My goodness. What a day.
I got up around 6:15 to finish packing, make breakfast, and get all of my materials together before I left. The plan was to go to Investments, take the quiz, leave to go up to Fort Wayne, then study for a couple hours before my exam. And that's almost exactly what happened, so that was nice.
The exam was on IPFW campus (or whatever that place is called). I realized after I arrived that the email had not specified what building I was in, and only vaguely mentioned where to park. So I found a parking garage, parked on the third floor (in hopes that I no one would notice), and looked for some building that would direct me to the proper location. Thankfully the library was nearby, and one of the friendly staff was able to direct me to the testing center. So I found the testing room, made sure that I had everything in order, and then went to go study for a couple hours. As it turns out, there was a Subway in the basement of that building. I had planned on finding a Subway for lunch, so this made everything way easier.
After lunch I read through some notes, worked through some problems, and just kind of freaked out for a little bit. Eventually I just decided to get it over with and see how bad the damage was. After some rigorous insurance that I wasn't going to cheat (reading two different legal statements about how I promise not to cheat, the ramifications of me cheating, emptying my pockets, leaving my watch and everything else outside the room except for my calculators) I entered the room and began. Due to the agreements I signed I can't actually talk about any of the problems on the exam. But I can say that it was a just lovely time.
But everything went better than expected. After the exam was over, I filled out a questionnaire about my testing experience and preparation. I gave them a nice explanations of how things could have been improved (like being told how to get to the testing building) and a question that I thought was ambiguous. And then when I hit "finish" I saw my results page. And I passed!! I won't get an official score for about 8 weeks, but I know that I passed and I am ever so relieved. I'm very grateful for all the encouragement from everyone for the past couple months of my studying. It's been fantastic.
After the exam, I collected myself, learned how to breathe again, and then waited for Rachel to get off of work. When she was done I met her at her apartment, where we caught up on the past few months of life. Then when Trevor got home we went to Qdoba for dinner. It was good to see them, as I haven't seen either of them since their wedding. We talked about... everything. Weddings, work, college, Indiana... it was lovely. Eventually I had to go, which was nonsense. But it was getting late and snowy and I had to drive to Findlay. So off I went.
When I got home I saw that Mom had made me a congratulatory banner. Thanks mom :) So I caught everyone up to speed on how it went and everything. Then Kimmy got there a little after I did. And now... I'm tired. It was a long day. Time for bed. Night!
Showing posts with label FM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FM. Show all posts
2.11.2012
12.13.2011
Day 204
Bleeehhhhhh.
That about sums up my day.
Last night I tried to go to bed early. Like 9:45. Then I proceeded to lie in bed for about an hour and a half. After realizing that I was too nervous about the final, I got up and studied for an hour or so. Around 12:30 I went back to bed and fell asleep. I woke up a couple times through the night but managed to get a few hours of sleep before waking up at 5:45.
I noticed that I had two emails from students with questions and one Facebook message. But I told them all that they had to ask me before 8pm, so I didn't respond.
I got to the finance final around 7:10 and just tried to read a little bit more of everything. There has just been so much information covered. But I took it. I think I did reasonably well. There were a couple problems that I definitely didn't know how to work. I believe that I knew how to do the rest of them though. Hopefully I did well over all. I finished with about half an hour left. There just seems to come a point where my brain is done, and no matter how much I look over the exam I won't be able to process any more information. So hopefully I did everything correctly the first time!
Then I proceeded to go to my class room and wait for my students to filter in. About 15 minutes til the start time people started to fill the room. A few had last minute questions. Then it began! I started to work through the exam (again) as they took it. I had previous worked through the exam three times to ensure that there was an answer to every question. The second question had me stumped. I couldn't figure out how I had gotten any of the multiple choice answers, and then I was frustrated that I hadn't caught this earlier. So I paused the class, told them that I had made a mistake on the question and put up 4 new answers. Then one of my students came up to me and pointed out that I had a correct answer and explained how had found it. I realized that it was just a poorly worded question, so I wrote out on the board a more accurate description of what the question was asking. As I briefly looked through the exams it seemed like a number of students did quite well. But I'm not actually going to grade them until Saturday. I have plenty of other things to do before then. One of my students showed up an hour late (he had the wrong time written down). Another didn't show up, but he emailed me to explain what happened we're going to get that figured out.
When I got home I got some lunch and just chilled for a while. My brain needed to recuperate from the morning. I called mom but she was shopping with Poppy so she couldn't talk long. I told her that I might not be coming home until Sunday because grading might take me a while. But we'll see.
Around 2:30 Timbo and Dustin came over and we studied life con. We studied until about 6, then went to Dustin's apartment to take a break. I came back here around 7:30 and studied for another 2 hours or so. Now I'm going to go to bed, wake up early and run through a few more things before my final in the morning. Woo hoo. Good night!
That about sums up my day.
Last night I tried to go to bed early. Like 9:45. Then I proceeded to lie in bed for about an hour and a half. After realizing that I was too nervous about the final, I got up and studied for an hour or so. Around 12:30 I went back to bed and fell asleep. I woke up a couple times through the night but managed to get a few hours of sleep before waking up at 5:45.
I noticed that I had two emails from students with questions and one Facebook message. But I told them all that they had to ask me before 8pm, so I didn't respond.
I got to the finance final around 7:10 and just tried to read a little bit more of everything. There has just been so much information covered. But I took it. I think I did reasonably well. There were a couple problems that I definitely didn't know how to work. I believe that I knew how to do the rest of them though. Hopefully I did well over all. I finished with about half an hour left. There just seems to come a point where my brain is done, and no matter how much I look over the exam I won't be able to process any more information. So hopefully I did everything correctly the first time!
Then I proceeded to go to my class room and wait for my students to filter in. About 15 minutes til the start time people started to fill the room. A few had last minute questions. Then it began! I started to work through the exam (again) as they took it. I had previous worked through the exam three times to ensure that there was an answer to every question. The second question had me stumped. I couldn't figure out how I had gotten any of the multiple choice answers, and then I was frustrated that I hadn't caught this earlier. So I paused the class, told them that I had made a mistake on the question and put up 4 new answers. Then one of my students came up to me and pointed out that I had a correct answer and explained how had found it. I realized that it was just a poorly worded question, so I wrote out on the board a more accurate description of what the question was asking. As I briefly looked through the exams it seemed like a number of students did quite well. But I'm not actually going to grade them until Saturday. I have plenty of other things to do before then. One of my students showed up an hour late (he had the wrong time written down). Another didn't show up, but he emailed me to explain what happened we're going to get that figured out.
When I got home I got some lunch and just chilled for a while. My brain needed to recuperate from the morning. I called mom but she was shopping with Poppy so she couldn't talk long. I told her that I might not be coming home until Sunday because grading might take me a while. But we'll see.
Around 2:30 Timbo and Dustin came over and we studied life con. We studied until about 6, then went to Dustin's apartment to take a break. I came back here around 7:30 and studied for another 2 hours or so. Now I'm going to go to bed, wake up early and run through a few more things before my final in the morning. Woo hoo. Good night!
12.12.2011
Day 203
Bleehhh.........
I had finance this morning. We went over a couple new things that may or may not (but probability will be) on the final tomorrow. Yay. Then in between classes I went to the atrium with Dustin and Timbo and we started looking at some stats.
During life con we ran over a few concepts, then worked through a practice MLC problem. My brain has just been so fried recently that I couldn't focus on it. I knew how to do it, but my brain just was so focused on stats that I couldn't get the answer very quickly.
After life con I went to go print off the exams for my class. But the computer lab upstairs was occupied by a class. So I went downstairs. And it was reserved for testing. So I went up to my office to eat lunch and study. So Dustin, Timbo, and I studied stats for a while. There was really just one really confusing concept that we were trying to get. Eventually we went to Dr. Begum's office to ask her. When we got there Jordan and Erica were waiting to talk with Dr. Begum. And there was another student in there asking a question. I knew we would be there for a while....I'm going to move on now. It was frustrating. Erica and Jordan had some of the same questions that I did, so she was able to answer those questions for all of us at the same time. But Dustin and I needed some more explanation on one of the concepts. She was very sympathetic and said that it really is a very difficult concept. Basically this stuff is where doctoral statistics students begin. So it's very complicated... but we still had to know it. Fantastic.
So Dustin and Timbo and I went back to my office to study a little more. Then we went to the library to go print some stuff off, since it was an open note exam. Then we got to class, talked with Adrian a little (who was equally terrified), and sat down to begin. I tried to convince Dr. Begum to just make out grade based on attendance. But she didn't go for it.
That test was a beast. Like... If the Kraken and Medusa birthed a child, it would have been this exam. Even though it was open note/open book... it was still devastating. In the past 3 days I studied for about 12 hours (not including time I spent doing homework last week) and I was still clueless. Naturally the exam was not like the homework we had. Or like anything we'd done in class. I must have gone up about 5 times to ask questions. One of the guys probably went up... close to 30 times. No joke. I don't think 5 minutes went by without him asking a question. I was able to put an answer down for everything but I know they weren't all correct or complete. It was incredibly frustrating. I think if she is incredibly gracious I may get a 70. So much for my A in that class. Perfect.
So then I got to come home and study for finance after studying stats all day, bombing a stats exam, and just being miserable. And tired. Ugh. So Dustin and Timbo and I studied stats for a couple hours. But honest I was just too tired. So I'm going to bed now so I can get up early and study some more. So. Good night. Hopefully my final tomorrow goes better than my exam today....
I had finance this morning. We went over a couple new things that may or may not (but probability will be) on the final tomorrow. Yay. Then in between classes I went to the atrium with Dustin and Timbo and we started looking at some stats.
During life con we ran over a few concepts, then worked through a practice MLC problem. My brain has just been so fried recently that I couldn't focus on it. I knew how to do it, but my brain just was so focused on stats that I couldn't get the answer very quickly.
After life con I went to go print off the exams for my class. But the computer lab upstairs was occupied by a class. So I went downstairs. And it was reserved for testing. So I went up to my office to eat lunch and study. So Dustin, Timbo, and I studied stats for a while. There was really just one really confusing concept that we were trying to get. Eventually we went to Dr. Begum's office to ask her. When we got there Jordan and Erica were waiting to talk with Dr. Begum. And there was another student in there asking a question. I knew we would be there for a while....I'm going to move on now. It was frustrating. Erica and Jordan had some of the same questions that I did, so she was able to answer those questions for all of us at the same time. But Dustin and I needed some more explanation on one of the concepts. She was very sympathetic and said that it really is a very difficult concept. Basically this stuff is where doctoral statistics students begin. So it's very complicated... but we still had to know it. Fantastic.
