Biggest Meow's Ramblings

Today the kids were off the wall. Mostly the younger kids. They were running around the gym going nuts, got the jump ropes taken away, and were not following directions at all. The kids that were playing basketball were chucking the ball half court. One of the younger kids got hit by the basketball. The child was not hurt and the person that made the errant toss apologized without being told to. B. and P. were messing around prior to snack time. I was talking to one of the other kids and D. says, "Mr. E. B. is crying". I go over to find out what happened and P. had taken his hand and bent it backward. So, I booted P. out into the other room and went to find an ice pack. Tomorrow is Thursday. I hope that we have a better day tomorrow. Though I know what the movie is going to be and I will hear, "Why do we have to watch that? We're not babies!" I'm ready for the weekend.

brokencomb had given me some old jam jars sometime ago (he was still in graduate school). I decided I wanted to make some salad dressing the other day and remembered these jars. They are the perfect size to put salad dressing in. So I made some that I thought would go well with coleslaw. At any rate, I decided to make salad tonight. I took celery, one red beet, carrots, radishes, and some zuchinni and chopped them up into match sticks. Then dressed it with the salad dressing. It was great. I in general do not like celery. However, the dressing and the other flavors killed what I consider to be the obnoxious part of celery.

If you've never done your own salad dressing you should try it out. It is incredibly easy and tastes much better than what you can get out of a jar. Besides you know what's in it to. No reading the label for crazy stuff put into it to keep it together. If you're going to tell me that you go organic and it doesn't matter you should read that label to. I was reading the so called "organic" dressing label the other day and it had Xantham gum and another preservative that I can't remember. If you do decide to do salad dressing you should invest in the best quality olive oil you can get your hands on. It does matter. Otherwise the only other thing to keep in mind is when you are testing the taste of said dressing you should always test it on a piece of veg that you intend to use the dressing with. Something that twangs by itself maybe the perfect complement to a root veg or some leafy thing that tastes obnoxious all by itself.

Class starts next week. I'm hoping that I'm done playing the bureaucratic game that is applying to graduate school. First round offers will go out at the end of February. We'll see what happens.

Laters,
Big Meow

[This is a test of an LJ client.]

One of the presents that I got for Christmas is Jamie's Dinners by Jamie Oliver. It has more prose than any other cookbook I've ever picked up which makes it an interesting read. He talks a little bit about what he likes at the beginning of each section. It is meant not so much as a collection of recipes, but a book that stimulates thinking about good food. There is an entire section on five minute meals.

I guess the first thing to say about the five minute meals is that they are five minute meals for a professional cook working slowly. However, none of them have taken me longer than 15 minutes. I went an got a pound of sirloin steak the other day and have gotten a lot of mileage out of it. Tonight I made steak wraps. I pan-fryed a little bit of steak in olive oil after having rubbed with salt and pepper. Then I had red pepper, red onion, tomato, avocado, and hummus. Yeah, that says hummus (if you're unfamiliar it is essentially mashed chickpeas). I thought it sounded odd, but it really works well with the rest of it. It doesn't take a lot of meat to make this work either. Lots of taste and lots of vegetables.

The other thing I've done with steak is make steak and cheese. I use hoagie buns that have a hard crust and stuff them with some steak, red pepper, onion, and mozarella cheese. Then I wrap it up in foil and throw it into a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes to let it get all warm and gooey. I like having a warm lunch and this is a quick way to get that done.

I have a little less than half the steak left and I plan on making steak fajitas out of it tomorrow night. Another example of a fairly quick meal. I've done chicken fajitas before which were extremely good. Frying the vegetables up in a little lime and lemon juice works well to me.
There are a lot of things that I want to try soon. Fish and Chips, Bok Choy, and Onion Soup to name a few. There are a number of thoughts on salads. I've had as much garbage salad as anyone else. Prepackage salads maybe convenient, but they usually aren't very good. I refuse to eat the tomatoes out of a prepackaged salad because they are usually disgusting. Nobody wants to eat limp lettuce and it is really bad if the onions have gone mushy. My point is nobody wants to eat that kind of thing. The adjective used in the salad section is "interactive". Salads that are made from real vegetables that are crunchy along with some feta cheese, maybe a little ham, and a homemade salad dressing (this isn't hard) makes for something tasty to the pallate. There are lots of other ways to get excited about salads to with macaroni, chickpeas, or beets.

Let me say a few words about beets. I love beets. If you're only experience with beets is from the can you have never experienced beets. I'm the first guy in line that will tell you that canned beets are disgusting. However, there are so many great things you can do with fresh from the ground beets. You can pan roast them and chop them up into chunks, get them in multiple colors and make a nice salad, or shred some beet and add it to a dish for color.

Getting excited about salad is a lot like getting excited about sandwiches. The same rule applies to both, "there's no need to make or buy the same ones all the time"! Different kinds of bread are readily available along with a number of different kinds of cheeses. Personally I like dark bread with roast beef and sourdough with ham and swiss. Anyway, one can get excited about all kinds of sandwiches.
I'll stop now as it is getting a little late. I get excited about food not just because it tastes so good, but because I love to cook. It's even better when you have the opportunity to share it with someone. Sharing food with kids deserves its own post. So, I hope over this holiday season that you have had ample opportunity to share good food with good friends and family.

