I survived Christmas weekend. All three days of it, including the one where 15 of my dad's side of the family invaded our little home for Christmas Eve (that was the only one where "survive" was an apt term since the others were enjoyable and relaxed affairs. More to come on this later).
Even better?
While I did as miserably on that final as I thought I did, apparently so did a bunch of other people in my class. I wasn't the only one crying "Noooo!!!!" when the instructor told us "Time's up!" and desperately scribbling nonsense answers on that last question in a last ditch effort to nab one more point towards my total test score.
While I try to avoid schadenfreude (if my willpower allows, that is), when it comes to things like the curve saving my ass, I am gleefully happy that others were struggling just as hard as I was.
Frankly, I'm sure there were some who were just as happy as I was for the curve.
Regardless, the holiday weekend is over, school's out for another 3 weeks and I can rest easy knowing I did better than squeak by in my class.
To be relatively stress-free for almost a month will be pure bliss. Too bad I'll need at least half of that to recover.
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Gack! Attack of the Programmers
Aren't visions of sugarplums supposed to be dancing in my head right now?
Why then, do I have lines of code running amock in my head instead ?
Tell me, dear followers...
When you go to sleep at night, do you find yourself thinking,
"ControlChars.CrLF!"
"MessageBox.Show ("You're an idiot!", "Idiotic Warning Message")
"Parent, child, class, object, method, function...zzzz"
and lest we forget
"Instantiate! Instantiate! You must instantiate your object before you can use it!"
I can literally see these rampant lines of code behind my eyelids when I try to unsuccessfully fall asleep after attempting to tackle my programming homework for hours upon hours...
Things like this:
Public Class DVDBurnerForm
Dim dvdObject As DVD
Dim materials() As Bonus
Dim lastAdded As Integer = -1
Dim title, titleMin, bonus1, bonus2, bonus3, min1, min2, min3 As String
'Create an array of Bonus objects to store bonus materials
lastAdded += 1
materials(lastAdded) = New Bonus
materials(lastAdded).Description = bonus1 & "," & bonus2 & "," & bonus3
materials(lastAdded).Length = CInt(min1 & "," & min2 & "," & min3)
End Sub
Pretty, don't you think?
EXCEPT IT DOESN'T FRAKKIN' WORK, DAMMIT!
All the pretty colors to help you realize the different parts of code are doing/referencing/being different things.
You'd think I'd like that aspect, but all it does is serve to remind me that somehow my
materials(lastAdded) = New Bonus
is coming up with a NULL REFERENCE.
That's akin to the blue screen of death.
Okay, not really. But just as frustrating.
Programming is an art form. One I'm not good at. As was proved to me quite easily during my group project. My school is BIG on group projects & presentations. Apparently some of the big midwest company recruiters have told them that college grads are not coming to the workforce with the necessary public speaking and teamwork skills needed for a truly successful career in business.
In the spirit of the season...BAH! Humbug. I speak plenty good.
I shouldn't jest...I actually did have a coworker recently compliment me on my public speaking skills, saying I was good at it. Okay, fine, here's a begrudging Thank You to Carlson School of Management for forcing me to work with a bunch of AA-personality types who were overachievers their whole lives. You think it's tough being the quiet one in the group? Try being in a group entirely comprised of people who are all "natural leaders". Everyone's claws are out trying to grab as much glory/work as they can (not me, the only thing I over-achieve at presently is procrastination).
Anyways...group programming project. Amongst amatuers, basically. Nightmare on 34th Street!
Luckily for me, I got lumped in with three actual, honest-to-god Computer Science majors. Not psuedo-IT majors like mine (I'll manage the crap out of your Info Systems...someday) but people who will actually be doing the work that I'll hopefully manage someday.
So our programmed game of memory is done (complete with pics of My Little Ponies turned into Boba Fett, Leia, the Alien from the Alien movies, MacGyver and Chuck Norris...hmmm, can you guess who was in charge of grabbing images from Google for our game?) and it's pretty freakin' awesome.
No thanks to me!
I think I wrote 5 lines of code and my only other contributions were finding said pics and setting up the initial GUI (pronounced gooey, and means Graphical User Interface for those newbs out there. Who am I kidding? You could care less).
