Filing

My brother David has finished Calculus and has moved on to something more challenging: Physics. He is using my old Physics book and answering the practice questions in the back each day. I decided to help him out (heh heh) I would dig up my old tests and quizzes that I have filed and I would give them to him so he could do them when he finished the appropriate chapters. Therefore I went to my filing cabinet and pulled out my wad of papers. All assignments, tests, etc. from the past two semesters are shuffled together. So much for organization. Well, I found all my tests and quizzes for 104 but I was missing test 1, quiz 1, and quiz 2 for 103. Crazy... thought I. Where could they be? I double-checked the enormous wad. Nothing. I finally figured that I had not gotten into the habit of "filing" until after test 1 when something caught my eye: A file titled "Physics."

What actually happened was that I was organizing all my papers until test 1, when I got bored and started throwing everything together and telling myself I would file it later. It is like that Calvin and Hobbes' comic where Calvin is running all over the house looking in the sofa and under the beds yelling "Where's my coat!? Where's my coat!?" The last panel has Calvin looking inside the closet saying, "Hey! There it is! Who put it in a dumb place like THAT?"

4.000

I don't think any of you needs an explanation to know what that number means. Have a lovely life.

Out of sync

Hard to believe, but this is the first time I've used the internet for three days. I was constantly using the internet during my school season, but now I don't. It is ironic that I do less with my free time when I don't have any responsibilities. Alexie and I also noted that we have been waking up early feeling refreshed and ready to go at 6:00 in the morning. During the school season we had to get up at 6:00 to get to school, but now we are free to sleep in. We just don't. What is the matter with us!? However our parents have been putting that pent-up energy to work quite nicely. Just today I took the kids to the Creative Discovery Museum for three hours. My goodness. I'm exhausted.

Results are In!

Alright, next time you are packing your schoolbags, which for me will be late August, remember these two extremely important items: 1) Food. 2) Nuclear Bomb.

The electors couldn't decide which one was more important, so if you have room for both, pack them. If you have a bit of extra room, you can also consider packing some homework.

Results: Food-3 Homework-1 Shorts-1 Nuclear Bomb-3

Alright! That's awesome! I'll think of a new poll soon and make another post either today or tomorrow about it.

Vulcan Trance

Good afternoon world. I just finished two super hard super critical finals and I'm feeling great. Last Tuesday I began my deep Vulcan trance that it is impossible to wake me from wherein all I do is meditate on my test subjects. You probably wouldn't understand because you are just an emotional human, but it is very important for getting good grades on tests.

I'm now waiting for the results of my finals to start pouring in. I already have two results to share. First, my Physics Lab Final, I got a 96!!! Woo hoo! That makes my grade an A! I'm so happy! My second bit of news is my Genetics test. I know what you're thinking: Hey! You took the Genetics test 3 hours ago! You can't possibly have it back yet!

Shows what you know. Dr. Kovach is probably the most efficient teacher I have ever had. Homework is always handed back really really insanely fast. It is incredible. And the amount of information she can pack into one lecture is mind-blowing. Also, I only have news on half my test: the scantron half. Understand now, humans? Anyway, when I was walking past her office after my Physics test she asked me if I wanted to see my scantron. I said sure. Here it is... 100%! Perfect score! HA HA HA HA HA! I'm going to bust into the heavens of A-dom! Woo hoo!

I mean, how logical.

The Blue Eye Blues

Today I'm writing a paper for my Genetics class. My Scientific Writing class is DONE! OH YEAH! So I don't need to labor over any more papers for that class but it now frees me up to do the five page paper (due tomorrow) for Genetics. Noooooo! I have to write about "My Favorite Gene." (Seriously.) I picked blue eyes. Who knows why. Here's an interesting fact for you: Although brown eyes are caused by a very long string of genes, blue eyes are all caused by the same mutation to the same gene in every person. That's pretty neat. It also makes it easy to write about. I pity the fool who selected a polygenic gene for his topic! Ha!

Oh yeah, one paragraph of the essay has to be why I picked the gene I did. Any suggestions that sound convincing?

Rate My Professor

Do you want to know what is really fun? Going onto Rate My Professor.com and reading what people said about teachers you already know. I guarantee you there will be one idiot who gives the teacher 1-1-1-1 and say something like "The teacher made absolutely no sense. You'll have to teach yourself. They won't give you an A unless they like you, which is bad because they hate everyone and are mean all the time." If you actually know the teacher you can have a good chuckle at this thorough bred moronicitude and get on with your life. I seldom read rate my professor for teachers I don't know yet, though. Ruins the ride.

Let-down!

The Genetics Test was put off until Thursday! ARGH! It seems like every time I'm ready for something, it is pushed back. Weather, bomb threats, unknown conflicts of time, everything seems to be against me! I guess this has just been a weird semester, I just hope that all this bouncing around isn't going to adversely affect my ultimate grade. Sigh.

Just three more weeks until Finals. Keep it together for just a bit longer.

Indestructible

Earlier today, I was studying Genetics and suddenly had this insane feeling that I was going to get an 100. It was the most incredible feeling. I think the only word to describe it is Euphoria. It passed after a short time, but it sure made me happy. The last time I felt this Euphoria was the day before my third Chemistry 122 test. I got a 99. I was really sad. I really wanted that 100. Tomorrow, I'm going to take the test and see how indestructible I really am. Woo hoo. This could get depressing. If a 99 makes me sad, what would happen to me if I get another 80?

Happy Hell Day

Hey, everyone. It's Hell Day again, that special time of year when our beloved Savior did some time in the Ultimate Clink. In honor of this momentous occasion, I wrote two papers that I've been procrastinating on for quite some time. And they are still not completely done. I descended into hell and on the third day rose again with my Grant Proposal and my Cochlear Implants paper all done. Anyways, Happy Easter.

Yesterday, my brother Luke asked why we called it Good Friday if it was the day Jesus died. It was very cute so I decided to immortalize his ignorance in a blog post. The reason I gave him was the Great news that Jesus rose just two days later! He is risen! He is risen indeed.

Deadlines

This semester I have had the most fluid deadlines I have ever had. It is probably because of the two snow days earlier this year, though. Both my Tuesday/Thursday classes have been moving their tests, quizzes, and homework deadlines around like a game of whack-a-mole. My Scientific Writing class also has extremely loose deadlines, although I think that is the teacher's nature instead of extenuating circumstances. Dr. Davies seems to be the most stable, since his tests are always when he announces them to be, although he only announces them a week in advance.

Internet Course

This fall I'm going to be trying out an internet course. Since Scientific Terminology fell through, I'm going to take Medical Terminology. But when I looked at the class schedule online, all the stats were TBA. I e-mailed the teacher asking what time generally it would be held at, and she said it would be an internet course so you did it on your own time whenever you feel like it. That sounds pretty neat, but I will regret not being able to meet all my classmates, since there is no class. Now I will have no one to commiserate with. Anyway, I'm going to try out this whole internet course and see if I like it. Who knows? I might take another one someday.

By the way, all my blog posts on Medical Terminology will be under the label Ph. Therapy. Just because. Although, I might get more posts out of the poor neglected computers label with this class.

Over and Done

It is an extreme relief to be finished with my 20-page literature review. It was due Monday, but the teacher decided to delay the deadline to Wednesday because so many people weren't done. After thinking about it for a few seconds, I turned it in. After all, it was finished. What was I going to do to it in two more days? Anyways, I can now chill. It will be nice to not have to know so much about teratomas. Ah. A few minutes ago Mom asked me if I had any thing I had to be working on. Besides for a Latin test tomorrow, a Grant Proposal due next Friday, a paper on the Use of Physics in Real Life due next Thursday, a Genetics worksheet due Thursday and a Genetics test on Tuesday, I have almost nothing to do. Ah, sweet blissful rest.

Thrown Under the Bus

Saturday is usually the day when I make sure that all homework for the next week is complete. Alas and Alack, this Saturday shall be, shall we say, otherwise occupied. Therefore, I'm trying to get as much homework done today as possible. I am fortunate that since Physics Lab finished on Wednesday I have no more Physics Lab type homework to do. Also, although I have two papers in the works, neither is due next week. Although it kills my heart to put them off, I fear I must for the sake of my sister. (ha ha, yeah right. Look at me, dying of procrastination!) There is only one thing due next week, that is Genetics Homework due Tuesday. I swear by my beard, I shall have it done today! And as Touchstone might point out, since I have no beard, I am not forsworn! Ha!