Laters,
Big Meow

We had a good day at the afterschool program today. I walked into the classroom and J., J., and A. were all talking about D. who wasn't there today. I think the four of them must have had a bad day today. J. named a number of behaviours about D. that they didn't like. I didn't really like the fact that they were talking about someone who wasn't there so I tried to turn the conversation back around to their own behaviour. The first question I typically ask is "What do you think would happen if you were nice to him / her everytime they are mean to you?" The typical answer I get is "I've tried that." and it was the response I got this time. J. said, "Most of the time I just want to punch him in the face". I told him that he needed to make sure that his better judgement overwhelmed his frustration so that he didn't get into actual trouble. Their behaviour is an improvement over last year, but they've still got a ways to go.

J. said, "Whenever he's here and I'm here you should believe me more than you believe him". The truth of the fact of the matter is I do. I'm not going to say that out loud, but J. has never lied to me and D. has. I can also tell when J. is being irrational. I understand why they don't like each other. We want an inclusive community so when a nonfriend decides to play with a group of friends I want them to, at the very least, give each other basic respect. This is one of those times I'm well aware that they are nine years old.

I don't think we'll have very many kids for Friday. The day before break usually means just our regulars. There won't be too much going on. It's always nice to have a relaxing Friday. I'm also happy that all of the kids will be able to go on break having had a positive day with us.
I got my GRE subject score back today. I got a worse score than I did last time which I didn't think was possible. So, I've probably sealed my fate with any school that takes these scores seriously. What a waste of $260. There are a number of schools that I applied to that have no business pretending to be that selective. Hopefully these schools will be more interested in the reference letters that were written for me. I also selected 1/3 of the schools I applied to don't even consider the Subject GRE. We'll see what the outcome is come Spring time.

Tschüs,
Biggest Meow

We're getting pretty close to going on Christmas vacation at work. The kids at work are all getting fairly excited to be on break. I think a lot of the staff are ready for break to. I'm ready to. A little bit of timeout is always a good thing. Hopefully we'll all be able to come back rejuvinated and ready to get to the end of the year. I came in to work today and there was a small Tupperware box waiting for me. One of the 3rd graders had put together some Christmas treats for the two of us that work in that room. I was playing Battleship with D. today. I told him that I would play with him if he played by the rules, or "no cheating" as he put it. He gets so irritated when a game doesn't go the way he wanted it to. Today instead of moving his ships around or placing them on the board in the wrong way his deceit was a little more covert. He would drop one of the pieces on the ground when I was looking around the rest of the classroom to see what was going on so he could look at my side of the board. I find his behaviour rather frustrating most of the time. He is 10 years old and comparatively immature to the rest of his 4th grade peers. Tomorrow is Thursday so I'm thinking we'll see quite a few kids tomorrow. We have two big days. One is Tuesday because a number of the kids have band lessons after school. The other day is Thursday because school lets out at 2:00pm instead of 3:00pm. We've also been having a lot more kids recently because it has been so cold out. I'm enrolled to take the Theory of Computation course in the Spring. I was down in the Engineering library today and picked up to books that look interesting: 

• Automata and Computability
• Theory of Computation

both of which are by Dexter Kozen and published by Springer. They are formatted as lecture notes, but they are much more coherent than other books that are published with the title of "Lecture Notes". It looks like a really interesting course. I hope that the instructor doesn't completely ruin it. brokencomb and I went out to lunch at Monica's today. It has a very Cafe like atmosphere to me in the way that the whole thing is laid out. In fact, I said that it reminded me of the Monte cafe. I don't know... something about the color of the walls and the shape of the room reminded me of that. It's one of those comparisons that doesn't really hold up with much thought. The furniture at Monica's is nice. It is kind of plain in a sense, but it works. Enough of that. The comparison probably doesn't work unless you're in my head. Your all actually interested in the food review I'm sure. We both had half orders of our respective Paninis for lunch with fries. It was all pretty good and we sat and talked until I had to go to work. Every semester I don't know what to do once it has all come to an end. It's like running for a number of miles and trying to come to a sudden stop. I've been going to bed at my normal time and waking up at 3am for the past couple of days. Today I came back from work ate a little dinner and fell asleep. I woke up at 12:30 am. This is so driving me nuts. I'm going to try and obtain a little bit of sleep now. Tschüs, Biggest Meow

We had a full contingent of the 4th grade boys today. We hadn't seen B. all year. He and his sisters came today. It was nice to see them again. He seemed to be happier than the day I'd seen him in the hallway earlier this year. He's such a nice young guy.

J. was also with us today. He seemed to be in a decent mood when he came in. When he left I asked him if he was excited that Christmas was coming and he responded with a bland "Yeah". Maybe he was just tired after a long day today.

