Today was somewhat strange.
I got up to do some last minute preparation for class. But then I realized that I was already pretty well prepared, so I applied for a few more jobs. Three of them were "data mining" jobs, and one of them was actuarial.
Today's class was just review for the exam on Tuesday. It's really more of a quiz, but oh well. I'm only covering one chapter on it. So we reviewed. Everyone *seems* to understand it pretty well, so we'll see how the test goes!
After class I did some homework in my office for a while. Then one of my students came up to my office to ask some questions. So we worked through some problems and I tried to explain some things better. I think it helped. She was doing a lot better at the problems by the time she left. We ended up leaving my office to go to the computer lab so that I could use the dry-erase board up there.
Then I had class. We started to actually get into the material and discussing how linear regression models are made. We have our first homework assignment next week, so we'll see how it goes. I had this really weird experience during class. About ten minutes in I got really disoriented? And I couldn't figure out what day it was, what I'd done that day, why I was in class, or (if it was Thursday) what I'd done all week. It was really odd.
When I got back home Kimmy and I programmed our new garage door openers! So now we don't have to get out of the car, unlock the side door, open the garage, then get back in the car and park. It was pretty annoying. Then we made shepherd's pie for dinner. It took longer than I had anticipated, but mostly because I just had a really hard time trying to figure out how to do everything. But we got it done, then watched Firefly during dinner. After we finished eating I did some more studying. At some point I want to start adding things to my food blog...we'll see how that goes.
And now we're going to bed. Good night!
8.30.2012
8.29.2012
Day 464
I started the day off by being an adult! After my shower and everything I bought some auto and renter's insurance. All by myself! And then I payed some utility bills.
After my little stint of adulthood I did some grading and other prep for class tomorrow. Then I got some lunch and went to class.
While I was at class Kimmy drove to Anderson to apply for a job at a candy store. She's been applying at a lot of places in the past couple of weeks, so hopefully she can get some interviews soon. Muncie doesn't have a lot of open positions... unless you're a truck driver.
Anyhow, class was fine. I felt like I was really able to follow along well in my MFE class, which is nice. Sometimes I feel like we go really fast and I can't really keep up. But today I was able to contribute and things. It was nice. One of the guys in our class is an executive in the Actuarial Club, so he gave a plug-in for the meeting tonight. He made a comment about how grad students don't really get involved with it and he wasn't so sure why, so Tim gave him a response. Generally the club is very adamant about how helpful it is to be in the club because you get to have presentations from different companies and put your resume in their resume book that gets handed out to some (probably ten to twenty) companies. So Tim asked this guy if he had any data to show how many people had gotten jobs from this resume book. This was met with silence. Our professor (Mr. Owens) was able to defend the guy from the club a little bit by saying that the resume book will get looked at specifically by actuaries who want to hire... not just someone in HR. But Mr. Owens was also curious as to whether anyone has actually gotten hired through use of the resume book.
When I got back Kimmy and I had an early dinner. This evening I went to the Actuarial Club meeting, so I had to eat early and leave. I gave a presentation there! It was the first meeting of the year, so the first half was mainly just the club executives introducing themselves and explaining why we should all be in the club. Then a few of us who've been meeting together discussed why the students (specifically freshmen) should be going to the career fair and getting internships. My part was about how to prepare for the career fair and be professional. So another guy and I talked about how to dress, how to control "intangibles" (like handshakes, smiling, eye contact), and things of that nature. I thought it went well. Mr. Owens went and he had a lot of good advice to add. After it was over I talked with some of the other students about our internships and we compared notes a little bit. It was interesting to hear their experiences and to swap stories.
After I got home I attempted to do some work, but my brain was fried. After making no progress I stopped trying. I did a lot of work today and my brain was quite ready to be done. Yup!
So now I'm off to bed. Good night!
After my little stint of adulthood I did some grading and other prep for class tomorrow. Then I got some lunch and went to class.