So Dustin and Timbo and I went back to my office to study a little more. Then we went to the library to go print some stuff off, since it was an open note exam. Then we got to class, talked with Adrian a little (who was equally terrified), and sat down to begin. I tried to convince Dr. Begum to just make out grade based on attendance. But she didn't go for it.
That test was a beast. Like... If the Kraken and Medusa birthed a child, it would have been this exam. Even though it was open note/open book... it was still devastating. In the past 3 days I studied for about 12 hours (not including time I spent doing homework last week) and I was still clueless. Naturally the exam was not like the homework we had. Or like anything we'd done in class. I must have gone up about 5 times to ask questions. One of the guys probably went up... close to 30 times. No joke. I don't think 5 minutes went by without him asking a question. I was able to put an answer down for everything but I know they weren't all correct or complete. It was incredibly frustrating. I think if she is incredibly gracious I may get a 70. So much for my A in that class. Perfect.
So then I got to come home and study for finance after studying stats all day, bombing a stats exam, and just being miserable. And tired. Ugh. So Dustin and Timbo and I studied stats for a couple hours. But honest I was just too tired. So I'm going to bed now so I can get up early and study some more. So. Good night. Hopefully my final tomorrow goes better than my exam today....
12.09.2011
Day 200!
Woo hoo! I made it to day number 200, and I certainly have celebrated it with a bang.
The awesomeness began in finance today. We got our tests back and I got a 97 on it. Woo! I missed points on the problem I knew I'd made a mistake on. I also missed one point on another question where I had to describe the "Redington immunization." But I was happy with my grade.
After finance I went to the GA meeting. We talked about some good stuff. Dr. Fischer gave us all some general advice that would be helpful. The biggest thing I need to work on for next semester is writing on the board. Since most of the students will only write what I write, I need to write more things and annotate them. I also need to box the important equations and concepts, number things that happen in order, and write more linearly. So maybe when I write a thought, use bullets or something to specify the beginning of a new idea.
During life con we worked through a couple of the problems from exam 3 that people had found to be difficult. Then we looked at some of the fundamental concepts from the first chapter and tried to really grasp the theory instead of simply acknowledging it. Everything I learn to be an actuary is contingent on the idea of conditional probability: knowing how likely something is to happen given that you know information about that event. For instance, what is the probability that someone lives to age 60 given that they live to age 40? How long will a car last given that it has 173,000 miles on it?
After class I came home, woke Kimmy up, got lunch, and started studying. I kept working through the old finance exams. I feel confident about the stuff from the first exam, so I worked through stuff from the second exam. I began to read through the chapters from the second exam and finally began to understand a concept that had previously escaped me. I always feel silly when that happens because it instantly becomes so obvious that I wonder why it had ever concerned me. Then I did some work on the final for the class I'm teaching. I'm really trying to do very basic, straight forward questions so that they don't get caught up on tiny details. I know that it won't work out that way, but I'm trying. For some of the extended response I may also ask questions along the way to help them get started, like having parts a-d of a question that all lead up to part e.
When I was done Kimmy and I had victory dinner. It was amazing. We were going to get Chinese, but when we got there the Little Caesar's next door smelled so good... that we got both. And then ice cream on the way back. It was absolutely fantastic. Oh my word. I have absolutely 0 regrets.
Then we watched Green Lantern. It was fairly decent. But I'm pretty tired now, so I'm going to go to bed. Good night!
The awesomeness began in finance today. We got our tests back and I got a 97 on it. Woo! I missed points on the problem I knew I'd made a mistake on. I also missed one point on another question where I had to describe the "Redington immunization." But I was happy with my grade.
After finance I went to the GA meeting. We talked about some good stuff. Dr. Fischer gave us all some general advice that would be helpful. The biggest thing I need to work on for next semester is writing on the board. Since most of the students will only write what I write, I need to write more things and annotate them. I also need to box the important equations and concepts, number things that happen in order, and write more linearly. So maybe when I write a thought, use bullets or something to specify the beginning of a new idea.
During life con we worked through a couple of the problems from exam 3 that people had found to be difficult. Then we looked at some of the fundamental concepts from the first chapter and tried to really grasp the theory instead of simply acknowledging it. Everything I learn to be an actuary is contingent on the idea of conditional probability: knowing how likely something is to happen given that you know information about that event. For instance, what is the probability that someone lives to age 60 given that they live to age 40? How long will a car last given that it has 173,000 miles on it?
After class I came home, woke Kimmy up, got lunch, and started studying. I kept working through the old finance exams. I feel confident about the stuff from the first exam, so I worked through stuff from the second exam. I began to read through the chapters from the second exam and finally began to understand a concept that had previously escaped me. I always feel silly when that happens because it instantly becomes so obvious that I wonder why it had ever concerned me. Then I did some work on the final for the class I'm teaching. I'm really trying to do very basic, straight forward questions so that they don't get caught up on tiny details. I know that it won't work out that way, but I'm trying. For some of the extended response I may also ask questions along the way to help them get started, like having parts a-d of a question that all lead up to part e.
When I was done Kimmy and I had victory dinner. It was amazing. We were going to get Chinese, but when we got there the Little Caesar's next door smelled so good... that we got both. And then ice cream on the way back. It was absolutely fantastic. Oh my word. I have absolutely 0 regrets.
Then we watched Green Lantern. It was fairly decent. But I'm pretty tired now, so I'm going to go to bed. Good night!
12.08.2011
Day 199
Alright. So I have completed another day. Tomorrow will be day number 200 since graduating. I should do something exciting.
This morning I woke up, made lunch, and I went off to class. I got out a little late again. It's getting harder and harder to leave on time. When I was in the parking lot I saw a guy I met during move in weekend. I can't remember his name. I know that he is working on his master's in history. I invited myself up (he lives on the third floor) to hang out with his friends and him, but I can't remember any of their names. Oh well. They're all nice. Anyhow, I saw him but always feel embarrassed since I don't know his name (but he knows mine). I also had to scrape some ice off my windshield, but that isn't related to the guy whose name I do not know.
In class Mr. Frye said that he would hand our exams back tomorrow. I'm a little antsy. I think I did really well on it, but I want to know.
I forgot my calculator today. Boo.
In between classes I went to the Atrium with Dustin, Tim, Jacob, and Kathryn. Dustin and I worked on some life contingencies problems. Well, we worked on two of them. They're hard.
During life contingencies we spent the entire class going over one of the questions on the hand out that we were given on Tuesday. It took us a long time to even figure out what the question was asking. There was a lot going on and it was confusing. Mr. Dean told us about how when he took his first actuarial exam, the second question was very difficult. As a background, Mr. Dean was just a thesis away from a doctorate in mathematics. So he's pretty bright. Anyhow, he said that he spent 30 minutes on this problem and still couldn't figure it out. He went on and finished the rest of the exam, then went home and solved the problem. It took him about 2 hours to solve it. Knowing that there must be a faster way, he looked in the reading material and saw that there was, in fact, an equation for solving that type of the problem. The moral of the story: don't get caught up on a problem that looks like it will take a long time to solve. Come back to it at the end. In other news, he said he's going to try to get us our exams back tomorrow. And that they were all pretty good so far.
So then I went to go teach. We spent the first 15 minutes talking about the final. They are all pretty concerned. So we discussed some of their concerns and I have taken them into account. Apparently they are, in fact, intimidated by how small and compact everything is. So I'll fix that. One of the girls also says that my exams are far more difficult than the exams her friends have to take in other sections. Meaning that her friend is not in a section with another GA... because I'm pretty sure all their exams are difficult as well. It's also really difficult to remember that my students: 1- are not math majors, 2- have not had 4 years of developing good study habits, 3- have little motivation to put excess effort into a gen ed class. They want to pass. That is the end of their desire. So I decided to let them have a formula sheet on the final. I gave them a list of things they need to know or know how to do. So if they study those things and put lots of things on the formula sheet, they should do fine. I hope....
After class I had my office hours. I ate lunch, did some grading, sent some emails, and looked at my students' grades. Then I came home, woke Kimmy up, and did some studying. I started off by making a list of some of the equations and theorems I need for my upcoming stats exam. Then I began studying for finance by working through my past quizzes and exams. I got through the first quiz and first exam and needed a break. About this time it was almost time to go to dinner. The Actuarial Club was hosting an end of the year dinner at Johnny Carino's, so Kimmy and I went to that. It was really good. I don't really know anyone in the club, so she and I just sat at the end and kept to ourselves. But the food was good.
After dinner went to go get ice cream and Berry Winkle with Jessie. It was fun. And tasty. We told lots of funny stories and many laughs were had. We also discussed Kimmy's job search and she recommended looking at the clinic that I pass on my way to school each day. She also said that probably they won't be hiring for the fall until this coming summer, which I hadn't really considered. I'm so used to looking really far in advance for employment.
Anyhow, we are back now. And I'm tired to so I'm going to bed. Night!
This morning I woke up, made lunch, and I went off to class. I got out a little late again. It's getting harder and harder to leave on time. When I was in the parking lot I saw a guy I met during move in weekend. I can't remember his name. I know that he is working on his master's in history. I invited myself up (he lives on the third floor) to hang out with his friends and him, but I can't remember any of their names. Oh well. They're all nice. Anyhow, I saw him but always feel embarrassed since I don't know his name (but he knows mine). I also had to scrape some ice off my windshield, but that isn't related to the guy whose name I do not know.
In class Mr. Frye said that he would hand our exams back tomorrow. I'm a little antsy. I think I did really well on it, but I want to know.
I forgot my calculator today. Boo.
In between classes I went to the Atrium with Dustin, Tim, Jacob, and Kathryn. Dustin and I worked on some life contingencies problems. Well, we worked on two of them. They're hard.
During life contingencies we spent the entire class going over one of the questions on the hand out that we were given on Tuesday. It took us a long time to even figure out what the question was asking. There was a lot going on and it was confusing. Mr. Dean told us about how when he took his first actuarial exam, the second question was very difficult. As a background, Mr. Dean was just a thesis away from a doctorate in mathematics. So he's pretty bright. Anyhow, he said that he spent 30 minutes on this problem and still couldn't figure it out. He went on and finished the rest of the exam, then went home and solved the problem. It took him about 2 hours to solve it. Knowing that there must be a faster way, he looked in the reading material and saw that there was, in fact, an equation for solving that type of the problem. The moral of the story: don't get caught up on a problem that looks like it will take a long time to solve. Come back to it at the end. In other news, he said he's going to try to get us our exams back tomorrow. And that they were all pretty good so far.