Which lead to an interesting comment that was made at the end of the day. D. was one of the other 4th graders with us today. I thought things were going to be rather sideways because J. and A. do not get along with D. at all. However, J. and A. got picked up fairly early and they didn't get in a tussle with anyone playing basketball. At the end of the day D. said, "Do you remember when you said that J. and I could be friends?" I could not for the life of me figure out what he was talking about. He rejected the premise of the statement as much as I did. I finally remembered the incident that he was talking about and realized what I had really said is that needed to get along with each other whether or not they considered themselves friends or not.

It's interesting to see how my relationship with some of the kids has changed. I remember the first time I met S. last year. It was early in the Fall (first week or so) and we were trying to get everyone to settle down. It was also one of those days that we had 35 kids. S. was messing around and I said, "Stop!" I said it much louder than I ever intended and she started crying. Today she and I had a rather pleasant conversation as she was waiting to go to her band lesson. She's grown up a lot over the past year to.

I had never been in the libraries here during finals week. I'd always found somewhere else to study. This semester I have been in and out of the libraries and they are packed. I was in the basement of the Engineering Library today and there were people everywhere. Four guys had decided to walk back behind the stacks pull up a piece of carpet and do their studying there. It usually dead silent down there, but today there was quite a bit of conversation going on. Last Sunday night I went to the Main Library. I usually find a place behind the stacks on the 5th floor. They were all full. So, I go down to the 4th floor and try and find something. There were also two girls hunting for a spot to study. We all get on the elevator and go to the 3rd floor. Nothing there either. I finally went behind the Asian Language section and found half a table that wasn't being used.

GRE scores should have been sent out by now. I should be able to get on and send those out now. It is the last thing I have to do in order to complete my graduate applications. After that it is a matter of playing the waiting game. We'll see what happens once the end of February rolls around. I've also been getting solicitations from schools via the GRE search service. I have gotten E-Mail from Montana State and there Interdisciplinary Bio program. I'm not sure why they thought I would fit their profile at all.

Laters,
Biggest Meow

Over the last two years I have watched both essential mathematical topics and my favorite mathematical topics get mutilated. I've seen ODEs, Algebraic Topology, Field Theory, and Linear Algebra get creamed. I am tired of watching it happen. I am tired of being taught by Professors who are aftaid to use the words. To use the techniques that are available in any given topic. I saw ODEs get taught with fear of using eigenvalues and eigenvectors. I saw Algebraic Topology get taught with a fear of doing Algebra let alone doing anything serious. Any number of people will tell you that Algebraic Topology is a very pretty topic. It's a shame to watch something so nice get destroyed in the classroom.

The Professor who taught the second course in Linear Algebra taught it from an $18 reprint. It was no different that the first course that I got from Iowa State. We could have gotten a serious introduction to tensor products, Quadratic Forms, and / or Hermetian Matrices. All we did do were convoluted exercises from a convoluted book. I don't give a damn how much a book costs. I want to be able to cover the topics required to get math done. If $130 for Hoffman and Kunze is simply too much then Steven Roman's book at $50 is the way to go. I would argue that Steven Roman's book is the best Linear Algebra book on the market anyway. Hatcher is only $30. However, Cambridge should be embarassed for putting that book in print. It doesn't cover any number of topics very well (i.e. Universal Coefficients). Can we please stop screwing around?

I've been saying it for a while, "Where ever I go next Fall I will have to be convinced that I won't be wasting my time". It is a hard sell to say that I won't be wasting my time should I stay where I currently am. The first step thought is to wait until I find out the outcome of my graduate applications will be. Then I can start giving this question more focused thought. If you ask me right now what my choice would be if my only options were to stay at here and do research math or go North and do math education I don't know which I would choose.

I ask myself all of the time why it is that the most talented Professors choose to stay here. I'm sure that it has to do with more than the department culture. There are any number of considerations that they are interested in such as family concerns, getting a job where both spouses can be together, et. al, et. al. I do wonder what the outcome will be if the Math department as a whole continues to piss off the talented students that are here. People get stuck and even though they are pissed off they stay where they are. Is this what will happen? Or will these talented students get mad enough to do something daring and go somewhere else?

There are attitudes at work that drive me mad. They aren't just attitudes of the kids, but attitudes of some of the individuals that I work with. I'm not going to enumerate those things here, but will make a few comments. It takes a long time in order to get to know some kids. Whether it is a personality thing or it takes them a long time to warm up to unfamiliar adults sometimes it takes a long time. Some kids just want to know that an adult will take the time to get to know them. At any rate, whatever the case, I wish some people would take more time to get to know these kids. Just because one hasn't managed to connect with a child in a month or two doesn't mean they should stop trying. There is one kid in particular that it took the entire year last year before I had any conneciton with him at all.

The admission is that the only part of what goes on at work is what I do. The rest of it either ignore or just deal with in the course of the day. Just like when I go to CTY and get to the point of getting extremely irritated at the administration I remind myself that what really matters to me is the kids. A reorientation often does me alot of good.

A. was at the afterschool program today. He has started to engage me in more than one word responses. It is encouraging to see him smile and see his sense of humor come out. He and his dad work leaving and we saw each other in the hallway. I told them to have a good night and they both waved at me. We're getting to know each other a little bit at a time.

