Today is the 80th birthday of our beloved pope, Benedict XVI (the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger). Happy birthday to our dear Holy Father and may God continue to bless him in the years to come! I believe Pope Benedict held a mass yesterday (Sunday) at the Piazza di San Pietro to celebrate his birthday as well as Divine Mercy Sunday. (He shares this birthday with a good friend of mine who sarcastically remarked that the shared birthday is the only thing they have in common.)
Today also happens to be the feast day of two of my many favorite saints, St. Bernadette Soubirous and St. Benedict Joseph Labre. Both of them died on this very day, St. Bernadette in 1879 and St. Benedict Labre nearly a century earlier in 1783, and both at the age of thirty-five.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Giant of tennis world wins first title
There was something to cheer about when I woke up this morning: 6-foot 10-inch tall Ivo Karlovic of Croatia had won his first career ATP title by defeating Mariano Zabaleta 6-4 6-1 at the US Clay Court Championships in Houston. I was trying to follow the match online via the live scoreboard but fell asleep just before the second set began. So I was glad when the scrolling news on CNN on tv said that Karlovic had won.
I remember the time when Karlovic was defeated in the Miami AMS in 2005 by the Belgian dynamite, Olivier Rochus who stands nearly a foot-and-a-half shorter. I was delighted that David had slain Goliath in that match but felt sorry for Karlovic for whom the defeat was probably a huge embarrassment. An article reporting the match back then said that Karlovic was nowhere to be found for the post-match interview. Poor fellow, he seemed like a nice guy because the same article mentioned that a friend said, "Ivo's nice, sensitive. He's shy, maybe because he stutters. He realizes he has the Goliath role."
Well, at least he can be happy now that he finally has an ATP title to his name.
I remember the time when Karlovic was defeated in the Miami AMS in 2005 by the Belgian dynamite, Olivier Rochus who stands nearly a foot-and-a-half shorter. I was delighted that David had slain Goliath in that match but felt sorry for Karlovic for whom the defeat was probably a huge embarrassment. An article reporting the match back then said that Karlovic was nowhere to be found for the post-match interview. Poor fellow, he seemed like a nice guy because the same article mentioned that a friend said, "Ivo's nice, sensitive. He's shy, maybe because he stutters. He realizes he has the Goliath role."
Well, at least he can be happy now that he finally has an ATP title to his name.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Harry and Wendy's
Yesterday I went shopping with my parents at a shopping complex some 40 kilometers from here. I didn't really have much on my shopping list but at least I got to buy whatever I needed: headbands, a new ink cartridge for our Canon printer and some office supplies.
Then I had also thought of inquiring at the bookstore if they were accepting reservations for the Harry Potter Book 7. They had a similar promo in 2005 when the sixth book came out so I was waiting for some kind of advertisement or announcement on their website this year. But I couldn't find any and decided to ask about it at the store when I had the chance. Naturally, I was a little embarrassed to ask considering that I'm not a kid anymore and scanned the walls of the bookstore for any poster announcing that they were taking reservations. As there were none, I just swallowed my pride and approached the saleslady at the customer service desk. I was relieved though when the lady said, yes, they were taking reservations and that I just had to pay the deposit of Php500 at a cashier and return to her with the receipt. I did just that (paying at the same time for a copy of the classic children's book Make Way for Ducklings on sale for just Php100!), went back to the customer service desk and signed up. Happily there were nine other people who already had signed up ahead of me. That seems to be much less than last time but I guess that's because the bookstore didn't advertise about the reservations this time around. Still, at least I'm not the only one who can't wait to get their hands on the last book in the series.
