Feel my pain

Recent exam answers:

• "A semiconductor only does half of what a real conductor does."
  
  Well, there is no harm in guessing if you really have absolutely no idea.
  
  
• "It handles the downed-sized work of a conductor."
  
  The economy does seem to be hitting everyone very hard these days.
  
  
• "Speciation is the lack of water or water flow."
  
  Ah yes, you were present the day the guest speaker spoke on this topic. If I recall correctly, you spent the entire time texting.
  
  

The questions came directly from the sample questions on the study guide.

An awesome conversation with my daughter

Curie: Where does space end?

[discussion involving planets, galaxies and universes, scientists and more questions]

Dr. H: Hey, Curie, you ask really good questions, maybe you would like to be a scientist someday?

Curie: Oh! Maybe I will be a scientist princess!

Me: That's a good idea!

Curie: Mommy, can boys be scientists? Or just girls?

Me: Both girls and boys can be scientists.

Curie: Really, because I've never seen a boy scientist. Only girls.

Me: Daddy's a scientist and he's a boy.

Curie: No!

Dr. H.: A social scientist.

Curie: He doesn't look like a scientist!

Me: Really, he is. His college degree is in computer science, and his graduate degree is in psy..

Curie: Mommy! You are just making this up to play a joke on me!

Me: No, really, he is. And we know lots of boy and girl scientists.

Difficult Day

I removed this post because I think maybe it shouldn't be up here forever.

Still, I'm disappointed by the whole thing.

Forward-Back

My relationship with Daylight Savings Time is annoyance wrapped up in complicated memories of my freshman year of college. I grew up in a state that never changed its clocks, so my most vivid memories are from that first year in a state that did.

I was probably in love, but didn't know it at the time. All I knew was that everything about this new relationship was different - more intense, less rational. Saturday night, his best friend said to him "Hey, you guys have an extra hour tonight." It wasn't meant in a snarky way, it was said with affection. He was a little embarrassed.

It doesn't seem complicated, but his best friend was female and he never understood why I wasn't jealous. I could see the attraction - it was there, it was obvious. It was also clear it was not the level or type of attraction one would act on, at least not unless something changed. In the end, I was never able to persuade him I felt comfortable about his relationship with his best friend. Invariably conversations would lead to a discussion of my friends - most of whom were male.

Eventually the relationship ended, as it was always destined to. Even so, having an extra hour every Fall still makes me feel seventeen years old again.