At lunch today, Andrew mention that when he lived in Seattle he was very impressed with the way the government provided online support and information for things like the DMV, the tax office, etc., but how that when he walks into the office or call on the phone to get help, there is either none or it is surly, lazy, and passive/aggressive. With North Carolina, it is just the opposite. Online infrastructure is not so great, but the people at the counter or on the phone are happy, helpful, and kind. Amazing. It is absolutely true and I prefer the latter most of the time.
Month: December 2011
Day 109 of 1000 (212.8 lbs.)
Stepan and I continue to talk in the mornings when we arrive at work. I am going to miss that a lot when I switch jobs next week. He told me another Russian proverb today: The greedy man pays twice. He says that not only applies if you buy cheap, shoddy stuff, but also in life. That is certainly true. I do not know whether my recent travails with Kelly’s and Christian’s classes have anything to do with that, but it certainly might.
I signed Lorena, Christian, and Kelly up for spring semester classes at Wake Tech, but in the confusion and busyness associated with my job change, I forgot to pay for them on the specified day. We were able to get both of the kids into Linear Algebra at Wake Tech with their favorite math teacher, Kelly was able to get her Macroeconomics class, and I was able to recover a couple of classes that had filled up by signing the kids up for two distance education courses each at Central Carolina Community College. I had to switch Kelly from Astronomy to Physical Geology, but that all worked out OK. The big problem was that Differential Equations and Physics II were both full.
It took about three weeks of pain and frustration, but I finally have him signed up for both classes at Johnston Community College. Lorena want to drive over there with him, so I signed her up for a couple of classes, too. To say it is a relief to have all this done is a wild understatement.
Update: When it rains it pours. They have Lorena as an out-of-state student and want here to pay more than three times as much for her six ours of classes than Christian paid for his seven hours of classes.
Stepan stopped by my desk again and told me a little story about his great grandfather, Nikolai, who was originally from the Ukraine. Nikolai was a successful, small family farmer. So successful, it turns out, that In the 1930’s, Stalin’s thugs took the farm and sent the whole family to Siberia. Somehow, Nikolai was able to bribe two guards so the family could escape. They changed their names and lived as illegal aliens in Murmansk. I looked up Murmansk on Google maps. It is in the very Northwest corner of Russia, not too far from the border with Finland. His family probably did not live too far from our relative in Northern Finland during World War II. It is an amazing story. Stepan’s family did not hear about it until Nikolai’s wife told them about it after the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990’s.
He also told me about his wife’s great grandfather who is German/Dutch extraction. During World War II, he got sent to a horrible concentration camp in Kazakhstan where the vast bulk of the prisoners died. He had abandoned his factory in the Ukraine and made his way to the south of Russian when he saw that Stalin and the communists were going to come and take it from him.
Needless to say, Stepan does NOT have too many warm fuzzy feelings about atheism, communism in general, and Joe Stalin in particular.
My Russian buddy Stepan and I discussed maturity this morning over coffee. I told him Grandpa Lauro’s maxim that, with boys, the blood doesn’t ever really start getting to the brain until about age 30.
Stepan laughed and said, “We have a saying like that in Russia, too, but I can’t tell you what it is.”
I asked, “Why not?”
He said, “Well, the saying is the something only gets to the something. You are going to have to figure out what are the two somethings for yourself.”
Day 107 of 1000 (213.7 lbs.)
I still say The Other McCain is a trainwreck, but he really nails one of my pet peeves today. His description of how Jesus dealt with religious authorities seems to be spot on. The upshot is that Jesus was quite aggressive with religious authorities who were out of line in their admonishments and spirit. He was also very kind to sinners who knew they were sinners and wanted to repent. McCain is truly a gonzo journalist for our time. Now if he would just dump that Rule 5 thing…
Update: Oops! I just saw this post came from Smitty, not Stacy. He is The Other McCain’s trusty, gonzo journalist sidekick. And he is a conservative Oregonian, so that pretty much doubles his credibility in as much as survival as a conservative in Oregon is not an easy trick.
Kelly and I just had the following instant message exchange. The first link is an article she wrote. The second link is about students who study hard stuff versus students who don’t. After the exchange we discuss why it is OK to finish your career in something other than just STEM stuff.
Here is a great quote from the second article:
…people with an undergraduate STEM major make $500,000 more over their lifetime than non-STEM majors.
Kelly
hey dad check this out
12:48 PM
Kelly
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/9828
and also this : http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/9824
apparently lots of STEM majors leave the STEM work after 10 years in a STEM career
which is sad
me
Very, very cool! No it is not sad! They move up in the world so they are managing STEM people. You need experienced ex-STEM people to manage STEM people and sell STEM created stuff.
Kelly
oh ok
me
Some STEM people move right into the the sales/managment/marketing mode–that is not bad either.
Kelly
wow cool!
me
I am going to be wearing a STEM and a marketing hat.
