Myself as a Resource to make the World Better.

Am I doing my best to make this world better?

Teaching mathematics to high school students is the best I can do???

I probably can't help every single person in the world.
But I can probably help my family at least to some extent.
Then how many people I should try to help? Tens? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions?

I feel that a school is very small world. I can't do much for the world if I'm stucked here....
Or can I? If teachers give positive influence toward students who might do something good for the world....???


As one of the member who grew up in blessed society, a feel of  responsibility to do something good for the society is emerging a little by little.
At this moment, I have no knowledge and skills to help many people.
I aspire to find the way that I can contribute to the world in the maximum way.

Talking to the Cashier

"Hi, It's getting cold lately. I started using heater at home....so my home is really dry now and I feel thirsty." I only purchased drinks this day. milk, water, juice, and ice-cream...

 "Oh my...I'm sorry for not spending enough money to earn even one stamp! I will do better next time" At this store customers can earn 1 stamp for each $10.00 of purchase and 100 stamps is equivalent to some amount of a gift card. On this day, My total was about $8.00


Recently I tried to chat with a cashier person when I purchase food and drink (and icecreams.)
The above two are examles from my most recently shoppings.
Various reasons to do this....

1. I feel more comfortable with greeting. I used to feel more comfortable staying silent...
   What a change!!! Oh Well...

2. I would like to make cashier person happy with quick wit words. You know they probably are having a bored time for monotonous work.  I was once being a cashier. I guess that's why I feel this way.  I just hope I don't bother them.

3. Also this is a great opportunity to train myself to come up with wit words...without hurting myself.

4. I'm trying to practice speaking English more. If possible, I would like to use words I recently learned.

At the Verizon's Customer Service (Analysis)

(Continue from previous post.)
Why he was successful?

1. I didn't have to wait as long as I expected when I called. Actually it was surprising quick.
    I expect a long waiting time before I can connect to any human helper.
    I guess this less waiting time alleviate my frustration level.

2. He listen to what I wanted to tell sincerely.
    Sincerely!? How can I know without seeing him? Am I sure??
    I don't know. But he stayed quiet while I was speaking, and he responded back quickly after I finish. So I feel comfortable.

3. He gave me several (fortunately not many) options I can choose from for my solution.
    He didn't force me to do anything. He knew very well about my (and any humans') tendency to be repulsive when I was forced. 

4. His stance remained as a humble and gentle assistant  throughout the whole conversation. 
    So I felt he is trustworthy.


Currently I'm a mere high school teacher. But this job includes customer service side.
So whatever skill he used, I should acquire and be able to apply.

At the Verizon's Customer Service

I was using Verizon's Hot Spot for internet connection since Jan of 2011.
I signed for a two years contract.
The device only gave me unstable connectivity and I'm not so satisfied.
But I didn't terminate the contract because I didn't find any sound alternatives and also I didn't want to pay penalties for early termination.

But about two weeks ago, right after Hurricane Sandy passed NY, the device stopped working.
I was hoping that Verizon would give me a replacement without any charge because the device broke within 2 years. 
I went to the Verizon shop for seeking help.
Then I was told to call to the custer service.

After 15 minutes of communication with the gentle male on phone, I felt very good despite the fact I originally didn't plan to use my option to upgrade the device for additional cost and I don't receive any compensation for the parking fee for visiting the shop!

I have to bow to the customer service gentleman for his communication skill.
He calmed me down and lead me into buying another Verizon's product!
I still can't figure out why he could do that. What set of skills did he has???

Communicating with him was well worth paying $70.00!....Maybe not....
But I had things to learn from him and I'm satified for now.
I just hope the new device is also a satisfactory one.

Marco Scutaro, MVP for NLCS!!!

I'm so happy about hearing this news.
I turned my radio on this evening for the first time in 3 months just for hoping to hear SF Giants' victory and the possible MVP award to Marco!
Scutaro is my favorite player since 2004.
It is astonishing to see his batting stats are keep improving.
I wonder how many more years he can stay in MLB...

Anyway, I'm in bliss!

My body does it, not my brain!

Checking emails is my daily task.
Well I lied.  Actually I don't do it daily....but...indeed, it is the task!

