fishing

Yesterday afternoon, I had a first meeting with a tutor student at the college. He's very nice and hard working and absolutely horrible at math. He told me he has dyscalculia in addition to dyslexia. Dyscalculia affects a person's ability to understand number-based information and math. I'd heard the word before, but never had a student diagnosed with it... as far as I know.

For example, he didn't know any mutliplication facts, couldn't count by 2's or 5's or even 10's. He struggled to add two single-digit numbers in his head. For me, as a math nerd, it was both appalling and fascinating.

After struggling through helping him prepare for a test he has today(!), I looked for more info.

Most of what I found pertained to strategies for kids in elementary school. What to do with a 20-year-old trying to do algebra?

I'll reiterate that he was super nice and friendly and "easy" to work with other than the horrid obstacle that is dyscalculia. I'll try to learn all I can to best help him before we meet again, and I feel a bit like Chief Brody

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

3. A blog post inspired by the word: coach

style?

It was 44 degrees F when I headed out this morning for a little Sunday morning run-around. Happy fall! I'm not complaining and welcome the cool temps. Soon, I'll have to break out the full finger gloves for the bicycle commute.

I worked yesterday as my turn came around again for the Saturday rotation. It was Party Girl and me, and the day went smoothly. She'd been sharing that she's recently put herself on a clothes-buying budget... because she's needing new clothes after putting on some weight. 

I had noticed her looking nicer/ better and had previously thought that maybe she just liked to wear tight clothing. Not the case. Now, she's no "fatty", but she's a few years into her 50s, and the body's been responding accordingly.

This with the cooler temperatures reminded me that I could use some cold weather clothes, but I don't particularly like clothes shopping - the going to various stores, selecting, trying on, yadda yadda. Thank goodness we have the internet now, not that that's always successful. But maybe it's time for a little closet purge as I swap out the seasonal clothing. 

When I was a kid, I did a decent amount of back-to-school shopping via catalog - the precurser to online shopping, I suppose. My mom would have me go through pages much like this one and make a few selections. 

Mom would place the order, and in a week or two, the big bell bottomed, puffy sleeved, embroidered fashion disasters would arrive.  Good times.

At least the work "dress code" is pretty simple. Jeans are fine. No words on shirts unless it's gear from the college, and I have no gear from the college. When I worked at the nursing home, we were supplied a "uniform" of scrubs, which made life easy in the what-am-I-going-to-wear-today department. 

In other work-related news, I've been "voluntold" that I'm on the selection committee for the new assistant boss now that old Assistant Boss is now just plain Boss. After some thought, I think it will be a worthwhile assignment. 

It's a committee of three - an enrollment advisor and a disability services coordinator in addition to myself. We won't have the final say, but will do the first round of interviews and make recommendations. Naturally, I'm hoping for a decent pool of suitable applicants. 

Know anyone??

the new and the old

• It appears that the neighbors to our right are moving. I don't know them well. They're a young couple who work from home and have two dogs that like to occasionally discuss politics and religion with our dogs through the fence. They've lived there for a couple of years, the house is a rental.

So I have mixed emotions: "Ooh, potentially new neighbors", and, "Yikes, potentially new neighbors".

We've had no issues with the couple next door - always friendly during our brief interactions and no trashiness. I'm thinking maybe they've saved up and are able to purchase a home now, so good for them. I snooped online and the house is still available for rent starting next month - "NO CATS". Fingers crossed.

• The new boss selection at work has happened, and Assistant Boss is now just plain Boss. I'm happy for him and for us. It should make for an easy transistion, especially since he's been doing Boss duty since previous boss was promoted a few months ago anyway. Now comes the hiring of a new assistant boss. 

We've had discussions as coworkers do about the prospects. Of the three most suitable from the current cast of characters - Party Girl, Sarge, and me - none want the position. So it will go to either one of the other current coworkers or, I'm hoping, someone fabulous from outside.

