him and reality will adapt accordingly; the universe will readjust and history will alter. We believe that there is no absolute truth, except the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds and the flowering of individual thought.
If Chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is His rainbow in the sky. And when you hear: “State of Emergency,” “Sniper Kills Ten,” “Troops on Rampage,” “Youths go Looting,” “Bomb Blasts School,” it is but the sound man worshipping his maker.
Modern Thinker's Creed
Steve Turner, English journalist
We believe in Marx, Freud and Darwin. We believe everything is okay, as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt and to your best definition of knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun. We believe that sodomy is okay. We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything is getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence. We believe there is something in horoscopes, UFO’s, and bent spoons.
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammad and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher, although we think basically his good morals were really bad. We believe that all religions are the basically the same, at least the ones we read were. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God and salvation.
We believe that after death comes nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing. If death is not the end, and if the dead have lied, then it’s compulsively heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Kahn.
We believe in Masters and Johnson. What is selected is average, what’s average is normal, and what’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament. We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good-it’s only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society; society’s the fault of condition; and conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him and reality will adapt accordingly; the universe will readjust and history will alter. We believe that there is no absolute truth, except the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds and the flowering of individual thought.
If Chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is His rainbow in the sky. And when you hear: “State of Emergency,” “Sniper Kills Ten,” “Troops on Rampage,” “Youths go Looting,” “Bomb Blasts School,” it is but the sound man worshipping his maker.
mass apology
to any and everyone i've ever offended/hurt with a rant on here written to vent anger or frustration, especially if it wasn't really justified. i'm sorry.
i overstate things when i'm in a sour mood, and typing's my therapy, whether what i type is accurate or not. in the future, i'll try to keep my typewritten rants to myself instead of mass posted.
i suck, really i do.... and i'm sorry.
i overstate things when i'm in a sour mood, and typing's my therapy, whether what i type is accurate or not. in the future, i'll try to keep my typewritten rants to myself instead of mass posted.
i suck, really i do.... and i'm sorry.
Friday, March 10, 2006
random
jessica and i were sitting around listening to the 11pm news just now, when lo and behold one of our HS classmates appeared on the news. they were interviewing him briefly (half a sentence) since he was stranded at the JFK when the airport was shut down for an hour earlier today from security concerns. it listed him as being from greenwich village. it took me 5 second to put name and face together and where i knew him from, but it totally fit.
go figure.
tonight's been great. arrested development is a pretty funny show. margaritas are always fantastic. so is catching up with friends... i'm soooooooo exhausted though. officially time to crash.
night y'all.
go figure.
tonight's been great. arrested development is a pretty funny show. margaritas are always fantastic. so is catching up with friends... i'm soooooooo exhausted though. officially time to crash.
night y'all.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
dna
apparently i'm an independent inventor... what about you?
and while we're on that. go here, with receipt 7f3a011b8993 and see how well you can pin me down yourself :-P
and while we're on that. go here, with receipt 7f3a011b8993 and see how well you can pin me down yourself :-P
baby llama!
born at my parents' house last month.
it's a girl. she was born with 3.5 legs, but quickly figured out how to get around fast as a tripod... go figure... she's cute though, isn't she?
i'll meet the 3-legged llama in may.
the end.
it's a girl. she was born with 3.5 legs, but quickly figured out how to get around fast as a tripod... go figure... she's cute though, isn't she?
i'll meet the 3-legged llama in may.
the end.
yay
things to look forward to:
spring break is next week, hence lara is going to have some fun.
* friday, jessica's coming up to visit. we haven't gotten to hang out since december (i had been studying non stop for a few months and avoiding too much fun during that bit course). the plan is to get dinner and then hang out in front of the TV/dvd player. my grad school friends don't bond that way with me, so i'm just looking forward to an enjoyably lazy evening. it's always good to catch up with old friends where you don't have to be doing something horribly dramatic to have a good time. :P
* scott and i have decided to re-create spring break of 2 years ago... (see this post). after i had visited my friend marianne at dartmouth that break, i had been to every state east of the mississippi river except delware, which was just 1.5 hours away... so i convinced scott to go to delaware for lunch with me, and we ended up making a day of it (quite literally)... it was a blast. mostly it was so fantastic because there was no itinerary whatsoever... things along the lines of "have you ever seen (fill in the blank)? it's only 100 miles away" determined the day. this time, though, we're going north instead of south... scott's never been to VT, NH, ME, or RI, so we'll help him knock those off the list. i am incredibly looking forward to a trip with no goals except "take ridiculous pictures at state lines"... and to being able to get out of the car in the middle of nowhere with a good friend and just scream at the top of my lungs and not care. it'll be a fantastic release of stress. :P a week from now, you can look forward to the post about "maine trip 2006". guaranteed to be a blast.
