Day 343

Good evening.


Well, today started finals week.  I didn't have any finals today, so I woke up around 8:30, got breakfast, showered, then just worked on some probability for a while.  I also did some packing.  Today's goal was to get clothes packed, which I did so successfully.  And I made brownies this morning!

There was a luncheon for the math department.  I saw with Jacob, Erica, Kathryn, Timbo, Alex, and Mr. Dean.  It takes most of us a while to get into a good conversation... so we just sat in silence for a while.  After we got our food we talked some about how awesome Muncie is (ha), the surprising diversity in Richmond, Indiana (Mr. Dean has a sister who used to live there and some of us have friends who live there), and (of course) exams.  Alex recently took MFE (Modeling Financial Economics) and was telling us how disheartening it is to think that you'll get a result back when the test is over... and then you don't.  He even called SOA (Society Of Actuaries, one of the governing bodies who administer the exams) to ask if there had been an error.  The assured him that it was not an error, but that since this is one of the first times MFE has been given computer-based instead of pencil-and-paper, that they had not yet included the unofficial pass/fail that some of the other exams have. So.. hopefully they have that when I take MFE, which will hopefully be in the next year or so.  


Here's a picture we got with two of our professors.

Back (left to right): Jacob, Prof. Frye, Prof. Dean, me
Front (left to right): Erica, Kathryn

Also, all of the graduate assistants were recognized for being helpful.  We got a little packet that had some formal letter from the school that basically said "thanks for being a GA," a certificate that states that we are outstanding GAs, and...this weird USB bracelet thing. 
Go go gadget INTERNET-

Yeah... they're interesting.


When I got back... I had to study.  Gross.  Well, I studied after I read this awesome article about how linguists have studied speed daters to determine how their language patters can predict the likelihood of finding a partner.  It got into other things... it's a good read if you're interested.


Then I studied.  I studied for life contingencies for a while, then started making dinner.  Today was sloppy Joe's.  I also called mom and we talked about my coming home plans, upcoming events, and things of that nature.  So on Thursday I'm going to a baseball game with some people in my program down in Cincinnati (totally thought it was Fort Wayne until today), then heading up to Findlay!  That means I need to be all packed by Wednesday night.  Got it.  I'll be leaving most of the things I don't need at home here in Muncie... may as well make use of my $400 a month third floor storage unit!


Ok, one more awesome link that I just found: the largest photo in existence (272 gigapixel).  You can use your scroll wheel or the on-screen + or - buttons to scroll in an out.  And you can scroll in really really far.


Yeah.  I made sloppy Joe's for dinner.  And oven fries.  Kathryn came over to partake in the eating of that with me.  We talked about our upcoming finals, the exam, plans for the summer.  Apparently this summer she will be going to her first two weddings.  But her first wedding will be on the Florida beaches... so I don't know whether mine can top that.  I guess we'll see.  We also talked about fighting and arguing and how we do those.  When I get in fights or arguments, I generally try to find the source of conflict and suggest a logical settlement.  To some this is welcome, but to most it simply makes them more upset because fights tend to be a more emotional battlefield.  Kathryn on the other hand just wants everyone to be happy, even if her view isn't being fairly represented.  I want everyone to be happy, but clearly everyone would be happier if they just saw things my way!  That's how it works, right? :)


After dinner Kathryn went back to her apartment and I studied for probability. I did that for about an hour, but then I just started making dumb mistakes and deduced that my brain was just too tired to be effective.  So I stopped.  And now I'm going to bed.  Good night everyone.  Thanks for reading this nonsense every day... or however often you read it.

Day 342

I decided to take advantage of not having class in the morning and stay up a little bit.  Yup.


This morning was just more of the same thing.  Eating, showering, studying.  I tried honey and brown sugar on my oatmeal this morning.  I don't know if the two flavors added to each other or just tasted the same.  But I liked it.


Jessie and Richard came to get me for church.  Pastor Mark talked about how important it is to completely devote yourself to God.  He talks about that a lot, but it's good.  It's a pretty important topic so I like that he talks about it so much.


After church we went to Fazoli's for lunch.  It was really crowded.  Over lunch we discussed the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator test and our indicated personality types.  I took one at Mount Vernon and was classified as an ISTJ: Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judgment.  Wikipedia has a very good article on it, and for 95% of it I felt like it was written specifically for me.  It was weird.


When we got back I wasn't quite ready to study, so I played a game with Miles for a few minutes.  I didn't feel bad because I knew I'd be studying the rest of the day.  And that's pretty much what happened.  I studied for about 7 hours today... it was a lot of fun!


I did probability for a few hours, then after dinner Dustin and Timbo came over and we studied for our life con test.  I started off just writing down formulas, then I began working through the practice final.  Tomorrow I'm going to work through past quizzes and tests and look at the formulae again.


Here's my picture for the day.  I thought it looked kind of neat.

And I'm going to go to bed now.  Good night everyone!

Day 341

Hey everyone.


I'm listening to Drifting by Enya right now.  It's a really wonderful song.  I've been listening to a lot of Enya recently.  It's so.. mellow.  I like it a lot.  It usually puts me in a very contemplative mood.  Sometimes a little melancholy, but generally contemplative.


I got about 9 hours of sleep last night.  It felt really good.  I made eggs for breakfast.  I'm sure I've talked about it before, but I learned while at Mount Vernon that the key to making a good omelette is to use lots of cooking spray.

I found that if I didn't use enough spray, my eggs would just stick to the pan and not be good omelettes.  I used cayenne pepper and cinnamon in my eggs.  This is seriously one of my favorite spice combinations.  Use just enough cayenne so that you feel it, but don't necessarily taste it.  After you get the feel of cayenne, the cinnamon hits your taste buds.  And I love the taste of cinnamon.  The cayenne then makes your mouth lust for more while the cinnamon then gives you a wallop of awesome... right in the tongue.  And I simply love eggs.  Last week I ate 2 dozen eggs between breakfast, stir-fry, my salads, and meatloaf.


While I'm discussing my love for Enya music, allow me to share my two favorites (I think): A Day Without Rain and The Memory of Trees.


After breakfast I finished my laundry.  It appears that I neglected to move it yesterday... so it was waiting for me in the washing machine.  I'm glad that it didn't run away from me.  That would have been sad.  Then I went grocery shopping.

I wasn't going to take this... but it seemed kind of cool so I decided to pretend to be artsy.


Grocery shopping went fast.  I didn't need too many groceries since I'm mainly just finishing up the food that I have.  For lunch I had a can of soup that I have literally had since January.  And about an entire sleeve of crackers.  I started working through problems over lunch, then continued to do so.  For the majority of the afternoon I alternated between studying and doing dishes.  I took a break for about an hour in the middle of the afternoon, then went back at it.


I had a really good thought this afternoon.  But I forgot to write it down (I just figured I'd remember since it was so good)... but it appears that I have forgotten it.  Shoot.


