de anza math teacher

the end of the de anza math teacher

2011-07-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

early one march morning, in 2001, i boarded a plane in lansing, michigan. that afternoon, i had an interview i remember almost nothing about, for a job i don't remember applying for, in a city i'd only just learned of a few weeks earlier. that was beginning of the de anza era.

this was followed by a lot of thinking on my part, several calls from the current undersecretary of education, trying to convince me that a move to california was the right choice, then a drive from michigan to california, to start my life as the de anza math teacher.

yesterday, i submitted my letter of resignation to de anza college.

one of my first days in the south bay was on september 11, 2001. not knowing anyone in the area, i went to campus, even though classes hadn't started yet. i wanted to be somewhere near people, and so i went to the only place i knew in the area - de anza college.

when classes started a few weeks later, i was listed as 'staff' in the course catalogue and jokingly told my class my name was 'mr. staff' - they didn't laugh. my relationship with students changed over the 8+ years i was there though. many moments of laughter, both in class and out, moments of sadness, anger (usually directed at me), and every emotion in between.

the students that made fun of my daily class opening, 'are there any questions?' that was lip synched by more students than i can count, on many a class beginning. the students who told me things they probably should not tell their instructor, because they felt comfortable enough to. the students who cried in my office, pleading for a grade change, or in frustration with how things going for them in class, and out.

the somewhat crazy (and also very good) problems students made up on assignments, the student who got a calculus tattoo while in my calculus class (he now has a Ph D in mathematics). the mps ceremony that brought me to tears and the one that humbled me. the gigantic birthday cake a class got for me one year. the class that cheered when i told them i got engaged and the students who told me how much they cared about me, when i found out my mother had terminal cancer.

i thought about listing all the students i remembered and how much they meant to me, but that would be a book.

i move on now, but i'm not going to be teaching. i haven't felt an itch to teach in a long time. i'm not sure if it's because i happened to fall into teaching in the first place and always wanted to try something else, or if i don't have an itch to teach because i would not be teaching at de anza.

regardless, the ghana flag is gone from my office door, and there is no futon to take naps on in my current office. the de anza math teacher is no more. he's just a guy now; kodwo in jeffersonia.

bye bye de anza. you will be missed

Closing my office for a while

2009-12-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

I was lying in bed this morning when I heard the garbage truck roll by. Every Tuesday it comes by and the same thing happens: Geordi, who has heard this truck every single week for the past 5 years pauses in the middle of whatever he's doing, then runs to the living room, as far from the noise of the truck as he can.

He's only going to hear that truck three more times, and then he's headed to Baltimore, where instead of garbage trucks rolling by, on schedule, every week, there will be fire trucks noisily going by, at random (my parents live a block from a fire station).

Lauren got back to Mountain View yesterday, after being in Oxford for the past 2+ months. Her coming back has changed the dynamic of the apartment - Geordi can't have her side of the bed all to himself and I found myself being very quiet last night as she took her jet-lagged self to bed. Her alarm is going off as I write this - I haven't heard that alarm in all the time she was gone.

The next few weeks are going to be spent packing, getting rid of some of our stuff, and seeing Bay Area folks for the last time before we head out. It's going to be a hectic three weeks, and I'm sure they will go by quickly, but I will try and savor the last 21 days I have here.

This is finals week at De Anza, and then the De Anza Math Teacher will not be a De Anza Math teacher for a while, and the blog will lay dormant because one cannot post as the De Anza Math Teacher when one is not a De Anza math teacher. I'll be moving my thoughts to a new blog, which has no postings as of this writing, but will be found here.

I thought my last post here would be more thoughtful, meaningful, or powerful, but I'm not a person who writes things to be thought provoking, meaningful, or powerful. I just write what's on my mind, and right now it's that garbage truck that rolled by 30 minutes ago, that I will hear three more times, chuckling to myself as I see Geordi make his dash for the living room.

Look-a-Likes

2009-11-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

I was in the Menlo Park Trader Joe's the other night, about to check out, when...

Trader Joe's employee: Don't you think he looks like Juan.
Other TJ's employee: Yeah, he does...Juan with dreadlocks.
Me: Who is this Juan?
TJ's employee: He works here, but he's not here now. You look just like him.

I'm sure just about everyone has had this type of experience before. I feel like I get this a lot - just today, someone told me that I look like their friend, who is a woman.

The most amazing "you look like..." story is from my junior and senior years in college. It was a series of "you look like.." situations, and several of them told me I looked like one specific person - Kevin.

More than a few times during those two years, I would have people come up to me, sometimes running, tap me on the shoulder, or say "hey" then see my face and say "oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else". This was odd, because not a lot of people at MSU looked like me in the late 1990s.

During the Spring semester of my junior year, I was in a cafeteria when a guy came up to me and something like this happened...

Guy: Hey, what's up?
Me (not having any idea who this person is): Nothing.
Guy: You don't remember me?
Me: No, I'm sorry, I don't know who you are.
Guy: We played basketball last week. You don't remember?
Me: I haven't played basketball is several years.

At this point, he got a little upset, thinking I was dissing him.

Guy: Man, you don't remember me, you're name's Kevin, right?!?
Me: No, my name is Jeff.

He was stunned. "Damn, you look just like this guy Kevin. I'm sorry, man".

That's how I learned Kevin's name. The next time someone mistook me for someone, I asked if the person's name was Kevin and sure enough, it was. This happened a couple of times during my senior year.

I told a friend about this Kevin story and they mentioned that there was a guy they had seen in the business school who looked "a little" like me. I decided to spend a lot of study time in the business library over the next several weeks.

I think I saw this Kevin once. There was a guy with dreadlocks, with glasses, about my build. I considered walking over and asking him his name but I didn't, because in my opinion, he looked nothing like me at all.

I don't know if that was Kevin, I guess I never will. Maybe it was Juan, and maybe he now works at the Menlo Park Trader Joe's.

Books

2009-10-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

I was talking to Lauren the other day when she said "I've finished the book". My response was, "I've almost finished my book". The difference is, Lauren has been working on writing a book for the past couple of years where I have been working on reading a book for the past 6-7 months.

People who know me well know that I'm not a reader (I feel like I've blogged about that in the past), but today, for my first blog in weeks, I want to blog about books.

I've been dealing with a lot of books over the last few weeks. I've made it my mission to spend some time every Saturday, usually during the evening college football games, packing. I've been working on our bookshelves, and last weekend, I started the scariest bookshelf of them all - Lauren's office bookshelf.

For some reason, I find that bookshelf intimidating. I think it's because of all the knowledge it contains. I think of it as Lauren's mini-research resource center, and I worried about putting something in storage that I shouldn't, or messing up in some way. Also, the books just look heavy on that bookshelf. When people say their head hurts when doing research, I look at those books, and I can see the weight they would put on a researcher. Scary.

I was listening to Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air the other day - she is a regular book reviewer on the program. I find her voice very soothing, which you probably didn't really need to know, but I do. She was reviewing some novel and said it would go on the shelf of books she reads over and over again. As someone who doesn't find reading particularly pleasurable, I don't see why anyone would want to read books over and over. I'm not saying I have anything against people who do - I actually admire people who like reading that much - I just can't relate. I can count on one finger the number of books I've read more than once ($5 for the first person who can guess what book it was).

In packing our books, I ended up with a stack of books I don't want (which was most of my "pleasure-reading" books). I thought to myself, "I"m never going to read these again, why keep them". If anyone wants any of them, get in touch.

About the book I'm almost done reading; I've been reading Freakonomics since March, reading a few pages here and there. With Lauren gone and no one to talk to at 11 PM at night, I find myself reading, partly as way to hear another person's thoughts, since the person's thoughts I usually hear at 11 PM is miles and miles away.

The Job Search Begins

2009-09-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

I sent off my first Oxford job application the other day. I hadn't planned on reaching the point of sending off applications so soon, but came across a job I think I could be a good fit for so I figured, why not apply?

It's been a long time since I've looked for a job. The last time I applied for jobs was during the 2000-2001 school year, when I made the decision to leave Michigan. It was a very different job search than this one is.

The biggest difference, which really hit me a couple of weeks ago, is the scope of where I can work. When I was looking for jobs back then, I didn't particularly care when I ended up; I just knew that I wanted to leave East Lansing, so I applied for job everywhere. Besides De Anza, I interviewed at a school in Chicago, was invited to interview for jobs in Austin, New Jersey, Bermuda, and with a Navy base in Korea. I also had a vague offer from a school in Massachusetts.

This time around, I'm somewhat limited. I'm pretty much restricted to looking for jobs in Oxford, a city with a population of about 150,000 people; that's small. Sure there are two universities in the town and who knows what else, but that somewhat limits how many jobs would be available for a person with experience teaching math and who has math and business degrees. Without a car while we're there, any job I look for pretty much has to be in Oxford.

Another issue is this idea I have of getting a job where I use my MBA. Many people who have MBA's have some experience that's related to business; I, of course, do not. This is a case of being over-educated to work in a low-level business position and not experienced enough to get a job that a typical MBA would get.

I've talked up so much my want to get a job where I use the MBA that I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that the job I applied for has nothing to do with with business; it is a teaching position.

The Kurtz Bounce

2009-09-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

When I was in college, I took two courses taught by Prof. Kurtz. I don't remember what classes, specifically, except that they were math classes. In fact, the thing I remember most from the classes taught by Prof. Kurtz is what I will call "the Kurtz bounce".

When he taught, he would move from left to right, along the board, as it got filled up with material - this is normal for anyone who uses the board to teach. But, after he got to the right end of the board (and also when he would finish going through a proof), he would quickly go up onto his tiptoes and back down again. It looked like a bounce. I always thought of it like a typewriter, when it would ding at the end of a line. It's almost like Prof. Kurtz had reached the right end of the board, and the bounce was a signal that he would now be starting on the left side; it was great.

I'm sure I have quirks of my own when teaching - I know that I tend to hold the back of my right hand to my chin, which sometimes leads to me getting chalk or marker on my face. I'm sure there are others my students know of that I have no idea I do.

Two teaching habits I do have stem from my very first teaching experience and stay with me to this day.

I can count the number of times I've not written out lesson plans on yellow legal pads. If you come to my office, I have a lot of yellow legal paper, filled with lessons I've taught over the years. At home, I'm staring at 4 thick, yellow, empty, legal pads waiting to be filled in with the chicken scratch I like to call my handwriting. The few times I've planned a class without a yellow legal pad, I've felt wrong, or dirty, in some way. The plans never looked right on the white paper, and I just felt like the classes I taught without yellow legal pads just didn't go well - it's all in my head, I know.

I never planned to be a teacher. To this day, I feel, in a small part, that I'm not supposed to be a teacher; like there is some Sliding Doors version of me in an alternate universe doing what I was "supposed" to do.

I was asked if I wanted to be a TA the Summer before I started grad school (by Prof. Kurtz, coincidentally). I said sure, I can grade papers, handle a section a week, no problem - I was assigned a class; to teach alone, 3 hours a week. The Friday before the semester started, I was handed a college algebra book and a yellow legal pad, and I've never let go of it.

When I walk into a room to teach, one of the first things I do is take my watch off and put it on the desk. I've only had one student who has ever asked me why I do this. It was several years ago, and when he asked, I didn't realize I did that everyday, and I couldn't give him an answer immediately. I thought about the question for overnight and into the next day, and then it hit me.

On that Monday, after I was handed a college algebra book and a yellow legal pad, I taught my first class at 8 am. I was a nervous wreck (but that's another blog post). I walked into the room, looked over the class and noticed there was no clock in the room. How was I to know when class was over? I didn't want to be one of those people who looked at their watch while doing their job (some think Bush Sr. lost to Clinton in 1992, because he did just that), so I put my watch on the desk. I could then check the time without, hopefully, being obvious.

Now, I teach in classrooms that all have clocks in them (and most of them are actually accurate), but I still take my watch off, and put it on the desk very soon after I get to the front of the classroom.

Two days in August 1998 created two habits I still carry with me 11 years later.

Ants

2009-08-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

2004

I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I thought about blogging about our trip to the East Coast, but everyone goes on vacation, so if you really care, you can look at Lauren's pictures.

I was going to check the mail the other day, walking by the apartment pool when I noticed a long line of ants. This was the same colony of ants that were in our apartment a couple days before, getting into Geordi's food, a line of them running to (and out of) our window. This blog is not about ants; it's about living and leaving, something I didn't let the ants in Geordi's food do - I killed them before they could get away.

As I saw those ants, for some reason, it hit me - we're moving out of this apartment in about 4 months. We got our visas the same day I saw those ants, kind of cementing that the move was going to happen. At the end of the year, we will be moving our stuff out and heading to Oxford (Lauren will actually be heading out in less than 4 weeks).

I've lived in this apartment longer than I have lived in any other place since I moved to the US at the age of 12. We've been here over 5 years now, 5 1/2 by the end of the year rolls around. I'm going to miss this place; the pool I never use, the stomping toddler that lives above us, the guy who kicks us offline when he thinks we're using too much bandwidth. You'd think I hate this place based on the last sentence, but I actually miss those things; the toddler has taught me to be more patient with kids, the internet guy has taught me to be more frugal with my internet use, the pool...the pool has taught me nothing, except reinforcing my idea that black people don't swim.

A couple of months ago, Lauren mentioned that she was hesitant to visit Baltimore, saying she had only so much time before moving out of the apartment. At the time, I didn't see what the big deal was, but that day, as I saw the ants, probably headed to some other apartment, getting into some other cat's food, I felt what she felt. I'm hesitant to go anywhere for the next few months, to savor this place I've lived for the past 5 years, with the toddler, the internet guy, and the ants.

2009

The end of the never-ending Quarter

2009-08-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

The never-ending quarter has come to an end. 18 straight weeks of teaching, the Spring and Summer Quarters. What now?

I've spent the weekend grading Trig Finals and, in general, wrapping up the Summer Quarter. I should start preparing for the Fall Quarter. I'm teaching a class I've never taught before at De Anza and another that I have not taught in several years. I keep saying I'm going to start planning and each day, I don't.

I've already started getting emails from students trying to get into my Fall classes (which I don't like getting, if you're a student thinking of emailing me) and I'm mainly ignoring them. I'll never like the waitlist system at De Anza, and I've complained about it enough in the past that I won't go into it now.

I'm going to be headed to Baltimore in the next few days, and spend a couple of weeks there. Baltimore in August is not fun, especially when there will be no air conditioning in the house. I'm preparing for a hot, humid, couple of weeks, hearing about the heat index on the weather reports and the afternoon thunder showers that bring (little) reprieve.

When I get back to the Bay Area, we get into high gear to get Lauren ready to head to Oxford - in some ways, we're already getting into high gear - I got fingerprinted for my visa the other day.

I wish I had more to say about the never-ending quarter: the classes, the students, and life in general over that time. Why would I want to relive that though? I complained about it before it started, so I'll just enjoy the fact that it has ended.

Bus People

2009-07-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Bus driver: You can't use this pass anymore. It's not a medical pass, it's because you're...you're...you're...
Woman: In transition?
Bus driver: Um, yes, it's for people in transition and it has expired.

The woman needed to pay $1 extra to get a day pass. She pulled out a $10 and $20 bill out of her purse. "Does anyone have change?" she said. No one responded. After about 30 seconds, a guy sitting a few rows behind her, listening to The Moth podcast reached in his backpack, pulled out his wallet and gave her $1. She said thanks, paid the fare, got her bus pass, and all was well.

I don't really know what it means to be "in transition" according to the VTA and how that can "expire", but I gave her the money because she seemed lost, like I apparently look like a lot of the time. So many people who ride the bus seem lost, both in the literal sense of not knowing if this bus will take them where they need to be, but also just not quite being where they need to be life.

I've been a bus rider a lot this summer. I've driven twice to work this summer, taking the bus the other 20-odd times. I've enjoyed it more than I did during the school year, partly because I'm not feeling the stress of having to do a lot of work done on a day-to-day basis, but also because of the scenes I've witnesses and been a part of.

On the same bus with the woman who needed $1 a couple got on, late teens I would guess. She was dressed up nicely, he was wearing a white t-shirt, shorts, and looked like he just woke up (it was 6 PM). He paid her fair from a ziplock bag of coins, then got off the bus. He waived to her in this giddy way of a guy who had an obvious crush on her, thinking the feeling was mutual. As the bus rolled off, she rolled her eyes and started checking her text messages. It's that sense of seeing both sides that I really liked about this. The guy thinking, can't wait to see her again and her thinking just the opposite.

Ethiopian Woman: Na-gli
Me: Na-gli?
Ethiopian Woman: Na-gli
Me: Na-gli???
Ethiopian Woman: Na-gli?!
Me: Na-gli? I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about.

She pulls out a bus map and points to it. Sure enough, there is a stop at The Alameda and Naglee, a street that I didn't know existed.

We got on the bus, I told the bus driver she needed to get to The Alameda and Naglee, but I didn't know where that was. He said no problem, and we were on our way.

I got off the bus at my favorite bus stop: Bernardo and El Camino. At 9 AM, the sun is brutal at the stop and sitting there leads to a lot of sweat and discomfort in a matter of minutes. I like this stop for one reason - the people from the shadows.

Right as the bus is on the other side of El Camino, approaching the bus stop, people seem to appear from all over the place, in the shade, to the bus stop. Sometimes as many as 10 people coming out of the shadows, so to speak. The first time, it kind of freaked me out. Now, I'm one of those people, those people from the shadows, one of those bus people.