While I was at class Kimmy drove to Anderson to apply for a job at a candy store. She's been applying at a lot of places in the past couple of weeks, so hopefully she can get some interviews soon. Muncie doesn't have a lot of open positions... unless you're a truck driver.
Anyhow, class was fine. I felt like I was really able to follow along well in my MFE class, which is nice. Sometimes I feel like we go really fast and I can't really keep up. But today I was able to contribute and things. It was nice. One of the guys in our class is an executive in the Actuarial Club, so he gave a plug-in for the meeting tonight. He made a comment about how grad students don't really get involved with it and he wasn't so sure why, so Tim gave him a response. Generally the club is very adamant about how helpful it is to be in the club because you get to have presentations from different companies and put your resume in their resume book that gets handed out to some (probably ten to twenty) companies. So Tim asked this guy if he had any data to show how many people had gotten jobs from this resume book. This was met with silence. Our professor (Mr. Owens) was able to defend the guy from the club a little bit by saying that the resume book will get looked at specifically by actuaries who want to hire... not just someone in HR. But Mr. Owens was also curious as to whether anyone has actually gotten hired through use of the resume book.
When I got back Kimmy and I had an early dinner. This evening I went to the Actuarial Club meeting, so I had to eat early and leave. I gave a presentation there! It was the first meeting of the year, so the first half was mainly just the club executives introducing themselves and explaining why we should all be in the club. Then a few of us who've been meeting together discussed why the students (specifically freshmen) should be going to the career fair and getting internships. My part was about how to prepare for the career fair and be professional. So another guy and I talked about how to dress, how to control "intangibles" (like handshakes, smiling, eye contact), and things of that nature. I thought it went well. Mr. Owens went and he had a lot of good advice to add. After it was over I talked with some of the other students about our internships and we compared notes a little bit. It was interesting to hear their experiences and to swap stories.
After I got home I attempted to do some work, but my brain was fried. After making no progress I stopped trying. I did a lot of work today and my brain was quite ready to be done. Yup!
So now I'm off to bed. Good night!
8.28.2012
Day 463
Today began with class. I taught the last section of the chapter before I start reviewing for the exam next week. We got through the material really quickly, so I was able to go over some questions on the project and go over the study guide for the exam. I think they'll do well.
After class I went to my office to work on the take home quiz for Foley's class. It wasn't too bad. Then I had lunch with Timbo and Paul. I took a sandwich instead of a salad because I didn't have a lot of lettuce left. It's hard to take a salad when I only pack a lunch twice a week because when I'm at home, it's just easier to eat left overs or something. Oh well. Hopefully at some point I can get back to eating salads.
After class I came home whereupon Kimmy and I cleaned up a little bit. Timbo and Paul came over for dinner! Paul wants to get better at cooking, so I showed him how I make chicken and rice. It's a nice easy meal that is quite tasty. So they helped me cook dinner. During dinner we talked about getting jobs and I kind of explained my perspective on how wages work. In a corporate office, you are often paid for a number of things. It could be expertise needed for the job (whether it's formal education or specific training), it could be how much other people like or dislike doing that job, or it could be how much of your life this job consumes. If you have a job that requires you to only put in your 8 hours then go home and only requires an associate's degree, you won't be paid as much (generally) as someone who had to have a PhD in some area and is required to travel every other weekend. In the case of executives, they get paid 6 or 7 figure salaries because they are getting paid to not have a life outside of work. They could be putting in 14 or so hour days 6 days a week... and probably even doing some work on the seventh day. Not many people have that expertise, that desire to devote their entire life into work, or the will to give up their entire personal life for work. Some people really want to do that. Personally, I'd prefer to get a decent job and enjoy my life.... not just watch my bank account grow but never use it.
Anyhow. After they went home I did some studying for a while. Then.... I was done. Kimmy and I ate some cheesecake and watched a TED talk. I applied for a couple of jobs! Hopefully I hear back from them... sometime!
I'm going to bed now. Good night!