We are four days from Christmas break and I think we are all ready for it. The kids are a little off the wall with Christmas coming and the staff are all ready to slow down and breathe a little bit. So, here we are ready on the verge of 2010.

Tschüs,
Biggest Meow

Today we finally got back to work. Everybody said that even though it was a Friday that it felt like a Monday because the last two days were snow days. We had 18 kids today at the afterschool program. A number of them got picked up early today. That made the day easier to deal with. A. was with us longer than usual today. He also said "Hi" to me when he came in today. He's a kid that takes a little while to warm up to adults and I have a feeling that one has to put in quite a bit of effort in order to get to know him. His mom came and picked him up and it was clear that he was a little perturbed that she was interrupting his time with his friends.

The kids were talking about Christmas vacation today. We only have next week left and then everyone will be on break. I'm expecting that next week the kids will be fairly excited. I was expecting that they would be off the wall today after being cooped up for two days, but really they were quite well behaved. Though M. was demonstrating a certain amount of orneriness that I hadn't seen before. We may or may not have a lot of kids next week depending on what people's plans are. Sometimes prior to vacations parents find excuses to get out of work early and pick up their kids.

Well, at this point I am registered for Mathematical Statistics and Theory of Computation. I'm very interested in taking the Theory of Computation course. However, it is being taught by a terrible professor. Just because I'm registered for it doesn't mean things can't change later. I will have to decide by next semester whether or not I can complete that course on my own momentum and be willing to deal with the garbage that is the CS department. I want to have that material badly. So, what am I willing to put up with?

Another CS course that I'm interested in taking is Programming Language Concepts. Can you tell my interest is in theoretical CS? At any rate that course is being taught by a good Professor, but at this point the course is closed. Maybe by the time the Spring comes around someone will have changed their schedule around and I'll be able to take it. Then there will be a different decision to make. Take two CS courses or do mathematical stats? Again the question is what am I willing to put up with?

What's next?

Tschüs,
Biggest Meow

I've been trying to figure out what courses to take in the Spring. As a nondegree graduate student I am not allowed to take anymore than two courses in any given department. This includes courses that are dual listed with that department. I wanted to take Theory of Computation but that is being taught by a horrible professor. I refuse to put up with that. Then I thought about taking another CS course but it is closed. I wanted to take a graph theory and combinatorial optimization course over in the Computer Engineering department except it is taught at a bad time. It seems that all of the courses that I want to take are taught at 2:30 in the afternoon. At this point I'm seriously taking a statistics course.

I know. I can't believe it either. I'm seriously considering taking a statistics course. It's the high end Mathematical Statistics course. I don't get excited about Statistics, but I've been having people tell me for a long time that it is good to have seen it at least once. What the second course will be I don't know. We'll see if anything opens up or I may get high enough to take two statistics courses. I would like to do something at least a little bit fun. Things often shift around after people make their initial registration.

I've developed an interest in Graph Theory. I bought the Bond & Murty book earlier this year. There are getting to be some really good books on graph theory. Both from an algebraic point of view and a topological point of view. Graph Theory has some relations to algebraic topology as well. It's a very interesting topic and an accessible one as well. I'd also say that some of my favorite proofs to present are graph theory proofs. Nice illustrations of combinatorial methods a lot of the time. I'm particularly interested in embedding graphs into surfaces.

One more lecture and this semester is over.

We'll be back to work tomorrow as well as back to class. It being a Friday I wouldn't usually expect to have too many kids at the afterschool program. On the other hand nobody's been able to do anything over the last two days. We'll see what happens. There have been more kids coming and I think that may have something to do with the weather. The winter was a very busy time of year for us last year to.

I don't have anything to write about tonight. I've not been updating the blog so much because I don't have internet at home. So, I decided to write them in notepad and then post them when I get a chance. I hate notepad for any number of reasons but it is the best way to move them from the computer to a textbox on a web interface. The entries also appear on my Facebook page in a way that they are noticable again.

Tschüs,
Biggest Meow

No work today either. However, I have been able finish what I needed to do to get the reference letters sent to the various schools. It has been interesting to see how the process has gone this year vice last year. Things that I will keep in mind when I ask for reference letters when applying for a job. Two things I will say now:

1. Just because you requested the letter doesn't mean you have to use it. If you get the Ho-Hum effect when asking the individual to write you may want to think about using that letter in a limited number of cases.
2. When asking someone to write don't ask someone who is just semi-responsible. Ask someone who is actually responsible. If it takes baseball bat politics for an individual to get something done. Don't ask them.

Which reminds me: There are some people that just rub me the wrong way. It isn't that they are trying to piss me off at the time. The way they conduct their business just annoys me. Sometimes I tell the kids that they have to learn to be nice to people who aren't their friends. That's an issue that we as individuals deal with our entire lives.

Step 3: In the application process will be Interfolio, transcripts, and GRE scores. The we'll be all done.