I went to First Wok with Jessie and Richard for dinner.  I really like it.  It's a standard quick Chinese restaurant: one dining room with about 20 tables, 1 to 3 kids doing homework in the dining area, a 7 year old kid taking orders (or answering the phone), the one token American guy with an otherwise Asian (sometimes Mexican) work force, and the counter after the far end of the dining room with the kitchen directly behind it.  It is also named something that is a combination of two or three things from the following list: New, China, Dragon, Wok, Great, Wall, Hunan, Mandarin, Garden(s), Kitchen, First, River... In fact, there are number of Random Chinese Restaurant Name Generators on the Internet.  Here is one that is most visually appealing.  Press F5 (refresh) to view a new name.  Anyhow, I really enjoy places like that.


After dinner I studied some more and did some more dishes.  Around 9:30 I decided that I was done.... I'd studied enough for today.  I did around 40 problems.  My goal is at least 30 a day.


I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to go to bed now.  Have a good night, everyone.

Day 340

I'm getting tired, so I guess I should go to bed.


I was going to get up early this morning to study and go get coffee, since I ran out.  But... I ended up not getting up quite as early as I had anticipated.  Oh well.  I still got up in time to do all the important things and get to campus early enough to go by the Atrium and get some coffee.


I got to class a little early and went over the practice exam again.  Then Dr. Foley came in and we took the test.  He told us that one of the questions was a bit tricky, so he made it extra credit.  I'm going to remind him on Wednesday when I see him... I'd like him to not forget that.  Or that he changed one of the questions because there was no solution the way that it was worded.


I'm coming to realize that when I'm tired I get very irritable.  Actually I've know this for quite some time, but every once in a while something happens that reminds me.  Sounds... how things feel against my skin.. smells... yeah.  So this morning was just amazing.


During life con we went over most of the sample final.  It didn't seem too bad.  I just need to run through all the formulas we've been using.  I'll do that sometime tomorrow or Sunday.


When I got back I got some lunch.  After my normal Friday afternoon activities (balance checking account, dishes, maybe clean) I did some studying.  I was pretty tired and wasn't really getting much good studying done, so I took a nap.  I think that's the first nap I've taken... in a very long time.  Possibly all semester.  After my nap I did some more studying.


I heated up my left over meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.  Did some studying over dinner.  After dinner I did some more dishes.  But we're almost out of dish soap... so that gave me a good excuse to stop.


After dinner I played a played a game for a while.  I played Team Fortress with Jared's girlfriend for a bit.  Then I played with Miles.


Here is my picture for the day.

I'm going to bed now.  Night!

Day 339

Quick update and things.


This morning I got up and did all the regular things.  Then I went to the computer lab to work.  Erica came in to finish her life con assignment, so I tried to be helpful.  She had pretty much everything, but there were a few things that Foley told me when I talked with him, so I told her all that stuff.  I went over the practice exam for my Investments test tomorrow.  It took a while to figure out why Dr. Foley did everything the way that he did.  Sometimes I'm still not really sure.... but it's ok.  I figured it out.  I also did about half of the life con practice exam.  I'm going to study for that more this weekend.


I learned today that apparently I was supposed to be keeping track of my hours and having Dr. Nelson sign off on them.  Whoops!  Dr. Fischer didn't seem too concerned, since I have actually been keeping track of my hours in an Excel file. So I just need to get Dr. Nelson to sign off on that.


After lab hours I came back, got a snack, and took my afternoon break.  Apparently I really like snacking on pancakes and peanut butter.  Just so you know.  I also got cookies from Kimmy's mom.  So thanks!  I was really confused because I didn't know from where they came or anything...

I did some probability.  Yup.  And then I made meatloaf for dinner.  Kathryn came over and had dinner with me, then we studied for a while afterwards.  After we finished studying, we started to discuss how much we dislike fitted sheets.  So we brainstormed and decided on two different designs: either a specially designed mattress that allows you to button the bottom sheet on to the mattress, or a mix between a regular sheet and a slap bracelet... so you just slap the sheet on top of your bed and it stays!  She didn't like my idea of just stapling the sheet to the bed... I can't even fathom why.


Then I played games with Miles and Jared.  Jared's computer has been broken for a while, so we happily welcomed him back to fun times with us!


And now it is bed time.  Good night!

Day 338

Today was pretty good.  Mhmmm!


I got up for investments and did my morning routine.  It went pretty flawlessly.


During class we went over the practice exam.  I hadn't looked at it, so I didn't know what the questions were.  And Dr. Foley doesn't really go over the question before he starts working it, so... I just took notes to look over later.


After class we had Atrium time.  I did a little probability, but mainly just talked about...something.  Hm.  I mean, we clearly talked about probability... because that's all any of us can think about.


I did really well on last week's probability quiz, so that was comforting.  Partially because I guessed well, but I knew how to do almost all of them.  Since we won't have a class period next week to look at today's quiz, Mr. Frye gave us the solutions for the quiz after we handed our quiz into him.  So I know I did well on it.  Mr. Frye messed up on one of the questions, so I'm assuming he'll just give us all credit for it...since the real answer was not one of the multiple choice options.


After class I ate lunch, then went to my follow up dermatologist appointment.  Basically the doctor told me that I have chronically dry skin... so keep it moisturized.  And that my discoloration should go away in a couple months.  She also looked at the bump on my lower back that I've had since... Middle school?  I told her that my family doctor didn't seem concerned with it.  The dermatologist didn't seem concerned either, but just told me to keep an eye on it.


When I got back to my apartment I unwound for a bit, then did a little studying.  I decided today that I'm going to try to take a picture everyday and put it on here.  So here is today's picture.

 

It's a cup.

I made stir-fry for dinner.  And did some dishes.  It was fun.  Jessie and Richard invited me to go get ice cream, but I was still making dinner when they went.  So hopefully next time.  I went to Kathryn's to watch Modern Family.  Then came back home and will be going to bed shortly.  Good night!

Day 337

Today was pretty good.  I got up, breakfast, shower, made lunch, then was off to the computer lab.  This morning I mainly studied for probability. I worked through a practice exam (not timed) and did pretty well.  So I was happy with that.  I also helped Erica a little bit on the life con assignment.  She doesn't have a lot of experience with Mathematica, so I was just showing her some things she needed to know/use.  But for the most part I just worked on probability.  Ate my lunch, then did more probability.


It just occurred to me that I haven't had any water today... I should fix that.


Fixed.


After lab hours I went to Wal-mart to get some shampoo.  I looked for something natural because I've heard that it's better for your hair, but I had no idea what I was doing.  So I just got regular shampoo.  It smells good!


Um... I got a snack when I returned.  Made some pancakes for breakfast...ate a couple pancakes cuz I was hungry.  Chilled out for a while.


