Luck of the Belgian

Simon is my neighbor. He's been living here for a little over a month now. He's a business student from Belgium, in Milwaukee for an internship. He doesn't know anyone else, so we hang out together often. Whenever I want to try something new like a restaurant or a section of town, I know that Simon will be willing to give it a shot and that he probably doesn't have other plans anyway.

The other night Simon went to the bar with me to check out their Trivia set-up. We spent some of the evening playing darts. I taught him to play Cricket. He beat me in all three games.

I've taught him to play Cribbage, a great game for two players. Simon must have had a fantastic teacher because he hasn't lost yet.

Tonight we went for dinner at a BBQ - the Q BBQ. It was delicious. Afterwards, I asked Simon if we could check out the Milwaukee casino, Potawatomi. I've always wanted to look around and become familar with it. I may want to bring visitors there sometime or it could be a good way to spend a Friday evening with friends. I want to know what to expect.

Simon and I walked around Potawatomi for a while, probably 15 minutes checking things out. Finally he said he wanted to try a slot machine - "just for $5" he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. Sure, and I want to try some video poker too. I watched him play the slot for about 5 spins before he won $20. He automatically hit the "cash out" button and said he was done. I certainly did not have a compulsive gambler on my hands. We then went to the video poker machines. I explained some of the rules, but when my $5 was spent we left the machine. As we walked around a little more Simon decided he was going to sit down at another slot machine. "As long as I leave with $10," he said. We found a good machine, and good it was. Within 5 spins Simon had a row of "wilds." I thought he won another $20 but no, the credits kept climbing and Simon asked me, "What's going on? When's it going to stop?" A lady passing by stopped and told us he had won 1000 credits or $250. We were shocked but very happy. Simon cashed out and we walked away. I told him that I'm a paranoid person and I would rather not cash out right away. We walked around some more and Simon had cigarette. We got Simon's cash and got out of the casino before we could give it back.

I'm thinking about taking Simon to Vegas. Well, at least I'm going to make sure he's on my ultimate frisbee team.

Pinsky

Tonight I saw Robert Pinsky at the Milwaukee Public Library. He read poetry from Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams. I enjoyed hearing him speak despite his Jersey accent. Of course when he talked about how some people of his generation consider Bob Dylan to be a poet, I knew he was talking about his colleague, Prof Ricks, who often talked about Dylan in his Shakespeare class.

I should have brought Tyrone to this poetry reading. It wasn't too long, but it was interesting and these are the types of things that I want to expose him to. Perhaps I'll take him to the next one or the reading of works of Saul Bellow.

extra clean

My mind's been wandering lately. For example, this morning I took two showers. Normally I go swimming at the gym first thing in the morning, but today I slept in a little late - by 15 minutes - and this threw everything out of whack. I woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast, and then took another shower. I should have noticed that my towel was still wet when I moved it from the shower to the towel rod, but I didn't.

Trivia, Milwaukee style

Tonight, Simon and I found a bar that plays Trivia. We didn't play but we should have. I think we could have won. Simon is my new neighbor. He's from Belgium, he doesn't know much American trivia, nor did he understand many of the questions that were asked tonight - but that only put him on an equal level with the other patrons of the bar.

I'm used to Our House level of trivia. Tonight, there were only four teams. One of them was named "the Bulls". None of them were named after obscure movie/TV quotes like "Boo-urns" or "Shut up, Donny." We're going back next week. And we're bringing April and Karen. Not only will they double the average IQ of the bar but they'll also double the number of women there as well. That $50 gift certificate is ours. Oh, and Simon and I had 6 beers (3 Leinenkugals and 3 Blue Moons) and the bill came to $15. Milwaukee is so different from Boston.

wasted trip

Today I went for a walk to the Ace Hardware store on Brady Street. I had an hour to spend while waiting for my drier (or dryer). I needed to buy steel wool for my stained glass project.

I walked all the way there and found out that they had closed at 4. It was 4:15. If I had not waited for my mom's phone call earlier in the afternoon, I would have made it.

So, because I didn't want to waste the whole trip, I stopped at the Pick 'n' Save for some groceries. For some reason, I checked my back pocket and realized that I had left my wallet at home. Oops. I turned back home, and continued with my laundry.

strangers

Today during the Children's Message at church, one of the kids brought up an idea that most Christians avoid. It was somewhat amusing watching the minister squirm with the difficult topic. The scene progressed in a fashion such as this:

Pastor Velma was talking about today's baptism and she said how baptisms remind us that we are all brothers and sisters. All of us - those in the church, those at school, those people walking down the street. One of the kids asked her, "What about strangers? Are they our brothers and sisters?"

