Updated (Belated)

In an effort to make good on my new, new-year's resolution, I will be making more frequent updates to the good ol' blog.

This last semester has been a living nightmare.

It began, I suppose, with the worst class schedule ever. The problem wasn't the schedule itself, but, rather, the frequency in which the schedule changed as the semester got underway. My Physics II class was canceled, due to low enrollment, on the first day of classes; this was a huge problem, as the other section of Physics II was being offered during two of my other scheduled classes. I set about the painstaking process of adjusting what I could, and hoping for the best. Once I had successfully made all of the adjustments, however, the Physics class had been re-listed. Geez.

The final roster ended up like this:
Physics II (Lecture, and Lab)
Discrete Mathematics
Linear Algebra
Computer Networking (Theoretical, rather than practical)

It doesn't seem like a lot of classes, but it sure kicked my ass.

Maybe not surprisingly, it was the Discrete math class which gave me the most trouble. The professor is a very smart individual. I say this, not because I fear that he will find this blog, but to impress upon my audience (all two of you) that this man means business. In the final analysis, I can say with certainty that the homework for this class, both in terms of volume and difficulty, was ever so much harder than the exams which were given. I spent nearly an entire week studying this one subject before final exams.

The class itself was a touch too theoretical for my needs, but it was very interesting. I wish we could have spent a little more time on some of the more Computer Science oriented chapters in the book, but I can always look at them on my own later.

The Linear Algebra class was nice. The professor moved through the material like a Saturn 5 moves through the atmosphere. The work, however, ended up being done in fits and spurts, due to the shear volume of work required daily for the Discrete Math class.

The Physics class was a real treat. The professor spent a lot of time on the complex derivations, but really broke down the concepts for us in a straight-forward manner. Since, in the end, there were only 3 students in the class, the professor was able to spend a little more time on some of the more interesting parts; we even got a couple of cool demos (which were not strictly part of the lab session). Speaking of the lab, it was fun. Well, OK, the discharging capacitor lab was a bit boring, but the majority of the labs were cool enough. I was able to goof around a little bit when it came to the lab reports -- I did some of the statistical analysis in Python and made some nice charts using Pylab. Fun times. It was far different from the Physics I lab, where I spent most of my time making nice graphics in Inkscape (a free SVG editor).

The most surprising class I took this semester, however, was Computer Networking. I am usually content with knowing the software-side of things. My eyes tend to glaze over when one starts talking about things that happen in the physical world. I'm not sure why, but I anticipated two things from this class: first, that I would have to play some serious catch-up, seeing as I knew only some basic networking; and second, that the class would be a lot of memorization of protocols, and OSI layers, etc. Fortunately, I was quite wrong on both counts. The professor was one of the best I have ever had. He showed up for lecture every day and told us, with confidence, exactly what we needed to know. His notes were clear, concise, and incredibly easy to study from; in fact, he told us that we didn't even need to get the textbook, because he would give us everything on the board. The best part of the networking class was the fact that it was given in a completely general-purpose sort of way. We were not taught, for example, anything that would lock us into some vendor-specific realm.

So, now that I have your attention, I can tell you that I managed to eek out an A from each of my classes this semester. This brings my cumulative GPA to about 3.968 (Damn and blast! Why did I have to get a B in Physics I?!?). I'm really not trying to brag or anything -- it was just a particularly great accomplishment toward my personal goals. I'm really quite proud.

Well, I am tired. Sleep beacons. My alarm is set for 3:00 AM EST. One of these days I will be able to quit Whole Foods...

Until next time, very truly yours,

Das Bitmanipulationstopher!