Stuff about Mr. O:

Me and my best friend (and our straw hats).
Isn't she cute?

Personal stuff:

I was born in Queens, New York (we moved away from there when I was 6 weeks old so I don't have a New York accent but I like to think I got the New York attitude in those 6 weeks). As a child, we lived in several parts of the United States but most of my childhood was spent in Louisville, Kentucky. We moved to the Bay Area when I was in high school and, with the exception of 2 years during college, I have lived here ever since.

In August 2012, I married my best friend, Carol.

I am a very proud community college graduate!

I graduated (barely) from high school and started attending the local community college because I could not think of anything else to do. Since I was not a good student in high school, I had a lot of catching up to do. I did not take a math class my first semester and was placed in Algebra I, which I took my second semester. It took 2 years to catch up to where I could have been when I graduated from high school and 2 more years to finish my lower division coursework. I graduated from Diablo Valley College (Go Vikings!) in 1990 with an A.A. degree. I transferred to U.C. Davis (Go Aggies!) and graduated with a degree in Applied Mathematics in 1992. In 1995, I graduated from San Jose State (Go Spartans!) with a Masters Degree in Mathematics.

Before coming to Ohlone, I taught at San Jose State, San Jose City College, and Diablo Valley College. I started at Ohlone as a part time instructor in Fall 1995 and was hired as a full time instructor in Fall 1996. I have never had the slightest desire to work anywhere else since! Go Renegades!

In my time here, I have taught all of the classes offered by the math department. I mostly teach Statistics, Calculus, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra. Don't ask me which one is my favorite because my answer will be all of them!

I think I have the best job ever and plan to be at Ohlone College until I retire.

Music is my number one hobby. I have played guitar since I was a kid. I don't think I am a great player but I can hold my own.

I was in the coolest rock-n-roll band ever (at least I think we were the coolest).
Volume Control came out of the Jazz Rock Combo class at Ohlone (Music 352). All of the band members were students in that class, including me. The band is currently on hiatus which may or may not last forever.

I also play in Chalkdust with Mark Brosamer from the English department. We think we are pretty good but no one else seems to notice. We once held a benefit that raised –$116 (yes, that is a negative number). We have both decided to keep our day jobs.

Most of the stuff that drives me crazy comes from the fact that you are all here for exactly one reason – a job. Either you need a degree for the career you desire or you need this class to improve the career you already have. It is time to treat
school the way you plan to treat your career.

Consistently being late to class - There are plenty of good reasons why you would be late to class: sometimes a truck turns over on the freeway between your house and school. There is never a reason to be late consistently. When you consistently show up late to class you send the message that school is not important to you. If you can't show up to class on time then how are you going to ever hold down a job?

Texting - Not as a general concept but if you can't stand to have your phone off for the length of a class then how are you ever going to hold down a job?

Facebook - Again, not as a general concept but if you can't stand to not check Facebook for the length of a class then how are you ever going to hold down a job?

E-mailing me the same way you e-mail your friends - I can not tell you how many times I have received an e-mail with the subject line Hey and the e-mail reads "what did u cover in class 2day" with no mention of who the person is or what class they are in. Don't e-mail me, or any of your instructors, like this. Make the subject line relevant to what your e-mail is about and include your name and what class you are in. Please remember: sentences start with a capital letter and end with a period. You are in college.

Needing to use the restroom during class - OK, sometimes there is an emergency but you know when class starts and you know when it ends. Use the restroom before class...and don't forget to wash your hands.

Asking for Extra Credit - I give enough credit, I don't need to give any extra. The video below is an exaggeration, but exaggerations are based in truth.