Ghana

2009-07-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

So I was going to blog about Do the Right Thing this week; how it's been 20 years and talk about some of my favorite scenes from the movie.

But being that Obama is in Ghana this weekend, I thought this would be more appropriate (and probably a better read): Our Ghana blog, written in the summer of 2005.

Happy reading.

Working through the Summer - or not

2009-07-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

I kind of wish I had gone with teaching two classes this Summer instead of one. In the Winter and Spring Quarters, I taught 2 classes, had anywhere from 60-80 students, and graded quizzes and worksheets everyday (because I gave them everyday). I felt like I never had any time to myself, between grading and answering student emails, I felt like I was a tutorial email service at times.

This Summer I decided to try something different, as a way of giving myself a break; I would teach one class, have no worksheets, and give 7 quizzes over the course of the quarter. This has led to me having a lot of time on my hands. If I don't give a quiz (which will be most days), I don't have much work responsibility after about 1 pm. The thing is, I find that I don't really know what to do with myself for the rest of the day.

I don't really enjoy free time as much as most people do. People have told me to read a good book, or see a movie, but I've never been much of a reader, and don't have the patience to watch movies on a regular basis. I think I just like working, so I do things like clean, cook, and do laundry; all things I really enjoy doing. Maybe I should find part-time janitorial work.

I originally was going to teach 2 classes, but then thought about the last 2 summers and how hectic they were, so I decided to just teach one. The thing I neglected to think about was MBA classes; this is the first summer since 2006 where I am not enrolled in an MBA class while teaching Summer Session, so I have this time to kill.

What am I doing with this time? Stressing out, as much as a person as mellow as I am can. I'm looking into banking solutions for Lauren moving to Oxford in September, looking at housing in Oxford, jobs in Oxford, and trying to figure out what we're going to do with out cat when I leave in January.

I was talking to someone a few weeks ago, saying that I wouldn't know what to do in Oxford. The response I got was "there are lots of museums in the UK". That's not at all what I meant by "what to do"; I was thinking work-wise, not fun.

I almost feel guilty posting this because as I write this Lauren is working harder than she probably ever has, writing up her dissertation. Meanwhile I sit here, writing a blog, watching myself lip sync to Ella Fitzgerald and Eric Clapton on my webcam.

I really should have gone with teaching 2 classes this summer.

The Home Buddy for this Homebody

2009-06-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 19th: Geordi was supposed to go to the groomer's that day. We took him there, he didn't cooperate, they left him in his carrying case (that's a little too small for him), he pooped on himself, we brought him home, without the lion's cut we were hoping to get him.

The next day, he didn't seem right; not the usual morning wake up, seeming to be in pain. I just assumed he was having stomach problems, like he does every once in a while. He didn't seem to get better and at night, Lauren saw blood. We took him to the 24-hour vet, waited 1.5 hours. Who knew the emergency room was so busy for animals on a Saturday night - I guess it's for all those animals who party on the weekend and end up hurting themselves. Anyhow, he had urinal blockage. They would put a catheter in him, and we would have to leave him overnight.

Two days later, there was hope that he would be okay, but he wasn't. The vet said he was still blocked and they would leave in the catheter for another day. If that didn't work, they would have to operate. All the while, I could feel our bank account decreasing. "No surgery" I kept thinking to myself, "that would cost a fortune at the rates this vet charges".

It was odd to not have Geordi around. I found myself waking up much earlier than usual, which is odd since he is often the one who wakes me up. I would be working at home and hear a noise, assuming it was him, only to turn around and not see him there. It was odd to walk around the kitchen without stepping on the grains of litter he leaves everywhere, and seeing no new clumps of fur on the carpet brought a sense of sadness I didn't know I had.

I went to see him at the vet one of the days he was there and he just wasn't the same. He had a cone around his head to prevent him from licking himself. The nurses said he didn't like them, he would hiss and try to bite them every time they tried to do anything to him. Of course, I went in there and pet him, and got him to purr in a matter of seconds.

On Wednesday, he was free to go home. I went to pick him up and had to wait for over 30 minutes, on a Wednesday afternoon - I don't get the waiting at this place. Anyhow, he came home, walked to the middle of the living room and gave himself a good licking. I guess not being able to clean yourself for 3.5 days makes you feel kind of gross.

He was exhausted for that first day back. Passed out on the coffee table, not talking at all, which was good and bad at the same time. He seemed like a different cat. By Thursday afternoon though, he was back to normal - trying to get out of the apartment when I came home from work, fighting with me when I tried to brush him while napping, and sitting on papers I was trying to grade:

Lauren said to me a few weeks ago that it would be difficult for me when we move to Oxford and leave him behind. At the time, I kind of brushed it off, but after this past week, I realize how hard it will be for me to not have him around. I'm a homebody, and Geordi is my home buddy, and as he jumped on my lap this morning preventing me from getting up, and thus forcing me to watch E! News talk about Jon and Kate (like I need to see more of that crap), I didn't push him off. I sat there, and enjoyed the 30 minutes of him sleeping peacefully, on my torso, glad that he was back home.

"You were like a rockstar yesterday"

2009-06-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

I've never liked being the center of attention. I want to be the quiet guy no one notices in the room. To some extent, I am that person; I was voted Quaintly Quiet my senior year in high school, the quietest person in my class. People who know me now from purely a social standpoint, probably think of me as the quiet guy who avoids being the center of conversation.

For someone with this outlook, I seem to end up being the center of attention far more than you would think.

In high school I sang in the choir, and ended up with a number of solos, not the kind of the thing done by someone who doesn't want to be noticed. I also did musicals in high school, and if people didn't think of me as the quiet guy, they thought of me as the guy who sings.

In college, I purposely went to a gigantic university. Part of me wanted to be the number on my student ID and not the person, but having dreadlocks always brought attention, even though I never liked it.

For fun I play soccer. What position do I play? Forward - the position that scores goals and gets a lot of attention; somewhat odd for a person who doesn't want to be noticed. I really should be a defender if I don't want the attention.

Lastly, my job. A month before I ever taught for the first time, teaching was just about the last thing I wanted to do. I didn't want the attention that would bring, standing in front of a room and have students hang on my every word, but that's what I ended up doing, and what I've been doing for 11 years now.

This brings me to the title of this post. It was said to me on Friday, a day after the MPS end of year ceremony, by a colleague who happened to be in attendance.

For a little background, I'm an MPS instructor, and have had a bunch of the same students for the last 2 quarters. We have a ceremony at the end of the year, as many of the students have struggled with math and getting to this point is a big accomplishment.

At the ceremony, I had to put some papers on the podium for one of the speakers. I planned to walk up there quietly, while everyone was mingling, and get off the stage. The second I got on the stage, I realized I was be the furthest thing from a wallflower that day. There was a huge roar of applause as I stepped on the stage, throwing me off and making me feel uncomfortable. The applause went on until (and a little after) I got off stage.

Later in the ceremony, I was asked to say a few words. Again, huge applause, a few people were screaming. I had to wait for the crowd to settle down. My first words into the microphone were "I feel like Stephen Colbert", because of the raucous response he gets from his audience at the start of every show.

At that moment, I did feel like Stephen Colbert, like a rockstar, but I can't say I liked it. I don't like being the center of attention.

photo by Joel Avila

Birthdays

2009-06-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday.

I find that I don't remember my birthdays very much, at least not for the reasons you would think. I was talking to Lauren about this; how I seem to remember the bad birthdays better than the good ones. She thought it was because we have such high expectations for our birthdays, that they become very hard to live up to. I think this is the case for me, so I decided to write this blog about the birthdays I do remember.

The first birthday I remember was when I turned 13 - all my birthdays before that year are made up of pictures, not real memories. My family had moved to the U.S. nine months prior to my 13th, and we were in the process of moving from Illinois to Maryland. On my birthday, we were visiting Maryland (I don't think we had moved yet). I remember being in a food court, and getting ice cream, or something. Nothing really stands out, except that I'm taken back every time I go into that food court, to my 13th birthday.

The next birthday I vaguely remember was when I was 18. I actually don't remember the specifics of the day, but I do remember that it was the day before my high school graduation. No one seemed to care that it was my birthday; it was all about graduation.

From birthdays 23 to 25, I happened to be in other countries.

I was in Guatemala when I turned 23, and spent the day getting from Tikal to Antigua, flying into Guatemala City, and then bussing to Antigua. I remember calling my parents at a phone, and then running through the rainy summer night, because I didn't have an umbrella.

My 24th birthday was spent in Barcelona. I remember waking up early, going to the empty beach, climbing onto a lifeguard tower and looking into the beautiful blue Mediterranean Sea. I took a picture, but it didn't come out. This was back in the days of film cameras and it was the last shot on the roll, and didn't make it. That moment, of me standing on the tower is the favorite birthday memory I have. It was just me, the beach, and the sea. I can still see it and smell it, when I close my eyes.

That evening, I was involved with an altercation with pick pockets - they got nothing from me, and I almost got something from them - but that's another story for another day.

My 25th birthday was in Vancouver. I was taking an ESL certification class. My class went out to dinner for the event, and during dinner a classmate some very racist and sexist remarks. This resulted in the rest of us attacking him, and him dropping out of the class because he felt uncomfortable. I don't know if that was really a bad memory, because he was a jerk.

On my 28th birthday, I decided to fast for 24 hours, midnight to midnight. I did it, I got a migraine, I remember that birthday well.

On my birthday last year, when I turned 32, I was looking forward to the rare Saturday birthday, until I saw the MBA class schedule for that term - I would have a class from 9-1 on my birthday. Things got worse when I saw the syllabus for the class - we would have an exam on that day. As it turned out, after the exam, the professor wanted our group to meet with him for a group project. This resulted in a 45 minute meeting and making about 2000 copies after that, at a location 10 miles away from class. I ended up being involved in class stuff from 9 to almost 3.

So this year, I've made it a plan to do as little as possible. I figure if I have no expectations, maybe I'll not have anything negative remember about the day. I'd rather have a birthday I don't remember than one I remember for the wrong reasons.

In My Mind I'm Gone to Michigan

2009-05-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

I left Michigan almost exactly 8 years ago. It's hard to believe that it's been that long; it's hard to believe that I've lived in California longer than I ever lived in Michigan. For some reason, every time I hear Carolina in My Mind, I think of Michigan - I know, it makes no sense.

People talk about a certain time of your life that clings to you, the time you grow up, the "time of your life". That time came for me in Michigan. I never felt like an adult in Maryland - I still don't, when I go back to visit my family; I still feel like the awkward guy, who doesn't really believe in himself, and has no assertiveness.

That's one of the reasons I went to school so far away from Towson. I wanted to grow up, so I only applied to schools that were far from home - Georgia Tech, Clemson, Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, and Maryland (not far from home, but there was no way I was going to go there, unless I was rejected from every other school).

Michigan State was not my top choice, not even my second choice, but when a school says they will pay your tuition, you listen. So I ended up in East Lansing, not knowing a soul, and ended up living there for seven years.

There is nothing in particular I miss about Michigan; when I lived there all I thought about was moving away. But lately, with the economic situation the state is in, every time I see an ad for the state (I see more ads from the state of MI than any other state), I get this sadness, this longing to go back.

I didn't see much of Michigan when I was there, so my memories are primarily of the MSU campus in Fall, Winter (beautiful to look at, not so beautiful to live through), and Spring. I don't know if I just want to go back to see the campus, or actually see more of the state.

Either way, I don't really see when I will be able to get back to Michigan. I have no family there, I never seem to have to go there on business of any kind, and so if I go, I would be going for the sake of going to Michigan, and with the economy the way it is, I don't know if that's money I would want to spend.

So instead, I sit here, thinking of the life I had 8-15 years ago.

Oxford

2009-05-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

So I'm thinking of moving to the UK.

At some point in my relationship with Lauren, I realized that I would have to move at some point; her job would move us. She was in her first year in her Ph.D. program when I met her, and 5 1/2 years later that point has arrived.

When Lauren started the job search, I said I would be not have a problem moving for a tenure-track position, one that offered more long-term stability, but a post-doc, which would last 1-3 years, with another move after that, would be problematic.

Over the past year, she applied for a number of tenure-track positions, and just missed out on a couple of them. I had accepted that the move would not be happening this year, and I would be at De Anza for at least one more year - then post-doc positions started coming up in several places around the country, and one in Oxford. The way Lauren talked about it, I didn't think she would get the Oxford position, so I wouldn't have to worry about uprooting; then the invitation to interview came, she was off to Oxford, then the offer came, and here we are.

Oxford is far away - 8 time zones away, an 11 hour flight, plus a 90-minute bus ride. That's far away. Looked at that way, the whole not-going-to-move-for-a-post-doc decision is tougher to make.

I've not made a final decision yet. I've agreed to teach an MPS class in the Fall, and it's hard to find people willing to teach those classes, so I'll at least be at De Anza through the Fall quarter, but I'm still somewhat undecided about what happens beyond that.

The decision is complicated by other factors, including finances and jobs.

Apparently I can go on leave from De Anza for two years, and come back. If this option was not on the table, I would feel like moving to Oxford would be a bad decision, for the sake of job security. But, by taking a 2-year leave I would be giving up two years of guaranteed income, for possibly sitting in an Oxford flat with nothing to do.

Most people I've talked to have said that I should go, but I don't think most people realize how good my work situation is. The thought of not having such a great job scares me.

I have this idea that this would be an opportunity to use the MBA I paid a ton of money to get, but with the economy the way it is, I worry that I would move to Oxford and not get a job. As someone who has been at the same job for 8 years, and has only worked in one profession, the thought of looking for work I have no experience doing makes me feel somewhat like a kid going to school for the first time (I hated my first day of school, and many days after).

So, I sit here, thinking, doing research, and wondering if I'll be in Oxford next year.

Hot!

2009-05-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

It is very hot this weekend.

I had soccer practice this morning and a German guy was complaining about how hot it was. Another person asked if it ever got this hot in Germany. He responded by saying it did, but he would never think of playing soccer in that kind of weather; he would sit in a pool instead. An Algerian added that this weather was like winter in Algeria. Someone said I should be able to handle the heat because of my West African upbringing and roots.

One of the reasons I love the game of soccer is this kind of talk. Not talk about the weather, specifically, but talk of culture. It's cool to talk to an Italian, German, Algerian, a Dane, all in the matter of a minute, each bringing their own culture to the conversation.

I'm not saying these kinds of conversations don't come up in other cases, but in soccer, it's all there, it all matters, and doesn't matter at the same time. We are different, we have different backgrounds, that we bring to the soccer field (for those who don't know, different cultures are known for their different styles of play of the beautiful game).

After I gave up practicing (sadly, the West African caved to the heat quicker than the Dane), I came home and jumped into our newly redone pool. You can read about the pool in my last post.

I'm not really a pool person (black people don't swim), but it was calling me. Knowing I was going to be washing my hair soon anyway, so it wouldn't matter if it got wet. I jumped in, with my soccer shorts; I think I was the first person in the pool since it had reopened last week. I can count the number of times I've been in that pool on one hand; I've lived right next to the pool for five years. But it's hot this weekend, and the heat does things to you.

The Pool

2009-05-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago, we got a letter from the owner of our apartment complex; the pool was going to be worked on. It was unclear exactly what was going to be done with it, something about re-plastering the bottom, painting it, I don't know these things because construction/maintenance has never been my thing.

We were told we could not go into the pool area, and our porch gate would be locked with a lock we didn't have a key to, to prevent us from doing so. It seemed a bit extreme to me, but I guess that's what you have to do to avoid a lawsuit when some moron decides to go diving into an empty pool.
The work started with draining of the pool and 5-6 guys that would get to the pool area at about 9 am. One of them always was wearing a Harvard sweatshirt (I strongly doubt he's a graduate, but who am I to judge?). There would be loud noises, Geordi would hide somewhere all morning, which was not necessarily a bad thing. I would go to work with them still here. When I got home at 8 pm, everything would be quiet again, and Geordi would be back to his usual antics.
The work continued, wheelbarrows left in the empty pool over the weekend, random pieces of cement here and there. I was wondering how long it would take them to get through this after 3 weeks of what seemed like little progress. Then all of a sudden over this past week; one day the pool is completely re-plastered, the next day, it was completely repainted, the day after that the odd noise started at about 11 pm. Our upstairs neighbors running water, for what seemed like forever. We've often thought they were wasteful when it came to water, but this went on and on, deep into the night (Lauren tells me, because I was passed out sleeping).
The next morning, I realized what it was; it wasn't the neighbors, the pool was full of water.
So, it looks like the pool is back to normal. You can walk around it, as I've done, and probably go into it, if it wasn't 60-something degrees outside. For some reason though, we're still locked into our porch with a lock we don't have a key to. I don't know why we're being deprived of our porch gate.

The Alan Test

2009-04-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

Socializing has always felt like work to me. I have to think about what I'm going to say to people I don't know that well, attempt to get over my shyness so I don't look like a wallflower (which usually ends up happening). When I'm standing talking to no one, I think to myself "why did I come? I don't want to be here." I've been told I may suffer from some form of social anxiety, that it's more than just being shy. Who knows?

One of the reasons I love my wife is because she has grown to understand that socializing is not something I particularly enjoy. I once said I would rather have a filling filled, without anesthesia, than go to certain social event, which may sound extreme, but it was true.

