It was bound to happen. For years, I've been studiously avoiding anything to do with "Twilight." But now I'm working in the kitchen when the girls are watching in the next room and it's unavoidable.
Oh. My. God. This is the most awful stuff I've seen in a long long time. In general, I think teenage girls are a lot smarter than teenage boys about most stuff, but I can say without a doubt that about this stuff the guys are way smarter.
Friday, January 28, 2011
TW3
Well that was a weird week, wasn't it? I do prefer a bit of chaos in my life and I love cold weather and snow, but this is maybe a bit over the top. My wife and I were reminiscing about the good old days when the weather forecasters really had no idea what was going to happen- back before radar and satellites. We were noting how accurate all the snowfall predictions had been. But these storms where warm moist air comes up the coast and meets cold air from the north are almost completely unpredictable. Nobody is able to determine how much water a storm is picking up as it passes over the Atlantic, or exactly what the meeting temperature will be. Get it just right and wham! A foot of thundersnow.
On another topic, there's one dynamic that I see everywhere I work. If you get a decent size group together, you can get a segment of the group discussing a problem- both the reasons behind it and potential solutions. This will go on for a bit and then someone who is not in that segment will say, "Well I never have that problem." This kind of sentiment never fails to be irritating. The clear implication is, "I do something that works for me and if you would only do what I do it will work for you too." As a result, nobody ends up listening to them, because there's nothing helpful about what they have to say.
I've heard this kind of stuff all the time throughout my careers, and come to think of it, my life too. And I guess what bothers me most is how close it is to being helpful and yet how far. I know I've occasionally said that I always think I know what's best. But I don't come to that conclusion based on what's worked for me. I know myself; I'm kind of odd, and it would be just as silly to expect people to deal with situations the way I do as it would to expect kids to do calculations in their head if they've never done them before. When I say I know best, I mean that I've listened to what everyone else is saying and have come to a conclusion based on what they say, not what I think.
The ability to listen and think outside of ourselves is a uniquely human characteristic, but it's hard work and so far too few people practice it. Hmm. Think it's time to finish that essay on listening that I never completed.
On another topic, there's one dynamic that I see everywhere I work. If you get a decent size group together, you can get a segment of the group discussing a problem- both the reasons behind it and potential solutions. This will go on for a bit and then someone who is not in that segment will say, "Well I never have that problem." This kind of sentiment never fails to be irritating. The clear implication is, "I do something that works for me and if you would only do what I do it will work for you too." As a result, nobody ends up listening to them, because there's nothing helpful about what they have to say.
I've heard this kind of stuff all the time throughout my careers, and come to think of it, my life too. And I guess what bothers me most is how close it is to being helpful and yet how far. I know I've occasionally said that I always think I know what's best. But I don't come to that conclusion based on what's worked for me. I know myself; I'm kind of odd, and it would be just as silly to expect people to deal with situations the way I do as it would to expect kids to do calculations in their head if they've never done them before. When I say I know best, I mean that I've listened to what everyone else is saying and have come to a conclusion based on what they say, not what I think.
The ability to listen and think outside of ourselves is a uniquely human characteristic, but it's hard work and so far too few people practice it. Hmm. Think it's time to finish that essay on listening that I never completed.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Mind wandering on the ski lift
I skied alone for most of the day today. That was fine. You can't really ski with someone, that would be dangerous. Skiing with someone mostly entails sitting on the lift talking abut the last run and where you want to go next.
But today I mostly rode the lift alone. It occurred to me on one of those rides that almost 20% of my students this year are named Sarah and another 15% are named Daniel. Amazingly enough, they're not that hard to tell apart.
But today I mostly rode the lift alone. It occurred to me on one of those rides that almost 20% of my students this year are named Sarah and another 15% are named Daniel. Amazingly enough, they're not that hard to tell apart.
...and we're back
I made beef stew today and it turned out pretty well. Beef stew is great food if you like your meat to taste like carrots and your potatoes to taste like meat. I make pretty good chili but this was my most successful stew.
We have new soap in the shower and it has a loofah. The package says it makes the shower "invigorating," which I guess it does if your definition of invigorating is "scratchy."
