My Thursday math class was moved to today at 4PM. Wednesday is an off day for UTSI - no class. But I had class today. And I'm not happy about it. At least it proved I'm smarter than the professor. There were some proofs in the homework - uxvdotw things (vectors). He said that he only proved them by expanding them into components and going through tons of algebra, but that the "missing guy" (a student who couldn't make it to class at the odd time today) had shown him how to do it vectorally, that is, without expanding into components, just with vector identities. That's what I'd done, expecting it to be required because it's the more formal way of proving identities. I should show him a copy and see if I can talk my grade up some already in the semester. I like alpha nerd status, what can I say?
Also in the alpha nerd realm, I did a MATLAB problem for a friend after being asked about it, but not asked to actually do the problem. It was easier than I thought it'd be. I'm mostly fluent in MATLAB, just a little rusty, so all I needed was a refresher in syntax. The answer was a circle.
Inviscid Flow is the only class tomorrow since the morning class was today. Vakili better be more organized, or I'll be asleep by 1:15. I like the class, but I have trouble following even the simplest derivation when it's that helter-skelter.
I have a lot of TV shows I need to catch up on before the new season start. I should have done it this summer, but oh, well. More tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
It's 2:30, You Can Stop 15 Minutes Ago
Tuesdays are going to be evil, evil, evil days. My only "class" is at 1PM, which would tend toward a good thing. The problem is that if I sleep in, I almost have to fit both breakfast and lunch between about 10 and 12. If I don't sleep in, I've wasted an opportunity to sleep in. The class at 1 is Dr. Antar's Heat Transfer I course, which isn't a bad class, and I'm liking Dr. Antar alright, but he apparently doesn't know how to tell time. Class is scheduled from 1 - 2:15 (Tuesday and Friday). Today, he quit lecturing at 2:35. I didn't have anywhere to be (Lee did), but 75 minutes of class is plenty long enough. I started to wonder if it was a test to see if anyone would stop him. No one did. He kept making one more point. Just one more point. One quick point. One more little point. One last point. A final last point.
Then, another break in the day. Back to the apartment for food and some lounging, then back to school at 6PM for my wonderful technical writing course. I just love learning how to write technically. From an English teacher. Who has no clue what technical writing really is. Oh, I'm sure she's knowledgeable, and she seems nice enough, but spouting off the definition of technical writing and teaching the producrion of it to graduate engineering students is vastly different. Especially if not everyone starts with English as a native language. And, the class is more a "workshop" with us writing in teams, which means it could boil down to about 3 people doing all the work. And there's going to be plenty of that. A homework assignment for every class, with a 75% minimum grade on all aspects (attendance and participation included) to pass (pass / fail grading). At least all 3 CBU alum are in the class. We'll rule the school by the time Brent and (hopefully) I graduate in May, leaving Lee to rule in our absence.
The usual Wednesday holy day off has been violated for tomorrow. Dr. Kupershimdt has demanded our presence at 4PM to make up for the fact that he's skipping on Thursday. At least I still get to sleep in tomorrow, and Thursday since math is my morning class, and Friday before class and my drive to Memphis. Not such a bad trade, but I'd prefer a day off rather than a lighter Thursday.
Is anybody out there? More tomorrow.
Then, another break in the day. Back to the apartment for food and some lounging, then back to school at 6PM for my wonderful technical writing course. I just love learning how to write technically. From an English teacher. Who has no clue what technical writing really is. Oh, I'm sure she's knowledgeable, and she seems nice enough, but spouting off the definition of technical writing and teaching the producrion of it to graduate engineering students is vastly different. Especially if not everyone starts with English as a native language. And, the class is more a "workshop" with us writing in teams, which means it could boil down to about 3 people doing all the work. And there's going to be plenty of that. A homework assignment for every class, with a 75% minimum grade on all aspects (attendance and participation included) to pass (pass / fail grading). At least all 3 CBU alum are in the class. We'll rule the school by the time Brent and (hopefully) I graduate in May, leaving Lee to rule in our absence.
The usual Wednesday holy day off has been violated for tomorrow. Dr. Kupershimdt has demanded our presence at 4PM to make up for the fact that he's skipping on Thursday. At least I still get to sleep in tomorrow, and Thursday since math is my morning class, and Friday before class and my drive to Memphis. Not such a bad trade, but I'd prefer a day off rather than a lighter Thursday.
Is anybody out there? More tomorrow.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Fuzzy Integers
In math today, we learned that quantum mechanists have determined that integers do not exist. They are simply numbers "close" to what we know as integers - they vary with Heisenberg uncertainty. I'm not sure if this is from the same group of Russian mathematicians who experience a high frequency of kayaking "accidents" during Russian winters. Apparently, a high number of Russian scientists die from accidents while kayaking down this one Russian river in the winter. Lee and I figure these accidents involve said scientist and a KGB bullet, or at the very least lots and lots of vodka. It seems math is going to be a good mix of people who don't know how to do everything. Canadian Air Force Spy, I mean Guy, was having trouble with vectors and angles between them. The matrix proofs have been killing me. The math major girl just laughs at us, probably deservedly so.
I moved my computer from the main building back to the bullpen in the lab. Thanks to Lee for the hand with it. "Somehow" my wireless keyboard got broken, and neither it nor the wireless mouse seem to work. It appeared to be a software problem - yeah, that's it - a software problem.
