Archive for the ‘Nonclassified Nonsense’ Category

School is harder than I remember it being. That’s probably because up until now, I’ve always been a very bad student. I rarely studied for anything, and sometimes wrote papers on things I hadn’t even read. I generally did okay on tests, but never turned in any homework.

Since day 1, I’ve been worried about Calculus II. I’ve been a bad math student for as long as I can remember, only doing enough to get by. I think I did okay in Calculus I, but last time I took Calculus II (back in 1999), I only managed a D. That was good enough to continue, but D’s don’t transfer which meant I needed to take it again. Calculus II relies a fair amount on Calculus I as one might expect, but also requires some fairly good algebra skills. It’s been over a decade since I’ve done any math and that makes it hard. I’ve spent hours on the internet relearning ridiculously basic things like the properties of logarithms, the intricacies of the trig functions, and the basic rules of differentiation. I’ve done all the homework (usually a week ahead of time), and lots of extra non-assigned problems for practice. On average, I spend something like 16 hours per week sitting in the library doing Calculus.

Physics II is my other seriously challenging class, but I’ve always been pretty good at Physics, so I wasn’t expecting much difficulty. Furthermore, it doesn’t rely too heavily on things in Physics I, so it’s okay that I’ve forgotten much of that.

Last week I had a Physics exam on Wednesday and a Calculus exam on Friday. The Physics exam was the first real test I’ve had since coming back to school, and it crushed me.

I wasn’t expecting anything I couldn’t handle, but for some reason the sorts of problems which seemed perfectly doable on my homework seemed impossible in the confines of an hour long test. Furthermore, the noise of 75+ people scribbling, calculating, sniffling, even breathing sometimes seemed to be astonishingly pervasive and oppressive. I don’t know how generous he’ll be with partial credit, but I don’t think I could have scored higher than about 75% or so.

The calculus exam, on the other hand, ended up being just fine. I just got it back today, and managed a 107%. The professor mentioned that 4 people in the rather large class had gotten over 100%, so I guess I’m somewhere in the top 4, which means I can probably stop worrying. She was very generous with partial credit, as I actually made mistakes on 3 of the problems. While she didn’t “curve” the grades, I managed over 100% because there were 110 points on the test, plus a 20 point extra problem, but the grade was only “out of” 100 possible points. It’d be okay with me if the rest of the exams are similarly structured.

Still, a large portion of the class failed the exam. It seems to me that UCCS has quite the range of student ability. Overall, the standards are higher than I worried they might have been, but still a bit lower than UD, though that was to be expected. I’m guessing that overall it’s pretty typical of a large state school.

I’m enjoying my C programming class. The instructor is entertaining and knowledgeable. My Java class, on the other hand, bores me to tears. There was an exam the same day as the calculus exam, and it was actually quite a bit more difficult than I expected. I’m hoping to find out how I did on it today. But the lectures range from off-topic to boring and the assignments are pedantic, tedious, and boring.

Fortunately, I shouldn’t have many more classes like that. Most of the upper level computer science classes look to be challenging. I should be able to take Assembly Language next semester, and that promises to be challenging. I’ve still got to take a lot more math: Calculus III, Discrete Math, Linear Algebra and Statistics. I’ve also got to take Technical Writing, which promises to be awful. But other than that, I’ll be taking Computer Science classes plus two technical electives, so it should be reasonably enjoyable.

If I can figure out how to stay in school. My unemployment expires soon, and I can’t really get enough in federal loans to make ends meet. I tried to get a weekend job flight instructing, but no one’s really interested in a part time instructor on the weekends… Those are the busy days, so they’re also the days that instructors want to work. I can make it through this semester, but next semester I’m either going to have to find a job, borrow money, or figure out how to live a lot more frugally.

I’m sitting in the library, struggling with my calculus, and my Mom calls. I don’t answer, because I’m in the library, but instead send her a text back saying I can’t talk right now because I’m in the library. It seems that she and Sydney are on the road to Atlanta and are having car problems. Considering that Mom drives a Toyota Prius, I found it unlikely that there was actually anything wrong.

Me: I’m in the library, can’t talk on the phone. 2:09 PM
Cynthia: Ok will you be out anytime soon? 2:10 PM
Me: well. I was planning on working on calculus until my class. If you really need me, I suppose I can pack up and leave the library and call you back. 2:11 PM
Cynthia: Well…here’s the thing..not sure if you can help 2:13 PM
Cynthia: The engine makes a wierd sound when syd let’s off acceleratosort if like its is downshifting 2:14 PM
Me: You have the car in the wrong mode. You’re in “B” not “D” 2:14 PM
Cynthia: There are no warning lots on 2:14 PM
Cynthia: The cruise control won’t stay on 2:15 PM
Me: Shift into “D”. 2:15 PM
Cynthia: If she decelerates slowly there does not seem to be any sound… 2:16 PM
Cynthia: Just wierd 2:16 PM
Me: SHIFT INTO D!!! 2:17 PM
Cynthia: Oh we are in B! How? Can she shift to D at 78 mph? 2:17 PM
Me: You’re in “B” because she shifted there, because she doesn’t know how to drive a Prius. Yes, she can shift into D and back to B at any speed. 2:18 PM
Cynthia: You are a genius 2:18 PM
Me: Glad I could help. 2:19 PM

Oh, and this is not a new car. Mom’s had the car for the better part of a decade, and Sydney’s driven it thousands of miles…

I’ve never really tried to make Burritos before, and with our favorite taqueria having been paved over, it seemed like as good a time as any to give it a shot.

Carne Asada on the grill.

Today I drove to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and purchased a motorcycle parking permit. This is just the latest in a series of actions which, at this point, seem to indicate that I’m going back to school.

A few months ago, I decided to apply, because if I later decided to go to school, I’d have to have applied. It turns out that was a lot of work, and cost $50. Just to apply. I also had to pay all four of the other universities I’ve attended, plus my high school, for transcripts. Then I had to pay the College Board $23 to send me test scores. I think, at that point, it was inevitable that I might as well attend after expending that much effort. I went ahead and applied for financial aid, registered for classes, bought books… And now bought a parking permit. So, I guess I’m going to school.

There is, of course, the huge fact that I’ve been unable to find work as a pilot. Admittedly, I’ve only really been looking for jobs that would allow me to continue to live in Colorado Springs. I could probably find a job if I were willing to move, but the prospect of moving just so I can get a job that pays less than Jonah’s currently making just hasn’t made sense to me. It’s also probably related to the fact that Colorado is the first place I’ve ever lived that I actually like. I’m reluctant to leave a place I like, even though there’s probably other places I’d like better.

I suspect that in a few years there will be a great demand for pilots. In the meantime, there’s none. In December 2007, Congress decided that pilots could fly until they were 65 years old, instead of 60. Lots of pilots decided not to retire, aided in their decision by the cutting of pensions from airline benefits, and the declining values of their retirement accounts. Starting December 2012, they’re not going to have a choice. Furthermore, there aren’t very many people learning to fly right now because of the current pilot surplus and low demand for pilots. All this points to a pilot shortage in a few years.

So, what should I do in the meantime? Considering that there aren’t really any jobs available, save for picking strawberries (and I wouldn’t want to steal jobs from Mexicans), I might as well do something, and it’s getting harder to come up with good reasons for not going to school. The biggest reason is that it’s probably a bad economic decision. A degree will cost me about $25,000 (which I’ll have to get loans to pay for), which is about the same amount of money that becoming a pilot cost. Only, this doesn’t have such clear economic benefits. Sure, I’m slightly more likely to get hired, and I have the possibility of eventually working for a major airline, where I wouldn’t without a degree. But in the long run, I’m not sure I’m that much better off. On the other hand, if I lost my medical for some reason, being able to have some skill might be a good thing.

So, I’m trying to get a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. I suspect it’ll take me about 2.5 years if I take classes in the summer, depending on what I can take in the summer. I’m signed up for Calculus II, Physics II, Data Structures & Algorithms, and Programming in C. On the one hand, I’ve taken enough humanities classes that I don’t have to take any more. On the other hand, I’ve taken a couple years worth humanities classes that aren’t going to count for anything. At least I shouldn’t have to write any more papers.

Apparently UCCS is unable to use any Colorado state funds to pay for parking structures. As a result, the parking lots and garages have to be paid for by the sale of parking permits. Which means that despite the fact that we’re in a place with relatively cheap land, parking at UCCS is $330/year. There’s an option to park a few miles away and ride a bus, but that sounds like a pain. Fortunately, I discovered that motorcycle parking is only $42/semester. This means I’m going to be a motorcycle commuter, and if there’s snow on the ground or forecast, I’ll park and ride the bus. We’ll see how that goes.

I’m really not looking forward to losing my freedom in a couple of weeks.