I also don't really like sitting at home, watching 48 Hours Mystery on a Saturday night (although, for some reason I've gotten a little hooked on that show) so we have, or maybe I have, developed the Alan test.

Alan is a spouse of a friend of Lauren's. He represents, to some degree, all partners of Stanford linguistics graduate students. At times, I've gone to social outings with Lauren where I was the only partner, and it always feels a bit more uncomfortable when that happens. The Alan test works as follows:

Lauren: Honey, do you want to go to _____?
Me: Will Alan be there?

If Alan, or some other partner, will be there, I'm more likely to go. If she doesn't know if other partners will be there, I tend not to go.

I should mention that Alan is a lot more social than I am. I've heard him talking about things ranging from his feelings about absentee voting to the concept of ex-cons becoming cops. I'm not so good at talking about whatever, but I'm happy to listen to other people, because then I can at least feel like I'm being social.

My aunt, knowing that I never seem to know what to talk about with strangers, once sent me an article from some Sunday newspaper. It was called "How to be a good dinner party guest", or something. The article suggested you bring up pets when you don't know anything about the person you're talking to. The reasoning was that people would either have some kind of history with pets they would like talking about, or have some story explaining why they don't like pets. Knowing my luck, I'd end up talking to someone, like our old neighbor, who seemed to despise pets, and go on and on about it. I don't need that - who does, really?

As luck would have it, Lauren was going to a social event last night, and Alan was going to be there. I had to decide. I ended up not going, because I'd been grading papers, working all day and didn't want to keep working at night because socializing has always felt like work to me.

Sick

2009-04-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

I've never had the flu.

That's a statement I've said many times. I've had people describe what the flu feels like, and I usually end up staring blankly at them, unable to relate. They sometimes get a little irritated and give up. Most of the time the response is "Really!?!?".

This week has been flanked by illness. On Monday, I had a nasty migraine that knocked me out for the evening. I was walking around with a hot pack on my head (the only thing that seemed to make the pain manageable that night) and went to bed early, hoping it would go away with sleep; it did. At the end of the week, I got a cold (and still have it). I've been blowing my nose and filling trash cans with Kleenex.

I don't really get sick, at least that's what I tell myself. I've never missed work due to illness, and even went to a meeting on Friday that I didn't need to go to, even though I felt crappy. I've sung in choirs while having a sore throat, taught with a throbbing head, even went to pilates class yesterday, when I probably should have stayed at home. I do this because I'm stubborn; I refuse to be sick.

I've still never had the flu.

When I was about one, I apparently was very ill. The way my mother tells it, she was worried I was going to die. Of course, I have no memory of this illness. My parents also had a cat at that time, I believe they named it Stupid, for obvious reasons (my dad will correct me, if I'm wrong). About the time of my near-death, Stupid cat went missing, or died (my dad will correct me, if I'm wrong). After Stupid was gone, I got better. On more than one occasion, my mom has said the cat gave its life so that I could live. I like to say the cat gave me nine lives, so I never get sick, except for the occasional hairball.

That's the superhero cat-man version of why I never get get sick.

I've never had the flu, but I have had malaria - multiple times.

Growing up in Nigeria, everyone got malaria. I know there are these stats that a child dies every 30 minutes from the disease, and I do recommend you go here to help out, but those are the serious cases. Everyone I knew as a kid had malaria, but I didn't know anyone that died of the illness.

My dad once said (and he will correct me, if I'm wrong) that malaria has a 5-day life cycle: Day 1- you feel sick, Day 2 - you feel really sick, Day 3 - you feel so sick you think you're going to die, Day 4 - you feel so sick you wish you were dead, Day 5 - you get better. To top it off, I had a strange reaction to the medication; I acted out my dreams, including once wielding a knife at a cupboard until several people had to hold me down.

Getting through malaria really builds up the immune system. This is the non-superhero, sciency version of why I think I've never had the flu.

I spend this Sunday sneezing and hoping I get over this cold soon, hoping that I can teach tomorrow without feeling the least bit ill, hoping this is not the end of my cat-like immune system and this doesn't turn into the flu, because I'd like to keep saying....

I've never had the flu.

Mom Can Be Right - Sometimes

2009-04-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've had a number of friends whose parents use some guilt trip or another to get their kids to do things they don't want to do. My parents don't seem to hold grudges about choices their children have made. I really admire this about my parents. This doesn't mean we never disagree, it just means we respect each others' thoughts, choices, and decisions. I can even respect my mom's decision to wait 6 weeks to decide to buy a plane ticket to Ghana, even though I completely disagree with her thinking.

This may seem unrelated, but I like to think I get my "kitchen style" from my parents. I learned to bake and cook from my mother, and learned about fusion from my dad (the man loves peanut butter and broccoli sandwiches - I know, I don't get it). I love to mix my food types, using a fried plantain as a wiener (not recommended), pasta with tamales, frying udon noodles and eating them with creamed corn, and putting cereal in my oatmeal. Even though I'm not a foodie, anytime my parents bring up something kitchen-related, I listen.

Back in November, I went to Baltimore for a couple of weeks. While I was there, we were talking about palm oil for some reason. If you've never had palm oil, you should know that it stains EVERYTHING; hands, dishes, and in the modern freeze-it-and-eat-the-rest-later world we live in, tupperware. My dad told me how my mom had heard that putting palm oil-stained tupperware in the sun would get rid of it. He hadn't believed it, but then tried it, and was shocked; I still didn't really believe it. I'm one of these seeing is believing people, so I was not satisfied with my parents saying it worked, although I said nothing at the time.

Fast forward to last week. I took pasta (with some fake chicken from the Chinese grocery store thrown in for some fusion) to work, in tupperware. I used the same tupperware for 3 days during the week, watching the tomato sauce stain get worse and worse each time I used it.

On Thursday night Lauren mentioned that I had stained the tupperware. I decided to experiment. Tomato sauce is not palm oil, but if it works on nasty palm oil, it must work on tomato sauce, right? I washed the tupperware on Thursday night, and took a picture of it at 8:45 am on Friday morning. Here it is...

Friday was overcast. The sun barely came out. I still put it out, moving it from room to room, to get the most outside light as possible. I didn't wash the tupperware on Friday evening. On Saturday, at 8:45 am, I took this picture....

It was sunnier on Saturday, so I repeated the process, moving the tupperware from room to room, and took at picture this morning (Sunday) at 8:45 am.....

I can't explain how it works, but it's amazing!!!

My parents were right - this time. Now if I can just convince my mom to buy that plane ticket, I'll be happy.

The Last Break Before the Never-Ending Quarter

2009-04-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to post a blog every weekend. I don't know how long this will last, but maybe me publishing this will guilt me into actually sticking to it.

Tomorrow is the start of what I like to call the never-ending quarter. Spring quarter starts on April 6 and runs until June 26. Summer quarter starts on June 29 (the Monday after Spring ends) and runs until early August. In all, there is an 18-week stretch of classes, with only Memorial day as a holiday. In Spring I teach Statistics, in Summer, I'm scheduled to teach Trigonometry.

I've been told the reason for not having a break between Spring and Summer is to accommodate the semester school students who want to take summer classes at De Anza and go back to their schools, which usually start in mid-August. While I understand this argument, I don't agree with it. It seems like the school ends up putting other students' needs ahead of those of the year-round De Anza students, who end up taking classes for 18 straight weeks, with no break. I won't go on about this, but I've said my piece.

This past week was spring break. I wish I could say I did a lot of this:

...but I didn't. I saw a lot of that; on our bed, our futon, our dining room table, our coffee table, my office chair, Lauren's office chair, my lap, my torso, my torso while I was trying to do work that was on my lap. In all, it was a restful week for Geordi.

I worked, didn't get much sleep (got 6 hours last night for no reason other than I couldn't get to sleep and woke up at 6:30 for no reason), saw a 3 movies, and watched the MSU mens basketball team make it to the championship game, where they face UNC, the beast of mens college basketball.

That was basically my break. I think I'm ready for the new quarter, but I never like the first day. It's always filled with dealing with more administrative stuff than I care for, and dealing with students who don't understand that a class that is supposed to have no more than 35 students can't possibly have 50 students in it.

NCAA Basketball

2009-03-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

I've never been a basketball player; I'm short. In the summer of 2001, I was playing basketball with some people who had played in high school. One of them told me I played like a power forward, but didn't have the height. He said that I played tough, played good defense, played like I wanted to punish anyone who was trying to score, but I'm short. I played bigger than I am, but I'm short, and can't really stop anyone taller than 6 ft. tall.

Because I'm not a basketball player, I'm a basketball watcher. I LOVE co llege basketball, but I don't care much for the NBA. Apparently, at least in the Bay Area, I'm very much in the minority. No one seems to follow college basketball here. I've talked to students who claim to know college basketball, and I feel like I'm talking to my mom. A student told me this year, that they thought Stanford would make it to final four; Stanford didn't even make it into the tournament, and was one of the worst teams in the Pac 10.

In my view college basketball is so much more entertaining than the NBA, particularly in the post-season. One game makes or breaks a team in college; in the NBA, teams play best of 7, which sometimes drag on for nearly 2 weeks. That leads to my second point. The NCAA tournament lasts 3 weeks, with no games on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, a total of 10 days of games. The NBA playoffs last for an eternity, have games constantly, many of which mean nothing; does anyone really care about the 1st game of the 1st round of the playoffs? If the higher ranked team loses that game, they have many other games to make up for it. You lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and you're going home.

There seems to be almost no emotion in early games in then NBA playoffs, just another day at the office, ho hum, the day is done. In the NCAA you see guys filled with emotion after a win or a loss.

There is also this link that binds college basketball fans. As an MSU alum, I can wear an MSU t-shirt after a big game, and hear people shout "go green", or "go Spartans", because there is that connection. No one would make contact with a stranger wearing an Orlando Magic shirt if they won a big game. People would just think you're jumping on the bandwagon after a win - like when EVERYONE was wearing Warriors gear after they won in the first round of the playoffs a couple of years ago. Is there a real bond there? Why don't I see these people wearing Warriors this year? Because they stink.

College basketball fans, true college basketball fans, are fans for life. I love college basketball, and I can't see why I never would feel that way. So, as the final four is set, I'm looking forward to watching 3 more basketball games, and then looking forward to the 2010 March madness (with opening games in San Jose).

Math 10

2009-03-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching statistics next quarter. I'm not looking forward to the first day.

Over 45 students have been told they will get seats in classes that should only have 35. In addition, because the classes I'm teaching are geared to students who have had problems in math, they should be limited 25 students.

I understand that students (and their counselors) want to take a class that would offer them time to spend more time on the material, in the hopes of being successful. I wonder though, if they realize that in a class that big, they cannot expect to be successful.

The Oscars

2009-02-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

So I have to talk about the Oscars. I'm kind of late this year, posting this so soon before the ceremony, but I was able to see all 5 best pictures nominated, and came up with my ranking.

In my opinion, Slumdog Millionaire was the best of the bunch. The directing was good, the editing was fantastic, and the music, I loved the music. It was a movie that I felt 'took me there', if that makes sense. Not to the Millionaire show, but to the lives the kids lived. It was a very good movie. I saw this movie on Thanksgiving day, after playing soccer, and I had a pretty bad headache while watching it. When I see movies with a headache, I usually don't like them, so that says something about this movie.

My second favorite was Frost/Nixon. I think this was the best acted movie of the nominees. Personally, I think Frank Langella should win the Oscar for best actor, but he won't, but that's another blog. The movie did a very good job of making me feel the tension in the room when Frost and Nixon squared off. When the movie was over, there was applause. This was the only movie of the 5, where the audience applauded the movie. It was very good, and is just behind Slumdog for me.

Milk was also a very well acted movie. The ensemble was very good, and I think James Franco should have been nominated for best supporting actor (again, another blog). There was something about the pacing of this movie, that bothered me, and, even a week after seeing it, I can't figure out what it was. I found myself wondering what time it was during the movie, which is not a good sign, but I can't think of anything I would cut.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was the best special effects movie of the lot, and I think I would rank it higher, if it wasn't so long. There were scenes that I didn't think were necessary, and some scenes were just too long. The acting in this movie was not at the same level as the others, and I personally don't think Brad Pitt will ever win an Oscar for acting - he's just not that good of an actor. It was a good movie, and probably was deserving of the nomination, but I didn't see that many movies in 2008, so I can't really say.

The Reader is odd. It had the 2nd best acting performance of the movies nominated (see Frost/Nixon for my favorite acting performance), but I felt the first half of the movie really dragged. The first half lasts about a month of time, and the rest of the movie spans over 30 years. I felt that the first half was catering to the soft core porn academy voters. It was just overkill, I thought, and could have been cut down. This movie should have been about 1 hour and 45 minutes, instead of the over 2 hours that it is. That being said, Kate Winslet is amazing in this role, and she is truly one of the finest actresses (if not the finest) working in movies right now.

Well, there's my list. There were other movies I would recommend, that didn't get nominated, namely The Visitor, which no one saw. The Wrestler is getting a lot of buzz, but I haven't seen it yet, so I can't say much about that.

Overall, I think the crop nominated this year is weaker than last year (except for Atonement, which was crap), but if Slumdog Millionaire wins this year, I will be on a 4-year winning streak of picking the best picture.

Extra Credit

2009-02-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

Extra credit is a weird thing.

Someone asked me the other day if I would give extra credit to students who get tutoring; my response, of course, was no. But it got me thinking about the odd mentality extra credit can bring about in some students.

I had a class a few years ago that was not doing something I wanted them to do. I said I would give them 1 point extra credit, if they did said thing; everyone did it. There were over 500 points possible in the class, but that one point meant more to some of the students than all the others. Why? I have no idea. The students who had the worst grades (who never did the 'regular' credit) were among the first to do the extra credit. Needless to say, that 1 point didn't really help their grades.

Why would you be willing to do something for 3 points of extra credit, while neglecting a 20-point assignment? I've had this happen, multiple times, and I don't get it. Is it that sense of getting something for nothing; except it's not for nothing, and what good is it, if you haven't done the non-extra credit work you should have done in the first place?

I once had a professor who said he had a fantasy of giving A's to all of his students in his last semester on the job. He would do this, without their knowledge, to get them to work just as hard as they otherwise would. I have a fantasy of having an all extra credit class in my last semester on the job, but to get an A, you'll have to get 90% of the extra credit right, 80% would get you a B, and so on....

Radiolab

2009-01-29T23:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't known what to blog about, so I figured I would blog about my latest obsession.

A student saw me on campus today; my sunglasses on, my headphones in. I guess I walked right by, ignoring their attempts to say hi, because I couldn't hear them. In class, I was asked what I was listening to so attentively that the world passes me by without my knowledge. My response: podcasts.

For the past year or two, when I've happened to be in my car on Saturdays between 1 and 2 pm, I would hear bits of this odd show, Radiolab. The editing is crazy, and I assumed it was given that name, because of the editing - like experimenting with radio.

On our trip to Arizona, we decided to listen to a bunch of podcasts - Fresh Air, Car Talk, This American Life, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, and Radiolab. I have to admit, the trip got me hooked on Radiolab.

I've heard stories of a woman who is two people in one (she has two different sets on DNA, organ by organ), a guy who always hears music in his head, a guy who had a fly come to life by living off the flesh in his skull, that children may not grow while under extreme stress, and the gross mis-diagnosis of SIDS in the early 1900s.

Radiolab is, in the hosts' words, a science show that takes you back to 3rd grade, when science was more fun than it would ever be again (for most people).

So I ride the bus, go to the gym, walk through campus, walk to the grocery store, listening to my new obsession; until the next one comes along.

MBA-free

2009-01-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

I left for work today, at about 10:30 am, thinking to myself, that I would not be back until 8 pm. It's going to take some time to adjust to my afternoon/evening teaching schedule, and I'm still working out the kinks as far as when I'm going to eat; I get migraines when I don't eat, but I never really feel hungry, so I can go long periods of time, not realizing I haven't eaten, until the migraines come.

Anyhow, at the end of the day, at 7:16 pm, I was sitting in my office, updating my facebook status and wondering when my transcript would show what grades I got in my MBA classes that ended in October (why does it take 3 months for grades to show on an unofficial transcript? Isn't everything computerized these days?). So, I'm sitting there, and I feel no stress and no real tiredness; I'd been teaching for 4 1/2 hours straight, went to pilates, and was getting ready to get home. I didn't feel the least bit anxious, as I often do on weekday evenings, worried that there was some work that needed to be done, that wasn't.

Then it hit me. It's 7:16 pm on a weekday, and I'm in my office, updating my facebook status. I'm not sitting in a 4-hour MBA class, I'm not reading a book for an MBA class, I'm not doing MBA homework, working on an MBA group presentation/paper, not looking at the syllabus of an MBA instructor, wondering what their class will be like. I'm not even looking for a place where I can get a cheap MBA textbook (preferably an international edition). I'm not doing any of these things. I'm updating my facebook status.

In fact, the only MBA concern I have at the moment is, why can't they put the freaking grades on the transcripts, because I need to turn them in as part of my sabbatical requirement.

Even though I was done with the MBA in October, for some reason, at 7:16 pm today, I felt completely MBA-free.

Into 2009

2009-01-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

The Arizona trip was wrapping up (you can see pictures here), and we knew we wanted to do something for New Year's Eve, since we were in the LA area, but didn't really know what. We had tossed around the idea of going to the Santa Monica area, but hadn't looked into anything. Ellen (my aunt) told us of a party she was going to, so we decided on that, because whenever we toss around an idea (as we did with Santa Monica), it usually ends up with us walking around aimlessly, and realizing we should have planned better.

We were to meet up with Don and Ellen on the evening on the 31st, at their place, then head to the party. Ellen wasn't feeling well, we tossed around more ideas, and ended up going to the Hollywood and Highland area of Hollywood, where we walked around, ate at Mel's Diner, felt really cold, and didn't understand why some women felt the need to dress so scantily in 45-degree weather.

It was cold, so we decided to head back early. We thought it might hit midnight on the subway back to our car (it did not), while Lauren was in 7-11 buying water (it did not), while we bought gas (it did not). For the record, I thought we would make it back to our hotel before midnight (we did not).

We were on Van Nuys Boulevard when midnight hit. I pulled into a closed gas station, kissed my beautiful wife, attempted to honk the horn (being that it was a rental, it took me a little while), and headed back to our hotel, where we promptly took our computers to the lobby (the only place that got a wireless signal) and checked our email.

We drove back to Mountain View on the 1st day of 2009.

2009 is going to be an odd year, in the numerical sense and otherwise. Lauren is on the market this year (I love the phrase 'on the market'), so I'm not sure where I'll be on the 1st day of 2010. It's that same kind of feeling, though I don't remember feeling it, in your last year of high school or college, where you don't know where you'll be come next fall. The difference is, I have less of a say in this case. We go where Lauren feels is the best fit for her, and of course, there is the possibility that she doesn't get a job (I hope that doesn't happen), in which case we'll be where we are now, next year.

When I bring up the thought of us moving, people often seem surprised, especially when I don't seem to see what the big deal is. 'Why can't she get a job around here?' is the most common question. The answer I often give: She's in a narrow discipline that has about 10 openings around the world every year. People have a hard time wrapping their heads around that; in any given year, there are more openings for presidents of a country than for tenure-track, sociolinguist, positions.

So, who knows where I'll be on the 1st day of 2010? Probably visiting family, or driving to/from visiting family, but where I'll be on the 11th day of 2010 remains a mystery.

The Annual Trip to Arizona

2008-12-24T15:27:00.000-08:00

I don't really know what to blog about. The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful; got tickets to see Wicked (in June), went to the California Academy of Sciences, all fine and good, but not really blog worthy.

We're on our annual pilgrimage to Arizona now, I'm in Flagstaff as I write this, with a bunch of snow on the ground, and more falling from the sky.

Having a father born in Flagstaff (and very proud of it), snow in Arizona has never seemed odd to me. I know it can bug Lauren when people are shocked to hear that all of Arizona is not a desert, and it hit me over the summer, when I was talking about my bed and breakfast idea in my MBA capstone class. My business plan was to open a bed and breakfast in Flagstaff. I mentioned to people that Flagstaff appealed to skiers, and a couple of people looked at me like I was crazy. I wasn't, and I have pictures to prove it:

The view from the Lew house

The San Francisco Peaks...

...and me in front of them

From here, we head to Mesa, where we will visit my grandmother, as well as my parents, uncle, and aunt, who all make the pilgrimage to Mesa in December to pay homage to the Shirley matriarch, Shirley Shirley. Yes, her first name and last name are both Shirley.

After the Mesa visit, we're heading to Bisbee, to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. We are not sure what exactly there is to do is Bisbee, and its surroundings, but I'm sure we'll come up with something. We also plan to cross the border into Mexico while there, so I can keep my streak of years going, where I have spent some time (even if it's only a few hours) outside of the U.S.

We then go to Tucson, Lauren's old stomping grounds, then two days in L.A., then back to Mountain View.

Teaching starts soon after we get back, and I'm kind of nervous. Not about the teaching, but about my body. I'm worried about losing my voice during the first week, after such a long layoff from teaching, and my back holding up - it tends to hurt when I stand for a while, and I will be teaching for 4 1/2 hours straight, 4 days a week. I'm sure I'll be fine after a week or two, but I'm not looking forward to the first week of the quarter.

But now is not the time to worry about next month, so....

Happy Holidays!

My Fall of College Football

2008-12-03T08:21:00.000-08:00

I went to a football school, Michigan State University. Sure the team has lived in the shadow of Michigan (until this year), Ohio State, and Penn State, but MSU is a football school. Spartan Stadium regularly packs in 75,000 fans on Saturdays, during the Fall semester, of that school that lies on the banks of the Red Cedar.

I, like many MSU students, followed Big 10 football (which actually has 11 teams, go figure) religiously, while I was there. In the 10 years since I graduated, that feeling kind of faded. I got more into MSU basketball, especially after they won the national championship. MSU football suffered for several seasons, and it was hard to find a place to catch a bad Big 10 team on TV, when you live in the heart of Pac-10 country.

This Fall though, I got into college football again. Maybe it was because I was on sabbatical and had a somewhat more flexible schedule; maybe it was because Lauren wasn't home much on the weekends, and I didn't know what else to do with my time; maybe it was because MSU had a better season (9-3) than they had had in years. Whatever the reason, I found myself following college football more than I had since I was in college.

It was different this time though; yes, I rooted for my team and wore my MSU t-shirt every time the team took the field. But it was more than that; I read about college football, followed the craziness that is the Big XII (this may mean nothing to you, but Texas was robbed), watched games on Saturday nights, and jumped out of my chair in shock when Texas Tech beat Texas. I felt more strongly that the BCS is a crock, and college football needs a playoff, like every other NCAA sport. I even went to a Stanford game, although the fact that we could sit just about anywhere we wanted, because of the lack of attendance, didn't do much for the college football spirit in me.

I write this now, because the college season is coming to an end. This weekend marks the end of the non-bowl season, and two teams will be chosen to play in a national championship game. I won't watch much football after this weekend. Bowl games have never done much for me, and I usually miss a lot of them, because they are not played on Saturdays, like college football games the rest of the season. I'm sure I'll try to see the bowl game MSU plays in (and wear my t-shirt), and probably watch a little bit of the championship game (although I'll probably be at work for the first 1/2 of the game). This was my Fall of college football. The cringing of watching my team lose, the joy of seeing them win, and the madness of college sports takes a break for me......until March Madness begins.

November 27, 2003

2008-11-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

People don't often remember the day before a major event in their lives. How many people remember what they did the day before Kennedy was shot, or on September 10, 2001? At the time, it was just another day. For some reason, I do remember what I did on November 27, 2003.

It was Thanksgiving, a holiday I don't care much for, partly because I'm a vegetarian and partly because food doesn't play as big a role in my life as so many Americans. I lived on Claremont Avenue at the time, in Oakland, a few blocks south of Berkeley.

I had found a pick-up soccer game in Walnut Creek (about 15 miles from where I lived) and I headed there for the first (and last) time late that morning. I played for an hour or two, had a good time, and then came back home.

I was having Thanksgiving dinner at the house of a relative of my aunt's, in San Jose. I had agreed to make a vegetable medley, which included cactus that I got from the Berkeley Bowl. It was the first time I had ever made anything with cactus. I also made some of my (semi-famous) pumpkin bread to take to the house.

I had been given strict instructions; the woman (for some reason I can't remember he name) whose house I was going to, had a scent disorder. She was hyper-sensitive to any kind of non-natural smell. I was told to not use any non-natural deodorant, soap, shampoo, or be around any kind of smoke, leading up to going to her house.

I decided to shower shortly before the 1-hour drive to San Jose. I didn't have any natural deodorant, so I just hoped I didn't sweat much on the drive down, but, of course, thinking about not sweating, made me sweat.

I got to her house, greeted my aunt, uncle, cousin, and the hostess, met her dogs which she had taught to do tricks, and settled in. Other guests came, primarily friends from the hostess' scent disorder support group.

I left the dinner late that evening and drove home.

I was supposed to call someone I had never met the next day, and I went to bed not knowing if I should bother, because I wasn't sure it would be worth my time. The semester was finishing up at UC Berkeley, and I had a lot of work to do over the long weekend.

In the end, it's a good thing I called that person the next morning, otherwise, I would have never met Lauren; on November 28, 2003.

Twins

2008-11-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

I went to Emily's job morning. She works as the director of a childcare facility, on the grounds of a hospital. I walked from room to room, looking at all the different kids, broken into age-group rooms; I was asked if I was "the illustrator" by a kid (Jamaar, Emily's husband was scheduled to come in and teach the kids art today); I was kissed on the cheek by a newly adopted Russian boy, who seems to want to kiss every adult he comes into contact with.

I can't tell you how many of Emily's co-workers said "wow, you look like twins", or something to that effect, in the 20 minutes I was there. I admit, Emily and I are from a very different gene pool than the bulk of the world population - having a white father and a Ghanaian mother is not the most common group of people you see around, but I don't think we look like twins. I'm 5 years older than her, but we've been told we look like twins since I was at least 16. How can a 16 year old and 11 year old look like twins?

My usual response to the twins comment, which I also said this morning, is "I guess I look young for my age".

We definitely look like siblings, and maybe when you only know one sibling, then see the other, the resemblance is so mind-blowing that you feel the need to say "wow, you look like twins", but come on, twins? really? What do you think?

The trip to Towson

2008-11-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

I started my trip to Towson with a ride to the airport from Lauren. The ride was mostly uneventful. We talked about Obama's win and how it would mean more if he was a descendant of slaves, and not among, what I like to call the "new blacks" (descendants of blacks who came to the U.S. by choice), but that's another blog in and of itself, so I will write about that another time.

I got through security quickly, as usual. It's weird to me; before 9/11 I was always stopped at security because, I guess a guy with dreadlocks looks dangerous. I don't remember a trip I made, in adulthood, before September 2001, when I didn't get patted down. Since then, not once have I been asked to step aside. I guess when people screen by name, mine doesn't scream out terrorist.

I sat in the lounge area while the Virgin America workers arranged a penalty kick game (they had a small goal and a soccer ball, so I guess they do this a lot) for passengers. A couple people won a free adult beverage voucher. I didn't partake in the game. The players were obviously not soccer players, and I didn't want to emberass anyone (other passengers by scoring the penalties, or myself for not).

We boarded, with the techno music and purple lighting that Virgin America has (if you've never flown with them, you should, for that experience alone), and we were off. We got to Dulles at 5:30 AM.

I'm not a morning person. At least, not a 5:30 in the morning person. I got no sleep on the flight, then had to figure out how to get from Northern Virginia to Towson, Maryland, a distance of about 75 miles, using public transportation.

First, the bus. I missed it by 10 minutes, and had to wait another 30 for the next one. It was raining and dark, and I had to listen to two college guys talk to each other in that way college guys talk to each other, that I have always found kind of annoying (even when I was a college guy).

The bus came, and there was a rush to get on it. Mostly airport workers leaving their overnight shifts - it took 15 minutes just to get on the bus after it had arrived. We were on the bus for 1/2 an hour then had a stop. More people got on, it was standing room only at this point. I can't imagine a bus that full in the Bay Area, at 7 in the morning.

We eventually got to L'Enfant Plaza, where I boarded the subway to Greenbelt. At Greenbelt, another bus, to BWI. For the first 15 minutes of the ride, I felt like I was in Europe, or the Midwest: it was so green, with meadows, cows, silos. All of this with the background of the Fall foliage made it an experience I've never had in Maryland. Maryland, to me, has always been suburbia and Baltimore, so it was odd.

We got to BWI and I ran toward the light rail sitting there only to get to the train and not see where to get tickets. I got off. It rolled away. I saw the ticket booth, inside the airport. 30 minutes to kill.

I got on the light rail that left BWI at 9:43. The Baltimore light rail has a very different feel than the one I ride in the South Bay. For one, it doesn't feel very light. It just seemed heavy for some reason; it moved very slowly between stops, and just kind of dragged. The trip to Lutherville took well over an hour and I kept trying to keep myself awake for the trip.

After de-training, I boarded the 8 bus, to Towson. The driver must have been in a hurry, because he lurched the bus forward as I was trying to pay. Coins went everywhere, and I was put into a sour mood. As he dropped me off at the stop, he was so in a hurry that he didn't pick up a guy that was waiting for the bus.

With that, I walked to my mom's job, got a key to the house, and walked to my parents' house. I stepped into the house at about 11:15. From the moment I got off the plane at Dulles, to me stepping into the house, almost 6 hours had elapsed - longer than the flight from San Francisco to Dulles.

Obama wins the election

2008-11-04T21:50:00.000-08:00

A year and a half ago, a student of mine, Alex, was talking politics with me before class. The primary season was in it's infancy and he asked me what I thought of Barack Obama's chances. My response: "America is not ready for a black president".

At the time, and even as recently as 2 months ago, I didn't think the country was ready.

The Bay Area, in my opinion, lives in a kind of liberal vacuum, where too many people think everyone thinks like them. It's kind of a liberal closed-mindedness that occasionally drives me crazy. In 2004, a student came into my office, distraught that Kerry had lost; "Everyone I know voted for him, how could he have lost." I thought that was a somewhat bizarre, and closed-minded, thing to say.

Living in Michigan, I experienced racism, and to a lesser degree, I experienced racism living in Baltimore. I've been called a nigger to my face, been told that I would be unwelcome (and would run the threat of being attacked) in the town of a "friend", who then proceeded to invite me to his house for Thanksgiving - I declined. My experiences are what led to my response to Alex's question a year and a half ago.

How could America be ready for a black president when college educated Michiganders talk to their peers that way? How could America be ready for a black president with the events like Katrina, the Jena 6, and other events still happen in the supposed land of the free?

I voted for Obama and relate to him in a way many don't; we both have one white parent and one African parent. We are both African-Americans in its truest definition.

I still have this fear though, that the country might not be ready. I hope that I have been proven wrong.

you look like someone who wants help

2008-10-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

When I was in college, on an almost daily basis, strangers would come up and talk to me. I always thought it was odd, and told a friend of mine about it. Her response was: "you look like someone who wants help."

I was on facebook today and saw that someone had posted a picture that I was in, from 1996. It was weird to see it, because it brought back these memories of that time in my life - not the specific goings on when that picture was taken (I actually have no memory of that picture being taken or exactly where we were), but of what the picture represented.

I was transferring the stuff from my old computer to my new one today, and was listening to songs to put on my ipod and heard Do What You Have to Do by Sarah McLachlan and Summertime by The Sundays, and I was taken back to the same time of that picture.

I realize how different a person I was in the late 1990s than I am now. I was this insecure young man, who was deeply affected by things like a song and the people I met and knew. Looking at myself in the picture, I feel like I look like I want help. I am left to wonder what that Jefferson was thinking, and what he would think of who he is now.

The friend who thought I wanted help went on to say I had a look that was begging to be talked to, because I looked timid and out of place. At the time, I just thought she was messing with me, because she did that a lot, but looking at that picture now, I know what she means.

I've always been shy, and will probably always be. But I'd like to think that I'm a much more confident person than the young man in the picture. Of course, 12 years later, I should be more confident, but I think there's even more to it than that. I can't say exactly what it is, but I don't look like someone who wants help anymore, even when I do.

The Last Day was the Longest

2008-10-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

I've been working on an MBA since August 2006. I had my last class on Thursday. I spent close to 12 hours at the class's site on Thursday, finishing up our final project from 10 am to 6 pm, then attending class from 6 to 10 pm. I didn't think my last day in the program would be my longest.

On Friday, I felt this need to go to De Anza, so I did. I didn't do much there; checked my mail and did minor things in my office, but I just felt like I needed to be there.

Since August 2006, my life has had 3 parts to it: my home life, my work life and my school life. Work and school took up a lot of time. Looking back now, I don't see how I got through the month of March this year. I brought this up to Lauren the other night, and she said she remembers watching me go from one task to the next, looking like I was burning myself out. I don't think I realized how much time I was spending on work and school at the time, I just knew that I had things to do, and did them.

My school life is now done. It reminds me of when I did theater in high school, and that odd feeling the day after the last performance. This big chuck of life, and the people in that life, just gone; the people I saw weekly (and sometimes on Saturdays) from 6-10 at 180 Rose Orchard.

The people from the MBA aren't gone gone, but I won't see them much anymore; no complaining about the workload, or talking about the shock of getting A's in our law class (I'm still shocked about that, over 4 months after it happened), or not understanding exactly what the professor wants from assignments, or reading cases, doing power point presentations, writing papers, taking exams, etc.

I think it's going to take a while for me to realize that I'm done. Right now, I'm just glad to have finished up the 2 classes I just took. The thought that I'm not going to take anymore hasn't completely set in yet. I think it will set in when I start to miss the program, and especially the people I met in the program.

Until then, I find myself wanting to do De Anza work, as a way of filling the void.

Wii Tennis

2008-10-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

I just broke the 2000 point mark on Wii Tennis. It made my day.

Reading

2008-09-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago, someone asked me what I was reading. I answered by saying that I was reading a book for one of my classes. I wasn't reading it for fun, I was reading it because I had to.

The thing is, I've never been much of a book reader. I hear people say things like "curling up with a good book", but, to be honest, that does not sound the least bit appealing to me. I told Lauren the other night that I'd rather clean our kitchen than read a book. Almost all of the book reading I've done in my life falls into two categories: I had to read it for school or I was traveling - when I travel, I read when I feel like I have nothing better to do.