Some of my friends and I had a birthday dinner for Paul and me tonight, since our birthdays are during the summer. We went to Greek's pizza for dinner.  It was really good.  Unfortunately none of us are very good at making decisions... so it took a while to order.  But it was fun.  For the most part, anyhow.  The ever present talk of 90s TV shows came up... again... as it always does.  So Jacob and I had a nice discussion about books we read while we were growing up.  He and I both read one called Ender's Game and absolutely loved it, so we discussed that for a while.  I think it's interesting how the things we did growing up affected the ways that we do math.  He liked puzzles and reading because he knew exactly what he had to do to get the right output.  When doing math, he is remarkable at computation and using formula, but isn't much for making new ideas.  I grew up drawing pictures and creating stories.  I don't like the computation but prefer creating new ideas or formulas.  Anyhow, I thought it was kinda cool.


We all stayed at the restaurant for a while, just talking about whatever.  When we went to pay we, naturally, all had $20s (and you have to pay with cash at Greek's).  So we kind of wiped the cashier out of $10s and $5s...whoops!  When I got back I just did some stuff around here... now I'm going to bed.  Good night!

Day 336

Today was a pretty good day, I believe.


I woke up and went through the normal routine.  Breakfast, shower, class.  Today was the last formal day of investments, but none of it will be on the exam on Friday.  So... I don't really know what we talked about.


After class Tim, Kathryn, Timbo, and I went up to the computer lab and worked on the life con assignment.  It took us about three hours and two trips to go see Dr. Foley.  So it wasn't too bad.  And now it's done!  I have a probability quiz on Wednesday, Investment exam on Friday, life con take home due... on Friday?, and then finals in life con and probability next week.  And then I'm done!  Half way through my program... yes please.  I don't think it will be too much work, so I'll have plenty of time to study for probability.


When we finished working on the assignment I went to the Math department to RSVP for a math luncheon next week and to get cleared for a couple classes for the fall.  Ball State is using a new system to sign up for classes and there some glitches.  The new system will work wonderfully once it has all of the necessary information... but that time has not yet come.


Then I came home and got some lunch.  I was going to make a salad, but the remainder of my hamburger from yesterday just sounded so good.  So I ate that.  I guess I didn't realize that it hadn't really filled me up... but oh well.  I did some studying and interneting for the rest of the afternoon.  Study for a couple hours, take an hour break.  Study for an hour, take a 30 minute break.  Yeah, it was so much fun.


I made stir-fry for dinner.  Kathryn came and ate with me.  I don't remember what we talked about... which is frustrating because I'm pretty sure it was mildly entertaining.  It really bothers me when I can't remember stuff at the end of the day because I want to remember everything... everything that happens is important to me.  Bleh.


Side note: I read a post earlier today about why the past decade hasn't had much stand out (culturally).  It went through the significant events that happened during the 60s, 70s, and 80s, talking about the historical events and figures that created a common bond between people, and how things like having very restricted entertainment mediums forced unity because everyone was entertained by the same thing (everyone knew who The Fonz was).  Even into the 90s, the economy was doing reasonably well and people were still culturally close.  But the past decade has been an interesting one... in that very few noteworthy things have happened that draw us together.  9/11 caused trauma for the entire country... it really shook us.  But there was no longer a unifying feel that swept over the country, except that of confusion and uncertainty.  With the spread of the internet and technology, it became easier for everyone to do their own thing and be their own person.  Anyhow, that was just a brief summary of someone else's opinion.  I thought it was interesting.  I feel like I didn't learn a lot of "recent history" growing up.  There was a big focus on everything up to... the 60s?  70s?  But not much after that and no real focus on current events.  The history books just didn't cover it.  It's difficult to do, however.  The things that happened near my birth were too new for most history books, but too old to be current events.  For instance, I didn't know that the Berlin Wall fell until I was in...8th grade?  But it happened when I was like 1 year old.  I clearly could not have comprehended any of that when I was 1 year old.  Anyhow, that was just... a thing.


After dinner Kathryn and I studied for a while longer.  Then she went home and I cleaned up and I'm about to go to bed!  So.  Good night!

Day 335

Today started off really well.  I got about 8 hours of sleep, got up, ate, showered, then went to church with Jessie and Richard.  The pastor talked about how much God likes to talk with us.  And how we should always be in conversation with God, even when it's about little things.  Jesus was always talking to God and that seemed to work out pretty well for him (except for the crucifixion bit... but that was all part of the plan).  Pastor Mark really encouraged us all to not try to do everything on our own... that's not how it works.  We really need God's help, so there's no reason to pretend like we don't.  It was good to hear that.


After church we went to lunch at Scotty's.  It was really good.  Jessie really likes their fried pickles (actually that's the main reason that she goes), so she got a plate and we shared.  They were really good.  I got a hamburger with bacon, jalapenos, lettuce, tomato... and peanut butter.  I must say, the peanut butter was pretty good.  I'll have to try that sometime.


When I got back from lunch I started taking a time practice exam.  First mistake: I did not do any problems to warm up.  I know better.. but for some reason I didn't.  Well... after about 20 minutes I'd done 3 problems and was too  frustrated at how poorly I was doing that I just stopped.  I tried doing some problems not timed, but I just got so flustered and frustrated by the timed problems that I couldn't get a lot done.


So I decided to just take the day off.  I ended up doing what I do on most days after studying: played video games, ate, did dishes, and browsed the internet.  I also talked with my friend David (he went to Mount Vernon with me for a couple years) for a while.  He and I haven't really talked for a couple years, so we caught up.  We also discussed when e^x does and does have an infinite number of digits.  I explained that it will have an infinite number of digits for all values of x except when x = 0 (because e^0 is 1) and when x = the natural log of some rational number.  For instance, e^(ln(2)) is 2.


Yeah.  Today was not the best of days.  Mostly because of the test... and then I just didn't feel like doing anything else after that.  Oh well.  On to tomorrow!  Good night all.

Day 334

Ok.


Today was pretty good.  I woke up around 8:45... then just laid in bed for another 20 or 30 minutes trying to fall back asleep.  But I did not, so I got up and ate.  I was really really hungry when I woke up!  Then I showered.


After I showered I went grocery shopping.  Well, first I went to the mall to get some cologne.  Then I went grocery shopping.  I didn't make a list... I just went.  But I got some food and spent the normal amount, so hopefully I can make something out of it.  


I was going to take a practice exam today, but I was feeling a bit groggy so I didn't want to do poorly and get frustrated.  So I just did problems un-timed instead.  Tim sent out a mass invitation to do some work at one of the local coffee shops, so I took him up on that.  We worked there for a couple of hours, then I came home.