Anybody want to finish my Algebra take-home exam for me. I've got a good start on it for you :)

Laters,
Biggest Meow

I'm starting to wonder if we're going to work at all again this week. It has now been announced that we'll be taking tomorrow off as well. I heard that the wind chills tonight are suppose to go down to -25. I think that both road conditions and temperatures are a concern at this point. So, unless there is a little bit of a warm up headed our way I expect that we won't be working Friday either. We have one week left until Christmas vacation. I will be done on Monday.
I went out this morning thinking that I was going to go downtown. I turned a corner and went through some snow. I thought I was fine. It turned out that I was just lucky. The second corner I turned I went through some more snow and things started to get interesting. I went to Hy-Vee and got some sandwich stuff and came home. The road outside looks like there has been enough traffic to keep the highway kind of clear. I'm sure that it has probably frozen over at this point. I may trek up to the Coffee Shop tomorrow regardless just to get out of my apartment a little.
I have gotten some work done with this time off. My UNI application is for math education so it is completely different than the other 16. I've gotten my Statement of Purpose written for the most part. I just need to get the last paragraph to read a little more coherent. They also have a departmental application I have filled out. I have a couple of reference letters lined up for this program. I have gotten the impression that they usually take students who have been teaching for a little while into this program. My application will be a nontradtional one then. I haven't decided if I'm going to pursue certification at the same time. We'll see how much over lap there is and I need to see how much that will limit my marketability. My intent is to teach at independent schools so it may not matter at all.
What else is going on? See one of the things that happens when I'm all cooped up like this is that I have nothing to write about even when I have time to write about stuff. Nor do I have any silly / entertaining quotes from the kids to title my blog with. Ho-Hum, H0-Hum, HO-HUm, HO-HUM,HO-HUm,...

Laters,
Biggest Meow

There was no work today due to the snow. The kids had an early out. I just got a call to say that there would be no school tomorrow. I'm betting that there will be class though. I went out and walked around a little while ago since I'd been inside all day. There isn't that much snow on the ground. We'll see what we actually get overnight. The rest of the week will be about doing my Algebra take-home final. I've looked at the problems and they are both things that I have read about before. Hopefully the methods will come back to me without any problems.
I finished The Gamble today. Somehow the brand new snow seemed to inspire reading Russian literature. It is a 150 page book that Dostoyevsky wrote in order to make a deadline. He was in the middle of writing Crime and Punishment at the time. The book is commentary on greed. All of the characters are after something that someone else has one way or the other. I think one could easily find the book to be commentary on the self-destruction that occurrs with any addiction.
I've been looking at the literature courses that are being taught next semester. One is subtitled "Cultural Responses to the Holocaust" and another is titled "Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky". The former is being taught by the same instructor that taught the "Literature and the Third Reich" course I took two years ago. I'm not sure I really want to take another course with her. The other course is taught on Wednesday nights, 6-9 pm. I in general despise evening classes and I have no doubt that with the rest of my schedule the way it is I would be dead by the time I got home. However, it is only one night during the week that I would have to endure that schedule. So, I'm giving it serious consideration if it works out.
Due to the stupid rules that the Graduate College has for non-degree students I'm planning on taking to math courses that are dual listed with the Computer Science department. They are both Numerical Analysis courses to some degree. One is Optimization Techniques and the other is Linear Algebra / Differential Equations. My feeling is that the latter course will be what the ODEs course I took should have been. I've had a number of students tell me that they've taken the course without having had a course in Differential Equations at all. The two guys that are teaching those courses are suppose to be fairly good. I know that the guy teaching the Optimization Techniques course is a great instructor.
I went down to the University Book Store to get a copy of Office. I had been using the trial version that had come with my laptop. I hadn't realized it, but the save function doesn't work with the trial version. I couldn't figure out why I kept losing all of the information, but I'm sure that was the deal. While I was down there I also got a copy of Windows 7. I would say that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. It works as well as XP did and runs much faster that Vista. In Vista I had issues with some of the Power Management things working. In Windows 7 I haven't had that problem at all.
This semester is almost over and break will be here shortly.