My parents and I also dropped by Wendy's Hamburgers fastfood for lunch and found that they had completely renovated their place there in the mall. It now sports a different but more vibrant color scheme and a more practical layout. The walls are now painted a refreshing light pine/moss green and matched the speckled green laminated tabletops. Adding contrast to this were the red seat cushions. As for the layout, the counter was now up front on the right side of the expanded entrance (no more walls to separate the area from the promenade outside) with the eating area located on the left extending to the read of the stall and a few tables up front. (The counter had bigger and brighter displays of the menu items as well.) I find this is more efficient than the old layout where the counter was typically situated at the back of the stall with the eating area in front. This made getting to a table a little difficult and confusing because the queues which were often long during traditional mealtimes would intrude into the eating area and cause a lot of traffic problems. With the new layout, a customer could walk up right to the counter without having to wind through the tables and chairs (as well as and fastfood employees assigned with clearing the tables or delivering food) and more easily get out of the queue and find a table. I wish the other fastfoods here in town could use a similar layout as it's always a big hassle trying to get into and out of a line with a trayful of food and drinks.
As for the food, it was still the same good sandwiches with lots of vegetables and the variety of salads that were recently introduced. (Hmmm... I've just realized that they've done away with the salad bar which had become an eye sore in my opinion mainly due to how people here tend to make a mess of things there when they prepare their salads.) I tried their taco salad--typical lettuce and tomato salad topped with tortilla chips and a bit of chili--and found it satisfactory. Nothing great but good enough for me to consider ordering it again next time we decided to drop by Wendy's for lunch or dinner. But I found the vegetables wet; I wished they'd learn to spin their lettuce leaves here. I also had tried their caesar salad months ago and found it just a bit too salty (because of the bacon bits I think) for my taste. I don't think I'd dare touch their macaroni and lettuce salad: for me macaroni salad on top of caesar's salad just doesn't make sense. I'd rather have one or the other but not macaroni as part of a salad. (One habit of customers here who go to the salad bar is to top their macaroni salad with a salad dressing. Ugh!) Nevertheless, I'm happy to see that Wendy's Hamburgers is still surviving here in the country since it is still one of my favorite fastfood restaurants next to Burger King and Subway.
Then I had also thought of inquiring at the bookstore if they were accepting reservations for the Harry Potter Book 7. They had a similar promo in 2005 when the sixth book came out so I was waiting for some kind of advertisement or announcement on their website this year. But I couldn't find any and decided to ask about it at the store when I had the chance. Naturally, I was a little embarrassed to ask considering that I'm not a kid anymore and scanned the walls of the bookstore for any poster announcing that they were taking reservations. As there were none, I just swallowed my pride and approached the saleslady at the customer service desk. I was relieved though when the lady said, yes, they were taking reservations and that I just had to pay the deposit of Php500 at a cashier and return to her with the receipt. I did just that (paying at the same time for a copy of the classic children's book Make Way for Ducklings on sale for just Php100!), went back to the customer service desk and signed up. Happily there were nine other people who already had signed up ahead of me. That seems to be much less than last time but I guess that's because the bookstore didn't advertise about the reservations this time around. Still, at least I'm not the only one who can't wait to get their hands on the last book in the series.
My parents and I also dropped by Wendy's Hamburgers fastfood for lunch and found that they had completely renovated their place there in the mall. It now sports a different but more vibrant color scheme and a more practical layout. The walls are now painted a refreshing light pine/moss green and matched the speckled green laminated tabletops. Adding contrast to this were the red seat cushions. As for the layout, the counter was now up front on the right side of the expanded entrance (no more walls to separate the area from the promenade outside) with the eating area located on the left extending to the read of the stall and a few tables up front. (The counter had bigger and brighter displays of the menu items as well.) I find this is more efficient than the old layout where the counter was typically situated at the back of the stall with the eating area in front. This made getting to a table a little difficult and confusing because the queues which were often long during traditional mealtimes would intrude into the eating area and cause a lot of traffic problems. With the new layout, a customer could walk up right to the counter without having to wind through the tables and chairs (as well as and fastfood employees assigned with clearing the tables or delivering food) and more easily get out of the queue and find a table. I wish the other fastfoods here in town could use a similar layout as it's always a big hassle trying to get into and out of a line with a trayful of food and drinks.
As for the food, it was still the same good sandwiches with lots of vegetables and the variety of salads that were recently introduced. (Hmmm... I've just realized that they've done away with the salad bar which had become an eye sore in my opinion mainly due to how people here tend to make a mess of things there when they prepare their salads.) I tried their taco salad--typical lettuce and tomato salad topped with tortilla chips and a bit of chili--and found it satisfactory. Nothing great but good enough for me to consider ordering it again next time we decided to drop by Wendy's for lunch or dinner. But I found the vegetables wet; I wished they'd learn to spin their lettuce leaves here. I also had tried their caesar salad months ago and found it just a bit too salty (because of the bacon bits I think) for my taste. I don't think I'd dare touch their macaroni and lettuce salad: for me macaroni salad on top of caesar's salad just doesn't make sense. I'd rather have one or the other but not macaroni as part of a salad. (One habit of customers here who go to the salad bar is to top their macaroni salad with a salad dressing. Ugh!) Nevertheless, I'm happy to see that Wendy's Hamburgers is still surviving here in the country since it is still one of my favorite fastfood restaurants next to Burger King and Subway.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
The Joshua Bell experiment again
After giving it some thought (and calculations), I've decided that the Joshua Bell experiment by the Washington Post wasn't so bad after all. Earning $40 an hour is actually a lot: that's $320 for eight hours of work a day. If one plays only every weekday, that would amount to $1600 a week or (52 weeks x $1600) = $83,200 annually. Whoa! Even getting half the rate per hour isn't so bad either.
And I also now realize that having just a handful of people stop to listen is understandable given the circumstances. These people after all were rushing to work. (Although like I said, I'd still stop to stay and listen owing to how much I miss going to classical performances here and because I'd know that it was Joshua Bell playing.) If Joshua had chosen a less busy location instead, say, a street corner or even a spot in the station where people would be waiting for their trains, there would be more listeners and more people tossing in coins I suppose.
Another thing though that came out of the experiment that I did like was that it was an eye-opener for the Avery Fisher Prize awardee for he says:
And I also now realize that having just a handful of people stop to listen is understandable given the circumstances. These people after all were rushing to work. (Although like I said, I'd still stop to stay and listen owing to how much I miss going to classical performances here and because I'd know that it was Joshua Bell playing.) If Joshua had chosen a less busy location instead, say, a street corner or even a spot in the station where people would be waiting for their trains, there would be more listeners and more people tossing in coins I suppose.
Another thing though that came out of the experiment that I did like was that it was an eye-opener for the Avery Fisher Prize awardee for he says:
I was quite nervous and it was a strange experience, being ignored. Obviously I am spoiled by getting up on stage and having people clap and pay money to see me, and it changed my perspective on things. ... I expected that, but it was still almost hurtful sometimes when somebody just walked by when I really did try to play my best. It was difficult to see. ... Maybe once is enough for me for this kind of experiment. But I myself will certainly be paying more attention to street musicians when I walk by.
That said, here's an interesting take on the experiment.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Choco butternut at last!
Okay, the last entry didn't exactly end positively so I'll have this one more post about one more thing to be happy about today: Dunkin Donuts had the choco butternut variety on sale again! Yipee! The small booth at the mall here had not been selling any choco butternut donuts (my sister and I call them the "rusty donuts") in the weeks since the donuts were going for ten pesos each. Or at least, I didn't see any on their shelves/trays. Perhaps they had been selling them but choco butternuts were so popular that they sold out before noon. No matter. The thing is there were about a dozen choco butternut donuts on the shelf this noon and I got to buy one today as dessert for my lunch. So I'm happy.
The kite maker of Kabul
Another thing that has touched me today is the story of Noor Agha, a kite maker in Kabul, Afghanistan who's just become the subject of an upcoming movie called The Kite Runner. It was sad to read how this man had to struggle and ultimately flee across the border when the Taliban took over and banned kite flying in the country. His determination to continue making kites is however proof of his dedication to his craft--recalling to mind a poor old Chinese lady whose paper-cutting art was featured on the Discovery Channel a few years ago in a documentary called Cutting Through. I do hope the kite maker gets to pass on his skills and that someone in turn will be willing to learn and continue his legacy. Rare talent like his--and that of the paper cutter--is something the world can't afford to lose like so many old traditions disappearing due to modernization and indifference.
