Yep, I did it again. I'm burned out. I need a damn break. Good thing I have one coming!
I had to drop two of my five classes. It was fine at first, but once things started picking up, I found myself unable to keep up with my job--and unfortunately, it's more important right now that I keep up with my job than go to school full-time. So I'm taking multivariable calculus, physics, and engineering graphics. I'm not liking physics. I did well enough when I took algebra-based physics a few years ago, and calculus-based physics isn't really any different, but for some reason I'm just not getting it this time around. I understand the concepts, but manipulating the equations I have to use is difficult for me for some reason. I don't remember ever having this much difficulty with physics. GRRR.
Oh yeah, and the commute to school? I'm so over it. It takes me at least an hour and a half to get to school. If I have a class at 11AM, I have to leave my house at 9AM in order to catch a train that will give me enough time to walk to my class from the train station. And when my classes are done, I have to wait (normally 20+ minutes, sometimes as long as 45-60 minutes) for the train that takes me back home. It got very old very quickly. I can only do so much studying on the train... many times I have to take the "express" train which is very crowded and leaves me no physical room to have my books open to study. About half the time, the trains are late. Before I started commuting, I thought I would be able to just get used to it, but no way. It's a HUGE time suck, and I'm not able to be productive most of the time. Thankfully, one of the classes I dropped was the one where I have to wait 45-60 minutes for the next train.
Anyway, I'm more than halfway done with the semester and I can't freaking wait until the end. My classes end December 3rd and then I have finals the 6th through the 10th. AND THEN WE MOVE! Eric got an incredible offer in South Carolina. It was actually me who found the job. ;)
We had been visiting Eric's friends in Atlanta and I wanted to drive through Greenville since Clemson University is somewhat close by, so I figured it would be a good place for me to transfer. We drove through the campus, which is in a rural part of the state (about 45 minutes south of Greenville), and we drove up through the rural parts to Greenville and then back on the interstate to go home. While we were still on the road, I got on the laptop and started looking for jobs for Eric. I happened to find one that happened to be exactly like what he does now. A couple of weeks later, after Eric and I had gone on our honeymoon, Eric applied for the job, and a week or two after that he had a phone interview. They invited him down for an in-person interview, and since I wanted to be there to support him, we decided to drive (they would only pay for his flight, not mine). While he was in his interview, I drove around a little bit and happened upon the lake nearby, Lake Keowee. It's GORGEOUS! It looked like a lake taken straight out of the mountains of Colorado--and by the way there are smallish mountains very close by, so the whole setting is just so pretty.
Anyway, Eric rocked the interview and had an offer a few days later, which we took. He's leaving November 10th, I'm staying behind until the end of the semester, and then the movers are coming to pack up our stuff and off I go!
My last day at the aquarium is next Saturday. I'll definitely miss it but it'll also be nice to have my Saturdays back. There aren't any aquariums in Greenville, but I'm hoping to find a tack shop to work at.
I won't be starting school again until fall of next year, but while I'm taking my break from school, I'm planning on saving up to buy a horse! WEEEE! :)
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
I'm DONE with calculus!
FINALLY! I managed to get B's in both the Calc I and Calc II classes. Of course, I was hoping for A's, but this was my first try at calculus, they were accelerated courses, and the professor was tough, so I'm content with my grades.
I did actually get a video of the spitting puffer the last time I went to the aquarium, but Eric is sleeping and I don't want to rummage through the house to try to find the camera... In the same exhibit that the puffer is kept is a huge spiny lobster. I didn't even realize he was there until the biologist mentioned him--the lobster has a hiding spot so I never saw him. Lately, I've been target-feeding him with a chunk of herring on a pole, and the guy is voracious! It's so fun to target feed. I also target feed the moray eels, which I've always thought looked a bit creepy. Plus, they're venomous and they have creepy teeth. And creepy eyes.