After class I went to my office to work on the take home quiz for Foley's class. It wasn't too bad. Then I had lunch with Timbo and Paul. I took a sandwich instead of a salad because I didn't have a lot of lettuce left. It's hard to take a salad when I only pack a lunch twice a week because when I'm at home, it's just easier to eat left overs or something. Oh well. Hopefully at some point I can get back to eating salads.
After class I came home whereupon Kimmy and I cleaned up a little bit. Timbo and Paul came over for dinner! Paul wants to get better at cooking, so I showed him how I make chicken and rice. It's a nice easy meal that is quite tasty. So they helped me cook dinner. During dinner we talked about getting jobs and I kind of explained my perspective on how wages work. In a corporate office, you are often paid for a number of things. It could be expertise needed for the job (whether it's formal education or specific training), it could be how much other people like or dislike doing that job, or it could be how much of your life this job consumes. If you have a job that requires you to only put in your 8 hours then go home and only requires an associate's degree, you won't be paid as much (generally) as someone who had to have a PhD in some area and is required to travel every other weekend. In the case of executives, they get paid 6 or 7 figure salaries because they are getting paid to not have a life outside of work. They could be putting in 14 or so hour days 6 days a week... and probably even doing some work on the seventh day. Not many people have that expertise, that desire to devote their entire life into work, or the will to give up their entire personal life for work. Some people really want to do that. Personally, I'd prefer to get a decent job and enjoy my life.... not just watch my bank account grow but never use it.
Anyhow. After they went home I did some studying for a while. Then.... I was done. Kimmy and I ate some cheesecake and watched a TED talk. I applied for a couple of jobs! Hopefully I hear back from them... sometime!
I'm going to bed now. Good night!
8.27.2012
Day 462
It feels weird to get up in the morning and not go someplace, like class or work. But it's nice getting lots of things done in the morning. This morning was mostly preparation for class tomorrow. Lesson planning, entering grades, and writing a study guide for the test next week. But I was glad that I got it all done.
During class we went over more of the same thing... determining how much data is needed for something to be considered "credible." It uses these big gross formulas that spits out a number which suggests that we need at least...say... 10,000 claims to say that our data is 100% credible. The more certain an insurance company is that the data does not contain any flukes, the more accurate the pricing can be.
In between classes we discussed the homework we were about to turn in and talked about some issues we'd had. Then we went to class and learned some more about pricing options when we suspect that the stock price is fluctuating. It gets messy.
After class I came home and made dinner with Kimmy. We had tacos! And they were quite yummy.
After dinner I went to a meeting with some people in the Actuarial Club. We're putting together a couple events throughout the semester to help freshman get acclimated to this field. On Wednesday I'm going to be assisting in a presentation on preparation for the career fair. I will be explaining some ways to prepare for the career fair, specifically how to dress and be professional.
When I got back Kimmy and I did some cleaning, then I finished up some work for class tomorrow and played a game with friends for a little bit to unwind from the long day.
And now I'm off to bed. Good night!
During class we went over more of the same thing... determining how much data is needed for something to be considered "credible." It uses these big gross formulas that spits out a number which suggests that we need at least...say... 10,000 claims to say that our data is 100% credible. The more certain an insurance company is that the data does not contain any flukes, the more accurate the pricing can be.
In between classes we discussed the homework we were about to turn in and talked about some issues we'd had. Then we went to class and learned some more about pricing options when we suspect that the stock price is fluctuating. It gets messy.
After class I came home and made dinner with Kimmy. We had tacos! And they were quite yummy.
After dinner I went to a meeting with some people in the Actuarial Club. We're putting together a couple events throughout the semester to help freshman get acclimated to this field. On Wednesday I'm going to be assisting in a presentation on preparation for the career fair. I will be explaining some ways to prepare for the career fair, specifically how to dress and be professional.
When I got back Kimmy and I did some cleaning, then I finished up some work for class tomorrow and played a game with friends for a little bit to unwind from the long day.
And now I'm off to bed. Good night!
8.26.2012
Day 461
Hi!
