Day 199

Alright.  So I have completed another day.  Tomorrow will be day number 200 since graduating.  I should do something exciting.


This morning I woke up, made lunch, and I went off to class.  I got out a little late again.  It's getting harder and harder to leave on time.  When I was in the parking lot I saw a guy I met during move in weekend.  I can't remember his name.  I know that he is working on his master's in history.  I invited myself up (he lives on the third floor) to hang out with his friends and him, but I can't remember any of their names.  Oh well.  They're all nice.  Anyhow, I saw him but always feel embarrassed since I don't know his name (but he knows mine).    I also had to scrape some ice off my windshield, but that isn't related to the guy whose name I do not know.


In class Mr. Frye said that he would hand our exams back tomorrow.  I'm a little antsy.  I think I did really well on it, but I want to know.


I forgot my calculator today.  Boo.


In between classes I went to the Atrium with Dustin, Tim, Jacob, and Kathryn.  Dustin and I worked on some life contingencies problems.  Well, we worked on two of them.  They're hard.


During life contingencies we spent the entire class going over one of the questions on the hand out that we were given on Tuesday.  It took us a long time to even figure out what the question was asking.  There was a lot going on and it was confusing.  Mr. Dean told us about how when he took his first actuarial exam, the second question was very difficult.  As a background, Mr. Dean was just a thesis away from a doctorate in mathematics.  So he's pretty bright.  Anyhow, he said that he spent 30 minutes on this problem and still couldn't figure it out.  He went on and finished the rest of the exam, then went home and solved the problem.  It took him about 2 hours to solve it.  Knowing that there must be a faster way, he looked in the reading material and saw that there was, in fact, an equation for solving that type of the problem.  The moral of the story: don't get caught up on a problem that looks like it will take a long time to solve.  Come back to it at the end.  In other news, he said he's going to try to get us our exams back tomorrow.  And that they were all pretty good so far.


So then I went to go teach.  We spent the first 15 minutes talking about the final.  They are all pretty concerned.  So we discussed some of their concerns and I have taken them into account.  Apparently they are, in fact, intimidated by how small and compact everything is.  So I'll fix that.  One of the girls also says that my exams are far more difficult than the exams her friends have to take in other sections. Meaning that her friend is not in a section with another GA... because I'm pretty sure all their exams are difficult as well.  It's also really difficult to remember that my students: 1- are not math majors, 2- have not had 4 years of developing good study habits, 3- have little motivation to put excess effort into a gen ed class.  They want to pass.  That is the end of their desire.  So I decided to let them have a formula sheet on the final.  I gave them a list of things they need to know or know how to do.  So if they study those things and put lots of things on the formula sheet, they should do fine.  I hope....


After class I had my office hours.  I ate lunch, did some grading, sent some emails, and looked at my students' grades.  Then I came home, woke Kimmy up, and did some studying.  I started off by making a list of some of the equations and theorems I need for my upcoming stats exam.  Then I began studying for finance by working through my past quizzes and exams.  I got through the first quiz and first exam and needed a break.  About this time it was almost time to go to dinner.  The Actuarial Club was hosting an end of the year dinner at Johnny Carino's, so Kimmy and I went to that.  It was really good.  I don't really know anyone in the club, so she and I just sat at the end and kept to ourselves.  But the food was good.


After dinner went to go get ice cream and Berry Winkle with Jessie.  It was fun.  And tasty.  We told lots of funny stories and many laughs were had.  We also discussed Kimmy's job search and she recommended looking at the clinic that I pass on my way to school each day.  She also said that probably they won't be hiring for the fall until this coming summer, which I hadn't really considered.  I'm so used to looking really far in advance for employment. 


Anyhow, we are back now.  And I'm tired to so I'm going to bed.  Night!