At the same time, I hope the movie will be shown here. But I have doubts about that since I have noticed that foreign-language movies (like the French hit Le Papillon, Vietnam's The Green Papaya or Iran's Children of Heaven) or even good English-language movies are rarely shown here. If The Kite Runner ever makes it to the theatre screens here, I expect that it will suffer the same fate as The Truman Show or the Wallace and Gromit movie. That is, it will be pulled out after a only a week of showing due to a lack of audience. What a pity. It seems people here prefer the local movie industry's brainless boy-meets-girl movies, stupid tearjerkers or silly comedies that are so popular here. Yeah, believe it or not, these are the kinds of movies that people here rave about and are entries to the annual film festival here. Oh well, I guess they don't have much of a choice; they have to give those awards to somebody after all.
At the same time, I hope the movie will be shown here. But I have doubts about that since I have noticed that foreign-language movies (like the French hit Le Papillon, Vietnam's The Green Papaya or Iran's Children of Heaven) or even good English-language movies are rarely shown here. If The Kite Runner ever makes it to the theatre screens here, I expect that it will suffer the same fate as The Truman Show or the Wallace and Gromit movie. That is, it will be pulled out after a only a week of showing due to a lack of audience. What a pity. It seems people here prefer the local movie industry's brainless boy-meets-girl movies, stupid tearjerkers or silly comedies that are so popular here. Yeah, believe it or not, these are the kinds of movies that people here rave about and are entries to the annual film festival here. Oh well, I guess they don't have much of a choice; they have to give those awards to somebody after all.
It's a ... chick!
One of the things to be happy about today is the news that the eagles of the popular eaglecam have successfully hatched a chick! It had been reported the other day that this year's attempt to raise a family had ended in a nest failure because no eggs were spotted during a recent aerial survey. That bit of news was particularly heartbreaking after watching the eagles go through two bad storms last month. So naturally, I was ecstatic--and pleasantly surprised like everyone else I suppose--when people claimed that they thought they saw a chick. Such is the miracle of nature! Some even think there's a second chick, having seen movement in two different spots in the nest. Of course, there's still the task of raising the chicks. With bad weather in the forecast, we can only hope for the best. I certainly look forward to watching the eaglets grow and mature.
Three beautiful things
I was browsing through Blogs of Note the other day and found this blog called Three Beautiful Things (3BT for short). What a wonderful inspiring idea! It reminds me of Pollyanna who always tried to find something to be glad about everyday. I've found that the 3BT idea has caught on and now there are many blogs with people posting three items that brought pleasure to them each day.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Roger Federer to get a good licking
That is, as a one-franc postage stamp issued by the Swiss post, the first time a living person is depicted on a Swiss postage stamp. That's yet another first for the record-breaking champ! The stamp, bearing a photo of the Roger Federer holding up the Wimbledon winner's trophy when he won title for the fourth straight year--very appropriate, considering how the Swiss tennis superstar highly regards the prestigious Grand Slam event--was unveiled in Basel with Roger, accompanied by his proud parents and girlfriend, in attendance:It's a great honour for me; I compare it to winning a Grand Slam such as Wimbledon. It's a big moment in my life.
Since Switzerland traditionally puts historical figures only on its stamps, the head of Swiss post, Ulrich Gygi, explained how they made an exception for Federer:
Up to now you had to do something big and then die before appearing on a stamp; we made an exception as Roger is truly exceptional. If you can come up with any Swiss personality who can equal Roger Federer's prestige, in any domain, I'm ready to follow you.
The brand new stamp can be purchased at all Swiss post offices, philatelic salepoints and online.
Now, this is one item--make that a dozen of these--that is definitely going onto my wish list along with the Feder-bear!