Medical Terminology

All semester long I've been trying to get a petition signed to get a class offered called "Scientific Terminology." It covers Latin and Greek roots in Medicine (and assumably a wider variety of science.) Yesterday, a pair of PHYT major girls I was eavesdropping upon were debating whether they should take "Medical Terminology."

"Hold on!" said I, "Medical Terminology? Is that the same thing as Scientific Terminology." Vapid stares and shrugs.

"It's PHYT 302, now PHYT 3020," said one of the girls.

Hmmm, thought I, perhaps Medical Terminology is the class for me!

Anyway, if my petition does get rejected, (right now it is just being ignored), I will sign up for Medical Terminology as long as my schedule fits. Hoorah! That solves my 14 hour dilemma!

Class Ladder

Well, here are a bunch of classes I'm looking at. I'll pick one for each time slot, hopefully. It won't be too hard because I don't really have any overlaps.
Monday Wednesday Friday:
8:00 - 8:50
Organic Chemistry with Mebane!!! Woo hoo!
9:00 - 9:50
Organic Chemistry with Kim Jisook... Not really, but I am not going to rule it out because Megan might be there.
10:00-10:50
Quantitative Analysis with Lynch, might be too much, but if friends are here, I'm not ruling it out.
11:00-11:50
Bio-ethics with Dr. Plaisted! Happy dancing!
Tuesday Thursday:
10:50-12:05
Biogeography with Dr. Shaw! And Megan! Hoorah!

You might have noticed that this is 14 hours maximum. Yeah. I'm still looking for another class. Of course, the only classes I have left to take are Biology classes and classes that fulfill Western Humanities requirements. If my friends take any classes that fulfill these descriptions, I'm in. Otherwise... 14 hours isn't so bad...

Brain Death

I just finished my second test of the day. When I was finished with it, my Physics test looked like a series of scribbles. (Which it was.) At least I feel confident that I didn't make too many careless errors. I'm going to have to get my test back before I know exactly how many algebraic errors were made, but here's an error that I caught: I did the right hand rule... with my left hand. Seriously. Wake up, Duncan! I'm so tired, it is not even funny. And I didn't even stay up past 10:00 last night.

And that Genetics test nearly killed me. There must have been a dozen questions that I took random stabs on. The best part about multiple choice tests is that no teacher can take away my points if I get them all right. The worst part is that they can't give me any credit if I get them all wrong. Sigh.

Feast Or Famine

Why is it that during the semester you either have a week where you are doing nothing or a week you are doing everything? Last week, everything became due at the same time. This is probably because last week was midterm week and since teachers seem to be as bad procrastinators as their students, all midterm papers and tests happened that week. This week, nothing happened. It was dull dull dull. Sure there was the standard homework, but there were no tests or papers due or anything. It was silence. Next week however, I have two tests: One on Tuesday and one on Thursday. I'm trying to get a jump on studying, but the Thursday test seems to be getting the short end of the stick. I'll probably be cramming on Wednesday, totally exhausted. Sigh.

Status Report

Big News: The modem at our house died. It was actually still alive, but we figured if we didn't get it into intensive care, it would kick the bucket any day now. Its characteristics were sluggishness and failure to operate. Therefore Dad took it in to be repaired.

Anyway, with the modem gone, we have no internet and no printer. (Our printer uses the internet to print. Wha?) Therefore I had to do all my homework that is due next week today. Typically, I do it on Saturday, kind of a last-day-of-the-week-time-to-get-the-ducks-in-a-row type sentiment, but with no modem, that becomes impossible. Anyways, I've done my Physics Homework, Physics Lab Homework, and Scientific Writing Powerpoint Presentation all in the past few hours, racing to fit it all in between classes, Parking committee, and RUF. But I finally got it all done. Phew. Good for Duncan.

Squeaking By

I have all the midterm grades that I'm going to get back. It is scary: all my grades are right on the knife's edge. My Physics Test was offset by my homework and quizzes so I have an A. My Physics Lab reports have been for the most part too short so I have approximately 91 there. My Genetics Homework assignments have been high B's and low A's. My Genetics Test was a 92, so I have an A in that class too. Both the papers I've written for English class were B+, but because of all the extra credit I've done I have an A-. Right now I'm walking along the face of a very scary black precipice that is called 3.999 GPA.

P.S. Latin is a breeze. Hooray! Oh, but Dr. Davies cancelled today again. What the heck.