Saturday, March 29, 2008
Network morning news interviews really annoy me
I have to vent about the network morning news show interviews. They last all of two or three minutes and the hosts are so focused on asking the questions that they interrupt constantly, try to be combative in many cases, and then end at the time limit by cutting off the interviewee. It's rude, annoying and the worst example of scripted "programming."
Friday, March 28, 2008
Today it dawned on me...
I had an epiphany today while browsing books at Borders.
All through grade school I was in the top five of the best math students in my class. Never number one; that was Paul Wallulis, the smartest kid in our school. He now teaches math at Central Catholic HS. I loved math and always thought I was pretty good at it. In high school I understood algebra, loved geometry, managed trig, but ran into an absolute brick wall in advanced math/calculus. The only thing I understood was the analogy of the the frog that hops halfway to the end of the table with each jump. I got it that he would never reach the end but would get infinitely close that you could say he was there. When I took chemistry, the math kicked my butt, even though I loved science. So I came to the realization I wasn't so smart in math. In fact, it drove me to seek after an arts degree. At CCC, I took all literature, writing and social science classes to the extent I could. (The best I remember of college algebra was Mrs. Kondo, who was less than five feet tall, not being able to figure out someone hid the chalk on top of the chalkboard each class and she would have to leave for five minutes to go get more.) Thus, I feel I write good...I mean well.
When I transferred to BYU, the only degree they offered for business was a B.S. Thus I had to go back and take science classes to meet the graduation requirements. Fortunately, they understood there were people like me, and the bone-head classes they offered dealt with theory as opposed to mathematical proofs, and I got through physics understanding the concepts of the laws without having to prove the theory of relativity or quantum mechanics. My friends in the honors program or pre-med took real physics, and I said a prayer of thanks everytime I saw them with a book four inches thick, slaving over proofs and story problems each night. The closest I got to real math at BYU was the business statistics class and, once again, my butt got kicked. And I really like statistics and understand averages (mean, median and mode), standard deviation, bell curves, etc. But the advanced stuff stymied me. My day-to-day math knowledge and skills have served me well in banking. I can handle the math of money and do it well.
So today in Borders I found myself in the reference section and noticed a number of AP books for people wanting to bone up on those kinds of classes. I picked up the AP Calculus book and opened to the middle and started looking at the equations. To my utter suprise and after nearly forty years, I understood them. I read more and grasped what the equation was trying to calculate. I remembered integrals, summation, notation and other concepts. I thought to myself, "I understand this. I could do this. I can do this!"
And there was my epiphany. I picked up some other advanced course books and realized I understand more than I thought I do. In fact, as I picked up a philosophy book, I remembered the story of Socrates sending his student Plato to find the wisest man in Greece. After a long search and speaking with the top scholars in the land who each declared themselves to be the smartest person, Plato returned to his mentor and report that he, Plato, was the wisest man in Greece because he realized he did not know everything and grasped Aristotle's admonition to him to alway seek learning.
As I started to leave Borders, I wondered, "Why couldn't I have been this smart forty years ago? I would be so much smarter, wiser and useful today if I understood then what I grasp now." I looked over the store and wished I could read all the books in there. There is so much to learn...and a lot less time to learn it...
All through grade school I was in the top five of the best math students in my class. Never number one; that was Paul Wallulis, the smartest kid in our school. He now teaches math at Central Catholic HS. I loved math and always thought I was pretty good at it. In high school I understood algebra, loved geometry, managed trig, but ran into an absolute brick wall in advanced math/calculus. The only thing I understood was the analogy of the the frog that hops halfway to the end of the table with each jump. I got it that he would never reach the end but would get infinitely close that you could say he was there. When I took chemistry, the math kicked my butt, even though I loved science. So I came to the realization I wasn't so smart in math. In fact, it drove me to seek after an arts degree. At CCC, I took all literature, writing and social science classes to the extent I could. (The best I remember of college algebra was Mrs. Kondo, who was less than five feet tall, not being able to figure out someone hid the chalk on top of the chalkboard each class and she would have to leave for five minutes to go get more.) Thus, I feel I write good...I mean well.
When I transferred to BYU, the only degree they offered for business was a B.S. Thus I had to go back and take science classes to meet the graduation requirements. Fortunately, they understood there were people like me, and the bone-head classes they offered dealt with theory as opposed to mathematical proofs, and I got through physics understanding the concepts of the laws without having to prove the theory of relativity or quantum mechanics. My friends in the honors program or pre-med took real physics, and I said a prayer of thanks everytime I saw them with a book four inches thick, slaving over proofs and story problems each night. The closest I got to real math at BYU was the business statistics class and, once again, my butt got kicked. And I really like statistics and understand averages (mean, median and mode), standard deviation, bell curves, etc. But the advanced stuff stymied me. My day-to-day math knowledge and skills have served me well in banking. I can handle the math of money and do it well.
