My Sister The Nerd Lover

She complained that my college wasn't nerdy enough. "But seriously the college got rid of the Linux lab my sophomore year. That was a huge factor in my decision. Tsk Tsk."

I didn't understand. Nor do I have sympathy for her. You, my dear friends, are nerds enough for me.

The problem is that we have different frames of reference. My high school didn't have so much of the nerds. Her's was an extreme.

Case in point. She's applying for cool jobs now, so I'm stalking the jobs page of every cool start-up. This apparently leads to me looking at photos of "generic looking nerds." My sister's reaction, "Hey, I think I know that person."

So today, she mentions that one of the people from her high school is working at a well-known start-up (whose page I happened to be examining yesterday). I go back to the page and scroll around as we talk about the lack of women in the field. (The recruitment team was skewed toward women though maybe not as much as engineer team was toward men.) I comment about how there are nerds and then there are people who really stand out as nerds. Extra pale skin. Extra nerdy props. Turns out of all the people working at the start-up, the guy I picked out as the nerdiest is the one she knows.

A nerd among nerds I tell you.

Now then, I'm off to read Girl Genius.

I don't really care that you can see the end of the story coming a mile away

I'm writing it to remember it for me, more than to amuse you

Tell it like it is, girl

Love eavesdropping on early-high-school girls.

I'm just gonna go up to him and say we need to establish a relationship.

Bam. I should start doing that.

parent's night

Parent's Night was yesterday and went far better than I expected. I had ~20 percent turnout, which is good for high school in general and amazing for here.

The best part though was feeling like every conversation went well. That parents left with confidence in me. Whether I bragged on their student, honestly said the student wasn't working, or some mixture of the two, everyone was positive.

They weren't all easy conversations. When my first mother told me who her daughter was the first thought flashing through my head was "I couldn't start with an easy one, could I?" But I was able to pull out yesterday's assignment and say "We took 50 minutes to work on this. You can see what she didn't get done." (Anything.) "I would come ask her if she needed any, and she'd just smile at me and say no, covering her paper all the time." Mom's going to be in class on Tuesday.

There was one family that I'd been warned about because they love to argue. The student loves to debate a point and makes careless errors right and left. I feel like he's one that doesn't try nearly as much as he could. So when his mom asked if I was using a book, I explained that the book's provided for the material I'm teaching right now are trash and that the students are not at the level for the book that's supposed to go with their class.
"Well I was just wondering where you got your questions."
"I have teachers editions at home and use the internet a lot."
Apparently the real issue was a question in the homework. So I worked it on the board. I think it was a good thing that I made the same mistake she'd made. (So nice to have a parent who KNOWS math.) I couldn't see my error immediately, so I reworked it a different way. Finally, I had the lightbulb, "Oh, there's the mistake. I forgot that negative sign. That's the same type of mistake your son makes. I make the careless errors too, so I know how important it is to look for them and be careful." I think she was just as happy to find out what her mistake was as she was to know that I could solve the problem and do the math.
From there did the last homework problem with her son. Which was an amazing chance to show her how I work with him in class. I had him work it on the board and asked the same type of questions that I do when she's not there. "What's first in your order of operations?" "If you add two what does that do? Is that really helping you?" He didn't get it immediately, but did eventually. As they were leaving, I asked if that method seemed appropriate for him or if she had some other approach that she'd like me to take with her son. Full approval.

It's good to have parents on my side.

Especially when I hand out grades that are a depressing wake-up call. The answers aren't being handed out anymore kids. You have to learn to do it on your own. And in order to learn, it's a good idea to be in class. Don't complain that you didn't get the chance to study when you haven't been here in a week. Knowing that those parents approve of what they saw will keep me going until some more students start picking things up.

hopefully tomorrow will be better

Officially figured out that the reason MY computer's not working right now is because the power cord died. I'm on a rigged up school computer for now. Hope I can get a good computer (either of my own or from the school) soon. But we'll see. Really want to wait until the new mac os comes out. Maybe I'll break down and buy a new computer cord.

Have realized, yet again, how much Firefox changed my internet habits. I know other browsers now have tabbed browsing, but the IE running on this machine didn't. I couldn't handle it. New windows are too space consuming. Tabs are just pretty.

Moving goes slowly. So much of it seems to be fend for yourself. On the other hand, it has provided a good way to get to know other people. Checking in on how everyone's room is going. How are you holding up? Doing all right? Do you need help getting that through the door? Carrying that? Balancing that on your head as you push the cart? And, after my years as a camp counselor, are you getting enough water? Don't get dehydrated! That's it, next water fountain we pass, you're drinking some more. (Yes, I actually said that. We both got water, too.)

In return, if getting offers for help is any sign of how I'm fitting in here, I feel pretty good. I keep being told of new places where to find more math stuff (not sure books is always appropriate; textbooks, workbooks, manipulatives, some brandnew, some older than I am, some both). People ask if I need a different cart. (I finally gave the one I'd claimed up after cleaning out a room and a modular. I'm not sure what else is left for me to uncover.) When I decided to lay claim to a couple of abandoned 3 ring binders, one teacher pointed me to a BUNCH of others (which becomes a whole other story), and a half-dozen people helped me empty them of old papers. (Which all went in the trash, breaking my recyclable heart, but, you do what you can.) So there's definitely some feeling of goodness in this. Hopefully I can keep seeing that.

count down continues

It's amazing how much I keep discovering about this place. Like how I've got a new favorite study spot. Not that I'll use it for more than the week before college ends, but it's nice for now.

So I'm sitting here, working on those final assignments. Staring out the window (it's got a great view, especially for people watching). I wonder how much people are aware they're in public.

I mean, you're sitting outside in the middle of campus. Under a tree with a friend. If no one's walking by on the sidewalk it's easy to feel alone. But really, I'm up here looking at you. Wondering what you're talking about. If there's any romance going on. And how is it that you're not getting too cold?