It's Personal...

Count Arioch the 28th · Wed Nov 02, 2011 1:34 am

In its infinite wisdom, Edamerica decided to revoke the forbearance they had given me. They also decided they are going to charge me retroactively for the three months the forbearance was in effect. I am less than pleased about this.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:38 am

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:In its infinite wisdom, Edamerica decided to revoke the forbearance they had given me. They also decided they are going to charge me retroactively for the three months the forbearance was in effect. I am less than pleased about this.

Just out of nowhere? That sucks.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 7:27 pm

Maxus wrote:Jury Duty: Day 2.

I arrived a little after nine, well in time for the 9:15 appointment. At 9:25, even the stragglers are comfortably seated, the clerk asks if there's any correction to mileage (having asked everyone to watch the odometer on the way home), they call roll. Then tell us no new cases today, but ask panels 1 and 2 to both stay and 3-14 to go home and come back tomorrow at 9:15.

At 10 o'clock, I'm standing outside phoning my ride.

This is lame. Our jury duty system has a call in phone line so you know whether or not you're going to have to make the drive.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:54 am

Jury Duty: Day 3 (and final).

So, Panels 1 and 2 were chosen yesterday. Today, the clerk says "Panels 3-5, you have fifteen minutes. Use the bathroom, get a drink, call someone, stretch your legs, but be here in fifteen minutes. Panels 8-12, same thing. Panels 13 and 14, come back at 9:15 tomorrow, Panels 6 and 7, you're done with jury duty. Come get your check."

Count Arioch the 28th · Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:55 am

I smell of garlic. Minced some elephant garlic tonight to make some home made vinaigrette dressing. Part Balsamic vinegar, part olive oil, with garlic, pepper, basil, and oregano. I'm letting it sit overnight to get the flavors mingled for my salad tomorrow. I am making a spinach and crimini mushroom salad.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 4:35 am

Maybe you already know this, but if you put the minced garlic in a cold pan with the olive oil and then heat it until the garlic bits just barely start to bubble, the flavor gets infused into the oil and it takes a bit of the edge off the garlic.

Also good for people who have problems digesting raw garlic.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 6:39 am

Lemon and parsley help get rid of garlic smells. Fortunately, elephant garlic isn't as strong as normal garlic.

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:28 am

Just for fun, I decided to tutor advanced math courses this semester, at what I thought was the ridiculously high rate of $35 an hour. Ok, not all for fun, between the new roof ($6000), and a bunch of upcoming expenses (including a new AC at $7k or so), I figure a few extra bucks would be a good idea.

Turns out, I'm like the only guy in a 50 mile radius that can cover what used to be first year and second year math courses (I go from calculus to differential equations, and statistics), and even with only accepting students that will come to me--I'm sort of in the middle of nowhere--I still have to turn down students for lack of time.

The funniest part is differential equations, a course I hated when I took it 26 years ago, and never used in my research or grad school. The student asked for a summary of solution techniques regarding the motion of a spring...an hour later I was still filling out details.

I had no idea I could (still) do that course. I am curious, though: is $35 a high price for a math tutor where everyone else is?

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:35 am

For what it's worth, $35/hour for one-on-one tutoring would have been cheap back when I was working for a test prep company (not that we see much of that money, but the students pay it). The people who know the material well enough to teach it generally have better things to do with their time.

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:43 am

Yeah, test prep is big money--you don't have nearly the competition (nobody takes a class on the SAT in school), and 100% demand (all students take it), and you have Mommy and Daddy paying for it. It was $25 an hour a few decades ago, and I didn't see all that money either (only did it for a little while).

On the other hand, LSU has whole sections of students taking calculus or whatever (and thus several potential tutors in each class), and I'm hardly saying anything that an A student can't say....they're driving 20 miles for me? Weirdness.

That said, I guess I am too cheap, will probably fix it over the break--it'd be rude to do it now, everyone's getting desperate at this time of year.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:04 am

cash is king

erik · Post by **erik** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 2:29 pm

Whatever wrote:The people who know the material well enough to teach it generally have better things to do with their time.

Hah! Not in this economy. One of the upsides of a crappy economy is the available pool of people able to do excellent teaching gets larger, and the waitresses get prettier. Also there's less children being born, so those fewer kids can get some remarkable teachers and have less competition from other students. It's all true because I heard these things on Radiolab and Marketplace once upon a time.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:01 pm

erik wrote:Also there's less children being born, so those fewer kids can get some remarkable teachers and have less competition from other students.

No that's not true, however there is a five year lag between having kids and the first wave into Kindergarden, and if you factor in a ten year economic cycle ...

The number of women in my office who got pregnant around late 2008 was really bizzare.

Also bear in mind that we have become a testing insane nation.

erik · Post by **erik** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:55 pm

Tzor, what part is it that's not true... that there are less children being born in the US since the great recession, or that those kids will get a greater pool of qualified teachers?

I can cite the birth rate if you please.

