Mutualism

I've spent 10-14 hours each day this week in class or on assignments. What do I not want to hear as my work is past due? I don't manage my time properly. Let me lay out my week for you:

Monday - 1 assignment due, prepare handout for work
Thursday - 1 assignment due, 2 labs due, prepare handout for work
Friday - 2 assignments due, prepare handout for work

Not managing my time properly and not having a enough time are entirely different. I was told my problem is I help people with their work (hypocritical statement coming from the person who asks me the most questions). Group dynamic amongst the physics students: I help others and others help me. Yes, I spent time helping others but how much time did I save by getting help from others?

The virtual end of online anonymity

Schmutzie was interviewed for The virtual end of online anonymity - The Globe and Mail, topic near and dear to many of us. Earlier this week I came across Do You Pass the Social Media Recruitment Test? and what should come up when your name is googled:

1. Does not lead to something controversial like arrests
2. Leads to profession-related discussions and commentary on other social media sites
3. Leads me to their online blog, webpage or social media profiles
4. Doesn’t come up blank

The gist of the over 1400 results of an internet search of my name:

• math education website I work for


• math conference papers and proceedings


• my conics webquest


• a petition to keep Arrested Development on the air

My reason for blog anonymity? Like most, keeping my personal and professional lives separate.



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Twice the Work in a Quarter of the Time

I discovered last week how little work my co-worker has done over the summer. She had an opportunity to compete in an aquatic sport at the international level so you quit her job with one month to go. I was given her projects* to finish in addition to my own**. I have gotten more done in the last week than she did in the 3 months she worked for the website. May I also note that I got more done in a week working 2 hours a day than she did in working 8 hours a day over 3 months.



* most of the images needed to be redone because they were either poor quality or photos we are not legally allowed to use.
** most of which needed to be redone due to the hard drive crash.

I hear ya Horace

I am an old man now, and when I die and go to heaven there are two matters on which I hope for enlightenment. One is quantum electrodynamics, and the other is the turbulent motion of fluids. And about the former I am rather optimistic. - Horace Lamb

How to keep a healthy level of insanity and drive other people insane

I don't remember where I got this...

1) At lunch time, sit in your parked car and point a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down. (This is especially effective if you drive a large, white Ford)
2) Page yourself over the intercom. (Don't disguise your voice)
3) Insist that your email address be
Xena-goddess-of-fire@companyname.com or Elvis-the-king@companyname.com
4) Everytime someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
5) Encourage your colleagues to join you in a little synchronized chair dancing.
6) Put your garbage can on your desk and label it 'IN'
7) Develop an unnatural fear of staplers.
8) Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
9) Reply to everything someone says with, "That's what you think."
10) Finish all your sentences with "In accordance with the prophecy."
11) Adjust the tint on your monitor so that the brightness level lights
up the entire working area. Insist to others that you like it that way.
12) Dont use any punctuation
13) As often as possible, skip rather than walk.
14) Ask people what sex they are.
15) Specify that your drive through order is "to go."
16) Sing (howl?) along at the opera.
17) Go to a poetry recital and ask why the poems don't rhyme.
18) Find out where your boss shops and buy exactly the same outfits. Wear them one day after your boss does. (This is especially effective if your boss is the opposite gender.)
19) Send e-mail to the rest of the company to tell them what you're doing. For example: "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the bathroom."
20) Put mosquito netting around your cubicle.
21) Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you're not in the mood.

Too Upset to Sleep

As my boss is away, I receive the questions and comments for the math website then appropriately distribute. Tonight someone sent a complaint about a question posted over 9 years ago. It is true that the response needs to be rewritten for clarity but I wish didn't I have to read it. Not that I'm all rainbows and kittens but that kind of negativity makes my tummy hurt.

Ok, maybe things will be alright

Even though I will not get full time hours as promised, I have found a bit more work for the summer. My boss from the math education website has a ton of funding so even though he hired someone for the summer, he says he still could find some work for me. The prof who I am doing research for found work for me working on a website for a private elementary school. I also decided to take a class this summer since I have the time.

Uneasy feeling

As a courtesy, I emailed my professor to tell her I was dropping her class. She replied that she wants to meet with me. Ugh, the thought of what she might want to say to me makes me feel uneasy. I've made a formal complaint about her during a time when the department was considering not hiring her to teach any additional classes.* As of now she is not teaching any classes next semester and the university has no plans to hire her for any in the future. I didn't do anything wrong, I just reported her unprofessional behaviour.** I'd rather avoid her especially since she was hostile towards me even before I destroyed her chances of a career at the university. If she is going to freak out on me, I'd rather her do it through email so then I can forward it onto the department.




