Interesting...

So I've taken tons of those i.q., Myers-Briggs, personality, and ennegram tests. But today I took my first left-brain, right-brain tests. I always have parents talking to me about how they are right-brain and that's why they don't understand math and why their children don't understand math and all that jazz. So out of curiosity I decided to take one.

I mean if you are left-brain you are rigid, routine and analytical. If you are right-brained you are musical, artsy and creative right? But I've always been confused by this. I mean I'm extremely good at math, I'm highly analytical, but I enjoy creating new things, being musical, and I'm extremely visual. If my head wasn't attached I don't think I would ever manage to keep track of it, but at the same time I keep track of projects and deadlines for my department at work. Something isn't right, I can feel it. I also weird my students out when we are doing math problems and I say their answer "feels" wrong even though I haven't worked it out yet. Then we analyze it and it is wrong and they ask how did I do that.

It appeared that I was bi-brained :) So I decided to take the quiz, only to have it confirmed, I was 50/50. I guess my logic and my intuition were right. I only had one quibble with the quality of the tests that I was taking. It asked questions in a dichotomous manner that made it extremely difficult to answer. It kept saying there was no right or wrong, but I kept thinking why can't I pick both, shouldn't there be a continuum here. I mean I like multiple choice, but we should have more flexibility in our choices.

One question was which is easier, algebra or geometry. I thought they are both at an equal level of easiness. I can do them both in my sleep. They both make sense. I don't prefer one of the other. They both have their elegance and beauty and they have a high degree of overlap.

This leads me to assume the test was made by right-brained people trying to "categorize" left brained people because any left brained person would know that in essence for the average person the level of difficulty is the same. Now they should ask the question do you prefer Linear Algebra or Statistics and maybe it would have been a better question.

Oooh it just occured to me that it could be left-brained people trying to "categorize" right brained people and that's why they would make a question like that to through you off in an attempt to be "random", that is so left-brained to be random in an organized and predictable way. Those left-brainers are funny.

Ahhh...enough musing I have an early morning meeting with some no brainers and I'll need all my left-brained ability to sit through it without wanting to jump on the table and start dancing. Then all my right-brained ability to stay entertained when my mind wanders off.

As always have a good day and enjoy.

Writer's Block...

That's the excuse I'm going to stick to for not posting in well over a year. It sure isn't because I've been so rushed off my feet, but exciting life events that I haven't really had time. It's just that I didn't have the necessary inspiration...or something along those lines.

I'd like to say it's because I've spent the last year honing my novel, but sadly it still lacks a proper conclusion, much to the annoyance of my nephew. The short stories I've written since then could fit into a thimble and still leave room for my thumb.

So what have I been doing...well your guess is as good as mine. Maybe you can come up with something better than what I did :)

As always have a good day and enjoy.

Spring in Suisun...

I had the best time this weekend. I went to visit a friend in Northern California ,where they actually have 3 seasons: hot, not hot and rainy. Much better than LA's 2, unbearably hot and cool. We had a relaxing weekend of vegging out, going to the movies, eating delicious food, and watching British comedy. And contrary to popular opinion on the subject we did leave the house. I also got to try out a bit of interior decorating. And guess what, I'm a dab hand at it! I might go into business for myself if this math thing doesn't work out(clearly I'm joking).

After the past few months of craziness it was nice to just get a little peace and quiet and just stop for a bit. Sometimes we get so busy that when forget how to stop, how to relax, to just take it easy.

I miss it already. Now that I'm back I feel the pace beginning to quicken, pressures starting to move in, and then tension beginning to mount, but then I take a deep breath, close my eyes and think about the weekend and everything slows right back down.

Well that's it for now. As always have a good day and enjoy.

I got an A !!!

This week beat last week into a cocked hat for craziness. Just when I thought things should be setting down they rev back up :) About half-way through week I definitely thought I was close to losing my sanity. I had actually stared at a computer screen so long that I saw double. Never happened before. I mean I've exaggerated that it's happened before, but it never actually did.

I had another frustrating afternoon of dealing with people who can't respect other people's property to push me over the edge and then the most amazing thing happened. I was at work in the evening and one of my students who I've been working with for the past 2 1/2 years as part of the NCLB program came in with his homework (the second time in the past 2 1/2 years I've worked with him) and showed me a test he received in his Algebra class.

It was an A. I know you're probably thinking, no big deal so he got an A, but it was the first A he's received in Math probably since kindergarten. He said he doesn't even know if he got one then. You could tell he was "busting" with pride in himself that he had accomplished this. I was suffused with pride myself that I was there to witness it and he shared it with me. It was like I made an A for the first time. It was also encouraging to see his father, a single parent, so excited about his son's first A. He was so encouraging towards him that I was definitely getting weepy.

When I first met this kid he was working at about 3 1/2 years behind grade level and to have made an A in a subject that most kids in LA county are failing in is a huge deal. When I saw that look in his eyes, that sense of accomplishment and belief in his potential and abilities all the stress and trauma of the bureaucratic nonsense of the past few months paled into insignificance.

All the hoops didn't seem so bad if just one child's sense of failure was replaced with a since of confidence and belief in his/her own potential. It was very important to be reminded of that.

As always have a great day and enjoy.

Inspiration

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!

The sentiments of my week. I've been inspired by a good friend to start posting again. Last week a coworker who used to read my blog asked why I stopped writing. The truth is I've been busy, but I miss being able to express my quippy, quirkly and infrequently witty remarks without interruption. That's certainly why I started.

Sometimes it was just good to have a rant about the week, like in the first line. Or to shed some light on an observation I had made about human nature. Or maybe just frustration at an annoying math publication :)

It was like a trip to the therapist with myself. Unless I'm using someone as a sounding board it rarely helps to talk about things until I've started to untangle them in my mind first, but enough of that.

This week has been crazy to say the least. You know it's bad when you can't wait until Friday to come even though you work on the weekends. It's not the kids of course or the math. I love that always have always will. It's the hoops you have to jump through just to do that. The pursuit of knowledge apparently isn't enough anymore, but alas I am but a small gear in this huge machine of education, turning slowly with the inertia of the system hoping my crooked spoke throws things off track so they can change, hopefully for the better.

As always have a good day and enjoy.

Mystery Solved

About 3 years ago I posted a entry about a joke I heard at my job. It was one of those cheezy jokes on a math page where if you work out the problems you can decipher a hidden message. This morning someone actually sent me a message saying what the answer was. For those of you interested in figuring it out on your own I will have a link to the post containing the answers in the comment.

Here is the joke:
What is the difference between a cheap hamburger and a pulled tooth?

ANSWER

One person found something pretty close at one point, but this contains the actual answer. As a fan of silly jokes I found it tres amusant. Even after 3 years.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and as always enjoy.

Evans Family Christmas

I haven't posted anything for a while. Not that my life has been dull or exciting, but mostly because I just haven't felt like it. But something transpired this past week that is worthy of at least a few words. I know I've told people about how my family likes to celebrate holidays at random times of the year, but this year we really took it to the next level and I have pictures. Not only did we celebrate Christmas the first week of October, by listening to music, having decorations, and presents, but everyone who called the house knew of our psychosis and they said Merry Christmas as well. It's spreading.

I thoroughly enjoyed singing familiar Christmas carols while it was 95 degrees outside. I like being different and this is as different as it gets. At least as far as my family is concerned. The major question is will we be celebrating Christmas again. And the answer is a resounding yes. Of course we are. My mother said that the tree won't be coming down until June 2008. There's at least 5 more Christmas celebrations yet.

As always have a good day adn enjoy.