I'm thinking I should rethink my sleeping patterns. For various reasons, I stayed up til about 2:30 last night and woke up at 7:30 for the 8:00 class. Once you're up, you've got the energy to last a few hours. It's those hours around lunchtime that'll kill you. Having math in that primo spot doesn't help.

So I'm in there today, listening to Cauchy's Integral Formula and writing whatever the professor writes on the board. I soon start dozing off, barely able to keep my eyes open. Apparently, after 45 minutes of being awake and asleep and probably 2 minutes of a complete blackout, I wake up. The lecture had continued on, and I kept on writing. And wouldn't you know it, I started writing poli sci stuff for about 3 lines worth. Funny how the brain works. So in my notes, I know that in the formula, g(b) is valid if and only if the state passes it with a two-thirds majority vote.

Math is tough business. I was in a workshop tonite with mostly math majors and the undergraduate math advisor who was there made the comment that grade inflation had reached the Berkeley College of Letters and Science but she was proud that math was not one of those majors raising grades. Upon hearing that, most of us grumbled. Did you know the average Math GPA is 2.7? There's a good line for me. I'm above average as a math major.

You know what class I need to boost my GPA? Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball. This class was taught by Georgia coach Jim Harrick Jr. in 2001. It consisted of one multiple-choice test at the end of the term. Not only was the test ridiculously easy, students could miss the whole class, 3 of whom were on the basketball team on which Harrick Jr. was the assistant coach, and everyone in the class got A's. Harrick Jr., as well as his father, the head coach, have since lost their jobs as a result of academic fraud. A copy of the test is at ESPN. Here are a few choice questions. I'm not including the choices but bear in mind, unless otherwise indicated, the questions are multiple choice.

How many halves are in a college basketball game?

How many quarters are in a high school basketball game?

How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a basketball game?

Diagram the 3-point line and half-court line.

How many goals are on a basketball court?

The poker craze has reached the Bay Area. It was small stuff on the Berkeley campus when the VSA had its own little hold 'em tournament. Datman came in second after the Persian guy who beat him got a flush out of a 7-3 off-suit on the last hand. The big stuff is happening down in San Jose at Bay 101 with the World Poker Tour Shooting Stars Tournament. 23 hot shots in the poker world have joined the 230-player field for a 3-day tournament to be televised on the Travel Channel in June. 200 people can watch it live Friday at 2 pm at the casino to see the final 6 people battle it out.

Crazy happenings while walking through Sproul today. Two ladies with children, one walking and one in a stroller, were walking alongside. They were having a lively conversation when suddenly, the one with the stroller stopped dead in her tracks. The stroller was empty. Now the woman was hysterical, running around the area by the MLK Student Union, looking around corners, asking people if anyone saw a small child, her friend trying to calm her down. Three minutes later, the child comes back in the arms of her father, both looking calm and collected and he remarked that they stayed behind to stare at the visage of Bob Marley near Sather Gate. A relieved mother collapsed in front of that ASUC bulletin board, where for some odd reason, stayed for at least 10 minutes and was still laying there when my bus finally came. Good thing it was 9:45 in the morning when things were empty.