Miscellaneous

Quiet weekend here. I've spent most of it getting my class notes ready for the last three weeks of class. I'm covering material I haven't usually covered in earlier classes on (statistical)experimental design, so essentially starting from scratch. But, if I do say so myself, I think I've put together a couple of really good sections. They nicely provide a chance to drive home some points I want to leave them with.

A favorite quote I use is Archie Bunker: "Don't give me no stastistics, Meathead! I want facts."



I use Archie's inadvertently profound statement to remind folks, and myself, that statistics is not just about number-crunching. It's the facts revealed by the data that are valuable -- valuable in the business, scientific, or other context they pertain to. (Oops, another sentence I ended a preposition with.)


So, I try to put even simpleminded textbook examples into stories that have some sort of business or scientific context. I start out with that focus, but sometimes in mid-course I get bogged down a bit in the technical details. I hate it when that happens. One reason statisticians don't get no respect is when we fall into teaching formula plug-in instead of thinking.


Well, these two last two sections have very good big-picture messages that I hope my students will carry with them even if they never run an experiment in their career. We shall see.


I gave an exam in early May. About half the students did well, the other half not so well -- a bimodal distribution as we say in the business. As Susie knows, I tend to blame myself, but I also know these students are carrying a pretty big load. This is the best group of students I've had. With only 10 students, there's good opportunity for questions and discussions. They're attentive and actively engaged, almost 100%. One student's wife gave birth to triplets just before the quarter started. They weighed around two pounds (!) and spent a few weeks in a San Jose hospital before being moved to a local hospital. All seem to be doing well, but you can understand that that student has a few other demands on his time.


Our big excitement is that Malia and her parents are coming to see us in three weeks. That will be our last weekend here. The following week I give a final exam, turn in grades, and away we go. Here's a recent picture of Malia and Jeff at swimming class.



For more go to: http://bringinghomemalia.blogspot.com/

Back to our weekend. We decided to drive over to Salinas yesterday, Saturday, to find a park to walk in (or in which to walk). Well, it was pretty blustery (I had resolved not to write about weather, but there I go again), so we decided what we were really there for was ice cream -- we'd visited a Baskin-Robbins on a previous visit to Salinas. Thinking ice cream, though, brought to mind the Cold Stone shop in Monterey -- I mean if you're going for ice cream, go top drawer -- so that's where we went. Completed the triangle returning to Marina and were quite pleased with the way our random outing to take a walk worked out.

Last week there were a couple of days of strong winds blowing onshore, so we drove over to Pacific Grove to check out the wave action:

A local, beloved celebrity here was a man named Ric Masten. He was a poet, songwriter, Unitarian preacher, and humorist -- the "soul of Big Sur." For the last nine years he had been fighting cancer and writing about the battle on his website. He died on May 9, I learned of him from the local papers. His theme song and poem about death was titled, Let it be a Dance.


I looked up his website and learned that while he was taking chemo and dealing with cancer his wife was slipping away into dementia. In his words:

DEMENTIA

© ric masten


when I was 25

my parents went on

an around the world vacation

leaving from the San Francisco marina

on a freighter with passenger accommodations

back in those days

when the gang plank had been raised

and the ship was ready to depart

the passengers

would line up at the rail looking down

throwing serpentine

colorful paper streamers

to friends and family on the pier below

we would hold tight to one end

while those we hold dear

held tight to the other end of these

slender fragile ribbons

then slowly

almost imperceptibly

the ship began to move away

the paper connections

snapping

one by one

as the steamer headed out into the bay



after fifty five years together

my cancer is incurable

and your memory is fading

which makes me acutely aware

of time circling the drain

running out of the clock

wondering whether the love of my life

will slip over the horizon

before I am forced to leave the dock


My Mom turned 87 last week and all who know her are saddened as the "paper connections" tying us to her are gradually broken.


On that somber note:


Best Wishes,


Rob and Susie