I watched most of the football games and those were possibly the least exciting close playoff games I've ever seen, probably because all the teams played like crap. The Packers played a good quarter, the Steelers played a good half and the Jets played a good third. I'm not much for common denominators, but that averages to just over one good quarter per team. Ugh. Hope the Super Bowl goes better.
Drove with my daughter on the Blue Route. Her first time on an expressway. I'm here to write this and I'll leave it at that. She's actually a pretty good driver for someone who's been driving for two months, but that's a pretty important qualifier.
We have new soap in the shower and it has a loofah. The package says it makes the shower "invigorating," which I guess it does if your definition of invigorating is "scratchy."
I watched most of the football games and those were possibly the least exciting close playoff games I've ever seen, probably because all the teams played like crap. The Packers played a good quarter, the Steelers played a good half and the Jets played a good third. I'm not much for common denominators, but that averages to just over one good quarter per team. Ugh. Hope the Super Bowl goes better.
Drove with my daughter on the Blue Route. Her first time on an expressway. I'm here to write this and I'll leave it at that. She's actually a pretty good driver for someone who's been driving for two months, but that's a pretty important qualifier.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Autoquote
I don't often quote myself, because it seems dumb. I'm just talking, and yeah I'm trying to be funny sometimes, but that's because interesting and amusing for me to construct something funny, not because I'm trying to be quotable. But I liked something I said to someone in class today, so I'll repeat it.
We has an a capella group at school today. We've had this before, and the one side effect of it is that the kids continue to sing for the rest of the day. I had one kid in a class right after the concert who continued to sing throughout the period, even while she was simplifying functions using trig identities. I like trig identities and though I have never found them particularly melodic, this person just kept on singing. I asked them to stop, and then again, and then again. And after the 3rd time, I said,
"When I asked you to please stop singing and you said 'OK,' what did you mean by that?"
And no, that didn't stop them either.
We has an a capella group at school today. We've had this before, and the one side effect of it is that the kids continue to sing for the rest of the day. I had one kid in a class right after the concert who continued to sing throughout the period, even while she was simplifying functions using trig identities. I like trig identities and though I have never found them particularly melodic, this person just kept on singing. I asked them to stop, and then again, and then again. And after the 3rd time, I said,
"When I asked you to please stop singing and you said 'OK,' what did you mean by that?"
And no, that didn't stop them either.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Watching football
I don't really like football that much as sports go. I find it kind of rigd, and therefore a bit repetitive and boring. I know I am not in the majority on this.
I also find the incessant shouting by the announcers to be very unpleasant, so I tend to watch with the sound off. That being said, football announcers are paragons of intellectual prowess compared to the commercials I've been seeing the last couple of weeks. If I'm trying to think of stupid, insulting pointless commercials, it's hard to top the current Miller Lite campaign. Girly man jokes? Really?
The Coors Light spots aren't as insulting, but they're even more pointless. At least the Miller Lite stuff has a product message. What is supposed to be happening in the Coors commercials? At first I thought it was sort of cute, a couple of regular guys crash the uberserious NFL post-game press conference. But now after a dozen or so executions they dominate the proceedings and insult the coaches. Why is that a good thing?
It's so bad, I don't even mind the repetition of the same iPad commercial over and over and over and over and over again, They're not very interesting anymore, but at least it's a break from the inanity. It really is beginning to look like TV advertisers are running out of ideas. It serves them right, having forsaken originality for nastiness and easy laughs.
I also find the incessant shouting by the announcers to be very unpleasant, so I tend to watch with the sound off. That being said, football announcers are paragons of intellectual prowess compared to the commercials I've been seeing the last couple of weeks. If I'm trying to think of stupid, insulting pointless commercials, it's hard to top the current Miller Lite campaign. Girly man jokes? Really?
The Coors Light spots aren't as insulting, but they're even more pointless. At least the Miller Lite stuff has a product message. What is supposed to be happening in the Coors commercials? At first I thought it was sort of cute, a couple of regular guys crash the uberserious NFL post-game press conference. But now after a dozen or so executions they dominate the proceedings and insult the coaches. Why is that a good thing?
