My Blog

That that make you go, "HUH?"
March 8, 2023

I have spent years trying to get students outside of my Cybersecurity classes to understand encryption.  It is easy with the Cybersecurity classes because we go very deep in to encryption, code breaking, penetrating firewalls.  So with my other classes I usually discuss the Caesar Cipher, or the Vigenère square.  I also talk about the Japanese use of codes and "non-carrying" addition to show how different three-character codes could mean lots of things. There does not have to be an apparent logic to the code.  "HLQ" could mean the American fleet in the Japanese code.  

After exhausting everything I could thing I could come up with, a student, who rarely interjects her ideas during class, asked, "Is it kind of like the way we text?  Some things like 'LOL' are obvious, but emoji's can have different meaning to different groups of friends."

Huh? I now have a new way to explain encryption in simple terms to beginning programming classes.

Second Semester Blues
March 13, 2023

My life is a whirlwind right now.  Between teaching seven different classes (that's right, seven preps per day), studying for my Computer Science Praxis, coaching six different eSports teams, working on my master's degree, getting students ready for SkillsUSA Regional Conference and Competition and State Competition, learning twelve new songs for Easter, caring for elderly parents and in-laws, and trying to find some time to see my two children, their spouses, and three grandchildren, I have to say I am exhausted, and to top all of that off, they stole an hour from us this weekend (I was unaware daylight needed to be saved.)  Yes, Grammarly, I know this is an unusually long sentence, and I should try to rewrite it.  The problem is, I can't.  And I cannot let any of the listed items get behind, or I am sunk.

Okay.  Enough griping and complaining. I love my life, my wife, my family, and my job.  I realize it is very hectic at the moment, but I have discovered that I need the pressure to perform at my best.  I could not be myself in a less hectic type of life.  

So, students, what makes you function at your highest possible level?  I have not been able to find the formula that meets the needs of the entire group.  However, we have managed to make it to a week before spring break, and all of your heads are above water.  A few are taking on water through the nostrils when the big waves roll by, but no one is drowning.

I really do expect more from each of you, but that is how my mind works. Nothing, short of perfection, is ever good enough.  I do not expect everyone to make perfect grades.  And I have heard the occasional, "I just want to get a 'D' and move on."  If you make a 'D' and get through the course by "the hair of your chin," as my grandfather used to say, I am ok with that as long as you set your goals to be an 'A.'  

Let me make an analogy based on that path of thought.  In my spare time (by that, I mean a long time ago), I competed in long-range shooting.  At 1,000 meters, the bullseye is almost impossible to hit, just like perfection in your schoolwork.  I hit several bullseyes.  However, if I had been satisfied with the "six-ring," I would never have won anything.  If we don't make the bullseye the goal, we are destined to fail or maybe get by by the chin hair my grandfather talked about.

I say that to say this.  Never try for anything less than perfection.  Even if you do not achieve perfection, you can be satisfied in knowing that you tried your best.

Gotta get some rest!!!
April 1, 2023

It is April Fool's Day, but I am not kidding.  This past week was Spring Break.  Awesome!  We were all due a little R & R, right?

That, unfortunately, did not happen. My father-in-law was hospitalized on Tuesday morning, and my mother-in-law has dementia, so she had to stay with us.  Do not turn your back, or she will be two blocks down the street and not remember which way she came from. So, long story short, one of us was at the hospital while the other watched "Mama."  My wife had promised our grandkids (8, 4, and 2) that they could all spend the night on Thursday.  This would be the maiden voyage of the two-year-old staying with us.  Well, I thought, we are running back and forth to the hospital or here guarding the door, so naturally, she told the grandkids we would have to do it another day, right?  

WRONG!!!  So on Thursday night, we had a two-year-old (who gave new meaning to "the terrible twos"), a four-year-old, an eight-year-old, and an eighty-two-year-old.  I love them all dearly, but I have grown used to being an empty nester, and suddenly there are three new birds and one old bird.  HELP!!!

Needless to say, I am looking forward to getting back to my classroom on Monday.  It will be restful compared to this week. I just need to survive one more day.

P.S. My father-in-law is getting released tomorrow.