What I would look like in Springfield, USA

With the Simpson's movie out (I haven't had time to see it yet), I decided to Simpsonize myself:

My Saturday

I was playing around with my camera yesterday, when this picture happened. Two things struck me about the picture. First, the whiteness. I thought that was odd, because I took a picture in the exact location no more than a minute later, and the whiteness was gone. I guess the sun moved just enough in that time.

The other thing that struck me is, man, my hair is getting long! In my head, I think my hair is as long as it is in my profile picture (what was taken over a year ago), but it's quite a bit longer. It's actually longer than in the picture, because in this picture, it's held up.

Anyway. What happened yesterday? I studied international finance for about 5 hours, and I'm still confused about something the teacher said in our last class meeting, so I have to meet up with him, or something. I also saw the much over-hyped David Beckham's first game in the MLS. As a soccer player, I'm worried that the way ESPN pushed that game down people's throats will lead to people liking soccer even less. The game was pretty dull (in my opinion), and the LA Galaxy looked like a middle school team against Chelsea. I think part of the problem with the MLS is that soccer should be an intimate game. You have your team, you follow them closely, you even go to their away games. With the MLS, you can't really go to their away games, because those games are so far away.

I think soccer in the U.S. is like college hockey; only certain people can get into it. I loved college hockey when I was in college, because I went to hockey school (that won the NCAA championship a few months ago). You follow the team, your rivals are not too far away, so you always have opponents fans in the stands. That's what soccer is supposed to be like, the U.S. is simply too big to give soccer that kind of feel, so it becomes this huge deal for one bad team (the LA Galaxy), and no one cares about the other teams in the league. I've said too much on this topic....

Keeping with the football mood, I saw Green Street Hooligans, with was better than I thought it would be. I was surprised to learn it was directed by a woman. It didn't really seem like a movie a woman would direct. Yay for breaking gender stereotypes!

Grocery Shoppin'

I like going grocery shopping. I often hear people (including my wife) complain about grocery shopping, but for the most part, I enjoy it.

What I don't enjoy is the other stuff involved with grocery shopping, namely some of the people who stand right outside the store trying to get something from you.

If people are asking for money, for a shelter or something, I always give. They are right to the point: we need money to help people, give us money. I also don't particularly mind girl scouts. Again; we need money, we will give you overpriced cookies for money, give us money.

What I don't like, is the people who are there with some sort of political agenda.

I'm all for the environment; I recycle everything, and I want to buy a car that can run on vegetable oil, but I don't need some college kid harassing me as I come out of Trader Joe's. Today, as I was going into TJ's, there were these California environment people standing outside of the store. If you live in a wealthy part of California, you see them with their light blue T-shirts, and their clip boards. It's funny, I never saw them when I went into downtown Oakland. Why is that I wonder? Are people in the inner city not supposed to care about the environment? Funny. Hmm...

Anyhow, as I was going into the store, there was an elderly woman (who seemed like she was in a bad mood) coming out of the store. The CA environment guy asked her how she was doing. She responded by saying "I'm not having a good day". You would think this would be reason for him to leave her alone, but no. He said "I can make your day better". By signing some form?!?! I was hoping he would stop me when I was coming out, just so I could go off on him, but he didn't, because he was busy harassing other people.

6 hours later: I'm coming out of Nob Hill grocery store (like I said, I like grocery shopping) when a college-aged guy says to me "Limit our politicians' time in office!" He wanted me to sign something. I asked him who was sponsoring this thing he wanted me to sign. He said "I dunno. Tim, who's sponsoring this?", he yelled to his coworker. I said "I'm not going to sign this if you can't even tell me who you're working for", and walked off.

Like I said, I like grocery shopping, but every time I see someone with a clipboard standing by the entrance, it makes my shopping experience slightly less enjoyable. Maybe that's one of the reasons so many people don't like grocery shopping.

Shin Splints

Before I begin, I want to complain about the length of time it takes blogger to load. I've gotten to the point that I just type up my blog in a word processor (while waiting for blogger to load), and then cut and paste. I tried to open blogger, then wrote the text below, then waited a couple minutes, then wrote this paragraph, and it has only now loaded up. This is a complaint to any google/blogger workers who happen to read this (which is probably zero).

I had never had shin splints before. I was on the track team in high school, and I never got what people were complaining about when they said they had shin splints. As a sprinter, I never ran over 400 meters at one go, so I don't think I ever ran enough to get shin splints (even when we were to run 2 miles for warm-up, I would avoid it, somehow).

I have shin splints now, and they are killing me. I've never had this kind of pain, it's crazy. I've had both ankles sprained at the same time, a separated shoulder, a twisted wrist, toe nails come out, numerous leg bruises (all these injuries came from playing soccer), but shin splints are new to me, and I don't like them.

I don't like being sidelined; I kept playing soccer through all the injuries (often I had more than one of them at any given time), but shin splints are hard to play through. I went running this morning, and it was so painful to do. I kept thinking I would run through the pain (as I do with every other injury and illness I've had), but the pain was still there after almost 3 miles of running. Damn!