It's so bad, I don't even mind the repetition of the same iPad commercial over and over and over and over and over again, They're not very interesting anymore, but at least it's a break from the inanity. It really is beginning to look like TV advertisers are running out of ideas. It serves them right, having forsaken originality for nastiness and easy laughs.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Meet the Parents
Tonight is the first night o parent conferences. I generally like this experience. I have a lot in common with many of the parents here and it's fun for me to share perspectives on the kids that I teach.
Tonight is probably not my favorite conferences night. Not because of the conferences themselves, but because I have 6 10-minute conferences spread over nearly 4 hours. Considering that I spent from 8 to 12 this morning sitting in the same windowless room watching kids take tests without any break at all, sitting in a classroom by myself for that long would not be my first choice of activities.
Ar this point, I've reached the stage where I'm powered solely by coffee and M&Ms. This is an underappreciated buzz, I think, and I got this special coffee at Starbucks that they make in a Clover brewing machine that is fantastic. Pop a few M&Ms, wash it down with some Sumatra and I have no problem at all carrying on for 10 minutes. Maybe even 15. Then I start to fuzz out a bit so I just repeat the process.
Tonight is probably not my favorite conferences night. Not because of the conferences themselves, but because I have 6 10-minute conferences spread over nearly 4 hours. Considering that I spent from 8 to 12 this morning sitting in the same windowless room watching kids take tests without any break at all, sitting in a classroom by myself for that long would not be my first choice of activities.
Ar this point, I've reached the stage where I'm powered solely by coffee and M&Ms. This is an underappreciated buzz, I think, and I got this special coffee at Starbucks that they make in a Clover brewing machine that is fantastic. Pop a few M&Ms, wash it down with some Sumatra and I have no problem at all carrying on for 10 minutes. Maybe even 15. Then I start to fuzz out a bit so I just repeat the process.
Monday, January 10, 2011
What's so special about grey?
Or gray? Why does it get to be spelled two different ways and pronounced and defined exactly the same? This seems to call into question all spellings and pronunciations in the dictionary. maybe there are other words like this that have a secret second spelling that they're (their? there?) just not telling us about. It's hard to stay focused on work when I'm focussed on this instead. And yes, both of those spellings are correct.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Friday ramblings
The first week back at school was relatively uneventful, in a busy sort of way. It felt very easy for me to slide back into teaching and any week where I'm pretty much left to do my thing is a good one. I'm not saying that my job is perfect, but knowing that my colleagues trust me to do a good job is important. I'm pretty sensitive to this, I guess because my father was such a demanding boss (and dad) and I never felt that it was okay to do things my own way.
Looking back on the times when I worked in more structured environments, I can see a pattern where I'll put up with a certain amount of second guessing (a manager would probably call it "oversight") but then will eventually unhinge myself emotionally from the job. Once that happens, I have a tendency to act in, let's just say a not totally professional manner. I hesitate to put any of these kinds of things in print, but I'll note that I got fired from a copy shop (like a Kinkos) because some woman kept trying to bargain the price of a printing job down. When she gave up on that approach she asked, "Would it be cheaper to print it on half a piece of paper?" and I replied, "Well technically, ma'am, there's no such thing as a half piece of paper, There are only smaller pieces of paper." She did not like that response.
Of course, you might say, "Well you're not exactly Mr. Professional to start with," but I don't totally agree. I know I can be silly and irreverent, but I take what I do very seriously and have high standards for the quality of teaching that I do. It's possible to be serious without being solemn or glum and it's possible to be serious and funny at the same time. Little kids do it all the time. Little kids are always completely serious and they do all kinds of ridiculous things.
Speaking of kids, my own younger kid is now learning to drive and did her first drive in the snow today. It was almost shockingly routine. First I made her speed up on a side street and then slam on the brakes so she could see what happened. I teach a kind of mellow, keep yourself out of trouble driving anyway (I know that's very unteenagerly and I don't think my other daughter is a mellow driver but she's not a mellow anything) and I told her that driving in the snow is just like regular driving except you can't expect the brakes to stop you or the steering wheel to turn you. The car's going to go wherever its momentum takes it, so keeping the momentum appropriate to the situation is essential (I know, I think way too much about this stuff). There were some good things about going to college in the snow belt and driving in bad weather's one of them.
Looking back on the times when I worked in more structured environments, I can see a pattern where I'll put up with a certain amount of second guessing (a manager would probably call it "oversight") but then will eventually unhinge myself emotionally from the job. Once that happens, I have a tendency to act in, let's just say a not totally professional manner. I hesitate to put any of these kinds of things in print, but I'll note that I got fired from a copy shop (like a Kinkos) because some woman kept trying to bargain the price of a printing job down. When she gave up on that approach she asked, "Would it be cheaper to print it on half a piece of paper?" and I replied, "Well technically, ma'am, there's no such thing as a half piece of paper, There are only smaller pieces of paper." She did not like that response.
Of course, you might say, "Well you're not exactly Mr. Professional to start with," but I don't totally agree. I know I can be silly and irreverent, but I take what I do very seriously and have high standards for the quality of teaching that I do. It's possible to be serious without being solemn or glum and it's possible to be serious and funny at the same time. Little kids do it all the time. Little kids are always completely serious and they do all kinds of ridiculous things.
Speaking of kids, my own younger kid is now learning to drive and did her first drive in the snow today. It was almost shockingly routine. First I made her speed up on a side street and then slam on the brakes so she could see what happened. I teach a kind of mellow, keep yourself out of trouble driving anyway (I know that's very unteenagerly and I don't think my other daughter is a mellow driver but she's not a mellow anything) and I told her that driving in the snow is just like regular driving except you can't expect the brakes to stop you or the steering wheel to turn you. The car's going to go wherever its momentum takes it, so keeping the momentum appropriate to the situation is essential (I know, I think way too much about this stuff). There were some good things about going to college in the snow belt and driving in bad weather's one of them.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
New Year's ramble
I'm not a big new year's resolution kind of guy. I spend an awful lot of my energy trying to live up to the standards I already set for myself, so it's not like I'm looking for more.
But this year I'm actually going to try to lose weight. I feel terribly cliche' doing this, but I can't really help that. I don't feel fat or anything, and I can still fit into clothes I bought 20 years ago (why I still have these clothes is another story). But considering I'm a little past my "Best If Used By" date, I think it just might be easier on my body if there was less of it. My parents, neither of whom has ever been particularly slim, are both in their 80's and all my grandparents lived into their 80's too, and my father is still very sharp and active at 82. So I've got a good shot at 30 more decent years if I take care of myself.
So how does one lose weight? If only there were books or web sites for that kind of thing. When I was younger I would just use the beer or munchies diet, which was I could drink beer or eat snack foods, but not together. That worked at the time but I drink a lot less now and I want to be able to have snacks with what I do drink. I think there has to be some combination of eating less and exercising more. I don't eat ridiculous meals, so I think controlling snacking and snacking on lower calorie things would be good. So I go to the supermarket to get the dreaded rice cakes and holy crap are there a lot of kinds of rice cakes. When did that happen? So many flavors, and there's not a rice flavored rice cake to be had. Okay, so Kettle Corn it is. We'll see if 10 of those is as satisfying as a cookie. I tend to doubt it.
Okay, what else is there? Fruit and vegetables I suppose, but I don't trust myself to actually eat them. Baked potato chips? Sacrilege! Lowfat ice cream? Why bother? Little teeny candies might be good, as would sugarless gum.
What do you think the ratio of nutritious to non-nutritious foods is in a modern supermarket? I defy anyone to go to the supermarket and even count how many types of non-nutritious foods you can buy. Between the candy and cookie aisle and the salty snack aisle, that'll keep you busy for a week. Then you have to decide if white bread is healthy, because there are over 100 kinds of bread at my local Acme (do we really need this? I think not). It's really sort of stunning if you stop to think about it.
As for exercise, I like to exercise. I have trouble sitting still for a long time, so moving around is fine. I used to like to run, but my body made it clear to me that it no longer approves. I love to cycle, but the idea of loading on frostbite prevention gear first makes it less attractive at this point. I will not join a gym. I have a couple of things at home- an elliptical and some weights, so I guess I can use them, but for today I just went for a brisk walk. That was actually very nice. I like to walk in the cold and I made a loop through my neighborhood that takes about a half hour. Not bad.
