On Tuesday, I taught the formula for the area of a circle.  That led to my next bad math joke.

 A hillbilly family scrimped and saved to send their smartest child to college.  Nobody in this particular family had ever been to college before, and they hoped that this would be a new beginning for their family going forward.  After his first semester at college, he returned home for a visit.  His father, anxious to find out how his hard-earned money had been spent, asked his son what he had learned at college.

The son recited from memory the formula for the area of a circle:  "The area of a circle is equal to pi-r-squared."

The father was livid.  "You idiot!  You've wasted my money!  Everybody knows that pie are round!"

I thought I'd really like playing the guitar.  I really did.  But I didn't know I was going to enjoy it THIS much!

I'm in the stage of learning where everything is still new, so I'm learning things very quickly.  After only three lessons, I've learned four scales (well, three and a half), three chord progressions (well, almost.  That C chord is a pain in the...hand), four strumming patterns, and even parts of a couple of songs.

I've also realized that since the lessons are one-on-one, I can learn as fast or as slow as I want to.  IT basically means that the more I practice, the more I'm going to be able to learn this semester.  That means that I can get a lot more out of the same amount of money spent if I keep practicing and improving.

On Sunday, I played for 45 minutes straight and later in the day, I played for another 25 minutes or so.  AND MY FINGERS DIDN'T HURT!!!  HOORAY!  They were a liiiiiiittle bit sore, but it wasn't the same pain I was experiencing just a week earlier.  I think I played through the pain.

So now when you come to my house, you might hear something a bit more musical...

(Everybody together now!)

"WILD THING!  You make my heart sing..."

For now.

The summary of my thoughts today:

I'm sooooooooooo sad for us.

I'm sooooooooooo happy for him.

*grateful tears*

Most of the people I work with I consider to be professionals. I work in a white-collar field with people that, for the most part, conduct themselves with professionalism and dignity.

Most.

One particular person that I don't often see in person (because he works on a different continent) is an enigma to me. Let me state up front that he's brilliant. He has no formal training in Computer Science, yet he's an incredibly good software engineer. He knows his stuff and his results speak for themselves.

But this guy has a MOUTH on him. Whoa!

Edited excerpt from a work-related chat today:

Me: (I explain the error message I'm seeing)

Him: f***ity f***ing f*** f*** f***
Him: that's f***ing retarded
Him: don't know what I was thinking

No, he didn't use asterisks.

When I have worked directly with him in the past (I got to spend a whole week with him in October), it's a never-ending stream of this profanity. If I were writing a review of the week for screenit.com, I'd rate "Profanity" as "Extreme." It would read something like "At least 169 "f" words, 63 "s" words (27 used with "house"), etc."

I just have to shake my head. I'm sure he doesn't even realize it. These words have become such a part of his language that he doesn't even realize that it might be considered profane.

I'm just glad I don't have to deal with him more often. Not that I don't like working with him, because without him, I'd have a much more difficult time doing my job. It would just be much better if EVERYTHING were kept on a more professional level.

Week two of guitar lessons was fun. I was given a new scale to practice and we started on chording.

I'm starting out in the key of D and learning the I, IV, and V chords in each key. My teacher taught me how to "grapple" with a chord until I can play it well with no muted strings or strange buzzing. He also taught me a couple of strumming patterns to use when practicing these chords, changing from chord to chord in time.

So now I'm playing D major, G major, and E7 chords over and over in progression until my fingers can take it no longer. I'm also practicing C and G major scales.

My fingers are still wimpy. I can't practice for very long before my fingers are killing me. At first, they felt like they've been burned on the tips. Now it feels like a burn on top of a bruise. It's even difficult to type at times.

But I can't let that stop me. My kids went through this for a little while with their violins, and over the period of a couple of weeks, the skin on their fingers toughened and thickened and now it's not a problem. Hopefully, the painful time will soon be behind me.

