Excited!

Woohoo! I have seven sign ups to the fundraiser!
You don't want to be left out, do you? Sign up now!

I have had the undue pleasure of spending multiple days down in Homer. I don't know what I did to deserve the torture of having to fly down there for a day and fly right back. The worst part is that the morning flight gets in about the time that all of the baked goods come out of the oven at Two Sister's Bakery. That really is horrible. (I'm surprised I'm not more well rounded)
The sticky buns are amazing. And the savory ham and cheese danish... Mmm... Steps to a great morning: Land in sunny Homer, start company truck, drive to bakery, let truck warm up while enjoying coffee and baked goods.

Of course, after driving around all day with no destination, I get really bored and tired. And when you leave the house at 5am, not to return until 9:45p, it makes for a long day.

Driving around Homer makes me want to take my road bike down there.

Or any bike.

Shoot, I'd take a scooter.

I also want a cabin down there on top of the ridge in the picture.

Sigh... Someday...

If I lived that close to that bakery, I really would be well rounded.

I have high expectations for my upcoming adventure to Chicago. Not that I expect anything out of the travel experience, but I expect every little snowflake to have melted off my favorite trails by the time I come back. Starting that week, no man will be able to contain my desire for running outside. I should be out there already. Gearing up. Preparing for races. Ascending the highest peaks.
Winter, END! Or I am coming to chase you away!

If you see a person jumping up and down on a mountain or kicking snow around, beware. That's me making winter leave...

Announcing!!

I have been holding this in for about a month now.

I was thinking about what sort of goals I want to set for myself in the summer, and I thought that hiking the vertical equivalent of Mt. Everest would be fun. Then I thought, well how do I get as many people as possible to do it too?
So I created a fundraiser and now use bribery and emotions to get people to participate. And you can run, hike, or walk!
From May 1st to August 31st, I challenge you all to do something that seems huge up front, but can be easily divided over the whole summer. At the end, I will give you all a t-shirt. And ice cream if you can make it.

It costs $40.00 and the money will go to Arrowhead Children's Home in Murumba, Kenya. Pretty excited, eh? Can't wait to sign up? Just go to:
sites.google.com/site/arrowheadeverestchallenge and fill out the forms!

There is also more information about this whole thing at that link.

What is Necessary

I am becoming more of an engineer every day. Translation: I am replacing my blood with coffee. I love coffee. I love coffee in the morning. I love it in the afternoon. Sometimes at night. There are now six different ways to make coffee in this house.
And I still sleep soundly at night!

I'm beginning to start to possibly think about maybe moving out, I've come to realize something that I cannot live without: a grill.
As a man, at least one meal a week should revolve around a grill. There's my theory. To grill is man.
Not just any grill, but a wood fired or charcoal grill.

I've been exercising this manly muscle for the last two weekends, making some amazing venison tenderloin last weekend, and chicken this weekend.

The tenderloin was fantastic. I saw that it was thawed (and bleeding all over the fridge) so I took matters into my own hands and made a marinade. Apparently it was from a young deer, and was extremely tender. Extremely. Not quite cut-with-spoon tender, but close. Makes me want to be a hunter and live by "if it's brown, it's down".
The accompaniment to the tenderloin were vegetables (in the tinfoil in the picture), cubed hash browns - that were so close to cookie jar home fries - and mushrooms and onions. Tasty meal

I tried something new with the chicken to try and solve the common chicken problem: dry white meat. I sort of filleted the breast and rubbed in some basil garlic butter. Nothing makes something taste better like fat. More and more fat. Long story short, my brother complemented the chicken.

So wherever I choose to reside, rest assured there will be a grill outside. (And some way to make coffee)

Where's the Textbook?

Again, I amaze myself. You only have to fall down once in order to learn the lesson.
...Okay maybe that's not true. Maybe twice. Or thrice. (I can't believe that's a word)
Anyways.
My brother asked for help on calculus. I stared at the first question. And stared. ...And stared. "Where's your textbook?" *look for an example*
And stare. Blankly. Hmm... I wonder what color I should where tomorrow? (Get the picture yet?)
Wait! Do this, this, this, then this and... voilà!! Oh. Oops. Nope don't do that. Do... This! Whoops. Nope. Not that. Um... "Well I tried this and this, but it didn't work out. Maybe if I did this and..." Hey look, there was a math error back there.
From that point on, I was on top of that assignment! (I bet you never thought you could get a rush from doing math)
Lesson learned: You can always make a math error...
Second lesson: the first derivative of an equation evaluated at a point is the slope of the tangent line. The derivative is not the equation of the tangent line. Duh. If I had realized that sooner, I wouldn't have stared so long in the beginning.

Maybe I should become a regular tutor. I enjoy helping people and doing math and science...

I would be an evil teacher. Probably hated. But I can almost guarantee that my students would know the material. Reasons:
1. In a 60 minute perfect class: 10 minutes for a quiz on the day previous material, 30 minutes answering homework questions, 20 minutes solving the quiz and going over new material. I think its absolutely important to make sure everyone understands what was just covered. And quizzes encourage attendance.
2. I would be the kind of teacher who makes 2 or 3 tests worth 90% of your grade, 10% on class input. The ultimate test grade would be swayed by the quiz and homework scores, but until the end, no one would know by how much. Have to keep the element of surprise. (more on this in a second)
3. My first test would be next to impossible. And on a curve. That way, everyone looks like they're failing throughout the semester. Not failing miserably, but just on the edge of success. Then, they will give 100%, all the time. I will hang the carrot in front your nose to keep you going...
4. I would write a different test for each class, (no cheating, now) but use all quiz and homework questions. (I'll cheat for you) Except on the first test. I have to break everyone down.
Sounds like boot camp.
5. Um... Let's make another number.
6. In a math class, the process matters the most. If you think 2+2=5 like my sister, well then you're an optimistic economist or you tried to drink and derive. Don't go into accounting or engineering.
7. Oh, yeah, almost forgot. That 30 minutes answering homework questions would be taught by the students. Every student will have to answer another person's question. Teaching is the best way to learn. Plus they'd learn public presentation skills.
8. By the end, I would have figured out whether or not you understood what I was teaching, and if you did, well, you passed. If you didn't, see you next year for round 2!

There you have it. Nathan's 8 (7) points to a perfect class.

*Bonus:* 9. If I'm teaching math, pens will be outlawed. If I receive an assignment in pen, all the points you would've gotten become negative and suck away from your total score. Pens suck life away from math.

And my previous math student got 100% on a final.