So then I went to go teach. We spent the first 15 minutes talking about the final. They are all pretty concerned. So we discussed some of their concerns and I have taken them into account. Apparently they are, in fact, intimidated by how small and compact everything is. So I'll fix that. One of the girls also says that my exams are far more difficult than the exams her friends have to take in other sections. Meaning that her friend is not in a section with another GA... because I'm pretty sure all their exams are difficult as well. It's also really difficult to remember that my students: 1- are not math majors, 2- have not had 4 years of developing good study habits, 3- have little motivation to put excess effort into a gen ed class. They want to pass. That is the end of their desire. So I decided to let them have a formula sheet on the final. I gave them a list of things they need to know or know how to do. So if they study those things and put lots of things on the formula sheet, they should do fine. I hope....
After class I had my office hours. I ate lunch, did some grading, sent some emails, and looked at my students' grades. Then I came home, woke Kimmy up, and did some studying. I started off by making a list of some of the equations and theorems I need for my upcoming stats exam. Then I began studying for finance by working through my past quizzes and exams. I got through the first quiz and first exam and needed a break. About this time it was almost time to go to dinner. The Actuarial Club was hosting an end of the year dinner at Johnny Carino's, so Kimmy and I went to that. It was really good. I don't really know anyone in the club, so she and I just sat at the end and kept to ourselves. But the food was good.
After dinner went to go get ice cream and Berry Winkle with Jessie. It was fun. And tasty. We told lots of funny stories and many laughs were had. We also discussed Kimmy's job search and she recommended looking at the clinic that I pass on my way to school each day. She also said that probably they won't be hiring for the fall until this coming summer, which I hadn't really considered. I'm so used to looking really far in advance for employment.
Anyhow, we are back now. And I'm tired to so I'm going to bed. Night!
12.07.2011
Day 197
Somehow these past two days seem to have taken about 2 weeks. It's been remarkable. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing... but it's a thing. Just yesterday I took my finance exam. Incredible. It feels like I did that ages ago. Like empires were created, prospered, and diminished in between now and that exam. Alas, we move on.
This morning I got up a little bit early to finish writing up my life con exam. I emailed an Excel file, but I also wanted to hand in some of the work. That took a bit longer than I had anticipated, so I got breakfast a little late. I took me an extra bit of time to get ready because I had to pack of snacks for class today. But eventually I got everything packed and left for school. Somehow I made it there and to class in 12 minutes. Usually it takes closer to 20. Part of this is due to my catching the shuttle right as it pulled up. Another part was due to my not having to stop at any traffic lights.
Anyhow, I got to class. I asked Mr. Frye if he'd finished grading our exams. He just laughed. I told him that we could cancel class so that he could have an extra hour to grade them... oddly enough he didn't take me up on the offer. After class was over I went to the computer lab to print of some stuff for class. Originally I'd gone to the computer lab on the fourth floor, but the printer was out of ink. So I had to go downstairs. I don't really like using the lab because the computers are on some weird network and the printing doesn't always work. But apparently the stars were aligned and I was holding my tongue properly because everything printed just marvelously.
Life con was really frustrating today. We did a couple practice MLC problems. I had no idea how to do them. That's not true. I had a small idea. We're just learned so many things and it's very difficult to remember all of them. Especially taking three actuarial classes at the same time. There are just so many things. ALL the things. Yeah, so I was pretty frustrated, but I know that I wasn't the only one. Just... bleh.
Anyhow. After that I went to go teach. And that more than made up for life con. Today was absolutely fantastic. I assigned a group project to do and today was presentation day. I brought in cookies and milk as a snack. Apparently Lauren (one of my students) had also brought cookies. So we had lots of cookies! I had assigned a group project (four people per group). Each group had to cover some mathematical topic in four areas: history, current applications, creative representation, and "explain like I'm five." The first group did their project on fair division and for the creative representation one of the guys brought in his guitar and played a song that he had written. It was amazing. I would post the lyrics, but I really don't feel like it would make much sense without being in the class. But it was really good. Another group did their project on Morse Code and one of their guys brought his guitar in and played a song that HE had written. It was equally fantastic. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was just terrific. Another group did their project on student loans and one of the girls in the group made a cake and iced it to look like a loan. The guy who was supposed to explain it to a five year old did a remarkable job. He explained loans like this: imagine that you (as a little kid) have an allowance of $3 a week and want to buy a $30 LEGO set. But you don't want to wait ten weeks to get it. So you make an agreement with the toy store owner that if he gives you the set now, you have to give him your allowance for twelve weeks after you finish building the LEGO set. So his analogy touches on getting something for the promise of future payments, deferring loans until after the completion of school, and interest (paying $3 for 12 weeks instead of 10 weeks). I was really excited to see someone do that.
After class I came back to my apartment, had lunch, and started filling out some information for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. Hopefully that means that I might have a chance with them... but we'll see. I'm not holding my breath. Then I started working on making the final for my class.
Around 4 I left to go back to school. Two of my students were unable to take the exam last Thursday, so they met with me around 5 to take it. While we were waiting for Jon, Savannah was telling me a little bit about the medical issues she's been having (hence her abundant absences and general ill-feeling). I guess that she has some heart condition (similar to but different form a heart murmur) that causes her heart to start racing at random. Like, in the bad way. So she was on a medication that helped control it, but I guess her body was growing immune to it...and her immune system was starting to die off. So she kept getting sick because her medication was incidentally killing off the immune system. She stopped taking the medication (as the doctor prescribed) and has been just having to deal with the heart issues. So for her it's a trade off of racing heart problems or the tiniest illnesses sending her to the hospital. She was very appreciative of my being flexible. I feel like it's part of my job. It's not her fault that she has this issue. I guess her parents aren't going to let her come to school next semester if they can't get this all figured out. On the way back from giving the exams I stopped by the Marathon station to get an energy drink. I knew I'd be working on stats for a while, so I needed a bit of a boost.
When I got back I made hot dogs and beans for dinner. Oh my goodness they were so good. So much goodness. I had forgotten how much I like hot dogs and beans. Such a fantastic dinner. Then Timbo and Dustin came over and we worked on stats for a while. Like...4 hours. Timbo left around 10 but Dustin and I wanted to finish. It was kind of tough, but I actually felt confident about what I was doing. I think this is the first homework where I've actually had a grasp on what I was doing. Even the proofs I was able to get, which was surprising. But yeah. That about sums up my day. And now I'm super tired and I'm going to bed! Good night!
This morning I got up a little bit early to finish writing up my life con exam. I emailed an Excel file, but I also wanted to hand in some of the work. That took a bit longer than I had anticipated, so I got breakfast a little late. I took me an extra bit of time to get ready because I had to pack of snacks for class today. But eventually I got everything packed and left for school. Somehow I made it there and to class in 12 minutes. Usually it takes closer to 20. Part of this is due to my catching the shuttle right as it pulled up. Another part was due to my not having to stop at any traffic lights.
Anyhow, I got to class. I asked Mr. Frye if he'd finished grading our exams. He just laughed. I told him that we could cancel class so that he could have an extra hour to grade them... oddly enough he didn't take me up on the offer. After class was over I went to the computer lab to print of some stuff for class. Originally I'd gone to the computer lab on the fourth floor, but the printer was out of ink. So I had to go downstairs. I don't really like using the lab because the computers are on some weird network and the printing doesn't always work. But apparently the stars were aligned and I was holding my tongue properly because everything printed just marvelously.
Life con was really frustrating today. We did a couple practice MLC problems. I had no idea how to do them. That's not true. I had a small idea. We're just learned so many things and it's very difficult to remember all of them. Especially taking three actuarial classes at the same time. There are just so many things. ALL the things. Yeah, so I was pretty frustrated, but I know that I wasn't the only one. Just... bleh.
Anyhow. After that I went to go teach. And that more than made up for life con. Today was absolutely fantastic. I assigned a group project to do and today was presentation day. I brought in cookies and milk as a snack. Apparently Lauren (one of my students) had also brought cookies. So we had lots of cookies! I had assigned a group project (four people per group). Each group had to cover some mathematical topic in four areas: history, current applications, creative representation, and "explain like I'm five." The first group did their project on fair division and for the creative representation one of the guys brought in his guitar and played a song that he had written. It was amazing. I would post the lyrics, but I really don't feel like it would make much sense without being in the class. But it was really good. Another group did their project on Morse Code and one of their guys brought his guitar in and played a song that HE had written. It was equally fantastic. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was just terrific. Another group did their project on student loans and one of the girls in the group made a cake and iced it to look like a loan. The guy who was supposed to explain it to a five year old did a remarkable job. He explained loans like this: imagine that you (as a little kid) have an allowance of $3 a week and want to buy a $30 LEGO set. But you don't want to wait ten weeks to get it. So you make an agreement with the toy store owner that if he gives you the set now, you have to give him your allowance for twelve weeks after you finish building the LEGO set. So his analogy touches on getting something for the promise of future payments, deferring loans until after the completion of school, and interest (paying $3 for 12 weeks instead of 10 weeks). I was really excited to see someone do that.
After class I came back to my apartment, had lunch, and started filling out some information for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. Hopefully that means that I might have a chance with them... but we'll see. I'm not holding my breath. Then I started working on making the final for my class.
Around 4 I left to go back to school. Two of my students were unable to take the exam last Thursday, so they met with me around 5 to take it. While we were waiting for Jon, Savannah was telling me a little bit about the medical issues she's been having (hence her abundant absences and general ill-feeling). I guess that she has some heart condition (similar to but different form a heart murmur) that causes her heart to start racing at random. Like, in the bad way. So she was on a medication that helped control it, but I guess her body was growing immune to it...and her immune system was starting to die off. So she kept getting sick because her medication was incidentally killing off the immune system. She stopped taking the medication (as the doctor prescribed) and has been just having to deal with the heart issues. So for her it's a trade off of racing heart problems or the tiniest illnesses sending her to the hospital. She was very appreciative of my being flexible. I feel like it's part of my job. It's not her fault that she has this issue. I guess her parents aren't going to let her come to school next semester if they can't get this all figured out. On the way back from giving the exams I stopped by the Marathon station to get an energy drink. I knew I'd be working on stats for a while, so I needed a bit of a boost.