[url=http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db60.pdf wrote:cdc pdf[/url]]The number of births in the United States reached an all-time high of 4,316,233 in 2007, but that number has since fallen (1–3). From 2007 through 2009, births fell 4 percent to 4,131,019; and the provisional count of births through June 2010 indicated continued declines

As for the greater pool of available teachers, that is mostly just common sense extrapolation from that more people are unemployed, including people with master's degrees or better. Do you doubt that?

I'm making no claims that our educational system is going to take advantage of these facts, nor that our stupid obsession with testing is doing anyone any good. Just what I said above. Also, prettier waitresses.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:19 pm

erik wrote:Tzor, what part is it that's not true... that there are less children being born in the US since the great recession, or that those kids will get a greater pool of qualified teachers?

That there are less kids born DURING a recession. (By the way, I would like someone, any one, yes any fucking someone to actually compare data beyond a fucking four year period, like there wasn't any fucking reecessions since the fucking depression? The fucking press these days is like a telephone tag, they just repeat the same crap story ad nauseum.)

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 4:38 am

tzor wrote:
erik wrote:Tzor, what part is it that's not true... that there are less children being born in the US since the great recession, or that those kids will get a greater pool of qualified teachers?
That there are less kids born DURING a recession. (By the way, I would like someone, any one, yes any fucking someone to actually compare data beyond a fucking four year period, like there wasn't any fucking reecessions since the fucking depression? The fucking press these days is like a telephone tag, they just repeat the same crap story ad nauseum.)

I was referencing the current downturn and thus my citation is exactly appropriate for the time period I was talking about. Maybe when I have time I can provide fact checking for your hypothesis about every recession having lowered birth rates but I was specifically referring to this one. Radiolab referenced the great depression as having that trait. But I do not care.

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:49 pm

Work is pissing me off. I had gallbladder surgery soon after I got back from the war, and while I was on light duty patrol let me putter around in the detective division. Instead of using me as a gopher, the detectives trained me up, and the head of detectives assigned me a few cases.

I healed and returned to patrol, but now when the detectives need extra muscle they call on me, and the other patrolmen rag me about it. Like yesterday, when I had to spend hours with the detectives and the Feds executing search warrants.

Another problem is we've got a love triangle between two thugs and a hooker. They keep shooting at each other in the ghetto and it scares the old folks. But they're such lousy shots we can't get enough evidence to pin them down.

Count Arioch the 28th · Wed Nov 09, 2011 4:42 pm

They're not very smart if they're fighting over a hooker. And I think that being a bad shot should be a crime itself. If you don't want to own a gun, whatever, but if you own one you should be able to hit what you're aiming at.

I broke 265 today. 15 pounds away from my year-end goal, let's see if I can do this.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:08 pm

I really need to lose weight, too...

I guess I'll cold-turkey all sugary drinks except on special occasions.

Edit: Funny enough, it appears soda, tea, milk, what-have-you is what keeps me at a stable weight. If I -don't- drink them...well, my part-time-job as a janitor is basically 3+ hours of continual light exercise a day. It's not obvious or dramatic, but it gets me there.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:51 pm

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:I broke 265 today. 15 pounds away from my year-end goal, let's see if I can do this.

15 pounds in 7-8 weeks is aggressive, but doable, I think.

RiotGearEpsilon · Post by **RiotGearEpsilon** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:54 pm

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:I broke 265 today. 15 pounds away from my year-end goal, let's see if I can do this.

Good luck! Refine that flesh of yours, Arioch!

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Nov 10, 2011 4:34 am

Losing the weight was easy, the hard part was finding more productive ways to deal with my depression. When I managed that, the rest fell into place.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:40 pm

Is there an exchange rate for friends to people who'd actually date me? what bank handles the exchange?

Count Arioch the 28th · Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:24 pm

Get some rock-hard abs. Bitches love rock-hard abs.

And find out where the hell single women your age hang out. And if you happen to find a place where single women aged 25-35 hang out, tell me because I can't find their hangout spot.

EDIT: Despite the fact that I look pretty good at 265, my coworkers are reluctant to address me as "Big Sexy".

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:41 pm

I weighed myself the other day. 230. So that's down five pounds from a couple of weeks ago.

I've never done the whole 'abs' thing, but if I'm wearing shorts women freely compliment me on my legs. I have a noticeable muscle groove beside the shin, but I think there's another one on the back of the calf that flexes when I walk or move my leg or something. I can't see it
--------
In other news, I figured out why people underestimate my age. I'm 24 (dear god, gonna be 25 soon), but I've had people think I'm in highschool. As young as 16. Including one girl trying to hit on me on the bus and she led off with "Why ain't you in school" (and my mental answer was, "Why aren't you, missy?") and gave a wide-eyed disbelieving headshake when I told her because I'm 24 and on my way to work.

I don't look younger when I'm looking right at you, but evidently at an angle or from the side...

I should have scammed the age-guessers at the fair.