Living small
Living in a small house all by myself like a hermit has always appealed to me. I believe I've done so ever since I saw trailer homes and recreational vehicle ads in old Popular Science magazines when I was small. And now with the Internet, I would pore over architecture/floor plan websites trying to pick up ideas for a dream tiny house. Then I would sketch a few floor plans on paper and then create a floor plan using my Broderbund Home Architect software. Studio-type apartments, vacation homes, one or two-bedroom carriage or "drive under" houses or else narrow lot houses were often my main inspirations.That is, until the other day when I came upon these really cute teeny-weeny houses produced by one designer at the Tumbleweeds Tiny House Company. All have the most basic amenities: a bedroom (a cozy ventilated loft in nearly all cases), kitchen and bathroom. Many can be easily transported by pulling one along with a truck/van or would make nice backyard retreats. There are many other small house projects mentioned here but they're just not as quaint as the Tumbleweed ones.
Would I actually manage to live in one? I own quite a lot of stuff here right now but I've noticed that I can get along without most of it. In fact, I've hardly touched or used most of the things here in my bedroom except for the basics like my toiletries, beddings and clothes. I've also managed to survive in Singapore in a shared apartment where my eating/cooking stuff filled just two kitchen cabinets and I used just a fourth of refrigerator space. Everything else (aside from my clothes and toiletries) was books and papers (accumulated because of my studies/research). So, I think I'd be totally contented living in a Tumbleweed tiny house as long as there's room for my books, piano books/pieces, audio CD collection, laptop, TV, digital camera and Yamaha P-80 keyboard. Hmm... maybe a not-so-tiny tiny house.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Joshua Bell plays at subway station but is ignored!
First there was the sad news about Johnny Hart's passing and then the happy news about Joshua Bell's new award. And now there's this (something to be indignant about?):
As I was searching for more articles about Joshua Bell's new award, I came across a few about an experiment conducted by the Washington Post where Joshua Bell was asked to pose as a busker at the L'Enfant Plaza Station in Washington, DC. When asked before that what he thought would happen if a great violinist performed incognito at the station during rush hour, the great Leonard Slatkin had guessed that 75 to 100 people would stop to listen and that the musician would make about $150. But what actually happened? Of the thousand or so commuters who rushed by in the 45 minutes that Joshua Bell performed, a number stopped only to toss in some money contributing a measly total of $32, a handful actually stopped at least to listen, even fewer did so after sensing the extraordinary talent of the player but only one actually recognized Bell!
Geez, if only I had been there. I would have not only asked for his autograph--and taken his picture if I had my camera with me--but stayed there all day to listen to this free concert! Forget about going to work; this is a chance in a lifetime to watch and listen to a music genius perform up close! Oh okay, I would have dropped in a few bills as well --and maybe even a slip of paper with my phone number written on it--but given how classical music is little appreciated and seldom given the time of day by the media in this place I am nearly ashamed to call my country, watching someone like Joshua Bell perform live is unquestionably a rare and priceless experience!
As I was searching for more articles about Joshua Bell's new award, I came across a few about an experiment conducted by the Washington Post where Joshua Bell was asked to pose as a busker at the L'Enfant Plaza Station in Washington, DC. When asked before that what he thought would happen if a great violinist performed incognito at the station during rush hour, the great Leonard Slatkin had guessed that 75 to 100 people would stop to listen and that the musician would make about $150. But what actually happened? Of the thousand or so commuters who rushed by in the 45 minutes that Joshua Bell performed, a number stopped only to toss in some money contributing a measly total of $32, a handful actually stopped at least to listen, even fewer did so after sensing the extraordinary talent of the player but only one actually recognized Bell!
Geez, if only I had been there. I would have not only asked for his autograph--and taken his picture if I had my camera with me--but stayed there all day to listen to this free concert! Forget about going to work; this is a chance in a lifetime to watch and listen to a music genius perform up close! Oh okay, I would have dropped in a few bills as well --and maybe even a slip of paper with my phone number written on it--but given how classical music is little appreciated and seldom given the time of day by the media in this place I am nearly ashamed to call my country, watching someone like Joshua Bell perform live is unquestionably a rare and priceless experience!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Joshua Bell wins Avery Fisher Prize
Now here's something to rejoice about today: One of my favorite classical artists, the young but already highly-acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell, has been awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize.
