Slowly Learning...

"It would be nicer to have the fractions, but that's lousy notation so you shouldn't remember that."

"This is a formal construction of derivatives, devoid of all the properties that we care about with derivatives, because we're in Algebra."

"Then you have to assume something that I'm not going to prove, because it's too hard."

"The moral of the story is that you can do it, it's just hard."

"I could give you explicit examples, but nah, I don't want to get into it." - Algebra Prof.

Can anyone else tell that the semester is wrapping up soon for Brockport? Just two more weeks of class, a week of finals, and then I'm off for the summer. Of course I'm not really off since I'll probably be working about 30+ hours a week still, and have at least one wedding to go to over the summer. So what else have I been thinking about recently?

Chalk Dust Here I Come!
Once I become a professor, or once I have to do any sort of teaching, I know that I will come home every night covered in chalk dust. I usually end up covered in whatever I've been doing/using during the day (meats from the deli, pen from writing, egg wash from the sub shop, etc.), but chalk dust really seems to stick with me the most. Maybe I could just learn to stop wiping my hands on my pants...but I highly doubt that.

Aces and Eights
Many people have heard the term "dead man's hand", and some even know what it means and where it comes from. For those of you who don't, here is the gist of the (modern) story. Wild Bill Hickok was playing 5-card draw when he was shot and killed. At the time he held a pair of aces and a pair of eights (both black; the fifth card is debated, and mostly irrelevant; I've also heard it told that he held the winning hand). Hence, aces and eights became known as the "dead man's hand." Now how does this relate to my life? Well besides the obvious poker connections, Will Bill always insisted to sit with his back to the wall, so he was facing the door and could see anyone entering (he was a hated man by many). However, on that evening all the seats were taken and he was forced to sit with his back to the door. Needless to say that evening he was shot in the back by Jack McCall. Now I don't fear getting attacked from behind, but I have found that out of habit I always end up sitting with my back to the wall, so I can see everything going on around me. Something about not being able to see what's happening behind me just unsettles me. I do this in classrooms, coffee shops, restaurants, etc. About the only place I don't regularly do it is in movie theatres, where I prefer to sit up close anyway so no one is blocking my view and I can get the full big screen experience. Plus at the movies I'm usually too wrapped up in the film to even notice if some one came up to me and shot me. Unless you were loud and/or annoying while doing it.

I Heart My Dog!
(with a picture of a cute tiny fluffy dog)
This may be a typical bumper sticker in say the suburbs. But when you see it on the back of a beat up old chevy driven by a big black man pumping hardcore ghetto rap while driving through the city...weird.

Here Comes the Sun
It was sunny today! That might not seem like much to most people. But this is Rochester and we have to take what we can get, especially when we've been getting snow all this past week. And normally sunshine doesn't do that much for me. But I have always loved the peaceful beauty of seeing the setting sun's rays shine over the top of a grassy knoll. The green grass glowing a wondrous yellow, swaying softly in the gentle breeze. Something about that sight just makes my heart sigh with contentment.

Posted by Thom at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Really you can decide if you should go to this movie based on one simple question:
Do you like the ATHF show?
IF "yes", go to the film
ELSE "don't go"
END

The movie is just like the show. It makes almost no sense. It skips all over the place. It has crude moments (that were almost too much at times). But it's also funny as hell. Basically they could have divided this up into about 15 min segments and aired it on TV, but they threw in a pseudo-plot and made it into a feature film. And much like the show, some of the spans are funny, some fall flat. But just like the show, Master Shake steals the show with his complete madness.

RATING: Worth Full Price for Fans, Worth Skipping for everyone else.

Posted by Thom at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"We're gonna give explicit notation for fields and rings, and then show that they are exactly the same." - Algebra Prof.

"I didn't tell you about this before because I didn't want to explain it to you." - Algebra Prof.

"It's much more irritating because you have no idea what alpha is; but then again, you don't care." - Algebra Prof.

