The Housekeeper and the Professor

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa is an amazing book for anybody, but it holds a special place for mathematicians.  I love the following quote from the book:

“Math has proven the existence of God because it is absolute and without contradiction; but the devil must exist as well, because we cannot prove it.”

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Observe the two Exact Values for the same angle.  Put all three into your Graphics calculator (radian mode) to compare them.  The formulas used to derive both exact values are illustrated below. Irrational numbers are magnificent:

 

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Jay’s Book Grade:  A+

Joshua Earns Junior Olympic Times

First of all, I want to thank my friends and family for your encouragement of Joshua throughout this swim season.  I am also grateful for Joshua’s amazing coaches and his swim peers (and their supportive parents) for pushing him to excel.  Joshua’s hard work paid off.  When I saw the speed requirements for his age group, I was not optimistic that Joshua would make the necessary times to qualify for Junior Olympics.  Today, he qualified for Junior Olympics in his 100 Free (55.45 — his best ever) and in his 50 Free (25.24).  Although Joshua swam a 24.79 at the same pool in December, he still managed a fast enough time  at today’s USA meet to advance to Junior Olympics in his 50 Free.  Joshua will participate in three more USA meets before the New Jersey Junior Olympics in March, so he may still qualify for other events.  He is very close in his 100 Back stroke for example.  I must admit that at times I was skeptical that Joshua would make the necessary times, but many of you (Logan family, Leisher family, Fry family, Mata family, Pavelko family, Charles family, Pitassi family, Pompei family, Yohe/Zippay family/relatives, etc.) expressed that you had little doubt.  THANKS… Today, Joshua didn’t even know that he qualified in his 100 Free.  He walked away from the event without looking at my excited face, and he seemed a bit dismayed.  Tom Mata ran after him and immediately informed Josh that he qualified for his first JO event with a high five.  Watching Joshua grin from ear to ear was priceless.  Thanks Tom for being the first person to let Joshua know of his amazing accomplishment.  Because most of my family and friends were unable to attend today’s meet, I’m attaching the video of his two JO events from earlier this afternoon.  Enjoy!

Josh USA Olympic Times 2012

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Christmas 2011

Christmas Events, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, XBOX gift, Helicopter and Jay’s Birthday @ Elena’s House:

Music:  Gloria by Michael W. Smith

Christmas 2011

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Excerpt of Elena Crashing Toy Helicopter into Jay’s Cake:

Helicopter

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Mathematics in Nature:

Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Jay’s Annual Best of 2011

Best Television of 2011:

1. Breaking Bad
2. Justified
3. American Horror Story
4. The Good Wife
5. The Walking Dead
6. Modern Family
7.  Fringe
8.  Game of Thrones
9.  The Killing (until the finale)
10. True Blood

Also worth watching most of the time:

• Dexter (the Nebraska episode really reeked though and the finale was BLAH)
• Teen Wolf
• Rescue Me
• United States of Tara
• Survivor
• Glee

On the Fence:

• Once Upon a Time
• Nurse Jackie
• Son’s of Anarchy
• The Big C
• Homeland

Awful shows I try to avoid at all costs:

• Desperate Housewives
• CSI
• Dancing with the Biggest Losers
• Wipeout the X Factor American Idol

 

Television STARS:

Top Ten Best Actors on Television of 2011:

1. Giancarlo Esposito – “Gus” Fring – “Breaking Bad”
2. Margo Martindale – “Mags Bennett” – “Justified”
3. Jessica Lange – “Constance” – “American Horror Story”
4. Timothy Olyphant – “Raylan Givens” – “Justified”
5. Ty Burrell – “Phil Dunphy” – “Modern Family”
6. Julie Bowen – “Claire Dunphy” – “Modern Family”
7. Peter Dinklage – “Tyrion Lannister” – “Game of Thrones”
8. Jon Bernthal – “Shane Walsh” – “The Walking Dead”
9. Mireille Enos – “Sarah Linden” – “The Killing”
10. Joel Kinnaman – “Stephen Holder” – “The Killing”

Other Awesome Television Actors:

• Aaron Paul – “Jesse Pinkman” – “Breaking Bad”
• Bryan Cranston – “Heisenberg, Walt, Chemistry Teacher” – “Breaking Bad”
• Evan Peters – “Tate” – “American Horror Story”
• Walton Goggins – “Boyd Crowder” – “Justified”

 Best Music of 2011 ( Top 33 — 3 times 11 — click image to see my choices):

Top Movies of 2011:

1. Win Win – directed by Tom McCarthy
2. Crazy, Stupid, Love  – directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
3. The Disappearance of Alice Creed – directed by J Blakeson
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – directed by David Yates
5. Let Me In – directed by Matt Reeves
6. X-Men First Class – directed by Matthew Vaughn
7. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – directed by Brad Bird (“The Incredibles”)
8. True Grit – directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen
9. Melancholia — directed by Lars von Trier
10. Brides Maids – directed by Paul Feig