Also luckily, however, these guys are my peeps. Maybe not exactly my brand of peeps (my "Do you play Magic?" question got some stares that said "Uh...in high school!") but my kind of nerd herd distantly related. So in the spirit of group work (where 20% of the people do 80% of the work) they came up with a plan, implemented it, coded it, and tested it.
And Voila! Our very own 4x4 board of Memory (notice how I still say "our" even after admitting to doing hardly anything on it? Tell me I'm not ready for the real-world of business!).
Complete with Chuck Norris' baleful glare over his crossed forearms.
Once next Thursday comes & goes, I'll happily leave behind the world of programming.
Almost.
It WAS kind of neat to make an annoying program called "Catch That Button!". Still trying to figure out how to bypass my employer's firewalls & safety features to install that baby on my SVP's computer as payback for the "You're attractive too, Sarah!" comment the other day....
That'd keep him busier than a hamster with a wheel.
Why then, do I have lines of code running amock in my head instead ?
Tell me, dear followers...
When you go to sleep at night, do you find yourself thinking,
"ControlChars.CrLF!"
"MessageBox.Show ("You're an idiot!", "Idiotic Warning Message")
"Parent, child, class, object, method, function...zzzz"
and lest we forget
"Instantiate! Instantiate! You must instantiate your object before you can use it!"
I can literally see these rampant lines of code behind my eyelids when I try to unsuccessfully fall asleep after attempting to tackle my programming homework for hours upon hours...
Things like this:
Public Class DVDBurnerForm
Dim dvdObject As DVD
Dim materials() As Bonus
Dim lastAdded As Integer = -1
Dim title, titleMin, bonus1, bonus2, bonus3, min1, min2, min3 As String
'Create an array of Bonus objects to store bonus materials
lastAdded += 1
materials(lastAdded) = New Bonus
materials(lastAdded).Description = bonus1 & "," & bonus2 & "," & bonus3
materials(lastAdded).Length = CInt(min1 & "," & min2 & "," & min3)
End Sub
Pretty, don't you think?
EXCEPT IT DOESN'T FRAKKIN' WORK, DAMMIT!
All the pretty colors to help you realize the different parts of code are doing/referencing/being different things.
You'd think I'd like that aspect, but all it does is serve to remind me that somehow my
materials(lastAdded) = New Bonus
is coming up with a NULL REFERENCE.
That's akin to the blue screen of death.
Okay, not really. But just as frustrating.
Programming is an art form. One I'm not good at. As was proved to me quite easily during my group project. My school is BIG on group projects & presentations. Apparently some of the big midwest company recruiters have told them that college grads are not coming to the workforce with the necessary public speaking and teamwork skills needed for a truly successful career in business.
In the spirit of the season...BAH! Humbug. I speak plenty good.
I shouldn't jest...I actually did have a coworker recently compliment me on my public speaking skills, saying I was good at it. Okay, fine, here's a begrudging Thank You to Carlson School of Management for forcing me to work with a bunch of AA-personality types who were overachievers their whole lives. You think it's tough being the quiet one in the group? Try being in a group entirely comprised of people who are all "natural leaders". Everyone's claws are out trying to grab as much glory/work as they can (not me, the only thing I over-achieve at presently is procrastination).
Anyways...group programming project. Amongst amatuers, basically. Nightmare on 34th Street!
Luckily for me, I got lumped in with three actual, honest-to-god Computer Science majors. Not psuedo-IT majors like mine (I'll manage the crap out of your Info Systems...someday) but people who will actually be doing the work that I'll hopefully manage someday.
So our programmed game of memory is done (complete with pics of My Little Ponies turned into Boba Fett, Leia, the Alien from the Alien movies, MacGyver and Chuck Norris...hmmm, can you guess who was in charge of grabbing images from Google for our game?) and it's pretty freakin' awesome.
No thanks to me!
I think I wrote 5 lines of code and my only other contributions were finding said pics and setting up the initial GUI (pronounced gooey, and means Graphical User Interface for those newbs out there. Who am I kidding? You could care less).
Also luckily, however, these guys are my peeps. Maybe not exactly my brand of peeps (my "Do you play Magic?" question got some stares that said "Uh...in high school!") but my kind of nerd herd distantly related. So in the spirit of group work (where 20% of the people do 80% of the work) they came up with a plan, implemented it, coded it, and tested it.