So I'll keep you posted, at least to the extent I can since we don't have a scale.
But this year I'm actually going to try to lose weight. I feel terribly cliche' doing this, but I can't really help that. I don't feel fat or anything, and I can still fit into clothes I bought 20 years ago (why I still have these clothes is another story). But considering I'm a little past my "Best If Used By" date, I think it just might be easier on my body if there was less of it. My parents, neither of whom has ever been particularly slim, are both in their 80's and all my grandparents lived into their 80's too, and my father is still very sharp and active at 82. So I've got a good shot at 30 more decent years if I take care of myself.
So how does one lose weight? If only there were books or web sites for that kind of thing. When I was younger I would just use the beer or munchies diet, which was I could drink beer or eat snack foods, but not together. That worked at the time but I drink a lot less now and I want to be able to have snacks with what I do drink. I think there has to be some combination of eating less and exercising more. I don't eat ridiculous meals, so I think controlling snacking and snacking on lower calorie things would be good. So I go to the supermarket to get the dreaded rice cakes and holy crap are there a lot of kinds of rice cakes. When did that happen? So many flavors, and there's not a rice flavored rice cake to be had. Okay, so Kettle Corn it is. We'll see if 10 of those is as satisfying as a cookie. I tend to doubt it.
Okay, what else is there? Fruit and vegetables I suppose, but I don't trust myself to actually eat them. Baked potato chips? Sacrilege! Lowfat ice cream? Why bother? Little teeny candies might be good, as would sugarless gum.
What do you think the ratio of nutritious to non-nutritious foods is in a modern supermarket? I defy anyone to go to the supermarket and even count how many types of non-nutritious foods you can buy. Between the candy and cookie aisle and the salty snack aisle, that'll keep you busy for a week. Then you have to decide if white bread is healthy, because there are over 100 kinds of bread at my local Acme (do we really need this? I think not). It's really sort of stunning if you stop to think about it.
As for exercise, I like to exercise. I have trouble sitting still for a long time, so moving around is fine. I used to like to run, but my body made it clear to me that it no longer approves. I love to cycle, but the idea of loading on frostbite prevention gear first makes it less attractive at this point. I will not join a gym. I have a couple of things at home- an elliptical and some weights, so I guess I can use them, but for today I just went for a brisk walk. That was actually very nice. I like to walk in the cold and I made a loop through my neighborhood that takes about a half hour. Not bad.
So I'll keep you posted, at least to the extent I can since we don't have a scale.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Adventures in grownuphood
My wife got this herbal/sage/other-smelly-stuff soap that's stinking up the bathroom and clashes horribly with my mint shampoo. Can my marriage survive? The fact that I bought it for her as a Mothers Day present doesn't help. I think I'll just have to wash multiple times every time I shower so it's gone soon. This is how people learn to get along. Or maybe it's how men manage to deal with living with women. Something like that.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Tough decision
So those of you who've seen my desk know it only as an unruly pile of papers covering almost all of the surface. Before break, I took all of those papers and put them in the box. Two years ago when I did that, my co-workers thought I'd quit. This time, I left some pencils and stuff scattered about to make it clear I was returning.
Here's the problem. Said box of papers has been sitting in the trunk of my car ever since. So what to I do with it? My usual filing system at home is to put all of my papers in a box, seal it up, and if I don't need to open the box for 6 months I throw the box away. This seems rash in this case. Problem is, I have no idea what's in the box. Given a week, I could sort through them. I think I'm going to have to settle for splitting them into "need now" and "might need later." Whatever should I do?
Here's the problem. Said box of papers has been sitting in the trunk of my car ever since. So what to I do with it? My usual filing system at home is to put all of my papers in a box, seal it up, and if I don't need to open the box for 6 months I throw the box away. This seems rash in this case. Problem is, I have no idea what's in the box. Given a week, I could sort through them. I think I'm going to have to settle for splitting them into "need now" and "might need later." Whatever should I do?
Mixed blessings
You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
You may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"
Talking Heads - "Once In A Lifetime"
Part of what makes my job enjoyable is that it's so different from what I did for most of my adult life. On the other hand, rarely a day goes by when I don't say to myself, "Wait a second, I'm teaching math? How did that happen?" This can be somewhat disconcerting, as you might imagine. You'd think that after 8 years I would have adjusted somehow to what I do with myself. And of course I have to a great extent. But I am quite sure that the question is still worth asking. How did this happen?