When I got back it was about dinner time.  So I had leftover chicken and rice.  Then I killed some time until around 8:30.  Ball State puts on these "Late Nite*" events every Saturday.  It's a really good idea, but I've heard that most of them don't have much of a turn-out.  Anyhow, this week's was a carnival.  So some of my friends and I went to that.  It was actually pretty fun, even though it was cold. We went on probably...5 or so different ride. I ran into 3 of my students from the fall.  One of them I almost literally ran into.  We were walking through the crowds of people and I noticed a very slim opening that I thought I could get through.... and I did.  I hadn't noticed my student standing there, but I guess I walked right in front of her (I had my back turned to her) and she calls out to me saying "Joel Pagano!  That was a pretty close squeeze right there!"  Then I saw another student at the bumper cars.  We were probably about 100 feet away, but we made eye contact and waved.  The other student I saw... did not really acknowledge me.  I don't think he was pleased with the grade he received.  Oh well.  Anyhow, the carnival was pretty fun.  Small, but fun.


*Yes, I know it is spelled incorrectly.  I'm sure they know it too.  I have no idea why they spell it this way...


Then I returned home, got a snack, and... here I am!  Going to bed.  So good night!

Day 323

Good morning!


Yesterday started off like most others.  I woke up, showered, got breakfast, then went to class.  Class was pretty uneventful and I don't really remember what we talked about... I'm so ready to not have 8am classes.  It's not even about getting up early (although I'm not a huge fan of that).  I just have such a hard time paying attention and focusing that early in the morning.  I remember last fall one of my maths professors (Dr. Noonan) told us how he used to think that students were just really whiny when they complained about 8am classes.  Until he started having 8am meetings... I realized that he was having a really hard time focusing on someone talking to him with littler involvement that early in the morning.  But it wasn't a total waste... I determined a general formula for the distribution function of a sum of two random variables, when both variables are exponentially distributed.  Or in math terms: I found fY(y) = P[X1+X2<y] when Y=X1+X2 and X1~exp(a), X2~exp(b).


During Atrium time we discussed probability.  We talked about a few different problems, figured out how to work them, and such.


Life con was in the computer lab yesterday.  We did some work with random numbers in Excel.  Basically we were using the random number function in Excel and then using that to create new functions and things.  I'm not really sure why... but we did it!  My computer restarted in the middle of class.  Apparently it needed to update RIGHT then.  It happened to another guy as well... twice.  He was not exactly amused.


After class Dustin and I went to Taco Bell to get lunch.  Then he came over and we played some Kinect.  We both got really tired and sweaty.  But it was a lot of fun.  When he left I did some dishes, did money stuff, played Dead Island, then did some probability.  Probability has been getting better... I'm really starting to feel better about everything and I really feel like if I just keep studying for the next three weeks (which I will obviously be doing lots of that) that I'll pass.  So yay!


After dinner I hung out with some people from my program.  And it was fun.  I didn't update this last night because I got back pretty late and I was tired.  So here I am now!  And now to go grocery shopping.  Bye!

Day 332

So Thursday is over.


It started off with just... the normal routine.  Waking up, showering, eating breakfast.  This whole week I've just really been craving eggs... so naturally that's what I've been eating.  And it has been fantastic.  Then it was off to work.  I spent the first hour and a half working on probability.  I actually felt like I was doing really well.  I got most of them correct... or mostly correct.


Then it was off to life con.  Tomorrow is our last day of regular class.  Dr. Foley wants to give us some time to work on the take home test, so he canceled class all next week to give us more time to work on it.  Except next Friday, when he'll go over the sample final.


After class Timbo and I went to the computer lab and worked on life con.  We were assigned the first part of the exam, so we worked on that.  It didn't take very long at all... maybe 15 minutes after we figured out what we were doing.  So that was nice.  Then I got lunch, came back up, and did some more studying.


I felt very honored because Brad (fellow GA... we work many of the same lab hours) asked me not once, but twice for clarification on his work.  Brad is one of the math grad students.  During my time at Mount Vernon I did some work with the things he's studying right now (mine was an introduction) and we've discussed it from time to time.  So I have a general idea of what he's doing... but only very general.  He first wanted clarification on the wording of a poorly worded question... I gave him the best answer I could.  Then he later asked me if the a function needed to only be continuous to be integrated.  The purpose for his asking me was that he was writing a proof for a take home exam and he wanted to be completely certain that he was as clear as possible.  So I said that to the  best of my knowledge, a function (assuming it is a function) can be integrated as long as the region over which you are integrating is continuous.  But I still felt special that he asked for my help.  Sometimes I really miss the more abstract subjects.  Only a little bit though.  Like... a very very little bit.  I much prefer concrete topics, but I still like trying to follow more abstract thought.  It makes me feel smart.


When I got back I ceased my productivity.  I did a lot of work this morning and afternoon and my brain needed a break.  So I played a game, pretended to clean (but didn't really), browsed the internet... just letting my brain cool down.  Kathryn came over for dinner and I made chicken and rice.  I thought it turned out really well.  I just put the defrosted chicken in the oven for 40 minutes at 380 or 390 (I don't remember), threw on some garlic salt and onions.  It was pretty good.  A few pieces were very chewy... but I liked it.  After dinner we watched yesterday's episode of modern family online.  Then she went back to her apartment and I played games with Miles!  We saved the world... so need to need to fear!


Now I am going to bed.  For it was way passed my bedtime.  Night!

Day 331

So.  This morning was normal.  I woke up early, showered, ate, did a little studying for probability.  I was greeted with a bit of a surprise this morning when the parking lot in which I normally park was closed.  Thankfully there is another commuter lot nearby.  In investments we discussed how one of the main theories used for protecting against interest rate changes doesn't actually work.  Then we talked about what people actually do... which is reasonably close to the theory, but not precise.  We got a little bit into interest rate swaps (basically when two people who have access to different interest rates help each other out for mutual benefit).


During Atrium time I think we just studied.  Talked about how easy it is to waste time on the internet.  A little bit about how we get near exam time and how sometime in the next week I'm going to be initiating hard-core mode... oh joy.  I'm thinking that Monday will be the beginning of that.


During probability we met the likely new professor for next year.  His name is Rich Owens.  He watched a little bit of our probability class... so we all looked REALLY smart.  Ha.  Anyhow, I felt like I did decently on this quiz.  There were only 3 out of the 14 I didn't know how to do.  So... not awesome, but I'm confident on the ones that I did know how to do.  So we'll see!


After class I needed a bit of a break, so I got some lunch, played a game, folded laundry, did dishes.  Then I did a little more studying.  I called mom and we talked for a while.  Mostly about wedding stuff.  And about studying.  I mean... I don't know that a whole lot is going on in my life outside of that...


I made spaghetti for dinner.  Then I talked with my friend Alysse via Facebook chat.  We hadn't talked in a very long time, so it was nice to catch up with her and everything.