Inviscid Flow was as confusing as Dr. Vakili gets. He was deriving the force balance on a fluid element, and he'd apparently lost his book. Just his notes was not enough. I knew what he was trying to do (which is more than I can usually say), and I got lost following the derivation. It'd be nice if professors would just assume we take things on faith and not derive every formula. Teach the material, don't rederive all the formulas from the book. And in that class, the tables are turned as the math major has never had fluids or thermo before, so she's a little lost. We don't laugh at her, though. Because we're nicer than she is.
After class, Lee's office went from single to double occupancy. A new GRA on Dr. Vakili's carbon fiber project. And me, whenever I feel like it, since I still have my key. Or I'll just use the library, an empty classroom, my assigned office, or a chair in the hall. The whole school is wired for wireless.
Early to bed, late to rise makes a man well-rested. More tomorrow.
I moved my computer from the main building back to the bullpen in the lab. Thanks to Lee for the hand with it. "Somehow" my wireless keyboard got broken, and neither it nor the wireless mouse seem to work. It appeared to be a software problem - yeah, that's it - a software problem.
Inviscid Flow was as confusing as Dr. Vakili gets. He was deriving the force balance on a fluid element, and he'd apparently lost his book. Just his notes was not enough. I knew what he was trying to do (which is more than I can usually say), and I got lost following the derivation. It'd be nice if professors would just assume we take things on faith and not derive every formula. Teach the material, don't rederive all the formulas from the book. And in that class, the tables are turned as the math major has never had fluids or thermo before, so she's a little lost. We don't laugh at her, though. Because we're nicer than she is.
After class, Lee's office went from single to double occupancy. A new GRA on Dr. Vakili's carbon fiber project. And me, whenever I feel like it, since I still have my key. Or I'll just use the library, an empty classroom, my assigned office, or a chair in the hall. The whole school is wired for wireless.
Early to bed, late to rise makes a man well-rested. More tomorrow.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Somebody Stick a Golden Spike to my Head
What a wonderful weekend! First, on Thursday, classes started back. Then, also on Thursday, homework was assigned. All day Sunday and a lot of Saturday were spent trying to remember how to do the simplest of linear algebra, vector identities, and proofs. My absolute FAVORITE math of all time. (If sarcasm carried well on blogs, this whole paragraph would make sense and not make me sound like as big a loser as I am.)
Disc golf in Winchester was pretty good. The course is short, poorly maintained, and mostly falling apart. But it's close. Next time, Lee and I are planning on visiting either the course in Murfreesboro or one in Huntsville, depending on the schedule of our NASA contact on Marshall Space Flight Center (Hammerin' Hank). I want to play Huntsville because its exclusive (requires a badged employee of MSFC to enter, which Hank is), and because the Murfreesboro course is where I injured my ankle over the summer. Murfreesboro is a little closer, all told, but Huntsville has 3 or 4 courses that are supposed to be very good to excellent.
On a surprising-but-good note: my classes have girls in them. Not many, but more than zero. And every class has at least 2. You Arts or Business people may scoff, but when the school has 40 people, all engineers or science majors, females are in short supply. Based on my quick recollection, it's a math major, two engineering science, and a couple AEDC (Arnold Engineering Development Center) engineers probably earning MSME or MSAE.
I'm back to reading more. I had stopped for a while, mostly due to a lack of interest in my available material, but I've started on a sequel to a book I really liked. It's set 8 years after the first, but that's about all I've got right now, at least that will matter to anyone not familiar with the story.
I hate math. Apparently, we were somewhat behind the curve because the professor couldn't have us working on problems over the summer, so he made up for it the first weekend of class. Shear numbers won't impress. I think it was 16, 8, and 11 problems in three sections, but each of those had an average of 4 parts and were things that I haven't done in years. All in all, a bad assignment, a long assignment, and a not-quite-completed assignment. But I seriously doubt he'll take anything up. Seriously doubt to the point that I'm not bothering to make it presentable to anyone but me. And, I want to sleep tonight. More tomorrow.
Disc golf in Winchester was pretty good. The course is short, poorly maintained, and mostly falling apart. But it's close. Next time, Lee and I are planning on visiting either the course in Murfreesboro or one in Huntsville, depending on the schedule of our NASA contact on Marshall Space Flight Center (Hammerin' Hank). I want to play Huntsville because its exclusive (requires a badged employee of MSFC to enter, which Hank is), and because the Murfreesboro course is where I injured my ankle over the summer. Murfreesboro is a little closer, all told, but Huntsville has 3 or 4 courses that are supposed to be very good to excellent.
On a surprising-but-good note: my classes have girls in them. Not many, but more than zero. And every class has at least 2. You Arts or Business people may scoff, but when the school has 40 people, all engineers or science majors, females are in short supply. Based on my quick recollection, it's a math major, two engineering science, and a couple AEDC (Arnold Engineering Development Center) engineers probably earning MSME or MSAE.
I'm back to reading more. I had stopped for a while, mostly due to a lack of interest in my available material, but I've started on a sequel to a book I really liked. It's set 8 years after the first, but that's about all I've got right now, at least that will matter to anyone not familiar with the story.
I hate math. Apparently, we were somewhat behind the curve because the professor couldn't have us working on problems over the summer, so he made up for it the first weekend of class. Shear numbers won't impress. I think it was 16, 8, and 11 problems in three sections, but each of those had an average of 4 parts and were things that I haven't done in years. All in all, a bad assignment, a long assignment, and a not-quite-completed assignment. But I seriously doubt he'll take anything up. Seriously doubt to the point that I'm not bothering to make it presentable to anyone but me. And, I want to sleep tonight. More tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
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