Day 232

I got to sleep in today!  And it is officially the only day I'll get to sleep in for the rest of the semester.  Yay...


I didn't really sleep in that late.  I think I got up around 8.  I made some breakfast, did a little studying, showered, then went off to class.  I think I'm officially sold on getting up earlier for class.  I just feel so much more alert.  I like it.


The only class I have today (and on Thursday) is life contingencies 2.  Today really surprised me.  Foley started by talking about some of the differences between life con 1 and 2.  In life con 1, we talked a lot about the concept of a "survival function," which is a way of determining the probability that someone will survive a certain amount of time.  It get applied constantly to insurance policies because companies need to know how likely someone is to pay a monthly premium or die and collect a benefit.  But in life con 2, we're starting to talk about other ways of people leaving an insurance plan or different things that can happen to a person on an insurance plan, like quitting, retiring, going on disability, and things like that.  These we referred to as different states of existence, where a person can move from one state to another (except death... once you're dead you stay there).  He called this a Markov chain.  I recognized it as a Finite State Machine from a class I never ever thought I would use: Advanced Discrete Math.  I honestly never believed that I would ever use a single thing from that class.  But here I am, using Finite State Machines.  To be fair they are a little different, but the main idea is the same.  And having this background was really helpful.  Then we went on to talk about how probability gets really tricky if you have to worry about two or more people dying instead of just one person.  So we'll probably talk about that more on Thursday.


After class I went up to the math office to talk with Mr. Albers about working in the computer lab.  Everyone had filled the best hours, so I just loaded everything onto Tuesday and Thursday.  And to avoid having a 2 hour break and then working until 4pm, I opted to get in some hours at 8am.  Gross.  So I had my first shift in there today.  I really don't have that much to do, mainly make sure that no one is being destructive or anything like that.  Keep the place clean.  Try to help anyone if they seem to need it.  Mr. Albers said that since I honestly won't have that much mandatory work, I'm free to do homework or whatever else I want in the lab.  Except eat.  He seems like a very laid back person.  I asked if it was ok if I was a few minutes late on Thursdays so that I could eat lunch (since I work from 11-2) and he had no problem with that.  So that's very nice of him.


Let's see.  When I got back I did some more studying.  I started reading through chapter 5.  It's pretty detailed and has a lot of information.  I did my best to comprehend it all.  I think that it's definitely been to my benefit to read the text book and the study manual.  They give different perspectives on the topics and usually at least one way makes sense.


I made meatloaf for dinner.  It turned out well.  I put taco seasoning and dried red pepper in it.  I liked it.  Then I tried to go to small group...but I think they changed locations.  Tim sent out an email and said that it was at someone's house... but I just assumed that it was at the same house as before (since I don't know anyone's last name).  It was not there, as I saw no cars parked at the starting time.  I'll just talk with him tomorrow about it.


Not to make a total waste of a drive, I went to Wal-mart.  I'm going to slowly rebuild some of my wardrobe and I wanted to compare prices.  Currently I just want new shirts and socks.  I think I'm going to stick with plain colored shirts and then maybe argyle-style socks.  Both of those go with everything.  And Argyle socks can be worn with jeans or with nice pants.  So I compared Wal-mart prices with some things I found online.  So after I get paid on Friday I'm going to begin a slow but certain restructuring.  I think I'm just over wearing t-shirts with designs and graphics on them.  I want something a little more classic.


Then I came home, talked with Clifton for a bit... we took a ride in his new car.  I showed him Kimmy and my engagement pictures.  We talked some more.  I was going to study some more but my brain is just tired from all the studying I did today.  I couldn't focus any more, much less comprehend anything else.  So I didn't.  And now I'm going to bed.  Night!