Graduated
BTW: I graduated from college a week ago. I’ve just been too damn busy to tell much of anyone about it. I’ve also been too busy to tell anyone much of anything here on the blog. Maybe that’ll change in the future, but I doubt it will be anytime soon.
Long Time, No Blog
It’s been over a week since my last entry. I just fell out of the habit of doing it with so much going on in my life right now. Here’s a quick summation of what’s been going on with me.
Work has kept me horribly busy with the looming deadline of a large project. It’s current line count is 13,069 of PHP and SQL. Most of it is really complex, so don’t let the small number of lines fool you. It’s been lots of hard work. Even though it’s kept me really busy, and challenged me, I’ve enjoyed all of it. If you know me, then you know that those are two things that I enjoy most. I hate it when I’m bored because of lack of work, or lack of challenge.
School has also kept me really busy. I’m in week 7 of 8 for my operating systems and object oriented analysis and design (OOAD) classes. Final projects and final papers are coming due in the next handful of days. I’ve been really busy with both classes. I’m almost done with my final paper for my operating systems class. It is about the internal workings of Linux, and has to be 8 to 12 pages in length. I’ve written 7 1/2 pages so far, and I have about 3-4 more pages worth of material to cover. It’s due on Sunday, and I hope to get a good chunk of it done tonight and tomorrow night, so I’m not trying to cram the final pages in at the last moment. My OOAD class is almost done. I’m done with everything I need to do for the class other than compile the final paper. The final paper is a collection of all writings, diagrams, and other goodies that I’ve done so far in the class. I just have to take all of my diagrams, export them to images, open up Word, and start importing pictures. Should be cake. I gotta wait for feedback from my instructor on the last assignment before I can start. I hope to have that by Sunday, so I can start compiling away. I actually may start sooner than that, and leave the last few pages for his feedback. We’ll see how time allows me to go.
I’ve also been busy reading. I polished off the last of Academ’s Fury Sunday, and I’ve been steadily working my way through Cursor’s Fury during the week. I’m about 3/4 of the way through the book, and it’s a great book. I can’t wait to see how it ends up, and that will start the long wait until December when the next book in the series comes out.
I’ve also be looking into starting back up with some martial arts. I’ve looked at a few places, and called a few of them for pricing, attitude, class schedules, etc. The place that I finally settled on is a Brazilian Jiu Jistu place that a friend of mine works out at and teaches there on occasion. The price is reasonable, and two of the four class times that they offer fit into my schedule fairly well. I’m going to head there Saturday to check them out to see what things are like before I commit to anything that is long-term.
I also upgraded my work laptop from Ubuntu 6.10 to 7.04 over the weekend via their automated on-line application. It was slick. I started it Friday as soon as I got home from work. I went to see Rise of the Silver Surfer Friday night, and when I got home the downloads were done, and the install was started. It was prompting me about overwriting a changed config file, so I had to answer a few of those before going to bed. When I got up Saturday, it was asking more questions. I decided to baby-sit it while working on my Linux final paper. I got some good work done on the paper while answering the randomly-timed questions on the upgrade. After the upgrade was done Saturday around Noon, it rebooted. The system came up clean, and I only had to tweak a few scripts and config files that I had changed. That only took about 20 minutes, and a reboot. After that, everything was working swimmingly well. I’m happy with the upgrade process. Good stuff.
I’m thinking about maybe rebuilding my server with Ubuntu Server Edition to see how things go with that. That’s lots of work and such. I’m not sure I want to suffer the day or two of downtime to do something to a server that is working fine. I’m currently downloading the ISO right now for it, and I’m going to test it on my personal laptop to see how things go. It might be worth the up-front trouble in order to make upgrades easier in the future.
That’s how my past week has gone. Just par for the course. Maybe I’ll start posting again with more regularity. We’ll see….
Time Management
For the past two semesters, I’ve been in one class (either online or in class) and one guided independent study (GIS) class. The instructor that I’ve had for the GIS classes (the same one for all four classes) just gave me all of the reading assignments, homework, and tests up front, and told me to finish them before the 8 weeks was up for the class. This meant that I had one class worth of work that had a strict schedule on getting things done because I could do work on the GIS class as I had time. I only had to make time for one class.
I’m currently in two online classes (all done with GIS for now), and that means that I have two strict schedules to stick to for reading, posting on the forums, replying to posts, getting homework done, and working on final projects. I’m struggling with getting all of this done, and still finding time to work, eat, sleep, and maybe spending a little time with Kiara.
