A Needed Respite

Long story short: last week was bad.  After about a week and a half of tests and care, the doctors gave my grandmother weeks to live.  She has left the hospital and is now in a nursing home for the next couple of weeks, and provided she gains her strength back (which is kind of hard considering she is having trouble eating due to stomach pains, probably due to the tumor), she will probably end up in hospice care for the remainder.  Yeah, fun times for my family.

Thus, this past weekend was very important to my mental and emotional stability.  Friday night, after visiting my grandmother in the hospital again, I served as judge for the Frederick County Academic Tournament (congratulations to the team from Linganore).  According to my old ATT advisor, Mr. Koepke, the math questions over the past few years had gotten a bit easy, and he said he noticed an up-tick in the difficulty level mid-season, i.e., when I started writing them.  So if he gets his way, this question-writing gig may last awhile.

But more importantly, for the first time since before the semester started, I saw some of my college friends.  A night out with Jon, Jess, Janice, Janice's friend Jess, Gina, Laura, and Nick was very helpful in taking my mind off family affairs.  So, I thank you seven for helping me out, whether you knew you were doing so or not.

Okay, one last push before spring break (and work on a presentation and a take-home exam).

Things You Don't Want to Hear from a Doctor

"I don't like to put timelines on things like this, but we don't measure it in years, and we don't measure it in months."

--The oncologist to my mom and other relatives on my grandmother's condition

A Tale of Four Fridays

Well, for four Fridays in a row, my presence will be required in Frederick County.  Unfortunately, the reasons for some of them aren't good

1. Last Friday (Feb. 19): I went home to pick up a book and some food, and to visit my parents.
2. This Friday (Feb. 26): This was supposed to be the trip for my sister's graduation, and it does look like the weather may cooperate.  However, a more urgent issue has arisen.  My grandmother has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  My mom didn't give a prognosis timeline, but my aunt and cousin who live in New Mexico are flying into the area in the next few days (my uncle is already in the area on business), and I was told that it would be a good idea for me to visit my grandmother soon.
3. March 5: I have to serve as the math judge for the semifinals and final of the Frederick County Academic Tournament.  It's at the Oakdale High School building if anyone is interested in attending.
4. March 12: First day of spring break (for me) = dentist appointment.

So, if I'm hanging out with any of you guys in the near future, and I get a phone call that prompts me to leave, well, it will probably have something to do with point number two.

Snowmageddon Quick Hits

Well, near-record snowfall just nailed the DC area.  In fact, I believe this storm will be the basis for a criminal on a soon-to-be-released episode of Law and Order: SVU.  Here are some of the more interesting things:

• It is much nicer to be snowed in with Internet access than without.
• My dad will never survive retirement.  Today he cleaned the snow off the satellite dish (reasonable), the roof of my parents' house (bad idea), his truck (reasonable), and shoveled the last half of somewhat lengthy driveway after plowing the first half killed his field tractor.  I have no idea how he's not going to go crazy when he's not working anymore.
• I can't believe the number of people chancing it on the road today.  I did see one guy get stuck on Adelphi Road this morning.  Sadly, most people driving had not cleaned the roofs of their cars.  I still say that in a snow emergency, you should be allowed to shoot drivers who refuse to clean their cars before they hit the road.
• I spent 90 minutes this evening digging my car out and am only halfway finished.  I am going to be sore tomorrow.
• Shuttle launch (Endeavour) at 4:39 on Sunday.  AM.  Very, very AM.  Oh, and that football game, too.  But it's not AM.
• I have easily gotten a very good return on my $10 investment in a collapsible snow shovel from Target.
• Oh, more snow is on the way.  It gets here the day we finally see temperatures above freezing.  Any rumors that I control the weather should be dispelled now.

PANIC!!!!

The prediction for this weekend's snowstorm in the DC area is for one to two feet of snowfall.  Thus, we all need to raid the grocery stores for all the eggs, milk, bread, and toilet paper we can get our hands on.  Then, we need to make a run on the gas stations and fill the tanks of all our vehicles and any gas cans we have sitting around.  Quick, the lives of your family and yourself depend on it!

Or, you can get a few extra things at the store, just in case, and settle in and enjoy the snowfall.  Besides, there is some sort of football game to watch about fourteen hours after the scheduled shuttle launch on Sunday.

February Already?

So, uh, where did that first month of 2010 go? It seems like just yesterday that I was getting annoyed at people mistakenly welcoming the new decade. Instead, my anger is directed at the Frederick County Republican Party for appointing Mr. Black Book himself, Blaine Young, to the Board of County Commissioners. Unfortunately, I see little chance of Governor O'Malley vetoing the decision.

But, there are some things to look forward to this month.

7th--Endeavour is scheduled to launch, taking the Tranquility module (the one Colbert tried to get named after him) up to the space station. Unfortunately, the launch is scheduled for 4:40 a.m. Only four more shuttle missions (unless another one is needed for a rescue of the last one) after this mission.

14th--Valentine's Day. I will try my best not to do any impressions of Scrooge this year. To the couples out there: enjoy yourselves. I will probably spend my weekend reading and watching the NBA All Star game (not much else to do).

16th--Mardi Gras. Note to self: leave campus right after class that night

26th--Frederick County Academic Tournament Finals. I should probably check if I need to be at Middletown High School for that.

27th--My sister's graduation ceremony. If I'm not busy, I'll try to be there for that. Yay for snowstorms postponing things.

It is only one week into the semester, so it is a bit early to give an impression of it so far. However, I will only have at most two exams this semester, provided I don't decide just to audit the class.

Frederick County Calls Again

I now have a new, unpaid position with the school system from back home. Apparently, the person who wrote the math questions for the academic tournament is no longer doing so and my name was mentioned as a replacement. I guess the debt I incurred having the access to the administration of my high school due to my mom working there is being called due. Thus, for the next month or so, I will be coming up with 15 mathematics questions each week covering precalculus, statistics and probability, trigonometry, calculus, and other high school math subjects. On that note, does anyone have any high school math books sitting around? My math books tend to be at the undergraduate and graduate levels.