Laters,
Biggest Meow

We had a good day at the afterschool program today. J. wasn't there for very long today. I do wish we had more opportunities to have some one-on-one time. It is great that he gets picked up early and gets to spend the vast majority of his evening with his family. I'm discovering that he is a multi-faceted young guy.
The gym was wild today. They were able to get along so that there were no major incidents. However, there was much running, noise, and crazy energy. I was glad when we were ablet to line up and go. A lot of the boys left early today. It has been nice to see D. again this year.
At gametime K. sat down to do her homework. They are reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8. I fondly remember reading that book when I was her age. It was already a classic then. She asked me which Beverly Cleary books I'd read. For the vast majority of them, I either read them or had them read to me. They were favorites of our class when I was in 3rd and 4th grade.
After the reading homework she was working on a word search for science. She asked me to help her with it. I'm always intrigued when the kids ask for help with such things. They know what to do and there is no comprehension problem. Mostly I think it is a way for them to get some attention from an adult. There weren't very many kids left when she asked so we worked on it for quite a while.
I found out that a couple of the graduate students had taken a bet on the amount of hostility I felt towards the Algebraic Topology instructor. After the first exam I had written a couple of things on the midterm evaluation that she attempted to address to the class as a whole. Anyway, one of the graduate students told me he'd bet that it wasn't me that had written those comments. He lost a bet and I found out some interesting information.
Graduate applications are coming together and three out of four letters have been written. The 4th letter is being written by someone who wrote for me last year. So, it shouldn't be a problem for him to turn that one in after a little updating. I will send out the rest of the package once the semester is over.
I have more faith in my application this year. When applying it matters who writes the reference letters and this year I was able to have two people write for me who have gone to a lot of effort to help me write a successful application. Effort usually translates into a credible letter. Both of these individuals are well connected in the mathematical community to. It makes a difference when admissions committees know the writers.
I'm trying to decide if I'm going to do CTY during the summer of 2010. I'm leaning towards doing first session only this year. I have to study for the Algebra qual no matter what. I'm also going to have to move this summer. So, there is a lot ot cram into those few months. I will probably contact the program manager and alert him to my situation. Reality is there are numerous things tryng to converge on the same timeframe.

Laters,
Biggest Meow

I haven't told any stories from work lately. When not at work I've been busy with coursework. I took Algebra and Algebraic Topology this semester. There is an Amazon review that reads something like "An entire generation of mathematicians will hate Algebraic Topology because they will have learned it from Hatcher's book." I think an entire generation of students here will hate Algebraic Topology because of the individuals who teach it.

We had all of 10 kids today at the after school program. It made for a very relaxed day. As I was collecting the cards from the kids as they came in I noticed that J., R., and A. are all in the same class. I think that must be a very interesting classroom to be in. I also think that in the interest of getting actual work done that they must sit in three different corners of the room. All three of them have quite a sense of humor and it is not unusual for me to tell one of them to stop doing something and for me to be laughing on the inside when their humor comes out at an inappropriate time. Today the three of them all had a good time hanging out together.

N. was doing his math homework while talking to R. so he wasn't getting it done very quickly. I kept taking his paper when he wasn't working on it to see what kinds of problems he was working on. They are working on algebra basics. I'm not sure they actually understand what's going on or if they've just memorized how to answer the questions. At any rate they were talking about the subjects that they enjoyed the most. Neither of them enjoy Science because of the individual that is teaching it. I had my two Algebra books with me and got them out because they wanted to see them. As they were paging through them one of the kids came over and said to N., “You're not smart enough to understand that”. When I told him to be nice he looked at N. and said, “Don't worry I'm barely smart enough to understand it”. It was our only incident for today.

P. was absolutely off the wall today. He and his friend sat and played Legos for the whole time. I don't think he sat down once though. He was jumping all over the place and in general being a crazy 8 year old on a Friday afternoon. He came over and asked N. if he could do N.'s homework. I mentioned something about plagiarism and copying work and P. said, “I know you will never learn it for yourself and you'll fail the test, so I know, I know, and you don't have to tell me”. This all came out in the span of a second and a half. He went back to playing Legos. He was quite happy when his mom came and picked him up.

For those of you who are keeping score I was hit in the arm by a 5 year old, 3 5th grade girls tried to play hide and seek with me in the hallway, and the word of the week was “discipline”. It wasn't a horrible week, but it was a long week. Next week will be different and hopefully I won't have to deal with those things again. At least for a little while.

I've been writing graduate applications again and the list looks like this in no particular order:
1. Brown
2. Maryland
3. Michigan
4. Boston U.
5. UMass – Amherst
6. UIUC
7. Florida
8. Georgia
9. Kansas
10. Missouri – Columbia
11. Iowa
12. Iowa State
13. Arizona
14. Ohio State
15. North Carolina – Chapel Hill

What a day! We had a lot going on at the after school program today. There are two 5th grade girls in particular that like to test the staff and play games. Earlier this year they had both decided to drop out of the line as we were going out to recess. So, I've been watching them ever since to make sure they actually make it outside. Today I was standing where I always do and watched the line go outside. These two girls were not in the line. So, I went outside to make sure and then went back inside. I saw the two of them running through the hall up toward the office. I went outside to wait for them and after some time I went back in and there they were with another 5th grader talking in the hallway. We went down to the classroom and had a very one sided conversation about the importance of the staff knowing where the students are at all times and following instructions.

There was some part of this that had been brewing for quite some time. Early on in the year one of them had asked me why I decided to come back this year. She made it clear that she was not glad that I had come back. I let it go and tried as hard as I could not to take it personally. She won't let anybody tell her anything, and every time someone corrects here she puts this look on her face like we're all crazy and starts stating excuses. She loves to pretend that she misheard something I said and change the words around to her own liking and that drives me mad. Some day she will learn that it is not possible to talk her way out of something she acted her way into; though I fear that she will learn that lesson the hard way.

L., J., and W. are all brothers fairly close in age. There are times that they are not at all nice to each other. Today W. was running around with some of his friends. He fell and landed on his backside on the cement. He cried and cried. L. came over and stood next to him as I was talking to him trying to find out what had happened. We found a spot to sit down after walking around a little bit and W. was still crying a little bit and L. just sat next to his youngest brother and rubbed his back. Later on I saw J. pushing W. in the swing. For whatever their history together has been in the past today they were actually quite sweet to each other.