Another exhibit I was cleaning the other day has four smaller spiny lobsters (and by smaller, I mean about a foot long). One of them found its way into the "backside" part of the exhibit by crawling over the wall. A grouper also lives back there, having jumped over the wall. There's a net that normally rests above the tank (to keep exactly that kind of escaping from happening), but it was tied up and out of the way when I got there. There's also a board that rests above that backside of the exhibit and I was sitting on it, cleaning the viewing part of the tank. I had noticed that the escapee lobster was down toward the bottom, but another lobster was near the top on the other side, threatening me with his beady little eyes, so I kept an eye on him while he attempted to attack the brush I was using. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, look down, and see the escapee all the way up at the top, about a foot away from me. Creepy lobster.
I finished, and decided it would probably be a good idea to put the net back to where it normally was. Not 10 seconds later, one of the lobsters had grabbed the net with its claws, pulling the net into the water. It wasn't just a coincidence, either. The lobster was pulling that net into the water like a man reeling in a fish. I frantically grabbed the net from him (gotta be a boy) and hung it back up. I swear, the things these fish are capable of...
I did actually get a video of the spitting puffer the last time I went to the aquarium, but Eric is sleeping and I don't want to rummage through the house to try to find the camera... In the same exhibit that the puffer is kept is a huge spiny lobster. I didn't even realize he was there until the biologist mentioned him--the lobster has a hiding spot so I never saw him. Lately, I've been target-feeding him with a chunk of herring on a pole, and the guy is voracious! It's so fun to target feed. I also target feed the moray eels, which I've always thought looked a bit creepy. Plus, they're venomous and they have creepy teeth. And creepy eyes.
Another exhibit I was cleaning the other day has four smaller spiny lobsters (and by smaller, I mean about a foot long). One of them found its way into the "backside" part of the exhibit by crawling over the wall. A grouper also lives back there, having jumped over the wall. There's a net that normally rests above the tank (to keep exactly that kind of escaping from happening), but it was tied up and out of the way when I got there. There's also a board that rests above that backside of the exhibit and I was sitting on it, cleaning the viewing part of the tank. I had noticed that the escapee lobster was down toward the bottom, but another lobster was near the top on the other side, threatening me with his beady little eyes, so I kept an eye on him while he attempted to attack the brush I was using. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, look down, and see the escapee all the way up at the top, about a foot away from me. Creepy lobster.
I finished, and decided it would probably be a good idea to put the net back to where it normally was. Not 10 seconds later, one of the lobsters had grabbed the net with its claws, pulling the net into the water. It wasn't just a coincidence, either. The lobster was pulling that net into the water like a man reeling in a fish. I frantically grabbed the net from him (gotta be a boy) and hung it back up. I swear, the things these fish are capable of...
Friday, August 6, 2010
Okay, okay
I never update this thing because I never really think people are reading it lol.
I have one week and one day left in my calculus II class. What really sucks about this accelerated course stuff is that I understand the concepts (mostly), but when it comes time to take a test, I've been cramming so much that my mind just BLANKS. The last test we took was going really well, but it was taking me a while to finish. By the time the class ended, only two people had finished, and he just collected them. When the vast majority of a class doesn't finish a test, doesn't that say that #1 something went wrong in the teaching or #2 the test was just too long? He doesn't see it that way. He thinks he teaches his classes the same way every time, so therefore every class "should" be treated equally.
I know, I know... I wouldn't be bitching if I had been one of the two that finished early. Anyway, so I had to leave one of the questions completely blank, and I wrote "no time" on it... to which he responded, "need to get faster." Bastard.
Welp, my little puffers are still alive and kicking (swimming?), and my snails are breeding like rabbits. The smaller of the two puffers is much more bold. He'll at least swim up to something in the water (like the brush I use to clean their tanks), while the bigger one swims up and down the side of the glass, looking for his escape. At the aquarium, I've changed exhibits all over again, and one of the exhibits I'm working on has a spitting puffer. No, that isn't an actual breed... this particular puffer was trained to spit water at people whenever he wanted food. It's so cute. I've been trying to get a video of it, but he only did it the one time I didn't have a camera.
I can't wait until calculus is over with. After calculus, I have a month long break from school which includes a weekend in Omaha, traveling to Georgia/South Carolina to scope out possible future places to live, and then our HONEYMOON!!!