When I got back I made hot dogs and beans for dinner. Oh my goodness they were so good. So much goodness. I had forgotten how much I like hot dogs and beans. Such a fantastic dinner. Then Timbo and Dustin came over and we worked on stats for a while. Like...4 hours. Timbo left around 10 but Dustin and I wanted to finish. It was kind of tough, but I actually felt confident about what I was doing. I think this is the first homework where I've actually had a grasp on what I was doing. Even the proofs I was able to get, which was surprising. But yeah. That about sums up my day. And now I'm super tired and I'm going to bed! Good night!
12.05.2011
Day 196
Every Monday throws me off. They feel like they're so much longer than they actually are. I woke up around 6 so that I could do some studying before my exam this morning. I'm glad that I did because I definitely helped get my brain fresh before taking it. I got to class around 7:30 and just re-read the section on Redington immunization. While I was there some girls came in to write some notice on the board about jobs over break. It seemed strange but I thought nothing of it...
I felt like the exam went really well. I finished in about 15 minutes so I went through it again. I know there is one on which I made a minor mistake (because apparently I decided that 5% of 1000 is 5, not 50) but otherwise I felt very comfortable on everything else. After it was over I went to the Atrium with Tim and Dustin, had some victory coffee, and talked about finance and exams and such. Some of the questions that there were talking about are just annoying. That's really all there is to it. They're just annoying. They have lots of moving parts and they want you to mess up on one of them. Oh well. I'll have about 8 weeks to study for my exam which I think should be good, especially since I just finished a class on it. So I have most of the basics down, now I just need to solidify everything. I should be fine. There are 9 practice exams so I'm going to take one every weekend until exam time. We'll see how it goes!
Life con was pretty good. We did some stuff with differential equations and Taylor polynomials for approximations of change in policy value. It is really interesting to see different classes worked into this field. I've seen derivative, integral, and multivariate calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, statistics, probability, numerical analysis, and later on I even spotted some graph theory. Some of the proofing methods and inequalities I learned in Real Analysis have been used in my stats class. It's pretty intense.
After life con I want to the gym. I hate the gym. But it's good for me. After the gym I came home and ate lunch. Then I proceeded to finish my life contingencies exam. When that was done I took a shower, called mom, and went to stats.
Today we talked about sequences of distributions converging to different distributions. I don't really even know what that means. So this exam should be fun. I need to start studying for that exam. It's open book, but I still want to study to make sure that I have plenty of information readily available.
When I got back from class I was really hungry. So I made some soup, answered emails from my students about the group project tomorrow, and finished working on the exam. I was going to do stats but ended up spending more time than I'd anticipated on the exam. Oh well. I'll do stats tomorrow and Wednesday!
But now it's bed time. Good night!
I felt like the exam went really well. I finished in about 15 minutes so I went through it again. I know there is one on which I made a minor mistake (because apparently I decided that 5% of 1000 is 5, not 50) but otherwise I felt very comfortable on everything else. After it was over I went to the Atrium with Tim and Dustin, had some victory coffee, and talked about finance and exams and such. Some of the questions that there were talking about are just annoying. That's really all there is to it. They're just annoying. They have lots of moving parts and they want you to mess up on one of them. Oh well. I'll have about 8 weeks to study for my exam which I think should be good, especially since I just finished a class on it. So I have most of the basics down, now I just need to solidify everything. I should be fine. There are 9 practice exams so I'm going to take one every weekend until exam time. We'll see how it goes!
Life con was pretty good. We did some stuff with differential equations and Taylor polynomials for approximations of change in policy value. It is really interesting to see different classes worked into this field. I've seen derivative, integral, and multivariate calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, statistics, probability, numerical analysis, and later on I even spotted some graph theory. Some of the proofing methods and inequalities I learned in Real Analysis have been used in my stats class. It's pretty intense.
After life con I want to the gym. I hate the gym. But it's good for me. After the gym I came home and ate lunch. Then I proceeded to finish my life contingencies exam. When that was done I took a shower, called mom, and went to stats.
Today we talked about sequences of distributions converging to different distributions. I don't really even know what that means. So this exam should be fun. I need to start studying for that exam. It's open book, but I still want to study to make sure that I have plenty of information readily available.
When I got back from class I was really hungry. So I made some soup, answered emails from my students about the group project tomorrow, and finished working on the exam. I was going to do stats but ended up spending more time than I'd anticipated on the exam. Oh well. I'll do stats tomorrow and Wednesday!
But now it's bed time. Good night!
12.03.2011
Day 193
Long day. Very long day.
I had finance this morning. Tim stole my greeting! Every morning say "Good morning, Mr. Frye. How are you doing today?" And he usually says something like "Well.... ok." But Tim greeted him before I could! But I still said good morning. I was quite surprised that we got our quiz back since we just took it yesterday. But we did. I did much better than I had suspected. I feel much better about the exam on Monday now.
During life contingencies Tim stole my greeting again. I was quite confused. But I was able to manage and continue on with class. We were able to ask questions before he handed out the exam. I asked him a question on something called the Asset Share, which is basically a way of figuring out the actual value of your current assets (instead of your expected value of the assets). It's a good thing I asked him because he gave a very helpful explanation... and a question about it was on the exam. So I was happy to actually know what to do. So then he gave us the take-home exam, we looked it over for mistakes or clarifications, and then we left. Something that I really like about his class is that he doesn't mind when we correct him. Even the things that really don't matter, like a minor notation that literally doesn't change anything. But he wants us to constantly check his work. He doesn't make mistakes on purpose (at least I'm fairly certain that he doesn't... it's usually pretty obvious when people make purposeful mistakes) but he wants us to really make sure that we check what he does. Part of this is to make sure that we understand the material. The other is because he wants us to practice being very precise and paying attention to tiny details. I also like that he gives us short stories from his time as an actuary. Today he told us a story with the moral of "When things seem to be going way too good, it's your job to figure out what bad thing is about to happen."
After class I went to get a hair cut. Then I went off to the gym to work out. When I got home I showered, got a little lunch, then started working on the exam. I worked on it for a couple hours, then I took a nap. When I woke up I worked on it for a couple more hours, then got dinner. After dinner I finished it up. Probably around 8:30. Then I had no other plans. I tried contacting 3 different people to see if they wanted to do anything tonight, but one of them already had plans and the other two were busy/didn't want to. So yay. I wanted to go home this weekend but I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the work done that I need to do. But I still wanted a break tonight. Around then Clifton came home, so I talked with him for a while. Apparently he thinks that my font size for the exams I give out is too small. I use 10 point font, but only because I want it to fit on 2 pages. Oh well. I think that I've decided to definitely give an in class final exam, but I'm going to change a few things. We're going to have a bit of a talk during our next class about preparing for an exam and what sort of lessons have been learned from the past exams. I'm still probably going to have to curve this exam though. But we'll see.
I just finished playing Team Fortress with Jared for a while. He and I are a really good team on there. Basically unstoppable. So it was fun. But now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I'm going to work on stats and study for finance pretty much all day. Woo hoo. Night.
I had finance this morning. Tim stole my greeting! Every morning say "Good morning, Mr. Frye. How are you doing today?" And he usually says something like "Well.... ok." But Tim greeted him before I could! But I still said good morning. I was quite surprised that we got our quiz back since we just took it yesterday. But we did. I did much better than I had suspected. I feel much better about the exam on Monday now.
During life contingencies Tim stole my greeting again. I was quite confused. But I was able to manage and continue on with class. We were able to ask questions before he handed out the exam. I asked him a question on something called the Asset Share, which is basically a way of figuring out the actual value of your current assets (instead of your expected value of the assets). It's a good thing I asked him because he gave a very helpful explanation... and a question about it was on the exam. So I was happy to actually know what to do. So then he gave us the take-home exam, we looked it over for mistakes or clarifications, and then we left. Something that I really like about his class is that he doesn't mind when we correct him. Even the things that really don't matter, like a minor notation that literally doesn't change anything. But he wants us to constantly check his work. He doesn't make mistakes on purpose (at least I'm fairly certain that he doesn't... it's usually pretty obvious when people make purposeful mistakes) but he wants us to really make sure that we check what he does. Part of this is to make sure that we understand the material. The other is because he wants us to practice being very precise and paying attention to tiny details. I also like that he gives us short stories from his time as an actuary. Today he told us a story with the moral of "When things seem to be going way too good, it's your job to figure out what bad thing is about to happen."
After class I went to get a hair cut. Then I went off to the gym to work out. When I got home I showered, got a little lunch, then started working on the exam. I worked on it for a couple hours, then I took a nap. When I woke up I worked on it for a couple more hours, then got dinner. After dinner I finished it up. Probably around 8:30. Then I had no other plans. I tried contacting 3 different people to see if they wanted to do anything tonight, but one of them already had plans and the other two were busy/didn't want to. So yay. I wanted to go home this weekend but I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the work done that I need to do. But I still wanted a break tonight. Around then Clifton came home, so I talked with him for a while. Apparently he thinks that my font size for the exams I give out is too small. I use 10 point font, but only because I want it to fit on 2 pages. Oh well. I think that I've decided to definitely give an in class final exam, but I'm going to change a few things. We're going to have a bit of a talk during our next class about preparing for an exam and what sort of lessons have been learned from the past exams. I'm still probably going to have to curve this exam though. But we'll see.
I just finished playing Team Fortress with Jared for a while. He and I are a really good team on there. Basically unstoppable. So it was fun. But now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I'm going to work on stats and study for finance pretty much all day. Woo hoo. Night.
12.01.2011
Day 192
Oh boy. What a day. I woke up a little early to make sure that my car had plenty of time to defrost. And it did. Little cars heat up quickly. I had some time before class so I went to go get some coffee. Then we had finance. For the first 20 minutes we learned more about hedging and minimizing risk. Then we had a quiz. I'm grateful that we get to drop the lowest grade. I studied for a few hours yesterday, but unfortunately almost all of the questions in the book involved drawing graphs. Which is great for understanding the concepts, but the questions on the quiz did not involve drawing graphs. I did anyhow because that's how I've learned the material, but it's hard to get precise answers from the graphs. So... we'll see.
In between classes I went up to the computer lab to print off the exams. I made a few last minute changes for the sake of clarity. When I was done I went down to the Atrium where Tim, Dustin, and Jacob were located. And we talked about... something. I really don't even know. I'm sure it was very important though.