For whatever reason, I have to log in with my username and password every time.
And I can log in without looking at a cheat sheet or hacking because I remember my password.
Well I lied once again. Actually I don't remember it.
I just didn't know that I didn't remember it clearly.

A few days ago, I tried to check my email from the I-PAD.
It was my first attempt to check my emails with my new gadget.
I set newly acquired Apple's email account for the default which I don't use it elsewhere.
So I have to log in with my user name and password for all other accounts.
After failing to log in several times, I realized that I don't remember my password.
My fingers remembered the correct sequence of typing password, but my brain doesn't remember it clearly. It was absolutely new experience for my fingers to type in passwords with the virtual keyboard in the I-PAD's screen.

Now I understand that body could be useful to learn something.

At Richard Elliot's Concert.

I went to see a jazz concert last Saturday.
The concert had two parts. The first half was for the pianist David Benoit (and his group), and the second half was for the saxophonist Richard Elliot (and his group).

I was interested on Benoit's stage, and it was as good as I expected.
He played pieces I was hoping to listen such as Kei's Song and Freedom at Midnight.
But also he played some other my favorite pieces suchas Will's Chill and Beat the Street.
I was really satisfied with the first part of the event and I totally forgot about Mr. Elliot.
Actually I was about to leave the concert hall immediately after David Benoit's show.
Well I didn't leave because I noticed nobody were leaving during the "intermission".


It was my first time to experience Richard Elliot's music.
I even haven't listened to his music on CDs or MP3s.
My first impression was a good one.
His first piece on the stage was a vivid and energitic one,
and the sound of his sax was clear and beautiful.
But I didn't like his over-performance (body performance, not about music.)
I felt it's silly. He didn't have to such performing actions.
His music and stage were already satisfactory without the aid of such silly body actions.
So afterall, I was a bit disappointed at the end of the day...

Although I didn't like Richard Elliot's show, I would like to have a fraction of his crazy energy.
I think my lectures need some of his silly heat.

I couldn't see it to happen at all.

Wow, Oakland A's took the division title.
Rangers was a forerunner for the entire season until yesterday, and A's overpassed Rangers at the final day of the regular season.
It's so dramatic! That's a stunning news!
From the beginning of this season till the last week, I've never ever thought about this posibility.
Simply amazing and unbelievable! I still can't believe that this is real.
I wonder what was so special about this year's A's.......
Well, I guess I should see more possibilities from my students at school.
They might be able to accomplish much more than what I can anticipate.

An incident that made my day.

On Saturday, I went to a shopping at Stop & Shop.
I bought several items including 2 cereal boxes and 2 pints of Haagen Dazs.
I went to the self-service checkout line with coupons: 1 for cereal and 1 for icecream.

A big problem arose. The scanner failed to read either coupons.
Without the coupons, my total expense will be above $50 which is my upper limit.
I asked one of the employees near me for help.
She typed in the numbers into the machine because it was failed to be scanned.
Then she asked me "How many cereal boxes do you buy?"
I replied "Two."
She showed me the coupon. "This coupon is valid for at least 3 cereal boxes of purchase."
"Oh...I didn't see it carefully!!"
How nice she was! She made this valid even though I only purhcased 2.

While I'm feeling happy about this, she showed me another invalid coupon and said:
"This coupon is for at least 4 icecreams. This is absurd. Who the hell will ever buy 4!"
Again, she made this valid for me.

She was so nice. I feel fortunate that I still have human interaction at the shop.
If it was 100% computerized environment, my coupons would be mercilessly rejected.
So I probably had no chance to feel happy at the end of the transaction.
I hope people foresee 100% computerized society is actually a cruel world.

By the way, I often buy 4 icereams. I didn't do so this time because of the budget limit.

Wallpaper for Learning.

My brother taught me something clever.
It is about the wallpaper for the desktop.
I have never cared about it and I use the default all the time.
But he told me that we should change it because we look at it very frequently.
What's so clever about it?
Well he suggested me to put some crib sheet for whatever I want to memorize.
That's a sounding and convincing idea. I've never thought like that.
As you might expect, I use my computer frequently...at least as much as I update this blog.
I probably have glimpsed the wallpaper hundreds times a day.
Yeah, I should exploit the accumulation of such instant moments for learning.


Thank you for your advice!