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-A-B-C
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-A-B-C
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-A-B-C
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-A-B-C
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-G-A-B-C

Oh, wait. That's the IDEAL. Here's what you'll probably hear:

C-D-E-F-D-(pause...oops)-G-A-G-(pause...darn!)B-C-D-E-F-G-F-
E-D-(thud...oops)-C-B-A-F-(pause...oops)-G-F-E-D-C-B-A-(funny twang)-G-A-B-C

Or stuff like that.

The nice thing is there are getting to be fewer and fewer pauses, oopses, darns, thuds, and twangs. I guess that's what practice is for. I haven't missed a day since my lessons began. I'm getting a little more bored each day with this same scale over and over and over, but I'm going to use stick-to-it-ive-ness to make sure I learn what I need to learn from this scale and then I'll be able to make more and more progress!

On Sunday, I made a most excellent pot roast.  I'm having the last of it for lunch today.  This is a particularly good recipe.  It's a dutch oven recipe.  I cooked it in my dutch oven, but not outside.  It was too cold and I was worried about finding the right temperature.

I started out by putting a rather large chuck roast in the dutch oven.  I seasoned it with a little bit of salt and pepper and started it cooking at only about 200 degrees.  I let it sit that way for about 3 hours.  Then I added a mixture of rosemary, salt, pepper, sliced garlic, honey barbecue sauce, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, and soy sauce.  I let it cook for another hour before adding sliced onions, carrots, and potatoes and increasing the oven temperature to 350 degrees.  When the vegetables were fork tender (about 45 minutes later) it was time to eat.

Wow.

That's the best way to describe dinner on Sunday.  Just...  Wow.

The tough chuck roast was falling apart, the flavor was amazing, and the vegetables were cooked perfectly.

Wow.

I'm very glad have some leftovers for lunch today.  I hope your lunch is as good as mine is going to be.  Post your lunch in a comment below and let me know!

My first guitar lesson went quite well. I showed my instructor how little I actually know. Yes, I'm VERY much a beginner. But no problems there. I've already learned some things from him that I might not have learned had my instructor thought I was anything other than a beginner. For example, now I know, at least conceptually, how my hand is supposed to be placed on the neck of the guitar.

This week, I'm practicing the C major scale. Practice for me consists of practicing the C major scale a few dozen times a day. My fingers get tired. My hand gets tired. My family gets tired of hearing the same crappy scale over and over. Yet, it's getting less and less crappy!

The nice thing is that once I memorized the scale (didn't take too long, playing it a few dozen times a day), I was then free to focus on watching my hand position, and watching how my fingers moved, and watching how I'm picking the strings with the pick, etc.

It may be a little boring now, but the nice thing... the VERY nice thing... is that I'm learning techniques that will be very very useful not too far into the future.

A meme I found on Amanda's Blog:

In 2007, I:

