Good Morning, Friends! Today is New Years Eve, and I am scraping calculus off of someones teeth. This is my JOB! Still, the thought of calaculus takes me back to a cold winter day in mid-February, 1980, at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, the prestigious home of Talon Zipper company. Now is the point where you climb into my brain. If that premise frightens you, remember that if you clap your hands together twice, youll return to Kansas. Moving on, I should tell you that a cold February day in Meadville includes usually about a foot of new snow on top of whatever fell since the previous thaw, maybe two feet total. I had put on my winter parka and snow boots and trepsed down to the office of Calculus (note connection here to my current occupation) Professor Emeritus Frederick Henry Steens office, after receiving my first blue book exam grade, which was a whopping 43%. I was concerned. I was failing Calculus 2. I figured it would be wise to discuss my miserable situation with my professor. As I arrived, Professor Steen also arrived, a smiling, tall gentleman with a grey fedora in hand. I looked at his office desk, which was covered with neatly stacked papers and two photographs. One frame surrounded what I would guess were his grandchildren. The second photograph was of Albert Einstein. I read a scribble a barely legible scribble at the bottom of the photo that began with, To my good friend, FH Steen...at that point, I knew I was IN TOO DEEP. Mark Francis, Esthy Jonsson, Ricardo Whitaker, and a few other classmates of mine may remember some of this! This was the point in my life when I realized that I may be kind of intelligent, BUT...I am NOT THAT SMART! I had to decide whether to fight on in Calculus 2 and risk failing or to withdraw. I made the wrong choice...I continued. I struggled on and failed Calculus 2. Was I stubborn? Yes. Stupid? Maybe. But I got something out of that class..a SUPERHERO!!! ..INTEGRAL MAN!! Who? Integral Man? YES! INTEGRAL MAN!! FASTER THAN A SPEEDING THIRD DERIVATIVE!! MORE POWERFUL THAN LHOPITALS RULE!! ABLE TO LEAP TALL MAXIMA IN A SINGLE BOUND!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 15:16:07 +0000
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