Recently, I've been doing a lot of online reading; like many people, I've become obsessed with the election and I read several articles a day on election-related topics. I also read a lot of sports articles - this time of year, I read about college football (this past weekend was a crazy college football weekend).

I've been thinking about why I like to read online articles, but not books and I think it has to do with length. I like to know the end sooner than a book lets me. A novel might take a week or 12 for me to get through. Some people like that, I don't. I like my movies short, my stories short (there's nothing like someone who tells a story that drags on and on), and I like what I read to be short.

I hope that if/when we have kids, they take after Lauren and enjoy reading books. I think it's good to be well read and I wish I was, but I'm not.

20 Years Ago....

2008-09-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

On September 13, 1988, my family arrived in the U.S., moving out of Nigeria. I lived in Nigeria until I was 12, and even though I had visited the U.S several times, I was (and still am, to some degree) a fish out water in this country.

Today marks 20 years since I've lived in the U.S. - more than half of my life - and I still don't feel "American". I don't think I ever will.

1988

Speaking of politics....

2008-09-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

I usually don't do politics on this blog, mainly because I have never wanted this to be a place where I try to sway opinion.

That being said, there has been something about the election cycle that has bothered me. I've seen some people become supporters of candidates because of who they are and not necessarily what they stand for.

I was talking to my sister over the weekend, and we were discussing how some people will vote for McCain-Palin, simply because Palin is a woman (or vote against because of Palin's gender). We also agreed that the same was true for the Obama-Biden ticket, with some people voting for the ticket because Obama is black (or vote against because of Obama's race).

I find this the dumbest possible reason to vote for anyone. I have far more respect for someone who supports a candidate I don't, for valid reasons, than a person who supports a candidate I do, for the reasons listed above.

I was watching an interview with some of Palin's friends from Alaska last night. One said she didn't agree with Palin's politics, but would vote for her because she was her friend. I guess, because she's Palin's friend, I can see it, but I know that there are a lot of people out there who will be voting for (or against) one ticket or the other, because of who is on the ticket, and not what that person stands for. If you're one of those people, stop reading my blog, because I have no respect for you.

That being said, please vote this year, but inform yourself before you do, and make sure you vote for a candidate for the right reasons.

Taking the 51 at 8:30 am

2008-08-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

I have been going to De Anza 4-5 times a week over the past few weeks. I primarily go to work out at the gym, and (slowly) clean my office.

I take the bus to get to work. I scored a bus pass from SJSU for $73.50, and have been using it since March (I actually just plopped down another $73.50 for a new bus pass than I can use until February). I take the 51 bus, which takes me from downtown Mountain View to De Anza.

A few times I take the 8:30 am bus, when I can be up and out by that time.

When I get to the bus stop, there are usually some teenagers waiting with me, because the bus has a stop at Mountain View High. They sit there, not speaking to each other, each with their own peculiar look; the guy who wears pink, the scrawny little guy, the girl who seems so focused, she never seems to turn her head. They get on, and I get on, and there are other kids on the bus. No one talks to each other. These kids probably see each other at school, in addition to being on the same bus, but no one talks. They play with their phones, their ipods, their video games, whatever. I read business textbooks.

We get to the high school, about 1/3 of the way through my trip, and they get off. For the next 1/3 of the trip, there are very few people on the bus. Sometimes, it's just me. The bus then stops at a retirement community, and a bunch of Chinese retirees get on (I rarely see a retiree who's not Chinese get on - I wonder why). It's never clear to me where they're going, because I get off before they do, but the only stops after mine are a random intersection and a shopping center dominated by Target.

I love it when the retirees get on. The bus comes to life. There is a buzz of activity as they talk amongst themselves. The last time I was on, a guy initially sat toward the back of the bus and wanted to get into a discussion going on in the front, so he made his way to the front, as the bus was moving (I was scared he was going to fall, because he looked like such a frail little old guy).

This country has an obsession with youth. Younger people, supposedly, are more energetic, and more lively. If all you saw of the U.S. was this bus I ride on, you would think the opposite. The last 1/3 of the ride, like the last 1/3 of life, is filled with far more energy than the first 1/3.

The Plan

2008-08-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

"Work hard, work passionately, but apply your most precious asset - time - to what is most meaningful to you. What are you willing to do for the rest of your life? does not mean, literally, what will you do for the rest of your life? That question would be absurd, given the inevitability of change. No, what the question really asks is, if your life were to end suddenly and unexpectedly tomorrow, would you be able to say you've been doing what you truly care about today? What would you willing to do for the rest of your life? What would it take to do it right now?"
-Randy Komisar, in The Monk and the Riddle

I read that quote today, as I was sitting on the bike at the gym. I'm taking this entrepreneurship class starting next week, and have to read The Monk and the Riddle before the first day of class. I like this quote because it relates to what I've been planning to post about for the past week; my business plan.

A week ago, I finished up BUS 290, the capstone class to the MBA program I'm in. It's odd that I'm not taking the capstone as my last class, since a capstone class should be the cap that finishes off the program.

Anyhow, the class was entirely project-based: No tests, or formal homework, or anything like that. Our homework was to work on our projects, our test was the project, and most of the reading was to be done researching our projects. I think that's kind of cool, but probably not good for a community college mathematics class.

The project was this: create a business plan for a business you could actually put together with resources you could get access to. No billion-dollar corporation, no gigantic non-profit that would benefit millions of people. It had to be something you could actually do.

I decided to open a bed and breakfast, in Flagstaff, AZ. Why a bed and breakfast you may ask? It's kind of a long story.

I remember staying at a bed and breakfast in England, in 1986. There were sheep and a sheepdog, and I thought it was cool. I was 10, so sheep and a sheepdog were very exciting.

Fast forward to 1999. I was in Belize - not the beachy Belize you see on travel sites, with the beautiful waters and the snorkeling. No, I was in the heart of Belize City, where the people live. The lodging there was less than desirable - cockroaches scampering through the community showers and a creaky wood floor I swore sunk a little with every step. I thought to myself, 'this city needs a bed and breakfast'. I even came up with a name: Jeff's B^3 (Bed and Breakfast in Belize).

In my adult life, I have loved going to bed and breakfasts, not only to enjoy them, but also to criticize them; find things I could do better, or make better. Flies on the fruit? C'mon, I wouldn't let that happen. Dry muffins? I could make them much better. You see, I believe that I can clean better and faster than most people (I worked as a janitor for a year), and can make breakfasts people would love to eat (you should ask me about my chocolate chip banana bread).

I decided that the bed and breakfast idea would be the one to go with. I chose Flagstaff because of the family ties I have to the city (my grandfather worked for the city's newspaper, my dad was born there, and Lauren grew up there). It's the beautiful town in Arizona people don't seem to know about. When I brought up this idea to classmates, the first response was, 'you want to open a b&b in the desert?' - Flagstaff is about as different from a desert as you can imagine.

So, I put together the plan, the strategies of pricing, marketing, monetary budgeting, and everything else. I found out a lot of information about bed and breakfasts and tourists to Flagstaff. I discovered bed and breakfasts can easily make a killing in that city. I made a list of all the things needed to run the bed and breakfast. I came up with a name - Maya's - I named it after my niece.

The one thing I didn't think about enough was a warning that came early on, from Lauren's dad: personal time. And that's where the quote above comes in. Time.

After putting together everything, we had to present our plan to the class, in a brief, 8-minute slide presentation. I ended my presentation by saying I didn't think I would actually do this. It was too time-consuming, and I don't think I would be willing to run a bed and breakfast for, in Randy Komisar's words, the rest of my life.

If you want to read the business plan, it's posted here. Please note that this is a pdf file that is almost 40 pages long, so think about if it's worth your time.

Holistay

2008-08-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

If you don't watch The Daily Show, you should. If you don't know who John Hodgman is, you're missing out....

Taking John's advice, we had our own little Holistay on Monday (although we did leave our apartment). Because we had a day free, and because Lauren had wanted to drive Highway 1 from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, we took the day and did just that.

First, I dropped my car off at the mechanic for an oil change (over 50 hours later, I have still to hear from him about the progress of a 20 minute procedure). We then drove to Santa Cruz, where we hung out on the boardwalk for about an hour, and then headed north.

On the beach along Highway 1

We drove to Half Moon Bay (with a couple of brief stops on the way) where we had a late lunch, and continued onto SF. Lauren showed me a few of the highlights in The Sunset District (where she has been conducting her research), saw the buffalo and windmill in Golden Gate Park, and then went to Cliff House, where Lauren was to meet with some old timers from the Sunset, who get together every month. I sat in the car, and read some of The Monk and the Riddle, which I have to read for a class that starts up next week.

We ended the evening off by going to the Tennessee Grill, and then headed home.

Older women

2008-08-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

"you do well with older women" - Lauren

Lauren made the comment above, a couple of days ago, after leaving a send-off party for Cheri Blauwet, who is heading off the Paralympic games, in Beijing. You may have seen the Visa ads she stars in, while watching the Olympics.

Anyhow, we were at this party, with lots of young people, and I end up talking to one of the few people over 50, for about 1/2 an hour. I've found that this is often how I end up socializing at parties; I end up talking to the outsiders, the people who don't really fit in with the rest of the group. Often, this has been older women.

I've never liked socializing, and probably never will. As I've blogged about before, I dread going to events where I will have to talk to people, so I tend to gravitate to one of two types of people: the other people who dread socializing, or the people who are so desperate to talk to someone that they end up driving people away and end up talking to me.

It's no fun to socialize with non-socializers, because we just end up staring at each other with nothing to say - nobody likes that. The other group is much more interesting. They ask questions, I answer, they ask more questions, I answer, they talk about them selves, I nod, and everybody's happy.

Where I Live

2008-08-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

I was making lunch yesterday: potato browns, mixed with some vegetables, plantain and fake ham from the Chinese grocery in town. While making the meal, it hit me: in a few years, I won't be able to go to the Chinese grocery store, the Mexican grocery store, the European produce store, Trader Joe's and Safeway, all in one hour.

I'm starting to miss where I live even though I still live here.

If you know me well, you know that Lauren and I will probably not be in the Bay Area for more than a couple of more years. Her job will take us to some unknown college town in some unknown part of the world. Massachusetts? Kansas? Washington? Wales? Singapore? Who knows?

I was riding on the light rail, after turning in the business plan I was required to do for my MBA capstone class (I'll write more about that another time), and I was hit again with the prospect of leaving the area. I was staring out of the window at the blue sky in the 80-degree weather and thought how great the weather is here. It's not humid in the summer, it doesn't snow in the winter, many of my students have no concept of what 10-degree Fahrenheit feels like, what more could I ask for? I have never cared for 'the seasons' like some people do. 'The seasons' usually involve digging cars out of snow and wearing 4 layers of clothing to check the mail. Not my idea of fun.

Why am I thinking about this now? Probably because I have a week and a half of nothing else to do. I'm in a break between MBA classes, Summer session at De Anza is over, and I'm sitting around watching the Olympics til 1AM, so I have not much else to think about, and not much else to blog about.

Teaching and Porn

2008-08-02T17:02:00.001-07:00

When I was in grad school at MSU, I took two classes from Karen King. I really admired (and still do) Dr. King. She was the only professor I had during my 6.5 years at MSU who I felt was 'real'. By that I mean, she seemed to put things into perspective, and you could see the relevance of what she had to say to the bigger picture of life, outside of the little world of the classroom we were in. She was also younger than any professor I had at MSU, and the only underrepresented minority I had at the school (that's pretty sad, considering I had over 30 different professors while at MSU).

Anyhow, in one class she said a phrase I'd never heard before, in reference to teaching. I love the phrase because it's so true. I've been thinking about it over my entire teaching career, and I've been thinking about it a lot, this summer. She was talking about good and bad teaching and said something like "Good (and bad) teaching is like porn. You can't describe it, but you know it when you see it".

This summer, I've had a few students who have told me how much they like the way I teach, and, to be honest, I don't know how to respond. I say thanks, but what I really want to know is, what is it about the way I teach that they like?

No one seems to give me an answer I'm satisfied with. The usual response often has to do with the way I present the material, or the way I explain things. When I hear that, I wonder how I present and explain things differently than other teachers. Do I present things that differently from other teachers?

I've watched a few people teach and I don't see a huge difference in what people do, but I do know bad teaching when I see it. To me, the main difference has to do with how comfortable the teacher is, and how much they talk above (or below) the students. I've had several professors as SJSU who fall into both of those categories (I won't name names). Thing is, I still don't see what I could tell those teachers to do to make them better.

I've never taken a teaching methods class, and I wonder how effective they are. My father has taught teaching methods classes, and he once told me that he wasn't sure if these classes were effective on some of his students.

While at UC Berkeley, I worked with a teacher who had a long list of credentials, and was highly regarded because of this; I didn't see that. I saw a teacher who I would not want teaching my kids.

I've been asked several times to give talks on effective instruction, and I've turned these invitations down, partly because I wouldn't know what to say. I'm not sure I know what leads to effective instruction, or what makes a teacher good. So I'm stuck where I was, thinking about that phrase: Good and bad teaching is like porn. I can't describe it, but I know it when I see it.

Friday

2008-07-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

If you haven't see the movie Friday and don't mind vulgar movies, you should. My Friday was not as exciting as Craig's and Smokey's, but here was my Friday.

Friday was a long day. We had to be in San Francisco by 8 am, to give Gerry a ride to the DMV. We were also supposed to meet up with some people at 6:30 pm to watch a baseball game.

We woke up at 6, got ready, and hit the road at about 7. I've said I'm a morning person in the past, but I'm not a 6 am in the morning, morning person. I'm more a 7:30-8 am morning person.

We got to the city, and headed to the DMV. We were in and out in 40 minutes, then ran some errands. It was about 10, and we didn't know what to do. Gerry thought we should get lunch...but it was 10 am. We went to Clement Street, walked around for about 20 minutes, but the cold, and the fact that Gerry can't walk for too long got us back into the car, and off to Chinatown. I thought we were dropping Gerry off at that point, but she really wanted to go to lunch, so we went to lunch at the best Chinese Vegetarian Restaurant (which we always go to with Gerry) at 11 am. After lunch and getting Gerry home, it was 1 pm.

Lauren and I then hit two museums. The California Historical Society and The Museum of the African Diaspora. The California Historical Society is pretty small, and houses one exhibit at a time. Currently their exhibit is on the history/background of Chinese Americans in California. I thought it was extremely good, and I recommend everyone go see it.

We then went to the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), which was somewhat disappointing. As a member of the African Diaspora, I felt the museum could have done a much better job. Lauren later said "they were trying to do too much and ended up doing too little"; that does a good job of summing it. There was WAY too much focus on African Americans (not that that's a bad thing, but the Museum of African American History has that as its focus and does a spectacular job of presenting it). There was almost no focus of Africans in other parts of the world - very little mention of the Caribbean, almost no mention of African Diaspora in South America, no mention at all that there has recently been a huge migration of Africans to Europe, and to a lesser degree, Asia. After all the fanfare that the MoAD opened to, I expected a lot more.

After the museum jaunts we walked the east end of the city, finding a coffee shop, only to find out that they were closing right after we bought our coffee and sat down.

At 6:30, we met up with people for the Giants game. This was a surprise party for a friend of Lauren's that I had never met. Neither of us had met anyone else in the group (and I don't think many of them had met each other) so it was odd waiting to find people you didn't know.

This was the first baseball game I had ever been too, and no offense to all you baseball fans out there, but baseball is up there in terms of live events I do not want to see again. I hear people say how soccer is hard to watch (which I've never understood, by the way, because there is always movement), and that's exactly how I felt about watching the game. The fact that they have to have little entertainment things between 1/2 innings just to keep the crowd alive must say something about the energy (or lack thereof) the event. People seemed far more into the kiss-cam than the game itself; I can't imagine people getting into a kiss-cam at a soccer game.

Another thing I didn't get is the number of people who go to the game and don't watch it. We left at the end of the 6th inning, and the concourse with food, etc, was PACKED with people just walking around, in no hurry to get back to watching the game. Is that a Giants thing, a baseball thing, or a professional sports thing? At MSU football games (they come to Cal to spank the Bears on August 30th) I can't remember anyone wanting to leave their seat while the game was going on. We left the city and headed home.

We got home at 10:30 pm, and that was Friday.

All about hair

2008-07-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about my hair this weekend. I changed all my profile pictures to show more of my hair, and then there this blog post....

The other night, at about 11:17 pm I started playing with my camera, and took pictures of my hair. It was still a little damp, which means it was longer than it is when dry. Anyhow, looking at the pictures, I thought 'man, it's getting really long', so I did the next obvious thing - I measured it. The one dread I measured was over 15 inches long!

The other day I was walking down Castro St., on my way to catch a bus, when one of those California Environment people tried to stop me. I told her I was late for work, she responded by asking how long I've had my dreads, and how great they looked.

Because I never really 'see' my hair, except those times it comes close to ending up in my food or drink, or when I fall while playing soccer, I don't really know what my hair looks like. Sometimes I just think my hair is a bother - while sleeping, while eating, while it is stuck in the shoulder strap on my backpack, while washing (and especially drying) it, while twisting it, and many other times. I do like having 'different' hair though, so I want to use this opportunity (because I don't know what else to blog about) to discuss the history of my hair, and answer questions people hesitantly ask me about it.

