Checksum Arcanius

I have successfully cleared my school schedule and purchased (expensive!) tickets, so I will be headed to Atlanta for the 2006 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship. You heard it here first.

It seems odd, perhaps, that duing my spring break every post was about school. But considering what the next two years look like or me, perhaps it is appropriate. Basically, the 2008 graduation plan has me, with a few exceptions, taking 16 credits every quarter that generally consist of two Bioengineering classes and two CSE classes. It should be intense to say the least.

Certainly, Biology is a big disappointment — there is no good reason for me to have not gotten a high 3.x in that class. I am pretty much happy with everythign else, though I do think I could have pulled off 4.0’s in the two 3.8 classes had I been a little more motivated and a little more on top of things. Not a bumper quarter like last time, and a strong performance in-major I guess means I’m going down the right path so far.

So far my predictions seem to be holding up pretty well — a 3.0 in Chem 238 and a 3.8 in Bioengineering. So I was off by 0.1 grade point between two classes — pretty good in my book. Have I been doing this for too long? Oh yes, I have…

I just took my last final. This is usually a cause for celebration, but in this case, it made finals end on a sour note. After cruising through a Bioengineering final in 26 minutes (out of two hours), feeling great about my Ochem final (a very rare occurence indeed — the last time I felt good about an organic chemistry test was May 2002!), and tearing up a CSE final, I ended it all by generally sucking at a Biology final. My propensity to proactively BS helped a bit, I am sure, but unfortunately I just hadn’t studied enough — some combination of the party going on here last night and generally not caring about the class after the plant physiology teacher took over from the much more engaging animal physiology teacher took its toll, I guess.

My predictions for grades this term — not based on any actual numbers I have calculated, but just from instinct:

Bioengineering 201: 3.7
Chemistry 238: 3.0
CSE 370: 3.8
Biology 220: 3.4

If my predictions are anywhere near accurate, it will be certainly not as nice as last quarter, but not a bad performance either. Certainly, biology is a bit disappointing, and there’s no really good reason for me to not have gotten 4.0’s in BioE and CSE, but I’d be happy with a 3.0 in Ochem — and frankly, thrilled with anything above a 3.3 in that class.

Sunday, sometime between 1:00 and 3:00, my bike was stolen while locked outside of the UW Instructional Center (IC), where I was attending an organic chemistry study session. The walk back to the house was a needlessly long one. My bike was my primary form of transportation around the area, and it made getting to class on time possible for a guy who is always running late. It also made getting back to the house after class much quicker enabling me to make it to work on time. It was a good source of exercise and was a lot of fun as well. And now someone, for a few quick bucks, took all of that away from me.