Class Notes for Today

bgibson135

If I have a Bluetooth keyboard at my disposal, I can take out my smartphone, pair & connect to the keyboard… start an email and start typing notes in 30 seconds or less.

I am typing using my AWK right now. This is almost a full-sized keyboard and I can type pretty quickly with it. The phone also has a camera so I can take a picture of handwritten notes, or notes on a board (white/black) if necessary. When I send the email, a posting is created with my notes and any images that I attach to the message. Those notes are then available on any device that is connected to the Internet. This is not difficult to do, but it does require intent to practice the way that you want to perform the task.

Sent from my Galaxy S®III

The Best College Basketball I Ever Saw on TV;-)

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A week or so ago, we had our Bronco Kick-Off week. During one of the staff training sessions they asked about our favorite teams. I thought of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, (although I thought it was the ’73 Dolphins at the time), but I also thought of what I thought was the best “team” that I had ever seen play. And, by team, I mean a group of individuals that played really well together, forming a synergistic effect (the sum greater than the parts), and that would be how I saw the Davidson Wildcats (basketball team) play during the 2008 NCAA Basketball tournament.

Sure they got beat eventually. They had one star, Stephen Curry, and boy could he move and shoot, but it was the way the rest of the team played… SELFLESSLY, that made this TEAM go much further than I’ve ever seen any other team proceed. Normally, the downfall of a one-star team will be the egos of the lesser players. One guy shooting most of the shots, handling the ball most of the time will eventually degrade into the ball not being passed to the star player as much… or sloppy ball in setting up the star player. But, as I recall, that did not happen by the other players on the team. They worked wonderfully together, setting up and passing to Curry over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. And Curry kept getting open, making moves and putting the ball through the hoop. Oh, yeah, and the team kept beating much more talented “groups of players” and advancing in the tournament.

No mistake, Curry scored the most points, but the other selfless team players made it happen.

So, how did it end? This is how I remember it. Who missed the last shot? Was it Curry? No! One of the other selfless players took the last attempt, and failed. The team had given the game their all, and come up short, and their star player didn’t even have to hang his head because he had missed the last shot.

If you want to teach team play, look to the 2008 Davidson Wildcats Basketball Team.

—

As I re-read this posting, I recalled the worst group of players, and that would have to be the Carolina basketball team of the 1993-94 North Carolina Tar Heels season.  There were enough good players to make two teams.  There were the seasoned players (Eric Montross), and the very talented younger group (Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse).  What happened?  They ended up fighting each other.  Their egos got in the way of “the team”.  Sloppy passing, sloppy shooting, garbage.  The group of players had a lousy season.  But, here is where I blame Dean Smith for failing to orchestrate a winning season.  *He should have created a Blue and a White team, putting the seasoned players on one squad and the young, talented players on the other.  What then?  Put in each color for a set amount of time.  Whichever squad scores the most points, gets bonus playing time.  I’m pretty sure that would have produced a winning season, but it wouldn’t have been a normal Carolina “team”.  It might have even looked like they were running the score up on their opponents, but it wouldn’t have had a thing to do with most of their opponents.  You had Carolina players that hated each other and couldn’t control themselves to become a winning team.

 

 

[NOTE 04/13/25]: An in the last day or so I heard that Steph Curry:

 “Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has accepted a role with his alma mater Davidson College as an assistant general manager for the basketball programs, university officials told ESPN.” [end NOTE]

Semi-Annual Checkup

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I had a 1:30 pm doctor’s appointment this afternoon with Dr. Jessica Sloan. A couple of weeks ago, I had come so they could take blood.

I arrived about 5 minutes before my appointment and waited until about 1:45 pm when a nurse came to the door, called my name and directed me into the room where she recorded my weight, height, blood pressure and heart rate. This was a new nurse. It wasn’t Casey, and I don’t think she ever introduced herself. After the initial work, I was directed to the same little corner room where I always wait for the doctor.

Doctor's Waiting RoomThe room has a few chairs, and examining table and an extremely loud, but small, clock. I’m not sure how long I waited, but eventually the door opened and a young woman entered. This wasn’t Dr. Sloan, and she introduced herself. I don’t recall her name, but I think I got that she was doing an internship and was involved in some program at Methodist University. She was professional, and personable and did most of what Dr. Sloan normally does. She used her stethoscope to listen to my chest. She eventually had me remove my shoes and used a little prod to test the sensitivity/feeling on the bottom of my feet. *I do have some slight numbness in my right big toe. We talked about my weight gain since my colonoscopy last summer. I probably talked with her about 20 minutes and she left me to wait for Dr. Sloan.

At some point the door opened again and it was the young woman again. I don’t recall what she came back for. It may have been that my foot test had been forgotten and this was when she performed it. She left again.

Dr. Sloan finally came in and sat near me. She was aware of the weight gain and that my A1C was up. She asked what level of medication I was taking and I told her I thought I was cutting in half a 1000 mg tabled of Metformin only once a day. The new nurse and I had gone over that the system said my prescription was for a 500 mg tablet. *When I came home, I checked and I have been halfing 1000 mg tablets. These were under my old prescription, and I checked and my new, and until now unopened tablets are 500 mg tablets.

I don’t recall, but will call tomorrow, if Dr. Sloan told me to start taking 1000 mgs twice a day, or the 500 mgs twice a day.

I doubt if I spent 5 minutes with Dr. Sloan, and she was then directing me out of the examining room. I took my “pink” sheet to the receptionist who scheduled me for my next blood work and appointment with the doctor about 3 months from now, in November. It was about 2:55 pm when I made it to the elevator.

A totally unrewarding visit with the doctor.

ADDENDUM: I’ve said this elsewhere, but at one scheduled visit, I learned that Dr. Sloan was no longer to be my doctor.  No one had told me.  And, at a later visit, no one had told me that her former office had closed and I would have to go to the Med One site.  *They really are slack about this.

Amber Alert, Duh!

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I was playing with the Google Trends widget when I saw the words, “Amber Alert” pop up. Eventually, I clicked on the link and saw that the Amber Alert was tied to some man who had apparently kidnapped a brother and sister out in California. During the evening news I saw more details, but the questions began to appear. Apparently, the abductor had killed a woman (a friend), and abducted her two children a 15 year old daughter and her younger brother. But, the first question came as they reported an unidentified child, dead, in the burning rubble with the woman. I thought, “What makes them think the man kidnapped the brother along with his sister?” Wouldn’t the obvious assumption be that the other dead, child’s body, be the younger brother?

The only image I had of the girl, Hanna Anderson, was the head shot of a smiling, blonde, attractive teen girl. Finally, this morning, I googled and got a bunch more images, but pretty quickly got what I thought will be the gist of this murder/kidnapping story. I think the only question that will remain is, “Did the girl participate willingly.” And, that question might not be answered if the kidnapper and girl are found dead, of an apparent murder/suicide.