To the 2005-06 MPS class

I wanted to give a longer speech to you all on the last day of class, but we didn't have the time I would have liked.

I first heard about MPS my first year at De Anza (2001-02). I had taught algebra a lot, and had an interest in reaching all students, when I was in grad school, so the MPS program intrigued me.

Herminio asked if I wanted to teach it the following year. I said no. I was too new to De Anza, I said. In reality, I was scared to teach the class. It had stories attached to it. The students are difficult, you'll be pulling your hair out, it's a lot of work. People said these things to me, and when you hear that, you don't really want dive into it, your second year at the college.

My third year, I was actually not on campus. I was at UC Berkeley for 2003-04. On my reuturn, I was asked if I wanted to teach it in 2005-06. The dean asked me. You don't really say no to the dean. I remember someone asking why in the world I would volunteer to teach MPS, and I said the dean asked me to. The response was, "then I guess you'll have to do it".

Last summer, in Ghana, I emailed Diane numerous times, asking about all kinds of things. I was scared.

The year started, and on the first day, I remember thinking, here we go. It's do or die time.

Looking back on that, I don't know what I was so scared of. The 9:30 MPS class for 2005-06, is the best class I've ever taught. You guys worked harder than almost any students I've had before, and I don't know what people were talking about, when they said the students would be tough to deal with. I felt the opposite. You were such a joy to deal with. I honestly enjoyed coming into class, most of the time.

One year with a group of students is tough, don't get me wrong. There were some days when some of you really got under my skin, like family can get under your skin.

I think that's the best way I can describe my experience with this class. You were like family. You got to me sometimes, but when push comes to shove, we had each other's backs.

Good luck with your endeavors, what ever they may be. And remember, I do have your back, so don't hesitate to get in touch, if you ever need anything, or even if you don't.

I only hope my class next year can be half as enjoyable as this class was.

I love calculus

So I'm sitting here listening to Nelly Furtado (her first album, not the new one), and I realized I need to track down some old notes for the calculus class I'm going to be teaching, starting on Monday.

I dig through two boxes and found two-thirds of my notes. I started looking at them and I see again why I love calculus. I wasn't looking at anything earth-shattering. I was actually looking at something I'm hoping to do on the first day of class. Finding the distance a car travels, based on the velocity function. Anyone who's taken algebra knows the distance, rate, time formula, from algebra. But it's cool to take that, and use sums and graphs to calculate the area.

Anyhow, on to other things. The year is just about over. I have one more final tomorrow. I want to post a special post to the MPS class, so I will do that now.

The end of the school year

I haven't posted in over 2 weeks! The world cup and the end of the school year are taking up a lot of my time.

The end of the year is near, but it doesn't feel like it, because I'm teaching in summer session.

MPS had its end of the year ceremony yesteray. It was somewhat what I expected, but not, at the same time. I thought more students would have been there, and more students would have spoken about their experiences. Even though I see students daily, there are many who I wish I could hear from - what their experiences have been, what they have liked and disliked about the program. Anything like that.

Lauren is out of town for the next 6 weeks. she's been gone about a week. Living alone has a different feel. On the one hand, I'm sad that she's not here, but there is something to be said about being alone. It's not too bad.

This is probably going to be my last post before the end of the school year. Happy end of the school year!

Birthday

Well, today is my birthday. I'm now 30. Seems a little odd to say that, but I'll say it again. I'm now 30.

Fate and Coincidence

Before I get into this, I want to say that I’ve never been a believer in fate. Whenever someone says “it was meant to be”, I cringe, and think to myself, that’s poppicosh (I don’t know if that’s a word, but that’s what I think), they don’t know what they’re talking about.

I should warn you that this is long, and if you have better things to do, go do them.

My story begins with the 2006 World Cup (which seems to be on my mind ALL THE TIME these days), and ends in 2001, at a Mexican Restaurant/Karaoke bar.

I’ve been looking for videotapes, as of late. 8-hour videotapes, to be precise. I want to tape world cup games all day, which is about 7 hours of TV, and most videotapes can only hold 6 hours. I know I’ve seen 8-hour tapes somewhere, and with my illogical way of thinking, I thought I could find them at Costco (they sell stuff in mass quantity, so they must sell 8-hour tapes, because 8 is a larger quantity than 6).

I’ve also thought about getting pizza from Costco as of late. I’d never gotten a whole pizza from Costco, and I have had pizza on my mind for over a week, without actually consuming any.

I figured, between getting tapes, and pizza, I would go and deal with the craziness that is Costco, and went there a little after 5 pm.

Costco doesn’t carry 8-hour tapes (big surprise), so I got other stuff that we could use in the house (butter, paper towels, Kleenex) and then went to get my pizza.

“It won’t be ready for 10 minutes”, she said. I thought, “dammit, I now I have to kill 10 minutes for a pizza, after not finding my 8-hour tapes”. I contemplated sitting in Costco for 10 minutes. I decided against that, and instead went to Office Max, which is on the opposite side of the shopping center, to look for 8-hour tapes (Office Max does not carry 8-hour tapes).

On my walk back from Office Max to get my pizza, I see someone sitting outside a coffee shop. I recognize this person, but I don’t remember if this is someone I want to avoid, or someone I want to say hello to.

After we share a “you look kind of familiar” look, she says “Jeff?!?”. Ohmygosh, it’s Nellenda. Someone I haven’t seen in at least 3 years (I think it’s more like 4, but who really cares).

Nellenda was in a student group with me at Michigan State. I found out she was moving to San Jose, only a few weeks before I moved to San Jose, back in 2001. We hung out a couple of times, but she never had a phone, then her email stopped working, and yada, yada, yada, we lost touch.

We caught up briefly, then she needed to get going. As she was walking away, she said something to the effect of “whenever I think of Karaoke, I think of you. That night we dragged you out to that Karaoke bar, even though you didn’t want to go”.

Funny thing is, whenever I think of Karaoke, or drive by that Mexican restaurant, I wonder what ever became of Nellenda.

Now, was it fate that I ran into Nellenda? That’s poppicosh, It was a just a series of coincidences. But I have to say, I am glad I couldn’t find those 8-hour tapes at Costco.