Knitting and what not

So what have I been knitting? I seem to be getting very good at finishing small projects... those small shawls, mitts, and what not, seem to fly off the needles. I think that I have finished more projects in the past month than I did all year.








Scroll Lace twice, Damson, Liesl, Ishbel.... hmmm seems like I have been knitting Ysolda... well, what ever works!

I was going to coach again... now I am not. Why? Good question, but not one that I am prepared to talk about, so let's just say stuff happens. This is the first time that I can honestly say that I know I will coach again, someday. I'm a little depressed, because this was a great opportunity. Hopefully it will come again some day.

How I am spending my summer vacation

I’m going to be doing what???

Do you see this woman:


She looks harmless doesn't she.... Mom always said to watch out for the quiet ones!



So… what did my teammate get me into? I am excited about learning/doing something new, but I really don’t want to screw-up someone’s research. I seriously have not been in a science lab since high school, and Mr. Saia was a great chemistry and physics teacher, but that was YEARS ago. So as a math teacher, is this really the right place for me? I am looking forward to working with RC, and hopefully our plan for a course will make it all the way to implementation.

Lab??



Life in the Lab… so my pipetting (sp?) skills leave much to be desired, though they are improving. I’m still not sure about the units of measurement, but I seem to be learning. I am excited to actually have numbers to “crunch”. Finally, something that I know how to do, though I have finally discovered something that I miss from Excel ‘03… graphs/charts seemed to be easier, but I’ve got it now. I was even able to do the error bars.

We are still struggling with what the “new class” is going to look like, but are gradually making some progress. Hopefully, we will get some answers to our questions, and will be able to proceed.
Lab to Class


From Lab to Class:
So, my lab skills have improved, but then there was no place to go but up. I am still not sure exactly what we are supposed to be doing… that’s not quite true, I do know the goal, I just don’t know how we are supposed to accomplish the goal. I haven’t been in this situation in a long time. The discomfort I feel is reminiscent of my undergrad experience in Abstract Algebra. I am hearing a faint echo of Dr. Dan Saracino… “Frustrated, good, now you are ready to learn something”. I have the frustration part down pat…and am ready to learn something.


I greeted RC today with…”I want to change…..because the data doesn’t make sense to me.” She, being the good sport that she is, says “okay.” Hmmm if I keep revising our practice stuff, will we ever get to the “real deal”? Kory said when we got here that it could take 5 years to get a 6months of “good” research… let’s convert that to weeks






so for our six weeks… our goal is 4.2 days… but we don’t really get 6 full weeks… so I’ll be happy if we get 3 days…