Probably the best math class...maybe ever.

When I'm in class taking notes, I tend to jot down just as many "random ideas" as I do actual class notes.  Sometimes they're witty things I think of, sometimes they're semi-brilliant ideas, but most of the time, it's something really funny either a student or the Prof has said. 

Today was one of those classes. 

I suppose writing down someone else's ramblings may be a little on the disrespectful side....well, not really, but it's kind of uncomfortable recording someone else's ruminating moments, especially when that someone is someone that truly amazes you.

Here's where I stand on it:  I've taught.....I've publicly rambled--even when not teaching.  Those words are usually documented.  It's cool.  It's going to happen eventually.  I'm just so gorram witty and sharp that someone, somewhere will find a little bit of humor in the clutter that is my thoughts.

I figure that you really must be paying attention if you document someone's random ramblings, especially when tensors have never made so much sense before (I totally had a lightbulb moment where the last 8 years of my engineering career made sense in about a fraction if a second.  It was...literally....brilliant--but that's a post for another time I guess.)

Here's some real gems.....I'm posting the "not-so-awesome-ones" simply because I want to save the awesome ones for a slam poem I'm working on. (That's a post for another time.) Also, some are mine, some belong to my Prof.  Some are a combined effort.

WARNING: Lots of these are a "you had to be there" or incredibly nerdy, like elephant-sine-theta and the mountain goat is a scalar kind of nerdy.  If you don't get it....well....that's really too bad *dismissively tap on head*. 

• "Remember the Moment..."
• "Turns out PLANE42 isn't the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything after all...it's merely 4 nodes in 2 degrees.  Well.....that's disappointing."
• "I'm pretty sure Einstein threw his hands up in the air in frustration too at one point.  Don't judge me!" (We were learning "Einstein notation" that day. Next step--world domination.)
• "Remember that day in 226 when you fell asleep in class and hit your head on the back of your chair...today we're gonna review that stuff." (I honestly didn't think he remembered that. Dr. D. is now officially SUPERMAN! True story.)
• "This is 'THE CHART'. Trust me, it looks a lot easier to understand than my medical records."
• "You now have 5 displacements, 5 unknowns, and they all come from second-order, non-linear ODE's....can't be that difficult? Right?"
• "Pain, I think it's all just a part of the 'simple decomposition' process." (There's like three double-entendres in there.....trust me...)
• "People let you down. Math doesn't"
• "I get tired of people, then I go do math.  Makes me feel better."
• "Apparently you can't do matrix operations without a Q or Star Trek reference.  I'm really sorry."
• "Tensors don't yell at each other. Brothers do."
• "Eigenvalues are better than muscles--they stretch both ways."

And here's one of my favorites...

"I'm hungry.  I think I'll eat while you guys write.  I wonder if I should do that next time I'm at the doctor...pull out a granola bar when he starts to scribble stuff down.  He'd probably scream, 'What are you doing!?'.  'Meh, it's my new thing.'"

Good class.  Makes math fun again.  I need that right now.