I have one week and one day left in my calculus II class. What really sucks about this accelerated course stuff is that I understand the concepts (mostly), but when it comes time to take a test, I've been cramming so much that my mind just BLANKS. The last test we took was going really well, but it was taking me a while to finish. By the time the class ended, only two people had finished, and he just collected them. When the vast majority of a class doesn't finish a test, doesn't that say that #1 something went wrong in the teaching or #2 the test was just too long? He doesn't see it that way. He thinks he teaches his classes the same way every time, so therefore every class "should" be treated equally.
I know, I know... I wouldn't be bitching if I had been one of the two that finished early. Anyway, so I had to leave one of the questions completely blank, and I wrote "no time" on it... to which he responded, "need to get faster." Bastard.
Welp, my little puffers are still alive and kicking (swimming?), and my snails are breeding like rabbits. The smaller of the two puffers is much more bold. He'll at least swim up to something in the water (like the brush I use to clean their tanks), while the bigger one swims up and down the side of the glass, looking for his escape. At the aquarium, I've changed exhibits all over again, and one of the exhibits I'm working on has a spitting puffer. No, that isn't an actual breed... this particular puffer was trained to spit water at people whenever he wanted food. It's so cute. I've been trying to get a video of it, but he only did it the one time I didn't have a camera.
I can't wait until calculus is over with. After calculus, I have a month long break from school which includes a weekend in Omaha, traveling to Georgia/South Carolina to scope out possible future places to live, and then our HONEYMOON!!!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Calculus and work
That's all I seem to be doing these days. I've been studying so much calculus that it's been entering my dreams on a regular basis. I'm not doing as well as I'd hoped, and a lot of that is because I've been getting anxiety before and during my tests. I've been putting so much pressure on myself that my mind completely blanks when I take these damn tests. I'm still passing, but I'm not happy with my grades.
Anyway, I got two new puffers! These guys are fat and healthy, but not nearly as social as the last two. :( They dart around whenever I clean the tank, and in general are much more shy. Oh well. Hopefully they'll come around. A month or so ago I set up a 5-gallon tank solely for breeding snails (to feed the puffers). I never realized how slowly these things grow. I put around 20 snails (around 1/4" each) in the tank, and within days, I could see little packets of eggs on the glass of the tank. I have tons and tons of little baby snails in there, but they're growing sooooo slowly! At this rate, I'll never be able to make use of these snails.
I also have a new dressage board!
Anyway, I got two new puffers! These guys are fat and healthy, but not nearly as social as the last two. :( They dart around whenever I clean the tank, and in general are much more shy. Oh well. Hopefully they'll come around. A month or so ago I set up a 5-gallon tank solely for breeding snails (to feed the puffers). I never realized how slowly these things grow. I put around 20 snails (around 1/4" each) in the tank, and within days, I could see little packets of eggs on the glass of the tank. I have tons and tons of little baby snails in there, but they're growing sooooo slowly! At this rate, I'll never be able to make use of these snails.
I also have a new dressage board!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
On the fishies
I bought two figure-eight puffers a few weeks ago, and they were doing great--eating voraciously, swimming around happily, etc. But almost three weeks to the day after I got them, one of them was looking rather lethargic, and didn't really eat. I separated him into a little breeding box thing that I have, trying to help him since the current in the aquarium was throwing him around a bit. I also put some Melafix in the tank, hoped for the best, and came down the next morning. He was still alive, but died that afternoon. Same with the other puffer, although that little guy was a fighter. I transferred him into a makeshift hospital tank (a bucket with a heater) and put some anti-parasitic meds in, and he seemed to be swimming around a bit, but he died a few hours later. :( I just didn't catch it in time. I was pretty upset when he died, because he really didn't want to seem to give up. RIP little puffers.
This one was the laid-back, shy one. He had a particular hiding spot that he loved. The other one (the one looking straight at the camera) was aggressive, and would come right up to your fingers and nip, thinking it was food. He would also nip at the bristles of the toothbrush I use to clean their tank.
Sigh... so, I gave away my two cichlids, since puffers really aren't supposed to be kept with cichlids, and I'll be getting one or two more puffers again soon. When I do it this time, though, I'll be giving them the anti-parasitic as soon as I get them home--apparently parasites are pretty common with these puffers.