*I have worked for the math department for longer than she has. I am well known in the department and am regularly asked by staff to work for them. I was offered 6 different jobs (unsolicited) for the current school year. Despite the rage this situation causes me, the math department head saw my complaints as constructive criticism.
** I have kept a journal since the second week of school. I have documentation for everything she has done plus another student to corroborate.

Don't Mind Me, I'm Just Slow

I have most suspense movies I watch figured out in about the first 15 minutes (knew who Keyser Söze was in the first 5). On a crime show I knew whodunnit since the writers named him "Gil T. Parti" in addition to opportunity. For months I've been complaining about a volunteer who answers math questions for the website I work for. Today my boss told me it was his pseudonym -- he thought I already knew. I don't know why I hadn't figured it out before because "her" name is a variation on the phrase "pen name".

Dearest blog readers (all 2.5 of you), I need a pen name for the website: any suggestions?

Some People Should Not be Allowed to Own Computers

I was asked to update a website for a local private school. I've been emailing back and forth with the principal about the needed changes. This afternoon I posted what I have done so far and her reply was when she looked there was no changes. I wrote back instructions about how some web browsers save a copy of web pages and so when you visit it again it just loads the old version it has saved. I gave her instructions on how to clear the cache so she could view the changes I made. Her reply: the content had not been updated. ARgh. Grumble, grumble.

Chain of Command

In May I became an editor at a university math website. My main job is send visitor math questions out to the appropriate group of volunteers and then post the solutions on the website. There is this one volunteer who insists on sending her responses to the other editor. Since it has been assigned to me, he has to go out of his way to forward the responses onto me. It isn't a matter of her not knowing what to do, she is willfully doing it. The reason I was hired was to decrease the other editors work load and get the responses on the website quicker -- she is not helping the situation.

First Try

I went through the first tutorial for the program I'll be using for work this summer. This is what I made:


It is a simulation of how much a copper conductor will heat up. I'll actually be running simulations of the how blood flow is effected by stenosis and aneurysm but these tutorials just teach you how to use the different tools of the program. Pretty neat.

I Blinded Her With Science

For my computer science assignment, I need to create a program that find the first four perfect numbers. A perfect number is one that the sum of the factors equals the number (for example: 1+2+3=6). In one of my math text books, I found a formula that calculates perfect numbers using prime numbers. My CS was warily about me using this formula and I'm not sure why.

The first four perfect numbers are
6
28
496
8128

What would you rather do: find the factors for 8128 numbers and then add the factors or find the first four prime numbers? My program runs faster than the program she would prefer I create. Doesn't everyone want a computer program that no only works but works quickly? My program works perfectly, fulfills all requirements of the assignment question so I'm keeping it that way it is. I'm not going to rewrite a program that is perfectly fine because of preference. I created a computer program that uses Fermat's Little Theorem and the Euclid-Euler Theorem, I should get bonus marks for that.

Have you seen my silliness? I think I lost it.

The last two days I have been in a funk that I just can't seem to shake*. It started when I got back my computer science midterm. I lost about 17% due to careless errors and not reading the directions properly -- nothing to do with what I do or do not know. I didn't do poorly but it was the difference between an OK mark and an excellent mark. I have to step it up even more to reach my goals. It seems daunting right now but all I can do is improve my work habits one at a time. Sigh.

Yesterday my former faculty adviser emailed me to see how the semester was going. How can I tell him that I know how to learn, I know how to study, I know how to write a test, I know how to achieve the needed higher levels of thinking but I just can't pull it together to make it happen? Translating theory into practice. I've spent years transforming the work habits of students and can't transform my own. Being an above average student isn't enough.

I was feeling a little better this morning like "Hey, I have problems but I can tackle them." I received back an assignment this morning and I lost 10 marks out of a possible 50 because I forgot to include the last page. As the professor handed it to me, he looked at me like "What happened?"** I was in his office last week to ask him questions and he knew I was done. He is the kind of professor that takes his student's results kind of personally. It absolutely breaks my heart to think I disappointed him. OK, maybe not disappoint him but the frustration of a student who's mark does not reflect the ability.***

I'm supposed to go to my physic lab instructor's office to pick up my notebook so I can prepare for this afternoon's lab. I'm filled with dread -- I don't even want to know how I did. I think I did well but I'm not prepared for disappointment.

For disclosure, things that did not help the situation:
- I left my lights on yesterday and my battery died. Why do I only seem to need to call CAA during the winter?
- Bron's post
- etcetera, etcetera, etcetera

* The Project Runway finale didn't even help.
**My interpretation but I know him well enough that it won't be far from the truth.
*** Of course, I think he overestimates my ability since he has a slight bias towards me.