I’m only in the third week of the two classes, and it’s taken me this long to get into my stride of getting things done on time without waiting for the last moment. I think I’ve finally found a pattern that works well for me, and I’m going to try to stick to it.
I finished all of my homework (except for replying to fellow students’ postings since there are none yet) for my Operating Systems course last night. It was a good feeling to get it all done. I still have a little reading left to do for the class, though. I hope to get that done tonight. How did I do my homework without doing the reading? Well, there are two parts to the readings: the online reading, and the book. I finished the online reading, and that gave me enough information to get started on the homework. Where my knowledge fell short on the homework, I looked it up in the book. I still need to do the reading though since I’ll be tested on it next week.
I haven’t even started the homework for my Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) class yet. If time permits, I’m going to get started on it tonight, and try to get it finished by tomorrow night.
The main problem that I’m having is that most online courses follow the same pattern:
- Reading (online and book) to be done by Thursday night.
- Forum post by Thursday night.
- Reply to two forum posts by Sunday (sometimes Saturday) night.
- Homework turned into professor by Sunday (sometimes Saturday) night.
- Work on final project (which is due at the end of the term.)
This is a double-whammy for me since I have two classes that follow this pattern. That means double the normal homework to get done at the same time. Since I have D&D Thursday night, I have to get my homework done by Wednesday night. I lose a whole 24 hours of time, so that I can make it to the D&D game. Of course, if I don’t finish the homework by the end of Wednesday, I have to bail out of the D&D game for the week. I’ve been good so far, and this hasn’t had to happen. I hope that it doesn’t, but I know where my priorities stand. I’ll do it if I have to.
Volunteer Work
There is a national honor society called Alpha Sigma Nu that allows students from Jesuit school (which Regis University is one) to join. You have to have a fairly high GPA (which I do), at least be in your junior year (which I am), and show service to the community (which I don’t have.) Only 4% of the applicants are allowed in every year. To improve my chances of getting into the ASN society, I’m thinking about doing some volunteer work.
Is this a bit self-centered? Yeah. Probably. I’ve always thought that volunteer work should be done without expecting to get anything back other than warm and fuzzy feelings. I’d like to say that my motivation to help other people is for self gratification, but I do have other motives. I’m not going to be secret about them.
Do I like helping people out? Sure. Do I expect something out of helping others? Sometimes, but not usually. Should I not do volunteer work because I expect something beneficial out of it? No. I think I can help other people, and if I get a side benefit, then good for me.
In the past, I was part of a drug rehab and drug prevention group. I was part of the prevention, not the rehab group. During the summer months, weekends, and on spring break, most of us would volunteer to help with an organization called “Christmas in April” that was similar to the Habitat for Humanity organization. We would swarm a run-down house, and remodel and revamp it over the course of a week. There were licensed contractors overseeing the whole operation, but a vast majority of the muscle, blood, and sweat was provided by the volunteers.
I remember working on an elderly woman’s house for almost an entire week. We started with her kitchen, and moved outwards from there. Because we did the kitchen first, it allowed her to make drinks (usually lemonade) and snacks (usually sandwiches) for the workers as we did our thing. After a hot day in the West Texas sun working our asses off, the lemonade was some of the best that we’d ever had. When we were finally finished with her house, she couldn’t even thank us because she was crying so much. Those tears of joy were all of the thanks that I needed.
Despite my current motivations being different from the “normal reasons”, I think that I can do some good. I’ve contacted Regis’ ministry services that coordinate these kinds of things, but my contact is out on vacation until next Monday. I’ve got a post-it on my calendar for next Monday to give him a call to see where I can get started.
I’m willing to roll up my sleeves to help build/remodel a house for Habitat for Humanity, or work in a soup kitchen for the homeless. I pretty much don’t have any limits on what I’m willing to do. I would prefer to put my professional and technical skills to use to create web sites for organizations, design software that allows them to track donations, requests for help, and things of that nature. I’ll probably end up doing a little bit of both if things work out well.
I’ll let you know how things turn out.
Missed Yesterday
I didn’t realize until just now that I had forgotten to post yesterday. Work’s been kicking my ass lately. Tight deadlines, a million things to do, and nothing but new stuff keeps coming up. I had a short sit-down with my boss yesterday to talk about my deadlines. Most of them I set for myself, and I think I set them too tight. I’ll be able to get the work done, but it’s going to be crazy getting it all done in time.