When we came inside and the boys were standing in line to wash their hands the other J. had a moment where his frustration overcame his better judgment and he cut the entire line. When I got back down to the classroom I asked him to step outside so we could talk about it. He was rather upset and said, “Just because I cut some kid in the line doesn't mean I have to go out into the hall”. I let him sit and collect himself for a couple of minutes before I went and talked to him. He said, “Why should I wait for them when the line isn't moving?” I was at a lack for words and said a few words about waiting his turn and following instructions.

So after dealing with all of that we finally got around to passing out snack and watching a little TV. We're watching Brady Bunch at the moment. Once playtime rolled around we didn't have very many kids left. There were two groups. One group was playing Life with my colleague and I was playing Apples to Apples with the rest of the kids. It was nice to be able to just sit down and play with the kids instead of watching over the entire classroom. One of the red cards that I had was “Girls”. I'd held onto it and only had two cards left. When the green card “Silly” came down I played my other card which was “Hugs”. The only card I have left is “Girls” and what is the green card that falls? It was “Stinky” and since it was the only card I had I played it. Since the judge was a 4th grade boy he thought this was the best of all selections of course.

As we were playing A. started munching on some animal crackers. I asked her to put them away. She kept sneaking them out of her backpack and I kept asking her to stop eating them. So I put her in timeout. I was she was moving around the whole time, switching seats, and in general trying to make light of her timeout time. Her mom came and so I talked to A. when her mom came over to pick her up and she was instantly subdued.

The rest of the day went on without incident. We continued playing Apples to Apples until clean up time. Our group this year is, in a lot of ways, pretty easy going. We deal with minor issues here and there from time to time and move on. On the other hand there are behavior issues that I am beyond tired of dealing with. Is this year easier than last year? It is in the sense that I'm more experienced and can deal with the situations more effectively. On the other hand things are simply different than they were last year. A different group of kids that lends itself to a completely different dynamic. Last year I was able to eventually connect with the kids that we had behavior issues with. This year that has not been the case and I'm hoping that is because the year is 7 weeks old and not because it isn't going to happen.

This week in some ways was extraordinarily long. There are some kids that deal with stress by exploding and some that deal with it by melting down. It seems like we've been dealing with more than our fair share of meltdown this week. A 4th grader claimed that everyone was trying to make him miserable, a 3rd grader who decided everyone was out to sabotage his building, and a 5 year old who decided the best way to deal with life was to put his fingers in his ears and close his eyes. Catastrophic meltdown is hard to deal with simply because it is so irrational. Not to mention getting actual words between choking sobs isn't easy.

There was a lot of testing this week as well. On Friday patience had run out and there was a lot of sitting going on. All week siblings tested each other, students tested teacher's resolve, teachers tested student's understanding, and the weather tested our moodiness. So, while one day was about "shoes" and another day was about "being 9" the week was about "testing". Testing everything possible: limits, teachers, students, patience, resolve, siblings, decisions, and on and on...

I'm hoping for a better week coming up. It will certainly be a different week.

Laters,

Big Meow

Today was an interesting day. A. decide that he was going to test me today. I told him to stop sitting on one of the balls. A little while later he yelled at me from across the gym. "Mr. E. I'm sitting on one of the balls". So, I walked over and put him in time out and told him he was going to sit for 5 minutes. He held up six fingers and said, "I'm this old so I should be in timeout for six minutes." Very well. Not only did he tell on himself he voluntarily added to his punishment.

I saw a couple of the kids playing ball tag and wanted to put an end to it. So, I was sitting on my heels talking to that and the little boy started crying. He cried and cried. I think he must have had a bad day and we'd reached meltdown. Later on I found him crying on the bleachers. One of the 3rd grade girls was sitting next to him and said, "This little boy is crying". I never did find out what was really wrong.

N. said, "The worst thing for a kid on a Friday afternoon is PM". He was ready to go. He was excited for Saturday. He and J. are going to see a movie tomorrow. He said the two of them hadn't really had a chance to hang out together before and he was quite excited. He was the last one to leave today. I think he kind of enjoyed hanging out with the teachers a little bit. We sat around telling stories about storms since it had been raining all day.

C. said that she was making $10,000 per day as the castle inspector. I never quite figured out what a castle inspector does beyond judging the artistic quality of the castle. I was willing to play along with this, but M. was in her serious mood and said, "I know that's not true". N. volunteered to be the fortress inspector. We never did discuss what that entailed.

It's nice when we are able to have a relaxed Friday afternoon. Sometimes we have too many kids, but we only had 9 kids by the time snack rolled around. We were able to hang out together and have an easy Friday. Certainly the kids that we had made a difference to. They all were easy to get along with. Time to enjoy the weekend.

Laters,
Big Meow

Today was an easy day. Two of the girls who have been difficult to deal with were no there today. We didn't have very many kids today either. All-and-all things went smoothly today and we had a good time.