• My high school classmates had a reunion last weekend with about 20 in attendance plus a few assorted spouses. They represent about 15% of the class, so not too dismal. They looked to have had a good time, and I appreciated the organizing efforts and sharing of photos as I saw from afar on social media. The memorial table was poignant and nicely put together.

But I couldn't help but think, "Who are all these old people?"

hype, plumpies, doodles

A little weekend reflection...

Random happenings:

• In this week's excitement, we got a new fridge. His name is Coolio.
  
  
• The general area seems to be on a collective hangover following last night's college football match-up between Colorado and Colorado State. The two state rivals meet annually for the "Rocky Mountain Showdown", and both teams have been pretty bad the last few years.

This year, there's the whole hype train surrounding CU football, and the showdown was expected to be a blowout.  CSU apparently got tired of hearing about it, and they actually showed up for the show down, eventually taking a loss, but making CU play double overtime to get the win. I didn't watch any of it, but it's difficult to escape the hype around here. I'm exhausted just thinking about playing 2 football overtimes.

• A childhood friend of mine invited me to friend his running-for-mayor-of-hometown facebook page. He's changed both his first and last names, and he's always been a bit goofy. At first, I wondered if it was a joke page, but it seems he's legit running. 

Honestly, I've often wondered if he's undiagnosed bipolar. Not that running for mayor of a small town is too far out there, but I think it's a bit out of his league. But hey, who knows?

 A news story that caught my attention:

Fernando Botero, the Columbian artist, died last week at the age of 91. He was known for "plump, inflated forms" like this...

He was a prolific painter, apparently painting every day, all day.

I have no idea why he focused on the plump, but it made him lots of moulah.

A Triumph of the week:

• I joined that gym I did a trial at last week. I typically go to the gym and try to get strong a couple of times a week - or at least go through the motions. This new gym is a step up from where I'd been going.

A Challenge of the week:

• My Father-in-law and his wife were planning a visit in a couple of weeks, but FIL sprained/ strained a hip, so he's resting and had to cancel the trip. FIL has always been quite fit for his age, and he's now 89.

Looking ahead:

Speaking of art and challenges, the prompt list for Inktober '23 has been released. I plan to participate once again. Highly doubtful to get all 31 prompts, but we'll see where I end up. Seems all I do is doodle during downtime, so we'll see what happens this Inktober

nicotine of time

There's a student at work - new student this semester. There's something about him, he just rubs me the wrong way. Seems very "tightly wound" and just has a negative vibe about him.

He's an older "non traditional" student. I'd say he's around 40 years old. He's never been nasty or anything, just... off putting. It's difficult to say what it is, he just has this bad aura vibe. I've mentioned before that the students we serve in the testing center are those who have accommodations for testing through disability services, otherwise they would test with their classmates in the classroom. 

So this guy has a crap ton of accommodations. One of them is that he can take breaks without it counting against the time allowed for the test - a common accommodation for people who are on some sort of medication schedule or a diabetic who might need a snack or someone with anxiety  who just needs to walk away for a bit, etc. 

So he came in for his first test with us last week. He pulls out his pack of cigarettes and lighter to have at the ready if/when he wants to take a break.  We just looked at this because he should know that his breaks-allowed accommodation doesn't mean he can leave the building in the middle of a test. In addition, the entire campus is a "no tobacco or vaping" campus, so what was his plan?

Apparently, he did pop out for a smoke break at some point. I had left by then as my shift was ending just as he'd showed up thinking, "thankfully, I'm out!". The next day, I asked my coworkers what happened, and they said that Boss said, "just let him go", because I'm not the only one who is uncomfortable with the guy, and no one wanted to be the messenger.

Other than that guy, most of the students are very pleasant and appreciative. Without the accommodations, many probably wouldn't be in school. Honestly, I don't always agree with some of the accommodations allowed for certain classes, but figure it will all sort out in the working world... maybe.

And I've mentioned "Ben", the student with cerebal palsy for whom I scribe for calculus quizzes and exams. He's a nice kid, with a fun sense of humor. He plans to be a biomedical engineer.  

