Back in the day, when I used to teach college math, one of the things that most annoyed me was when a student would come in to my office and ask for help with a problem (usually the night before an exam) without even having tried the problem on their own first. The conversation would go something like this:
Student: Hey, uh, like, I need some help with these problems.
Me: Okay, which one?
Student: Like, any of them.
Me: Okay, well, that's pretty broad. Which one in our latest assignment first gave you trouble?
[Wait a few minutes while student locates materials in backpack. Student points to first problem in the assignment.]
Student: This one.
Me: Alright. What part is giving you trouble?
Student: Like, all of it. I don't even know where to start.
Me: Okay. This problem is a lot like the examples we went through in class yesterday. Did you understand what was going on then?
Student: Uh... not really. I thought I did, but not really.
Me: Okay, that's fine. What about the examples like this at the end of the chapter in book. Did you understand those?
Student: [Blink, blink... blank stare]
Me: You did read this chapter, right? [Feigning surprise, even though I know damn well they haven't read a word of their textbook all semester.]
Student: Uh...
Me: [Going into "win one for the Gipper," pep talk mode] Listen, the only way you're going to learn is if you try. The main learning has to come from you. You have to sit down with the material and struggle through it. I'm only here to provide guidance and fill in the gaps. I can't learn for you. So, here's what to do. Go to the library, sit down and read the chapter. Follow the examples and then try the problems. I bet if you do that you will genuinely understand most it. It's not really that hard. People psyche themselves out with math. But if you actually sit down and look at it, it all makes sense. And if it doesn't -- if you are still stuck -- then you can come see me. Sound good?
Student: Yeah, okay.
And then 15 minutes later I would get an email notification telling me that the student had dropped my class. Oh well.
Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon. I was working from home; it was S's birthday, and she wanted me to set up this internet booster for her. What happened is she created a little office area in a nook in our bedroom for her to work in. She cleaned it out, rearranged the furniture, and ordered a special desk that's small enough to fit in it, only to realize that it's perfectly in a dead zone for our Wi-Fi. She was pretty bummed about it, but she ordered this booster, which is supposed to strengthen the signal.
The booster came, and I volunteered to set it up -- mainly because I knew S really didn't want to do it, and it was her birthday. I didn't want to do it either. In part because I hate doing stuff like that, and in part because our cable set up is a fucking mess. It's a byzantine mesh of cables going every direction. Everything was wired for the previous woman who live here, and then when we got internet (and for a while DirecTV; we're still connected to two dead satellites), apparently the cable guy just ran new cable in a bunch of places without getting rid of the old cables. So, it's just turned into a web of wires. I had no idea what to went to what and how. Also, I'm not exactly what you would call "handy," so I tend not to mess with any of that stuff. I just let the professionals install everything and hope I never have to touch it.
But now I had to set up this booster, which is basically just a second modem. So I took it into the basement and set it up right next to our modem, and it didn't work. Well, it worked, it was emitting a second Wi-Fi signal, but it still didn't provide service to the nook in our bedroom -- which makes sense because it was basically in the exact same place as our modem, which also couldn't reach that nook. So I shrugged my shoulders and figured S would have to call Verizon and figure something else out. Maybe we would have run even more wire around our house.
I went to work (at my actual job) and finished up some odd tasks. But the booster was still gnawing at me. I noticed there was a coaxial cable outlet in the room I was in, so I plugged the booster into it, just because I wanted to see what would happen. I didn't think it would work, and I was right. It didn't. There was no internet signal. But it did make me wonder why, so I followed where it was in the wall and figured that the cable must run somewhere in our crawl space. I looked in there (literally the first time I opened it since we bought the house five years ago), and it was obvious which cable it was, and it wasn't connected to anything on the other end, which explains why it didn't work when I plugged the booster in. I looked at some of the other cables in there, and I could see where they went, and then I had a mini epiphany. Maybe the wiring was actually easy to figure out, and I had just never tried. Maybe I was the annoying student!
So I decided to figure it all out, and within a half hour or so I had everything down pat. I simultaneously felt smart (because I figured it out) and stupid (for not realizing a long time ago how easy it would be to figure it out). I noticed there was a coaxial outlet in our room that was connected at the side of our house to a jack for a defunct DirecTV satellite. So I disconnected it from that and connected it to an unused cable that runs around the back of our house. Then I connected that cable to one in the crawlspace that goes through a little hole into our basement by the modem. I then split our internet signal so that it goes to our modem and to this other wire. Then I connected the booster to the coaxial outlet in our room -- and bingo! It had an internet signal, and since it is in our room, right next to the nook, it provides great service. I did it! S was so happy! It was the best birthday gift I could give her (and much better than nothing, which was my second choice).
Now, if you are technically savvy, and you are reading this, you might be thinking, "Uh... D, you just set up an internet booster. You didn't design a flying car. It's not that impressive. In fact, it's not impressive at all." And you are right, but you're also missing the point. The moral of the story isn't that I did something difficult. It's that I did something easy, because I actually tried to do it. That's the takeaway: Don't just dismiss things reflexively as too hard. You should always try, or, at the very least, try to try.
Anyway...
A lot of other stuff happened this week too. But I don't need to go into that. I'm sure you are already well aware of it. As somebody on social media said, "It feels like Netflix bought the news and released it all at once." Too true. Too true.
Oh, also, I now have a niece. On Tuesday, my sister-in-law M gave birth to Lil' Ax (same b-day as S). She looks cute in pics, and I can't wait to see her in person when we visit this summer. It's the first girl grandchild (of six) for my parents, so everybody is really excited about it.
