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May 30, 2007
I hate Microsoft Entourage and my stupid Treo
Yes, I know that I should switch to Apple Mail. I know that the Treo is a computer, so it shouldn't be trusted. The reason I haven't backed up in 6 months is that every time I try to sync the two, it duplicates EVERYTHING in my address book, throws out data, and I hate it.
HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT.
I spent 5 hours beginning to update my address book, trying to merge flawed contacts, update 6 months of info. I then tried to backup the data using Microsoft's database stuff, and it erased all of my work.
HATE MICROSOFT. HATE TREO.
I'll be sending out a mass email asking everyone for their info again, as I asked for some info, then deleted those emails. Stupid, stupid me.
GRRRRRRRRR.
Posted by G at 10:04 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
May 28, 2007
May's math problem
What is the lowest number between 678,000 and 679,000 that is a multiple of 6,7 AND 8, but doesn't have a 6,7, or 8 in the lower place values?
Example:678,048 is divisible by both 6,7, and 8, but has an 8 in the ones place.
No rewards, except that you know you used your brain. Hop to it.
***Update***
Twenty minutes after posting it, a really cute and obviously smart guy in Arizona solved it. Only look in the comments once you've got your answer!
Posted by G at 06:18 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
May 27, 2007
Remember to backup your phone
I did, but only back in November 2006. Oops.
I attempted to text message Zeitzeuge Mark this morning to invite him to brunch/afternoon touring the Met. Afterwards I was going to text others, but that stopped. My phone froze up, so I found some pencil lead and pressed my Treo's reset button.
When the little frakking computer rebooted, everything was gone. Everything. Because of the difficulties of updating between Microsoft Entourage on the Mac and my Treo, I avoided doing it since November.
Now I've spent the last two hours trying to get the blasted phone working again, as the phone keeps freezing up. Damnit. I can't make phone calls, I've lost TONS of contacts, and my entire calendar is fried.
I'm eating chocolate now, as otherwise I'll end up throwing the blasted thing out the window.
Posted by G at 11:27 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
May 25, 2007
Dicks terrified of dicks bigger than their own
I woke up this morning with a cringe, as I heard in the news the name of my Texas town where I own property.
Lubbock, Texas. Bless my stupid decision to own property. Same town that threatened the Dixie Chicks, same town that arrested Chippendales dancers for kissing women on the cheek, and the same town that Bush keeps things simple for in his speeches.
Believe me, hearing "Lubbock" in the news is never a good thing.
Lubbock is in the news because they just arrested a female clerk at a sex toy store for selling obscenities, because Lubbock views dildoes as obscenities. There is an old law that provides that possessing more than six dildoes constitutes an obscenity, and this poor woman will face trial, and if convicted, will be a sex offender.
The owner of the store said that there is a huge demand for sexual pleasure devices in Lubbock (I wonder why, Mr. Mr. Possibly Compensating Sheriff and District Attorney), and the district attorney in Lubbock sidesteps his responsibility saying it is the job of the legislature to change the laws. If his job is to prosecute offenders of laws, then his office should also be arresting any families with the Encyclopedia Brittanica (outlawed because it has a formula for making beer), any construction workers with wire cutters in their pocket, and any people within the limits who are taking more than 3 sips of beer can be arrested. Since Lubbock is a dry county, he should probably arrest EVERY person coming back from the alcohol strip outside of town, as it is illegal to drive within arms' length of alcohol, including alcohol in someone else's blood stream.
Idiots.
Posted by G at 07:40 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
May 21, 2007
What I'm doing for the weekend
Maybe the last month of being sick, having allergies, and way too much work was just a way to give my liver a break before next weekend. It's time for the big annual event that puts the 'icious in me.
GB:NYC4
Mark, the organizer, has posted a schedule here.
My friend Mark started this event back in 2003, and I had been blogging less than a year. I was nervous about meeting people I had only known via their blogs, and I promptly got rip-roaring drunk. Now the blog is five years old, people I met there have become some of my best friends, and I just get rip-roaring drunk. I am planning on remaining vaguely sober, but plans often go awry, right?
Last year I was actually sober enough to post pics, and not drunk enough to drop trou.
I figure I'll be able to attend the Friday night event at Therapy, definitely Roller Disco on Saturday in Central Park, and possibly something on Sunday. For me, it is a rare opportunity to see old friends, meet new people, and laugh until the wee hours. My liver is glad it only happens once a year.
Wanna come and rub my head for luck?
Posted by G at 09:34 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
May 17, 2007
Bjork and Sugar Cubes
When I was a little kid, I loved going to my dad's construction company's office. They had a coffee area, and I discovered a little box of white cubes right next to the coffee pot.
Sugar cubes. Delicious, geometrically wonderful sugar cubes. I can still remember the first time I stuck one on my tongue- the amazing sensation of it all angular, unyielding and with the first trace of sweet, then after a few seconds, the collapse and sugar rush cresting over my tastebuds.
Twenty sugar cubes later, I don't remember much, except people trying to peel me off the ceiling with a stick.
Decades later, I'm the guy who makes sure the coffee area stays stocked. I use Splenda, but I bought a box of Domino sugar cubes. Today, I stuck one of the cubes on my tongue. Absolutely amazing.
Oh yeah. Bjork's new album kicks ass too.
Posted by G at 06:58 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
May 15, 2007
Just like my students, I never read directions
I was seriously panicking, as I was really looking at my teaching math this year as an absolute failure, as I thought that 55 percent of my students had failed the practice math exam. Now I realize that the multiple choice questions count as TWO points each, and now I have an 85% pass rate. Whew!
Still, I want at least 90% for the real exam. I have worked serious overtime this year, because I believe in my students, or at least I believe I will kill them if they forget how to factor quadratics, find trigonometric values, or use the Pythagorean theorem. Three weeks left of me threatening, cajoling, pleading, and lots of encouraging; then I'll seriously begin drinking.
My goals now for the summer? Drinking, tanning, traveling.
Posted by G at 07:36 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
May 14, 2007
Viewing my blog as a graph
If I were to look back in the misty entries of the past as a data stream, I believe that I would find certain times trend lower for me emotionally. This time of May would be one of those lower points.
Things that make my spirits go down:
Sinuses.
Coughing.
Mother's Day.
Crazy, crazy students.
Students with sublimely thick skulls who have not retained a SINGLE concept from my math classes. They can quote the prices of thousands of sneakers, but can't recognize that vertical angles are equal.
Things that will eventually make my spirits go up:
Sinuses go away.
Coughing might give me abs, underneath the horrifying fat. If I could just have a vomiting flu, I might even feel good enough to take my shirt off.
Some crazy students will have moments of lucidity, and might even remember to bring pens to class.
Some students will eventually remember some topics under the unholy terror of Regents exams.
School will wind down, I'll review and improve over the summer, and I'll be on vacation.
Posted by G at 08:48 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
May 09, 2007
What does a man do in Kalamazoo?
Well, if you're my partner, you'll talk about gender and violence in medieval English literature in front of other literary mucketymucks. Saturday in Michigan. Yep.
Last year he got me a shirt that says "All I got was this lousy tshirt" in Latin.
Nerds are HOT.
Posted by G at 08:25 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
May 08, 2007
Meet the crazy teacher with the hidden time machine
This time of year is great. It's the time of my amazing 'back of the math classroom' time machine. It looks just like a variegated philodendron plant, but it is just a clever force field. It's a time machine that requires some sun and occasional watering.
Some students wake up after being little non-angels all year, failing every marking period, never doing any work, putting forth their best effort at disrupting every class. It is the beginning of the FINAL marking period. They come to me and ask what they can do to pass my class. I wish I could point at the cleverly concealed time machine in the corner and tell them to go back in time to talk to their fall semester selves. Maybe they could have a conversation with their past selves about the following topics:
* when the teacher sat down with you the first marking period that you failed (or even in the first week of school), and gave you a series of 3 easy things to pass the class, maybe you could do those three things- take organized notes, come to tutoring, and turn in the homework.
* stop talking, take notes since the teacher's tests are open notebook tests
* when the teacher goes over the homework the next day, even giving out blank copies, stop talking long enough to even mindlessly fill in the blanks
* when the teacher offered free after school tutoring over 50 times, maybe attend at least one, as each one counted as extra credit.
* when the teacher tells you that 10 points of each marking period grade are just for the table of contents and vocabulary of your notebook, maybe spend 2 minutes less talking in class, write the entries. Just two minutes.
* when the teacher recognized that you had other talents (music, writing, art) and offered optional extra work that would offset tests, maybe you should do those things.
I am totally willing to change the space-time continuum, altering our current trajectory, just so you can pass the class. But please, please, don't ask me what you can do in the final marking period. It just isn't going to happen.
Posted by G at 09:21 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
May 07, 2007
Blechy
So much for regular blogging, right? My bad.
Since last week, I've been fairly sick. I've been fighting (and losing to) allergies, but then I had to go to the emergency room on Tuesday around 2am. I don't really want to go into the details here until I get more news, but it was unpleasant. I don't like being sick.
My school had a planning retreat on Friday and Saturday, where my allergies have extended to a really nasty dry cough. I am about as pleasant to be around as a man with clown chiggers.
Yurk.
Posted by G at 09:43 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack