My most influential teacher

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

I feel privileged to have encountered many exceptional and inspiring teachers throughout my life. Perhaps most influential were the early-day childhood teachers, whose guidance potentially changed the course of my life.

Kaka Ani was the computer class teacher in 4th-5th grade. We had a classroom full of Pravetz 8, Bulgarian-made Apple II clones. These had 5.25″ floppy drives and the teacher had 10-15 floppy disk games. So Kaka Ani’s strategy to control us and make us learn something was that she would give an assignment in Basic with either enough hints or something close to a solution on the blackboard, and then whoever does it first, gets to choose a game from the pile of floppies. Some of the games were good and others were miserable. I liked Moon Patrol, Karateka, and Lode Runner. If I was too slow, I’d play some artillery game, my memories of which did not yield any Google search results. I hated that game. So I learned Basic and some university-level math to play games. Thanks, Kaka Ani, I hope you’re doing well.

This computer class didn’t happen in isolation. The environment was good for kids who were willing to put in some work. I don’t remember the names of my 1st-grade teacher or the math teachers from 4th-7th grade but they were good and somehow managed to help me develop my thinking without the obscene amount of homework my kids bring home these days.

Then I studied at the High School of Finance and Business (now NFSG). I don’t remember a teacher who wasn’t great there. The math teacher, Mrs. Chipchakova, had a pace that matched me very well and got me confident to pursue math-based universities later in life. The computer science teacher there let me play with Turbo Pascal while the others studied Word and Excel for DOS after proving to her that I knew the entire books by heart. The Bulgarian language teacher scared the hell out of me and this helped me learn to write. We studied touch typing with 50-year-old typewriters and metronome, the Stats teacher covered the discipline better than my university-level Stats #1 and #2, and the Accounting one was also a magician.

I studied Information Systems at FMI a bit later in life. I once again found a place where you could learn a lot even from the silliest-sounding disciplines, thanks to the effort put in by teachers and management who care.

I’m very thankful to all of them – those I mentioned, and those I didn’t. I hope my kids have the chance to meet similarly inspiring teachers.

White Sand Omnibus by Brandon Sanderson

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

I blogged about this book because it’s heavy and impressive due to its size. I read it today. It was quite an adventure.

I only had rough memories from White Sand part 1, and the Omnibus contains parts 1, 2, and 3, so it’s technically 3 books. Reading the first part didn’t mess up with my experience, and I wouldn’t even count it as a re-read. It had additions to part one, and the visuals were significantly changed so it felt like a different book.

The second and the third parts had different artists. Part three was the simplest and I liked the most.

Story-wise, I’m surprised by the low 3.5 rating on Goodreads. The story is good. A typical Sanderson with a clever magical system, an attempt to explain it but not too much so that there’s room for 2-3 follow-ups. There’s a hint of a romance but nothing more. It’s good vs evil, however the evil is biting from the shadows.

Worth the time and money. 5/5.

PS. not sure how I was supposed to read it, I left prints on the book. I’ve never noticed leaving prints on books. This one was prone to prints. Go figure.

Stephanie Plum – books 7 to 10

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

I achieved my goal of reading the first 10 books in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. The series is about a hot formerly unemployed bounty hunter who chases evil folks and loses them 10 times per book to only capture them on the 11th attempt. This is usually funny and low-risk, with no drama.

The story evolved over the last 4 books.

  • Criminals are no longer inviting themselves to Stephanie’s apartment at the same rate. The ability to break 3 of the top 10 locks out there is not that common and people breaking in at a whim started getting annoying. I’m glad this part is gone, hopefully, to never be seen again
  • Characters who were captured in previous books reappeared either as allies or as adversaries
  • Janet Evanovich started developing some wicked love for donuts and cakes. All female characters eat sugar like their life depend on it. Truckloads of donuts, chips, and cake. On one occasion, truckloads of bacon.
  • Stephanie’s sidekick Lula developed the sit-jitsu battle skill where she would sit on a criminal and squash them as a bug
  • Stephanie’s two love interests Joe Morelli and Ranger are no longer translucent. Morelli is the cop and Ranger is the mysterious millionaire in love with the clumsy nerd. Both didn’t add anything to the story over the last 4 books and I wish they get assignments in Venezuela. They were better when they were translucent.

All in all, books 7 to 10 are all in the 4/5 territory. They’re fine and I may read a few more because reading about Stephanie Plum is comforting. I just hope she stops eating donuts. It’s bad for her and unpleasant for me. We don’t want the main characters to die from sugar poisoning.