During life contingencies we talked a little bit about the exam and then just about finished chapter 7. It's a very long chapter and I really haven't had time to read over the rest of the chapter or work any exercises. Thankfully none of this newer stuff is on the exam, but I really need to master it before the final. Oh finals. That's going to be awesome.
Speaking of exams, I gave one today. Yeah.... I hate exam days. Most of these kids try so hard. I know that some of them slack off (like the ones who don't come to class) but others try really hard to do well. They just have no idea how to study for math. Or they're just bad at math. It hadn't occurred to me until today but I might actually be doing them a disservice by giving them a practice exam. Because to me if I have a practice exam I know the types of questions that will probably be asked of me, but then I work lots of problems like that from the text book. But now that I think about it... I'm sure they aren't doing that. Which seems silly that I would even think that college freshmen were doing more than the study guide, but I genuinely thought that they might be doing additional studying outside of it. So for the final I might just give them a list of things to know. I'm also considering various options for the final. Maybe in-class open book, maybe doing the test in partners... I'll almost certainly be eliminating the "None of the above" option on the multiple choice. I may just give a regular test and explain that I have given them ample opportunities to bring their grade up and the week before finals is not the time to start being concerned. Whatever I end up doing... I'm sure I'll be changing it for the spring.
After that I went to my office for a little bit, ate lunch, and started looking at some of the exams. For the bonus question I had them tell me things that they had learned in the class that were math related and non math related. Some of their answers were very heartfelt. Quite a few talked about how they had never realized (since they're all college freshmen) how much work you had to put into a class to do well. This is an important lesson to learn. When I'd finished eating I went over to the graduate school office to ask about summer assistantships. The lady with whom I talked had little to say about them, except that there are not many. So I went over to the career center and they said that jobs probably will not be posted until around spring break. So... I'm not really in any better of a position than I was. Woo.
Then I came home and started grading. I got the multiple choice portion done by dinner time. Then I took a short break to eat and went back at it. I got about 10 test completely graded... and am almost certain that I'll need to curve the grade. It hasn't been that awesome thus far.
I took a break from grading, talked with Clifton for a while, then did some finance problems. After the homework assignment the chapter exercises don't seem so bad, which is good. And now I'm off to bed. I get my take home exam in life con tomorrow. I'm hoping to get that done tomorrow afternoon... but we'll see! Night!
In between classes I went up to the computer lab to print off the exams. I made a few last minute changes for the sake of clarity. When I was done I went down to the Atrium where Tim, Dustin, and Jacob were located. And we talked about... something. I really don't even know. I'm sure it was very important though.
During life contingencies we talked a little bit about the exam and then just about finished chapter 7. It's a very long chapter and I really haven't had time to read over the rest of the chapter or work any exercises. Thankfully none of this newer stuff is on the exam, but I really need to master it before the final. Oh finals. That's going to be awesome.
Speaking of exams, I gave one today. Yeah.... I hate exam days. Most of these kids try so hard. I know that some of them slack off (like the ones who don't come to class) but others try really hard to do well. They just have no idea how to study for math. Or they're just bad at math. It hadn't occurred to me until today but I might actually be doing them a disservice by giving them a practice exam. Because to me if I have a practice exam I know the types of questions that will probably be asked of me, but then I work lots of problems like that from the text book. But now that I think about it... I'm sure they aren't doing that. Which seems silly that I would even think that college freshmen were doing more than the study guide, but I genuinely thought that they might be doing additional studying outside of it. So for the final I might just give them a list of things to know. I'm also considering various options for the final. Maybe in-class open book, maybe doing the test in partners... I'll almost certainly be eliminating the "None of the above" option on the multiple choice. I may just give a regular test and explain that I have given them ample opportunities to bring their grade up and the week before finals is not the time to start being concerned. Whatever I end up doing... I'm sure I'll be changing it for the spring.
After that I went to my office for a little bit, ate lunch, and started looking at some of the exams. For the bonus question I had them tell me things that they had learned in the class that were math related and non math related. Some of their answers were very heartfelt. Quite a few talked about how they had never realized (since they're all college freshmen) how much work you had to put into a class to do well. This is an important lesson to learn. When I'd finished eating I went over to the graduate school office to ask about summer assistantships. The lady with whom I talked had little to say about them, except that there are not many. So I went over to the career center and they said that jobs probably will not be posted until around spring break. So... I'm not really in any better of a position than I was. Woo.
Then I came home and started grading. I got the multiple choice portion done by dinner time. Then I took a short break to eat and went back at it. I got about 10 test completely graded... and am almost certain that I'll need to curve the grade. It hasn't been that awesome thus far.
I took a break from grading, talked with Clifton for a while, then did some finance problems. After the homework assignment the chapter exercises don't seem so bad, which is good. And now I'm off to bed. I get my take home exam in life con tomorrow. I'm hoping to get that done tomorrow afternoon... but we'll see! Night!
11.29.2011
Day 190
This was quite the day. I left a little bit late today again. This time it was mainly because I didn't know what the weather was going to be like. When I walked outside it was cold and raining, so I had to go back inside to change and dress accordingly. When I got to finance we turned in our homework, then proceeded to go through some examples of more option combinations. I think I get it for the most part. I'm going to work through some exercises tomorrow in preparation for the quiz on Thursday.
In between classes was... an adventure. I went to the computer lab to print some stuff off when Dustin mentioned that he had been looking over the spreadsheet I'd sent to him and noticed that some of my tables were wrong. So I looked at them and sure enough they were. Which is odd because earlier they had been correct. So then I got incredibly flustered and was trying to figure out why stuff had changed and how I was going to look through all my code for tiny little changes... and still get the stuff printed off that I needed to get done. But thankfully Dustin was able to help me figure it out, so we fixed it and I resubmitted it to Mr. Dean. But it definitely was not a happy time. I also found out that the math department does not offer summer assistantships, so I may talk with the graduate school office to see if they have anything to offer, in case I don't get an internship.
During life con we worked through a problem from the MLC practice exam, looked at some new equivalences, and some other stuff. Yup. Then it was off to go teach. Dr. Begum came to observe me today. I wasn't really expecting that, but I knew she'd be coming at some point. I just thought it was going to be earlier. But class went well. We went over the homework, talked about the project and the final, then went through some of the practice exam. I hope that they do well on this... I think most of them get it. But we'll see.
After class I came back, had lunch, and started working on grading and making answers for the practice exam. I did that for a couple hours, then I took a nice long break and cleaned. I sorted through papers I had scattered about, tidied up under my bed, cleaned my sheets, cleaned off all the surfaces in my room, put things away... it looks nice. First time all year. Including move in. When I was done cleaning I got dinner, then began writing the exam. It took me a couple hours to make good questions, but I think it's pretty good. I'll take it tomorrow to make sure it's not too long or difficult.
So by this time it was about 9:30 and I was just worn out from working. So I stopped! And it was good. Now I'm going to bed. Night!
In between classes was... an adventure. I went to the computer lab to print some stuff off when Dustin mentioned that he had been looking over the spreadsheet I'd sent to him and noticed that some of my tables were wrong. So I looked at them and sure enough they were. Which is odd because earlier they had been correct. So then I got incredibly flustered and was trying to figure out why stuff had changed and how I was going to look through all my code for tiny little changes... and still get the stuff printed off that I needed to get done. But thankfully Dustin was able to help me figure it out, so we fixed it and I resubmitted it to Mr. Dean. But it definitely was not a happy time. I also found out that the math department does not offer summer assistantships, so I may talk with the graduate school office to see if they have anything to offer, in case I don't get an internship.
During life con we worked through a problem from the MLC practice exam, looked at some new equivalences, and some other stuff. Yup. Then it was off to go teach. Dr. Begum came to observe me today. I wasn't really expecting that, but I knew she'd be coming at some point. I just thought it was going to be earlier. But class went well. We went over the homework, talked about the project and the final, then went through some of the practice exam. I hope that they do well on this... I think most of them get it. But we'll see.
After class I came back, had lunch, and started working on grading and making answers for the practice exam. I did that for a couple hours, then I took a nice long break and cleaned. I sorted through papers I had scattered about, tidied up under my bed, cleaned my sheets, cleaned off all the surfaces in my room, put things away... it looks nice. First time all year. Including move in. When I was done cleaning I got dinner, then began writing the exam. It took me a couple hours to make good questions, but I think it's pretty good. I'll take it tomorrow to make sure it's not too long or difficult.
So by this time it was about 9:30 and I was just worn out from working. So I stopped! And it was good. Now I'm going to bed. Night!
11.28.2011
Day 189
First day back. And what a day it was.
I got started pretty well on time. I was a few minutes late... but I don't remember why. Oh well.
Finance went decently. We just talked more about combining puts and calls. We have a quiz on Thursday on this stuff. I'm going to start studying for it tomorrow with Dustin.
In between classes we went to the Atrium. A few people looked at my finance homework to try to solve a couple of the harder problems. Only Tim actually asked for a clarification. Even though other people who looked at it seemed confused, they didn't ask. Oh well. Their loss. Then Tim presented us with a question. He wanted to know why pi is an irrational number. His logic was that pi can be represented by circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. Therefore, it can be written as a fraction and must be rational. So I explained that a rational number must be able to be written as a fraction of integers, not just any number. He countered that since the circumference and diameter have definite lengths, then the decimal representation of those lengths must terminate (like the number 2.3124451231231243456768 terminates at 8). Since the string used to make the circle has a definite length, then the numerator and denominator of circumference/diameter division must certainly terminate. I could see where his confusion was. Since in his mind a number with a decimal keeps getting longer, the number itself must be getting bigger. So I asked if he was familiar with Zeno's paradox. I thought that as mathematicians everyone at the table would surely be very familiar with this. That was not the case. Everyone looked at me and just started laughing, sort of a "why would I have any idea what that is?" type of laugh. Not to be discouraged, I explained that it's the idea that if you run half the distance to the finish of a race, then half the remaining distance and so on that you would never actually reach the finish. Once I explained what it was everyone had heard of it. Anyhow, then I explained that fractions like 1/3 can be written as a decimal: .3333333333 which repeats forever. Furthermore, 1/7 can be written as .142857... but both of those are fractions with definite lengths, even though the decimal expansion goes on forever. I think he was convinced by the end. Someone made a comment about this being really deep. I guess I would have considered this to be about moderately deep. Nothing extravagant though. Deep is when you take mathematical ideas and combine them with other ideas and philosophies. So if you continued this idea of an infinitely expanding number that is actually limited and take that into a social context, you get some pretty interesting things. For instance, there is a saying that "it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse." The implication is that things can keep getting worse, or we could say that "badness" can continue growing infinitely. But is there some maximum limit on the amount of attainable evil? Like in Zeno's paradox, can we get arbitrarily close to the proverbial finish line (some ultimate level of evil, in our example) or will it expand without bounds? Anyhow. I didn't want to get into that with all of them... I might have killed their brains.
