Second Place is the First Loser

As Wini and I were discussing the other day . . . We teach our children "slow and steady wins the race."  Really?  Doesn't fast and steady beat slow and steady, and therefore will win any race more so than slow and steady?  In fact, I bet you any hare could beat any tortoise and still afford a nap, so long as that nap wasn't too long.  So, fast and fairly steady will beat slow and steady; and, while it may not win every race as fast and steady will, it may just win enough races to allow early retirement from fictitious racing.  This is that which I am thinking.

On friday I had my first quiz in ordinary differential equations.  I was nervous while approaching this quiz for several reasons.  First, my ODE professor does not seem to wanted to teach.  This coupled with the fact that it is very difficult to understand him through his accent, left me very much untaught.  Secondly, I had not done any homework sets covering that material which I had not learned, which was all of it.

A couple of my classmates, however, seemed on top of things.  They had been reading the text ahead of time, the did homework sets, and they consulted their Schaum's early and often.  Sure I had been reading (Sherlock Holmes), solving problems (like how to fill ones tea kettle despite a very full sink), and consulting my Schaum's (actually Lisa's Schaum's . . . on tensor calculus); but I felt a bit behind.  Was I doing something wrong?  Was I not being a good steward of my time?  Probably.  Here is what I realized:  I am a hare, not a tortoise.  I rock the naps and then have to run very fast late in the game, but it works for me.

By the way, it turns out that the quiz was more or less a joke.  I think my professor only gave it because he had to and therefore made it ridiculously easy so that he wouldn't have to waste his time grading anything.

"Пожалуйста напишите ваше имя на этом списке когда вы будете сделаны викторине, так, что я знаю кто приняло ее. Если я случаюсь освободить все викторины, то я угадываю что я должно дать вам все A' s ;)" or something like that.  As I said, he is difficult to understand.

 

Next up: The Chapter Chair, the Bed, and the Bathtub battle it out to see who is the best location for a nap.