Saturday, September 29, 2007

Rain fueled drivel

What is it about rainy days that always make you tired and lethargic? Is it the dim light, cold air or the constant pattering of water on surfaces above you head?

Water and meditation are forever linked” – From Moby Dick (I think)

School update: Calculus III is back to where it should be, slow and surprisingly easy. Optics is starting to kick my ass, especially the lab. The lab always has to be dark because you need to be able to focus rather dim light through some lenses. The focusing on the tiny objects and the write-ups that take forever and a day and the overall ambiance of the place always makes me leave with a headache. Excedrin should be dispersed like M&M’s there.

Aside from the lab the class itself seems to be going ok. There is a mid-term next Wednesday that will let us know for sure how well I am doing. I’ll keep all of you posted.

In other living areas of my un- feng-shui and erratic lifestyle, things are going well I suppose. It would appear however that I have failed to convince my buddy Dr. MookieLove that Jane Austen’s Mafia is a funny movie. So I guess that I will be giggling by myself for the time being on that one (I don’t think From Russia with Love liked it either).

There is not much else to report on folks, just another day and another dollar (spent and earned). I do think that tonight I am going to try and get some more long sleeve shirts. The weather today has made me more aware of the cold winter months to come. That and I need some more dress clothes as well. I can’t keep borrowing that stuff from my brother (he’s bound to get irritated at some point). And shoes, both my boots and sneakers have holes in the bottom. That’s ok for hot dry summer days, but nothing makes cold weather worse than freezing soggy socks, a sort of "Foot Sweat Slurpee" oozing from the laces.

T

Thursday, September 27, 2007

More or less of the same

There’s lots to think about here at work when it’s late and slower that cold tar. Mostly I should be thinking about homework, which I do indeed have a bit to do in case you are wondering (Mom). That will come later however.

Today and yesterday: Yesterday was mostly good. Went to Calculus III, where we are studying 3D graphs of stuff that looks like mountain ranges. I found it rater interesting and not too hard actually.

Modern Optics I & II is moving smoothly for now, just waiting for the storm. Right now the calm is starting to drive me crazy, anticipating all the “hard” that I have heard about. What is really bothering me is that it could already be here and is gliding by under my radar, only to drop the “F” bomb in my lap because there was just something that I was missing and didn’t understand as well as I had previously thought. That has happened in the past, and the lesson learned from history here is to study and study hard. I am doing that by the way (Mom I know that’s your first thought again) and that is why my blog isn’t updated as often as it used to be.

Last night was good, for the most part. I came home from work with a headache that didn’t really ever go away (I still had a bit of it this morning) and From Russia with Love came over. She wasn’t feeling well either, and we both just sat and felt bad with each other. That’s when you know you’ve got a good companion (I love you honey!).

In other news, Drawn Together season 2 is absolutely hilarious. And that’s all I have going in my life other than school and work. How bad is that? Behold the life of a college student. Not quite as glamorous as National Lampoons led me to believe, so if I end up with nothing after I may have a class action lawsuit against them to supplement fast food income.

That is something that troubles me from time to time. My little “what will become of me” elegy. There is a lot I can do, and a lot I can try to do, that is for sure. The doubt lies in the success of these ventures, not in their potential. Time will tell I guess, and it certainly has a lot of secrets and it’s good about not giving at least a hint.

T

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Laugh and Learn

Well, honestly I’ve been a little too busy to blog in recent days. The only things that I really have going on is school and work. There is the occasional night out with From Russia with Love (there will be more and more often Hon, I promise), but other than that there is really not much else to say as far as “adventures” go. So, even though it might be a little boring- let’s get started shall we!

First off is school:

Lab P.S. & E. II- today it was playing with digital and analogue circuits. Mostly hooking up Resistors and wires and amplifiers and OR gates and AND gates and NAND gates and NOR gates and blah, blah, blah. All of it is to produce the desired bianary out put at the end. They are all hooked up to a “Bread board" (pictured left) which is basically a giant power supply with hookups and switches and lights and blah, blah, blah again. We also had to use Logic equations for the digital (which are very irritating) after converting it from analogue to get the desired schematic for the circuit we needed, then we had to build it! It was 3 hours of seemingly endless frustration (I did not get zapped if that’s what you were wondering).

Calculus III- the midterm on Friday went pretty well, not an A but I’m in the upper half of the class which is good I suppose. Not where I wanted to be, but satisfactory.

Optics I & II- the class is going well it think (we’ll know for sure after my first test next week). Lots of lenses and telescopes and microscopes and all about how they work. The only thing I can think of to complain about is the lab for that class. The lab is a little slow and the TA is quite useless, and the other guy that's usually there (a doddering old fart with glasses so thick I wondered if I could just use those as a microscope) is mostly unhelpful as well. It’s not that it’s hard or un-interesting, I just might as well be on my own most of the time (which is bad because I’m supposed to be learning, not just screwing things up and hoping it all goes well across the grader’s desk).

The only other things new are cartoons and movies (a little salvation from work and school where reality can be bent to the weird and hilarious, if only for a short time).

First billed: Cartoons!

My brother bought volume 5 of Family Guy, and he ever so kindly let’s me watch the episodes hours on end. Thanks bro!

Today I also purchased Drawn Together Season 2. Haven’t watched it yet, but it never fails to disappoint.

From Russia with Love and I also went and saw Resident Evil 3. It was pretty good. What you would expect from a video game movie, and not to mention excellent action- but a little confusing if you haven’t played the video game, you still get the jist of it (also a little uninteresting and odd if you are not into the game).

From burning bread to shaking booty- On a completely different note I would like to bring up a little oddity that I have noticed. From walking around, listening to radio ads etc, I have noticed that almost every one has an ad or a contest for a free iPod. This leads me to believe that the iPod is the new toaster. Forget appliances as a bonus, it’s now a good time. Society may descend by leaps and bounds toward the gutter, but this new trend is a step up in my opinion. In this “hustle and bustle” and “rat race” world we need to take extra steps to enjoy ourselves. Unless you really really like dry bread.

That’s the show folks, I’ll try and catch up with you all tomorrow, or the next day if I get too busy. I really want to keep this updated as much as possible. Love ya’ll!

T