A contamination even occurred here this morning. The fair and industrious Trudy started the day with the birthday song. Then she handed me a hand-drawn card. The thing of it is, I don’t think she sanitized the pens when she drew it, and this was the product: Despite her cautionary pronouncement, the virus seems so […]
Monthly Archives: March 2020
Back of the Envelope
Sun, 29 Mar 2020, 10:30 AM (-06:00)
A birthday card arrived from some close friends in northwest Austin, yesterday. The envelope had dazzling artwork on the front, a celebrate stamp in the corner, and a garland of flowers on the back. Of course, the card the bore the birthday message inside, but the back of the envelope was the particular thing. Just […]
Quod erat demonstrandum
Sat, 28 Mar 2020, 09:02 AM (-06:00)
QED 1 Some time ago, I went through a proof of the quadratic formula with the pre-AP kids. It was part of our notes. I put the proof in their homework. The proof was an extra credit question on their test. At the end of the proof, when we had arrived at our destination, I wrote […]
Complex Conjugate Roots
Fri, 27 Mar 2020, 07:15 PM (-06:00)
Timothy sits in the front row. He is a good student. On days when he wears his glasses, he looks doubly studious. He had his glasses on. It was a practice day. I had assigned some very involved complex conjugate root problems the night before, but I had assured them that today would be a […]
A Leisurely Stroll
Fri, 27 Mar 2020, 05:21 PM (-06:00)
After a full day of environmental consulting from home, the fair and industrious Trudy headed out to Costco. I did not go along — no need to double the size of our target, and anyway, my contribution was in the 60+ line at Whole Foods and hour before opening this morning. (Age has its privileges. […]
Friendly Friday
Fri, 27 Mar 2020, 12:02 PM (-06:00)
Here is the note I sent out to my students this morning. Hi everyone, Two things… 1) Spring Break extended further and Google Classroom. Many of you already now, we’re now out until at least April 19. My plan is to move to Google Classroom as soon as I’m given the thumbs up, which probably won’t be for another […]
Working From Home
Thu, 26 Mar 2020, 01:03 PM (-06:00)
Oh joy. A friend sent us seven rolls. Wait. How do I take a selfie with this thing?
The Leafing of the Pecans
Thu, 26 Mar 2020, 08:59 AM (-06:00)
It got hot, yesterday — in the 90s. We kept the house open as long as it was cooler outside than in, but sometime in the late morning, we shut everything up, determined as we are to shun the AC as long as possible. (This exercise used to be one for late May, but here […]
Singing to Charlie
Thu, 26 Mar 2020, 07:50 AM (-06:00)
Here is “Thursday’s thought” that I sent out to my students this morning. I have always identified closely with our older dog, Charlie. He was a “senior dog” when we adopted him a few years ago. He was so laid back, unlike that hyper puppy that was hopping in my wife’s lap giving her kisses. […]
Good Thing / Bad Thing
Wed, 25 Mar 2020, 08:30 PM (-06:00)
It was a writing day. I had scheduled three of them in the last two weeks — a requirement levied by the state to assess where our English language learners stand. The writing hadn’t taken much time, although I credit the early finishes of some of the speedier ones to the liberal use of whitespace […]