Man of Science, Man of Faith

It seems like just two or three weeks ago the fall semester was starting up. I feel like I just got settled into the rhythm of classes. Now it’s a week past over and honestly feels like it was gone in a blink. I have it on good authority that time flies when you’re having fun.

And what would any semester be without a wrap-up of all the folks who made it possible? Here we go:

Circuits: Zach Pemberton, Brenton McCuskey, Caitlyn Davis-McDaniel, Zach Burns, Juliana Phelps, Coleman Johnson, my occasional lab partner Jessica Warner, and last but by no stretch of the imagination least, my usual lab partner Lauren Hays.

Physics. Oh physics. This class was a joke.  A big, fat, stolen joke. But there were still people in it, albeit fewer and fewer as the semester went on. The notable were: Jessica Meadows, Zach Pemberton, Jese Vance, Julie Ball, Philip Hatfield, Lauren, Brennan Skeens, Monica Urrutia and Brittany Whited. I’m sure that while we may forget the material, we will never forget Wilson.

Physics had a lab as well. I have to thank my lab partners here – they were my life raft in a sea of broken Engrish. Sara Lilly and Kayla Johnson, you ladies were wonderful. I also have to give a shout out to Lauren, Brennan and Audrey Smith who were the group next to mine.

Statics: Lauren, Brennan, Jese, Julie, Philip, Monica, Kristen Bobuk, Tyler Spurlock, Zach Burns, and JD Stanley. See you all next semester in dynamics, I’m sure.

This is not by any means an exhaustive list of everyone in every class. It is a list of the people I actually spoke to.

I also need to give a shout to some fantastic friends for supporting me in my endeavors and follies: Luke Damron, Leigh Williams Fregia, Jennifer Scott, Jennifer McComas, Melanie Grieco and Tiffany V.

Two weeks into the fall semester now and all is going relatively well. I have managed to not learn anything I didn’t already know. This sounds like gloating, I realize, but that isn’t my intent.

I’m very thankful to have had as good an education as I did in high school. I feel like I probably got more out of it than many. Even though it ended 10 years ago, it prepared me exceptionally well for what I’m tackling now. Much of that credit goes to Don Rogers who, I thank my lucky stars now, came to class prepared and eager to teach, instilling good problem solving skills as he went.

I point this out now because I’m currently in a physics class with a professor who, while he appears to have notes, manages to stumble through class barely connecting thoughts while attempting to teach. All this for roughly $3.50⁽¹⁾ per person per minute. By the time class is over each day, it has collectively cost the 35 of us over $6,000. I do this math because I’m bored.

In addition to a mind-numbingly silly physics class, there is an equally silly physics lab. It makes what we did in high school look like rocket science. I’m disappointed, really.

I did end up dropping differential equations, which I had considered because of the homework I anticipated in my other classes. Upon attempting to go from work to class to at least check it out, Alice decided it was not to be and  refused to start. I took this as a sign and dropped the class.

Statics, however, is a very good class. At this point, it isn’t anything new. I did mess with an online statics class earlier in the summer and have been analyzing static structures at work, so I’ve seen most of the material already. I’m not complaining, though. The professor does come to class prepared and ready to go. I like that.

Circuits is also a good class. Again, nothing new just yet, but I’m cool with that. It puts me in a position where I can reinforce what I know and help others.

Remember: I’m pullin’ for ya – we’re all in this together.

(1) – Assuming $3000 in tuition spread over 14 hours of in-class time. Individual results may vary.

A taco dog from Hillbilly has never tasted quite as good as it did today.

In a hurry to cram as much in as possible, I took Calc 3 over the summer. Cram we did. Fortunately, as I’d been informed, this was the easiest of the calculus classes. As is custom, I do like to give a nod to the folks who made it what it was: James, Tom, Adam, Jeremy and Sarah – it was fun. And to the prof, Alfred Akinsete, you were pretty good.

That being said, I’m glad the class is over. Now on to other fun: Circuits, Statics, Physics and possibly Differential Equations. This all starts tomorrow.

Don Rogers, don’t fail me now.

I took my calculus final bright and early this morning at 8. I’m glad it is done.  This is a Good Thing. Grades come out Wednesday. I remember the good old days when one could see their grades as they were submitted and posted to MILO. Alas, someone decided it would be a Good Idea to hold grades until students had been kicked out of the dorms and professors were two days into their summer vacations. I believe this is to keep the number of grade appeals down.

In keeping with tradition, this is the part where I do my shout-outs to the folks I’ve rolled mad and deep with.

In Cusick’s Calc II class: Patrick Shoemaker, Anna Maria Firth, Jessica Beres, Tyler Spurlock, Kristen Bobuk, Zach Burns, Greg Sowards and the rest of you too.

In chemistry, Luke Damron, you’re pretty much my one and only. Except in the lab. That was all Greg Sowards and Lauren Hays.

For Engineering Computations: Tyler, Kristen and Zach I’ve mentioned already but I’ll include Rachael Parlock, Harley Bullard, Seth Bartrig and Richard Six.

For Engineering Econ: Lauren and the other 4 people who sat close. Sorry – I didn’t catch your names. Not even after 16 weeks. But I know you are CS majors. Does that count?