[ ] Became single
[X] got kissed
[ ] kissed someone new
[X] kissed in the snow
[X] kissed in the rain
[ ] kissed on the beach
[X] 'fell in love' (with my wife all over again)
[ ] 'fell in love' with a fool
[ ] had my heart broken
[ ] broke someone else's heart
[ ] had a stalker
[X] lost a friend
[X] had a good relationship with someone
[ ] came out of my closet
[ ] got married
[ ] had a divorce
[ ] kissed someone of the same sex
[X] dated someone that I will never forget (my wife, of course!)
[] did something I regret
[] lost faith in love
[ ] kissed under mistletoe
[X] got a promotion
[X] got a pay raise
[ ] changed jobs
[ ] quit my job
[ ] dated a co-worker
[ ] dated my boss
[ ] dated my boss's son/ daughter
[ ] got fired from my job
[ ] got straight A's
[X] met a teacher who I became friends with
[ ] met a teacher who I really hate
[ ] found the subject I love
[ ] failed a class
[ ] cut class
[ ] skipped school
[ ] got in a fight with a classmate
[X] did something I was proud of
[ ] discovered a new talent
[X] proved myself that I'm an idiot
[X] embarrassed myself in front of the class
[ ] fell in love with a teacher
[X] got the lead/minor lead role in the school play (Oscar in The Odd Couple)
[ ] made a team
[X] was involved in something that I will never forget
[ ] painted a picture
[ ] wrote a poem
[ ] ran a mile
[X] listened to music I couldn't stand
[X] double dipped
[ ] went to a sleepover
[X] went to camp
[ ] threw a surprise party
[X] laughed till I cried
[X] flirted shamelessly (with my wife. Sounding familiar?)
[ ] visited a foreign country
[X] visited a state (and a district!)
[X] cooked a disastrous meal
[ ] lost something important to me
[X] got a gift I love
[X] realized something new about myself
[ ] went on a diet
[ ] tried to gain weight
[ ] dyed my hair
[ ] came close to losing my life
[ ] someone/thing close to me died
[ ] got arrested
[X] read a great book
[X] saw a great movie
[ ] saw a movie so scary that it made me cry
[ ] saw a favorite band live
[X] did something that I wanted to tell everyone
[X] experienced something new
[X] made new friends
[X] found out who my real friends are
[ ] lied to my parents
[ ] snuck out
[ ] got in trouble with the po-po
[ ] kissed in a pool
[X] kissed under the stars
[X] had the time of my life
[X] danced
[ ] fell out of love
[ ] had a crush on someone
[X] swam in a pool
[ ] made a snowman
[ ] went snowboarding
[ ] went sledding
[ ] slept in past 2pm
[X] held someone’s hand that I care about (fine. I'll stop saying it... but YOU KNOW)
[ ] got wasted in a public place
[X] told someone I like them as more than a friend
[X] went on vacation
[X] went on vacation with a friend
[X] drove a car
[ ] danced in the rain
[ ] got in a car accident
[X] saw someone get in a car accident
[ ] got in a fist fight
[X] laughed until I couldn't breathe
[X] missed someone
[ ] sent someone to the hospital
[ ] got a new pet

A YEAR-END SURVEY

1.) Who was your best friend at the beginning of this year? The end?

Susan, and Susan, of course

2.) What was your status by Valentine's Day?

Happily married, of course.

3.) Were you in school (anytime this year)?

Yes, but TEACHING classes, not taking them.

4.) How did you earn your keep?

I'm a software engineer.

5.) Did you ever have to go to the hospital?

Nope.

6.) Have you encountered the police this year?

Nope.

7.) Where did you go on vacation?

We went to the Black Hills in South Dakota.

8.) What did you purchase that was over $500?

A basement for a heckuvalot more than $500.

9.) Did you know anybody who got married?

Yes.

10.) Did you know anybody who passed away?

Yes

11.) How many times did you go on facebook/myspace?

Not once.

12.) Did you move anywhere?

Nope.

13.) What sporting events did you go to?

I can't remember any.

14.) What concerts did you go to?

I went to my son's orchestra concerts.

15) Are you registered to vote?

Yes

16.) If so, did you do your patriotic duty on Nov. 6?

No. I was away from home on Nov. 6, so I mailed in an absentee ballot before I left.

17.) Where do you live now?

Pleasant Grove, Utah.

18.) Describe your birthday.

It's that day at the end of August when I realize that I'm another year older.

19.) What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2007?

I started teaching developmental math.

20.) What is one thing you regretted this year?

I didn't get into "Lucky Stiff."

21.) What's something you learned about yourself?

I learned that I probably shouldn't count on teaching math fulltime. It doesn't pay well.

22.) Any new additions to your family?

Nope

23.) What was your best month?

June, when I went on vacation

24.) How would you rate this year with a scale from 1 (crappy) to 10 (amazing)?

8-9. Life is good and just keeps getting better!

This past week, I attended auditions for the Pleasant Grove Players' upcoming production of On Golden Pond. My teen-aged son came with me and also auditioned. We've both been cast! I'm playing Bill, the fiance of Chelsea, the daughter of Norman and Ethel, the main characters in the play. It's a small part.  My son is going to play Bill's son, Billy. It's also a smaller part, but it's bigger than MY part!

We're going to be father and son on stage as well as father and son in real life. I'm pretty excited about the whole deal, as you can probably imagine!

Mark your calendars! Performances are March 7th through March 24th on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays. There are Saturday matinees on March 15th and March 22nd.