*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.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
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.