He agreed with my deadlines, but he thought that maybe I was pushing myself too hard. I assured him that I’m enjoying my work, and that I can get the work done in time. I actually did a little work this morning and got a project finished. I normally don’t work on the weekends, but I just couldn’t get this piece of code out of my head. I was worried that if I didn’t get it down and coded that I would lose my inspiration. I hope you know what I mean, so that you don’t think that I’m crazy for doing work on a Saturday morning.
Welp. It’s time to get some homework done. I have a few dozen pages to read for Monday’s class, and I have an outline for a speech to write. It shouldn’t take me too long to get it done. I already know what the speech is about, and how I’m going to do it. Heck. I could probably stand up and give it right now with no practice, and just winging it. However, the class has structure, and I have to follow it. Such is the life of a student. The instructor gives me hoops, and I do my best to jump through them. Sometimes I learn stuff. Sometimes I don’t. Fortunately, most of the time I’m learning a little something that is useful.
Regis Adviser
I had a meeting with my adviser today to talk about some new classes that are offered. I went in thinking that I was going to have to change my entire degree plan, which would have really sucked. They changed my degree plan (and the supporting courses) shortly after I started, but I have a 7 year contract with them that they can’t change. I started back in Spring of 2005, which gives me until Spring of 2012 to get things done. I’m not going to take anywhere near that long to get done. I plan on graduating sometime around Fall of 2008 or Spring of 2009 depending on how things work out. I hope it doesn’t take much longer than that….
The reason for the change was two new certificate programs that they added: Enterprise and Web Application Engineering, and Information Systems Security. I already had on my slate two of the four classes for the Information Systems Security, so it was just a matter of adding two more classes to my list. I had already taken one of the four classes for the Enterprise and Web Application Engineering certificate, and the other three intrigue me, so I decided to add three more classes to my workload.
To make room for these five classes, I removed from my list the computer networking (four of them) classes that I had planned on taking, so that left me with one extra class to take. While talking to my adviser, I discovered that one of my previous classes (the first one I took, actually) qualified for one of my requirements on my degree. I did not know this. This means that I got to remove Government Role In Society from my list of classes to take.
All-in-all, I’m going to end up taking the same number of courses. Yay! The one oddity about this all, is that if I want my certificates, I have to take two more classes than is necessary to graduate with my bachelor’s degree. I think they’ll be worth it in the end. It’ll look good on the resume to have three certificates (E-Security, Information Systems Security, and Enterprise and Web Application Engineering.) Sure, they don’t mean that I’m certified in anything, and my adviser said several times that they are not “academic certificates.” I still think it’s good resume padding for the future.
I also talked to her about what it would take to be a professor at a college/university. She said that it would take at least a Masters, and most places are now requiring a Doctorate. I kind of expected that. She also said that the rules and requirements vary from state-to-state, and that they seem to be constantly changing. Since it’s going to be a while before I can even qualify to teach, I figure I’ll get the details later.
She did tell me that there are several Regis graduates that are teaching at Regis. That gave me hope because some universities have a “educational incest” policy. This means that if you graduate from a place with a degree, then you can’t also teach there. I can kind of see the logic in that. It keeps the same old ideas from being recycled. It allows for fresh knowledge, fresh perspectives, and fresh ideas to come into the school. I think I would like to teach at Regis. It’s full of working adults, and they seem to be more driven to excel in their fields. I wouldn’t be teaching people that have no drive or desire to be in class. I think that would frustrate me more than anything.
It’s a decent road ahead of me, but by my current count, I have finished 27 classes, am currently in 2 classes, and I have 13 more to go. Two of my classes are core classes, and the rest after that are all computer classes. I’m almost done with the grunt work, and I can get on with the fun stuff!
Grades
I got my grades for my history and astronomy classes. I got an ‘A’ in history, and an ‘A’ in astronomy. I actually got a 104.5 (highest grade in the class) in astronomy, and the instructor told me that if he could give me an ‘A+’ he would, but Regis only allows for an ‘A’ as the highest grade.
I’m quite happy with the way things went with those two classes. I learned quite a bit in both classes, and I’m looking forward to my next two classes.
I found out last night that I only have to give three 5-7 minute speeches in my speech communications class. One is informative, one is persuasive, and one is a sales speech. All three should be very easy to do. I’m actually looking forward to them. Should be good stuff.
I’ve never made straight ‘A’s in a semester before (but I’ve come close with 3 ‘A’s and an ‘A-’), and I think that this may be the first time that I can pull it off. I also found out that if you have a 3.7 (or higher) GPA then you’ll graduate with honors. My GPA currently stands (counting history and astronomy) at 3.758, so I think I can pull that off come December of 2008 when I graduate.
