holytoastr | Entries tagged with classes

My classes continue at full speed. The two computer science classes are not much of a problem. Just a lot of stuff to memorize. Calculus on the other hand has been a nightmare. I got 22/30 on my first quiz. I didn't understand a lot of the basic material and got really confused on the stuff I thought I did know. Plus my algebra is rusty.

I have a test on Tuesday on much of the same stuff. I have been reviewing the materials for the last week or so, trying to make sense of it all. Even asked a friend to explain a few things. And I plan on watching some algebra stuff this weekend to brush up there. Hopefully this time I can at least manage a passing grade.

What kills me is that much of the stuff on the test is irrelevant! We learned this long horrible way of finding derivatives that involves finding the limits of a function (the test is on limits) that I still can't figure out, and then the other day we learned a set of shortcuts that require no stupid limit stuff at all. Problems in the book that took me an hour to do now take 30 seconds!!! ARG!

I feel like the teacher wasted the first couple weeks of class on unnecessary stuff. It infuriates me.

In other news, today is my wedding anniversary, Four years! Woo! And I'm still crazy in love with ben, which I think is a good sign for the future.

Also, I swear this will be the year I finally order my wedding album. Yes. It will happen.

I took my final this morning. It was pretty easy. I feel fairly confident I got an A.

Now I need to figure out what I am doing with my life. Java II is not until the Fall. I am going to talk to a transfer advisor about possibilities of getting a second degree or a masters or something like that.

In the mean time, I want to teach myself ruby this summer.

I wish I could do more csa stuff this summer but ben says we don't have the money. I'm pretty disappointed. I can't really argue though since I'm not bringing in any income. Sad...

Anyway, after my test, I came home and mowed the front lawn. I am super tired and achy now. Tomorrow I will do the back lawn.

I have been thinking of training myself to run a 5K, but I worry I am not cut out for it because one afternoon of lawn mowing totally kills me. I guess maybe I could get better with practice?

So yeah, life keeps rolling on and I am floundering around in it.

1. Cleaning

Noname's old age has been creeping up on her and she tends to have more accidents in the house lately. In the same spots over and over again. I clean it up each time, but the repeated pee smell is getting permanently stuck in the carpet. So this weekend I rented a heavy duty carpet steamer and gave the carpets the best cleaning of their lives. Hopefully it got up all the pee smell so she won't return to her old accident spots again.

The store gave me a hard time when I returned the cleaner, saying I didn't clean out all the hairs. I had cleaned it as good as they had given it to me, so I was pretty annoyed. I parked the cleaner right in front of the door to the customer service desk and attempted to get it as clean at they had it in their heads it should be. Eventually they got fed up walking over me and said I could get my deposit back. I win.

2. Iron Man 3

I don't want to say any spoilers so I won't say much. I thought it was the best of the 3 iron man movies. I didn't like the first one. The second was tolerable. But this one was actually fun to watch.

We watched the movie at the new Alamo Drafthouse near us. I was pleasantly surprised by the theater. The ticket prices were comparable to the other theaters in the area, but you got assigned seats, a little table, and they brought food right to you during the movie. This is a step above Cobb which gives you a restaurant beeper and has you leave the movie to get your food.

I find the schedule for the drafthouse to be a bit confusing, but maybe that's just because they are doing grand opening stuff. Also, the no talking stuff before the film was super intimidating.

3. Programming

My java 1 final is Thursday. I need to do a bit more studying on the final chapter, but otherwise I think I'm ready. The teacher said it was written by committee and is much easier than any of the tests she normally gives us. (Also easier than the homework assignment we just handed in.) So hopefully she's telling the truth on that.

Over the weekend I was fighting with the homework she had assigned. We were supposed to read a list of reservations from a file, assign them to a list of rooms, and create a waiting list for those that could not get the room they wanted.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to work. It would only assign reservations to the first room in each category. I was going crazy, so I finally asked ben if I could borrow his eyes. Within minutes of explaining my program to him, I found the mistake. In a section where I tell the program, "Check if the reservation got assigned. If it did, you can quit looking," I accidentally had an = where it should have been ==. That changed it to, "The reservation for assigned, so quit looking," basically. That tiny little mistake broke they key part of the program! So frustrating!

But once it was fixed, the program worked beautifully. I was so proud.

4. Captain Flint

She is feeling better. And never stops screaming for attention. Ever. I am ready to kill her.

