Cranks My Tractor

The Two Carpenters

There is no shortage of lists in magazines, books and on the internet discussing the Best Colleges in the US, the Best College Investments, the Best Small Colleges, etc. You have probably seen the lists and probably understand like I do, that they are just lists. They generally have data and sophisticated ways of ranking the schools. When you get down to the nitty-gritty, I think the “best school” for you or your child should be the one that feels the best to you (that you can afford).

Having taken one daughter back to college last week and my son leaving for his first year of college this week, things like this cross my mind. I’m also always investigating what these “List People” think the best to way to success is once you get to college, so I can compare it to my advice.

Being Replaced by Yourself

In this day and time of technology, where postcards have been replaced by email and text messages and video chats, it causes us to worry about other things. Things like our jobs being automated or being replaced by a robot or something. Customer service for many industries has been farmed out to other countries where the labor is a fraction of what it takes to pay somewhere here to do the job.

What do we make? What do we create? What are we to do?

There is no real answer, I know there are doctors in other countries reading x-rays in the middle of the night from patients here in America from thousands of miles away. I want to see my doctor and I want to be able to look into his or her eyes.

Making Women Scream and Beg for More (Math)

Honestly, I try to keep my mathematics education away from my writing, much in the same way I have always tried not to talk about work at home. As a result, I have children who do not necessarily want to be scientists or mathematicians. This is fine with me.

However, working as a mathematician, being able to teach college classes and enjoying writing about my thoughts sometimes get all tangled together. They get tangled together in a good way that makes me happy and throws me into a joy that involves excitement.  You know like a dog that gets to ride in the car and gets to stick his out of the window.  Think about it...

I was in my college classroom, waiting for my students to finish their first exam of the term. In an effort to give them immediate feedback, I was grading the exams as fast as I could and asking the students to wait for the results. It’s pretty easy until I get close to the end of class and have a group of students who want to push the time limit.

Disappearing Answers and Sweatshirts

After you’ve taught school for a while, you get to where you know what to expect from different types of students. I’m not saying that some college students don’t make dramatic improvements – they do, especially in math courses. A light bulb will come on and suddenly, they “get it.”

Actually, it’s a fun thing to see…

However, when you have a good student who suddenly makes a huge turn for the worse, you know something is going on. Recently, I had an experience where I did think something was going awfully wrong.

Short Men and Tall Equations

June is one of my months to perform my ushering duties at church. The first Sunday of the month is always a little hectic with more going on at church than other Sundays in the month. Early in the week, I got a call from my buddy and head usher noting that I should try to be there about 30 minutes early.

At about the time I should have been getting to church, I was still trying to steam the wrinkles out of my blazer that I only wear about 4 months out of the year when I’m doing my ushering duties. I was going to be late.

My worst fears were realized…

Fictitious Fires

Recently, we had a friend whose house caught on fire in the wee hours of the morning. Fortunately, she, her family and pets all got out of the house. As most folks can only imagine, it was a very traumatic experience for them.

For those who have gone through such an experience, they know the feelings of helplessness and sadness of losing their belongings, sometimes even loved ones.

It surprises me the way folks react sometimes. On some of our local internet news sites, at least one person questioned the number of resources/units that arrived to fight the fire.

Really, they did.

Sailing into Area 51

Don’t worry, I’m not into Science Fiction and I haven’t taken to writing about it. Some folks find it odd that a fellow who has spent most of his life working in the aerospace world is not interested in such things as Martians and flying saucers.

I really am not.

However, I am approaching or “sailing into” another birthday and I try to find humor and meaning as I go through life and hoping my children and friends do the same.

Trying My Patients

It’s now been a few days since I have been out of work due to the government shutdown. I miss my job and hope that everything works out soon. Otherwise, I have no comment on the why’s and the how’s about things like this happening.

I’ve given my life to science – not like the fellow who kept me from going to dental school, but to work on future cool things in space. It really wasn’t that fellow’s fault. He was just there when I visited the dental school in college with other students who were interested in becoming dentists. They pulled back the sheet, there he was… and I no longer had the desire to be a dentist. I guess it would be more appropriate to say this fellow had given his body to science.

At work, I get to do math. I enjoy it. I miss it. I also miss my medical practice.

My medical practice?

Harper Valley Chaos

I’m a mathematician who enjoys writing, but I rarely combine the two outside of the workplace. Some folks want to talk about work at breakfast, lunch, dinner and on the weekend. I do not. The separation is necessary for me to remain functional in both places (at work and away from work).

However, sometimes I will bring math into my thought process for fun and entertainment.

Have you ever heard of a book being written on a subject that no one can really agree on a definition? In mathematics, “chaos” is not chaos as you often think of it. As a matter of fact, in mathematics it is easier to define something being chaotic than to define chaos itself.

Chap Stick Saves Man's Life

Headlines are written in a way to try to get your attention. As a matter of fact, they say eight out of ten people only read the headline without reading the rest of the story. Growing up in a newspaper and being a mathematician who also teaches statistics to college students, I enjoy having these numbers in my pocket.

A headline is like a fishing lure. A good one will catch more than those two folks out of ten who generally read the story. I’ve never been much of a fisherman, but I do love newspapers and viewing headlines as an “art form.”

Recently, an incident took place in a neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah. The story spread virally on the internet to national news and television websites. The headlines were similar, including the following.