chess and math homework

            I took advantage of a day of no school today by Skyping with the boys.  I set Maxim up with an account on chess.com.  We played live until he had to finish his homework.  I have sent him an invitation to play a ‘correspondence’ game in which when we go online, we send a move to the other.  It could take quite a while to finish a game.  We are both pretty excited about it. The great thing was that we had Skype going at the same time and we could talk as if we were right next to each other.

            The next thing I did was to check my credit card and I saw that Greyhound had charged me AGAIN for a disputed charge that I had taken care of in November.  This all started when I returned after my bus trip to find that they had charged me three times for the bus ticket; - $246.99,- $246.99, and -$246.99.  The bus company does not have an 800 number that people can call, so I have to pay for every minute.  After hanging online for 9 minutes and then 10 minutes, I directed all my problems to Sears the credit card company.  They gave me provisional credit while they investigated.  +$246.99 +$246.99

            Pretty soon, I got two letters from Sears.  I sent answers to the letters, but I put them in the same envelope.  Hence, they verified one credit, but the next month, I was charged again. 

-$246.99. So I sent another letter.  On November 30, Sears gave me another +$246.99.  Everything is good, right?  Nope.  December 20, Greyhound charged me again.  -$246.99.  So I called Sears and they told me about the letter they sent on the 20^th of Dec.  It must be sitting in the Panora post office.  I need to respond by Wednesday or I have to do a ‘good faith’ complicated claim.  So…I wrote another letter and faxed it in.  We will see.

            While I was on hold with Sears, Maxim called me.  He needed help with his math.  “OK.  What’s up?”

            “I’ll read it,” he says.  “Mr. Johnson has 69 rose plants.  He has 6 people in his company and he wants to give each one the same number of plants.  How many does each one get?”

            “What do you need to do?”

            “I don’t know!”

            “Well…what do you think you need to do?”

            “69 divided by 6.”

            “Yep, I’ll be right back.  I’m on hold with the credit card company.”  The thing about being on the phone from 7000 miles away, there is no time for details.  Maxim probably likes it because I don’t ask so many questions.

            I went to the other call and the woman is right in the middle of, “…for waiting Mr. Martin.  I am Jody from the disputed claims department and I see…”  So I stepped right into that conversation seamlessly.  When I understood that Greyhound was trying to say that they tickets were non-refundable, I told her how it was quite obvious that I did not want to buy three tickets for the same trip. 

            “Oh well, they just want to know if you want to continue with the dispute.”

            “Of course!  What do they think I’m an idiot?”

            “No sir.  This is just procedure. No one is presuming anything.”

            “It’s obvious that I am stuck in a bureaucratic jungle.  I’m sorry. What needs to happen now?”  When she explained that I would need to get the letter from the post office—probably tomorrow—and then send it back. I explained that I would probably not be able to get the mail tomorrow because I will be working out of town.  I asked what information I need to give and then I could fax the letter.  She said that would be fine. 

            After all this mess, I got back to Maxim.  He was calm and finished with the first problem.  “Ok.  The next one is this:  Jerry has 35 sticks of gum.  He wants to give the same amount to his three kids and keep the rest for himself.  How many will he keep?”

            “What do you think?”

            “35 divided by 3 and the quotient is the answer.”

            “Nope.” (this straight answer is what I mean about not asking many questions.  Normally, I say, “What do you think?  Is that the answer you need?)

            “35 divided by 3 and the remainder is the answer.”

            “Right.  See you knew how to do it.”

            We were about to say goodbye when Oskar said, “Wait, wait, Papa!  I need help on my homework, too!”  I could hear him getting his papers.  “There is a blank, and an 18, then two blanks, and a 24.  What do I do?”

            “I’m not sure.”  I had to think of something that might give me a clue what he was doing.  “How big are the blanks?”

            Maxim read the directions.  “Skip count by 2.  Which number goes in the blank?”

            “Oskar, what is 18 plus two? …”  

            “31?”

            “Oskar, let’s count from 10 to 20…10, 11, …Now, let’s count two more after 18.”  So we had mild success.

            By now, Maxim has written me a note thanking me for the help. 

[11:46:55] Maxim Martin: thank you for helping :)

[11:47:33] James Martin: I am happy to help.  Can you help Oskar?

[11:47:40] James Martin: I'm having a tough time.

[11:48:00] James Martin: I think you will be able to do it more easily

[11:49:30] Maxim Martin: yes i will

            So I ended up getting Maxim to help Oskar.  I’m actually not sure that Oskar needed help.  He was probably watching Maxim talking with me while we were setting up and playing the chess game and wanted a little time with me.  Maybe I will be able to get them both interested in playing…