Lecture Report

(the following silliness is for trigeeks only)

Physics 2070/2700 Lecture 1

Tuesday Sept 15, 2009

Short version: went over course outline, lectured on the Sun. Best solar lecture in Ontario on Tuesday, M50-54, 1hr 38 min 12 sec

Long version:

All week I had been tense knowing about Tuesday's lecture. When I got signed up to do the lecture last May by my Chair it seemed so far off. I worked hard all summer not thinking and trying to talk for only minutes at a time so I would be ready on the big day. And it came! I barely slept a wink Monday night, and was only half-asleep at 3:30 when the alarm rang. I got up and had my pre-lecture breakfast of sardines, tuna, pickled herring and buttermilk. At 5:27 I left for the lecture site. I had checked and re-checked my lecture bag and new I had what I needed for this 2 lecture hour endurance test: cup of tea, power cord, laptop, green laser pointer & iphone. I sat outside the room and waited for my turn to enter.

At 1120 the class using the room last filed out and I made my way in. As the students filed in I set up my lecture area (L1) with my electronics. I tested the internet connection and waited, first for the yellow flag signaling 5 min to start, then the green flag meaning 1 min. 1130 came and I found myself in a panic saying "Hello, my name is Prof. Sica". I steadied myself and remembered how I got here, the hours of training and practice in kindergarden, primary school, secondary school, tertiary school and a postdoc. I got in a good rhyme and fired up the browser to the class outline, deftly pulling the browser window off my laptop screen onto the projection screen. I had a good rhythm thought the outline and handled most of the points well, my intent stares stopping any poor soul's questions with a glance.

Onto the last section on Religious Accommodation I let up a bit preparing myself for the transition from the course outline on Preview to the Keynote lecture on the Sun. I had struggled at this point other years, in particularly with GI problems and knew this was a terrible part of the day to have gas. Fortunately my low fiber eating paid off. I closed the window and quickly switched from the campus network to a private wireless network and my iPhone hooked up like I had practiced and took control of the first slide using Keynote Remote.

From here it was easy, as I tend to have more trouble with the class information sheet and rules than the lecture content. I avoided tripping over the explanation of power output for the Sun, and heading into the final part of the lecture on the future state of the Sun over the next several billion years I realized I had a PB going, as I usually just skip this bit. I didn't run the java applet of the process on the last slide, but got the essence of the diagram explained.

After the lecture I answered some questions and headed home, where Pat greeted me with a warm hug. Without her constant help I never could do have done this. I also want to thank my parents for their constantly reminding me to do my homework, Columbia University, University Alaska, everyone there, thanks so much.

Now do you understand why I NEVER WRITE RACE REPORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

haha,

boB