Help somebody, not everybody.

I watched a movie "Bernie."

Bernie is a real volunteer.
He works for people of small town Carthage.
He is really happy to work for people and he doesn't work for his own profit.
He found the significance of his life is to work for people.

His life seemed to be a successful one until he met Marjorie, an evil-minded widow.
He tried to be supportive to her like he did to other people.
It's not apparent that he fell in love to Marjorie or he simply tried to rescue Marjorie in solitude.
Anyway Bernie's life is destined to jail at the moment he decided to help Marjorie.
Her strong desire to keep Bernie in her hands resulted him spending more time for her and less time for the rest of people in Carthage.
His frustration was summed up because he couldn't do what he wants (the commuinty service.)
After a while, he killed Marjorie. 
He concealed her death for 9 months.
He keep acted to deceive people as Marjorie is still alive, and he still worked vigorously for the community.  He spent Marjorie's abundant legacy for community with no hesitation, too.

I found Bernie really scary.
This Mr. Nice Guy can easily deceive people.
He doesn't have himself.  He doesn't show any characteristics. He doesn't have his preference.
Is he really a human? 

From this movie, I thought that I must be selective.
I can't support everybody in the world nor everybody I meet.
Two reasons: my lifetime is limited and helping someone could hurt others.
If I try to be Mr. Nice Guy to everybody, I will be tormented like Bernie did.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1704573/


 

Beyond the Individualism

Ichiro Suzuki is definitely one of my most favorite baseball player.
What he had accomplished so far is simply astonishing.
He is goal-oriented, and he works really hard to accomplish many feat.
He shows us the significance of continuous work
Even though he is just playing baseball, nontheless his influence is far-reaching.
How many "I'm not a baseball fan" guys show respect (or disrespect) on Ichiro?
He is in steady declining, but I believe that he still can play at competitive level.

By the way, I'm not a Yankee fan. I'm on SF and Oakland.
From SF's recent success and the failure of Bonds' era, I believe that an outstanding team chemistry prevails simple arithmetic sums of outstanding players.
I see Ichiro as one of the most skilled player and he can inspire many people; however at the same time, I see him as highly self oriented player who lacks the ability to cheer up his teammates.
Ichiro's join to SF was going to destroy the positive atmosphere in SF's bench.
That's why I'm very happy to hear that he signed Yankees for 2 years.
Will he recognize the importance of team chemistry and the upper limit of contribution by a single player? I'm looking forward to see Ichiro's evolution while he is in NY.

Which brand of Bottle of Water Tastes the Best?

Sampling 10 students of statistics class, I tried to figure out which brand of bottle of water tastes the best.

I asked them to rate each (label masked) between 1 and 5 for the following 8 brand.

Aquafina
Dasani
Evian
Fiji
Poland Spring Water (the most inexpensive among them)
Smart Water
Volvic
Voss  (the most expensive)


The result of this simple test was Fiji and Smart Water taste the best, Evian the worst.

I tasted them by myself separetely (except Fiji), and I found

Volvic and Smart Water tastes better than the others.
Didn't find any difference between Aquafina, Dasani, PSW, and Voss.
I didn't like Evian.

I should buy Fiji to taste it because I've never tried it before.
But tap water, 1000 times cheaper than PSW, is replaceable for my dull tongue.
I probably can't recognize much difference anyway...

A Happy News...for me.

Another MLB related story.

I'm so happy to see Marco Scutaro returning to SF. $20 mil in 3 years.
Pagan's speed with Scutaro's ability to advance runners will be a great weapon for SF.
More chance to score in the 1st inning, more chance to win the game!

But I didn't expect a 3 year deal. I hope he will stay in good shape for 3 years and won't be traded away like he was when he was in Redsox.



http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121204&content_id=40514076&vkey=news_sf&c_id=sf#disqus_thread

The Parity, Even and Odd.

I just heard that MLB's Huston Astros is going to transfer from NL Central to AL West in 2013 season.  Now five ball clubs will be belonged in each division in each league.
That seems fair. I always felt strange that there were only 4 teams in AL West.
But I couldn't expect this to happen at all for one reason, the parity.

There are 30 MLB teams, currently 16 in NL and 14 in AL.
Because both leagues have even number of clubs, they can play against each other everyday.
But from 2013,  there will be 15 NL teams and 15 AL teams.
Then, one team in each league have no opponents in its own league.
So I couldn't see this become a reality.

It seems that an interleague game will be played somewhere everyday.
The next season's schudule intrigues me!

First of all, I expect that the "interleague period" in May and June will be discontinued.
There are 15 teams in AL x 5 teams in one division of NL x 6 games/series = 450 interleague games.
There are about 162 days in the regular season.
So roughly 450/162 = 3 interleague games will be required each day.
If there are 3 interleague games each day, the remaining 24, 12 in each league, can face each other.

Calender

I'm not skilled at utilizing a calender.

For year 2013, I plan to buy  calenders and do my best to use it for better life.

1. Look at the calender, make plans (like trip plans) before the school ask me to do some task on the weekend!
2. Insert the weather of the day into the calender. I would be fun.
3. Insert the deadlines for my tasks. For example, "finish reading '~' by 1/31" or "be able to play "fur elise" by 1/31". 
4. Use it as my notebook. Unlike scratch papers, calender won't be discarded or be lost.

I think if I use it wisely, I can improve my time management.

This month is the trial period.

"None was started by one person."

"None was started by one person." by Ernesto Sirolli.

Recently I gain a bit of interest in the Africa.
I never had any curiosity in Africa.
After restudying some geography, I began to wonder how the life of typical Africans are like.
I've never been there and I'm not willing to visit there because of the safety issue.
But is there anything I can do to help improving their lifestyle....from the distance?
My current solution is that I can't do anything. I have no power to change it in significant way.

While watching Ernesto Sirolli's talk on TED, I realized that I'm lacking the concept of working as team.  I guess I'm still believing "I'm almightly" in some way.
I must learn how to get help where I can't do very well.
Stop trying to do everything by myself!



http://www.ted.com/speakers/ernesto_sirolli.html

ABA form (Plan)

Music has some type of forms such as ABA or ABAB.

I would like to introduce these kind of form into my math lecture.

With some twist on second A (repetitive part), students can review the material at the beginning of the class yet they will hear something slightly different (I would say more challenging).
That will  reinforce important part by repeating, and at the same time, they will learn it more deeply with slightly twisted problems.

Introduce something new (A)

Do something different (B)

Back to A with some modification. (A)

I think this form will be better than form ABC or ABCD to keep students' attention.

What a Pessimist!

I think that humans are not intelligent and associating enough to evade the next world war which could be catastrophic.

I hope I'm wrong...at least for the next 100 years or so.
But I believe that all one of us must be aware of that possiblity.

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.