Kelly
yeah that is super cool
12:51 PM
Stepan, my Russian, chemist friend and I got into one of those discussions common to rooms full of engineers: the relative benefits of the different ways to go into space. He has a very interesting theory. The mundane part is that it is cheaper to send up rockets than maintain a space shuttle fleet. The really good part is that he is against the private sector getting to deeply into making rockets for space travel.
He says, “Can you imagine, the next thing you know, we will have an atomic exchange between IBM and Cisco!”
Day 106 of 1000 (214.1 lbs.)
I have talked previously spoken about my buddy Stepan from Russia here and here. Stepan has a family to whom he is very devoted. He is very interested in assuring his two little girls (ages 1 and 3) get the best education possible. His oldest daughter started Suzuki violin at age one with a teacher who is serious. The teacher told Stepan that her students should NOT play anything other that what they given so they would get in the habit of playing ONLY in the most correct way. Stepan liked that.
The three year old started preschool earlier this year. As is their wont, the teachers at the preschool had them do some fingerpainting. Stepan was not happy.
He said, “The only thing they do there is have fun. She already knows how to use a brush. Fingerpainting is NOT art.”
He has begun to notice that schools in the United States, public and private, are not so good. From the time Stepan was very young, he went to school to learn. There was no fun or self-fulfillment about it. He believes that life is a lot more fulfulling if you accomplish something. The only way to accomplish things is to work hard and not necessarily have fun. He believes the only way his daughters can get a good education here in America is through “home education.” I concur with the bulk of that.
It reminded me of when I asked him “How are you doing?” one morning when he came into work.
He said, “We never say that in Russia.”
I asked, “Why not?”
He said, “Because, in Russia, it is usually bad.”
“Well, what do you say, then?” I asked.
“We wish people health.”
Day 105 of 1000 (215.9 lbs.)
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I hit a new fatness high: 216.2 lbs. Today, I weighed in at 215.9. That is WAY out of line. I am starting a new job in a little over a week, the new year is coming, and it is a great time to get back to eating right, exercising more. I have started a spreadsheet–with me, that is the thing that makes it truly official. I will post a link to the graph as soon as I make one.
P.S. I am aiming for 170.
Day 104 of 1000
The studies continue. I am at work on a programming project for my future job, while Lorena, Kelly, and Christian continue to prepare for one last mid-term and all their finals. We ran by KFC on the way home from meeting than went straight to the bonus room to hit the books. It is going to be like this until December 16th. Kelly has a couple of Betty Blondes already complete and has plans to cook, knit, and do a ton of other stuff, all of which we hope to post here.
It is dead week at Wake Technical Community College. The winter fine arts performance is over. There is only one mid-term left (multivariable calculus). No more papers. No more quizzes. Nothing but study, study, study. The effort expended this week separates the A’s from the B’s, the B’s from the C’s, the C’s from the D’s, and the D’s from the F’s. These pictures represent what our household willbe like for the next week and a half. Study, study, study with an occasional break to go to a review class, to eat, or to get a short workout. Normally, it is just Kelly, but this semester Lorena is in on the fun. Study, study, study. It is worth it.
Day 103 of 1000
Lorena put some decorations on the dollhouse and got a little unsolicited “help”.
Here are some shots of Kelly and here buddies singing at Wake Tech.
About three quarters of the chorus
The Mexican small group sings “Somos el Mundo”
Take the A train
Mom and Dad wait for the concert to start
Day 102 of 1000
Lorena, Christian, and I made our way to the Community College last night to see the final performance and art show for the fine arts program. Paintings, pencil drawings, charcoals, and sculptures were displayed outside the music performance room. The chorus and the story-telling classes provided the performance arts. It was wonderful. There was a pretty good sized crowd to see it all. They dynamic of the community college is very fascinating. It is obvious that Kelly’s chorus professor and the story-telling professors take their jobs very seriously and derive great joy from them. Kelly sang with the chorus and with one small group of Mexican students who sang “We Are the World” in Spanish. Christian got some great pictures–I will put up a few of them this evening. Wake Technical Community College has an impressive facility, the student body is eclectic and fascinating to watch. It was all pretty impressive and very, very fun.
Lorena, Kelly, and Christian are running in the very demanding 8th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge. I personally have decided not to run because it is so much more demanding to drive the car, eat the leftover donuts, and hold the coats.
Day 101 of 1000
Chirstian’s new computer is amazing. I do not think you can really appreciate until you hold it in your hands. It is a small, thin computer with a world class keyboard and an unbelievable screen. It is thinner than most netbooks and has a slightly bigger footprint, but it does not feel anything like a netbook. He got the i7 version of the x220 and 8GB of RAM, so this thing is a monster performer for anything in this type of package.
I am really glad Christian did not get the tablet version of this model (Worries: the mechincal sturdiness and screen appearance) nor the Alienware (Worries: build quality, keyboard, and form factor) for which he had originally planned. This is the type of computer about which people will marvel on airplanes. I am envious.