The J. and W. got into an argument today. They are brothers; the youngest of three. The result was that J. took W.'s shoe and filled it full of sand. I was unhappy about this. I put J. in timeout and let him sit for a little while. He knew he shouldn't have done it and suggested alternative approaches to disagreements with his brother. The younger two are spitting images of each other in more than just looks.

A. likes to climb up everything. He shimmies up the A-frame of the swingset, climbs to the highest point on any piece of playground equipment, etc. Today he decided to climb over the fence that separates the concrete from the rest of the playground instead of going around it. I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself one of these days. Those fences aren't stuck in the ground that well.

G. likes to play this game where he climbs up onto something hich and kicks his shoes off onto the ground. I then have to put his shoes back on his feet and have a little coversation about shoes on our feet while outside. He's a funny little boy in a lot of ways. On the other hand he can be very trying.

So, the word of the day was "shoes". I don't know if a larger portion of the Kindergarten kids could tie their shoes last year or if somebody esle tied them all. Whatever the case I've spent a lot of time tieing shoes this year. So, with the younger kids this year it has been all about shoes.

It has been great seeing the kids grow and mature from where they were last year. Some of them have changed in really big ways. In all but two cases the kids take responsibility for their actions more this year. It has been semi-rare that I ask if somebody did something and they deny it. There are two kids who seemed to have taken two steps backward with regard to this and since they are both 5th graders it drives me a little mad.

We're having a good year for the most part. There is a part of th administrative side of things that drives me a little crazy. Decisions that I would have made differently. That's inevitable though. I've come to realize that it is a no win situation for me. If I don't do what I'm told to do I get yelled at by my boss. If I do what I'm told I get yelled at by a child. I'm getting yelled at either way.

This year in so many ways is a lot smoother than last. I think this is partially due to the fact that the staff has some consistency to it. The turnover has gotten small which helps immensely. Next year will be something different for all of us. For now I'm enjoying the community that we have. The vast majority of the time it is easy to enjoy our time together.

Laters,
Big Meow

Today was a good day, but it was a long day at work. I went to Hy-Vee and saw J. with his dad. J. apparently wasn't feeling well and they'd just gone to the doctor. They were after chicken soup and ice cream. J. hasn't been coming to the after school program this year so it was nice to see him. I'm sure he enjoyed kicking back for the day with his dad.

Thursdays are always a long day at work. The kids get out an hour earlier so we have two hours of recess. At the end of recess one of the kindergarten kids had been accused of throwing a walnut. All I wanted to do was tell him to leave the walnuts on the ground. He ran under the slide area. When I got down to tell him to come out he started throwing wood chips at  me. When I walked up to the time-out area with him he decided to walk away from me again and said, "There's no reason, no reason for this", over and over again. He is the child with the most challenging behaviors this year.

A. is also in kindergarten this year and likes to climb up everything. If there is a pole he will climb up it. If there is a higher place than where he is he'll get there. If he is up high he'll flip upside down. I asked him if he climbed trees at home and he said that his mom did not allow him to climb trees. He's a nice boy and quite a conversationalist.

So, it was a mixed bag today. We had 32 kids today. It is semi-difficult for two people to manage that many kids. We were successful in that endeavor. It is easier in some respects with this group. For the most part they are easy to get along with and follow directions well. Though we still have our moments.

Tomorrow is Friday which means we won't have very many kids. I'm glad the end of the week has come. For a short week it really hasn't been very good. Some rest and a good run will be nice. I'm hoping for an easy day with the kids. Next week is a new week with a whole new set of possibilities.

Laters,
Big Meow

The other day I was talking to one of the Kindergarten kids out on the playground. He said, "When I get angry I turn into a lion". I said, "That's what happens when boys get angry isn't it?" He replied, "When I'm not angry anymore my lion power goes away and I go back to being myself". Our conversation ended because it was time to go line up.

We've had a great start to the school year. We had 28 kids yesterday and it was a good day. I think part of our success is because the vast majority of the staff was also here last year. We have a good relationship with a lot of the kids already. It has made this year easier. Certainly the fact that the kids are generally well behaved makes things go smoothly as well.

My colleague and I have noted that the kids all get quieter faster this year. One day they were being far too loud and we made them wait to. For the most part they follow instructions pretty well. there are plenty of things to be positive about.

It's interesting to see how the kids have changed. J.'s frustration still overwhelms his better judgment at times, but he does a much better job expressing that frustration appropriately. Last Fall L. would shove, push, and in general was somewhat of a bully. I still remember sitting next to him as he cried and told me he didn't have any friends. This year he is quite well behaved for the most part. D. and I. have learned how to get along with their siblings. 

We are getting to know the kids that were not with us last year. N. is a quiet boy who is beginning to interact with the other kids more. His brother is a sweet kid. R. is both a sports fanatic and high energy.

I don't have regular access to the internet so blogging is an every once in a while thing. Sometimes I put in out of date entries as well so if you get these by RSS you should scroll down and see if their is an entry you haven't read yet just to make sure.

Laters,
Big Meow