At 7:30 Rich Owens (probably the new professor) came to talk with some of the students about his background and give us a chance to get to know him.  It was good.  He talked about his education, his job at Metlife, his current research... a lot about his current research.  But was good.  Then we opened up for questions and stuff.  He (very very impressively) passed all nine of this exams on the first try, which there is roughly a .03% chance of doing.  This number is not entirely accurate because it assumes the probability of passing an exam is random, while it is, in fact, not random at all.  But you get the idea.  People were asking all sorts of questions about his career, which was great.  I tried to ask on-topic but different questions.  Like whether he liked living in New Jersey.  Surprisingly he said that he did!  At one point someone asked him a question and he answered... some question.  Then he forgot who asked so he just kind of generally asked "What was the question?"  But he was looking directly at me... and I got flustered because he asked again and no one said anything... so I just said the first thing that came to mind (which is really a gamble on whether that given thought is safe to exist in the real world): "Do you like pie!?"  He said that he generally does not, because when he plans to intake calories he prefers it in a different manner.  I respect that. I'll just have to assume he was referring to bacon.  


Anyhow, during his talk he made a very big focus on doing things intentionally and how if something in school or in your job wasn't working properly or efficiently, then it's up to you to do it better.  And that really motivated me in my studying.  I know there are things I can be doing better.  It's been very difficult for me to get into studying for this for a number of reasons.  Partially because it's very mentally taxing to go from one exam to the next without a true break.  Study for these exams is very life consuming... and you really should have a good break in between them.  I did not, and that makes getting into study mode for the next one very hard.  Additionally, I think I have a mental block against some of this stuff because I've had it in two other classes and I didn't understand it there... so now my brain is convinced that I still don't get it.  Even though I probably do.  It's also been difficult for me to get into this because I feel as though my math background should have prepared me better for this exam... but it has not.  It's very humbling to realize that the exam most relevant to your bachelor's degree is not any easier for you than it is for people who do not have a bachelor's degree in math.  Humbling and a bit discouraging.  I have a piece of paper and 2 lines on my resume that verify that I'm good at math.  I can differentiate, integrate, find modular congruence, create primes and pythagorean triples, approximate error terms to the nth degree using Taylor polynomials, do matrix multiplication and reduced row-echelon form... yes when asked to find the probability that X + Y < 1... I flounder.  Even though I know the knowledge is in there.  Bleh.  Three and a half weeks.  I know that's plenty of time.  I just need to get my mind in place.  I'm getting there.  I really need to pass this exam in May because my brain needs the summer to take a break from studying.


Ok.  It's time for bed.  Good night everyone!

Day 330

Someday I'm not going to stay up late.


Ha.


Anyhow, today was pretty decent.  Except for the part where my alarm didn't go off and I woke up at 7:30 instead of 6:30.  And I had to be at work at 8.  So my brain went into priority mode and it created the following list of tasks: pants, breakfast, coffee, backpack, gym bag.  My brain isn't in top shape first thing in the morning, but I must say... it's not bad.  Somehow I was able to realize that I could make eggs and leave them on the skillet while I did other things.  I picked eggs because I had one tortilla shell left, so that would serve as a mobile plate.  So I was able to actually get out the door by about 7:50.  I ended up only being a few minutes late to work... but I would like to not do that again.


I worked on probability while I was in the computer lab before life con.  Nothing too exciting.  There's usually about one or two questions per practice exam that I just have no idea how to do.  Which is frustrating... but... oh well.


During life con we talked about generating random numbers.  This is useful when running simulations of things and you want to simulate a random event.  I doubt we'll actually need to know this for anything... but now we kind of know.


I went to go work out after class.  I haven't gone in quite some time, so it was very exciting.  Today was legs.  Walking was... difficult.  When I got back to the computer lab I studied for a little bit.


I hadn't been in their for too long when another guy in the lab came up to me and asked if I was a grad student and what my area of study is.  So I told him and he said that he is almost finished taking pre-requisite courses to enter the program.  So I asked what his story was (because there is always a story about how someone becomes an actuary).  The tl;dr version of it is that he graduated from Ball State in 2008 as a philosophy major... spent a couple years job hopping and soul searching...wanted an area where he an explore and so forth.  I'm sure he thought he was explaining his reasoning quite eloquently.  I learned a lot about him and I enjoyed that, but I'm still quite uncertain as to why he is in the program.  He passed the probability exam back in January and plans to take FM in February. He and his wife are expecting a kid in September.  I think those were the highlights.  He kept referring to how employers just want to see you perform one task and just keep doing it instead of trying to find out what is real.  By the end I had come to the conclusion that any one of the following was true (with no real knowledge of which one is the most likely): 1- his story is completely valid, 2- he is very good at thinking on the fly, knows a little bit about the actuarial science program, and was able to feed back information I had given him in the form of his own story, 3- he was really high.  Anyhow, I showed him my office (he's a GA next year and wanted to see what the offices are like), then we parted ways.


When I got home I had a snack, showered, then started doing some more studying.  But I just couldn't get my mind into it today.  I think my morning just really through me off.  Yarg.  So I did my best, but didn't get very far.  As to not completely waste my day, I started to write down formulae that I've having a difficult time memorizing.  That was helpful.


I made Shepard's Pie for dinner.  I'll write up the recipe tomorrow, but it turned out really well.  Thanks Amber!

After dinner I had some ice cream... tired to study some more... did some dishes.  Surprisingly I still hate dishes.  Then I played some TF2 with Miles.  Now I'm going to bed.


Night!

Day 329

Well. I finished another day!  Woohoo.


I still wasn't feeling splendid when I woke up this morning.  I'm hoping this goes away soon... It's getting pretty old.  Anyhow, I got up a little early to get some studying in before I went to class.  So I did.  I usually aim for 5 to 10 problems, depending on how early I wake up.


So yeah.  Class happened.  We talked about duration matching of portfolios.  This is a method of trying to ensure that a company's assets cover the long-term liabilities.  It's a topic covered on the actuarial exam I took... so I already knew what was going on.


So during atrium time we had a brief discussion about how to represent a certain area of math to people who don't like math.  This has always been of great interest to me because I personally believe that more people would like (and be good at) math if not for all the tedious computation. I'm going to give it a shot and summarize a one-semester course into a couple paragraphs.  Just because I feel like it.  Here we go.  And I have purposely not said which course that is for the time being.
_________________________________________________________________
In this class we talk about one thing: how things change.  For instance, we can talk about how someone's location changes in terms of their velocity.  For instance, I can walk from my apartment to the landlord's office at 1 meter per second.  My location is changing and every second I am 1 meter closer to my destination.  This is what we call the "rate of change": how fast something is changing.  What is changing?  My location.  At what rate (or speed) is it changing?  Well every second I am 1 meter closer to my destination, so we would say "1 meter per second."  We can also talk about the rate at which someone's speed changes.  This is called acceleration.  For instance, on earth gravity has an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second per second.  This is a bit confusing at first, so let's take it slowly.  Let's say you were dropping a ball from a 100 meter platform.  The first second it would be traveling at 9.8 meters per second.  But during the next second the speed would increase by another 9.8 meters per second.  So during second 2 the ball would be falling at 19.6 meters per second.  Then during the next second it would move even faster: 29.4 meters per second.  So every second the velocity is increasing by 9.8 meters per second.  So that's pretty neat.