During life con we discussed our upcoming exam. It's going to be entirely take home (thankfully). Mr. Dean reminded us that we must have integrity when working on the exam and not work in groups. Since it will largely be on Excel he doesn't mind if we help each other use Excel, but not actually help on the problems. Which is fine with me. I'm pretty confident that I can do all of this given enough time to check my work. And I will check my work many many times.
After life con I went to go work out. I lifted biceps and triceps. It was alright. When I got home I had a salad for lunch. I really wish that there was a way of having fresh produce during the off season. The lettuce I buy is turning brown at the store. Bleh. Oh well. After I showered I went to go help Tim with the life con homework. He doesn't have much experience with Excel so I wanted to explain how to use some of the fancier things that I did with mine. It took a while but I think he was getting it by the end. He catches on pretty quickly, but I think he's going to need some more practice before it really sticks. That's ok though. The things that I did were a bit complicated. Definitely not the most extensive things you can do in Excel by any means, but far more than what most people do with just entering data and possible doing some basic calculations or table filtering.
Then we had stats. That's always a treat.
When I got home I had some turkey and potatoes for dinner, then worked on making my life con homework all pretty. When Clifton came home I talked with him for a bit. Then we did a little experimentation in the kitchen. He had just sauteed some onions and mixed it with peanut butter. It was pretty good, so I suggested that we try to candy the onions with peanut butter while still in the pot. And that was really good. Next time I want to make a glaze with peanut butter, a little vegetable oil, maybe some honey, boil it, then let the onions simmer in that for a while. I think that would be really good.
Dustin came over to ask some questions on finance. I told him that he really needs to start coming over to do homework with Timbo and me because the three of us work well together. He agreed. So hopefully he starts doing that, since he said he doesn't get too much out of his current method.
Then it was starting to get late, so I just played a few minutes of Team Fortress with Miles and James. And now I'm getting ready to go to bed!
I got started pretty well on time. I was a few minutes late... but I don't remember why. Oh well.
Finance went decently. We just talked more about combining puts and calls. We have a quiz on Thursday on this stuff. I'm going to start studying for it tomorrow with Dustin.
In between classes we went to the Atrium. A few people looked at my finance homework to try to solve a couple of the harder problems. Only Tim actually asked for a clarification. Even though other people who looked at it seemed confused, they didn't ask. Oh well. Their loss. Then Tim presented us with a question. He wanted to know why pi is an irrational number. His logic was that pi can be represented by circumference of a circle divided by its diameter. Therefore, it can be written as a fraction and must be rational. So I explained that a rational number must be able to be written as a fraction of integers, not just any number. He countered that since the circumference and diameter have definite lengths, then the decimal representation of those lengths must terminate (like the number 2.3124451231231243456768 terminates at 8). Since the string used to make the circle has a definite length, then the numerator and denominator of circumference/diameter division must certainly terminate. I could see where his confusion was. Since in his mind a number with a decimal keeps getting longer, the number itself must be getting bigger. So I asked if he was familiar with Zeno's paradox. I thought that as mathematicians everyone at the table would surely be very familiar with this. That was not the case. Everyone looked at me and just started laughing, sort of a "why would I have any idea what that is?" type of laugh. Not to be discouraged, I explained that it's the idea that if you run half the distance to the finish of a race, then half the remaining distance and so on that you would never actually reach the finish. Once I explained what it was everyone had heard of it. Anyhow, then I explained that fractions like 1/3 can be written as a decimal: .3333333333 which repeats forever. Furthermore, 1/7 can be written as .142857... but both of those are fractions with definite lengths, even though the decimal expansion goes on forever. I think he was convinced by the end. Someone made a comment about this being really deep. I guess I would have considered this to be about moderately deep. Nothing extravagant though. Deep is when you take mathematical ideas and combine them with other ideas and philosophies. So if you continued this idea of an infinitely expanding number that is actually limited and take that into a social context, you get some pretty interesting things. For instance, there is a saying that "it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse." The implication is that things can keep getting worse, or we could say that "badness" can continue growing infinitely. But is there some maximum limit on the amount of attainable evil? Like in Zeno's paradox, can we get arbitrarily close to the proverbial finish line (some ultimate level of evil, in our example) or will it expand without bounds? Anyhow. I didn't want to get into that with all of them... I might have killed their brains.
During life con we discussed our upcoming exam. It's going to be entirely take home (thankfully). Mr. Dean reminded us that we must have integrity when working on the exam and not work in groups. Since it will largely be on Excel he doesn't mind if we help each other use Excel, but not actually help on the problems. Which is fine with me. I'm pretty confident that I can do all of this given enough time to check my work. And I will check my work many many times.
After life con I went to go work out. I lifted biceps and triceps. It was alright. When I got home I had a salad for lunch. I really wish that there was a way of having fresh produce during the off season. The lettuce I buy is turning brown at the store. Bleh. Oh well. After I showered I went to go help Tim with the life con homework. He doesn't have much experience with Excel so I wanted to explain how to use some of the fancier things that I did with mine. It took a while but I think he was getting it by the end. He catches on pretty quickly, but I think he's going to need some more practice before it really sticks. That's ok though. The things that I did were a bit complicated. Definitely not the most extensive things you can do in Excel by any means, but far more than what most people do with just entering data and possible doing some basic calculations or table filtering.
Then we had stats. That's always a treat.
When I got home I had some turkey and potatoes for dinner, then worked on making my life con homework all pretty. When Clifton came home I talked with him for a bit. Then we did a little experimentation in the kitchen. He had just sauteed some onions and mixed it with peanut butter. It was pretty good, so I suggested that we try to candy the onions with peanut butter while still in the pot. And that was really good. Next time I want to make a glaze with peanut butter, a little vegetable oil, maybe some honey, boil it, then let the onions simmer in that for a while. I think that would be really good.
Dustin came over to ask some questions on finance. I told him that he really needs to start coming over to do homework with Timbo and me because the three of us work well together. He agreed. So hopefully he starts doing that, since he said he doesn't get too much out of his current method.
Then it was starting to get late, so I just played a few minutes of Team Fortress with Miles and James. And now I'm getting ready to go to bed!
11.22.2011
Day 185
It's break time! Woo!
Today was a pretty good day. I got up on time and took a really long shower. I ended up leaving a few minutes late, but it's not a huge deal. I try to leave every morning at 7:30, which means that I will get to the parking lot around 7:40 and to the classroom by about 7:48. So I have a solid 10 minutes of leniency, but I prefer not to push it. Today in finance we talked more about combining options. I'm actually kind of excited to read the chapter just so that I can finally really understand everything that's been going on in class.
In between classes I went up to the computer lab to finish my lesson for today. After I'd finished I talked with Timbo and David about the life con assignment. I showed them the Excel sheet I had created and it was clear that neither of them had planned on doing that much work on it. But it's really useful, so I'm ok with it.
During life contingencies we started off with a problem to do. I actually knew how to do it and finished with a minute or so before he called time. Recently he's been taking questions off of the practice MLC exam and giving us about 5 minutes, which is the amount of time you should allot yourself for each question on the exams. So it was comforting that I could do it in less than 5 minutes, even though it was something we haven't done for a really long time. Well, I almost did it. I didn't get any of the answers the first time so I was about to rework it when Mr. Dean walked past and told me that I had something inverted. It was a quick fix that I should have caught earlier, but I'm satisfied that I knew what to do.
Then I taught. Dr. Fischer observed me today. In all honesty I think that today was possible the best lecture I've ever given. I kept the students involved, many of them asked questions or gave productive input, I explained stuff, people were following along... it was really good and I had a lot of fun. Dr. Fischer left before I was done, so I don't know what he thought. Hopefully he emails me soon. I had a hard time sleeping last night because I was so nervous.
After class was over I went back to my apartment, got lunch, and packed. And I also reworked one of the life con homework problems to make it.. better. Yes, we'll just say to make it better. The answer was correct before, but now it's just... better. I finally left around 2:30. Stopped in Celina to get something to drink. It rained most of the trip. I think that I need to listen to different music when I go on long drives. I dance way too much. Especially to the hardcore/dubstep music. It just really makes me want to dance!
Kimmy was already here when I arrived. Dinner was ready shortly after my arrival. Mom made mashed potato bowls and they were tasty. After dinner we cleaned up and sat around and talked for a while. Then I finished my life con homework, did some grading, and now I'm writing my blog! I shall be done now, as my laptop battery is near exhaustion. So.. good night!
Today was a pretty good day. I got up on time and took a really long shower. I ended up leaving a few minutes late, but it's not a huge deal. I try to leave every morning at 7:30, which means that I will get to the parking lot around 7:40 and to the classroom by about 7:48. So I have a solid 10 minutes of leniency, but I prefer not to push it. Today in finance we talked more about combining options. I'm actually kind of excited to read the chapter just so that I can finally really understand everything that's been going on in class.
In between classes I went up to the computer lab to finish my lesson for today. After I'd finished I talked with Timbo and David about the life con assignment. I showed them the Excel sheet I had created and it was clear that neither of them had planned on doing that much work on it. But it's really useful, so I'm ok with it.
During life contingencies we started off with a problem to do. I actually knew how to do it and finished with a minute or so before he called time. Recently he's been taking questions off of the practice MLC exam and giving us about 5 minutes, which is the amount of time you should allot yourself for each question on the exams. So it was comforting that I could do it in less than 5 minutes, even though it was something we haven't done for a really long time. Well, I almost did it. I didn't get any of the answers the first time so I was about to rework it when Mr. Dean walked past and told me that I had something inverted. It was a quick fix that I should have caught earlier, but I'm satisfied that I knew what to do.
Then I taught. Dr. Fischer observed me today. In all honesty I think that today was possible the best lecture I've ever given. I kept the students involved, many of them asked questions or gave productive input, I explained stuff, people were following along... it was really good and I had a lot of fun. Dr. Fischer left before I was done, so I don't know what he thought. Hopefully he emails me soon. I had a hard time sleeping last night because I was so nervous.
