fun with math?

here i am in my office, using chalkboard space instead of paper at home to get some work done. an hour ago, i went downstairs to the undergraduate office to pick up a textbook for the version of calculus 1 that i was assigned to teach this spring. i turned around to leave the office, and 1 foot in front of me was the department chair,... he stuck his hand out to shake mine and commented "i'm dr. speer, have we met?"... i introduced myself and he replied "i thought so... i need to talk with you... come into my office."

the story is, even though i was perfectly happy with my teaching assignment, he and chuck (our grad director) decided i would be an optimal choice for the head TA for calculus 3. calculus 3 is one of the most challenging courses to TA for especially since it's not coordinated between sections like calc 1 and calc 2, so there's more variation between what different professors do... also the calc 3 syllabus involves a lot of work with maple, a math program that i know well from my work with dr. z. but most other grad students don't. since i did fine as a TA and get along with people PLUS i know maple forwards and backwards, they decided i was the person to peg the job on.

if it weren't head TA i would have refused, but along with the extra responsibilites of head TA there's a slight pay increase, which i could totally use for paying off all my car costs... for example i went in yesterday to get an oil change and ended up spending $275 instead b/c of other things that needed doing... this extra bit would really help, even if it's not a ton...

so there goes a semester of working with the same prof again and of practically being able to do lectures in my sleep... instead i have a TON of studying to do to be able to come in on tuesdays and make remote sense to my students.... but on the other hand at least i'll have students who have some interest in math and the sciences, whether they necessarily like calc or not... who takes calc 3 except math majors, physics majors, and engineers, really?

so yeah, newer harder teaching assignment for me... woohoo.

now to get some work done in my office before it gets to be dinner time.

later dudes.