All of this was an application of the mathematics that deals with limits.  You see, it is often the case (in mathematics) that we want to see what happens in very small time intervals.  For instance, when you are running you aren't running at exactly the same pace all the time.  You might run at 6 miles per hour, the 6.2 miles per hour, then 5.9 miles per hour and so forth.  In fact, this changes continuously.  It might be really really small, but there it's always changing.  Let's say I wanted to know how fast you were running at exactly 5 minutes into your run.  That would require impossibly accurate tools to measure something so precise!  But we could easily estimate it by measuring how far you go in between time 4.5 and 5.5.  This would give a very rough indicator.  But we could get an even better idea if we measured between 4.75 and 5.25.  We can keep getting closer and closer to 5, measuring between time 4.9 and 5.1, then 4.99 and 5.01.  Each time we make the interval over which we are timing smaller, we are getting a more accurate picture of how fast you ran at exactly time 5.  Ideally, we would want the length of the measuring interval to approach 0.  That would mean that we're measuring a length so small that it is actually at exactly time 5.  Wouldn't that be neat?


Well.  It would be.  In fact, that is precisely what we do in this area of math. We use tricky arithmetic to determine what happens in really small intervals.  Because sometimes... weird things happen.  In math, we usually like things to work nicely.  And for the most part everything does actually work out nicely.  But sometimes funny things happen.  Take the picture below for instance.

There is a gap on the curve, right where the dotted line is.  If we think of the running example, maybe at exactly time 5 you stubbed your toe and stopped... but only for the smallest fraction of a second.  Well, if we wanted to see what your rate of change was at time 5, our previous method didn't account for this.  Now, with the exception of that little gap the curve looks pretty normal.  It just... curves.  We can see that there is a gap at the red line.  But from the way the line moves around that gap, you can easily guess how you could fill in that gap in a sensible way, right?  Well this is a pretty useful tool, so they gave it a name: the limit.  This is the idea of getting really really close to something without actually reaching it.


Do you know where else this is useful?  Circles!  I love circles.  Did you ever wonder how people discovered the area of a circle?  Well, it all started with finding the area of a square.  Then the area of a pentagon.  Then a hexagon.  The a heptagon, octagon, nonagon, and so forth.  The great mathematician Archemedes realized that if you kept adding sides, you eventually would get a circle.  Tell me: if I drew a circle, then right next to it a polygon with 4 billion equal sides... do you think you could tell a difference?  Unless you had a microscope of some serious magnitude, you would be unable to tell the difference.  So in today's terms, we could refer to the limit of the polygon as the number of sides gets really really close to infinity*.


*In this branch of math, we say things like "getting close to infinity" even though we know that you can't actually ever get to infinity.


Anyhow.  That's just a little thing we call calculus.  It's really not as scary as people make it seem.  The arithmetic is a little tedious, but the concepts are pretty cool and can be made pretty understandable.  Now I have no idea whether I actually accomplished that or not... but I am confident that it can be done.
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So yeah.  There's that.  Then I went to life con and we had class and stuff.  We got our quiz back.  I think it's the first quiz I've ever gotten where I missed points for answering the correct question.  See, Dr. Foley takes the quizzes straight from the homework.  He does this instead of actually grading the homework.  But on the last quiz he changed one of the questions (this is actually becoming increasingly common).  When we asked him about the change of questions during the quiz he said "Oh, just leave it as a function of time."  This is because he didn't tell us what time to use (but the problem in the homework did).  So I left it as a function of time.  Like he said.  And we all missed 5 points because we left it as a function of time... like he said to do.  When I evaluate it using the numbers he used for his bounds of integration I get the same answer... but since he told us not to evaluate it I did not.  And missed 5 points.  When I brought it up to him in class he remembered that he had asked us to do that... so he's giving us 3 points back.  Still...confused.... oh well.


On the way back from class I got gas and stopped at Family Video.  There was a Star Wars game that recently came out for XBox Kinect, so I thought I'd give it a try.  When I got back I basically spent the rest of the day alternating between eating, studying, and playing a game.  My goal is to get through 30 problems each day.  And I did, so I was pleased.


So yeah.  That was my day.  And a bit of a math lesson.  So now I'm going to bed.  Night!

Day 328

Today was pretty good.  Mhmm!


I woke up, made eggs for breakfast, showered, then did some probability problems until Jessie and Richard came for church.


Church was good.  At the beginning they had the new members come up front and be introduced to the congregation.  The service itself was about how we need to give God our full attention and stop pretending like God is going to work on our schedule and agenda.  It was good.


After church we stopped by Taco Bell for lunch, then went down to Noblesville to visit the mall.  First we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond so that Jessie could get a wedding present for one of her friends.  And I bought a water bottle.  Specifically, it's a shaker.  It's basically like a normal water bottle except that it has a little wire thing in it that makes mixing powdered things much easier.  I'll use for mixing protein powder in with my water after a workout.  Then we did other shopping.  Richard was looking for running shoes, Jessie was looking for... well I don't know if there was anything in particular or just something she liked.  And I was looking for a shirt.  So we went to a few stores.  Jessie and I both got shirts from Banana Republic.  Here is a picture of the one that I got.

It was only $30, so I felt like it was a pretty good deal.  Especially since it's a fitted shirt.  I was pleased.  We also stopped by Paradise Bakery to get cookies on the way back.  They were quite tasty.


When I got back I alternated between probability and video games for most of the rest of the day.  I never got very hungry for dinner.  But I ate some cake.  And pie.  So that was pretty healthy.


Well, I'm going to bed now.  I'd like to get a decent amount of sleep, so I guess this would be a good time to go to bed.  So.  Good night!

Day 327

Well today was a bit of an interesting day.  I was feeling a little better when I woke up, but my stomach was still pretty upset.  I really have no idea what it was, but it's been a pretty fun time (it hasn't been at all).


So I woke up and got some fluids inside of me.  I was incredibly thirsty when I woke up.  And very hungry.  So after getting some water I had breakfast.  Oatmeal and an egg.  It was satisfying.  I took a shower after breakfast, then I went grocery shopping.


I didn't have a lot to get today.  When I finished I got Arby's for lunch... it just sounded really good.  And it was.  When I got back I put groceries away and ate.  I ended up not really being productive today.  The whole stomach thing just made me want to sit in front of my computer... so that's mainly what I did. Along with some dishes.  I forgot to do laundry... whoops.


