Slushies

I hate slushy snow, the roads are dirty and it’s a driving hazard. Not to mention, my pants and shoes get dirty so easily. I guess the only good thing about slushy snow, is that it’s easy to make snowballs and snowman.

When I woke up this morning and checked the weather, there was a weather advisory on snow showers. It seemed that it would snow for quite a while and into the afternoon. With that bit of information, I decided that I would take the bus instead of driving to campus. After all, slushy snow isn’t the best to drive in. Because of it, the roads are often slick and sometimes, hard to brake, as I’ve learned that one day back in Kalamazoo, when I was driving down Howard Street toward Stadium Drive.

So I toke the 10:20 bus to go to campus, while waiting, I saw Seth come to my bus stop; I wonder why he didn’t wait at his usual stop, oh well. On the bus we chatted a bit. He said that Kris, Bryan and him will meet at Buffalo Wild Wings after the macro final on Friday; he asked me if I would like to go, and if Randy and Nick would like to go as well.

He went off the bus one stop before me, but arrived at Old Botany a bit later; the bus stop I came off of was a bit closer to the department, even though it didn’t feel like it. Once we arrived, I went over the last two econometrics homework and printed out some stuff.

Seth left about quarter to twelve to eat; I stayed because I brought my lunch. I had two packets of pop-tarts and they were strawberry flavored and boy were they sweet. It was like so sweet that once the icing melted in my mouth, my face went %&*#$.

A bit later, Juan came by and we chatted, then we decided to head over early to get some good seats before the exam time at 12:45. It was a good thing, because the place was packed. As for the test itself, it was a bit on the easy side; not that I mind, but it just felt that of this entire semester, not much was gained. Oh I learned stuff, like moment generating functions, asymptotic distributions, but I felt that the class could be better. Or another way of saying it, is that I could have gotten more out of it.

After the final, I came back home and cleaned up a bit. I put the dishes into the dishwasher and sort of tidied up the countertop. Then I called Tammy about meeting her and getting her bike back to my place to store in the garage. Can't really ride a bike in winter. I got a call around 16:00 from her that I should pick her up around 16:30 at the International Center and then proceed from there.

So I picked her up, drove over to Owen, and stuffed Becky’s bike into the trunk of my car. Yeah, a truck would be nice. We chatted a bit and after the first trip, we went back for her bike. Tammy was going to Yu-ting’s bridal shower at 18:00, and given that it was already quarter to six, I told her that I could make the trip back myself.

After I unloaded her bike in the garage, I went back to campus again, but this time, for Kevin. Since winter break is coming, all dorms will be locked and those who live in the dorms will have to vacate during that period. Kevin will be staying back at home during the break. It's nice for him to be back, I actually miss him during the week.

Kevin already ate, but I haven’t, so I baked some burger patties in the oven. It’s nice that the oven has a “cook time” feature, as in the power will shut off after the specified time is up. So I need not have worried during my second trip (of transporting Tammy’s bike) that I had to turn it off.

We had, more like I had, two homemade double cheeseburgers with four juice boxes courtesy of Kevin from the Totally Takeout, all the while watching TV downstairs. Which brings me to now.

One Down, Two More to Go

So I put in the finishing touches to my microeconomics take-home final exam. There were some questions that I were like “whoa, what’s going on here!?”, but after poring over every little detail, like the punctuation marks the professor used (joking); seriously though, after agonizing over it for about 20+ hours, I got it done, and I handed it in.

More like put it under his door. I went during lunch hour, and the professor wasn’t in, so I slid it under the door. I do hope that’s okay as in the exam not getting lost somewhere and me being totally screwed as a result.

Regarding the exam itself, I’m a bit unsure on some of the answers I got, but some, I’m pretty sure. There were some questions that I think I overdid, as in wrote out too many details; hopefully in the end, all will balance out and the professor will recognize the work I put in and mark accordingly

Our study group did work together on the exam, as allowed by the rules, but I was a bit reluctant to fully participate. Not that I didn't want to contribute, but I wanted to get it done on my own. There was this initial study session that I went to, where we talked about how to solve some of the problems. I compared that to how I would proceed myself and sort of went from there. But the later study sessions (regarding the take-home) I didn’t attend. I was hoping that I could finish it on my own, regardless of the final score*.