"Yes, all people are our brothers and sisters."

"But we're not supposed to talk to strangers?"

"Right. Don't talk to strangers."

Another kid piped in, "Because they could take us away."

"Yes, they do strange things; that's why they're called strangers. But they're still your brothers and sisters. They're your brothers and sisters...at a distance. They can be your brothers and sisters over there."

I only thought this was funny because it's a problem that should bother all Christians. How are we to love those whom we're afraid of? How can we reach out to people and yet keep our distance? We can't. Luckily I've found a church that is active in its faith. Several members have their own pet projects in which they're involved, including homelessness, justice in Milwaukee, education and poverty, Cuba, and just helping the random people that wander into our church, which is pretty common when you're placed next to a soup kitchen in a shadier part of the city. The congregation is a healthy mix of blue-collar workers to teachers and lawyers. It's a good group to be a part of, even if they can be frustrating, as most churchs tend to be. I hope the kids continue to remind us of the challenges that we face and inspire us to keep moving forward.

Discover Renate

Ah, Renate. A name like that would not be made up. What kind of name is that anyway? I hope this will be the last of my entries in this series.

Thank you for your reply. I do apologize for any frustrations. I am investigating the charge from Intuit. At the same time, I have placed a temporary credit on your Discover Card Account for $21.07, which will remain on your Account until the issue is resolved.

It usually takes three to four weeks for an investigation to be completed. Once we receive additional information we will keep you informed via printed mail.

I hope I have answered your question to your satisfaction. Thank you for your continued business with Discover Card.

Sincerely,

Renate

Thank you, Renate,

I appreciate your message. The previous messages had the impersonal feeling of an automated answering service. I was beginning to doubt that I was actually communicating with a real person. Why is it that the same person never responded to me twice? Are my questions passed on to other people? Or is this really a computer program that randomly "signs" a name to each message?

I don't expect to hear from you again, Renate, however, I did appreciate your message.

Thanks,

Don

It's like a workaholic but with alcohol.

I've been working a great deal these days. Deadlines, training, meetings - but in the end it all comes down to one thing - overtime pay.

Last night I stayed late (only planning to stay until 7) so that I could finish a data report to report to my team this morning at 9 am. It's not really a big deal, just an internal meeting with the project managers. Nothing had looked strange in the data so I was under no pressure.

As I sat working in my cube at 5:30 yesterday, a consultant whom I will call BJ (actually that's what I call him in my head) came by and said, "Oooh, are you staying late? I need you to do such-and-such for me." And then he gave me work to do!

Yes, I was staying late. You know why? Because I had my own stuff to get done. I wasn't sitting around the office after hours looking to do the work that BJ hadn't gotten around to yet.

When I finished his job I almost asked him if he was going to help me with the stuff I had pushed aside. That would have been funny but the humor would have been lost on him. BJ is somewhat ego-centric and really doesn't understand that other people have their own deadlines and stressors. I often wonder how he got his position.

On Monday I also faced one of my fears at work. I called the computer lady in Boston. I talked on the phone with her for an hour and I think she only got mad at me 3 times. However, in the end I think I won her over, by use of my schmoozing and humility. I say "humility" because I asked her many questions and tried not to think for myself. I let her mold me to be the computer user that she wanted, as opposed to the IT guy that we have in the office that would probably be trying to do things his way.

Tomorrow I leave for a two-day training trip to Chicago. Six o'clock train. ugh. But 2 other guys from the office are also going on this trip. Hopefully it will be fun.

Discover Chris

I'm already tired of this running gag. I just want my $21.65 back.

Thank you for your message regarding a transaction on your Discover Card Account. If you would rather speak with someone about this situation, please contact our Customer Service at 1-800-347-2683.

I would be happy to help you with an investigation if needed. So you are aware, the merchant has 15 days from cancellation to issue credit. If it is beyond this time, we can begin the investigation. Please reply to this message with the date of cancellation so I can begin to look into this for you.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. Thank you for choosing to use Discover Card.

Sincerely,

Chris

Hi Chris,

The number you gave me is the same as 1-800-DISCOVER. Did you think I wouldn't figure that out? I was actually looking for a direct number to you (or Trevor or Gail). This method would be much more useful than for me to call an automated system, for which there is no choice for "disputed charges", and when finally talking to a person, to have to explain the situation again. Why can't I just talk to you (or Trevor or Gail)?

