One Third of September

Pretty much Chewbacca if he shaved.

Today is Mexican Monday, hence Pancho Villa.  The bandoliers make me think of Chewbacca, although Pancho Villa was only 5' 10" whereas Peter Mayhew is 7' 3".  Other famous bandolier users are Rambo, Animal Mother in "Full Metal Jacket" and the pirate Blackbeard.  Back to the menu...I typically make a taco salad, aka two cups of taco ground meat on top of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, salsa and jalapenos (pain endorphins are fun).  Other options include tamales, enchiladas and make your own tacos.  This is every Monday for the last eleven Mondays.

The other night Sam and I mooched some coffee from another office who broadcast out their desire to share their coffee.  While displaying our skills at verbal banter and witty repartee, I heard the distinct whirr I hadn't heard in many moons: a coffee grinder.  I leaned around the table and lo and behold, coffee grinder.  The past two months I had been taking beans to the coffee shop and being made fun of in Arabic while I could have walked 100 feet away and used this grinder.  So tonight we enjoyed some strong San Francisco Organic Rainforest blend.  The bitterness was high, so maybe I don't need to fill the coffee filter to the top tomorrow night.

Finally met up with the guy I've been paired to tutor (tutee?  tutoree?) and reviewed basic speech giving structure and some math word problems.  The speech part was a fast thirty minutes and we spent a good hour and a half on math.  Most of the word problems were ratios, percentages or a unit conversion problem.  In the end, I provided systems to solve the various types of problems and some formulas and principles for my student to review on his own.  The fun part about being a teach is saying, "Go do your homework and we'll talk later."  Actually, maybe the best part would be seeing the light bulb come on in your student's eyes and then seeing their hands write you a check.

Tonight I learned that it is important to dispose of papers properly or you can get to help sort the trash.  You probably already know about Kevin Mitnick diving into dumpsters for technical manuals that phone companies would throw away and Cary Elwes creepy villain in "Kiss the Girls."  Well, the same can be done today except they look the number of your Facebook friends, the number of times you charge Starbucks on your credit card bill and how many jars of Vaseline you empty per month.  If you throw out the wrong things here (i.e. paperwork with your name on it), you get to help sort the trash.  This all is not to be confused with urban picking or freeganism, where folks will look for recently expired food in dumpsters.

Now that you have yesterday's steak in your head, here's what I ate two hours ago:

I am powered by animals.

My plate is 5 parts beef, 3 parts chicken eggs and 100% delicious.

Friday Physics

My new standing desk, with built in wrist cushion.

Nom Nom Paleo here.

No thank you, Rebecca Black.

I consider the phrase "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." pointless and moronic.  If something is so horrible that you would consider this phrase, it's probably the kind of thing you would want to happen to your worst enemy (assuming you are the kind of person who has enemies).  I could see saying, "I wouldn't wish that on my annoying cousin-in-law who has the awkward facial tic." or "I wouldn't wish that on my own clone who might have to replace me without my wife's knowledge."  My worst enemy will get what she deserves (equal opportunities exist for female nemesises).

Along the same vein..."I could care less."  If you could care less, then the thing probably is worth caring about.  If you couldn't care less, then it is probably so beneath your notice that you are defying the things purpose for existence.  

Does anyone else think that Julian Assange looks like he should be a Bond villain?

"Hi CNN...please don't tell Interpol where we are right now."

"Don't tell Sergey Brin, but I'm taking over."

Tonight's lesson on physics started with force vector math, covered the basics of derivatives, integration, SOHCAHTOA and an oversimplified telling of Big G (no, not that B.I.G.).  Electron shells and were discussed...the explanation for why the progression starting with 2 and moving to 8 was not enough to convince the class, but meager enough to explain why water exists and why water in a glass will appear to curve upwards at the meniscus.

Finally, here's a scrap of paper I keep in one of my notebooks from a really smart former professor I met in college.  Several of us were on a field trip to visit Roosevelt's museum in Hyde Park, NY.  After the tour, we went to a diner for dinner.  While waiting, an elderly looking bearded man sitting at the counter started talking to us.  We naive sophomores assumed he was simply an old friendly befuddled gentlemen.  We told him we are college students and I must have mentioned I was studying engineering.  At that point I would have been taking my third physics course.  He wrote the below equation on the back of the place mat and told me it was a very important equation.  He told me he used to be a professor at a college in the area (not sure where).  Still not thinking much of the interaction, I thanked him (I hope) and kept the paper.

Probably near the Eveready Diner, Hyde Park, NY, circa fall 2000.  Professor John is second from right.

At my next physics class, I showed the equation to my professor (mustache!), assuming he would not be impressed.  On the contrary, he told me the gentleman who wrote that must be very smart indeed.  I've kept that paper for 12 years.

If you know what this means, please help me.