I had a shaved head in high school, and wanted something different in college. That's when I saw (I never formally met him) Thomas. Thomas was a friend of a friend of mine. He was a math major (like me), who was a year ahead of me. He was mixed, with one parent from Africa (like me), and he had dreads (not like me). I thought he looked so cool, I had a non-sexual crush on the guy. I wanted to be Thomas. It was also cool that his name was Thomas and mine, Jefferson.

Anyhow, starting in the Summer of 1995 I started on my first incarnation of dread-locked life. I didn't know how to get it started, so I just grew my hair out, didn't wash it much, and twisted, and twisted, and twisted, and twisted....about 6 months later, I had stubby dreads. I only grew them on the top of my head, and they grew out pretty well. In 1998 I got into the habit of trimming them. This eventually led to a couple falling out. I thought I was going bald (and I was told by a recruiter that his company wouldn't hire me because of my hair - I should have sued), so on January 2, 2000, I cut off my dreads.

For the next several months, there were a number of 2nd takes when I would run into people who didn't recognize me on first glance. It was funny.

Flash forward to 2003. I had been at De Anza for 2 years, taken a year off to go to Berkeley, and thought now is the time to start up the hair again. I started dreading again in early 2004, and by Summer 2004, I had the stubs again, and they grew and grew and grew, and now, 4 years later, they are 15 inches long.

People often want to ask me things about my hair, and I can see they hesitancy in their faces (sometimes they never even ask), so I'll answer some of the questions I've been asked.

The most asked questions deal with washing it.

I wash it about every 3 days (it's actually not the best idea to wash your hair everyday, you everyday hair washers). The drying part is the real pain. I use a combination of hair drying, towel, and flicking. After I use a hair dryer and a towel, I spend about 45 minutes twisting each one from the root to about an inch or two from my scalp. I then flick water out of the dread. It usually takes 5-6 hour to get completely dry.

My also get (often from kids) requests to touch my hair.

In college, I remember being at house parties, and having drunken students (usually women) coming up to me from behind and touching or running their hands through my hair. I never really saw why they did this, I just assumed they were drunk.

I also remember a friend of mine with 'spring-y' wanting to play with my hair. I would let her do it, if I could play with hers.

About a year ago, my then 4-year old cousin-in-law asked why I had my hair like I did. I said I liked it. I then asked him the same question. He said he liked his. We then proceeded to touch each others hair (it sounds odder than it actually was).

It doesn't bother me at all when people ask me questions about my hair (or even want to touch it). I'd much rather people ask than assume. I've gone through my life (and many airport security checkpoints) with too many people making assumptions about who or what I am.

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Geordi and I

2008-06-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen pictures of people with their pets, where the pets and their owners kind of look alike?

I was thinking about that for some reason the other day, and got to thinking about how Geordi and I are alike.

1. Geordi is talkative when we're home with him, but hides whenever we have guests. I am talkative when I'm at home with Lauren, but I'm shy (and even have been known to hide away) when she has friends over.

2. Geordi developed dreads on part of his body (we had them cut off a few days ago). I...well, you know what I look like.

3. We both prefer chillin' to hitting the town.

4. Geordi never eats a lot at one sitting. I've been told that I "eat like a bird", I "eat nothing" and am "a grazer"; I can never eat a HUGE meal.

5. We both like boiled corn without butter (I don't know if he would like corn with butter, because I've never given him any).

6. Geordi likes to pick at things he sees on the floor/carpet. I like to pick at things on Geordi (including the gunk he sometimes gets in his nose - yes, I pick my cat's nose).

7. I like to eat with chopsticks. Geordi wishes he could eat with chopsticks.

8. We both love (and sometimes annoy) Lauren.

The Weekend before Finals

2008-06-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

I often like to have very little work to do the weekend before finals; finals are written at that point, and just about everything that needs to be graded has been graded.

This quarter though, I did have to do some work over the pre-finals weekend. I finished up an MBA course on Thursday night, with a big group project/presentation. Because I had been working on that all week, I had to put some grading on the back burner until the weekend. I still tried to make the most of the weekend....

On Friday, Lauren picked me up from work, and we went to see Get Smart. It was pretty good. I'd give it a 7.8 on a 0-10 scale. I had a soccer game that evening, but because of the heat, and the fact that the opposing team could only field 8 players, they forfeited after 25 minutes (in that time I scored twice, though one was called back for being offsides - I did not agree with the ref on that call).

I got 5 hours sleep on Friday night - I can't sleep when it's light, and because of the 100-degree weather we have had, we slept with the window open. I was up by 6, after going to bed at 1.

Saturday included watching Russia beat The Netherlands in the Euro 2008 cup (our satellite went out for a couple of minutes during the game - the couple of minutes when The Netherlands scored to tie up the game). I graded Algebra projects while watching the game.

We also (finally) used a gift certificate to Menara (pictured above). It had actually expired in May, but I creatively changed some 5's to 8's, and we were able to use it. Score!

Today, I plan on watching the Spain-Italy game (while grading quizzes), cleaning the house, and making banana bread. I live on that fine line between sports enthusiast and domestic spouse.

What's been up with me

2008-06-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for a while.

First, an update on Maya. My niece, Maya, was born on May 1, and had to have open heart surgery when she was 6 days old. It was touch-and-go for a while, and it was rough on our family for a week or two. She is now back home with her parents, but still has some recovering to do. Here she is, showing what she really thinks of her uncle.

As far as what I'm up to; another MBA class is coming to an end. On June 19, I have my last 'Translating Strategy to Operations' class. I then get 20 days off!!!

My next class postponed it's start for 2 weeks (I don't know why), so I get almost 3 weeks without an MBA class, which is kind of amazing, because I've had at least one MBA class a week since early January. My next class is the capstone MBA class, where we have to come up with a business we would want to start. I'm think of having my business be a tutoring center (or a bed and breakfast). The bed and breakfast would probably be looked at as being an odd choice, which may not be the best to go with. I went with an odd choice for my law paper - many people did discrimination cases, and I focused on a wrongful dismissal suit brought on by a teacher - and I got a very good grade before, so who knows? Maybe I should do a bed and breakfast.

In De Anza news, the quarter is wrapping up in two weeks, and then the Summer session starts. I'm looking forward to teaching this Summer, because I'm teaching just one class, and it doesn't meet until 3 pm, so I can get work done in the mornings.

That's it for now...

The End of College

2008-06-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

It hit me yesterday, as I was doing laundry, that I have been a college graduate for over 10 years now. I think I graduated on May 9, 1998, but I'm not at all sure on that.

That being said, I still feel like I'm in school, with this MBA thing still going on. As it turns out I'm going to have to go to class, and take a quiz, on my birthday, which lands on a Saturday this year. Birthdays only land on weekends so often, but even though mine is on a weekend this year, 4 hours of that day will be spent sitting in class. Oh joy!

On the teaching side of things, we have 4 weeks left in the quarter. Someone once told me that De Anza (and Foothill) end later than any other college in the country. I don't know if that's the case, but going until June 27 is pretty deep into the Summer. To top it off, the Summer quarter starts on June 30. I don't get any real break from De Anza until August. At least when that time comes around this year, I will know that I won't be back at De Anza until January, thanks to me being on sabbatical.

Where do you sit in class?

2008-05-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

For Maya

2008-05-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

I'm rarely moved my songs, particularly songs by particular artists, but on my way the gym today I heard this, and I couldn't go. All I could think of was Maya; so Maya, we are all waiting for you to come home.

Apparently there can be more than one...

2008-05-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Time blatantly copying the NBA playoffs ad campaign...

The Fact Situation

2008-04-26T15:11:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while. I've been really busy and have not had any blog-worthy thoughts to blog about, so I decided to use this post to kind of show y'all what I've been busy with.

As regular readers know, I was enrolled in 2 MBA classes (twice the normal load) from early March to late April. Well, one of them ended last Tuesday, when we took our final and turned in our final paper. The other had its last class meeting last Thursday when we turned in our final (it was take-home), but the paper for that class is not due until early May, and it's a toughie. We have to come up with an employment law situation (basically a story), write it up, then find 3 recent actual law cases from California or the Supreme Court, and use those cases to analyze our story.

The story was pretty easy to come up with. I heard a story on This American Life (the best radio show out there, in my opinion), and tweaked it a little.

Finding cases that were relevant and recent and from California has not been so easy.

Here's my fact situation, as it stands now (I'm sure I will change things before I turn it in):

Paul E. Ticks was a middle school math teacher on a probational contract because he was not yet tenured. Contracts were renewed annually unless notified by a March 15 deadline.

Paul was known in the community for his outspokenness on political issues, his criticisms of local politicians and the school board. In January of the school year, he got into a heated exchange with a student, who was the son of a local politician, criticizing the student’s mother for a stance she took that differed from his. In the heat of the moment, Paul used some expletives, and the incident was reported to the principal and a number of parents whose children were in the class.

Paul was given a verbal and written reprimand, stating that use of such language was inappropriate, and his discussion of political issues in class violated the district’s policy of not allowing political activity in classrooms (the policy was put in place to prevent teachers from using their position of influence to push issues that the students’ parents might be voting on). He was told that a repeat of his actions would lead to a non-renewal of his contract.

A few days before the end of school year, Paul complained to a co-worker about an action taken by the mayor. He referred to the mayor as a “goddamn idiot who never should have been elected.” This statement was made in his classroom, a few minutes before his first class was about to start. A few students who were in class early, heard the statement and it got reported to the principal. In early summer, Paul got notice that his services would not be needed for the next school year.

Paul sued the school district for wrongful termination, claiming that his 1st Amendment rights were violated, he was offered no hearing to explain his side of the story, and the district violated its own policy by not giving him notice of non-renewal by the March 15 deadline.

Questions and Answers

2008-04-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Students asked me the following questions on a handout I gave them on the first day of class. I didn't have time to answer them all in class, so here they are...

Do we have class tutors?
We can probably arrange for a tutor to work with students from our class, but we won't have tutors in the class

Do you have an adjunct studies class?
Not for my classes this quarter

How late can we be?
I don't care too much if you're a little late, as long as you come in quietly. Students who are late a lot usually end up not doing well in the class, so keep that in mind

Can we eat in class?
No

What area of math do you like the most?
I really like the visual aspects of math. I liked Geometry in school, and still do, but I like how graphs can illustrate the same things an equation can do, and I really like that

Do you enjoy teaching math?
Of course. If I didn't, I wouldn't be doing it

Is this going to be a fairly easy class so long as I do the work?
I think 'easy' is relative. I wouldn't say any class is easy because every class requires work to be done, and it's the responsibility of the student to reach the point where they feel comfortable with the material

Do you think you're a difficult teacher?
Some students would say that and some would probably say the opposite. Because I don't curve, I often get irate emails from students at the end of the quarter, complaining about their grade, so in that sense, I guess I'm difficult. I also do give students opportunities to improve their grades, so I think I'm a fair teacher

Why do you teach math?
I was going to be an engineer, then work as an actuary, then work with a consulting firm. In the end, I started teaching as part of my grad program, and really liked it, so it turned from something to get me through grad school to a career

Do you believe your way of teaching is fun and helpful?
This is a hard question. I have fun when I teach, and I'd like to think that I'm helping students, I don't know how much fun students have though so you tell me

Besides math is there anything else you would like to teach?
I would love to teach about West African culture. So many people in the US know so little about sub-Saharan Africa, and I think it would be cool to enlighten folk

What is your educational background?
I went to elementary school at Staff School in Zaria, Nigeria
I went to 3 middle schools: Demonstration School in Zaria, Huntley Middle School in DeKalb, Illinois, and Dumbarton Middle in Towson, Maryland.
I went to Towson High School in Towson
Bachelor's from Michigan State University
Master's from Michigan State University
Started a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley
Currently working on an MBA at San Jose State University

What do you want to do with your MBA?
That's the big question these days. I'm hoping to finish it up by December, and I don't have a good answer. I've thought about teaching business classes, becoming more of an administrator at a school or college, or open a Bed and Breakfast (my secret dream for the past 10 years)

What is your nationality?
My 'nationality' is American. My ethnic background is 1/2 Ghanaian, and a mixture of English, Dutch, Irish, and other things my dad would know more about

What do you do for fun?
I haven't had much time for fun as of late. I play soccer, go the gym (which is not always fun), watch TV shows on hulu, play with my cat, and spend time with my wife

What kind of music do you listen to?
I've been listening a lot to pandora over the past few months, and it just feeds music to you, so I don't know if there is a kind of music I like. I've recently become a fan of Blossom Dearie and Rachel Yamagata, but there is nothing like some classic Motown on a Sunday afternoon

How long have you grown your hair?
The last time I cut it was August 2003. I started 'dreading' it in January 2004

Will you ever cut your hair?
I'm sure I will at some point, but I don't know when that point will be

What is your favorite football team?
To be honest, I'm not a fan of the NFL. I LOVE college football, but the only NFL game I ever watch is the Super Bowl. My favorite team is the Michigan State Spartans!

Rambling at 16:12 on a Monday afternoon

2008-04-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what to blog about, but it's been a while since I said my thoughts to blogville, so I'll ramble.

What have I been up to? Hmmm....last week was Spring Break, so I tried to stay away from everything De Anza. That, of course, doesn't mean I didn't do any work. I did most of the planning for my algebra class last week (insane to plan 9 weeks of a quarter in a matter of 4-5 days. Insane). Teaching 3 classes this quarter is going to feel like a relief, after teaching 4 last quarter. Thing is, I'm teaching Finite for the first time, and there are parts of the course I'm a little nervous about. I became less nervous after talking briefly to Prof. Webb, my awesome Decision Analysis professor at SJSU. I'm hoping to pull in a bunch of the stuff I've learned in that class into the Finite class.

I spent part of the week putting together my final project for the Decision Analysis class and reading a lot about employment law.

If you care, my project is coming up with a way to predict student success in the classes I'm teaching. It doesn't work well, but I'll probably be tweaking it for the next couple of years. I wanted to get that done with so I can start working on the final paper for my law class. We have to come up with an employment law situation, and use three law cases to analyze and decide the best course of action. Sounds easy, right? No. Coming up with a situation will not be hard (I already have one), but finding three cases that are similar enough to use in the analysis is going to be a pain. Also the paper has a 6-page max (double spaced). I know a lot of people don't like writing long paper, but squeezing analysis of a case, using three other cases as back-up is going to be tough to do in 6 pages.

"What did you do for fun, Jefferson?" you might be asking (if you got this far, without being lulled into a doze). The true answer is, not much. I watched some basketball (3 of my 4 final 4 teams made it, which is not bad), watched Gone Baby Gone, which was a very good movie. If it ended after 50 minutes, it would have been spectacular. While the second hour wraps things up nicer, I would have liked it to end at 50 minutes. Watching it, I realize that I missed the East Coast. The East Coast has an attitude that just does not exist out here. Maybe Lauren will get a job in the BosWash corridor, and we'll move there at some point.

We also went to Chinatown, which is always fun. If you haven't gone to Lucky Creation Vegetarian Restaurant, it's a must-eat in Chinatown.

That's my life right now. I'm waiting for yoga to start in an hour, then going home to watch Memphis beat up on Kansas. Yes, that is my prediction: Memphis will win the men's championship.

Stanford will win the women's, not because I'm married to a Stanfordite, but because the star
player of Tennessee is nursing an injured shoulder, so she will be limited.

What a blog, aye? Talkin' about law, a mini movie review, and women's basketball analysis.

My college basketball addiction...

2008-03-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

My Final Four

2008-03-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

I would love to give more analysis on this, but I've not had the time to follow college basketball this year as much as I have in the past.

Anyway, here is my Final Four.

North Carolina: I actually have them winning the whole thing, but I'm hesitant about that choice. They don't seem to put teams away, and their opponents linger until the end of games. I've seen several UNC games this year, and thought they could lose all of them (they did lose one game I saw, against Maryland).

Kansas: I have only see Kansas play one game, and it was today. They impressed me a lot. It's hard to win the Big-12, but they did it, so I give them props and see them getting to the Final Four.

UCLA: I've never liked UCLA. I saw them live, in the Adam Morrison game. I think they have an easy bracket (Duke is overrated, in my opinion), and I don't see anyone challenging them.

Texas: I've always like UT. I have two UT t-shirts, and I never attended, or applied to Texas (I was there for a week one summer while I was in grad school). I saw them lose to Kansas in the Big-12 championship game, but I think they can take care of business (and Memphis, who don't do well in big games) and get to the Final Four.

Unfortunately, I don't see MSU getting beyond the Sweet 16 this year. I think they can get by Temple and Pitt, but I think that will be the end of the road for them.

March Madness

2008-03-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm a huge fan of March Madness. It's my favorite annual sporting event (the World Cup is the best sporting event, in my opinion). Unfortunately, this March, I'm surrounded by another, non-basketball-related, madness.

Last Summer, I decided to teach an extra class during the Winter quarter, which runs from early January until the end of March. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time; I would be teaching three trigonometry classes instead of two - it's been more work than I thought it would be, but it has been manageable.

I was also planning on taking 3 required MBA classes between in January and the end of June; one in January and February, one in March and April, and the third in May and June. Again, manageable.

The problem came up when the MBA class that was to run in May and June got moved to March and April, so I will have to take two required MBA classes for the next two months, if I want to finish the MBA by December (which I do).