5. Other stuff

It is raining so I can't mow the lawn. The backyard is too tall. And the front yard is lopsided because a strange woman mowed 1/3 of my lawn. I want to learn how to run a marathon. Yesterday was Maggie's birthday. She wore a party hat and ate cake. She's now 2 years old.

Yesterday was....a day.

I was super nervous to go to class because we were getting our tests back. I knew I passed but I wasn't sure I passed with an A. Being insane, not passing with an A is as good as failing. (It is a miracle I survived college the first time.) But I got a 90 which is an A just barely so Yay!

We got extensions on our homework because it's super hard and everyone was confused. I spent the weekend alternating between fighting with the code and crying about how I'll never be a programmer. I got the program to work, but based on some hints she gave in class, I need to re-write a few parts. I took copious notes.

After class, I headed home to find Maggie standing on top of a screaming Captain Flint. Stupid bird had jumped off her cage AGAIN. But this time, Maggie had managed to do something really bad to Flint's leg. It was bent in ways it should not bend. And she wouldn't stop screaming. It was terrible.

Clearly the leg was broken so I searched for a nearby avian vet and called the right away. They were able to squeeze me in so we rushed over. The vet kept asking me if I was ok spending all the money on x-rays and whatnot for a bird. I kept thinking, "If I wasn't prepared to spend a stupid amount of money on a bird, I wouldn't have gone to a vet." But I used her concern to get $100 knocked off the bill.

An x-ray later, it was determined that she broke the leg right at the knee, so they couldn't splint it. A splint would cause the leg to fuse straight out and she would have extreme difficulties walking and climbing in the future. Instead, they recommended letting it heal naturally. It will likely heal a little shorter and to the side, compared to how it used to be, but her quality of life will likely be better when it's all said and done.

They recommended pain killers and lots of rest. It took forever to get the medicine because they had to hand-make it. They returned maybe 30 minutes later with solutions of ground up pills and tiny syringes to administer them. We practiced giving her the meds at the vet. Flint is so smart. She knew exactly what to do. I guess that means she was hand-fed as a baby.

So after that ordeal was over, we went home to discover someone had bombed Boston. That was a bit upsetting to say the least. I just don't understand how anyone could willfully harm other people like that.

But life does not stop so I gave Flint her first dose of medicine and then ran to the store to get hr a fish tank. I knew there was no way she was going to not climb all over her cage while healing, so a tank with nice smooth edges is just the thing she needed for forced relaxation.

Lucky for me, petco was having a $1/gallon sale on tanks! I got a nice big long one for only $20. Plenty of room for a crippled bird to rest and relax. It was super heavy, so I had a guy there lift it into my cart for me. Then I basically had him take me around the rest of the store to buy everything else I needed. (A lid, bedding, etc.) And then he carried it all out to my car for me. It was like having a personal assistant! Too bad he wasn't there to help me drag that huge thing into the house...

Flint hates her tank because it is new and scary, but I am sure she will get used to it. She'll be in there for a while because the vet said no climbing for THREE MONTHS. Then minimal climbing for the next 3 months. So really 6 months for full recovery. Poor little bird.

Speaking of which, it's about time for her next dose of medicine. I really hope it's helping her feel better.

Spring is maybe almost here. It was in the 50s today! I hope second winter is gone for good. I am so tired of being cold.

After talking it over, Ben suggested I look into getting a second degree instead of a mere certification. While going to school is fun, I worry about the accumulating debt...

It wouldn't hurt to look into the matter though. I am going to request a copy of my Tulane transcript and then make an appointment with the community college's transfer debt. I will see if they can recommend a plan of action if I did want to get a second degree. I think the best option would be to take as many classes as I can at the community college and then transfer to a local 4 year college to finish up. But I really need to see how many classes I would need to take total in each school.

Either way, since I haven't heard back from any internships, I am going to need to find some sort of part time job. I don't really know what I should look for. I know I definitely don't want to do food service. Did that once and HATED it. Maybe stocking shelves at a local big box store wouldn't be too terrible. Just something to bring in a little money to cover my personal bills. (Ben, the wonderful man that he is, is covering all the big bills.)

Since I have no money, I am trying to convince Ben to pay for another share from that CSA we used last year. I wasn't a fan of the long drive up there, but I really liked doing u-pick every week. It was fun. But Ben thinks it's too much food. True, we are still eating food from the summer, but that just means it's even more of a value if the food lasts a full year instead of just the few months of the summer! Plus this year I will have more practice in storing food, so even less of it will go to waste.

I guess if I get a part time job, I could pay for it myself. Then Ben can't really argue since it would be my money.