Timbo and I went to a "Bangladesh Night" put on by some of the students and professors from Bangladesh.  It was pretty fun.  Some people talked about coming to Ball State from Bangladesh, they sang some songs, did a dance, had a skit.  It was quite good, actually.  Then we had dinner.  A few different curry-based dishes, rice, some sort of flat bread... not so different from the food we had for Africa night.  My stomach couldn't handle too much in its current condition though, sadly.  We sat with some ladies who (I believe) teach in the math department?  I recognized one of them.  We also sat with Adrian, who was in our stats class in the fall.  I don't really see him that often so it was good to catch up.


When I got back I did some more dishes... more internet browsing... The trial for the budget software I've been using ran out, so I purchased a copy and did some money stuff.  If anyone is looking for good budget software, I'm going to put a plug in for YouNeedABudget.  Good software and good advice.


Yeah.  So that's about my day.  I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to bed now.  Night!

Day 326

So as I sat down to write this last night, my stomach decided to be super unhappy and all I wanted to do was lay down.  And that I did.


Yesterday was pretty good.  Foley canceled class, so I got up around 9:30 and made some breakfast.  After moseying around for a while, I got to some studying.  That was the majority of my afternoon: just studying, getting some snacks, studying some more.  I don't really feel like I'm making that much progress, which is frustrating.  But we'll see.  I'm getting better at not looking at the solution the instant I get stuck, but I'm still not great at it.  I just need to keep working problems and hope they start sticking.  I have most of the formulae and such memorized, I just need practice working and re-working problems.  I take the exam in 4 weeks... so... this will be interesting.


Timbo and Dustin came over for dinner.  We had left-over lasagna from the other night.  Then we went to Family Video to get a movie.  After the movie was over we played Kinect sports for a bit.


So yeah.  That was it.  Not too much else to report for now, so hopefully I'm feeling up to actually writing tonight and don't have to wait til tomorrow morning!

Day 325

So yesterday was a pretty eventful day.


It started off pretty regularly... I got up, showered, had breakfast, and then went to work.  I spent most of the time just studying for probability.  At this point I've begun working through the practice exams that are included with the manual.  They give a good mix of questions and are supposed to be very similar to the questions on the actual exam.


During life con we talked about some of the problems that arise from making some of the assumptions that we have made.  There is a very large problem in this field of data being collected solely at the end of the year, but needing to interpolate for events that occur in the middle of the year.  For example, a person's monthly insurance premium is partially based upon the probability that they survive to a certain time period.  Since people pay monthly (usually) this probability has to be figured out for each individual month.  However, mortality data is only collected at the end of the year.  So there are two main different ways that we estimate these probabilities in between integer ages... but they are only approximations.  So we talked about how they two ways we generally use are applied to this new material and some of the problems that we will encounter.


After class I went back to the computer lab, did some more studying, got lunch, then did more studying.  By the end of it my brain was pretty well done for a while.


When I got back to my apartment I got a snack and did some cleaning.  Friends were coming over later, so I wanted to make sure that my apartment was at least somewhat presentable.  Yesterday was Erica's birthday and Tuesday is Jacob's, so we had a joined party yesterday.  So I made lasagna.  I had to go to the store because I ran out of sauce.. but it turned out just fine.  So yeah, I made that and some rolls (even though they were technically biscuits).  


Kathryn came over a little early to do some laundry, then every one else came a little after 6:30.  So we ate.  Everyone said it was good, and I tended to agree with them.  Paul was completely shocked that I could make lasagna.  I explained that I cook nearly all of my food, that it's cheaper and I really enjoy cooking.  Tim and Erin brought their newborn son over.  He was remarkably quiet.  He cried a little bit, but not much and he wasn't loud at all.  We could carry on a conversation at normal volume while he was crying.  It was weird, but awesome for them.  I'm not quite sure how it started, but we started discussing people's idiosyncrasies. And by "discussing" I really mean that Jordan and I explained all the little things we notice about people and everyone sat in awe that we pick up on these things.  Like the fact that Dustin yawns loudly and frequently... but he was not aware of this.  Or that his yawns are all similarly timed and end with a little gurgle at the end.  Again, he was not aware of this.  But he is now!  I also explained to Tim that I can tell how awake he is by how he drinks his coffee.  He had the most astounded look on his face as he asked me to explain.  So I said that first thing in the morning, each sip is very slurp-y and is followed by a very deep exhale.  But as the coffee begins to set in his sips become more of actual drinks and less exhaling.  I also shared that I can only hold my pen in very specific ways.  For example, the writing on my pen can't be touching my skin. And I can't have the pen cap on when I write because of how irritating it is to me when it touches my hand.


Anyhow.  After everyone sufficiently realized that I'm kind of messed up we had dessert.  Jordan brought a cake from Concannon's. It was really good.  Tim and Dustin don't really like cake, so I gave them some of the apple pie that I made the other day.


Yeah.  So we just hung out for a while, talking and such.  It was fun.  The end!

Day 324

Today was... something.  That's for certain.


I was going to wake up at 6 to do some studying.  And I did, in fact, wake up at 6.  Then I hit snooze about 7 times and woke up at 6:35 like usual.  Bleh.


Anyhow, I went about my normal morning routine.  My eggs were a little running this morning.  I think I liked that.  They had a little more flavor to them, so I'll probably try that again.


We didn't have a lecture during investments.  Just the quiz.  I finished it pretty quickly, so I just went over to the Atrium and studied for the probability quiz.  Yeah, we mainly just studied.  Tim told us that he accidentally called his newborn son "Joel."  I said that I was happy to hear that he was finally getting the name right.


Then it was time for probability.  We went over a few questions, then took the quiz.  Starting this week the quizzes are 14 questions (instead of 10) and we have 70 minutes (instead of 50).  For those who have played wind instruments: you know what it feels like to blow your lip out?  Well, when I work too long without a break, that's how my brain feels.  And about halfway through the quiz... that's what happened.  I was struggling to do even simple integrals.  It was really bad.  So... that should be fun to get back.


After class I was pretty frustrated.  I've been studying for a quite some time, but I just couldn't get my brain together.  That and I believe I'm starting to get my "end of semester melancholy." So I need to start going to bed earlier.


When I got home I made some lunch and just vegged out for a while.  I really needed it.  My brain needed time to recuperate.  After a couple of hours I went to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for the lasagnas I'm making tomorrow.  When I got back I started some baking!


I embarked on a new adventure today.  I made an apple pie... from scratch!  I even made the dough from scratch.  It was quite the adventure.  I will not be adding the recipe to my recipe blog because I have no idea how I would describe the method I used to make the dough.  It was just... over zealous.  Just preparing the pie (without baking) took about an hour.  It was insane.  But it turned out pretty well and even tasted ok!

After making pie I had dinner.  I was feeling super lazy, so I made hot dogs and beans.  I did some studying over dinner.