As I said in a previous message (I think that one was to Gail), I called Intuit to cancel the charge on April 7th. However, I think I called India, so they probably have the call on their record for April 8th. Is that the date that you are looking for? That's also the original date that I called 1-800-DISCOVER (aka 1-800-347-2683).

As for questions and concerns, why have I received three responses from three different people?

Let me know if you need any other information from me. However, I think I've given you all I have at this point.

Thanks,

Don

Discover Trevor

Gail didn't respond, but Trevor did!

I left for work at 9 this morning and didn't return home until 10:30 tonight (I did take a 2 hour long dinner break though).

However, I did have a chance to write back to the people of Discover:

Thank you for your reply. In order to cancel this service, you will need to contact the merchant directly to do so. You may wish to request a cancellation number to ensure that your request is properly processed.

Intuit has listed their toll-free phone number next to the charge on your Account. Please contact them to request the cancellation and request an estimated time that you can expect a credit to your Account.

If you need anything else, please let me know! Thank you for choosing to use Discover Card.

Regards,

Trevor

Hi Trevor,

What happened to Gail?

In the original message that was received by Gail, I gave her the cancellation number that Intuit had given me. In a previous message that I sent you, I explained that I had already contacted Intuit. They gave me the number 001928.

Is there a phone number at which I could reach you? That would probably be much easier than filling out these message windows and it wouldn't feel so impersonal.

Let me know if there's any other information that you need.

Thanks,

Don

light sticks

People are throwing light sticks around on the field outside of my apartment complex. I remember doing that at camp.

Discover Gail

I was charged twice to file my Wisconsin Income Taxes. It's not the money. It's not the principle either. It's more the frustration of dealing with "customer service." I am doing my part to take down the system, are you?

Here are some of the messages I worked on tonight. From the text you'll understand why I am not able to publish all of the messages I worked on. I'll keep you updated if the story actually becomes interesting.

Hi Gail,

I have been logged off twice while typing a response to you. This website needs to give us more time to write these little messages. Of course, if there were a phone number at which you could be reached that would be much easier. I am probably going to send this message in pieces so that I won't be logged off again and lose what I had already typed.

I am responding to the questions you had regarding my request to reverse a charge on my account.

Hi Gail,

This is my second reply:

I don't have the title of the service that I received. It was through Turbo Tax, which I suppose is operated through Intuit. It was not a program that I downloaded, I was only paying to electronically file my state income taxes. I was charged to access my information twice; the first payment should have allowed me to access my documents as often as I wanted to. When I try to go back to the Turbo Tax website, I cannot get to the page on which the service is listed. Because I have already paid for the service, that page automatically is passed over. (I wish that pass over had happened the second time. And then neither of us would be going through this.)

Hi Gail,

This is my second attempt at my third reply. I was logged out in the middle of my first try.

In response to your second question, I called Intuit on April 7th. However, I think I called India so it will probably be documented on April 8th. I think I called India because I talked to a man named Raj and he had trouble with the word "Wisconsin". He didn't have trouble pronouncing it; he just seemed as if he had never heard it before. He very well could have been in the States but my bet is on the Indian sub-continent. He only gave me the authorization number; he said that was all I would need for you to reverse the charge. It was pretty easy to get the number from him which leads me to believe that this is common problem that they come across.

Hi Gail,

This is my fourth response:

I also called 1-800-DISCOVER the night that I talked to Raj. The woman that I talked to that night told me to wait until the charges actually showed up on my account. She could tell that the charges had been made but she said that I should wait until they were authorized before I had them unauthorized. This seemed like it only creates extra work for you.

I have no other documentation nor anything else to add to my story. I did not keep good records because I did not anticipate needing to explain this much to anybody. It seems as if Intuit should be able look at my record and see that I paid twice to access the same account.

If there are any other things that you need, please let me know. It would be much easier for me to contact you on a phone, however, instead of this messaging service - unless you hang up on your customers as often as this site logs off. haha.

Thank you for your help,

Don

late

I'm late for work, but instead I'm playing Freecell.

Sunday School Teacher

I have been drafted to teach the high school Sunday School class at my church. Actually I asked to be involved with organizing some sort of youth group and this was the best they had to offer. It's a good start. If I can win over a base group of kids who are forced to be there, perhaps I can get them to come back to the church later for other activities.