March is the overload, overlap, month; the month where I'm teaching an overload and taking an overload. I don't know when I'll have time to do much else, so if you don't hear from me I'm either doing De Anza work, working on my business law class, or my forecasting class.

I may end up missing out of the March Madness that I enjoy, this year. Go Spartans!

The Tri-Fecta

2008-02-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

It's official. For 3 years in row my favorite of the Best Picture nominees won the Oscar for Best Picture. Even though some people didn't like it, I thought No Country of Old Men was fantastic!

The Oscars

2008-02-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

So it's almost time for the 2008 (or is it the 2007?) Oscars.

As I've done for quite a few years now, I make it a personal goal to see all the Best Picture Nominees before the Oscars, so I can have a movie to root for, or at least be in the know when Oscar night rolls around.

Last year and the year before, the movie I selected as being my favorite of the bunch, won the Oscar for best picture. I'm seeing if I can go for the tri-fecta this year.

Here is my ranking of the 5 movies:

No Country for Old Men. I know a lot of people thought the ending of this movie was odd, and left them feeling like the movie was trying to be too smart for it's own good, but I like it a lot. I thought the acting was fantastic, the writing was great, and the directing was very good. I walked out of the theater knowing that it would be one of my favorite of the year, and it was.

Michael Clayton. I have to say, I liked this movie a lot. I was a little torn between picking this or No Country as my first choice. The acting, again, was top notch, and the last scene in the movie was one of the best movie scenes I've watched. For some reason, this movie didn't do so hot when it initially came out, but it's definitely a must-see on DVD.

Juno. I didn't like Juno as much as everyone else seemed to. I actually didn't think it was the best pregnancy movie of the year (I thought Knocked Up was better). While people thought No Country was trying to be too smart, I felt that way about this movie. The dialogue didn't seem realistic, and the main character seemed a bit too witty, which lost some points for me.

There Will be Blood. The acting in this movie was fantastic. Daniel Day-Lewis was great, as is expected, but I was blown away by Paul Dano, who plays a young preacher who, to some degree, is the nemesis of Daniel Day-Lewis' character. What bothered me about this movie was the middle. It dragged a little, and anyone who knows me, knows I don't like long movies that drag. It was nearly 3 hours long, and I think it could have been told in less than 2. I wanted to like this movie more, but was a little disappointed by it.

Atonement. I don't know why this movie was nominated for Best Picture (how it won the Golden Globe is beyond me). The first 45 minutes was very good, and then, it seems, another movie takes place. A sluggish movie, that never gets going, and left me asking what the point of some scenes were supposed to be about. The ending has a nice twist, but the middle hour left me checking the time, wondering when it would end.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to see many other movies that came out in 2007. I'm sure there are some out there that I would have liked more than any of these 5, but given what the Academy has decided, one math teacher has spoken...

1,000,000,000 seconds

2008-02-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

So I celebrated my one billionth second today at 3:37:01 (my dad did the calculation).

As odd as this sounds, that milestone had made me feel old over the past couple of days. I've just felt this kind of melancholy feeling since my dad told me.

In addition, I've been taking a pilates class and I've been feeling old in there also. But not because I can't do the stuff the class requires (I'm amazed that I can do as much as I can - I have pretty good abs, I guess); what makes me feel old is the age of the other students in the class. I think I may be the oldest person in the class. I take the class at De Anza, so it would make sense that there are a number of young people in the class, but I thought that taking a class in the evenings would mean there would be older people in the class with me.

Yesterday, during pilates, I noticed that there was a guy who was wearing a class of 2006 high school t-shirt. I thought to myself, "that guy looks too old to be just out of high school". Thing is, he's not just out of high school; he's been out of high school for 2 years. I would have been insulted if someone said I was just out of high school two years afters I graduated. Looking at his shirt, I realized that when I was a senior in high school, he was in kindergarten. That made me feel old.

One billion and some seconds down, many more to go....

PDL

2008-02-07T22:36:00.000-08:00

I've been officially granted a PDL for the Fall of 2008 by the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.

What is a PDL you might ask? It stands for Professional Development Leave, also known as sabbatical.

It took longer than expected for me to be notified, because the person who was supposed to call me in December to tell me my name had been passed on to the College's board, neglected to do so. I had to call/email a couple of people to actually find out.

I'm going to spend the Fall (hopefully) finishing up my MBA at San Jose State. I've been working on the MBA on a part-time basis since August 2006, and I'm looking forward to finishing it up.

I did the math and figured out that the salary I'm going to be paid for not teaching in the Fall ends up being just about the same amount I have paid for the entire MBA program, so I guess De Anza is paying for my MBA (many people I'm in the program with don't pay for classes - their companies do).

Back to watching the Colbert Report....

GO VOTE!!!

2008-02-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

That's all I gotta say.

Long time, no blog...

2008-01-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

I just finished grading 111 trig exams. Whew!

The weekend is going to end up being very work-heavy. I have OSCM (Operations and Supply Chain Management) class tomorrow from 9 to 1, then I have to go do some work at De Anza. I'm not sure if I'm at liberty to discuss what the work I will be doing is, so I'll just say I have to do some work on campus, probably on Saturday and Sunday. I also have planning for Spring Quarter that I want to to, and OSCM reading I need to get done.

I feel like there has been a lot I've wanted to talk about since my last post, but I can't remember what right now. I wanted to talk some about the election, specifically the propositions on the ballot, but that would take to long, so I'll just say...make sure you vote on February 5th. I've completed most of my ballot already (I'm a permanent absentee voter). All I have left to vote for is a presidential candidate. I want to see what happens in the next few days before I cast my ballot. Check out this site, if you're interested in seeing who you line up with.

The Oscar nominations came out. That was something....I need to see Atonement, Michael Clayton, and There Will Be Blood before the Oscars are handed out. As with every year, I like to see all the best picture nominees and decide which I like the best. On the topic of Oscar-nominated movies, here is one of my favorite (and most bizarre) scenes from a movie this year. It's from No Country for Old Men.

One Week Down

2008-01-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

I've been able to survive the first week of the quarter.

This quarter just seems crazier than usual. There is the usual large number of students asking me to add them to my classes, but there is so much more this quarter.

I'm teaching an extra class this quarter (3 trig classes and an algebra class, in total) and taking a PE class; I've had 4 students ask for recommendation letters (if you are a student who is not one of these 4, please don't ask me to write you a rec. letter until, at least, February); I've been trying to work on writing up a report for a tenure candidate (I'm the chair of his tenure committee); there have also been a larger than usual number of student requests this quarter, which I cannot discuss, because of FERPA.

I've also been anticipating reading a plethora of job applications, which will probably start in the next couple of weeks. This anticipation makes me want to get work done now that I will not be able to do in the next couple of weeks, so I've been reading a Supply Chain Management text book (the class starts next week), and planning a Finite Math class, which I will be teaching next quarter. Meanwhile, things like watching season 4 of The Wire on DVD and reading about How Soccer Explains the World, have had to take a back seat. In addition, I feel like like the only time I've spent with Lauren is the 8-9 hours when we are sleeping, because she has been pretty busy filling out fellowship applications this whole week.

Here's to getting through one week, and hoping to survive 11 more.

Winter Break is coming to a close.....

2008-01-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

So classes start on Monday. I feel like I've been a bum over the past couple of days, even though I'm supposedly doing work tonight.

The next two quarters are going to be rough. Winter and Spring are always rough, because Spring Break is not really a break for instructors. By the time finals are graded from Winter and syllabi are put together for Spring, the week is over.

Winter and Spring are going to be a little rougher for me this year. I'm teaching an extra class in the Winter, which will probably be tough (I've never taught an extra class at De Anza). I'm also going to double up on MBA classes in March and April. This will mean 8 hours of class a week, and 5 Saturday classes - FUN!

Over the holidays, someone mentioned that something (I can't recall who or what) was happening on April 29th. All I could think of at that moment was that by April 29th, my doubling up of MBA classes would be over. It's kind of sad that I'm saying, in early January, that I can't wait until the end of April....

... and Obama wins Iowa; Lauren will be happy.

Sitting outside of Victoria's Secret watching the World go by

2007-12-29T22:47:00.000-08:00

We were in Las Vegas for a day and a half, to celebrate our 1st anniversary; we got back tonight.

I was in Las Vegas 6 1/2 years ago, on my drive from Michigan to the Bay Area. I was there for one night, and remember thinking it was weird, and I just didn't get the appeal of the city. The way people talk about Vegas, I thought I missed out on something; I didn't. I still think it's weird and I still don't get the appeal of the city.

This picture helps illustrate the weirdness of Vegas...

This guy was sitting outside of Victoria's Secret, for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for his wife. A number of things happened while I was watching this guy, including a guy who had his picture taken, while posing with one of the mannequins. Why? I have no idea. Like I said, it's weird and I don't get the appeal of the city.

BTW, his wife eventually came out of the store....

No Movie for Old Men

2007-12-23T16:27:00.000-08:00

I saw No Country for Old Men yesterday. I liked it a lot. I used to see a lot more movies over winter break than I do in recent years. There's something about sitting in a good movie that I really like.

I liked this movie a lot, but I could see how people wouldn't like it. The ending doesn't wrap things up the way a lot of movies do and I really like that. There were some moans when the movie ended, because some audience members wanted things to be wrapped up nicely. I heard a couple people on the way out of the theater say that this was the weirdest movie they've ever seen - they should see What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?

During the movie, there was an older man sitting behind me. Early on (about 20-30 minutes into the film) he said - quite loudly- to his wife, 'what the hell is this?', his way of complaining about a violent scene.

For the rest of the movie, every 15-20 minutes he would turn to his wife, and say things like 'do you want to sit through this?' or 'do you want to leave'; she didn't want to.

About 15 minutes before the movie ended, he told her he was leaving, and would wait for her outside the theater. She was cool with that.

I guess No Country for Old Men is no movie for old men.

Race in my classes

2007-12-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

I recently saw a report that listed the break-down, by race, of De Anza College students. Here's what it said:

Asian, Filipino, and Pacific Islander - 41%
Caucasian - 25%
Hispanic - 14%
African American - 5%
Other - 19%

Note that the totals add up to 104% - I have no explanation for that.

While giving my last final on Friday, the report on the desk, I looked at my class of 35 calculus students. Here is the break-down, by race, of my class. This was based on my observation, so I might be off:

Asian, Filipino, and Pacific Islander - 94.3% (33 out of 35 students)
Caucasian - 2.9% (1 student)
Hispanic - 0%
African American - 0%
Other - 2.9% (1 student)

After seeing the statistics, and seeing how off they were for my calculus class, I am going to pay more attention to who is enrolled in my classes. I'm sure my intermediate algebra class next quarter, will not look anything like my calculus class did.

Part of the time working on my master's degree was spent looking at the problems of getting underrepresented minorities into calculus, the gateway class for college students. Looking at my calculus class, I realize I'm not doing a very good job at helping fix those problems.

Short Break

2007-12-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

So I have a small break over the next few days, sort of. After grading two exams, writing two finals, taking a final, and grading two assignments and quizzes, I'm done with work I have to do, until Wednesday, when I start grading finals.

With all this work going on, I have done no planning for next quarter. I usually start planning Winter Quarter over Thanksgiving weekend, but that didn't happen. I'll spend the next few days (my 'break'), planning for next quarter. I mainly need to put my calendars and syllabi together.

Last night we went up to North Beach, with the help of GiGi (the name we have given our new GPS navigator). There were moments when Lauren was second-guessing the navigator, which led to having the feeling of having two back-seat drivers, but GiGi seems to work alright.

I don't really know what else to say. Without soccer and MBA classes to talk about, I feel like I have nothing to say...

The week to come

2007-12-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

I should be working on my Marketing final right now. I've written an outline for the big essay we're supposed to write, but need to fill it in with more detail. The outline is almost 3 pages. Our professor said he thought the essay would be about 3 pages. Hmmm....I'm probably going to need to cut some stuff out.

I had an 7.5-hour marketing class yesterday (8:30-4:00). I guess it was more like 6.5 hours, because we got an hour break in the middle of the day.

This week is going to be crazy! In addition to finishing up the Marketing final, I'm giving two precalculus exams tomorrow, a calculus exam on Tuesday, and assignments are coming in from my classes this week. That's about 120 exams and 120 assignments to grade! I want to be able to hand back all the exams by the end of the week, because the following week is finals. It's going to be rough, but I pride myself in my abilities as a very fast grader.

When I was a TA in grad school, I didn't like when we had group grading sessions, because I would always finish my portion first, and then have to help the other TA's, which meant I would grade more than anyone else.

What sucks about grading now is that my wrist/hand is still not right. I fell about a month ago (chasing Geordi) and used my hand to break my fall. I don't get why I have the pain still lingering. Lauren things I did something to my tendons. I've had a similar problem about a hear ago, when I had a collision with a goalie, but I don't remember it taking this long to heal.

I guess that's all I have to say. Back to Marketing.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving was a good one. We drove to Sacramento on Thanksgiving Day (although what we thought would be a 2-hour drive turned into a 4.5-hour drive because of traffic). We had a fantastic dinner at Lauren's uncle's house, along with a number of relatives and friends.

Today, we went to visit her "aunt", who is actually the wife of her grandmother's uncle, went to lunch with her and Lauren's actual aunt, drove to Berkeley, went to Crate and Barrel, to use up a couple of wedding gift cards we've been holding onto for a while. I then surprised Lauren by taking her to the place we ate on day we met (4 years ago, on the day after Thanksgiving), and then came home.

I was going to write about the worst Thanksgiving I've ever had; Thanksgiving 1996, but I will save that for another day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

To B'more and Back

2007-11-13T20:59:00.000-08:00

At Dulles Airport

It's 5:41am (Eastern Time). I'm sitting in the Dulles airport, in Northern Virginia.

I decided a few months ago that I wanted to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday, by showing up at my parents' house, in Baltimore. I got a ticket on Virgin America, and the first leg is done.

Virgin America tries really hard to be cool. There was mood lighting on the plane, and someone commented that they felt like they were walking into a club. There was music playing that is not the usual airplane music; it was like club music.

The airline also has the whole TV in the back of the chair set-up that seems to be the thing to do these days. I first time I saw one of those was on a trip I made to Europe in 2000. This set up had TV from dish network, movies (for $8.00!!!) and on demand TV shows for $2. Why you would pay $2 for something that is free (like Bones, the first show on their list) is beyond me.

The flight was uneventful. We took off at about 10 pm (Pacific Time), and I got, maybe, an hour's sleep.

I now need to go pick up a rental car, and drive the hour-and-a-half to Baltimore. I'm killing time now, because it is still dark outside, and I don't really want to start driving while it's still dark. I'm also a little worried about driving that far on one-hour's sleep.

In Towson, 11:15 am EST

I drove the 1.5 hours to Towson. It struck me how different highways look in the Bay Area than in Maryland. I got off the freeway when I saw a sign for a Starbucks at the next exit. Feeling the need for coffee to make it for the rest of the drive, I got off the exit and drove for 3 miles, then gave up. The highways are surrounded by trees, so there is a feeling of being in the middle of nowhere.

I was also struck by the Fall colors. It's been a long time since I've seen Fall foliage (I don't think California has Fall foliage, though you may disagree). I tried to take a couple pictures, but it was pretty cloudy. Here's one...

I went to Emily and Jamaar's house, took a tour, then headed to my parents' house. We knew my dad would be at the grocery store, so we set up for his return. He was gone for over an hour. We sat and waited. And waited. And waited.

When he came home, we surprised him with noisemakers. It was definitely worth it. It was great.

Later in the day

It's now 5:48 pm (EST) and I'm feeling tired. I got 1.5 hours of sleep this afternoon, in addition to the hour I got on the plane.

I've spent much of the afternoon grading, and not much else.

We're now waiting for Emily and Jamaar to show up at my parents' house, to have dinner.

Back at Dulles

It's 6:49 pm (EST) on November 12. My flight is delayed for about an hour. This concerns me, because I probably won't get home until fairly late, and I need to teach tomorrow morning. I didn't bring my class notes with me, so I have no real idea of what I'm going to be teaching in the morning.

Back to the trip...

We went to dinner at a Persian place. It was BYOB, because they don't have a liquor license. I think that's weird. There were a couple of tables where people brought their own bottles of wine. Weird, at least to me.

After dinner, we went home, and really didn't do much the rest of the evening; watched TV, then went to bed.

Today, the house was empty when I got up. I had planned on going to Emily's, my dad's, and my mother's workplace, heading out at about 1pm. Emily called at noon; she would be leaving work because she had strep throat. I went to my dad's work at about 1:45, and ran into a couple of his coworkers who have known me since I was 13. One of them is a big Ohio State fan (the biggest OSU fan I know of). He was somewhat disappointed at OSU's loss over the weekend.

I then went home to eat. I was under the impression that my mom was going to get home before I left, so I stayed home until 3. She didn't show, so I went to her work; she had just left, so I went back home, and said my goodbye to her.

Then I drove to Dulles. I was expecting a lot more traffic than there was. The trip took me a little over an hour (I was thinking it would be 2). I got to the airport, only to find that my flight had been delayed, so I would have 3 hours to kill. I studied some Marketing (I have a test on Thursday), and now I'm doing this. I don't know what I'm going to do with the remaining hour of my time here, but I'll stop for now.

November 13 - 8:49 pm (PST)

I'm back in Mountain View now. I got home a little before midnight last night, and was able to make it through the day today. Today is actually my dad's birthday, so happy birthday!