Well, I guess, that's all for this post. Until next time...
Student: Hey, uh, like, I need some help with these problems.
Me: Okay, which one?
Student: Like, any of them.
Me: Okay, well, that's pretty broad. Which one in our latest assignment first gave you trouble?
[Wait a few minutes while student locates materials in backpack. Student points to first problem in the assignment.]
Student: This one.
Me: Alright. What part is giving you trouble?
Student: Like, all of it. I don't even know where to start.
Me: Okay. This problem is a lot like the examples we went through in class yesterday. Did you understand what was going on then?
Student: Uh... not really. I thought I did, but not really.
Me: Okay, that's fine. What about the examples like this at the end of the chapter in book. Did you understand those?
Student: [Blink, blink... blank stare]
Me: You did read this chapter, right? [Feigning surprise, even though I know damn well they haven't read a word of their textbook all semester.]
Student: Uh...
Me: [Going into "win one for the Gipper," pep talk mode] Listen, the only way you're going to learn is if you try. The main learning has to come from you. You have to sit down with the material and struggle through it. I'm only here to provide guidance and fill in the gaps. I can't learn for you. So, here's what to do. Go to the library, sit down and read the chapter. Follow the examples and then try the problems. I bet if you do that you will genuinely understand most it. It's not really that hard. People psyche themselves out with math. But if you actually sit down and look at it, it all makes sense. And if it doesn't -- if you are still stuck -- then you can come see me. Sound good?
Student: Yeah, okay.
And then 15 minutes later I would get an email notification telling me that the student had dropped my class. Oh well.
Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon. I was working from home; it was S's birthday, and she wanted me to set up this internet booster for her. What happened is she created a little office area in a nook in our bedroom for her to work in. She cleaned it out, rearranged the furniture, and ordered a special desk that's small enough to fit in it, only to realize that it's perfectly in a dead zone for our Wi-Fi. She was pretty bummed about it, but she ordered this booster, which is supposed to strengthen the signal.
The booster came, and I volunteered to set it up -- mainly because I knew S really didn't want to do it, and it was her birthday. I didn't want to do it either. In part because I hate doing stuff like that, and in part because our cable set up is a fucking mess. It's a byzantine mesh of cables going every direction. Everything was wired for the previous woman who live here, and then when we got internet (and for a while DirecTV; we're still connected to two dead satellites), apparently the cable guy just ran new cable in a bunch of places without getting rid of the old cables. So, it's just turned into a web of wires. I had no idea what to went to what and how. Also, I'm not exactly what you would call "handy," so I tend not to mess with any of that stuff. I just let the professionals install everything and hope I never have to touch it.
But now I had to set up this booster, which is basically just a second modem. So I took it into the basement and set it up right next to our modem, and it didn't work. Well, it worked, it was emitting a second Wi-Fi signal, but it still didn't provide service to the nook in our bedroom -- which makes sense because it was basically in the exact same place as our modem, which also couldn't reach that nook. So I shrugged my shoulders and figured S would have to call Verizon and figure something else out. Maybe we would have run even more wire around our house.
I went to work (at my actual job) and finished up some odd tasks. But the booster was still gnawing at me. I noticed there was a coaxial cable outlet in the room I was in, so I plugged the booster into it, just because I wanted to see what would happen. I didn't think it would work, and I was right. It didn't. There was no internet signal. But it did make me wonder why, so I followed where it was in the wall and figured that the cable must run somewhere in our crawl space. I looked in there (literally the first time I opened it since we bought the house five years ago), and it was obvious which cable it was, and it wasn't connected to anything on the other end, which explains why it didn't work when I plugged the booster in. I looked at some of the other cables in there, and I could see where they went, and then I had a mini epiphany. Maybe the wiring was actually easy to figure out, and I had just never tried. Maybe I was the annoying student!
So I decided to figure it all out, and within a half hour or so I had everything down pat. I simultaneously felt smart (because I figured it out) and stupid (for not realizing a long time ago how easy it would be to figure it out). I noticed there was a coaxial outlet in our room that was connected at the side of our house to a jack for a defunct DirecTV satellite. So I disconnected it from that and connected it to an unused cable that runs around the back of our house. Then I connected that cable to one in the crawlspace that goes through a little hole into our basement by the modem. I then split our internet signal so that it goes to our modem and to this other wire. Then I connected the booster to the coaxial outlet in our room -- and bingo! It had an internet signal, and since it is in our room, right next to the nook, it provides great service. I did it! S was so happy! It was the best birthday gift I could give her (and much better than nothing, which was my second choice).
Now, if you are technically savvy, and you are reading this, you might be thinking, "Uh... D, you just set up an internet booster. You didn't design a flying car. It's not that impressive. In fact, it's not impressive at all." And you are right, but you're also missing the point. The moral of the story isn't that I did something difficult. It's that I did something easy, because I actually tried to do it. That's the takeaway: Don't just dismiss things reflexively as too hard. You should always try, or, at the very least, try to try.
[I couldn't find the clip in which Bart promises Lisa that he will "try to try." This is what came up instead. It turns out Homer and I do not share similar life philosophies.]
Anyway...
A lot of other stuff happened this week too. But I don't need to go into that. I'm sure you are already well aware of it. As somebody on social media said, "It feels like Netflix bought the news and released it all at once." Too true. Too true.
Oh, also, I now have a niece. On Tuesday, my sister-in-law M gave birth to Lil' Ax (same b-day as S). She looks cute in pics, and I can't wait to see her in person when we visit this summer. It's the first girl grandchild (of six) for my parents, so everybody is really excited about it.
Well, I guess, that's all for this post. Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment