Decorating.....

..... would be a hell of a lot easier if I could find a style I liked and then stuck with it.

Class and Politics

Two classes at once is just insane, remind me to not do this again.

I'm not doing that great in stats but I'm not sure I care anymore to be totally honest. I have got to get my homework done by midnight though, and I've spend the last six hours procrastinating it.

Discrete math is great, lots of information and it's not easy, but it's awesome.

I've been mostly following the primary races, the debates and all of the coverage. I haven't paid that much attention to the Republicans but the Democrats are better than network TV. Obama's speech last night was amazing, and I agree with Caroline Kennedy's statement about how it's exciting to have someone that inspires and makes me want to be a part of the political system. She said, in her endorsement today, that people tell her Obama inspires them like no president has since her father. I've always been a little envious of my parents generation, even if it all ended in tragedy.

If you haven't listened to the speech yet I highly encourage you to do so, no matter what your political affiliation is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iVAPH_EcmQ

The Republicans duke it out on Tuesday in Florida, which I will be watching intently while in class, and then it's 'super duper Tuesday' and I'll be sure to vote, as everyone else in one of those states should do. Honestly I don't care who you vote for but everyone deserves to have their vote count for the simple fact they are an American Citizen.

Especially in this primary as it is so contested on both sides it's important to express your preference. It's going to be a hard thing for me if McCaine wins the Republican side and Clinton the Democratic. If you take out the war I am pretty much ok with McCaine's stances and the kind of dirty politics that Clinton has been running turns me off even though I really want a Democrat in the White House. Hopefully it won't come to that and we'll get a no brainer (for me at least) like Romney and Obama. With that match up I feel confident Obama's appeal to moderates will prevail.

And on to stats, need to do the homework and possibly learn something, but I'm not counting on it.

Stats

Not liking this class. Not a fan of the teacher and I found out yesterday that the answers in the back of the book aren't all accurate.

So I'm supposed to teach myself and I don't even have accurate information.

Still enjoying discrete math though, have some homework to finish up and then errands to run.

I'm watching the Michigan Rep Primary with interest even though I'm very much not a Republican. It is fascinating to me how there is no real front runner and how it may turn out. I don't have a favorite but there are a few that I really don't want nominated.

The Dems debate tonight while I'm in class. Beauty of being online, I can do both! I hope Obama knocks it out of the water so we can get over this and pick our front runner. I fully admit if my choice wasn't 'ahead' then I'd feel differently.

Weight!

Went back on Weight Watchers and I'm 122.6 as of this morning! I got a digital scale so I get the tenths =)

I'm losing about a pound or so a week, which is actually really healthy. I trying to decide where to stop, I was 111 on at my Junior Prom but I was 105 when I was engaged.

We'll see how I feel when I get there, and as I said before it's not the number really it's how I look.

Breaking 120 will be the next 'real' goal!

Work Blog

As some of you may or may not know I have an internship at Sun Microsystems as the 'Campus Ambassador' for National University. Basically my job is to demonstrate and expose the students and faculty of National to Sun's products educating them about the advantages of using Solaris, NetBeans etc.

Part of this is creating a blog, and I have finally done so. It can be found at



My biggest challenge is trying to find a way to reach students that are primarily online. Traditional schools have a lot of foot traffic and meetings etc, but that really isn't possible at National. My idea is a student portal, something geared specifically to National's students, moving out to other ones as we get it working correctly.

I'll be talking about it on the other blog, that one is sponsored by Sun and will hopefully get a lot of traffic.

If I'm going to be a college student...

then I'm going to look like one!

I'm to the point where I'm about 10 lbs above my target weight so I have a plan. Besides the diet I mean. I ordered a rather expensive really very nice bikini from VS in the size I want to be. Note that is only one size smaller than I am now, it's not an impossible goal. The link is to a model wearing the suit so be warned if you work somewhere where that may be inappropriate.

When I feel I look good enough to be seen by strangers in said suit then I've hit my goals. This is not just dieting, there is stomach and leg work to be done in there also. That is why I think this is healthier than just shooting for a number on the scale. It will also help me visualize where I want to focus on while excersizing.

Now I know you're always the harshest critic of your own body so I will get external advice, but I have to be comfortable being seen, and then not let myself become uncomfortable later. Maybe this will help me from gaining weight again all of a sudden.

Now before anyone accuses me of body dismorphia remember that I'm really kind of lazy and don't obsess over this stuff, as is evidenced by the reason I had to lose all of this weight. I'm just setting a visual goal instead of a 'target weight', and the bathing suit does have actual cloth in it, it's boyshorts because I'm never going to wear something that doesn't cover my hips and backside. I didn't go out and find the skimpiest suit I could find and use that as my goal, not only is that silly I don't want to work that hard!

Anyway having a goal is a good thing (TM). Class in an hour, but it's the class I enjoy so I'm looking forward to it!

I love math!

When it's taught by a competent instructor and it's not Linear Algebra apparently.

Had my first Discrete Math class tonight and I loved it. This stuff makes sense to me (to a point) and I can actually understand what it is I"m doing. This is such a change from last month, last month I dreaded class, opened a bottle of wine half way through most of them and just hated every min of it. This month I'm loving every min!

My stats class is taught by the guy I had last month for Linear Algebra but it looks like he's going to be alright with me not being at his lectures and just listening to them later. I've got back up from my Discrete Math instructor and that is helping.

By the way, this awesome math instructor also taught Calc 2 and Advanced C++, they switched professors on us at the last min. This guy knows me, I learn from him really well and while he's hard he's really fair. Totally stoked.

The probability class shouldn't be too bad, I just do all the homework, answer the discussion questions and ace the tests. However this guy can't make a good test to save his life so we'll see how that goes.

So much happier than I was this time last month. So much less stress. yeah!

And... we're back

Insane Christmas, disappointing final grades and a nice break, school starts again. This month is Stats with the same professor I had for Linear Algebra and Discritet Math with a professor I hear is really good.

Ended up with a B in Calc 2 and a C+ in Linear Algebra. However I may challenge that grade as I haven't seen my final, I can't prove he had all of my assignments and I don't know how he graded attendance. It's by FAR my worst grade since I went back to school and I am really not happy about it. On the other hand I don't feel that I learned the material to the point that I should have.

I asked a good friend who not only does CS for a living but hires other people to do it and he said while Linear Algebra is important not knowing it inside and out isn't going to tank my career. However, he did say, the two courses I'm taking this month are the most important math courses for CS. This gives me motivation to rock the world this month.

Fortunately the professor I just didn't gel with is teaching the 200 level class which is using concepts I've seen before. I need to nail it certainly, but it doesn't effect my major GPA and should be easier as it's a lower level class.

This is the last of the math, I love math, historically I've been rather good at it, but I'm not unhappy that it will be done. Four weeks but I can do this!

The other beautiful thing is that this is the last time I double up at NU, unless I choose to retake Linear Algebra I guess. I do have to take physics but I'm going to do that over the summer at a local community college, just have to get it done and then get it transfered over, as long as I don't bomb grades really don't matter there. I'd do it now but I don't want to triple out, that would be beyond insane. Also I like the short classes and Summer is my best chance at that.

Oh Grandma, the box got here and everything was there and not broken =)

Discrete math doesn't technically start till Tuesday so I'm going to see how much Stats I can get done today and tomorrow. I need to manage my time a bit better this month, I think I failed in that aspect a bit last month. Having a tedious and boring professor isn't an excuse for that!