He's never once asked for nor expected a smoke break.

So I like my part-time test center job well enough at this season of my life. I guess my favorite thing is the people we meet.

And my least favorite thing is the people we meet.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Tell us your favorite thing about your job.

mish mash

Late to the weekend mashup...

• Last week was a good mix of busy and relaxing as it started with a day off. Now that Labor Day has passed, it feels more like school time at the college. 

The interview process continues for our new boss position. We should know the selection shortly. Party Girl has been serving on the selection committee and sneaks little insights to us when Assistant Boss is out of hearing range. 

One candidate is apparently highly qualified to the point of being over qualified. Red flags include, will she just do the job for a few months before moving to a Dean position? My other concern is that she would have trouble working under our former boss who has been promoted one level above. Bottom line, Assistant Boss is still in the running but not in the bag.

• I scribed again for "Ben", this time for a full length unit exam. It's so hard to keep my mouth shut when he makes mistakes.
  
  
• A few months ago, Magnum and I ended our gym membership and got season recreation passes that give us access to various city amenities including gyms and pools. The season passes were a cheaper option than the gym we belonged to at the time. 

We started regularly going to the gym housed inside the city's Senior Center because its closest to where we live. It's a decent enough gym, but limited. Last week, I visited yet another gym - also close by. It's much better than our old gym and not much more expensive. Gonna switch. 

There, I now feel mashed enough to get on with the week. Off to work in a bit. 

I remember when blogs were "the new thing to do", and I read a few before starting my own way back in the old days. I read one that was a dude just blogging about day-to-day stuff he'd done during the week, and I thought, "why am I reading this?" but had to admit it was kind of relaxing.

And here we are.

Hawaii on a budget

I live near Greeley, CO, which gets a lot of flack from the rest of the state in general. It's about a 45-minute drive east of here and is known for its aroma as it is home to a large meat packing plant.  In fact, on days when the weather conditions are right, we here in Fort Collins get a good whiff of Greeley.

I bring it up because there is an episode of South Park where Greeley is described as "the exact opposite of Hawaii"

And this brings me back to a time in high school. The small coal mining town I lived in would be more the exact opposite of Hawaii than is Greeley, I'd say. 

That 40th class reunion I mentioned is coming up, it is to take place during the high school's homecoming weekend. I don't know what the kids do these days, but homecoming week when I was there included a series of "theme" days.

During my senior year, I recall one of the days being "Hawaiian Day" where we were to dress accordingly. My friend, Carolyn, and I didn't have anything particularly Hawaiian to wear, so we got a brainstorm and decided we would both wear towels as skirts - to resemble Hawaiian sarongs?

So I found the most sarong looking towel at home, paired it with a short sleeved top, clipped a little flower hair garnish, and set off to school for Hawaiian day. Once there, I remember Carolyn, adorned in this sort of house dress, slinking up to me at my locker, saying, "My mom wouldn't let me wear a towel to school!" The house dress was apparently her mom's.

Carolyn (right) and me, not at all Hawaii

So I spent the day of school walking around in a towel - more of a Hawaiian "so wrong". To clarify, I was wearing a pair of gym shorts underneath. 

Probably the most Hawaiian of my outfit were my flip flops and my tan.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Tell us about a favorite school outfit that you thought you nailed.

scribin'

"I'm a robot, I'm a robot, I'm a robot...", I repeated to myself in my head. 

Yesterday at work, I took on the duty of scribing a quiz for a student. The students who come to the testing center for exams and quizzes are only those who have a documented disability as confirmed through Disability Services.  

So we deal with several students in addition to the professional testing candidates, and we only know of the accommodations they get. We don't typically know why they get those accommodations, and it's inappropriate to ask. I'd say the most common is extra time, but others include a private room, text-to-speech software, access to medication/ food, etc.

Some have readers for math tests since the text-to-speech software doesn't typically handle math very well, and that job usually falls to me since I'm the resident math nerd. This semester is the first time I've been asked to scribe - write out the work as dictated to me by the student.