And Voila! Our very own 4x4 board of Memory (notice how I still say "our" even after admitting to doing hardly anything on it? Tell me I'm not ready for the real-world of business!).
Complete with Chuck Norris' baleful glare over his crossed forearms.
Once next Thursday comes & goes, I'll happily leave behind the world of programming.
Almost.
It WAS kind of neat to make an annoying program called "Catch That Button!". Still trying to figure out how to bypass my employer's firewalls & safety features to install that baby on my SVP's computer as payback for the "You're attractive too, Sarah!" comment the other day....
That'd keep him busier than a hamster with a wheel.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Fun Holiday Moment
I wish I had caught this live but it's great to see my school doing something fun like this.
Isn't it a gorgeous atrium? The globe in the middle is so shiny & glistening--after all, iridescence is a cousin to rainbow!
I've always wanted to participate in a flash mob...the concept is neat to me.
Happy Holidays!
It starts getting really good around 2:15 when the security guard shows up.
Isn't it a gorgeous atrium? The globe in the middle is so shiny & glistening--after all, iridescence is a cousin to rainbow!
I've always wanted to participate in a flash mob...the concept is neat to me.
Happy Holidays!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Why Can't I Make Up My Mind?
Before, I always thought of myself as a decisive person.
This was reinforced by the fact that the Big B is one of the most indecisive people I've ever met. (That's an exaggeration--it just feels that way because I'm around for so many of his decisions.).
I always forget this whenever he comes with grocery shopping, until I see him agonizing over which microwave lunch meal he wants. I usually stand impatiently behind him when he does this, not understanding why he must deliberate his choices for so long.
If it were me and I really couldn't choose, I'd either hold them both behind me and have him pick one randomly, or have him pick one purposefully. Inevitably, no matter which method is used, the lucky winning choice usually just makes me realize that all along I really wanted to do the other. (Murphy's Law ensures that no matter what is chosen, it's never what I've been leaning towards subconsciously all along).
When we were picking out a flatscreen TV together for our bedroom when last we moved, we spent over 2 hours in the Best Buy while going back and forth from one TV to another. When we finally whittled it down to two choices, we must have worn a new path on the floor from going back from one to the other obsessively before I finally got tired enough to put my foot down and say "This one!" and thus end the wishy-washy back and forth.
For the little things that are fairly straightforward, like planning our meals for the week or what route to take home while driving, I have no problem making a decision and sticking to it.
For things that are less black & white, like choosing which fabric for a costume or what color to paint my toenails, I will waver and go over my choices, but once I've chosen, I'm typically happy with my choice and content to let it be.
Apparently, this does not extend to big things that I'm not at all sure about, like what I want to do for a career for the rest of my life.
You'd think that attending college on and off for the past 9 years would indicate that I know exactly what I'm doing for a career.
Okay, maybe the 9 years is actually an indicator that I didn't know what I wanted to do. Honestly--I just was dragging my feet getting it done, letting other things like work or finances get in the way of completing school.
But enough is enough--I am chomping at the bit to be DONE. I don't want to have to worry about homework, or grades, or projects, or presentations anymore.
Faced with my little Excel spreadsheet neatly listing all the courses I need, the times they're available next year and the number of credits, I find myself on a see-saw of indecision.
You see, I'm at the very last point to change my major without it causing me to have to backtrack. This means that right now, I can change my major and it will still only cost me the same amount in tutition as sticking with my current choice would.
This is a problem because this is already the 3rd time I've declared a different major in almost as many years. Before that, I hadn't even chosen my major. They push you to declare in your sophomore year, but I found as I completed my general courses and the ones required for all business administration degrees that my interest would be piqued by a new topic of study and invariably I'd put it on my list of "things I'd possibly like to do for the rest of my life".
How can you choose between marketing, finance, accounting, supply chain, information systems, etc, if you haven't experienced any of them in depth? I mean, I'm good with numbers and I currently work in a bank, so accounting or finance would seem to be no brainers, right? Wrong--I HATED my accounting courses with a passion reserved only for raccoons, and as for my finance class--well let's just say that I squeaked by and I was just fine with that.
Compounding the problem was the large expanses of time between classes and the slower pace from being a part-time student. There were times when I didn't take a single class all semester long, and even one year that I skipped out entirely. My mindset was that I had plenty of time to get it all done...
Then BAM! I'm getting married and there's talk of geeklings, and the one thing I know is that my procrastinating butt will NEVER finish if a baby pops out. It would be the ultimate cop-out for me, and this close to the end, I can't let it happen.
Maybe that would actually work in my favor if I did birth a baby geek before walking down that graduation aisle, but I'm not willing to take the chance, and as it so happens, both of us would like to be more financially secure before we start putting buns in the oven.
Either way, I am seeing that I should reach that exaulted position of "Graduate" by this time next year.
This means I have to make a choice, and this time around, there won't be any going back unless I want to pay more and continue to take classes. While I might not mind attending school again in the future, once the geeklings are attending their own classes, what I had in mind for that timeframe was more of going back to school to get a masters degree, not finishing up my undergraduate degree.
That's the horns of my dilemma. This will be a FINAL choice, in every sense of the word.
How incredibly daunting it is to pick something to do for the rest of your life. Whatever it is, it needs to fill several requirements:
Then I started actually taking the courses required for my latest choice. I quickly discovered something that led me to my current position:
I liked my minor courses more than the ones for my major.
Not only did I like them more, but I was doing much better grade-wise as well. That's probably directly linked. No, not probably--almost certainly.
So do I stick with my last choice and keep things as they are? Or do I make a change once again (risking the wrath of my college advisor who I must meet with anytime I declare a major) and potentially face indecision once again in the future?
When I'm done beating my head against a wall over this and still haven't come up with an answer (the little red procrastinator-imp on my shoulder tells me I can wiffle-waffle until August since technically I won't take classes until after Labor Day), maybe I should go with my time honored tradition of asking someone else to pick for me, in the hopes that this will make my own preferences more clear.
Tell me, dear loyal few...
Do I stay or do I go?
This was reinforced by the fact that the Big B is one of the most indecisive people I've ever met. (That's an exaggeration--it just feels that way because I'm around for so many of his decisions.).
I always forget this whenever he comes with grocery shopping, until I see him agonizing over which microwave lunch meal he wants. I usually stand impatiently behind him when he does this, not understanding why he must deliberate his choices for so long.
If it were me and I really couldn't choose, I'd either hold them both behind me and have him pick one randomly, or have him pick one purposefully. Inevitably, no matter which method is used, the lucky winning choice usually just makes me realize that all along I really wanted to do the other. (Murphy's Law ensures that no matter what is chosen, it's never what I've been leaning towards subconsciously all along).
When we were picking out a flatscreen TV together for our bedroom when last we moved, we spent over 2 hours in the Best Buy while going back and forth from one TV to another. When we finally whittled it down to two choices, we must have worn a new path on the floor from going back from one to the other obsessively before I finally got tired enough to put my foot down and say "This one!" and thus end the wishy-washy back and forth.
For the little things that are fairly straightforward, like planning our meals for the week or what route to take home while driving, I have no problem making a decision and sticking to it.
For things that are less black & white, like choosing which fabric for a costume or what color to paint my toenails, I will waver and go over my choices, but once I've chosen, I'm typically happy with my choice and content to let it be.
Apparently, this does not extend to big things that I'm not at all sure about, like what I want to do for a career for the rest of my life.
You'd think that attending college on and off for the past 9 years would indicate that I know exactly what I'm doing for a career.
Okay, maybe the 9 years is actually an indicator that I didn't know what I wanted to do. Honestly--I just was dragging my feet getting it done, letting other things like work or finances get in the way of completing school.
But enough is enough--I am chomping at the bit to be DONE. I don't want to have to worry about homework, or grades, or projects, or presentations anymore.
Faced with my little Excel spreadsheet neatly listing all the courses I need, the times they're available next year and the number of credits, I find myself on a see-saw of indecision.
You see, I'm at the very last point to change my major without it causing me to have to backtrack. This means that right now, I can change my major and it will still only cost me the same amount in tutition as sticking with my current choice would.
This is a problem because this is already the 3rd time I've declared a different major in almost as many years. Before that, I hadn't even chosen my major. They push you to declare in your sophomore year, but I found as I completed my general courses and the ones required for all business administration degrees that my interest would be piqued by a new topic of study and invariably I'd put it on my list of "things I'd possibly like to do for the rest of my life".
