Is This Reasonable ? I had a great algebra and trig teacher my freshman year in high school. Mr. Porter taught us to ask ourselves “is my answer reasonable?” Sometimes it was as simple as determining if the answer should be negative or positive. You can just change one variable radically to check if your answer is at least in the ballpark. Hopefully I have passed this concept onto my daughters as well.

Over the last week I received thirty two phone books. I am wondering why it did not occur to the person delivering the, oh I don’t know, twelfth book to ask himself "is this reasonable?" I provide radio forecasts for WHUR, 96.3 FM and have an ISDN line at my house provided by Howard University. This phone line allows me to broadcast my forecasts in high quality back to WHUR. Many of these books were intended for various buildings around the Howard University Campus. It just strikes me as funny and somewhat sad that the delivery person never questioned his actions. If he had just stopped and said to himself “is this reasonable ? I am at a residence and dropping off books for a university ?” What’s the moral of this story ? Just think. Thinking leads to great ideas that increases efficiency and can also lead to promotions. You might even find that the day goes by faster.  ¶ 5:49 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Permy Drivers You can spot a permy driver from a mile away. They are usually going five to fifteen miles per hour under the posted speed limit. Well, we have a permy in our family. No, I don’t make her put that magnetic sign on the car that says ‘Rookie Driver’. My oldest daughter is in the process of getting her license. She has a permit license. She may drive with a parent riding shotgun with her. The other day she was backing out of a parking space and needed to turn the back end to the left so we could then exit the space toward the right. She turned and asked me "'which way should I turn the wheels ?" I had to think for a minute and then told her when backing up you need to turn the steering wheel counterclockwise or turn the steering wheel in the direction that you want your back end to go. I then realized that she has never seen the wheels turn when she drives. Parallel parking is everyone's biggest fear when taking the driving test. I started to think about how to teach parallel parking to my daughter, who by the way is a very good driver. I thought back to when she asked me which way to turn the wheels when we were backing out of a parking space, and then it came to me. I would teach her to parallel park the tractor. She could see what the wheels did as she turned the steering wheel one way or another. We practiced parking the tractor between two trash cans. When she was comfortable and successful doing that we moved on to the car. I stuck tall poles in the trash can handles so she could easily see when she drove close to the trash cans. (The space is 25 feet by 6 feet in the driver’s test in the state of Maryland and the wheels must be no more than twelve inches from the curb.) You could even start with a bike. When you are backing up and you want the rear end of the bike to go left you turn the handle to the left or counterclockwise. We'll let you know soon if she passed.  ¶ 3:58 PM 2 Comments Links to this post

  The Art of Letter Writing Two of my daughters are in camp this summer. When I say camp I don't mean the day camp that I went to when I was young. I would skip swimming and play hearts. That sounded way more nerdy than it really was at the time. In this day of emails, IM's and cell phones sleep away camp keeps a dying art alive: writing letters. My girls are not allowed to call home (unless it is a true emergency not because they are homesick or have the sniffles) or email home. Yes, they have to write letters. I think it is great that they are forced to put their thoughts down on paper, it doesn't happen much anymore. It forces me and my wife to do the same. The joy of receiving a letter in the mail is a wonderful feeling and one that we don't often get. It is important for the girls to get letters. You don't want to be passed up mail call after mail call. On the home front my wife and I race each other to the mailbox. Here's to letter writing and the snail mail.  ¶ 12:35 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Take Me Out To The Ballgame I have watched and listened to a lot of baseball games. There is one misconception that I hear all too frequently. " It's very humid out here tonight so the ball won't be carrying as far." Actually dry air has a greater molecular weight and is denser than moist air. Water has a lower molecular weight than dry air. (28 kg/kmole for dry air vs. 18 for water vapor.) On hot and humid evenings the ball will carry farther than if it were less humid and more comfortable. The same theory holds for golf balls. I love playing golf when it is hot and humid because the ball travels farther and my back is nice and loose. The next time you hear someone say it's humid so the ball won't travel as far you'll know that is incorrect and why. Maybe you could impress a client or a son or daughter with your explanation over a hot dog.

Labels: Take me out to the ballgame

  ¶ 12:21 PM 0 Comments Links to this post