First I'll look into the second degree stuff. Then once I have a better idea of what my summer will be like, I can work on the rest.

Java midterm went well. I got a 97. Go me!

So far I have straight As in this class. I hope I can keep it up.

A bunch of people dropped the class after the midterm. The class started with 28 people officially on the roster (Although only 10-12 ever showed up) and now it's down to 7. I can remember ever having a class that small at Tulane. Crazy!

I am looking forward to learning more stuff soon because I have been unable to find an app that I want. But soon I will have the power to make it myself!!!

Basically, I want a to-do list app with the following features:
- Schedule reoccurring events x-days after completion, rather than on a specific date
- Create rolling chains of events that require the completion of another event before populating
- Collapsible sub-task lists

I feel like these things are not that complicated, but I was shocked that I couldn't find an app that does them. (If you know of one, please tell me.) It seems like all the to-do list apps out there are just glorified notepads. If I wanted that, I'd just use pen and paper.

So I will make what I want and be filled with productive glee.

In other news, the following dog-human interaction took place:
Me - Maggie, your nails are so long! They need to be clipped!
Maggie - *jumps up on couch* *gives me her paw*
Me - You want them clipped right now? Let me get the clippers!
Maggie - *waits patiently on couch*
Me - *gets clippers* *clips nails*
Maggie - *presents paws as appropriate for clipping*

She's SO smart! It's insane! And now she has perfectly trimmed little toes.

Unlike Noname. who has talons of death. Ben has to hold her down while I clip her nails. It's an ordeal....

Today was my Java I midterm. I was a bit worried, but I made flash cards and had little trouble with them so I felt a lot better.

When I got to class, I commiserated with another classmate about how crazy it is that we have to hand write everything during tests. Not even a basic text editor. No one hand writes anything any more so it's pretty unfair, in my opinion. I type much faster than I write.

Anyway, the test wasn't bad at all. (Aside from the hand writing.) I feel pretty confident I got an A.

I felt really bad for one guy in my class. He gave up halfway through. He didn't know any of it. Though he didn't do any of the homeworks or labs either, so really he only has himself to blame. It would be safe to guess he's dropping the course.

He set up a website about a month ago as a part clown for hire. He even had a few gigs already. Maybe that will work out for him and he can be a small business owner instead.

I learned they are not offering Java II next semester, which is really unfortunate because I wan't able to get any internships for the summer. I guess I'll have to look again and hope there's a few out there. If not, I think I'm going to really focus on Ruby over the summer. And maybe make an android app too if I have enough Java under my belt.

Keeping busy will be the key!

Lab due date was extended until Thursday. Also, I appear to be the only one to have told her it wasn't up on blackboard. Which I think means I was the only one to start the assignment before the weekend. But it's there now and I finished it last night. (It was a dice rolling program! Neat!)

This class frequently reminds me that college is wasted on stupid kids. I'll even admit I wasted college when I originally went. Now that I'm older and have learned stress is bad, I get my assignments done right away. But the college-age kids all wait until the last minute! The assignments aren't even hard! Why not just get it out of the way the night it's assigned and then you have the whole weekend free to have fun!

It's too bad you have to jump into college right after high school if you want any decent financial aid. I feel like most people would benefit from a few years in the real world before choosing a college career path. I know I definitely would have done things differently if I had some time to see that a liberal arts degree was going to be useless for any decent jobs. And I wouldn't have waited until the last minute for my assignments. The way I procrastinated, I should have failed college. But luckily I am very skillful at tests and managed to squeak by.

Totally different from today! I start my homework as soon as I get it! I do all the readings! I start studying for tests a week or two in advance! If I had done that originally in college, I would have easily had a 4.0 average.

On a useless liberal arts degree.

So yeah, I'd still be where I am now. College is wasted on dumb kids.

Teacher assigned a lab, due Monday, at the end of last Thursday's class. She said we could download if off blackboard.

Checked Thursday night. Lab wasn't there. So Friday morning, I emailed the teacher saying I couldn't find it on blackboard and could she check that it uploaded correctly. Did not hear back from her.

It is now Saturday. Lab is still not on blackboard. At this point, is it safe to assume it's not due Monday? I really had wanted to get most of it done before the weekend...

The other day I was walking the dogs and we encountered an old man taking a walk. The following conversation happened.
Old man: Is that a welsh corgi?
Me: Yup! *maggie bounces and wiggles like the psychopath that she is*
OM: He's got a lot of energy!
Me: Yeah, she's pretty hyper
OM: And he's got a big head!
Me: *dumbfounded*
awkward silence
OM: But I guess that's normal for the breed.

And then he walked away. What a strange thing to say to someone about their dog!

In other news, I got my programming test back. Got a 91! Because I'm awesome! Most of my mistakes were little stupid ones. I only got a few questions wrong.

I was shocked to see the guy next to me only got a 52. Then I remembered he only comes to class about once a month and was less shocked. I'm just confused why someone would pay all the money for these courses (community college is cheaper, but it's certainly not cheap!) and then not put any effort into passing.

There's another guy in class who was saying how he was up until 6am working on the homework and he didn't even finish most of it. Again, it's baffling. We had over 2 weeks to work on this assignment. He started it last night. Why????

Had my first test in java class this week. Our teacher called it a quiz, but there was no way that was a quiz. It took nearly the entire class length to complete.

Overall, I think I did well. I did the rare intelligent thing and studied a little bit every day instead of trying to cram the night before. However, the class notes for GUIs said we only needed to know them for the lab and homework. So I didn't study those at all. And of course there was a question on them. Bah. Well, I did my best. And in real life I'd be able to look up any code I needed.

In other news, Maggie has been super bad lately. She refuses to come in when I call her. She seems to think if she stays outside all day, I'll come out to play with her. That's not how it goes. Games in the backyard are now on hold until she learns I am in charge and I decide when we play. I'm happy to take her out to play every day, but when I say playtime is over, I expect her to come back in the house with me.

I started classes again yesterday. I'm taking Java I this semester.

The teacher seems ok so far. She looks like she's going to be a much harder grader, but as long as I study and do the homework and labs, I don't anticipate that being a problem.

It looks like this is going to be another small class. There were seven people there yesterday, not counting the guy who go kicked out for not taking any of the prerequisites.

We started the class with an embarrassing "getting to know everyone" exercise where we had to introduce ourselves to a person sitting nearby and then report to the class what we learned. At least I sorta lucked out because the person near me was interesting (if a little hard to understand). He's from Russia and used to work for the military, programming missiles. He's taking programming courses because no American employers will accept his Russian credentials, plus he needs more practice with english.

Since he mentioned he reads english better than he hears it, I wrote out the bullet point details about myself while I was telling them to him to make it easier for him. He seemed to appreciate it.

After that, we did an in class activity where we had to write out the directions for making a paper airplane. The teacher then swapped all our papers around so everyone got different instructions to follow to actually build the plane. The ones I received were very clear and easy to follow so I got a decent looking plane. (That flew TERRIBLY!) Someone else in class somehow ended up with a rocket...

I intended on checking out the rest of campus after class, but it had turned very windy so I headed home instead. Maybe next time. My next class day is Thursday.

Today I want to try to get some cleaning done. I'd really like to have a quiet spot to work on labs and homework. Right now I'm using Ben's office and I don't think he appreciates that. If I can get some of my sewing room organized, we can buy a desk for me to sit at. That would be pretty nice.

Tomorrow Noname goes to the vet for her after-surgery check up. She's healing super well, so this should be a breeze.

Other than that, I need to think seriously about my CSA subscription. I really enjoyed it last year and would totally do it again, except I'm concerned I won't have as much time this summer as last. They've added a drop off point 15 minutes from my house, which is pretty sweet. But that means I would have to make special trips for the u-pick items. But then, if I'm not getting u-pick, I won't have as much food I'd need to cook. But if I'm getting less food, am I getting a good deal? The frustrating decisions!

Yesterday I learned how to fire a gun!

Ben's boss wanted to celebrate the completion of some project Ben's team was working on, so he invited everyone to a local shooting range. He's a safety instructor there, so he had all the supplies and showed us all what to do.

Ben didn't really want to go, so he asked me to come along for company. I'm such a good wife.

We started with small guns and worked our way up to bigger ones until the recoil hurt so much, I couldn't fire anymore. I think that last one was a revolver.

Takeways:
- It is very hard to hit anything with a gun
- Guns kick back really really hard
- Plus they are extremely loud
- It's good that I know what to expect should I ever need to use a gun, but I don't think I'll be seeking out guns any time in the future.

I can't say the experience was fun, but it was informative so there's that. It's always good to learn new things!

My only major issue was this morning, when I realized how much it hurt to hold a pen. I had a quiz in class today! I didn't think I would make it to the end with the pain in my hand. Somehow I did it, just barely.

Let's try catch up again....

This Summer:
- Went to NY for Jess' bridal shower. It was a tea party and very fancy. I helped make many types of tiny sandwiches and destroyed a stick of helpless butter. PLUS! I got to wear a TINY HAT!

- Many many visits to the farm.
- Started classes at community college. So far doing exceptionally well. Got 100 on both of my tests so far and the teacher wants me to sign up as a tutor at the end of the semester. (Starting pay $10 an hour. Not bad considering I can make my own schedule.)

Fall:
- Carved pumpkins. Ursula and Ariel from the little mermaid. Ariel came out best.

- CSA ended, but took friends with me for one last adventure. I had guest passes! We watched a pig race and fed animals and went down a very fast slide and overall had a good time.
- Made these really cute badges.

Upcoming:
- Need to sign up for next semester's classes. Going to learn Java!
- Jess' wedding! At disney! Woo! Fun and adventure for all!

Life goes on. I fail to write about it. Bad on me.

Farm CSA stuff:

I had a theory that afternoons would be quieter than mornings. When I first tested my theory, I was absolutely correct. It was wonderfully peaceful. Second time I tested it, it was the usual nightmare. Perhaps things will improve when school starts. I am extremely tired of children throwing tantrums.

Speaking of tantrums, this week kids were crying in the fields cause their parents would not let them eat apples. What is the point of u-pick if you don't taste what you are picking? It's pesticide free, so there's no excuse. The kids were actually asking for a healthy snack and the parents were saying no. I ended up picking a delicious juicy apple and eating it in front of the kids as we waited for the tractor to take us back to the parking lot. The cries of disappointment only made the apple for delicious.

Did I post a picture of last week's haul? I don't think I did.

By the way, homemade grape juice is pretty awesome. I normally don't like grape juice.

Dog stuff:

Maggie is super annoying is she does not have someone to play with her every hour of the day. Until ben comes home. Then she's calm, relaxed, and well-behaved. I think I'm going to throw her out the window.

Somehow today she managed to push noname's empty food bowl under the placemat AND under the water bowl. It was impressive. Corgis are unstoppable.

Noname is a tomato thief. She can't reach any more cherry tomatoes, so she has started to steal my regular tomatoes. I am not amused. Next year, I will need to plant a sacrificial cherry tomato plant and not stake it. That way she can reach all the fruit as it grows along the ground and not take my plum tomatoes. (I need those for sauce!)

She just went upstairs to rest, and farted with each step up. I can't decide if I should laugh or be horrified.

School stuff:

I started my first day of classes today. It went well. I found the room without a problem. The teacher seems nice so far. He walked us through the entire syllabus to make sure everything was clear. The grading policy seemed fair, which is a plus. I used to have teachers at Tulane who graded based on how much you sucked up to them. I hate teachers like that with a passion.

The class is surprisingly small for an intro class. Not that I'm complaining. It'll likely get smaller too. One guy walked out halfway through class. Another showed up 15 minutes before the class ended. And another guy asked the teacher if the quizzes and tests were the same as last semester.

In class, we started talking about programming being problem solving. The teacher gave an example problem and asked how the class would approach it. I gave the right answer! :) Yay for being smart on the first day. Let's hope it lasts!

The pottery class is full. :( I'll have to try again in the fall. I was really looking forward to that class too. I wanted to make pretty things. Hopefully this will be a lesson to me and I'll apply again in the fall super super early.

I'm thinking I might go to the freer-sackler gallery at some point. Maybe next month when ben is working 10am-9pm and I'm lonely and bored all day. It's an art gallery, but it's not abstract sculpture or paintings or something, so maybe I'll be ok. It's mostly asian and middle-eastern stuff.

Current Mood: disappointed

I'm thinking of maybe taking a class at the local community center. They're not that expensive and there are a few things I might want to do. The only problem is that I don't know what my schedule will be in January, when the classes start. I'm looking for a new job and if I find one by then it might be hard to make it to the classes. Most of the classes are weeknights.

At first I thought of maybe taking fencing, but then I remembered how much I hated it. I like the idea of fencing, but don't like all the marks I had on my body after each night.

So maybe I'll take Taekwondo. It would be good to know a type of self-defense. I think I'd feel more comfortable going out alone if I knew I could protect myself if I was ever attacked.

There's also a pottery course that looks interesting. I'm jealous of all the pretty pottery

lostsheep has been making, and would like to learn how to make things like that myself. I might even be able to take this AND taekwondo because I think they are different nights of the week.

I wish I had friends to take classes with me. ^^; That would make it easier and less scary.

Current Mood: nerdy

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holytoastr

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