* perhaps, after maine, jessica and i will get to get together again. that would be great too, so keeping fingers crossed.
summary: i have good friends, and non-math plans 3 fridays running now... my life is significantly more entertaining than it's been in months. :)
the end.
spring break is next week, hence lara is going to have some fun.
* friday, jessica's coming up to visit. we haven't gotten to hang out since december (i had been studying non stop for a few months and avoiding too much fun during that bit course). the plan is to get dinner and then hang out in front of the TV/dvd player. my grad school friends don't bond that way with me, so i'm just looking forward to an enjoyably lazy evening. it's always good to catch up with old friends where you don't have to be doing something horribly dramatic to have a good time. :P
* scott and i have decided to re-create spring break of 2 years ago... (see this post). after i had visited my friend marianne at dartmouth that break, i had been to every state east of the mississippi river except delware, which was just 1.5 hours away... so i convinced scott to go to delaware for lunch with me, and we ended up making a day of it (quite literally)... it was a blast. mostly it was so fantastic because there was no itinerary whatsoever... things along the lines of "have you ever seen (fill in the blank)? it's only 100 miles away" determined the day. this time, though, we're going north instead of south... scott's never been to VT, NH, ME, or RI, so we'll help him knock those off the list. i am incredibly looking forward to a trip with no goals except "take ridiculous pictures at state lines"... and to being able to get out of the car in the middle of nowhere with a good friend and just scream at the top of my lungs and not care. it'll be a fantastic release of stress. :P a week from now, you can look forward to the post about "maine trip 2006". guaranteed to be a blast.
* perhaps, after maine, jessica and i will get to get together again. that would be great too, so keeping fingers crossed.
summary: i have good friends, and non-math plans 3 fridays running now... my life is significantly more entertaining than it's been in months. :)
the end.
Monday, March 06, 2006
dude
my students totally got hosed.
i feel really bad for them. i graded 4 out of the 8 problems on their midterms last week, grading fairly generously. then the prof graded the other 4. on 12-13 point problems, if the students at least started with the correct partial derivatives or something even if they totally screwed up later, i give partial credit. the prof gave flat out 0s straight down the page to a lot of people.
i mean, i was ticked while i was grading that 6/8 problems were straight out of the homework... problems that we did in class on the board together, etc., and they still screwed them up even with a formula sheet... how hard is it to say "ok, i know the right formula, now i just plug numbers into it?". apparently, very, which makes me sad. of the other two problems, one was straight out of the lecture before the exam, which is fair... and the other was a trick that i thought was unfair... but there should have been a lot more people that got close to 7/8 of the points possible instead of a handful and a lot of grades in the 30s, 40s, and 50s (out of 100). i'm gonna make these kids cry tomorrow....
doht.
seriously... i try to make class as engaging and discussion oriented as possible. they ask me questions and i think they're getting excited and understanding. other than problem 5, i thought it was a reasonable exam, but many of them totally screwed it up anyhow. i dunno... am i entertaining but a failure at getting information across in a clear and meaningful manner? or is the prof just that much more rough than i am?
i don't know, but i'm totally dreading my job tomorrow morning.
yuck.
i feel really bad for them. i graded 4 out of the 8 problems on their midterms last week, grading fairly generously. then the prof graded the other 4. on 12-13 point problems, if the students at least started with the correct partial derivatives or something even if they totally screwed up later, i give partial credit. the prof gave flat out 0s straight down the page to a lot of people.
i mean, i was ticked while i was grading that 6/8 problems were straight out of the homework... problems that we did in class on the board together, etc., and they still screwed them up even with a formula sheet... how hard is it to say "ok, i know the right formula, now i just plug numbers into it?". apparently, very, which makes me sad. of the other two problems, one was straight out of the lecture before the exam, which is fair... and the other was a trick that i thought was unfair... but there should have been a lot more people that got close to 7/8 of the points possible instead of a handful and a lot of grades in the 30s, 40s, and 50s (out of 100). i'm gonna make these kids cry tomorrow....
doht.
seriously... i try to make class as engaging and discussion oriented as possible. they ask me questions and i think they're getting excited and understanding. other than problem 5, i thought it was a reasonable exam, but many of them totally screwed it up anyhow. i dunno... am i entertaining but a failure at getting information across in a clear and meaningful manner? or is the prof just that much more rough than i am?
i don't know, but i'm totally dreading my job tomorrow morning.
yuck.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
:(
for all the good things i had to say friday night, there is no 3rd date.
if this is what a breakup feels like after 2 dates, i don't want to imagine how it feels later on.
i feel like crap, and am considering moving to antarctica soon (not literally, but it sure sounds good right now).
i'm swearing off making new friends temporarily too if this is one of the hazards... :P
don't i sound fantastic?
happy sunday?...
if this is what a breakup feels like after 2 dates, i don't want to imagine how it feels later on.
i feel like crap, and am considering moving to antarctica soon (not literally, but it sure sounds good right now).
i'm swearing off making new friends temporarily too if this is one of the hazards... :P
don't i sound fantastic?
happy sunday?...
