Life has been going well, but I find myself very busy once again. Classes are starting to settle in to their norm. Homework is a continuous thing, but I'm trying to be consistent about doing it whenever I have a few moments, and staying ahead of my deadlines. In my differential equations class, I've been doing my best to read over the book before lectures and mostly teaching myself, which has been a huge improvement over what I've done in past semesters, trying to learn for the first time during lecture. My humanities class is going quite well, and I'm enjoying the material. Our first block of discussion was over the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, his first autobiography, and more generally about freedom of body and mind, and slavery's effect on society. Now we're moving on to discussions of the Greek philosophers. Currently we're focused on Socrates, and what a jerk he was. In addition to being remembered for his deep, critical thinking on philosophy, he is also known as a great debater, and regularly convinced people that they didn't know anything. From reading Plato's Euthyphro, it's plain to see that Socrates could lead a conversation by a leash, guiding it where he pleased. It's a fun class, and it's getting me to think about topics I wouldn't normally spend much time thinking about. My computer classes are both pretty good, but both of those professors are a little scatter-brained, it seems.
I'm still driving buses, for the moment. I didn't land the job at CU's ITS department, so it's my only job right now. I had many people suggest that trying to keep both jobs would be trying to do too much, and I appreciate that everyone is concerned for me. I had decided to quit the bus job when ITS hired me, but that didn't happen. So, now I can either keep looking for something else in the IT sector, or stick with the buses for a while longer. I think I'll stop the job hunt, at least for a couple of weeks; I'm settling in to my routine, and I don't want to risk going back to my old procrastination habits by upsetting that routine.
Lastly, I've been taking a little time to enjoy a couple of new toys. I had enough money left in savings from Iraq to build a new computer, and to buy a new bicycle. My old desktop computer had stopped working a couple of months before I left for Iraq, and was quite out of date (ie. 5 years), so I ordered all new parts except for the case. When the shipping box arrived last Friday, I "geeked out" and shut myself in my office and assembled the computer and started getting it working. Now it's running like a champ. It plays World of Warcraft at full settings without a hitch, and games like Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 look awesome. I haven't tried any of the more recent system hogs like Crysis or Mass Effect, but I'm eager to do so.
My new bike came out of the fact that I do quite a bit of biking around Boulder. It's very practical to ride around in Boulder rather than taking a car everywhere. Also, most of my bus runs this semester are split; they start on campus, and end a mile away at the Transportation office. For a while I was using my mountain bike. It's still in good shape, but I noticed it's difficult to ride on the street for very long. It's just not made for that role. It's got a relatively heavy frame, and it's not geared for going around-town speeds. So, I walked into Bicycle Village, and was recommended the Trek 7.2 FX. It's an around-town kind of bike. It's tires are much smaller than a mountain bike's, but still large enough to take a hard-packed dirt road or paved bike path. It has straight handlebars, which is more familiar to me than the aggressive curved bars. The frame is very light. It's perfect for what I need it to do.
Now if only I could get home more often...
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The First Week
Well, so far so good. The first week back at school has gone smoothly. My four classes are all reasonable, and one of them actually looks to be fun.
Humanities for Engineers introduces engineering majors to something they might not get to otherwise experience; culture. We will examine many classics of literature and film, and are also required to attend "cultural events" such as live theater, jazz concerts, or (if justified and well-journalised) visiting a hookah bar. Also on the syllabus is a requirement to visit the Art Museum of Denver armed with oil pastels and sketch pad to duplicate a piece of contemporary visual art. The central theme of the course, acccording to the professor, is to explore what it means to be human and the human experience. It's something that can many times escape the mind of the engineer, who is posessed of creating new machines or chemicals or highways.
Beyond classes, I've been doing lots of bus driving, and looking for work elsewhere. I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to see my home this semeter except to sleep. Transportation has given me 20 hours a week of permanent runs, which means I'll be working at least that much. When special events like football games happen, that could easily add to my workload. I think I could manage that on its own, but I'm also interested in getting a job somewhere working with computers. The university's Information Technology Serivces department is considering me for a student system administrator position working on their UNIX/Linux computers. I would have the luxury of setting my own schedule, but to effectively learn my job I'm told I need to spend at least 20 hours a week in the labs, learning from more experienced people. And of course, I'm sure the Army will want me to start drilling again soon.
Between all of this, I hope not to get burnt out, or fall behind on schoolwork, or neglect my marriage. It's a heavy load, but with proper focus I think I might be able to manage for a semester. After that, I plan on leaving Transportation. They've been extremely good to me, and hired me back to my driving post with no questions asked when I got back from Iraq. I want to repay that kindness by giving them more than a couple of months of work and not leaving in the middle of the semester, but the stress of my current schedule might not allow for that kindness. If things get too dicey, I'll have to leave them early. I don't mind driving buses, but it sure doesn't bolster my résumé in the IT field.
In other news, Ashley's grandmother recently had to be taken to the hospital. From what I understand, she was going to bed and started shaking uncontrollably and felt very weak. She was taken my ambulance to the hospital. The doctor suspected that she had an infection, but couldn't determine what it was. She spent about 3 days there, and is now home with antibiotics. It was quite a scare for the family. We're still waiting on the final word, but she's stable at least.
Humanities for Engineers introduces engineering majors to something they might not get to otherwise experience; culture. We will examine many classics of literature and film, and are also required to attend "cultural events" such as live theater, jazz concerts, or (if justified and well-journalised) visiting a hookah bar. Also on the syllabus is a requirement to visit the Art Museum of Denver armed with oil pastels and sketch pad to duplicate a piece of contemporary visual art. The central theme of the course, acccording to the professor, is to explore what it means to be human and the human experience. It's something that can many times escape the mind of the engineer, who is posessed of creating new machines or chemicals or highways.
Beyond classes, I've been doing lots of bus driving, and looking for work elsewhere. I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to see my home this semeter except to sleep. Transportation has given me 20 hours a week of permanent runs, which means I'll be working at least that much. When special events like football games happen, that could easily add to my workload. I think I could manage that on its own, but I'm also interested in getting a job somewhere working with computers. The university's Information Technology Serivces department is considering me for a student system administrator position working on their UNIX/Linux computers. I would have the luxury of setting my own schedule, but to effectively learn my job I'm told I need to spend at least 20 hours a week in the labs, learning from more experienced people. And of course, I'm sure the Army will want me to start drilling again soon.
Between all of this, I hope not to get burnt out, or fall behind on schoolwork, or neglect my marriage. It's a heavy load, but with proper focus I think I might be able to manage for a semester. After that, I plan on leaving Transportation. They've been extremely good to me, and hired me back to my driving post with no questions asked when I got back from Iraq. I want to repay that kindness by giving them more than a couple of months of work and not leaving in the middle of the semester, but the stress of my current schedule might not allow for that kindness. If things get too dicey, I'll have to leave them early. I don't mind driving buses, but it sure doesn't bolster my résumé in the IT field.
In other news, Ashley's grandmother recently had to be taken to the hospital. From what I understand, she was going to bed and started shaking uncontrollably and felt very weak. She was taken my ambulance to the hospital. The doctor suspected that she had an infection, but couldn't determine what it was. She spent about 3 days there, and is now home with antibiotics. It was quite a scare for the family. We're still waiting on the final word, but she's stable at least.
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