How can you choose between marketing, finance, accounting, supply chain, information systems, etc, if you haven't experienced any of them in depth? I mean, I'm good with numbers and I currently work in a bank, so accounting or finance would seem to be no brainers, right? Wrong--I HATED my accounting courses with a passion reserved only for raccoons, and as for my finance class--well let's just say that I squeaked by and I was just fine with that.
Compounding the problem was the large expanses of time between classes and the slower pace from being a part-time student. There were times when I didn't take a single class all semester long, and even one year that I skipped out entirely. My mindset was that I had plenty of time to get it all done...
Then BAM! I'm getting married and there's talk of geeklings, and the one thing I know is that my procrastinating butt will NEVER finish if a baby pops out. It would be the ultimate cop-out for me, and this close to the end, I can't let it happen.
Maybe that would actually work in my favor if I did birth a baby geek before walking down that graduation aisle, but I'm not willing to take the chance, and as it so happens, both of us would like to be more financially secure before we start putting buns in the oven.
Either way, I am seeing that I should reach that exaulted position of "Graduate" by this time next year.
This means I have to make a choice, and this time around, there won't be any going back unless I want to pay more and continue to take classes. While I might not mind attending school again in the future, once the geeklings are attending their own classes, what I had in mind for that timeframe was more of going back to school to get a masters degree, not finishing up my undergraduate degree.
That's the horns of my dilemma. This will be a FINAL choice, in every sense of the word.
How incredibly daunting it is to pick something to do for the rest of your life. Whatever it is, it needs to fill several requirements:
- Be something I'm good at. I want to be successful (who doesn't?) and I'm pretty sure I need to be good at what I'm doing in order to reach that goal.
- I want to enjoy what I'm doing. I used to think I'd be happy no matter what I chose because really I just like working with people, and afterall, how many jobs don't require you to work with people in some way, shape or form? Now I realize that I do have preferences, especially sticking away from anything involving ledgers or serious math. Life is way too short to be spending the majority of it doing something you hate. Even if it's just okay, I feel that's not good enough in the long term.
- I want to make comfortable money. Let's face it, money is a necessary evil in this day and age, and as much as I wish it didn't matter, I don't want to struggle the rest of my life and live paycheck to paycheck. Plus, with the mountain of student loans piling up, I at least need to make back my investment.
Then I started actually taking the courses required for my latest choice. I quickly discovered something that led me to my current position:
I liked my minor courses more than the ones for my major.
Not only did I like them more, but I was doing much better grade-wise as well. That's probably directly linked. No, not probably--almost certainly.
So do I stick with my last choice and keep things as they are? Or do I make a change once again (risking the wrath of my college advisor who I must meet with anytime I declare a major) and potentially face indecision once again in the future?
When I'm done beating my head against a wall over this and still haven't come up with an answer (the little red procrastinator-imp on my shoulder tells me I can wiffle-waffle until August since technically I won't take classes until after Labor Day), maybe I should go with my time honored tradition of asking someone else to pick for me, in the hopes that this will make my own preferences more clear.
Tell me, dear loyal few...
Do I stay or do I go?
Friday, April 29, 2011
The Treats I'll Give Myself Once the Last Final Is Done
The second half of this spring's school semester has been kicking my ass.
It's not like I haven't had difficult semesters before...my transcripts and GPA will prove that!
It's something about this semester that is making it my own personal kryptonite. Perhaps it's that both classes are requring final papers among regular case write ups. Normally I ADORE writing-intensive classes because I can write like crazy and I'd much rather do that then work on statistical/accounting/math problems.
Maybe it's that I'm working full time and having to do a lot of writing at work to update procedures for my department.
Possibly it may have something to do with the fact that the average sleep I've been getting each night for the past few weeks is around 5 hours.
Perhaps I've finally met the symptoms of the crazy gene in my family. I'm normally a very resilient person who can stay evenly keeled for the most part, barring a few days due to hormones or lack of sleep. But my mom, sister and I know we have to keep an eye out for that crazy gene. My Nana had it, my uncle has it in spades, and chances are it will crop up for me at some point. My ability to deal with problematic things has lessened considerably from what I'm used to. I'm moodier and prone to snapping or breaking down at things that in the past I would have breezed right past.