I actually may not graduate in December of 2008 as I’ve been planning. I’m going to talk to my advisor next week about adding some more tech classes (for further certifications) to my degree program, and maybe adding some teacher education classes. I’d love to be a teacher someday, and the Regis program guide is intentionally vague about what is necessary to get this certification. They require you to talk to your advisor to get this information. I’m not sure why, but I’ll find out next week what it’s all about.
I’ll keep you posted.
New Classes
Last week was my last week of taking United States History Since 1895, and Astronomy. Both of the classes were low difficulty, but high on the amount of work required to pass the class. I learned quite a bit in both classes (except for which star is closest to Earth [it's a pseudo-trick question {the sun}]), and I’m glad that I took the classes.
My next two classes are Speech Communications and E-Security Countermeasures. Both of them should be very easy classes.
I took three years of speech and drama in junior high and high school. Public speaking, debate, acting, and other public performances come easily to me. I’m not as charismatic as JFK (speaking) or Tom Hanks (acting), but I have no fear of doing any of it. I’ve had to do a few presentations in a few classes over the past two years, but I’m assuming that I’ll have to give a speech every night of class for the next eight weeks. I’m ok with that. I think it will be fun to do it.
My countermeasures class is “guided independent study” (GIS), which means that the teacher loads me up with reading and homework to do over the next eight weeks. I have the eight weeks to get it all done, and get my grade. I started working on the reading and homework yesterday afternoon, and I’m almost halfway through with the course already.
In the past, when I’ve taken GIS courses, I’ve always waited until the last week or so to do the homework, and it’s weighed on me the entire time. I’m not going to let that happen this time around. I’m going to see if I can get it all finished by this time next week. If I can pull that off, then the next two months will go smoothly with just a single class to worry about.
Moving and Teaching
My dream started with me standing between an office building and a moving truck. I was sweating profusely and hurting quite a bit as I hauled large, heavy boxes from the building to the truck. I would talk to the building, pick up a box, and heave it to the truck. The people that I was helping to move weren’t lifting a finger to help because they were busy with closing on their house. Oddly enough, they were doing it at a cheap folding card table that was piled high with papers. Their real estate agent kept telling me that I had to go away because they were going to discuss the purchase price, and she didn’t want me to be privy to that information for some reason.
I constantly told the real estate agent to blow off because I was busy moving stuff. She finally got to the point in the paperwork where they were discussing numbers. That’s when the three of them (husband, wife, and agent) approached me, and told me that I would have to leave. That’s when I realized that I didn’t know any of them, and I blew up. I started screaming and cussing at them because I was busting my ass moving for people that refused to help me, and I didn’t even know them!
I told them that I had other things to do, and that they were on their own for the rest of the move. That’s when I walked into the office building, and down a few hallways. I finally entered a room that was laid out exactly like my algebra 2 classroom that I was in when I was a sophomore in high school.
Instead of walking to one of the student desks, I walked to the teacher’s desk and sat down. I looked down at a syllabus that suddenly appeared on the desk, and I knew that I was going to have to teach the class what was on the syllabus. I looked up from the paper to find that the classroom had filled with students.
I took the syllabus and started walking around the room with it. I kept reading from the syllabus, and telling the students what we were going to cover for the semester. The syllabus made no sense, but I went through it anyway. There were entries on the syllabus that looked like:
- Discuss the philosophical meanings of grok.
- Formulate a thesis on the hidden values of cromulant.
- Find three unique snowflakes and photograph them.
- Learn to ride a horse backwards.
- Grapple with a fellow student until you find a way to choke them out.
- Write a software routine in PHP to generate Fortran code that can be converted to assembler for the development of an artificial intelligence.
It just went on and on like that. None of it really made much sense. As I was explaining it to my students, I could tell that they were just as befuddled as I was.
Before I could make any sense out of the class objectives, my alarm went off. As I was getting ready to go to work, I was still trying to process the syllabus. I finally decided that it would never make sense to me, so I put it out of my mind on the drive into work.
Oi vay!
Things for today:
Too many meetings.
Meetings too long.
Had to go to bank.
Had to get caffeine.
Had to fix a few bugs before a meeting, but didn’t get a chance to test them until after the meeting. That meeting was the longest of the day, and it sucked because all I could think about was my bugs.
Deadlines looming at work for large projects. I’m on course for hitting the deadlines, though.
Deadlines looming at school for final projects in my classes. Not sure where I’ll find the time to do them by Monday.
Deadlines looming for my writers’ group for doing reading/critiquing of work. Not sure where I’ll find the time to do them by Saturday.
