Tag Archives: My Education

A Good Day

Well, today’s been a good day. I managed to get really good seats for the Seminar II dedication and got some nice photos. My angle on the ribbon cutting was all wrong, though. I still got some shots. I’ll post them sooner or later.

Perhaps the coolest part was listening to Governor Gary Locke’s speech. Also got to wander around the building and look around and stuff — it’s a great building.

Went to the Academic Fair, too – got information on Computability and Power in American Society. All in all, a very good day.

More Academic Planning

Possible classes for (F)all Quarter of 2004, as well as (W)inter and (S)pring Quarters of 2005:

Computability: The Scope and Limitations of Formal Systems FWS
OR
Power in American Society F
500 Years of Globalization WS
OR
Power in American Society F
Nietzsche: Life, Times, Work W
After Nietzsche: Arts, Literature and Philosophy in the Wanderer’s Shadow S
OR
Power in American Society F
Nietzsche: Life, Times, Work W
Marxist Theory S

Just to prove that I have, in fact, been thinking about this subject quite a bit. All of the course descriptions can be accessed through Evergreen’s 2004-2005 Program Catalog.

A Two-Part Post

Part I: The Annoyance of May 12
Okay, so here’s the thing I’ve been complaining about for at least the last two weeks: tomorrow’s May 12. No, that’s not a problem, really, I like the number 12 (uh.. well, at least, I’m indifferent towards it, which, to me, is the same as not hating it). Evergreen, in some fluke of scheduling I will never understand, scheduled the following items for tomorrow:

>>> Second half of the Board of Trustees Meeting (from about 9AM-12PM)
>>> Seminar II Building Dedication (1-2PM)
>>> Transfer Student Advising Day (1-3:30PM)
>>> Seminar II Building Open House (2-4PM)
>>> Summer/Fall 2004 Academic Fair (4-6PM)

Now, this is a hell of a lot of major events on campus, all on one day. To top it off, Governor Gary Locke is coming to cut the ribbon for Seminar II, which probably spells some sort of nightmare in some form or another, in addition to the overall nightmare of 34,126 things happening on campus at once.

I’m complaining not because I don’t think it’ll be cool to see the dedication and go to the academic fair so I can figure out my class for Fall, but because of the inordinate amount of stress this puts on the already hard-working faculty and staff at Evergreen. Every single staff member here does a stellar job, and this just seems like too much to ask of them. I will admit a side benefit — since my girlfriend is transferring here and she has to come to the advising day, I do get to see her tomorrow. That, however, is unrelated — Evergreen’s scheduling pundits should’ve thought this one out better.

Part II: There’s Something Fruity Here, and It Ain’t the Grapes
“A boy is allowed to choose 2 pieces of fruit from a basket containing a pear, an apple, a banana, a scorpion, a plum, and a watermelon. How many ways are there to choose two pieces of fruit from the basket?”

Well, there are.. err.. wait a minute.. a scorpion? Wow, I didn’t know scorpions were fruit..

Speaking of fruity, that’s what my discrete math faculty put up on the board as an example problem this morning. He must have been trying to make sure we were paying attention. I almost didn’t notice, and wouldn’t have if I wasn’t busily copying into notes… Obscure humor, that.

Academic planning

Current Music: Alison Krauss & Union Station – New Favorite – The Lucky One

I’ve been thinking a little bit about my future academic career (for the next year or two, anyway) and I’ve come up with something resembling a plan.

I’ve been having a lot of trouble in the discrete mathematics component this year, but I think I’ll take the pretest for Computability: The Scope and Limitations of Formal Systems just to see how badly I do. The work gets harder next year, but maybe it won’t be as bad in terms of having faculty who can assist me. I don’t really want to give up computer science, I just don’t want to beat my head against the wall constantly because I can’t understand material in one component.

As a backup, I’m thinking about possibly enrolling in Power in American Society. This sounds like an intriguing program taught by one of the better-known faculty on campus. More than likely, I’ll register for this initially while I wait for a faculty signature override for Computability.

I’m still undecided as to whether to graduate next year (04-05) or the year after (05-06). I’m not sure I’m really ready to be done yet. Still thinking about it.

mv /usr/home/pellis/exams/math /dev/null

Current Music: Josh Groban – Closer – My Confession

Ach, the discrete math midterm is turned in at last! Okay, so I admit I probably bombed most of it, since I only managed to figure out half the exam in the first place, but it’s (marginally) better than nothing.

So now it’s to the architecture midterm, which is, if I may say so, infinitely easier from my point of view. Oh, and I suppose I shouldn’t forget any of the programming stuff either. That would be bad form for someone hoping for upper division credit in that exact subject.

On a completely unrelated tangent, I’ve found that Josh Groban’s newest CD, Closer, is permanently stuck in my Winamp playlist and my little MP3 player as late. I love several songs on there, but particularly Remember When it Rained and My Confession. Great singer. I’d recommend him to anyone.

Slowly (Not a Remake of The Little Engine That Could)

I’m making progress. Slow, agonizing, molasses-like progress, but still progress.

One small detail: a computer architecture midterm has now been assigned, but isn’t due until Monday. Thank the Gods (Roman, of course). That makes it somewhat easier to avoid it entirely until the end of the week, though it will mean spending yet another weekend studying like Armageddon were hot on my tail (in the case of the Discrete Math midterm, that’s not far off…)

I can’t decide if I feel more like this, like this, or like this. (Side note: yup, those links are pointless.. but they’re evocative!)

Homework and Warm Temperatures

Yum, it’s been a really busy weekend. Lotsa studying, as indicated by my last post. Oh, and LAUNDRY! Wheee…. What fun, fun, fun.

I would like to take a moment to point out that not having air conditioning in dormitories, while it saves a ton of money, does nothing for creature comfort. It’s been around the low-to-mid 70 degree (Fahrenheit) range for at least the last three or four days, meaning that I’ve had my window open and my fan going constantly in order to maintain any hope of keeping cool while I do all this work. I have no idea whether moving off campus next year will make for more comfort in the warmer months, though. We’ll find out.

Still remaining for homework:

  • Computer Architecture: Review next week’s problems (Wed)
  • Discrete Math: Section 6.1 Homework Problems (Tue)

    Discrete Math: Midterm (Thu)

  • Java Programming: Lower Division Programming Homework (Mon)

    Java Programming: Upper Division Programming Homework (Mon)

    Java Programming: Lower Division Programming Lab (Thu)

  • Seminar: Research Paper Final Outline (Wed)

    Seminar: Research Paper Working Draft (Fri)

I’ve decided that I will most assuredly be dead to the world come Thursday.

Overload! Danger, Will Robinson!

Midterms. Yeech.

Just so you know exactly how much work I’m stuck with:

  • Computer Architecture: Homework Problems (Mon)

    Computer Architecture: Review next week’s problems (Wed)

  • Discrete Math: Reading Section 6.1 (Mon)

    Discrete Math: Section 6.1 Homework Problems (Tue)

    Discrete Math: Midterm (Thu)

  • Java Programming: Lower Division Programming Homework (Mon)

    Java Programming: Upper Division Programming Homework (Mon)

    Java Programming: Lower Division Programming Lab (Thu)

  • Seminar: 50-60 pgs. Reading (Tue)

    Seminar: Research Paper Final Outline (Wed)

    Seminar: Research Paper Working Draft (Fri)

And it’s only week 6. Just another month or so left… Yay…

Discrete Mathematics and Newton

The last week or so has been kind of hectic. Spent four hours tonight finishing off the discrete mathematics homework for this week, and I stand to work for several hours tomorrow on trying to get ahead in Java programming. What can I say, it’s week 5 — inevitably, that means midterms are lurking. Indeed, I get my discrete mathematics midterm this morning in class. It’s due in a week, but the faculty wasn’t nice enough to completely cancel the homework for next week — instead, he just shortened it and moved the due date to Tuesday. Well, at least it’s better than a full-blown assignment out of the book (that would take another four hours instead of the 8 hours it’ll probably take me to finish the exam and extra hour it’ll take to complete the smaller assignment..)

Life is really fun sometimes.

I was bombed after doing that discrete mathematics assignment, so I took a break. I was reading Linus Torvalds’ Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary, and he talks a little bit about open source software. He indirectly quotes Issac Newton in his discussion, which inspired me to find the actual quote:

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
— Isaac Newton, Letter to Robert Hooke, February 5, 1675

Every invention or idea builds on other ideas and concepts. We truly stand on the shoulders of giants no matter what we do, whether we write novels, invent new technologies, or simply learn about new things in school.Newton got it right the first time.

When It Just Won’t Make Sense

“Suddenly, the idea of expected value doesn’t make sense to me.”

The second I heard that out of the mouth of our discrete mathematics faculty, who is supposed to know what expected value is and how to explain it, I got just a little worried. He did manage to explain it, but it was still quite odd to hear someone who carries a Ph.D in Mathematics admit that such a “simple” concept in combinatorics didn’t make sense.

(For those wondering, the expected value is more akin to the average value of an outcome — that is, it’s an expression of the value most likely to occur. At least, that’s my understanding of it. An example — if you roll two dice, you can calculate the expected value that the two die will land with a sum of seven.)

So, yeah. Watch out for Ph.D’s who suddenly admit that basic concepts make no sense to them.