Guilty Pleasure Favorite Movie of 2011:

*****Attack the Block — directed by Jon Cornish

Worst Movies of 2011:

1. Hangover 2 – Todd Phillips
2. Bad Teacher – directed by Jake Kasdan
3. The Adjustment Bureau – directed by George Nolfi
4. Percy Jackson & the Olympians – Chris Columbus
5. Scream 4  – directed by Wes Craven

Should have been great but was LACKLUSTER:

*****Cowboys & Aliens – directed by Jon Favreau

Best Movie Acting Performances of 2011:

• Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan for “Win Win”
• Gemma Arterton, Eddie Marsan and Martin Compston for “The Disappearance of Alice Creed”
• Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei and Emma Stone for “Crazy, Stupid Love”
• Kevin Bacon and Michael Fassbender for “X-Men First Class”
• Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg for “Melancholia

Best Books:

• The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
• Before I go to Sleep – S. J. Watson
• Catching Fire — Suzanne Collins

Jay’s Year in Review – 2011 – THE EVENTS:

Best Events (and Happenings) of 2011 (no particular order)

• Josh swims 24.79 (50 Free) in his first Dual Meet (December 2011)
• Josh Keeps Dropping Swim times in successive USA Meets
• Yohes Zip Line through the jungles of Belize (August 2011)
  
• Atlantic City to see Randy in June 2011 and to attend NCTM Math conference with Neil in October 2011
  
• Steelers in the Super Bowl (win or lose not that much of an issue — seriously not that much of an issue– lol)
• Skiing at Roundtop with Joshua, Elena, Jesse, Beth, Comfort Man (Pap), Steve and STHS kids
• IronWood Neighbors share a vacation of a life time together
• Western Caribbean Cruise August 6 – 15, 2011
• Pentagon Concert with Kathy, Elena and Craig on June 25, 2011
• Yohe Reunion at PSU – June 19, 2011 while Josh attended Swim Camp
• Mahogany Bay with our own private beach Cabana on August 11, 2011
• Snorkeling Adventures at Mahogany Bay and Grand Cayman – August 2011
• Leaving Cozumel to travel across Mexico to view Mayan Ruins – August 9, 2011
• Tampa Bay, Florida (especially Cypress Beach)
• Ocean City, New Jersey experiencing our first Earthquake August 23,  2011 (days later we experienced a Hurricane, a Tropical Storm and a flood)
• Levi Visits — July 2011
  
• Drew attains his 2^nd Degree Black Belt — July 2011
  
• Hurt Teen Recovers after  having an awful accident sledding on IronWood Drive
• July 5^th Fireworks Party (tons of people and kids)
• Josh Turns 14 (Bowling Party)  Drew Turns 11
• Jim, Kim and Jay have a blast at Horse Races at Penn National (May 2011)
• Jim and Jay get box seats for Penn National Races (July 2011)
• PSU USA Swim Meet December 2-4, 2011 with Nick, Joshua, Jay and cousin Debbie
• Calculus Time with the best Calculus teacher ever:  Neil Via
• Good Feeling by Flo Rida on a random Friday in 2011
• Capturing a picture of eleven juniors at 11:11 on 11/11/11
• Two of my past students avoid injury and a pumpkin on the front porch when their car malfunctions sending them careening backwards through a house into a living room and into the interior steps.  Nobody in the house was injured either.
• Old family photos discovered from both my Mom’s side (Gallaway) and my Dad’s side (Yohe)
  
• Nuni’s 75^th Birthday celebrated at the Century Inn (established in 1794)
• Pool Parties at Elena and Craig’s house
• Hayride at Possibility Place – October 23, 2011
• Buddakan in Atlantic City (1^st with Randy in June and then with Neil in October)
• Atlantic City Bar & Grill (1^st with Randy in June and then with Neil in October)
• The Season finale of “Breaking Bad” – radical, twisted, sadistic and mesmerizing
• The episode of “Breaking Bad” featuring the offing of a Mexican drug cartel shortly after Walt’s breakdown in front of his son (powerful, extraordinary and BAD ASS)
• Cherry Crest Adventure Farm on October 10, 2011 with Kathy, Joshua and Drew as we navigated the MAZE CRAZE.
• Labor Day Party and July 4^th Party at Kathy and Duck’s house (they are the best party hosts in the world)
• Meeting the Captain of the Legend
• Uncle Bill and Amy give birth to an amazing son on June 1, 2011 – William Albert Showalter
• Crazy, Stupid, Love and Win, Win
• Charleroi-Monessen Bridge Imploded – July 2011
• “Hunger Games”
• 20^th Wedding Anniversary – June 29, 2011
• Trump Taj Mahal in June and Bally’s in October
• My name was listed in the Yearbook as:  Jesse Jay Yohe
• Drew’s Psoriasis walk is a success – May 6, 2011
• Although the scenes of destruction following the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami will never leave my mind, I was impressed by the recovery and the tenacity of the country
• Sifteo Cubes
• Drew and I made the front page of “The Sentinel” while attending Joshua’s Science Fair presentation at the Whitaker Center

Best of 2011

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Quotes in 2011:

To Maya:

“I am just trying to squeeze some fun in between days and days of unbelievable stress. I don’t really have the best grip on the stress of my job, a world full of kids and life’s rigorous routine despite putting it all in God’s hands. So a little conference or a big cruise does help to mix it up a bit.”

To Josh after his first USA Meet:

“Josh reluctantly swam in a 100 Breast Stroke at today’s USA meet. He actually did rather well considering this is not his favorite stroke. So on the way home, I tried to encourage him with the following statement (and I have not stopped laughing): “Josh, you should swim this event in all USA meets so you get a bunch of breasts under your belt!” OH MY GOD! Yes, I said that to my 13 year-old-son!”

A Sunday Morning Quote:

“Yohe’s Believe It or Not: I ran the info desk at church and I had to apply first aide to an elderly man’s bloody arm, I got my foot stuck while vacuuming my car at the car wash on the way home, I had to chase baby chipmunks out of my garage and I discovered a robin chirping loudly in my sons’ bedroom. Yep that takes me to 10:00 a.m.”

A Dream:

I incorporated last night’s storms into my very own “Super 8″ dream about misfiring ammunition. Ironically, a girl named Calantha directed me to a hallway just as it collapsed. I woke up on the floor with a bloody chin!

My FB Message to the class of 2011:

“I will miss the extremely talented and intellectual STHS Class of 2011. I want to send a special thank you to all who wrote ‘720 messages’ to me. Yes, my eyes moistened despite comments about dimes, mustard and oranges. Have a great summer, but then go out and change this world for the better! “ — Jesse Jay Yohe

Jay after a CNN breaking news story about tracking cell phones:

“CNN is going ballistic because my IPHONE can track me. Duhhhh! I love using map features updating locations on Facebook (when I choose). Now how did CNN think that technology was possible? I think they need a shark attack for news or perhaps a disaster!!!”

Modern Family Conversation Quote between Jay & Manny:

Manny: “Hey Jay, have you noticed a spring in my step?”
Jay: “Ohhhh, kids say cruel things; that doesn’t mean you’ll turn out that way.”

Fringe Quote by Walter:

“It’s all because of that temptress. She tricked my son with her carnal manipulations and he fell right into her vagenda!”

After February 27, 2011 All Stars Meet:

“Josh’s Medley Relay team took 1st place in All Stars & set an LPAC team record with 1:01.43. Josh actually swam a 26.32 in his split time. Josh also swam his personal best in the 50 Back Stroke today and took 3rd place. Josh’s 50 Free Time was better at yesterday’s Divisional Meet in Hershey but he maintained his original seed spot! This is an amazing group of kids. LPAC rules!”

Random Winter Quote:

“Wow it is Friday and I don’t have paramedics on my property… (YET)… Life is good…”

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First LPAC Dual Meet of Season

Today Joshua Shane Yohe made his father very proud.  Because of his hard work with hours upon hours of swim practice, Joshua bested every single time for every event he swam today.  Unfortunately this was not a USA meet because he would have made Junior Olympics in one of his events.  I was a timer today during the first half of the meet, so I don’t have video of his most amazing accomplishments (okay I’m a bit proud).  He swam 24.79 in his 50 Free (a JO time and an AA rating in his age division of USA swimming) and he swam 55.65 in his 100 Free (almost a JO time — he needs 55.59).  Coach Jim told me he loved watching Josh’s reaction after achieving his best time ever.  I was timing another swimmer and missed this awesome moment although I saw him swim this event.  Having it relayed to me was just as special though.  After I finished my timing obligation, I filmed Josh’s 100 Back (an improvement from 1:06.47 to 1:05.88) and I filmed his age division’s 200 Medley (1:53.68) for First Place.  Thanks to all of my friends and family for your constant encouragement.  Josh gives up a lot of things to pursue his love of swimming.  I’m glad to see him reaping some of the benefits.  I’m most thankful to his coaches and to the amazing, talented teammates who push him to excel.  Joshua has so many awesome role models on his swim team.  The Yohes are blessed, because as a teacher, I see many kids that are not surrounded by loving family members, supportive friends and role-model, young friends and neighbors.  God has blessed my family with so much.  Without further ado, here is an excerpt video from today’s events:

First Dual Meet 12_17_2011

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Jay’s Best of 2011

Stay tuned for Jay’s Annual Best of 2011.  While you wait, here is a compilation of Jay’s favorite photos of 2011:

Best of 2011

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Jay’s Summer Top Eights 2011

Jay Yohe’s Summer Wrap-Up 2011 – My TOP 8 TV Shows & TOP 8 Summer Movies

Summer Television:

1. Breaking Bad – the show moves like a good book and holds onto moments otherwise lost by adrenaline directors looking only to entice an audience by attacking the brain instead of stimulating it
   Note:  This Sunday’s episode (9/18/2011) of “Breaking Bad” is officially my favorite hour of television in my lifetime so far. Walt’s breakdown in front of his son started off the hour with power house acting, but the final offing of a Mexican drug cartel was extraordinary. Now why aren’t movies made this way? AMC & BREAKING BAD ARE BAD ASS!
2. Rescue Me – the series finale is funny, sad and entertaining (goodbye guys — literally — or maybe not literally, but just a tease instead)
3. True Blood – this show is total insanity and must have been created by drug induced freaks (it has vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, demons, fairies, serial killers, witches, etc.)
4. Teen Wolf – although made for teens, the story moves at a quick pace and actually found an audience with an older crowd  (eventually MTV might have to change their pimple cream commercials and aim some advertisements towards the older folks)
5. Falling Skies – TNT Alien Invasion with some okay moments and a good cast
6. Big Brother – this escapist game show is a total blast to watch and it fits perfectly into my frivolous summer viewing modality
7. The Big C – I really didn’t care for the first season that much, but the second season has been very entertaining
8. Torchwood – STARZ has really tried to explore the what-if scenario of what would happen if people couldn’t die even though they could still age, get sick, have terrible accidents, suffer and eventually end up comatose vegetables

Movies (I only really, really liked the first four on this list):

1. Win Win – this is my favorite movie of the year so far and Paul Giamatti’s best performance ever
2. Crazy, Stupid, Love – my sister dragged me to this flick and I haven’t stopped thanking her
3. Harry Potter – I liked Part 1 better, but the end quenched my thirst and entertained me thoroughly
4. X-Men:  First Class – this movie was my favorite comic book flick of the summer, and I enjoyed the cast and the premise (Kevin Bacon was radical)
5. Super 8 -  this movie did a spectacular job of capturing the time period from when I was  a teenager, but it might have been better if it had done more with the alien portion of the plot
6. Rise of the Planet of the Apes – it developed slowly (too slowly) but the promise for sequels left me eager for more
7. Captain America – although I am tired of comic book flicks, this one was quite enjoyable
8. Fright Night – the original handled the “campiness” so much better than the update, but Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin hit all the right notes

Bad:

Hangover 2 – this movie was so awful, it almost made me wish I could be sitting through the newest Transformers movie instead (well almost)

My Buddy Ron’s Summer 2011 Wrap-Up

Final Carnival Legend Days

Okay, this is the last video BLOG update from our cruise.  This contains pictures from the final ship days after our last port stops were over.  It also contains a few purchased pictures from Carnival along with the towel animals made by our room steward Victor.  The video ends with a few of my favorite photos from throughout the trip including underwater pictures I took of Josh during our snorkel adventure on the Grand Cayman Islands.  I used the song Cheers (Drink to That) by Rihanna because it is my current favorite song as of today (that changes all the time).  As I’ve said a ton of times in the past, if you like this song, please purchase it to support the artist.  Without further ado, here is the final BLOG posting from our summer cruise.  I think I just heard a collective sigh of relief…

Carnival Final Days 2011

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Yohes on Belize Lost Canopy Tour

After arriving in Belize (this was the second port stop the day after Cozumel), the Yohe family took a long bus ride through the country to a remote jungle area where we took a Zip Line Canopy Tour.  Obviously, I can’t post all of our excursions on my BLOG.  This one is rather entertaining though (I know you will be laughing at us).  We were the only family that went on this particular excursion from our neighborhood.  Additionally, there were only 25 people from our entire cruise that went on this particular trip.  It was eye-opening to see how people live deep within the country of Belize, and the Zip Line experience was a total blast.  We were only allowed to address the guides with:  “Yeah Mon” or “No Mon”!!  We always felt safe and we loved the adrenaline rush.

Belize

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PS

Beth, I promise that there is no cruise ship bathroom tour this time.  lol

Embarkation on the Carnival Legend

So what is it like to embark from Tampa Bay, Florida on a cruise ship?  Well, here is some video and pictures of our embarkation:

Embarkation

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