Sunday School meets while the service is going on. This is certainly a flawed system, I know, but it's what we have so I have to work from where I am. Anyway, because of this there is no weekly teacher; no one wants to miss church every week. We have a rotation schedule and this past week was my turn. The School is revamping itself - trying to get a better curriculum - something more structured and also to retain the kids that come. I was told to prepare to teach from a specific lesson, maybe Luke 24. I prepared. I had cross references (haha, cross references) and ways to relate the lesson to history and to our own lives, and hopefully the lives of teenagers. I also had some discussion topics picked to get high schoolers talking so that we could grow to be more familiar with each other.

I arrived at church on Sunday a little nervous. (I would like to point out that I had abstained from drinking the night before, so I was not hungover. This was a special Sunday.) I waited patiently in the classroom. Some students arrived. We chatted. And then the old teacher arrived from before the curriculum revamping! And when I use the word "old" I mean it in two ways. The first as in "the previous teacher"; the second being that she sat next to Jesus in the third grade. I was going to try to get her to leave but then realized that she would be a good foil for me. The students could compare us and see how much cooler I am. This woman, Betty, started off class by explaining how she knows where teenagers are coming from and the problems that they face. She told us about her sexual abuse as a child and how her kids abused drugs. OMG, how do I get out of this?

I then had the good fortune of the Sunday School director deciding to stop by. She, Dina, is old (and crotchety). And I mean "old" purely in the "she used to beat up Jesus in third grade" kind of way. As the two old ladies (from here on out I will call them "the biddies") began to talk about the olden days, I highjacked the conversation and decided to set out on introductions. We went around the circle, most of us (me and the students) answered in straight-forward manners to my questions - name? school? grade? what we expect to get from church? - but the biddies went on-and-on. I had to interupt again. I probably said, "That must have been really hard for you...but let's get back to our original topic."

I found out that the lesson I had planned was not what the biddies were expecting. They expected us to read about the temptations of Christ. I almost mentioned Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ but then thought better of it. In my delay, though, Betty went on about how kids these days are tempted to sell drugs. I brought us back to a normal topic and we talked about the choices we make, such as choosing between careers that make a good deal of money versus those that help other people. I then went out on a limb. I talked about The Lord of the Rings. I asked if they could see the parallels between Jesus and Gandalf. Jesus could have been King of the Jews, Rex Iudicis. He could have used his powers as the devil tempted him to do to destroy Ceasar and the oppressive Roman Empire. Likewise, Gandalf could have used the Ring of Power to defeat Sauron. Neither would have been "evil rulers" but both would have used their God-given powers for purposes that God didn't want. The kids had seen the movies. (score: 1) The kids understood the parallel and wanted to know more about how the stories relate. (score: 2) The kids started asking questions. (score: 3) The biddies were interested too; they must be closet-Tolkien fans. (score: bajillion)

I think I won. They biddies approved of me. The kids were friendly and some of us talked during coffee hour. Some other congregants asked me in hushed tones, "I saw you were teaching today with both of them - how'd it go?" It went great. It'll take a lot more to knock me down. But I know that this East Coast Liberal can't let his guard down.

"Milwaukee is a classy place."

The highlight of Jenn's visit to Milwaukee was Friday night when we went on the Lakefront Brewery tour. While we waited for the tour to begin it was too difficult to get the bartender's attention so we had to begin the tour sober. Sobriety lasted about 5 minutes.

When the tour group reached the brewery floor we went straight to the tap. Our guide explained the 4 types of beers that they were serving that day - including the fresh (tapped that morning) Cherry beer. The guide also told us that during any time of the tour, if we needed to leave the group to "top off", we should just make our way back to the tap and the bartender there would help us.

This was my second time on the Lakefront tour, however, with a quick show of hands the tour guide found out that most of us had been on the tour before, about half of us had been on it more than 5 times and maybe 20 of the group had been on it more than 10 times. This truly is a gem of Milwaukee.

I learned very little during the tour - perhaps this was due to the 5 trips to the tap. Jenn only made it 4 times, but she was drinking the dark beer. This was all in the course of an hour.