The next soccer season starts in a few weeks, and I want to keep up my running, but I don't know what to do about these shins o' mine. I've told I could tape them, but I think of the pain of that much leg hair being pulled off by athletic tape, and I don't know if it's worth it. If anyone has a remedy for shin splints (don't say "rest", because it's not going to happen), let me know.

A note on my last post (8 days ago, I can't believe how lazy I'm being). I was not lucky enough to have my computer work. Within an hour of that posting, it was acting up again. I took it back on Monday, and they replaced the motherboard (again). It seems to be holding up so far, but I won't feel like I'm out of the woods until a month goes by and I don't pay a visit to We Fix Macs.

07-07-07

I was driving on Lawrence Expressway today when traffic came to a stop (for those of you who don't know of Lawrence Expressway, it is a 6-8 lane expressway that has a speed limit of 50 mph - many drivers go 60 mph). It was odd for traffic to be not moving on a Saturday afternoon, then I saw it; there was a horse-drawn carriage on Lawrence Expressway.

When I was able to drive by, I saw there were a bride and groom. Ahhh...7/7/07, of course. I guess they felt so lucky they decided to go about 10 mph and clog up traffic.

I know two couples that said they would get married today. One is, the other, I'm not sure sure about (I haven't heard from them in a while).

What did I do on this lucky day? Homework for my capitals markets class, picked up my computer for the 2nd time in a week (let's hope I'm lucky enough that I don't have to take it back again), looked for a new scratching post for Geordi (I wasn't lucky enough to find a cheap one), and got some CDs from the library (I was lucky enough to find the Broadway cast recording of Rent, which Lauren was looking for the other day).

That was my day. Pretty dull, aye?

Questions from my trigonometry students

I pass out a questionaire to my class and the last question is to ask me a question (if they have one). Here are the questions I got....


What places have you been to? Do you like to travel?

I've been to over 30 countries in Western Europe, West Africa, and Central America. I have never been to Asia or South America, but I would really like to go to both places. Of the countries I have never been to, the one I want to go to the most is Brazil.

What is your favorite food?

My favorite meal is fried plantain with a bean sauce. It is a very common meal in Ghana, which is where my mother is from.

Do you give extra credit?

Not very much. I think too many students focus on extra credit, instead of spending the time needed to get the regular credit.

What is your math background?

I have a B.S. in mathematics, and an M.A. in mathematics education.

What are your hobbies?

Well, I've been working on an MBA over the past year, so that is a sort of hobby. I also play soccer, bug our cat, and I've recently taken up running, in the hopes of running a marathon at some point.

What made you become a math teacher?

I came into teaching by accident. I was assigned to be a TA when I started grad school, and I hated it, because I would be nervous before every class. One day someone came to observe me teach and was surprised that I had never taught before. She was so impressed with my teaching that my nervousness went away, and I began to like what I did. With time, I realized I was good at it, and decided to teach as a career, and not just a way to have my tuition paid for.

Are you an awesome person?

I would say no. I think I’m a decent person, but awesome is a bit strong.

What other math classes do you teach?

I’ve taught algebra, pre-calculus, calculus, and statistics. I also taught math for elementary education majors, when I lived in Michigan.

How are you with your students?

I like to have class to be a little bit lively, because if I’m in a class where all the students are unresponsive, I get a little bored.

What to you like about math?

I think there are different things about math that I like. I like the way things fall into place in some aspects of math, even when the problem looks like it will never result in a simple answer. I also like the applications that math has in other subject areas.

What kind of music do you like?

Hmm…today I listened to some Cuban music, David Grey, Gypsy Kings, Tori Amos, Lucinda Williams, some reggae, the Sundays, Craig David, and the country music station on my drive home. I really like all kinds of music

Are you a good teacher?

I think I’m alright.

What is your nationality and how old are you?

I’m ½ Ghanaian and ½ white. I turned 31 about a month ago.

Will you be teaching Math 49A (pre calculus 1) in the fall, r do you think it’s a good idea to take math 49 (pre calculus) at Foothill College, then take 1A (calculus) here?

You can’t take 49 at Foothill, then take 1A here. I recommend taking 49A and 49B at De Anza, because it is more thorough than taking 49 in one quarter at Foothill.

How are dreads? Why did you get them?

I like them; although they sometimes are a little bit annoying. I initially started dreads after my first year of college. I met this guy named Thomas who had really cool dreads, so I wanted to see how they would look on me. I ended up liking them, and grew them for 5 years. I then cut them off and had short hair for 3 years, then decided to grow my hair out again. I don’t know what ever happened to Thomas.

Any funny stories about your hair?

Not really.

You look like you would drive an old Volkswagen bug. Do you?

Close, but not quite. I drive a 10-year old VW golf.

What do you like most and least about De Anza?

I love the students at De Anza. I have met the most interesting people by working here. I’ve met students from all kinds of backgrounds and interests, and I really enjoy talking to students about their lives.

What I like least, is the SLOW place the technology is taking hold on the campus. The email system has a horrible spam filter, there is no wireless on campus, grades cannot be turned in online. That last item has bothered me since the day I stepped onto campus, six years ago, and it bothers me even more that over the past 6 years, the way grades are turned in has not changed at all.

Your biography?

You can read about my life on my webpage. I don’t want to bore anyone here.