Boo!

Happy Halloween! I took this photo four years ago at a Habitat for Humanity house dedication.  It always looks to me like the pumpkin is talking to the yellow flowers, maybe making a new friend. *smiles*

Happy Things

A cool list from my 5 Things to Be Happy About page-a-day calendar for today:

orange and black decorations, spelling bees, a little more patience, happy accidents, inventing a better word

(I do that last one all the time — today my students are going to learn about common denominatorizing.)

Autumn Leaves: The Finale

I Bleed

Just over a week ago, I woke up with 15 bruises on one of my thighs.  Where did they come from?  I have a bleeding disorder caused by defective platelets, and these things happen without any significant cause.  I didn’t get into a fight or run into furniture.  The most strenuous thing my thighs had endured the day before was having a tiny dog snuggling on my lap.  15 bruises.

Over the summer, I was having a lot of problems with my health and had to lower the dose of one of the medicines I take for bleeding.  The side effects at the higher dose were more troublesome than the bleeding.  But since then, I’ve had a big increase in bleeding gums, petechiae (bleeding under the skin — kind of looks like a hickey but without the kissing!), and now the bad bruising.  And my menstrual periods are heavier but menstrual bleeding has always been the hardest thing to treat so we never had that quite under control anyway.

This is what it’s like to have a bleeding disorder.  I bleed.  A lot.  I started having nosebleeds that came from nowhere when I was a kid.  I would be reading a book or getting my hair cut and my nose would start bleeding.  People are alarmed at how casually I treat nosebleeds now — I will just continue on with a conversation while I keep changing Kleenexes until it slows down.  When it’s such a common occurrence, it doesn’t register as being a big event unless I can’t get it to stop (which happened last winter and was how I ended up standing in a bank in tears).

I’ve been on a medical strike for the last two months, but I’ll be seeing at least one of my doctors soon.  It’s time.  We’ll talk about my meds and the increase in bleeding, and we’ll run some tests.  And hopefully we can figure out how to get the bleeding back under control.

Teaching Thursdays #8

There are certain students I will always remember, and I already know who will probably top the list from this semester of teaching.  I have a student who asks a lot of questions, both during lectures and during the group work times.  The questions are always deep and interesting, and when we deal with them as a group, it increases everyone’s understanding.  So he adds a lot to the class.

But the main reason I will remember him is because of his reactions when he “gets” something.  He’ll be deeply confused about a problem, will dialogue with me about it for a minute and then have an “Aha!” moment that you can see all over his face.  (Math teachers live for those “Aha!” moments, by the way.)  Then, he says with genuine enthusiasm, “Sweet!” — but with an extra syllable, more like “Suh-weet!” as though he just shot a basket that was nothing but net!

Scary Math Dudes

One of my colleagues is hosting a Halloween party, and the invitation said to come dressed as something “mathematically scary.” As though mathematicians in plain clothes aren’t scary enough!  *laughs*

Autumn Leaves 2006

Worlds

The gymnastics world championships came to a close this morning.  The U.S. women almost swept the silver medals!  And the first place results were spread around nicely with a spunky Italian winning that country’s first ever all-around gold at worlds, a Chinese woman earning two event golds (vault and floor exercise), and a Brit and a Ukrainian earning the other event golds.  And a sweet Canadian young lady earned a bronze medal on the balance beam!  The Canadians are really coming into their own lately.  Go Canucks!

It’s been a lot of fun to follow the Worlds from afar (they were in Denmark) via a very active gymnastics discussion board.  Viva la Internet!

Now that the gymnastics has ended, it’s back to baseball!!  The World Series starts today.  GO TIGERS!!

Teaching Thursdays #7

Midterms are over. Phew.

I have a pile of grading to do — in addition to the pile of grading I did the other day (both exams and projects). This is about the time when fall semester becomes a test of endurance. We’re all tired and cranky. The students have just spent a lot of time studying for midterms or completing other projects, and the teachers have just spent time writing the exams and preparing the students for exams, and are now faced with grading and the prep for the next unit. What we really need is a break.

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

I was completely burnt out at this time in my first semester of teaching. I had no clue how to pace myself, how to squeeze any free time into a demanding schedule, or how to set boundaries to keep my work-life manageable. It was nuts. It’s a wonder that I agreed to teach again! But, you learn to manage all that stuff and make the job survivable, and you learn that sometimes you have to force a break into your schedule because you need to have a day when you aren’t looking at your work and feeling so responsible to the requests and anxieties of several dozen undergraduates.

So, today, I escaped. I left my pile of grading at home and headed north to the country to visit a friend who really needed a visitor. It was a day just for me to notice the gorgeous fall colors, to drive along singing great tunes, to hang out with a friend who is a fantastic person to be with even when she’s having a rough time. It was a huge treat.

Sometimes the teacher just needs a day. Sometimes we all do.

Happy gymnastics fans

The World Gymnastics Championships are taking place this week in Denmark.  The Chinese women’s team has long been a favorite of gymnastics fans.  Their gymnastics is beautiful — they perform every skill so perfectly.  It’s like everyone else is trying to be that graceful and perfect, but the Chinese women just are.  But they’ve struggled with inconsistency in competition, which breaks the hearts of all of us die-hard gymnastics fans.

But not today!  The Chinese women won the World Championships just about 15 minutes ago!  The gymnastics discussion board I participate on is going crazy with glee!  The US women (also a strong team) finished second, while the Russians finished third.  The next few days will determine individual medals, and the Chinese women ranked first in three events in prelims, so watch out world!

I’ve been “watching” the gymnastics competitions online (just waiting to see scores as they get posted).  I’m glad that the World Series hasn’t started yet.  It would have been hard to keep up with baseball and gymnastics this week and still, you know, work.  *laughs*