I first heard of Joshua Bell when he was featured in a classical music magazine (I can no longer remember which one unfortunately) my grand aunt had brought home from the US sometime in the late 1980's. Back then he had just recorded a second album, winning over many young (female) fans mainly for his teen hearthrob looks I suppose. (I recall he was named one of People Magazine's Most Beautiful People in 2000.) Just out of his teens at that time, he was already a well known violinist while I had just taken a series of intensive piano lessons, competed at a couple of piano competitions and was working on the side as a piano accompanist for a number of choirs; and so it became my dream to be his accompanist one day. Sigh! Anyway, I already have a few of his albums including one of his recent ones, Romance of the Violin, but my definite favorite is his Kreisler Album.
I first heard of Joshua Bell when he was featured in a classical music magazine (I can no longer remember which one unfortunately) my grand aunt had brought home from the US sometime in the late 1980's. Back then he had just recorded a second album, winning over many young (female) fans mainly for his teen hearthrob looks I suppose. (I recall he was named one of People Magazine's Most Beautiful People in 2000.) Just out of his teens at that time, he was already a well known violinist while I had just taken a series of intensive piano lessons, competed at a couple of piano competitions and was working on the side as a piano accompanist for a number of choirs; and so it became my dream to be his accompanist one day. Sigh! Anyway, I already have a few of his albums including one of his recent ones, Romance of the Violin, but my definite favorite is his Kreisler Album.
B.C. and Wizard of Id cartoonist dies
A bit of sad news greeted me this morning when I turned on my laptop and logged onto my Google account to view my personalized home page: Johnny Hart, the creator and writer of the popular comic strip B. C. and co-creator of another, The Wizard of Id, has passed away. He had suffered a stroke last Saturday, 07 April, while at his storyboard. He was 76.Both B. C. and The Wizard of Id were two of my favorite comic strips. Among the many things I enjoyed about B. C. were the humorous word definitions in Wiley's Dictionary. (For example: baker's dozen = 12 of today's and 1 of yesterday's.) How I wish I had faithfully compiled the ones I found really funny. I'll also miss the witty poems the characters would write once in a while. Although it might have put off some readers, I also liked the Christian theme that Hart often incorporated particularly on Christian holy days (like Easter or Christmas). I suppose it's just appropriate that Hart passed away on Holy Saturday so that he can be with his Creator on Easter Sunday.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Wild weather
It's Easter Sunday, and I have just read about the unexpected cold spell that has hit the midwest and east coast portions of the US and parts of Canada I presume (since my sister says temps are back in the negative single digits after hitting the positive single digits in the past week). The weird weather has caused it to snow in many parts resulting in surreal situations:
- It made for an unusually cold and windy conditions at the PGA Masters in Augusta, Atlanta where Tiger Woods's score as of the third round is a disappointing 2 over par. But hey, he's in second place, believe it or not! The leaders are at +1. This is probably the first time that no one made an under par score by the third round??? The joke is that the wind chill was the only low score there.
- In Washington, DC snow covered the cherry trees which had already blossomed days ago.
- I suppose people showed up wrapped in coats and scarves at Easter egg hunts (at least where the annual activity wasn't canceled) in many parts of the country with the kids searching for the eggs buried in the snow!
- A major league baseball game last Friday in Ohio got snowed out, completing just four innings, and was postponed to be played on Saturday, only to be postponed a second time.
- I also noticed last night that the eagle's nest was covered with snow--with no eagle incubating the eggs in sight! Observers had noted that the birds had left the nest unattended for three hours sometime last week, leading experts to doubt the success of this year's nesting. So sad. There appears to be some optimism though as the birds have not left the nest for an extended period.
- Even the famous and greatest of weather prognosticators, Punxsutawney Phil, was forced to issue an apology for his erroneous prediction in this year's Groundhog day.