Saturday, March 04, 2006
heh :-D
in the past 6-7 hours...
*the view from the staten island ferry is beautiful after dark
*only in new york do you get off the subway and immediately get offered condoms by a bum... while on a second date this is quite a bit strange to react to
*yay for german pubs for dinner -- thanks to them i had half and half beer and 7up... it's quite unique. :P
*even bigger yay for wonderfully smelling tea-shops
*i discovered i actually like guinness. (does this make me weird?) (the very irish bartender told glenn he extra approves of me)
*washington square is also really beautiful after dark.
*hot cider is extra wonderful after freezing your nose off in washington square in below freezing weather
*the staten island ferry is just as beautiful at 11:30pm as it is at 6:30pm if not better.
i'm feeling fairly warm and fuzzy, and like i won't be asleep for quite some time yet... suffice it to say, tonight was a really good night. :)
*the view from the staten island ferry is beautiful after dark
*only in new york do you get off the subway and immediately get offered condoms by a bum... while on a second date this is quite a bit strange to react to
*yay for german pubs for dinner -- thanks to them i had half and half beer and 7up... it's quite unique. :P
*even bigger yay for wonderfully smelling tea-shops
*i discovered i actually like guinness. (does this make me weird?) (the very irish bartender told glenn he extra approves of me)
*washington square is also really beautiful after dark.
*hot cider is extra wonderful after freezing your nose off in washington square in below freezing weather
*the staten island ferry is just as beautiful at 11:30pm as it is at 6:30pm if not better.
i'm feeling fairly warm and fuzzy, and like i won't be asleep for quite some time yet... suffice it to say, tonight was a really good night. :)
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
heh
courtesy of jenny:
today's Ph.D. comic is so 2 weeks ago for me :-P
however instead of the prof in question sitting at home reading a paper, in my case, he was home worrying about a dentist appointment later in the day... sometimes real life *is* stranger than fiction. ;-P
later dudes.
today's Ph.D. comic is so 2 weeks ago for me :-P
however instead of the prof in question sitting at home reading a paper, in my case, he was home worrying about a dentist appointment later in the day... sometimes real life *is* stranger than fiction. ;-P
later dudes.
ode to grading midterms...
students baffle me.
the exam that the prof i TA for gave on monday was 8 problems. 6 were direct quotes from homework we had discussed in depth in recitation. they were told repeatedly that the exam would look just like homework. they had a formula sheet a week in advance to know exactly what formulas they'd have and what they had to memorize. it was not meant to be a stressful ordeal.
even with formula sheet and having seen *every* problem done before, about 1/3 of the students have done well on the first two problems i've graded (i need to grade more tonight). the problem i'm grading next was a computation with a formula exactly on the formula sheet... no sweat, right? even writing the formula down as the first thing on their papers, i found about 3 right answers in the first 30 i've glanced over... and 2 more that made a small arithmetic error on the way... not a clue what the other 24 students tried to do.
frankly, i'm confused.
... and sad. it's easy to grade right papers, and hard to fairly divide up partial credit. i *want* them to do well, but i can't give them good grades for telling lies, especially when they have the formulas right in front of them.
oi....
the end.
the exam that the prof i TA for gave on monday was 8 problems. 6 were direct quotes from homework we had discussed in depth in recitation. they were told repeatedly that the exam would look just like homework. they had a formula sheet a week in advance to know exactly what formulas they'd have and what they had to memorize. it was not meant to be a stressful ordeal.
even with formula sheet and having seen *every* problem done before, about 1/3 of the students have done well on the first two problems i've graded (i need to grade more tonight). the problem i'm grading next was a computation with a formula exactly on the formula sheet... no sweat, right? even writing the formula down as the first thing on their papers, i found about 3 right answers in the first 30 i've glanced over... and 2 more that made a small arithmetic error on the way... not a clue what the other 24 students tried to do.
frankly, i'm confused.
... and sad. it's easy to grade right papers, and hard to fairly divide up partial credit. i *want* them to do well, but i can't give them good grades for telling lies, especially when they have the formulas right in front of them.
oi....
the end.