After class was over I went back to my apartment, got lunch, and packed. And I also reworked one of the life con homework problems to make it.. better. Yes, we'll just say to make it better. The answer was correct before, but now it's just... better. I finally left around 2:30. Stopped in Celina to get something to drink. It rained most of the trip. I think that I need to listen to different music when I go on long drives. I dance way too much. Especially to the hardcore/dubstep music. It just really makes me want to dance!
Kimmy was already here when I arrived. Dinner was ready shortly after my arrival. Mom made mashed potato bowls and they were tasty. After dinner we cleaned up and sat around and talked for a while. Then I finished my life con homework, did some grading, and now I'm writing my blog! I shall be done now, as my laptop battery is near exhaustion. So.. good night!
11.21.2011
Day 184
Well today has been far superior to the past couple days. Which is good. I woke up a bit late and ended up getting to class with only a couple minutes to spare. We talked more about combining puts and calls and stocks in such ways as to minimize potential loss. I really need to finish reading the chapters over break. I have most of them read, but I'm going to finish them and hopefully work a few problems.
In between class I went to go see Mr. Frye about the finance assignment. Apparently David, Kathryn, and Senzeni decided to come as well. So we asked him some questions and he gave us... answers. One of the problems involves an infinite series that is both geometrically and arithmetically increasing. He suggested writing it as a nested series and trying to find a way to write both of them. I think that instead Mathematica will just play me the happy tune of "Find Joel the Answer." I like that song.
During life con we discussed one of the problems he handed out to consider last class. We spent the entire class going over it one way, then he showed us a much faster way of doing it. It was a pretty general concept, but the implementation just got weird.
After class Tim, Timbo, and I went to the on campus Taco Bell for lunch. It was tasty. We talked about Tim's long adventure into becoming an actuary, his preparation for exam FM, and things we wish we'd all done differently. Like hearing about actuaries back in high school. Oh well. Life is what it is. After lunch Timbo and I went to the computer lab to work on the life con homework. It's a lot of work in Excel, which I don't mind because I typically enjoy using Excel. After a while Kathryn joined us. I got mostly done, but I want to re-do one of the problems that I did. He's going to give us a partially take home exam after break and he said that he's having us do this so that we have the spreadsheet set up for us on the exam. So I want to make sure that I have most of everything done beforehand so that the exam will be easier. I reworked one of the problems and had to refresh myself on the VLOOKUP command, but I got that figured out. It's a handy little thing.
Stats. I legitimately have no idea what happened in class today. I took so many notes and I don't have a clue what any of it means. I asked more questions than normal and...yeah. This is going to be fun. On top of that, we have our last exam in that class on the Monday of finals week (because Ball State is awesome like Mount Vernon and has class that day).
After stats I went to go work out. That was just a joy and a half. But it's over. Then I come home, got dinner, and planned my lesson for tomorrow. For the most part, anyways. I'll finish it up tomorrow in between classes. Dr. Fischer is coming to evaluate me, so hopefully my lecture is good enough! So I'm off to bed now. Good night!
In between class I went to go see Mr. Frye about the finance assignment. Apparently David, Kathryn, and Senzeni decided to come as well. So we asked him some questions and he gave us... answers. One of the problems involves an infinite series that is both geometrically and arithmetically increasing. He suggested writing it as a nested series and trying to find a way to write both of them. I think that instead Mathematica will just play me the happy tune of "Find Joel the Answer." I like that song.
During life con we discussed one of the problems he handed out to consider last class. We spent the entire class going over it one way, then he showed us a much faster way of doing it. It was a pretty general concept, but the implementation just got weird.
After class Tim, Timbo, and I went to the on campus Taco Bell for lunch. It was tasty. We talked about Tim's long adventure into becoming an actuary, his preparation for exam FM, and things we wish we'd all done differently. Like hearing about actuaries back in high school. Oh well. Life is what it is. After lunch Timbo and I went to the computer lab to work on the life con homework. It's a lot of work in Excel, which I don't mind because I typically enjoy using Excel. After a while Kathryn joined us. I got mostly done, but I want to re-do one of the problems that I did. He's going to give us a partially take home exam after break and he said that he's having us do this so that we have the spreadsheet set up for us on the exam. So I want to make sure that I have most of everything done beforehand so that the exam will be easier. I reworked one of the problems and had to refresh myself on the VLOOKUP command, but I got that figured out. It's a handy little thing.
Stats. I legitimately have no idea what happened in class today. I took so many notes and I don't have a clue what any of it means. I asked more questions than normal and...yeah. This is going to be fun. On top of that, we have our last exam in that class on the Monday of finals week (because Ball State is awesome like Mount Vernon and has class that day).
After stats I went to go work out. That was just a joy and a half. But it's over. Then I come home, got dinner, and planned my lesson for tomorrow. For the most part, anyways. I'll finish it up tomorrow in between classes. Dr. Fischer is coming to evaluate me, so hopefully my lecture is good enough! So I'm off to bed now. Good night!
11.19.2011
Day 181
Well I survived another week. So that's good!
Yesterday morning I only had one class and then a meeting. I debated for a really long time whether I should go to class or not. I hadn't slept well at all the night before, so I was very tried. And it was just so cold and my bed was so warm! But eventually I decided to go to class. Mostly because I know much it bothers Dr. Fischer when people don't go to the GA meetings (which was right after finance). So I took a very very long shower and went to class.
We did some stuff in finance. Mainly looking at how options can be combined with stocks for optimal benefit, using the options as a way of protecting yourself from potential loss involved with stocks. It was kind of interesting. Then I went off to my meeting.
We started off talking about the average scores in out class and such. Then we went into what we were covering in our class. Apparently this class traditionally doesn't have a comprehensive final. But none of us knew that so half of the instructors had planned on giving a comprehensive final. Which would have really messed up our grading scheme if we couldn't do that. Bur Dr. Fischer was very understanding and said that it was something he would consider in the future, but he agreed that it really wouldn't make sense to change the structure of the class at this point.
After class I came back to my apartment and took a nap. Well, I tried to. I don't think I actually slept at all. But it felt good to lay down for a while. I wasn't feeling especially motivated when I woke up, so I didn't really do anything. I played Just Cause for a while. Then I decided to be productive, so I worked on stats for a little bit. In celebration of my victory, I played Team Fortress. After that Katheryn and I went to get coffee, since neither of us wanted to do homework at the moment. So we didn't! The coffee was alright. As good as Starbucks ever is. After coffee I came back and did some various work things. Like I finished filling out an internship application follow-up questionnaire, did some work with my finances, did laundry. I changed my Budgeting Excel sheet a little bit so that it makes a little more sense.
Then Clifton got back so I talked with him for a while. I had dinner. Then I went over to Dustin's and hung out with him for the rest of the night. The end!
Yesterday morning I only had one class and then a meeting. I debated for a really long time whether I should go to class or not. I hadn't slept well at all the night before, so I was very tried. And it was just so cold and my bed was so warm! But eventually I decided to go to class. Mostly because I know much it bothers Dr. Fischer when people don't go to the GA meetings (which was right after finance). So I took a very very long shower and went to class.
We did some stuff in finance. Mainly looking at how options can be combined with stocks for optimal benefit, using the options as a way of protecting yourself from potential loss involved with stocks. It was kind of interesting. Then I went off to my meeting.
We started off talking about the average scores in out class and such. Then we went into what we were covering in our class. Apparently this class traditionally doesn't have a comprehensive final. But none of us knew that so half of the instructors had planned on giving a comprehensive final. Which would have really messed up our grading scheme if we couldn't do that. Bur Dr. Fischer was very understanding and said that it was something he would consider in the future, but he agreed that it really wouldn't make sense to change the structure of the class at this point.
After class I came back to my apartment and took a nap. Well, I tried to. I don't think I actually slept at all. But it felt good to lay down for a while. I wasn't feeling especially motivated when I woke up, so I didn't really do anything. I played Just Cause for a while. Then I decided to be productive, so I worked on stats for a little bit. In celebration of my victory, I played Team Fortress. After that Katheryn and I went to get coffee, since neither of us wanted to do homework at the moment. So we didn't! The coffee was alright. As good as Starbucks ever is. After coffee I came back and did some various work things. Like I finished filling out an internship application follow-up questionnaire, did some work with my finances, did laundry. I changed my Budgeting Excel sheet a little bit so that it makes a little more sense.
Then Clifton got back so I talked with him for a while. I had dinner. Then I went over to Dustin's and hung out with him for the rest of the night. The end!
11.17.2011
Day 180
There's a funny thing about the number 180... Actually that's the thing. There really isn't much that's interesting about the number 180. However, Dr. Arthur Benjamin would disagree. He claims that every number is interesting. And here is his proof (summarized): let's start with the number 0. 0 is interesting because it's the additive identity (any number plus 0 is that number). 1 is the multiplicative identity (any number times 1 is that number). 2 is the only even prime. 3 is the only prime exactly one greater than another prime. 4 is the first square number. Now let's assume you go on in this pattern until you somehow you encounter a number that wasn't significant. But if this was the first such number of it's kind, wouldn't that make it interesting?
It's a bit of math humor. My brain is pretty fried right now, so sorry if I lost you on that. It's one of my favorite jokes, aside from the classic Sean Connery joke, which I may have mentioned before. Alright, if you insist I shall tell it again. "What time did Sean Connery play in Wimbledon?" *assume British accent* "Tennish." It's a classic.
Anyhow, my day. We talked more about various options, specifically "puts." These are when a person has an option to buy a stock at a price higher than the current market price. It seems that these are pretty important or something.
In between classes I went to go plan my lesson. I ended up decided to teach them how to make an amortization schedule. They were less than amused. But it's far more applicable than whatever that other garbage was that's in section 2.
During life con we did some more work on policy values. Then we finished up with a review problem from the MLC exam. I almost got it right except that it took me a couple seconds to figure out how to find the survival function when given the force of mortality. But I'm sure I could have gotten it if I had been actively reviewing over this.
Then I taught. And we talked about amortization schedules. They certainly were not amused, until I told them that the homework was worth extra and a possibility for extra credit. They were far more interested then.
I went to my office, ate lunch, and read finance. I was really tired so it was pretty difficult to follow. But I did my best. On the way home I stopped at Wal-mart because apparently I have a terrible time keeping track of my fingernail clippers. I've misplaced 2 pair since moving here. And I really needed some. I also got an energy drink. That kept me awake for a little bit.
