My iPod

I've been leaning a lot on my iPod recently. At school, the new forced-air heating system blows air out so loudly that I can't hear people speaking in a normal volume from my desk. It's like flying in a jet. It's so loud that when we happen to have a meeting after school past 4:00, there's a serious hush over the entire building when the blowers turn off. Since my first period is my prep period, I use it to get ready for the entire day and it's just impossible to concentrate with that constant blowing fan in my ears. So, I've taken to my iPod with my Bose noise-canceling headphones to focus. It's nice being in my own little world for a while each day.

One of the fun things about my iPod is hooking it up to my computer speakers so that the kids can enjoy some of my music. When they ask me if I have any rap, I quickly jump to the Charlie Daniels Band's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." They tell me that it's not rap, but I have to disagree. By definition, talking to music with a beat is most definitely rap. It's not hip-hop, but that's not what they asked for.

It's funny how many of the songs that my kids actually do know. Some are the children of metalheads and crave AC/DC, some are fans of Journey, and I never realized how many of these kids know "YMCA" from school dances. I point out to them that the song was released when I was their age, but they don't mind. It's hilarious to watch these kids attempt the "YMCA" dance. They almost always do the "C" backward. I have to show them that you make the "C" so that it's legible to the viewer, not to the people standing behind you. You're probably wondering what this has to do with math. Well, you see, it's all about horizontal symmetry. They do the "C" backward, beause it's not horizontally symmetrical. They can't do the other letters backward because they are horizontally symmetrical. "Y," "M,", and "A" all have lines that you can draw right down the middle of them that can act as a mirror. I know, what a way to introduce a concept, right?