We sure could use some of the cold air here where it's been scorching hot (at least 33C) for the past few days. Then we would not have to turn on the airconditioning and that would surely help bring down electric consumption.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Lenten reflection
Yesterday's homily by our parish priest focused on the significance of the cross in God's plan of salvation. What he said reminded me of one of my favorite religious passages for meditating on during Lent (especially during Good Friday). It's from the fourteenth chapter of St. Louis de Montfort's Love of Eternal Wisdom:But his power is regulated by his love. He wishes to become incarnate in order to convince men of his friendship; he wishes to come down upon earth to help men to go up to heaven. So be it! It would be expected then that this Wisdom incarnate would appear glorious and triumphant, accompanied by millions and millions of angels, or at least by millions of chosen men and women. With these armies, majestic in his splendor and untouched by poverty, dishonor, humiliations and weaknesses, he will crush all his enemies and win the hearts of men by his attractiveness, his delights, his magnificence and his riches.
Surely nothing less than that. But O wonder! He perceives something which is a source of scandal and horror to Jews and an object of foolishness to pagans. (cf 1 Cor 1.23) He sees a piece of vile and contemptible wood which is used to humiliate and torture the most wicked and the most wretched of men, called a gibbet, a gallows, a cross. It is upon this cross that he casts his eyes; he takes his delight in it; he cherishes it more than all that is great and resplendent in heaven and on earth. He decides that that will be the instrument of his conquests, the adornment of his royal state. He will make it the wealth and joy of his empire, the friend and spouse of his heart. O the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How amazing is his choice and how sublime and incomprehensible are his ways! But how inexpressible his love for that cross! (Rom 11.33)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
End of term blues
Another semester here at the university is finally coming to an end. There's the usual rush to grade papers, projects and exams and to compute grades. If one has advisees, then there are also the last minute consultations with advisees and frantic readings of manuscripts. It's pretty stressful as a result and that's the main reason I hate this time of the academic year even if I look forward to a break from teaching.
One of the more frustrating things about this time of the year are the really stupid students who show up at your office expecting miracles.
First there are those advisees working on their final projects who don't show their faces at all during the entire semester only to show up during the last few days of classes. I had this girl who was hoping to graduate this semester do just that on the very last day of classes (two Fridays ago)--and at four o'clock in the afternoon! Of course, I was very busy already by then with grading the third long exams and computing pre-final standings of my students in my various lecture classes whose final exams were scheduled the following week. Lucky for her though I decided I had a quarter of an hour to spare to look at her project. But she had to endure the scolding I gave her for showing up less than two weeks before the deadline for submitting grades of graduating students. I also told her flat out that I didn't think she'd be able to graduate this semester since based on experience, it takes at least a month on the average to iron out all the wrinkles in a project. She cringed at that. Anyway, when she did show me her project, it was just as bad as I expected: it was still full of bugs and needed a lot of revisions. Then it got worse: she admitted that instead of working on her final project during the semester, she went abroad to visit friends! I was so angry I couldn't say anything. And then it got even worse: she had not begun writing her manuscript either. And she expects to finish everything in less than two weeks?! Give me a break! To make a long story short, she's seen me just once since and her project still has some errors. And, FYI, today was the last day for submitting grades of graduating students.
Another common occurrence during these last days of the semester are students who come to check on their final grades and are shocked to see that they have failed the course. More often than not, they come to see me primarily to beg that they be given some other requirement to work on to boost their grades. Naturally, I can't allow that as that would be unfair to the rest of my students. Sometimes when I double check the computation of their grades to assure them that they have indeed failed, I discover that the main cause is that they have missed many quizzes. When I inquire about the reason, it's often because they have not been attending the lecture classes or else come to class late s(I nearly always give a quiz at the beginning of the class period) because they had overslept. And these guys expect to pass while missing quizzes?
In other cases, the student has been consistently doing very poorly in the long exams which often means that they need to get a high score in the final exam in order to pass the course. The student thinks he/she can afford to do poorly in the long exams and just make up for it in the final exam. What surprises me is that they are usually very confident that they will get that high score when history/statistics indicate otherwise. Take for instance, one student of mine whose average rating in the long exams was a dismal 45%. He needed 75% in the final exam to earn at least a conditional failing grade (giving him a chance to take and pass a removal exam instead of failing the course outright). He was very shocked when he found out that he got "only" 62%. Then of course, this was followed by the requisite pleas for consideration. Oh well.
