Friday, October 24, 2008

Christopher Thatcher - Field Trip

I'm posting today from the lab in the library basement. I didn't post last night for a couple of reasons.

The good news: I was able to get my physics assignment taken care of, with a little more than one hundred percent, I think. My calculus assignment, well, I got all the problems completed minus two, although I was certifiably wrong on a lot of problems. I give myself an 80 percent for effort, and a 60 percent for actual accuracy. Hey, could have been worse, right?

This morning was miraculous in that I got to calculus early and stayed awake through the entire 50 minutes. It has been a very long time since that has happened. I feel pretty loved.

I have a dilemma for the weekend. I want to come home to see the musical and be with people, but there's a pretty cool ward activity going on up here tonight. I have a ride home and back, no problem. I'm still pretty torn, though. Right now it looks like I'll be staying here, unless something changes. I still got some time, though, so we'll see. I don't really wanna miss the musical, because I believe in supporting the school and all that. Seeing friends is always a plus. But it's an important ward activity, alas. We'll see.

So, calculus is pretty cool, but I'm not that good at it right now. There's just an incredible amount of error that can slip in. We're doing triple integrals. So instead of integrating along some line from x=0 to x=2, we integrate some volume V bounded by the planes z + x + y = 1, x = 0, y = x + 2z, and something else that's fierce. So we've got to spatially visualize these crazy planes to give a three-dimensional model, and then find out the limits of integration between them. Half of the limits are in terms of other variables, which makes it all sorts of fun. It really is pretty cool when it works right, but integration is messy just by itself, and doing three integrals on top of each other means that errors creep in from everywhere. I do really like the subject, but I recognize that I'm not getting accurate answers. The next test is going to be a very interesting one.

10:51 AM, have I ever blogged during this hour of the day in the history of the other dentist? Probably once or twice, actually, but that might have been the very first few times I was posting here during journalism for junior high. I've spent a fair amount of time in this computer lab here, so the environment isn't new. But it's interesting to write during the morning. Afternoon? I don't even know.

Fifteen minutes till I have to hoof it over to physics. I'm actually going to lecture today, hooblay! I've decided to stop sluffing. As much as I really enjoy sluffing, it's not a great idea. I'm going to try really hard to stay awake in there today. History is stacked against me on this one, but I've already seen two miracles this morning- who says I can't believe in a third?

Yay, I'm talking to my mom online. She got a laptop for her work, and now she's finally learning to use a computer. It's been a pretty funny adventure. Pretty cool that mom's so smart though. It doesn't take her long to pick up on new stuff like this. I should call and talk to her more though. I can get by without talking to people I care about, I've found. But it's always nicer when I do. Pretty interesting stuff, though.

Next semester is going to be incredible, I've decided. I'm going to be so not new to college it's going to be insane. I've got a few goals kicking around in the oven, and I think I know a pretty good direction to move in. I've had one run through, and I'm pretty confident that the second one will be a lot smoother. Just saying, I'm looking forward to it.

Okay, it looks like I am coming home this weekend. Mom's good at advice. I'm off to physics, friends. I hope that you have a great day and weekend and all sorts of fun stuff. Peace and love~

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