But the request for a Calculus scribe came in. None of my coworkers wished to attempt that, and I honestly didn't want to leave the poor kid in their care. I feel like math is its own language, and there are levels of fluency like any other language. I would not be a decent scribe for a French exam, for instance.

I'd never met the student before, I'll call him Ben - not his name, but it's quick and easy to type. I didn't know why he needed a scribe. Maybe he had a hand injury and was temporarily disabled? 

Ben showed up for his quiz, and I immediately surmised that he has cerebal palsy. He was friendly and in good spirits. After struggling a bit to retrieve his wallet and present his ID, he was ready for his quiz.

His instructor allowed him 40 minutes to complete the quiz, and he (and I) banged it out in a little under 15. He would've completed it sooner if not needing the scribe. In other words, he knows his calculus stuff so far. 

Admittedly, it was difficult for me not to paraphrase. The environment was much like a tutoring session, but then, not at all like a tutoring session. I was to be like a robot and just write what I was told. I could tell he knew what he was talking about, but some of  his word choices were not the best, and I could feel myself trying to send him words with my mind. 

Didn't work, by the way.

But honestly, most of the time, he was spot on. And I rather enjoyed this scribing duty. Something different from the usual. I'm looking forward to his next test.

Enjoying it now before I'm replaced by AI.

furry function?

It's Labor Day, so a day off from the grind to extend the weekend. I'm going to try to be productive. 

I said I don't follow college football, but I did check in on the final score of the Colorado Buffaloes game on Saturday because of all the preseason hype. It looks as though Coach Prime and the team delivered and now sit at 1-0. All they need to do is win one more game this season to beat last year's record.

The hype and subsequent win inspired me to do this little drawing of the CU mascot, Chip. I haven't done much drawing aside from doodles since the end of last Inktober, so the football weekend was good for something.

And speaking of mascots, over the weekend, I learned that Amazon has a mascot. What? 

Its name is "Peccy" and is described as:

"He’s just a mascot, a symbol of the company’s belief in the power of being peculiar." 

from an article I stumbled upon, written in 2019.

Who knew?

The college where I work has a mascot even though we have no sports teams or intercollegiate competitions of any kind that I know of. 

I'm not sure what his function is, but he's a wolf.

He's a wolf who has the day off.

Stay peculiar.

animalia

Weekend brain dump...

• Monday and Tuesday of this week, our A/C was out at work. Not the whole building, but right where we happened to be... of course.  We had a storm blast through on Sunday afternoon, and the consensus was that some lightning put the A/C on the fritz.

Bottom line, it was hot in there but not excruciatingly so. Hottest it got before the air kicked back on was 79.7 F. We gave testers the option to reschedule, but not surprisingly, everyone just wanted to (literally) sweat it out. All managed to keep their clothes on.

• In the meantime, interviews for the new boss have been completed. No word yet on a selection. If Assistant Boss becomes boss, that would make for the easiest transition, but then there'd be an opening for an assistant boss, and the cycle continues.

It seems that none of us current underlings care to be the assistant boss. The job is nice as a part-time gig, but I wouldn't want to do it full time, and that's pretty much the consensus among my coworkers. 

• College football, which I don't follow, starts locally this weekend. I mention it because my alma matre CU Boulder, a little ways down the road, has received much hype around the hiring of Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders as the new head coach who's going to turn things around after several lackluster seasons. 

Will the season live up to the hype? Welp, season tickets are sold out anyway. I can get a "Prime Time" hoodie for $75, but I'll pass.  Personally, for the few games I attended while in college, I mainly enjoyed watching mascot Ralphie lead the team onto the field and found the games themselves less exciting.

   

I remember reading how people from other countries are surprised at the amount of attention that high school and college sports get in the U.S., and their surprise makes sense to me. 

Our local university kicks off their season today as well, amid much non-hype compared to the CU Buffaloes. 

And I'm sure my recent morning run buddy, Cam, will have his game face on.