The Reality of My Finite Nature

I had to withdraw form a class and I feel terrible. It was a difficult class and I just didn't have the time or energy to dedicate to it. I have been thinking about for awhile and thought it would be enough to quit my job. My semester is just too heavy, especially for my first one back. I still need to take the class in the future but now that I know what to expect I can plan my semester accordingly. I still feel like garbage about it.

I need to think about the future : bring my GPA so I can get my honours degree and be eligible for a MSc. I'm not saying I will pursue my master's degree but I want to have the option. Not that my GPA is bad, the standards are different for an education degree. I did well enough but I could have done better. As it stands, my average is fine for an honours degree but not so fine if I even want to consider applying anywhere for a master's program.

Yes Mom, I know it is late. I'm just too wound up to sleep. You know how I get.

Overheard in a Call Centre

Coworker1: Oh, you're a musician? What do you play?
Coworker2: Steel drums
Coworker1 [shouting]: HOT!!!
Coworker2: [crickets chirping]

Just Call Me Student Lady

Hello Blogosphere! I hope you missed me. I really need to be in bed but we have so much to catch up on.

This week was Teacher Lady's triumphant return to university and what a week it was. I'll try to break it down into categories.

The Bus
I decided not to get a university parking pass and opted instead for a student bus pass. It will also save me gas money. I had a transit pass in Calgary that cost me $75/month and I was amazed that a student pass here is only $48/month (there is no such thing as a student pass in Calgary and an adult pass is for anyone over 14). After studying the routes, I figured out that driving 5 minutes and parking my car at a nearby mall would save me about a half hour of travel time. I was pretty used to this concept since I always used to drive my car to a nearby train station in Calgary.

The first day I took the bus was on Tuesday. After classes, I take the bus downtown to work. As of this week I've shifted to part-time hours and Tuesday was my first 1-9 shift. The plan was to catch the 9:15 bus at Victoria Park which is a couple blocks north of work. As I arrived at the bus stop (early) the bus started to pull away. Since I was coming from behind the bus driver didn't see me. The next stop is at Cornwall and because of the one way streets the bus has to go to Broad and loop around to 11th. Cutting through Scarth Street Mall, "I ran. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid." I beat the bus there. Actually, I beat the bus there but didn't know it and had to check about 7 other buses to see if they were the right number. I had to double back when my bus arrived. (See illustration below. My path is black, the bus' path is blue). I had two text books in my bag and I was wearing winter boots and the impact on the pavement and the lack of proper footwear bruised the bottoms of my heels.

Excuse the crude path drawing, I'm still learning GIMP

In other news, the route on the way home from the university makes me motion sick. I don't know why but I suspect it is because it winds so much. Today I took Gravol to combat but since I couldn't swallow, it got stuck at the back of my mouth. So gross. Once swallowed, I had a peppermint to get rid of the taste. Bad idea, you should not mix peppermint and Gravol. Peppermint relaxes the esophagus opening* and I think it messed with Gravol working properly. It also made my throat numb. I should have known better.

Classes
This semester is going to kick my butt, as my former roommate used to say. I have five classes (one of which is an honours math class) and two labs, all of which are faculty of science classes. Every week I will have 4 assignments, 2 labs and 1 quiz. Four out of my classes seem like the work will be easy but just a lot of it. My honours class probably will make me cry and make me cry often. I'm struggling with the review material (does not help that I took the prerequisite class over ten years ago). I was slightly comforted by the fact that I have more of a clue of what is going on than the rest of the class (comforting but does not help the grade). A fellow student found notes from a different prof as well as his old assignments and tests. I hope this will be a help since I've only had two classes and I fell like I'm a semester behind.

They restructured the math requirements for Education, Science and Engineering so now everyone takes the same classes (For example: they used to have specific Engineering Calculus classes). I'm not used to such big classes, especially 3rd year math classes. Three out of my five classes are held in lecture theatres. My honours math class only has five people in it and the class room is comically large.

As of today, I am officially an honours student. I had enrolled as one but through a clerical error I was not registered as one. The Department of Math recognized me as one but the university did not. There is a summer research job I'd like to apply for but it needs to say on my transcript that I am an honours student.

Making Myself Known
I'm trying to be bold and make myself know to my professors, lab instructors and people in the math department. I figure it can only help me in the long run so I had to bite the bullet and overcome my shyness. The acting department head is the only professor I have this semester that I've had before. I asked him a question after class and we got talking about his markers (as in people who mark). When I mentioned I previously had been a high school math teacher who has taught Calculus, he encouraged me to apply to be a marker in the fall (too late now). I also randomly ran into the former dept head who I've had many dealings with when I was previously at the university and after as a teacher at conferences. He is retired from teaching but still works at the university running a math education website. He gave me his card because he wants me to come visit him. He wants to talk about my academic future and get my feedback on the website. He was one my favourite profs, second only to Jimmy P (but who can ever complete with a soulful tenor?**) He is so awesome, he has a great bushy beard and wears cable-knit sweaters.