Which brings me to my point: the great thing about study groups is that it pushes you to study and do the work; but I feel, and it could just be me, that there are times when the stuff I “learnt” isn’t really mine, more like a “collection” of the group’s effort. So there are times, when material appeared that I felt that I couldn’t do alone, by myself. This “take-home final” was sort of a waking call as to how I should contribute to the group as well as maintaining, or more like, acquiring what I have learned.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy studying with the guys, quite the contrary, they are an awesome bunch. Hmm, could it be that they’re so outstanding that I feel a bit left out. Nah, they’re great people and I’m much honored to study with them. I just hope that I don’t rely on them too much. After all, come prelim time, it’s just me, myself and the test.

As for the remaining two finals I have, econometrics is tomorrow in the early afternoon, and macroeconomics is during noontime on Friday, and then I’m done. Then it’s winter break, a time to relax, have fun and be merry. Actually more like a time to finish the home improvement projects, or at least, the one that matters the most. But I hope I won’t lose my edge during vacation time, I’m vowing that I do some studying, as in review/revise the notes (of this term) after Christmas.

On the topic of home improvement, I got an electric thermostat by rite temp (yes, they have it in lowercase) which Kevin and I installed during the past weekend. It’s a 5-1-1 programmable thermostat (model# 8022C), meaning that I can have different temperatures, on different days of the week, at different times of the day. And I can have specific settings for Monday through Friday, Saturday and Sunday, not to mention a “Special Day” feature where at a touch of a button, all settings are over-ridden to the one of choice. It’s pretty nifty.

Kevin and I had a discussion post-installation on what optimal temperatures to set the thermostat at, and after three days (feels much longer, though) of living, I can definitely say, it’s WAY TOO COLD. Oh well, at least it saves on heating cost.

*It’s not like the final marks don’t matter, but I put in the work, and almost all of it myself and I hope for something that is an accurate representation of that effort. If it’s a good mark, so be it; if not, then I definitely know something is wrong, and I must work double hard to rectify it.

Persistence is Key

But that I am lacking. I don’t know how she does it, but she does it. I have yet to see her miss a day (since she’s been here). Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for my blog; I’ve been missing quite a few days, nearly a week.

And darn, I can’t use finals week as a reason, because even though we’re in the same boat, she still gets it done. I could say that the stuff we have to do, the disciplines we’re studying are quite different and as a result, the work that entails is significantly dissimilar, but I wonder how much weight this excuse may have.

Anyhow, I’ve missed quite a few days/entries, and I have to make them up, some how.

As for today, I’ve been putting the finishing touches to my microeconomic take-home final. I’ve decided to rewrite the whole thing, since the first draft was a bit of a mess. Once it’s complete, I’ll hand it in tomorrow, which is the day it’s due (12/14/05, 15:00) and then proceed with preparing for macroeconomics and econometrics.

I have econometrics on Thursday (12/15) from 12:45 – 14:45; as for macroeconomics, it’s on the last day of final’s week, Friday (12/16) from 10:00 – 12:00. Our study group decided to meet today around 15:30 at Espresso Royale again to go over some macroeconomics.

So this week it’s basically studying and studying. Mom used to say that I should do my best, but now she says that “the amount I put it, is the amount that I’ll get out”, or something like the Principle of Equivalence. She got that from watching Full Metal Alchemist. I watched a few episodes of that anime series with Kevin, but even though the principle was mentioned quite a few times, it wasn’t until Mom told me that I really “got” it.

So here I am, today, trying to live up to that standard. But there are times when my weakness sneaks in, making me hope that I could wake up one day, preferably this morning, and have everything done, as in all the finals were finished. But that’s just wishful thinking, and since I don’t have the power to alter time/space, I’ll just have to suck it up and do the work.

P.S. If you don't know who the "she" is, it's Tammy, my blog idol...