The funniest part of the trip was when we were near Bernie's Beer Chalet. Bernie is the mascot for the Milwaukee Brewers. During baseball games, he usually stays in his Beer Chalet, which is located above left field. He has a slide and he dances up there, and he probably puts back a few brewskies as well. A few years ago, when County Stadium was torn down to build Miller Park, the Lakefront Brewery bought his Chalet from the old stadium. They now have it in the middle of their brewery. As I was explaining the story to Jenn, she scoffed at the idea of it being a "chalet." I told her to ask anyone in the group what it's called and they will agree with me. She asked a drunk, who happened to be sitting on the front "stoop" of the chalet, what was the building in which he was in. He replied, "This is the Beer Chalet." Jenn laughed and turned to me in amazement. When that guy had gone she turned to another guy in the hut and asked him the name of the little building. He too said, "This is the Beer Chalet" but then to wipe away any disbelief from Jenn he added, "We're very Europe-ian (pronounced your-rope-i-an) in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is a classy place." This made us all laugh and Jenn and I repeated it for the rest of the evening. The tour continued - we picked a Bung Queen and reenacted our favorite scenes from Laverne & Shirley. Truly Classy.

After the tour we stayed at Lakefront for the fish fry. How could we say no when there was a live polka band. Jenn and I danced to the Pennsylvania Polka, which, I pointed out to our waitress, is the PA State Song, and to Roll Out the Barrel, which is played at Brewers games during the 7th inning stretch - right after the sausage races. Milwaukee is a classy place. We sat with strangers, who were no longer strangers by the time we left. Jenn asked an old man to dance with her during his next available polka. However, that was while they were waiting for the bathrooms, and he never found her later to fulfill his promise.

This was all before 9 o'clock and the rest of the evening wasn't nearly so jam-packed eventful. Some noteable things though:

• Bar 2: Jenn knocked over a guy's beer; I quickly bought him a new one before he punched me.
• Bar 3: Anthropologist-laden.
• Bar 4: The bouncer asked Jenn and me to refrain from tap dancing on the dance floor. I suppose he doesn't appreciate Wings or the Shuffle off to Buffalo.
• <>Bar 5: More of a club - we tried doing the polka, but had to stop when we began to knock drinks out of other people's hands.
  

<><>Milwaukee is a classy place.

culture straddler

My choice of what to do this evening is between watching Ice Cube's Friday or reading Balzac's Cousin Bette.

football or breasts

On my Wisconsin state tax form there are boxes to donate part of my refund to the Packers Stadium Fund and Breast Cancer Research. The Packers box is 2 lines higher than the breast cancer box. It also has the Green Bay icon next to it. Priorities, priorities.

zzzzzzzz

Jenn has fallen asleep already on my futon. Her breathing is on the verge of a snore. I hope she doesn't read this post until she's back in Boston.

crashing the party

Jenn is in town for an Anthropology Convention. She thought that the reception was at 6 tonight, but she was wrong; it was at 9. That meant that after my stained glass class I was able to attend the party.

The only problem is that I am not a registered anthropologist. Luckily, though, noone was checking IDs at the door. And nobody was manning the registration table. So, when noone was looking, I swiped a name tag - Prof. Theodore Surrl of the University of Pennsylvania. If someone asked, I studied lemur femurs. However, I was never asked about my background; everyone else was talking about their own projects.

At one point in the evening, Jenn introduced me to some friends and told them I was an interloper. They made a joke about hanging out with a bunch of nerds and I replied that they were very cool next to the math guys that I relate too. They agreed. But then they took the joke a step too far. They said that math guys were worse than anthro., but not nearly as bad as stats guys. Another person agreed, stats people may have the best job opportunities but they are the most boring people to spend time with. While the rest of the group continued to go on and on...and on about how bad statistics is (and the people who study it!) Jenn looked at me and said, "This is getting very awkward." I nodded. I finished my rum and "cola" and we left.

amazing my coworkers

setting - My Cubicle

From behind Brian approaches Donny who is typing working feverishly at the parameter set for the TRL $50 Million Underfunded Test.

Brian: Donny, can you give me the person who was giving us all the errors when we loaded the TRL data?

Donny (without hesitating): Her Social Security Number is 355-36-(insert my phone number (which is how I remembered it)).

Brian: Well, uh...since I haven't memorized the Soc's yet can you write it down for me?

Donny: Sure.

Donny scribbles a note on a piece of paper. Brian exits.

I'm not going to tell him why I remembered the number so easily. I'll let him continue to be impressed. Even if his "respect" is more along the lines of confused apprehension.

irate

I'm filling out taxes. I'm waiting on the phone to contact TurboTax because they charged me to visit my tax form the second time I accessed the site I was there again because I had already filed the federal forms I needed to get a copy of them so that I could file the Wisconsin taxes. Eventually an Indian man took my call. Of course, he could be Indian-American, but let's be serious, he was in India, maybe Pakistan. I also believe this because he never said "Wisconsin" just "uhhh, your state". Anyway Raj listened to my story and easily gave in. He gave me my authorization code to cancel the second payment to my Discover Card.