To all of you, thanks for making it a good semester. I’ll see some of you next semester, I’m sure.

I don’t know exactly who out there reads my blog. I’m sure there are random folks out there somewhere who stumble upon it, read, and move on about their lives. Welcome to you.

I principally maintain the blog for old friends, just to reassure them I’ve not fallen off of the face of the Earth. They never seem to comment, so either they never read or simply don’t feel compelled to say hello, good to see you’re still alive, etc. Welcome friends, I miss you. This is why my blog was imported into Facebook.

There is apparently a small group of people who read, waiting to sensationalize and gossip about the slivers of life I share. This is why my blog will no longer be imported into Facebook and also why some posts will be privatized.

At the moment, I know of just one person who falls into that last group and they should feel this directed squarely at them. I don’t know you and you don’t, contrary to what you may believe, know me. What I do with my life and who I do it with is none of your business, so don’t worry yourself over it. I know you have gone out of your way to keep an eye on me but I can not, for the life of me, figure out why.

I managed to make it through the first week back in classes. There are several standout items.

First, I feel like a fossil. I don’t consider myself to be an old guy, but the majority of other students running around seem to me, at this point, to be aged about twelve. Indeed, I am nearly a decade older than the youngest of them. I remember the first Bush. Heck, I have vague memories of Reagan. They’re all so young and full of life. That’ll pass.

Second, I passed Ed Mondolfi on my way to a class Monday. At the time, I had a little chuckle about it since the two of us graduated high school together. Turns out that he is in my Friday chem lab. We’re totally lab partners. This may or may not turn out to be a good thing.

Third, on Tuesday while waiting to get into my calculus class, Luke Damron passed in the hallway. He didn’t see me so I tapped him on the shoulder and we caught up a little bit. He and I somehow came to very similar realizations. His was that newspapers are a dying industry and that he needs a better job. He is back pursuing a biology degree on the way to med school.

Fourth, I own 100 shares of Journal Register, a dead newspaper stock. It died after I bought it. It shows no signs of coming back to life. I continue to hold on to it. It is quite literally worthless, so selling it would be stupid – the only place you can go from the bottom is up.

Fifth, my brain is rusty. Very rusty. I jumped right into calculus. The last math class I had was statistics and that was in the fall of 1999, so 9 years ago. Prior to that, my last semester of high school was devoid of a math class which puts my last high school math class at the beginning of my senior year. That said, I don’t seem to be any further behind than my classmates who have hopefully had more recent mathematical exercises.

Sixth, if it hadn’t been for Don Rogers, I really wouldn’t be prepared for any of this. The stuff I learned in that class has stuck with me.

That’s all for now, I’m sure there will be more later.

It has been two years, roughly, since I graduated. That was May 2006. Shamefully, since then, the only steady work I’ve had was three months working retail. I’ve done odd jobs here and there, started my own business with not-that-much-more work and managed to not save a nickel.

Ultimately, with the degree I have there is no way to get into a professional job that I like. Theatre is cool and all, but I don’t want to be a nomad, running around the country from gig to gig. I would also like to be able to retire at some point. For the theatre business, that seems to mean an MA and a teaching job. I don’t like theatre that much.

What I have decided to do is pursue an engineering degree. Marshall has a relatively new program now where you can get the whole degree at Marshall rather than having to run off to WVU or WVUIT to finish the last two years. It puts me back in school for at least three more years, but I should be able to snag a decent job afterwards and get on with life.

If I had it all to do over again, I probably wouldn’t take the theatre track. It was fun and I picked up a lot of practical skills, but that BFA doesn’t prove you can do anything outside the arts. Hindsight is 20/20, I’m told.

So starting at the end of August, I’ll be occupied with Calculus, Chemistry, Geomatics, trying to pay for the whole affair as well as trying to keep a personal life going and working on a better housing arrangement.  Yes, it’s a lot to do, but hustle now, happy later. Hopefully my foresight on this one isn’t myopic.

I and this game of full-contact retail don’t play nice together. Tonight epitomized pretty much everything I hate about it. For the last three hours of my shift, I was playing a one man defense in what should be a three-man team. Things work best when there are three of us. Anytime somebody needs something that requires a forklift, it takes two guys and that third is still free to answer the phone and/or help customers. One guy? Totally two guys too few.

For the last two days, notes with our projected hours for the week have been showing up with “NO OVERTIME” written in a big, bold, foreboding hand. OK, fine, but that means I have to leave half an hour before the scheduled end of my shift Friday. On one hand, I feel bad about leaving the place a bit of a wreck. On the other, management gets what they deserve.

And I had a pebble in my shoe. That was, of course, inevitable after sweeping up 60 pounds of leaked concrete. Busted bags are a fact of life but tonight it looked like someone had just taken two bags and swung them around like a toddler, spewing dust and pebbles everywhere.

Sit and freakin’ spin, people. I quit. I put in my two-weeks notice a week ago. I’m tired of dealing with asshole customers and out-of-touch managers. It is why I had reservations about starting into retail and has only cemented my feelings.

Because business is slow and I have bills to pay, I went out and got myself a job working for “the man.” And by “the man” I mean Lowes. On one hand, regular work scheduled by someone else blows a bit. On the other hand, I get money for my trouble. Decent trade, I figure.