So this morning I decided to get up early and be productive before church. I think I'm getting old.... waking up early should never be a preferred option. But I did. I ran into a bit of an obstacle when I tried to write my blog and the internet wouldn't connect. So I had to copy everything I'd written into a text file, transfer that onto my phone, then copy the contents of the text file into the Blogger app. Unfortunately the Blogger app doesn't have any ability to change font or font size... so it looked kind of funny. Oh well!
After that I did some reading for the class I'm teaching. The next section *shouldn't* be too bed, but we'll see.
Kimmy and I went to church with Jessie and Richard. It was good. Pastor Mark talked about the book of Jude and about serving each other. I got a call from Comcast in the middle of the service. I didn't want to take it, but when I set up the appointment they informed me that if I missed any of their calls that they would have to cancel the appointment. So I quickly excused myself and took the call. I figured God would understand.
Jessie and Richard came over to our house for lunch, since we were waiting for the Comcast guy. They told us of their adventures in looking for a house. I do not envy them. Renting and setting up all of the utilities was enough of an adventure for me right now. And we ate cheesecake!
The serviceman came and fixed all of the things. So now we have working internet! And hopefully it doesn't stop working anytime soon.
I worked on homework this afternoon. It was buckets of fun. Part of the time I was re-writing my homework to make it legible to turn in. The rest of it was finishing the assignment. I want to go through it one more time just to make sure I understand everything.
After homework we ate some dinner, then went to go see Batman with friends! I saw it during my bachelor party, but it was also good the second time. Way good, in fact.
When we got back home I folded some laundry, made some rice, then we watched a TED talk.
And now it's time for bed! Good night!
So this morning I decided to get up early and be productive before church. I think I'm getting old.... waking up early should never be a preferred option. But I did. I ran into a bit of an obstacle when I tried to write my blog and the internet wouldn't connect. So I had to copy everything I'd written into a text file, transfer that onto my phone, then copy the contents of the text file into the Blogger app. Unfortunately the Blogger app doesn't have any ability to change font or font size... so it looked kind of funny. Oh well!
After that I did some reading for the class I'm teaching. The next section *shouldn't* be too bed, but we'll see.
Kimmy and I went to church with Jessie and Richard. It was good. Pastor Mark talked about the book of Jude and about serving each other. I got a call from Comcast in the middle of the service. I didn't want to take it, but when I set up the appointment they informed me that if I missed any of their calls that they would have to cancel the appointment. So I quickly excused myself and took the call. I figured God would understand.
Jessie and Richard came over to our house for lunch, since we were waiting for the Comcast guy. They told us of their adventures in looking for a house. I do not envy them. Renting and setting up all of the utilities was enough of an adventure for me right now. And we ate cheesecake!
The serviceman came and fixed all of the things. So now we have working internet! And hopefully it doesn't stop working anytime soon.
I worked on homework this afternoon. It was buckets of fun. Part of the time I was re-writing my homework to make it legible to turn in. The rest of it was finishing the assignment. I want to go through it one more time just to make sure I understand everything.
After homework we ate some dinner, then went to go see Batman with friends! I saw it during my bachelor party, but it was also good the second time. Way good, in fact.
When we got back home I folded some laundry, made some rice, then we watched a TED talk.
And now it's time for bed! Good night!
Day 460
Yesterday morning started with some breakfast with Kimmy. Then we went off to the farmer's market. We met Jessie there and did some shopping. We got some more corn and some other produce. Last week when we went I had been looking for a vendor who sold spices but I was unsuccessful. Not so with this week! We were able to locate a vendor and return victorious!
After the farmer's market Kimmy got ready for her interview at Macy's. I gave her some interview tips, but I didn't think that she would be asked the same types of questions that I would be asked in my interviews. Oh well. After she left I went to finish the grocery shopping. We got back from our respective duties around the same time and ate lunch. Kimmy and I discussed her interview and in general she thought that it had gone well.
I went to the library for a couple of hours to do homework with some classmates. I got nearly all of it done and will be finishing it today. When I got home I wrote a few thank you cards while Kimmy made dinner.