Possibly it has something to do with the fact that I still have to wash the Big B's legs when he showers. He's doing really well now and has so much more mobility than before, but some things he still can't do. He's been helping with dishes, to the point now where he can do them entirely on his own, if it does cause him a bit of pain to stretch himself. He did his own laundry the other day, another big step forward. There are still things he can't do however, and that's part of the stress adding to the stress of schoolwork.
But.
Never let it be said that I'm all doom & gloom! Eternal optimist here, seeing the sunny side of life (or trying to) at all times, despite the looming threat of the family crazy gene.
Because, you see, there IS light at the end of the tunnel.
A few days more of frantic studying, paper writing, and reading and I will be done until fall. Four blessed months of no homework, no dry textbook reading, no weirdly demanding instructors who force you to turn in a rough draft of a paper only to knock you 11 points for grammar and spelling errors (isn't a rough draft by definition "rough"?).
It's so close I can already taste the freedom. So much so, in fact, that I couldn't help but compose this post while daydreaming of what I'll do with all my new found free time:
It's sad when your required life gets in the way of your real fun life. I keep telling myself it'll pay for itself in the long run...
I think I'm on the right track, as the fortune I received with today's chinese food lunch states:
Watch ones thoughts, as they become actions.
I certainly hope so!
It's not like I haven't had difficult semesters before...my transcripts and GPA will prove that!
It's something about this semester that is making it my own personal kryptonite. Perhaps it's that both classes are requring final papers among regular case write ups. Normally I ADORE writing-intensive classes because I can write like crazy and I'd much rather do that then work on statistical/accounting/math problems.
Maybe it's that I'm working full time and having to do a lot of writing at work to update procedures for my department.
Possibly it may have something to do with the fact that the average sleep I've been getting each night for the past few weeks is around 5 hours.
Perhaps I've finally met the symptoms of the crazy gene in my family. I'm normally a very resilient person who can stay evenly keeled for the most part, barring a few days due to hormones or lack of sleep. But my mom, sister and I know we have to keep an eye out for that crazy gene. My Nana had it, my uncle has it in spades, and chances are it will crop up for me at some point. My ability to deal with problematic things has lessened considerably from what I'm used to. I'm moodier and prone to snapping or breaking down at things that in the past I would have breezed right past.
Possibly it has something to do with the fact that I still have to wash the Big B's legs when he showers. He's doing really well now and has so much more mobility than before, but some things he still can't do. He's been helping with dishes, to the point now where he can do them entirely on his own, if it does cause him a bit of pain to stretch himself. He did his own laundry the other day, another big step forward. There are still things he can't do however, and that's part of the stress adding to the stress of schoolwork.
But.
Never let it be said that I'm all doom & gloom! Eternal optimist here, seeing the sunny side of life (or trying to) at all times, despite the looming threat of the family crazy gene.
Because, you see, there IS light at the end of the tunnel.
A few days more of frantic studying, paper writing, and reading and I will be done until fall. Four blessed months of no homework, no dry textbook reading, no weirdly demanding instructors who force you to turn in a rough draft of a paper only to knock you 11 points for grammar and spelling errors (isn't a rough draft by definition "rough"?).
It's so close I can already taste the freedom. So much so, in fact, that I couldn't help but compose this post while daydreaming of what I'll do with all my new found free time:
- Finally join the legions of frenetic fans of Firefly and become a true Browncoat in my own right.
- Ditto on Doctor Who, except not the Browncoat thing.
- Build that Elder Dragon Highlander (aka Commander) deck for the Magic the Gathering nights at my friend's house
- Finish the background story on my new character for the Zero to Hero game that is replacing the Kortoe adventure as my new favorite D&D game.
- Get working on my Rainbow Brite steampunk outfit for the swiftly approaching CONvergence in July, along with my accessories and other goodies.
- Enjoy the outdoors, get started on exercising regularly to get in shape. Its sad when you are winded after running a couple of blocks to catch the bus.
It's sad when your required life gets in the way of your real fun life. I keep telling myself it'll pay for itself in the long run...
I think I'm on the right track, as the fortune I received with today's chinese food lunch states:
Watch ones thoughts, as they become actions.
I certainly hope so!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)