And so there. The sad thing is, I constantly get this thing year in year out. Students apparently never learn and never change--and I thought that there was this wonderful thing called evolution.
One of the more frustrating things about this time of the year are the really stupid students who show up at your office expecting miracles.
First there are those advisees working on their final projects who don't show their faces at all during the entire semester only to show up during the last few days of classes. I had this girl who was hoping to graduate this semester do just that on the very last day of classes (two Fridays ago)--and at four o'clock in the afternoon! Of course, I was very busy already by then with grading the third long exams and computing pre-final standings of my students in my various lecture classes whose final exams were scheduled the following week. Lucky for her though I decided I had a quarter of an hour to spare to look at her project. But she had to endure the scolding I gave her for showing up less than two weeks before the deadline for submitting grades of graduating students. I also told her flat out that I didn't think she'd be able to graduate this semester since based on experience, it takes at least a month on the average to iron out all the wrinkles in a project. She cringed at that. Anyway, when she did show me her project, it was just as bad as I expected: it was still full of bugs and needed a lot of revisions. Then it got worse: she admitted that instead of working on her final project during the semester, she went abroad to visit friends! I was so angry I couldn't say anything. And then it got even worse: she had not begun writing her manuscript either. And she expects to finish everything in less than two weeks?! Give me a break! To make a long story short, she's seen me just once since and her project still has some errors. And, FYI, today was the last day for submitting grades of graduating students.
Another common occurrence during these last days of the semester are students who come to check on their final grades and are shocked to see that they have failed the course. More often than not, they come to see me primarily to beg that they be given some other requirement to work on to boost their grades. Naturally, I can't allow that as that would be unfair to the rest of my students. Sometimes when I double check the computation of their grades to assure them that they have indeed failed, I discover that the main cause is that they have missed many quizzes. When I inquire about the reason, it's often because they have not been attending the lecture classes or else come to class late s(I nearly always give a quiz at the beginning of the class period) because they had overslept. And these guys expect to pass while missing quizzes?
In other cases, the student has been consistently doing very poorly in the long exams which often means that they need to get a high score in the final exam in order to pass the course. The student thinks he/she can afford to do poorly in the long exams and just make up for it in the final exam. What surprises me is that they are usually very confident that they will get that high score when history/statistics indicate otherwise. Take for instance, one student of mine whose average rating in the long exams was a dismal 45%. He needed 75% in the final exam to earn at least a conditional failing grade (giving him a chance to take and pass a removal exam instead of failing the course outright). He was very shocked when he found out that he got "only" 62%. Then of course, this was followed by the requisite pleas for consideration. Oh well.
And so there. The sad thing is, I constantly get this thing year in year out. Students apparently never learn and never change--and I thought that there was this wonderful thing called evolution.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
April Fool's Day
Hello. What do you know? It's April Fool's Day and I was nearly fooled by this "revealing" article published by Mugglenet. (Happy Birthday by the way to the Weasley twins, Fred and George.) But my poor father did fall victim to one joke today courtesy of our wily kitty-cats. As usual, I've posted the stowee on my Woggie-Logue for my sister's amusement.
Of course, these are nothing compared to these classic April Fool's Jokes. But the one April Fool's joke I remember and enjoyed the most was the famous Great Cartoon Switcheroonie of 1997 initiated and organized by the duo who produce the popular Baby Blues comic strip. Now that was fun! (Gee, was that ten years ago? How time flies!) Sadly, the organizers, who probably got a headache from coordinating the whole thing, have said that they won't repeat it. Sigh. Don't you wish they were just joking when they said that?
Of course, these are nothing compared to these classic April Fool's Jokes. But the one April Fool's joke I remember and enjoyed the most was the famous Great Cartoon Switcheroonie of 1997 initiated and organized by the duo who produce the popular Baby Blues comic strip. Now that was fun! (Gee, was that ten years ago? How time flies!) Sadly, the organizers, who probably got a headache from coordinating the whole thing, have said that they won't repeat it. Sigh. Don't you wish they were just joking when they said that?