I Am So Old (But I Don't Look It)
Nobody has called me a Narc yet, so that is a plus. Even though I am probably the oldest person (besides the prof) in the class, I don't look it. Some of my classmates look 12 but some look older (poor premature balding boys). It helps that I am mostly taking 3rd year classes.

The university had to reissue my student card since my purse was stolen after the last time I took a class. The girl gave me the option of using my old picture since I "look the same" (her words). I could not believe they would let me use an ID picture from 1996 of an 18 year old Janny. Almost 30 year old Janny approves and will take that as a compliment.

The math dept head looks exactly the same as he did ten years ago. I think he is in his late 40s (judging from how long he has had his PhD). I'm pretty sure he has the same clothes too (or he buys his clothes in bulk). His Dr Martens circa 1994 would be the dead give away.

More stories for another time.....

*gastro-oesophageal sphincter if you want to get technical
**An April Fool's Edition of the U of R newspaper ran an "article" about a boy band comprising of beloved faculty. The nickname, Jimmy P, stuck. Jimmy P, kicking it to you history style.

***Blush***

To combat boredom, myself and a co-worker make paper snowflakes to decorate our cubicles. Yesterday I was leaving a message on a customer's voice mail. While explaining how I fold my paper, I realized I had not ended the call. Approximately 40 seconds was for message and the other 90 seconds was explanation on how to make paper snowflakes. I don't blush often but my co-workers noted I was beet-red.

Oh Snap*

I spent most of today calling customers to let them know when they can upgrade their cell phone. From as much as I remember, this is a VERY revealing conversation I had today. The names and places have been changed to protect the innocent (and not so innocent).

Teacherlady: Hi, is [Bob] there?
Wife: No, he's at work. Can I take a message?
TL: [Company preamble] Can you let [Bob] know that the cell phone he purchased from us about two years ago is eligible for an upgrade [later this month]?
W: You must have the wrong [Bob], we don't have a cell phone.
TL: Is this the [Bob Smith**] residence?
W: Yes, what address do you have?
TL [Cherrytree Lane]
W: That's our house. When was the phone purchased?
TL: Two years ago.
W: Hmmm, When was the last call made?
TL: Sorry, I don't have access to that information. Only if [Bob] called directly could he find that out. If there has been some sort of mistake, tell [Bob] to call us directly so we can get this fixed.
W: Umm, [long pause] well thank you for telling me. [long pause]
TL: Well, [awkward pause] thank you for your time and hope you have a good day.

A couple minutes later I was on the phone when a co-worker told me there was a very angry woman on the phone who would talk to no one but me. By the time he tried transferring the call, she had hung up.

I explained to my co-workers and supervisor what had happened. Then I told them what I wanted to say the customer if he called in mad. "Number one: It's not my fault that you two have trust issues. Number two: It is not my fault that you are dumb enough to use your house number as your customer contact number for your secret cell phone."

* I never use the phrase but that was my honest reaction after hanging up the phone.
** The real name is actually uncommon so it was no mistaking that I had the right house.

The Cat Hair Makes Me Want to Barf

Alternate title: Janny's First Full Day of Work
Yeah, I thought that would get your attention.

Today I started work at a call centre. I was hired for inbound tech support calls but I can't start training until next week. They ask if I'd come in this week and help with outbound customer care calls. I started my training last night with the expectation I'd be making my first calls today.

What a gong show. There were so many technical problems. One of the supervisors (a long time friend who got me the job) was supposed to listen to my calls and give me feed back but her phone setup wasn't working. She suggested we use another supervisor's phone. Sitting down in her chair, I immediately had an allergic reaction to the cat hair on her coat. Wow, I have never had that bad of an allergic reaction to animal hair (let alone that little of hair). Immediately my throat swelled up and my eyes started to hurt and water. Whenever my eyes hurt, it eventually gives me a migraine which makes me nauseated. Fortunately the other supervisor needed her desk and phone so we just had to wait around until the other phone setup was fixed. I was so glad to get away from that coat.

There were many technical problems through the whole network so I didn't get a lot done on my first full day. From what I was told, the calls I were able to make went well. I didn't think I did that well but then again all I could think about was not throwing up from the cat hair. Not pukey Janny will be a call centre superstar.

I showered and took an anti-histamine. My eyes and throat are better but anti-histamine doesn't help the nausea.