After dinner we went to go visit our neighbors for a little bit. They were celebrating Shawn(or Shaun or Sean... however he spells it)'s birthday, so we stopped by to give him some cookies and say hi. So we stayed and talked with him and other people who were passing through the kitchen for a while. I had fun and I think Kimmy did as well. When we got back Kimmy played Minecraft and I did some grading. When I was done grading I went upstairs and played Team Fortress with some friends for a while. Then it was bedtime. Actually, we got in bed and realized that we were both really hungry. So we got a snack then went to bed.
The end.
After the farmer's market Kimmy got ready for her interview at Macy's. I gave her some interview tips, but I didn't think that she would be asked the same types of questions that I would be asked in my interviews. Oh well. After she left I went to finish the grocery shopping. We got back from our respective duties around the same time and ate lunch. Kimmy and I discussed her interview and in general she thought that it had gone well.
I went to the library for a couple of hours to do homework with some classmates. I got nearly all of it done and will be finishing it today. When I got home I wrote a few thank you cards while Kimmy made dinner.
After dinner we went to go visit our neighbors for a little bit. They were celebrating Shawn(or Shaun or Sean... however he spells it)'s birthday, so we stopped by to give him some cookies and say hi. So we stayed and talked with him and other people who were passing through the kitchen for a while. I had fun and I think Kimmy did as well. When we got back Kimmy played Minecraft and I did some grading. When I was done grading I went upstairs and played Team Fortress with some friends for a while. Then it was bedtime. Actually, we got in bed and realized that we were both really hungry. So we got a snack then went to bed.
The end.
8.25.2012
Day 459
Yesterday morning I had planned on doing some studying before class. I got some done, but then I called Comcast about an issue we've been having with our Internet. I was on the phone with them for an hour and a half. Actually.... I was on hold for an hour and twenty minutes, then I talked with someone for another ten minutes. One of their people is coming on Sunday to hopefully fix it.
Then I went to class. It was pretty uneventful. In between classes we went to the Atrium and we tried to do some homework, even though we all knew it wouldn't happen. Then we had our other class, which was my MFE course. It's going to be a lot of work, I believe.
When I got home I talked with Kimmy for a bit, then we made dinner. We just had leftovers. With bacon!
After dinner we went to Tim and Erin's for a bonfire with our friends in the Actuarial department. Kimmy made a cheesecake which a) looks really good and b) tastes amazing! It was a big hit.
We first tried playing badminton, but none of us really knew the rules. But I'm pretty sure that Kimmy and I won. Then we got some food and talked around the camp fire. It was fun. We had a pretty strict "no talking about math" policy, so we had to be careful about our topics of conversation. But it was good.
When we got back there was some excitement going on in the fairgrounds. Apparently there was some really big concert going on. Kimmy and I were going to go over there, but tickets were $15 a person. Hurumph. It was my kind of music and everything! Money is dumb. So then Kimmy watched Lost and I played a game. And then we went to bed. The end.
Then I went to class. It was pretty uneventful. In between classes we went to the Atrium and we tried to do some homework, even though we all knew it wouldn't happen. Then we had our other class, which was my MFE course. It's going to be a lot of work, I believe.
When I got home I talked with Kimmy for a bit, then we made dinner. We just had leftovers. With bacon!
After dinner we went to Tim and Erin's for a bonfire with our friends in the Actuarial department. Kimmy made a cheesecake which a) looks really good and b) tastes amazing! It was a big hit.
We first tried playing badminton, but none of us really knew the rules. But I'm pretty sure that Kimmy and I won. Then we got some food and talked around the camp fire. It was fun. We had a pretty strict "no talking about math" policy, so we had to be careful about our topics of conversation. But it was good.
When we got back there was some excitement going on in the fairgrounds. Apparently there was some really big concert going on. Kimmy and I were going to go over there, but tickets were $15 a person. Hurumph. It was my kind of music and everything! Money is dumb. So then Kimmy watched Lost and I played a game. And then we went to bed. The end.
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