So I plan on starting to look at grad schools soon and applying to math programs, but I still am very up in the air about what area I want to focus on. The complete abstract nature and quirkiness of algebra sometimes make me consider going into that field, but then again it sometimes seems to get too abstract. At the moment I'm sort of leaning towards something in geometry. But then again that could all change in a week. I've also considered looking into coming around full circle and checking out the phd program at Cornell. However I would have to get over the hurdle of never officially leaving Cornell (I believe that I am still technically on a medical leave). But the Ithaca area has always been one of my favorites. Then again maybe I need a complete change of scenery (Washington/Oregon? Mass? Canada?). I guess a lot of that will come down to where I actually get accepted though.

In other news, my reign of independent freedom is about to come to an end. Weather permitting, my mother and Charlie will be home tonight, which means I no longer have a house to myself. Well it was good while it lasted, but all good things must eventually come to an end.

Posted by Thom at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So we had about a week of 65 degree weather, and then snow for the past three days. I'm not complaining, because I've grown used to Rochester weather (like how it was snowing like crazy yesterday, yet the sun was shining brightly and the sky was clear and blue in every direction you looked). However, I have gotten back into wearing flip-flops, and this weather is not gonna change that. Partially because I'm lazy, partially because I'm stubborn, but mainly because I'm lazy (too lazy to bother looking for socks that match; too lazy to tie/untie my shoes all the time; etc.). So Rochester bring your worst! I refuse to adjust my footwear to your climate!

Posted by Thom at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"This is the version that goes into the Pre-Calc book because it's not a practical example." - Adol. Math Prof.

"We can always reprove it; hopefully it's still true." - Algebra Prof.

"How do you know that? You don't. But it's still true." - Algebra Prof.

And here are some other thoughts that have been going through my head recently...

1 - I've recently seen new photos of Avril, and heard her new song, and I have to say, she's well on her way down the path of Stefani. It's debatable if she was ever a "punk rocker", but now she's moving right along into the pop world. How much longer until she has her own group of Japanese girls following her around everywhere?

2 - I've also seen Gwen's new video, and I must say that it is the worst thing I have ever seen. Her outfits are like Peter Gibbon's days in Office Space. Every outfit was the worst outfit I had ever seen. Also, side note, why do rappers always point to the sky? After rapping about gansta life on the street can you really then point to the sky and thank God? I mean seriously, come on.

3 - The Zone (a local "new rock" radio station) recently was giving away tickets for the upcoming Modest Mouse concert in Rochester. Why does the Zone have tickets to this show? In all the time the Zone has been on the air they have not once played a Modest Mouse song. My only theory is that there is added publicity after their lead singer slit his wrists on stage at a recent concert, so the Zone wants to capitalize on that. Classy.

4 - Also recently heard on the Zone (sometimes I wonder why I listen to this station at all): "I've got a cover song coming up, but first here's Rage Against the Machine with Renegades of Funk." Yeah...see, that song is a cover. In fact, that entire Rage album is an album of covers. That is almost as bad as the time I heard one DJ introduce a song as "a punk cover of the Bangles song Hazy Shade of Winter."

5 - There is a restaurant in Rochester that claims that they have the "Best Memphis BBQ outside of New Orleans." Wouldn't the best Memphis BBQ outside of N.O. be located in...say Memphis? In fact shouldn't the best Memphis BBQ be in Memphis to begin with?

6 - I know Americans love to think that we are number one in every aspect, but can you honestly think that our flag is the best? I mean take a real look at it. It is hideous and gaudy. It has to be one of the biggest eye-sores ever. I know that most of the simple, nice looking options were already taken (France, Germany, Italy, even England). But seriously, that's the best they could do? It's a face that only a mother could love.

7 - With the release of Quentin Tarantino's new film Grindhouse coming out, I've been hearing way too much about him and it's solidified something that I've always suspected. I love many of his films (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and I'll even give him credit for From Dusk Till Dawn), but I hate him. He just rubs me the complete wrong way. He may be a fine writer/director (and a shit actor), but he is not the cinema god that he is made out to be. And I think that's what bothers me most about him, the fact that he seems to buy into all the hype that he is the greatest thing to happen to film. So I will still go see Grindhouse (partially because I do love Robert Rodriguez), but I refuse to be another one of those people kissing Tarantino's ass and holding him up on some pedestal.

Posted by Thom at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)