Thank you, Raj, I really appreaciate not having to give you a hard time for my $21.65. And perhaps you know the truth - that the real hurdle is to get past the Discover "Customer Service" line.

My new method for the answering service is to keep pressing 1. I never get the correct department but whoever does take my call can then transfer me to where I need to go. Or I go to the department "to make a payment". You'll always get prompt service when you're giving your credit card numbers. This time I tried the payment method. After a brief wait I reached Marge, who was not at all surprised that I did not want to make a payment, but instead wanted some credit back. She was pleasant and explained to me that I would have to wait until the payment was posted to my statement before I could use my magical authorization number ("magical" is my term, not Marge's) So, I have to call Discover again, but at least now I have a method - and a friend, in Marge.

I am also currently thinking about contacting Discover through their "Customer Service" website about the new bankruptcy legislation passed in Congress. Before this bill was passed, a person who claimed bankruptcy would be absolved from paying his credit card debt. This allowed for dishonest people to rack up huge debts and then ditch it. Credit companies were furious as they should be. But, statistically this was a small portion of the people who filed for bankruptcy. Statistically, most people who are driven to bankruptcy are there for medical reasons - more likely the financial problems that currently come along with medical problems. But that's a tirade for another day. Back to credit cards: it was argued on Capitol Hill that the old way of bankruptcy would cost the average, honest person $400 each year for the extra interest they pay to cover those debt-dodgers. So, my question for Discover is this: Will my interest rate go down due to the less risk I now pose to your company? Will I receive $400 more in benefits from you, Discover Card?

The extra time I spent on the phone (and online) gave me a chance to do some research. While looking for tax forms on the Massachusetts site I found a listing of "sex offenders in your community." I checked; you're not listed. But did you know that Father O'Leary has changed parishes in the past year?

See my next post for what I found out about oil production.

What a man

Where are the original Spice Girls - Salt 'n' Pepa? I heard their song at they gym today. I think America is ready for a "Best of" album. And a reunion tour.

Denied

I have volunteered at the Downtown YMCA to be a mentor to a local high school student. This is a four-year commitment in which we're supposed to build a relationship. I'm to guide him along the road to college and to expose him to new things. A few months ago I was assigned to Tyrone, a freshman. He's a good kid. We usually go out for dinner or just hang out. I've also brought him to the state park and to a book signing by Phil Jackson. I had hoped that the program would be geared more towards the academics but it turns out that this is more like a Big Brothers program.

A few weeks ago I tricked Tyrone. I told him that I would be going to the library to study and asked if he'd like to come too. I made it clear that I would be studying for my exam but that this would be a good chance for him to do his homework away from his little sisters. Even though I talked it up I was surprised that he agreed to go with me. I say that I "tricked" him because in reality I wanted to see how well he's being taught. He's in an algebra class now and I wanted to know if he's learning anything. So, after a little bit of studying I asked him how his work was going and before you know it, I was on his side of the table showing him how to factor numbers. We spent an hour going over factoring, and I think he enjoyed it. I know I did. Man, I miss tutoring. He mentioned a couple of times how much easier his homework seemed after I went over it with him and that he'd be able to use what I had showed him.

On the drive back to his house I mentioned that I go to the library all the time, and if he'd like to come with me once a week, I'd have no problem with it. He could bring his homework from the past week and I could make sure that he understood it. I could show him more tricks like those I had already taught him. And if not on a regular basis, he could call me if he ever needs something explained to him. But, no, he turned me down. He said that he could call his sister's boyfriend - who is in college, he pointed out. Tyrone, you're killing me. In an hour I just explained something that your teacher hasn't in the past 3 weeks. I have charged $20/hour for my tutoring. I have a master's degree in mathematics. You're turning me down? Granted on credentials alone, I probably would too - but we just had a successful hour-long session. My ego is a little bloated, I know. I'm mostly dissappointed that I lost the opportunity to work with a student again.

I was reminded of this after last night. Tyrone and I went out for dinner. I was asking about classes and after trying to describe what's going on in algebra, we ended up working with numbers on the placemat. I taught him how to solve a system of equations. Sadly, I had fun doing it. I seriously have to find a tutoring program to work with.