|
Dear Family and Friends: Well, we’ve been in Abilene almost
four weeks. Time for a report. Did a little internet research and found that
the name, For example, first Sunday here we attended Well, it didn’t happen quite that fast. At lunch they invited us to attend their SS
class and invited Susie to Women’s Circle.
Two weeks later we went to class, then went out to eat with most of
them afterward (hearing about this class activity earlier is what attracted
us to class; the day we attended they
showed a video featuring someone whose name escapes me portraying Elijah as a
NYC cop -- fascinating). Lunch conversation told us more about
cruise and the main fact that it coincided with Spring Break. Seemed too serendipitous not to go, so we
be goin’. We’ve been thinking about a
cruise for a while – call it a belated fifth anniversary celebration. Itinerary is: Barcelona-Nice/Monte Carlo- Why retire in Oh, btw, Susie found a Incidentally, I’ve had mixed reports from
visitors to our website. Some can open
the links; some can’t. Please let us
know your experience. One of my
spare-time projects here is to upgrade the website, and post these |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I came across the origin of the name So, statistics shows that if NZ didn’t have all those
sheep they’d have more people. Make of
that what you will. (When my Mom and I
visited |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Meanwhile, our second weekend here we went to |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
The pre-game ceremonies were moving and
dramatic. Lots of soldiers lined up on
the field. One hundred San Antonio
area young men and women marched onto the field, took their oath, and joined
the Army. There were seven Medal of
Honor winners on the sideline. Great
music from an Army band and chorus.
We were awed. Daughter Heidi came and daughter Mandi and
husband, Paul, from |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
As Susie wrote to many of you earlier, our
apartment is near the Abilene Mall and many restaurants. Also, three theatres are quite close and
we’ve made our way to three movies.
Saw Aviator, Coach Clark, and Sideways and enjoyed them all. Sideways was unusual and funny, but between
it and Aviator, I’d have to go for Aviator for the Best Picture Oscar. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
We’ve also enjoyed a couple of McMurry men’s and
women’s basketball games. Both teams
are having good seasons (NCAA Division III) and the small-gym atmosphere is
fun. A nice contrast to our years of
Pit attendance of UNM games. The men’s
team is bolstered this year by a couple of transfers from On the cultural front we’ve had a wide variety
in a short time. First weekend here I
read about a concert being put on by the Abilene Acoustic Music organization,
so we went. Program included a couple
of bluegrass groups and was held in a planetarium. Performers played essentially in the dark,
by flashlight, while we gazed at starry patterns on the dome overhead. Most unusual venue I’ve listened to
bluegrass in. Some of Susie’s new Aldersgate friends invited us to
Martin Luther King banquet along with other Then this week the combined orchestra and chorus
of the three On the drama front, we saw local production of
“The Alto Part.” One of the main
characters, more lines than anybody, was played by 12-year old granddaughter
of Jim and Donna Aubrey, friends from Oh, yes, school. That’s why we’re here. I’m teaching two sections of intro stats
and a class in experimental design.
There are a total of 27 students in intro stats. I was a little surprised to find that the
two largest groups of my students were majors in nursing and sports. I had been expecting several in education,
because one purpose of the course is to prepare MS and HS teachers for the TX
math exam, but only have one. Both
nursing and sports involve a lot of data, so I’m glad to have them, but I
expected more science and math majors.
There’s maybe 4-5 of them, statistically speaking – statistics means
never having to say you’re certain.
But, that’s OK. My goal is to
take statistics to the general college-attending populace. First test is next week so I’ll know better
after that how things are going. Early
signs are not encouraging – homework and the review session we had Thursday,
so I’m thinking of revamping my approach.
(In fact, as I type this, I’m thinking about it.) Maybe I’ll be surprised by the test
results. I think I’ve been teaching too much from
powerpoint slides – Sandia habit, plus that worked reasonably well in
previous much larger classes. I’m
going to do more board work and try to get them involved in some
activities. Will let you know. I know I spend a lot of time preparing
powerpoint slides. Every time I go
over them I diddle with the font and color and clip art, but I tell myself
that even though it is time-consuming it is helping me think about and
formulate what I want to say. Got to
shift the focus onto what I want them to say and do. Teacher Susie has given me a couple of good
ideas – e.g., counting shelled peanuts; estimating the proportions of peanuts
with one, two, three, or more peanuts in one shell. Counting chocolate chips in a package of
Chip Ahoy cookies is another tried and true exercise I’ve read about. On the other hand, I’m trying to convince
the students that this statistics stuff is something that will help them in
the real world, so don’t want too much silly stuff. The experimental design class I offered was a
special class not on the curriculum; it’s what I’ve taught at previous
gigs. The department had put out some
PR among the three universities – students can cross-enroll in classes – but
I only got two sign-ups: two physics students from McM. Then one had to drop it because she has
five kids and a deployed husband – how she could even be in school amazes
me. But, it’s not unheard of to have
one-student classes here, so we’re proceeding. (Turns out class was scheduled at a bad
time – conflicts with several science class labs.) The remaining student is in the chorus and
had been in Albq last year, so he appreciated hearing why I happened to be at
McM. He really wants the class, so we
didn’t cancel it. This got a little long; sorry about that. We’ll be in Albq in a couple of weekends
from now and are looking forward to that visit and seeing many of you
there. Cheers. Rob and Susie |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