When I'd finished eating I studied for a little bit longer, but my brain was getting pretty worn out.  So I did lots and lots of dishes.  Then some more dishes.  I still don't like doing so many dishes.  But I am quite excited to be able to use the entire refrigerator instead of just my one shelf and drawer.  It's going to  be awesome!  Anyhow, Kathryn came over and we watched Modern Family.  We tested my pie and it is, in fact, edible.  The crust is a little hard, but it was good.  I didn't use as much butter as I was supposed to (confusing directions), but I was pleased... all things considered.


Ok.  I'm going to bed now.  Have a good night, everyone.

Day 323

More exciting things today!


I felt much better this morning than I did last night.  I guess I was just really tired.  So I went to the computer lab and worked on investments for a bit and started on some probability.  Then it was off to class.


During class we discussed various ways of defining the instantaneous rate of change (called the hazard rate in other fields of study), which is slightly different depending on the model we use.  So we looked to see if there is a way to define it that is similar across all models.  As it turns out, there is!


After class I went back to the computer lab to look at homework with Dustin and Timbo.  Then I had some lunch.  I talked with Saha about the Bangledesh night on Saturday, paid him for my ticket, then just talked about classes and things for a bit.  When I'd finished eating I went back to the computer lab to work.


So I worked on some probability.  It was awesome.  Brad and Chris (two Math grad students) were up there, so we talked for a bit.  Brad is pretty quiet, but Chris is a little more talkative.  He (Chris) actually lives across the parking lot from me in Windermere.


Then I came home and studied some more.  Around 4 I just couldn't study anymore, so I stopped.  I decided to just take a break for a while.  I did some cleaning and stuff like that.  Then I went over to Jessie's apartment for dinner.  Mom and Amber came up today, so we all had dinner together.  Mom made chicken and vegetables.  They were good.  We decided to sometime try cooking vegetables in the oven... but with bacon strips on top.  That would be amazing. I'll have to give it a try sometime.  Then after dinner we introduced Amber and mom (and Lily) to Berry Winkle.  I believe that they enjoyed it quite a bit.


After that I came home.  Did some stuff around here.  Studied for a bit.  Ate.  Yeah.  Now I'm going to go to bed.  Good night!

Day 322

Today was a very full day.


This morning I tried to convince myself that I'm not addicted to coffee and that I really didn't need to make any.  This was a huge mistake.  I couldn't concentrate for anything during investments and have no idea what we talked about.  All I know is that we have a quiz on Wednesday.


During Atrium time Tim was telling us about how much red-tape he has to go through to get his internship rolling with the Indiana Bureau of Insurance.  Everything requires many signatures by different people, hundreds of pages worth of legal documents, and nonsense like that.  It would not be fun to create all of that.


During life con we discussed a homework assignment we're going to be getting soon that should finish up our discussion on Markov chains.  We also talked about some differences between how we learn about mortality models in class and how insurance companies actually model mortality (theory versus data-mining).  Our homework assignment was really vague, so hopefully he talks about it some more tomorrow.


When I got back I woke Kimmy up... then I woke her up again and we got lunch.  After lunch I figured out what I wanted to eat for the week and went grocery shopping.  Actually first we went to JCPenney so Kimmy could get an application, but the lady at customer service told her to just apply online.  So then we went grocery shopping.  When we got back we had to do some wedding stuff.


Eventually I was able to get some studying done.  I had planned on starting earlier, but things kept coming up... so I was pretty frustrated by that point.  Which certainly didn't help me concentrate on studying.  I went through some of the old quizzes from the chapters we're getting quizzed over on Wednesday.  The first two went fine.  The third one... did not go quite so well.  So I'll be re-reading the section tomorrow and focusing primarily on that.


We made hot dogs for dinner.  I was going to make beans, but a couple of weeks ago I threw out my can opened because it was completely useless.  And I forgot to get a new one because I so rarely need a can opener.  So I made some rice instead.  But I was a bit impatient and didn't let it finish cooking before I ate it.


After dinner I did a little more studying while Kimmy did... something.  I'm not entirely sure what.  When she decided it was time for her to go I helped her get her stuff together and out to her car.  Hopefully we'll have time to see each other again before the summer.


I was getting pretty irritated at school and such at this point, so I tried doing some more work but nothing was sticking.  So I decided to hard boil some eggs for my salad this week.  I learned that electric stoves can, in fact, produce fire.  Apparently something dripped under the burner... and it caught fire.  Like, flames coming up the side of the pot.  So that was exciting.  I didn't feel like it would be the best use of my resources to take a picture of the fire though, so I didn't.  Anyhow, I guess with all the commotion I messed something up because when I went to crack the eggs at the end of hard boiling them they hadn't finished cooking.  Yay.  So looks like there's no egg for my salad tomorrow.  Thankfully I have a little taco meat left, so I guess I'll make a taco salad or something.


Meh.  I'm tired.  Hopefully tomorrow goes better.  Time for bed.  Night.

Day 321

Hi!  Today was Easter.  And it was a good day.


I woke up around 7:30, joined all the other people who were awake and got some breakfast.  Mom made some cornbread muffins and they were quite tasty. Then I showered and got ready for church.  The service was at Central Middle school this morning, since they anticipated many many people.


The service was good.  Pastor Ben talked about Jesus, so that was neat.  Mainly just discussing the ramifications of Jesus having resurrected and what that means for us as people.  After the message there were some baptisms.  I like watching those.  As we were leaving we saw the Church family.  And Becky.  So we greeted all of the appropriate people, then went back home.  Upon arrival Kimmy took a nap and I got coffee.  As people trickled home (we had to take about 4 cars, I think) we started to get ready for lunch at the grandparent's.  Jesse, Kathryn, and I also took turns reading a story to Lily.  Picture = acquired.

Kathryn reading to Lily

After we got ready we went to the grandparents for lunch.  Dad and I also got mama and poppy's new computer all situated.  So hopefully it is working for them!  Then Lily went searching for Easter eggs.  I couldn't get a good picture because she doesn't like to hold still, but it was cute.  Like... all of the cute.  Then it was time for food!

Lunch was fantastic.  We had ham, lamb, potatoes, peas and sauce, deviled eggs, green glop, rolls, green beans... I feel like I'm forgetting something.  But it was all amazing.  Then when it was over we had lemon meringue pie and red velvet cake.  They were both amazing and incredibly rich.  I ate way too much.  Like... I had to take a break afterwards.  But it was totally worth it.  My stomach was not amused, but it all tasted so very good.

After we cleaned up for a bit it was time to go.  Which was sad.  I didn't want to go.  But I suppose that's how life works.  The trip back to Muncie was pretty uneventful.  As usual.  I guess that's a good thing, but it's quite boring.  We dropped Kathryn off at her apartment, then Kimmy and I arrived back at mine.  After we unpacked and put stuff away we worked on homework for a couple of hours.  Then we took a food break.  Some more homework.  And now it's bed time.

So good night everyone!