Over the weekend, I was watching TV with my dad when an ad came on. After the ad, he commented on how that ad campaign had been going on for a while, and how it was still successful after several years, so I want to end this blog post with my version of that ad, in relation to the trip I made to Baltimore over the weekend.

One round-trip ticket from SFO to IAD: $290
One car rental to drive from IAD to Towson: $55
One fill-up of said car rental, to avoid gasoline charges: $22.33
Surprising your dad by flying cross-country on his 60th birthday weekend: Priceless

Sitcoms

2007-10-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

I have never watched an episode of Two and a Half Men. However, I heard the theme song to the show a few weeks ago for the first time, and just thought it was great.

For several Saturdays in a row, I've stayed up 'til 11:35 (which is past my bedtime, kiddies), when the show comes on, only to be cheated out the full song with the shortened version. Last night, Lauren said "Why don't you just google it?". I did, and came up with the coolest site, sitcoms online. It has theme songs to just about every sitcom you can think of. The site even has my theme song. Those of you not too knowledgeable about 70's sitcoms might not know what I mean by my theme song; here's a hint....

Marketing, math classes, and the cold

2007-10-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

So my Marketing class started yesterday. I think any class to follow Dr. Pantos' Capital Markets class would be somewhat of a let down. While I'm sure marketing is a fascinating field, I get the feeling it's not going to be a class I look forward to going to every week. The class is huge (46 students), I feel like I'm taking a class at De Anza, or something. I don't remember the last time I was in a class that had so many students in it.

Unrelated, I observed an instructor teach the other day, and he mentioned something I hadn't thought about in a LONG time. He was talking about taking upper level and graduate level math classes, and the way the grading worked. He mentioned to his class that getting a 47% was an A. I remember those days....the days when the thought of getting anything higher than a 60% was just that, a thought.

So I have a cold. I'm such a baby about these things. I never get sick, so when I do, I sit around feeling sorry for myself. The thing is, when I'm sick, most people don't even know I'm sick. I'm one of these people who insist on showing the world that I'm perfectly fine, then I come home....

I don't really know what else to say. It's felt like a dull week, even though it has been pretty busy. But it's been busy with things that would probably bore most of you in blog land, so I'll spare you any details.

Jogging again (sort of)

2007-10-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

On September 21, I played in a great soccer game. I scored twice, and our team won 5 - 1. During the game my back was hurting, so I put on some Icy Hot at half time, and figured it would be a minor thing. For the next several days, I could barely stand or walk, and I haven't played soccer since. It turns out I have a problem with my hip muscles, and the strain they are put under as I run.

In the past 4 weeks, I've gone to Physical Therapy, and have felt better, but I've been told that I could not run, and (or course) not play soccer. I've been on an elliptical for the past couple of weeks, to get exercise.

At PT yesterday, I asked Neeraj, my PT, when I could start jogging. He suggested I use a treadmill (which I don't really like), and run while squatting a little, and tensing up my abs. This is soooooo hard to do. I did it today for about 17 minutes, and I spent so much time concentrating on squatting and the abs thing that I didn't know if I got that great of a cardio workout. It was also very hard on my body. My quads are still sore, and my back is not as good as it was before I ran, so I may be headed back to the elliptical.

I just wish I could play soccer again...

Bed hog

2007-10-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

I was going to go to bed last night, when I saw this...

This scene is not uncommon, and usually he gets out of the way once I start to get into bed. Last night, that didn't happen, all he did was roll over, even after I had pulled the covers up...

That's Geordi for you; he basically runs things around the apartment.

The crappy blogger

2007-10-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

So I'm watching Death Proof right now. Quite the gory movie.

I can't say it's great. It has that Quentin Tarantino look and feel to it (and, of course, puts himself in the movie - he's such a bad actor).

I've been poor at blogging over the past couple of weeks. The thing is, I've had a lot of small things to say, but nothing that I felt was worth blogging about. So....I caved in and joined twitter.

Geordi's going nuts

2007-10-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

So Geordi likes peanut shells.

Last week I bought a huge bag of dried peanuts (in shells) from Milk Pail (the best market in the area) for cheap. I boiled some of them to get some tasty boiled peanuts. Anyhow, Geordi seems to be obsessed with them. I woke up this morning to find a boiled peanut in our bathroom. I was not completely awake, and thought he had thrown up on the bath mat again. I was glad it was a peanut and not throw up. We've had to shoo him off the counter where the peanuts are several times this evening. The thing is, he seems to like to lick on the shell, but doesn't really eat any of it. Weird.

I went to Physical Therapy today. The PT believes I have weak hip/pelvis muscles, which is what causes my back problems. I've been given exercises to do, and I'm going to see him twice a week for a few weeks.

Back to School

2007-09-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well, school has started for the Fall.

I'm teaching 2 pre-calc classes and a calc 1 class. The beginning of the year has been somewhat uneventful, at work.

On the homefront, well maybe not the homefront, but the healthfront, I've messed up my lower back. I've had minor backaches after playing soccer for months, but for some reason after our last game on Friday (I scored twice, thank you very much), my back got messed up.

On Saturday and Sunday, I could barely walk; on Monday and Tuesday, I wore a back brace while teaching, just to keep myself from keeling over; today, I was finally able to see a doctor. I have a joint problem in my lower back. What does this mean? Going to physical therapy (and no soccer) for the next month or so. I was just getting back into soccer form, after my 3 month break from the sport, and now I'm out again. Dammit!

Killing time with Homicide

2007-09-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

"Only a man with no woman in his life eats extra onion for lunch."
- J.H. Brodie

I've been really congested over the past few days. I never had congestion, without my nose being blocked up, until about two years ago. Who knew you could be congested and still breathe normally?

Anyhow, a couple of years ago, while in Ghana, I got this pain in my right ear. After various conjectures as to what might cause it, I've come to realize that I am congested when I get that pain.

I really dislike that pain, and this week it has been pretty bad. I think I'm noticing it more this time around, because I'm not doing much else this week. In Ghana, we were walking around and trying to get by, so I would only notice the pain during the down times. The few other times I've had this pain, I've been teaching and going to class so, again, I only noticed the pain during down times.

Tomorrow is my first day back to work and I like to have a few days before the Fall starts, to just do nothing. With this downtime, I've been noticing the pain in my ear, constantly.

I went running this morning, in the hopes that it would make me feel better. I'd been avoiding running, because putting earplugs into my right ear really hurts. I toughed it out today, and I did feel better after running (and the earplug didn't cause much pain after it was in place).

With this down time, I've watched four episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, in the last 3 days. I've actually gotten as far as season 5 of the series, since sometime in May.

Homicide takes place (and was filmed) in Baltimore. The series started when I was in high school, in Baltimore, and continued it's run until sometime when I was in Michigan.

Many people's view of Baltimore comes from the HBO series The Wire. While I think The Wire is a fantastic series, I don't feel like it does a good job of showing Baltimore in it's true light. It shows one face of Baltimore, and that has always bothered me about The Wire. Homicide, while it deals with murder, does show other sides of the city. You see the cops at home, you see murders that happen in the richer parts of the city, cops spend time in Fells Point, and there is just a wider view of the city on display.

Why I'm rambling on about this, I don't know, I guess I'm trying to do other things, to avoid thinking about my ear.

BTW, the quote above is from one of the episodes I watched today. The crime videographer says the line after one of the detectives (who's been divorced 3 times) orders a sandwich with extra onions.

The Nugget Man

2007-09-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

I hope this works, but here is one of the funniest songs I've heard in a long time, Nugget Man.

Thank you Paul and Storm, for making me laugh.

You can read more about the nugget man here.

The 2nd Honeymoon

2007-09-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

We got back from our 2nd honeymoon to Northwestern U.S and Southwestern Canada. Here are some of the highlights...

If you don't want to read my ramblings, and just want to look at stuff, I have some pictures here.

Seattle:

We saw what you're supposed to see in Seattle; the Space Needle, the Underground Tour, Pike Place Market. We also had dinner with a high schoolmate of mine, who I haven't really talked to in about 13 years. I really liked Seattle (I had never been there before), and I hope to go back at some point, maybe to live there, in the future.

Victoria:

We took a couple of ferries to get to Victoria. I'd never been on a car ferry before. It was pretty cool.

I realized I forgot to pack a jacket when we got to Victoria, so I spent much of the time in the city looking like a tourist, wearing a Victoria fleece I bought on our first night there. There's not much to see in Victoria, so we were able to do all we wanted to do in a day. We also met up with Lauren's 7th grade teacher, who now owns a quilt shop. That was Victoria.

Another ferry, and onto...

Vancouver:

I had been in Vancouver for a month in 2001, and it didn't seem quite as great the second time around. This might have been because it rained a fair amount of time on this trip (the sun came out on the day we were leaving town). We ate at Vij's, which has lines that go on forever. We were in line for 20 minutes to get to the door, then had to wait an hour for a seat. It was not that great, in my opinion.

We also went to Punjabi Town, which was pretty cool. I'd never been in an Indian district of a city and I enjoyed it a lot, even though we were only there for about an hour.

We also spent some time in North Vancouver, which I had not been to in 2001. It was nice, not spectacular, but nice.

On our last day in Vancouver (the day we drove out of town) we went to the aquarium, which was...an aquarium. I don't think I'm an aquarium person because I feel like once you've seen one, you've seen them all. The "thing" in this aquarium were its Baluga whales, which were kind of cool looking, because they are white.

We stayed in 3 different Bed and Breakfasts in Canada. for that past 10 years, or so, I've had this fantasy of running a Bed and Breakfast. This trip brought that thought back again. I often think about what I would like to do, if I leave teaching, and I think I would really like to run a B&B.

Anyhow, onto...

Portland:

Portland was kind of a disappointment. After going to Powell's Books (which was cool), we wandered, looking for something to do, and wandered, looking for something to do, and wandered, looking for something to do. We drove through Washington Park, then back to our hotel.

That night, we went to dinner with a high school friend of Lauren's, who then took us to Voodoo Doughnuts, the coolest doughnut place I've ever been to.

The odd thing about that night was, at some point during the evening, I lost my wedding ring. I feel like I lost it in the hotel room, but after ripping the room apart the next morning, I couldn't find it. The cost of the ring is not a problem, but it sucks losing it, because it was the ring that Lauren put on my finger the day we got married.

We left Portland and headed to...

Klamath Falls:

The parents of a childhood friend of Lauren's live in Klamath Falls. It was cool to spend the evening, and night, in farm country. They had a number of horses on their land, and there was a feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. At night, when I looked out the window, all I saw was black. So cool. I don't think I'd want to live in that rural of an area, but it was great to experience it.

That was the trip.

The week

2007-08-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a somewhat quiet week. Lauren has been out of town all week, so I've been left to find things to do with my time. I've been dealing with this quite a bit (this was actually filmed a while ago, but I've never used the blogger video-posting feature, so I'm trying it out)...

What else have I been doing? Well, I've been dealing with ice a lot. We still have some beer in the keg from our reception, so I've been keeping it cool I wish I was a beer drinker, because then I could help get rid of it. Instead, we have the keg in the dining area, and lots of Trader Joe's 1/2-gallon juice bottles full of beer, in the fridge. If anyone wants a 1/2-gallon or two of Dos Equis beer, get in touch.

In addition, I've been trying to plan our trip up to British Columbia. It kind of sucks that the dollar is so weak these days ($1US = $1.06 CAN), because the trip will end up being quite a bit more expensive than when I was in Vancouver in 2001 ($1=$1.70ish CAN). We're also going to be going through Seattle and Portland, which I haven't looked into at all.

I've also tried going to the gym again, and boy are my arms tired. It's been a while since I've lifted weights, but it feels good to do it again. I've been going very lightly, and trying to do some core conditioning stuff also (I don't know why I'm telling you this).

I've also seen 4 movies this week: Disturbia (it was alright), 300 (good special effects, HORRIBLE dialogue), Breach (very good), and tonight I saw Once in a Lifetime (good soccer documentary about the New York Cosmos soccer team).

Speaking of soccer, we have a game tomorrow against the dreaded Pink Flamingos (they wear pink jerseys). They kick our butts every time we play them, and I'm not sure why they are not in a higher division, They're good people, but I wish they weren't so good at playing soccer.

Age

2007-08-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

I held a 6-week old baby a couple of days ago. It's odd to think of 6 weeks as being an age. I don't remember the last time I held a baby so young.

I felt my age a few hours after holding the baby. I had a soccer game and, man, that game wore me out. Mind you, I hadn't played in a couple of months, but still.....it's pretty sad, because I didn't play for more than 20 minutes, but in that time, I rolled my left ankle, and woke up the next day, completely stiff.

Ah, the days of youth...

The craziness is over, but life goes on...

2007-08-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

The reception is over!

Thanks to all of you who attended. It was great to catch up with old friends, and meet some new ones.

I also have to admit that I'm glad it is over. The past week was a rough one, down to the point where I had to call both the caterer and the baker to make sure they were going to show (they were both quite a bit later than they said they would be).

While that stress is over, I still have to grade finals and turn in my grades by Wednesday. I'm hoping to do much of the grading tomorrow, but that might be a problem because I have to take my sister and her husband to the airport tomorrow at 4:30 am (less than 7 hours from now). I'm sure I'll be a walking zombie tomorrow, but I still want to get my grading done.

On that note, good night.....

The craziness is about to begin....

2007-08-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

This week is going to be crazy!

Actually, it started last Thursday, when I had my capital markets final. Even though I'm glad the class is over, I will miss it. It was, by far, my favorite MBA class I've taken. I enjoyed the way Prof. Pantos presented material, even though it was hard to follow at times. I also loved how students weren't afraid to disagree with him, even if it meant him kind of getting in their face about it. It was what I thought MBA classes would be like, and I really hope to take a class with Prof. Pantos again.

Onto this week. Our reception is now 6 days away, and there is still work to be done. We have to meet with the caterer again tomorrow, I met with the cake people (and changed the cake order for the third time) yesterday, we're working on where people will sit, and how to arrange furniture in the room. We will have 2 hours to set up the room, come home, change, and head back to welcome people next Saturday. It will be a crazy day.

All of this would not be so bad, if this week wasn't the last week of the Summer session for me. In the next four days, I'm giving an exam and a final, collecting homework, an assignment, and a project. I have to grade all these things, and turn in my grades by the following Wednesday. I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish all this, but what has to be done, has to be done...

What I would look like in Springfield, USA

2007-07-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

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

My Saturday

2007-07-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

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'

2007-07-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-03T20:11:00.001-07:00

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.

One day off...

2007-06-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (which starts in about an hour) is my one day break from work.

I finished grading finals today, and start teaching again on Monday, so I hope to enjoy Sunday in some way, probably by watching Pan's Labyrinth, going a public library, and killing bugs.

I've had Pan's Labyrinth for the past week from Netflix, but have not had time to watch it. I actually wanted to see it when it was in the theaters, but, of course, I did not have the time.

I got my computer back today (with a new motherboard and hard drive). This is a good thing; the bad thing is, I lost all the data from my old hard drive. Luckily, I was able to save all my work stuff and a lot of my pictures, but I lost all the music I had on my computer, so it's time to replenish! A lot of the music I had on my itunes was from CDs I got from the library, so I'm heading back to see what I can put back onto my computer (or get new stuff).

We've had this little bug problem in our apartment over the past few weeks. By little, I mean the size of the bugs, not the number. We have had a problem with these bugs that look like TINY beetles. They seem to show up all over our kitchen (usually dead) and they are beginning to show up in other parts of the house. Lauren got some pet-safe bug spray so I'm going to spend part of tomorrow cleaning out the cupboards of our kitchen and then spraying every nook and cranny, with the hopes of eliminating the little buggers.

Macless and busy

2007-06-25T19:48:00.001-07:00

I've been without my Mac for over a week now. It crashed on my while writing an exam (I happened to be writing a problem about the life of a laptop shortly before it crashed). Turns out both the hard drive and motherboard were toast.

Because of this life has been a little rough (oh the luxury I have that not having a laptop makes my life "rough"). I've spent a lot more time at work to get stuff done, and have neglected blogging.

It's been a crazy week. Last week, I put together two exams, was part of the MPS end of year ceremony (congrats to all my MPS students), inteverviewed 9 job candidates (four of them on Saturday), drove up to Berkeley after the last of the interviews, went to La Med (the best restaurant in the Bay Area, if you ask me), went to work on Sunday morning for a review session for my stats class, came home, and went back to work on Sunday night to do some work. Also, I started my next MBA class with my crazy (in ranting, lovable but also a little scary, sort of way) last Thursday.

The end of the school year is now 4 days away, but I won't notice because I start teaching Summer session in 7 days. Yay for a 2-day vacation, which I will spend grading finals.

Hump Day

2007-06-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

I forgot to blog yesterday, after saying I would blog everyday this week.

I'm waiting for my french fries right now. I forgot to get started on them while working on the rest of my dinner, so now I have a boca burger waiting for fries. When people say vegetarians eat healthy, they aren't talking about my dinner tonight.

What else is going on? I was part of a team that interviewed a math instructor candidate this morning. I realize I've never been on this side of a job search. I've interviewed and applied for jobs, but this is the first time I have looked at other people's applications and get to ask them why they think they are good for the job.

Sorry, I can't say anything about this specific candidate, for those of you who might be curious.

Maybe my fries are ready now....