The easy answer is that I got lucky. And there certainly was a lot of luck involved, because the timing of the sale of our family's business could not have happened at a much more advantageous time for me. I was bored with what I was doing and had just started to try to figure out how to gracefully bow out (unlike the first time I left the business, where I just pretty much just rebelled at the way I was being treated and gave my father little choice but to fire me). I know myself well enough to be aware that I have some pretty serious issues dealing with authority, and so when I returned to the business after a few years it was to run a semi-independent unit. That was fun and interesting for a while but had run its course after 10 years. And before I could figure out how to get out, I was out.
This was completely different from any other major transition in my life. Everything else had a run-up and a natural progression: Lower school, middle school, high school, college, job, business school, job, job, married, job, kid, job, job, kid. But here I was with no next step. It was at once terrifying and exhilarating, and one feature of being in that state is that you tend to focus well, so I was pretty quickly able to break down what I liked and didn't like and what I was good and not so good at. Teaching just made sense and math was the easiest path to it.
That this ended up being more satisfying than everything else I believe was a direct consequence of the process I went through. And if I have any regrets looking back, it's that I didn't go through that kind of self-analysis earlier. It's all water over the bridge, as one of my not-native-English-speaking clients used to say, and I'm pretty happy now. I just think maybe I would have been happier sooner if I'd stopped and thought about what I was doing before I'd done all those other things.
Or maybe not; I'm not sure. It may be that you do what you can when you're ready to do it and not before. If I tried to choose a life path before I was mature enough to make a smart choice, things might have been boring or awful or both. I guess that's why there are so many self-help books, eh? But my personal experience is that trying to self-help before you're ready to help yourself may not be the best plan. So think things through and plan ahead, but go with the flow. That's the best advice I can come up with at the moment.
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
You may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"
Talking Heads - "Once In A Lifetime"
Part of what makes my job enjoyable is that it's so different from what I did for most of my adult life. On the other hand, rarely a day goes by when I don't say to myself, "Wait a second, I'm teaching math? How did that happen?" This can be somewhat disconcerting, as you might imagine. You'd think that after 8 years I would have adjusted somehow to what I do with myself. And of course I have to a great extent. But I am quite sure that the question is still worth asking. How did this happen?
The easy answer is that I got lucky. And there certainly was a lot of luck involved, because the timing of the sale of our family's business could not have happened at a much more advantageous time for me. I was bored with what I was doing and had just started to try to figure out how to gracefully bow out (unlike the first time I left the business, where I just pretty much just rebelled at the way I was being treated and gave my father little choice but to fire me). I know myself well enough to be aware that I have some pretty serious issues dealing with authority, and so when I returned to the business after a few years it was to run a semi-independent unit. That was fun and interesting for a while but had run its course after 10 years. And before I could figure out how to get out, I was out.
This was completely different from any other major transition in my life. Everything else had a run-up and a natural progression: Lower school, middle school, high school, college, job, business school, job, job, married, job, kid, job, job, kid. But here I was with no next step. It was at once terrifying and exhilarating, and one feature of being in that state is that you tend to focus well, so I was pretty quickly able to break down what I liked and didn't like and what I was good and not so good at. Teaching just made sense and math was the easiest path to it.
That this ended up being more satisfying than everything else I believe was a direct consequence of the process I went through. And if I have any regrets looking back, it's that I didn't go through that kind of self-analysis earlier. It's all water over the bridge, as one of my not-native-English-speaking clients used to say, and I'm pretty happy now. I just think maybe I would have been happier sooner if I'd stopped and thought about what I was doing before I'd done all those other things.
Or maybe not; I'm not sure. It may be that you do what you can when you're ready to do it and not before. If I tried to choose a life path before I was mature enough to make a smart choice, things might have been boring or awful or both. I guess that's why there are so many self-help books, eh? But my personal experience is that trying to self-help before you're ready to help yourself may not be the best plan. So think things through and plan ahead, but go with the flow. That's the best advice I can come up with at the moment.
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