Checksum Arcanius

As I see it, I have two options when it comes to homework. I can either:
(a) start to do it earlier, preferably by about a week -or-
(b) continue to do it the night/morning before and DIE

I’m afraid I’m leaning towards option (b)…. sigh…

The issue lies in the fact that my weeks go something like this:
Monday – Tech Comm homework due (usually a paper I worked on over the weekend)
Tuesday – Chem E homework due (about 3-5 hours of problems)
Wednesday – Math homework due (about 2-4 hours problems)
Wednesday – More Tech Comm homework due (usually a smaller assignment, except for this week)
Thursday – Only one class, but work all day (last week was 10 hours at MVIS)
Friday – End of week, take a breather
Saturday – Sleep in, play frisbee, maybe catch a movie, hang with friends
Sunday – Sleep in, play flag football, do Tech Comm homework…. repeat

So ideally, with one burst of energy some weekend, I should be able to simply shift everything by a week and always be ahead by a week. Or something like that.

Took the parents to the airport this morning, then drove straight up I-5 to school, got to class ten minutes late, paid some attention, talked to the TA briefly, then headed to work, worked straight through lunch eating only a few things from the vending machine then left work about 6:40, hit up the Puget Sound Blood Center for a walk-in donation, met a nice girl going to the UW (but curses on me, I didn’t find out any more), left just after 8, hit up Costco Gasoline at about 8:30, then deposited a check from work (reimbursement for my trip to Portland), then headed home, played a little bit of DoD:S (a very well-made game, I might add) to blow off the steam, then ate my first real food of the day (beef, rolls, and cheese, mmmm), submitted my CSE 143 assignment online, and then wrote this blog – and yes this is a run on sentence, just like my day.

Leaving work at a quarter past ten this evening, I came across a rabbit sitting in the same place as I saw one when leaving work about the same time last night.The rabbit last night was almost completely unphazed by me – it simply sat still, ambling uninterestedly away when I made a few mock threatening gestures in its directions. The rabbit tonight, however, made sure to put some distance between itself and me as soon as it saw that I was coming in its direction. Intrigued, I followed the rabbit past my vehicle to the side of the building. The rabbit got the idea, and began traveling faster. I decided to run. It finally lost me by the time it had traveled 3/4 the way around the building, but only because the bushes are thick back there and I wanted to go home more than I wanted to continue pestering the rabbit.

I finally rounded out my schedule today by adding Technical Communications 333 — Advanced Technical Writing and Oral Presentation — in the MW 3:30-5:20 slot. While not as desirable as the MTuWTh 10:30-11:20 slot would have been (which was full), this slot still fits my schedule and adds some “texture” to my weekly schedule. Where by texture I mean I might as well be taking night classes at BCC again.

One of the most interesting things I have noticed about classes here at the UW, as compared to BYU and BCC, is that very few classes (of the ones I’m taking, at least) are a “full” 5 credits. I am in a 3-credit Advanced Multivariable Calculus class, a 4-credit Thermodynamics class, a 4 credit Technical Communications class, and a single 5-credit Computer programming class.

As far as work is concerned, this schedule means that Thursdays will be my daytime workday, with Tuesdays and Fridays being possible late afternoon excursions to work, with Monday and Wednesday being only for when I feel a particular need to work late. Probably what I will end up doing is working Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Today at work, I made a bar code that when scanned, logs me into my computer.

Also, after work, we bade farewell to Mark “The Prophet” Holton. Microvision will miss you.

Glorious News From the Front: Not All Cops Are Jerks!

While driving to Portland in a rented vehicle that I wasn’t even supposed to be driving, I got pulled over for doing 80 in a 70 that had moments ago been a 75. Amazingly, the cop who pulled me over checked my records quickly, told me he wasn’t giving me a ticket, advised me to use cruise control, and sent me on my way. He never once threatened to arrest me, he didn’t call me names, and he never went into psycho-cop-power-trip mode. It was actually a pleasant experience, except for the initial realization that he was coming after me.

The corallary to all of this is I am now in Portland, on my second ever business trip.

Europe, long lauded as more progressive than the US, struts its compassion with laws like this “sunshine directive.”

Of course it would be more funny if the US were not headed down the same path.

In other news, I get to register for classes at the UW today. I have yet to report on the business trip – expect that in the near future – and there is much interesting news on Katrina, including the forced evacuation of people for their own good. It just keeps getting better down there.