So today in Borders I found myself in the reference section and noticed a number of AP books for people wanting to bone up on those kinds of classes. I picked up the AP Calculus book and opened to the middle and started looking at the equations. To my utter suprise and after nearly forty years, I understood them. I read more and grasped what the equation was trying to calculate. I remembered integrals, summation, notation and other concepts. I thought to myself, "I understand this. I could do this. I can do this!"
And there was my epiphany. I picked up some other advanced course books and realized I understand more than I thought I do. In fact, as I picked up a philosophy book, I remembered the story of Socrates sending his student Plato to find the wisest man in Greece. After a long search and speaking with the top scholars in the land who each declared themselves to be the smartest person, Plato returned to his mentor and report that he, Plato, was the wisest man in Greece because he realized he did not know everything and grasped Aristotle's admonition to him to alway seek learning.
As I started to leave Borders, I wondered, "Why couldn't I have been this smart forty years ago? I would be so much smarter, wiser and useful today if I understood then what I grasp now." I looked over the store and wished I could read all the books in there. There is so much to learn...and a lot less time to learn it...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Mother...Wife...Children...Grandchildren...Life...
As I watch my mother fade with age, I realize how fortunate I was to have a mom like her. She was always there for my brother and me, supporting us (she never missed one of our ballgames, even when we didn't play), playing games with us (rummy, yahtze, parchessi, etc.) putting up with me and my brother's antics (like shooting baskets in the kitchen over her into a bucket while she cooked dinner), chauferring us everywhere (getting a ticket for running a stop sign while taking me to a formal dance) and teaching us so many things (cooking, cleaning, sewing, and especially how to clam dig). She is not the same person today but I have comfort in my memories.
Maybe there is truth that boys look for a girl to marry like their mother, That appears to be the case with me. My wife is the kindest, hardest working, least selfserving person...just like mom. She is so much like my mom in all the good ways and has done all of the above for our children (well maybe not the clam digging, but many other things). Our children have been just as fortunate to have her for a mother. She has always been there for them with great sacrifice of herself. And now she gets to influence our grandchildren.
And our children are turing out to be better parents that we are. I am so impressed with their personal accomplishments and the good people that they are. If I have one great hope, it is that my children will be better than me.
And grandchildren are more fun than I ever imagined. I did not grow up associating much with my grandparents and I think I missed something.
Today I realized that in one week I will be eligible for early retirement if I wanted to (I don't and can't). I never thought I'd be so old. There are not many thing I would have done differently if could (mostly I would have gone with my best friend on that cross-county trip after high school), but mostly I wouldn't have jeopardized the events that led to having the wife and children that I do. They are my joy.
I was thinking of the things I' like to do that I haven't done. There are so many but one thng I've always wanted to do, and we've talked about often, is coach a baseball team with my son. Not a great team, but one where the kids are fun and want to learn the game. And moms could come sit in the stands and support their boys like mine did and like my wife did. That would be a summer to remember.
Maybe there is truth that boys look for a girl to marry like their mother, That appears to be the case with me. My wife is the kindest, hardest working, least selfserving person...just like mom. She is so much like my mom in all the good ways and has done all of the above for our children (well maybe not the clam digging, but many other things). Our children have been just as fortunate to have her for a mother. She has always been there for them with great sacrifice of herself. And now she gets to influence our grandchildren.
And our children are turing out to be better parents that we are. I am so impressed with their personal accomplishments and the good people that they are. If I have one great hope, it is that my children will be better than me.
And grandchildren are more fun than I ever imagined. I did not grow up associating much with my grandparents and I think I missed something.
Today I realized that in one week I will be eligible for early retirement if I wanted to (I don't and can't). I never thought I'd be so old. There are not many thing I would have done differently if could (mostly I would have gone with my best friend on that cross-county trip after high school), but mostly I wouldn't have jeopardized the events that led to having the wife and children that I do. They are my joy.
I was thinking of the things I' like to do that I haven't done. There are so many but one thng I've always wanted to do, and we've talked about often, is coach a baseball team with my son. Not a great team, but one where the kids are fun and want to learn the game. And moms could come sit in the stands and support their boys like mine did and like my wife did. That would be a summer to remember.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Welcome
Well, Mom and I have a blog! Just when you thought we couldn't get into the 21st Century, here we are! DSL, blogs, cell phones, iPods, digital music. We still draw the line at cable TV, though. Mom says she won't have much to say but look for her to muse the most. I'm too practical to just wander off on thoughts.
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