The other day at the aquarium, I helped feed the bowmouths! Here's a pic of one:
They're about 5-6 feet long, and they're trained to feed in a really cool way. The tank they're in is a huge, 760,000 gallon exhibit, so it's not like you can just kind of aim for them. They have a pole about 15 feet long, and this pole is dropped as far down into the tank as possible from this "dock" hanging over the tank. The pole doesn't reach the bottom, but the bowmouths are able to find the pole, and they follow (with their noses) the pole all the way up to the surface of the water, where they're presented with fish or crabs on a different pole. Sounds easier than it is. They don't just "follow" the pole--they actually PUSH on it while they're on their way up, and I had to push back with the pole every single time to prevent them from scratching their snouts on the dock. I had to basically use all my weight on the pole to keep them from pushing it out of my reach. These guys are voracious!
This one was the laid-back, shy one. He had a particular hiding spot that he loved. The other one (the one looking straight at the camera) was aggressive, and would come right up to your fingers and nip, thinking it was food. He would also nip at the bristles of the toothbrush I use to clean their tank.
Sigh... so, I gave away my two cichlids, since puffers really aren't supposed to be kept with cichlids, and I'll be getting one or two more puffers again soon. When I do it this time, though, I'll be giving them the anti-parasitic as soon as I get them home--apparently parasites are pretty common with these puffers.
The other day at the aquarium, I helped feed the bowmouths! Here's a pic of one:
They're about 5-6 feet long, and they're trained to feed in a really cool way. The tank they're in is a huge, 760,000 gallon exhibit, so it's not like you can just kind of aim for them. They have a pole about 15 feet long, and this pole is dropped as far down into the tank as possible from this "dock" hanging over the tank. The pole doesn't reach the bottom, but the bowmouths are able to find the pole, and they follow (with their noses) the pole all the way up to the surface of the water, where they're presented with fish or crabs on a different pole. Sounds easier than it is. They don't just "follow" the pole--they actually PUSH on it while they're on their way up, and I had to push back with the pole every single time to prevent them from scratching their snouts on the dock. I had to basically use all my weight on the pole to keep them from pushing it out of my reach. These guys are voracious!
Straight A's!
Yep, I got all A's for last semester. I'm currently taking a six-week Calc I course, and I'll be taking Calc II after that.
It was a miracle that I was able to get into Calc I. I had enrolled in this class a few months ago, and it's the only Calc I class for the Summer 1 six-week semester. Well, I had mistakenly thought that financial aid would carry over into the summer months, but it didn't, and on top of that, I never received a bill--not a letter, not an e-mail, nothing. So my school deregistered me from the class, and I didn't find out until well over a week later. Of course, by then, the class was filled, AND there was no waitlist for it! I was furious, and I called up in tears (I was really upset, as this would put me back a semester), but of course, there was nothing they could do. I even e-mailed the professor, and he was of no help.
Long story short, I checked multiple times a day waiting for someone to drop. The night before the class was supposed to start, someone happened to drop, and I snatched up that person's spot.
So, here I am, taking an insanely fast-paced calculus course. Two of them, actually. I'll be thankful when this summer is over. I hope I'm actually able to enjoy it!
It was a miracle that I was able to get into Calc I. I had enrolled in this class a few months ago, and it's the only Calc I class for the Summer 1 six-week semester. Well, I had mistakenly thought that financial aid would carry over into the summer months, but it didn't, and on top of that, I never received a bill--not a letter, not an e-mail, nothing. So my school deregistered me from the class, and I didn't find out until well over a week later. Of course, by then, the class was filled, AND there was no waitlist for it! I was furious, and I called up in tears (I was really upset, as this would put me back a semester), but of course, there was nothing they could do. I even e-mailed the professor, and he was of no help.
Long story short, I checked multiple times a day waiting for someone to drop. The night before the class was supposed to start, someone happened to drop, and I snatched up that person's spot.
So, here I am, taking an insanely fast-paced calculus course. Two of them, actually. I'll be thankful when this summer is over. I hope I'm actually able to enjoy it!
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