The Squall hit NY on last Saturday.

I was going to meet someone, and I had a right to choose date and time to meet up.
On Friday just prior to the weekend, I decided  "Saturday 2pm".

Then a heavy rain falls here...on Saturday.
I had to drive through the horrible visibility due to the severe squall.
I saw at least three sites of accident during my 2 hours of round trip that day.
I was actually very happy to return home without a problem.
Next day was clear and sunny.
The sky is blue and beautiful.

I'm really impressed to myself.
These days, I'm simultaneously reading the following books.
a book on weather forecasting, a book on weather (for children), and a book on global warming.
And...I was completely unaware of the weather forecast for the weekend.
How comical I could be!

Rejecting the Sunlight...What a Gloomy Life!

I used to think there is nothing special about birthday.
"Well, birthday is just one of 365 days in the year. Why does people act strangely in such days?"
I really didn't understand it.
"Are you really sure that you're born in exactly xx years ago?"

I used to think that studying subjects such as history and geography is fruitless effort.
"Is such knowledge mandatory for our daily life?"
I really didn't have a clue why I had to study them when I was a student.
My understanding was that school is a place to establish my own studying habit/style and become an independent learner.
So....I didn't put effort on these subjects...because my style was "Do what I like, don't do what I don't like."
My style didn't change since then.
But my stance toward subjects which I used to be hated is changing.
I become more open minded to accept them rather than to reject them.



Rejecting the speciality of my birthday wouldn't produce anything good.
Accepting it might produce some happiness...maybe.

Rejecting A to Z makes my life boring and unproductive.
Rejection is an evil!

So why the devil is nested in my immatured brain?
I believed that repulsion is cool!
Ironically, repulsion made my life cold.
It's true. Learning provides me energy, and I bragged I didn't have to learn those useless things.

Knowledge Without Action

I received a spreadsheet file with small tables with students name.
This file was distributed to teachers, not only me.
All tables were in the same format.
Well I just need one of these tables to print out.

I noticed that the table was not sorted by names.
It was sorted by one of other columns which was not desired by teachers.
So what I did is resort the table by names, and printed out what I want.

...So what's this talk all about???
After a short while, a little trouble happend.
The tables were printed out and distributed for some other purpose.
Then someone found out that tables weren't sorted correctly, and the person who prepared them had to collected them and prepare resorted tables.
I inwardly felt sorry for all involved, especially the one who made the table.
If I notified my awareness beforehand, this trouble was prevented.
But I didn't do so.  I couldn't think the simple fact that the tables was not only for me but also for many others.

Although my mistake was due to my unawareness of thinking about others,
I would keep in my mind that knowledge without action is a vile act.

Graph of Sine and Cosine Function.

I just come up with the idea to momerize the graph of Sine function and Cosine function.

It is fairly easy for student to recollect that these function has wavy shape.
The harder part was apparently the distinction between these two function.
Guess which one is y=sin(x)?

Imagine the capital letter S of sine and C of cosine rotated 90 degrees.
Here is the answer.
The blue one is S, and the red one is C.

Tripodal Synergy....No...There is also Math.

While studying geography, I realized that curiosity to economics and weather are good asset to deepen my understanding about other countries.

Well to be honest with you, I don't know much about economics and weather.
I just recently got interest in them and began trying to gain knowledge on them.
Despite, the effect of possessing curiosity seems obvious.
Motivation to learn geography, economics, and weather helps to heighten each other.
I'm thrilled when I learn something that join two different field of study.
It is a positive synergy effect.  What an effective way to learn!
It's sad to see "math" is outside of this geographic learning cycle....so far....
Oh but...Wait! Today I was willing to spend time reading about "Mozambique Current" and another current on the west coast. Why? It's probably because water turbulance was a picked up quite frequently in "Chaos" which I was exposed to during this summer.
Indeed, math has some role in this learning process.
Did I forcibly involve math to make a conclusion with my taste?


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Today's adventure:

Open a magazine.
Found an advertisement about traveling to South Africa.
Check South Africa on Wikipedia and Google Image Search and get overview about the country.
Learn about ocean currents around South Africa. (this helps to understand the terrian and climate!)
Check nearby countries such as Namibia and Zimbabwe quickly.