Skankin’ Pickle was a California ska band that performed some rather … interesting songs. One of them is called “You Shouldn’t Judge A Man By The Hair On His Butt!!” (Yes, really. Clink the link.) In it, the lead singer proffers that despite outward appearances, well, you shouldn’t judge a man by the hair on his butt. The lyrics are surprisingly sophisticated in places, like “Don’t be fooled, always be fair, this man just might know that E equals m c squared.” But the lyric that always struck me was “Don’t be fooled and change the station, this man just might know that negative b plus or minus square root b squared minus four a c all over 2 a is the quadratic equation.”

I was reminded of this song today in algebra class as today’s topic was quadratic equations and the quadratic formula. I learned a lot today, but I was also writing almost nonstop throughout class, to the point that the quart of water I usually finish by the end of class wasn’t even half gone when I packed up. But because of algebra class, I’ve had this song stuck in my head all day.

Schoolwork is finally starting to quiet down to a dull roar after the screwiness that surrounded my trip to California last month. This week I have another take-home algebra quiz due and a twice-postponed biology quiz scheduled for Wednesday. Around that, I would like to get a head start on the new homework assignment for algebra instead of falling behind like I did with the one I turned in this morning. It’s due on the 25th, so I have some time, but I’d prefer to do the homework as we cover the material in class.