I read finance when I got back. And I did some cleaning. But then I started getting worn out. Whenever that happens over a long period of time I just get... done. I don't feel like doing anything. I was at least able to do some grading and cleaning. But I just had a hard time being productive. I just need to get more sleep. So that's what I'm going to do now. Good night, friends!
It's a bit of math humor. My brain is pretty fried right now, so sorry if I lost you on that. It's one of my favorite jokes, aside from the classic Sean Connery joke, which I may have mentioned before. Alright, if you insist I shall tell it again. "What time did Sean Connery play in Wimbledon?" *assume British accent* "Tennish." It's a classic.
Anyhow, my day. We talked more about various options, specifically "puts." These are when a person has an option to buy a stock at a price higher than the current market price. It seems that these are pretty important or something.
In between classes I went to go plan my lesson. I ended up decided to teach them how to make an amortization schedule. They were less than amused. But it's far more applicable than whatever that other garbage was that's in section 2.
During life con we did some more work on policy values. Then we finished up with a review problem from the MLC exam. I almost got it right except that it took me a couple seconds to figure out how to find the survival function when given the force of mortality. But I'm sure I could have gotten it if I had been actively reviewing over this.
Then I taught. And we talked about amortization schedules. They certainly were not amused, until I told them that the homework was worth extra and a possibility for extra credit. They were far more interested then.
I went to my office, ate lunch, and read finance. I was really tired so it was pretty difficult to follow. But I did my best. On the way home I stopped at Wal-mart because apparently I have a terrible time keeping track of my fingernail clippers. I've misplaced 2 pair since moving here. And I really needed some. I also got an energy drink. That kept me awake for a little bit.
I read finance when I got back. And I did some cleaning. But then I started getting worn out. Whenever that happens over a long period of time I just get... done. I don't feel like doing anything. I was at least able to do some grading and cleaning. But I just had a hard time being productive. I just need to get more sleep. So that's what I'm going to do now. Good night, friends!
11.15.2011
Day 178
I'm sure this comes as no surprise, but today was a very busy day. It started with Finance, where we talked more about different derivatives and options. In between classes I went up to the computer lab to finish planning my lesson. Then I went on to life contingencies, where we talked more about the expected value of a group of policies. It was pretty slick, I suppose.
I taught my class a little bit about interest today. I never know whether they're bored because they get it or because they don't. It's pretty frustrating. But I just kept on going, hoping that they catch on.
After that I went to my office, ate lunch, and reviewed what I was going to talk about during my interview today. I tried to think of things that I had been doing wrong in the other interviews, and I think I picked out a few things that I really tried not to do during this interview. Things like... saying that I don't know whether I want to be a life actuary or property/casualty actuary, or that I don't know if I want to take all the exams, or things like that. So I made sure that I was very certain about my career goals in this interview. Anyhow, after I did some research I went back to my car to drop off my lunch bag and backpack. Then I just took a nice little stroll for some fresh air. I also stopped by the Atrium to get some coffee. Then I continued my nice little stroll to the Career Center. I got there way early, so in my spare time I started looking for apartments and duplexes in the Muncie area for next year. I didn't find anything, but I'm getting a better idea for what is around here.
I think that the interview went well. I met with a guy named Clark from the Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. He started off by telling me about the internship program and that there were many different positions (and I had applied to all of them). He told me that they weren't all directly actuarial, but that they were all a good experience. So he started to ask questions and he really seemed to like some of my answers, especially when I told him how I organize my day. He liked that I specifically "start each day" the night before by planning out what I do. But anyhow, that went really well. He said that if he didn't contact me by the first week of December to contact him.
After the interview I came back, changed, got some food, relaxed, then left for the Actuarial Club Meeting. We all met at 4:45, got into 2 vans, and headed down to Indianapolis. Timbo, Jacob, and I were in the van with Mr. Dean. We talked most of the way down. I just asked him lots and lots of questions about... everything. From his career to his personal life to just being an actuary in general. It was a good time. When we got to Indianapolis we missed our turn because the venue wasn't well labeled. But we made it.
After some awkward mingling we all sat down at various tables. There were a couple hundred people, I would say. I had intended on spreading out to meet some new people, but it seems that most of the Ball State group wanted to follow me. So... we had a table of 1 Purdue student and 7 Ball State students. The Purdue student and one of the Ball State students just talked the entire time, each trying to one-up the other. The rest of us just sat in silence, for there was never a time when one of them wasn't speaking. It was as if what they had to say was so important that clearly we wanted to hear it. They didn't really ask questions and never tried to involved everyone else. So... it was lots of fun, for certain. The meal was pretty good and the coffee was wonderful. When we were done eating a few actuaries from the area sat at the front table and answered questions. Most of them were the standard "what do you do on a daily basis?" or "How many exams should we pass before looking for a job?" that we hear a lot. They had good answers, but they weren't so different from other things that I've heard. Overall it was good. A bit long, but good.
On the way back there was far less conversation. I think we were all just tired. We got back before the other van, but I had to wait around because I had given Kathryn a ride and figured that I probably shouldn't leave her stranded. It's a good thing she didn't try to get a ride with Tim because Erin (Tim's wife) was still at small group. So I also gave Tim a ride home. Then Kathryn. Then I came home, made a snack, played a game, and now I just finished writing this nonsense up so I can go to bed! Night all!
I taught my class a little bit about interest today. I never know whether they're bored because they get it or because they don't. It's pretty frustrating. But I just kept on going, hoping that they catch on.
After that I went to my office, ate lunch, and reviewed what I was going to talk about during my interview today. I tried to think of things that I had been doing wrong in the other interviews, and I think I picked out a few things that I really tried not to do during this interview. Things like... saying that I don't know whether I want to be a life actuary or property/casualty actuary, or that I don't know if I want to take all the exams, or things like that. So I made sure that I was very certain about my career goals in this interview. Anyhow, after I did some research I went back to my car to drop off my lunch bag and backpack. Then I just took a nice little stroll for some fresh air. I also stopped by the Atrium to get some coffee. Then I continued my nice little stroll to the Career Center. I got there way early, so in my spare time I started looking for apartments and duplexes in the Muncie area for next year. I didn't find anything, but I'm getting a better idea for what is around here.
I think that the interview went well. I met with a guy named Clark from the Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. He started off by telling me about the internship program and that there were many different positions (and I had applied to all of them). He told me that they weren't all directly actuarial, but that they were all a good experience. So he started to ask questions and he really seemed to like some of my answers, especially when I told him how I organize my day. He liked that I specifically "start each day" the night before by planning out what I do. But anyhow, that went really well. He said that if he didn't contact me by the first week of December to contact him.
After the interview I came back, changed, got some food, relaxed, then left for the Actuarial Club Meeting. We all met at 4:45, got into 2 vans, and headed down to Indianapolis. Timbo, Jacob, and I were in the van with Mr. Dean. We talked most of the way down. I just asked him lots and lots of questions about... everything. From his career to his personal life to just being an actuary in general. It was a good time. When we got to Indianapolis we missed our turn because the venue wasn't well labeled. But we made it.
After some awkward mingling we all sat down at various tables. There were a couple hundred people, I would say. I had intended on spreading out to meet some new people, but it seems that most of the Ball State group wanted to follow me. So... we had a table of 1 Purdue student and 7 Ball State students. The Purdue student and one of the Ball State students just talked the entire time, each trying to one-up the other. The rest of us just sat in silence, for there was never a time when one of them wasn't speaking. It was as if what they had to say was so important that clearly we wanted to hear it. They didn't really ask questions and never tried to involved everyone else. So... it was lots of fun, for certain. The meal was pretty good and the coffee was wonderful. When we were done eating a few actuaries from the area sat at the front table and answered questions. Most of them were the standard "what do you do on a daily basis?" or "How many exams should we pass before looking for a job?" that we hear a lot. They had good answers, but they weren't so different from other things that I've heard. Overall it was good. A bit long, but good.
On the way back there was far less conversation. I think we were all just tired. We got back before the other van, but I had to wait around because I had given Kathryn a ride and figured that I probably shouldn't leave her stranded. It's a good thing she didn't try to get a ride with Tim because Erin (Tim's wife) was still at small group. So I also gave Tim a ride home. Then Kathryn. Then I came home, made a snack, played a game, and now I just finished writing this nonsense up so I can go to bed! Night all!
11.12.2011
Day 174
Yesterday was a pretty long day. I got up early to pack and finish getting ready for my trip to mount vernon.
I had finance. We got out tests back and I did alright. I didn't miss any one problem completely, just a little bit on multiple questions. One of them was especially frustrating because I had misread the question. This was frustrating because I'd reworked this problem three times, but none of those times did I catch that I'd misread it. Oh well. I think I can still pull off an A in the class, but I'll need to do very well on the next exam and final.
In life contingencies we talked more about the expected value of a portfolio of identical policies at given points of time. The basic idea is that the closer you get to the payout date, the higher the expected payout us for the insurance company. But early on after the policy starts the expected gain is very high. The implication is that most of this early profit has to be saved to ensure that the death benefit is available when it is needed.
After class I took Dustin home and then headed to Mount Vernon! I don't remember too much excitement. I stopped in London, Ohio to get some coffee at gas station. It claimed to have Jamaican blue mountain coffee. But it tasted nothing like it. I got to mount vernon around 240 and decided to see if any of my professors had classes. It just so happened that Dr. Whitaker was teaching number theory, so I paid them all a visit. I tried to sneak in, but my friends saw me and started laughing. Dr. Whitaker turned around and said "Joel Pagano! How are you!?" all surprised-like and things. I said that I was doing well. He was quite a bit thrown off. At the end of his lecture we had question and answer time with Joel. Mainly Dr. Whitaker just asked me things about grad school and recommendations for soon to be graduates. My best advice was to buff up your resume with volunteer experience. Anything that will set you apart from everyone else. And for future actuaries (which I think was just Courtney) I highly recommended taking exam P before going to grad school. After class I sat around and talked with Lindsey and Courtney for a while. They were avoiding soccer practice, and I was happy to help.
Then I went to the math department to talk with Dr. Noonan, but he was not there. I had a book of his to return. So i wrote him a note and put both in his mailbox. And talked with Sheryl about life. I've realized that I'm just really bad at answering the "how have you been?" question. I mean... What am I supposed to say besides "grad school is hard" and "I'm engaged"?
Kimmy was still in class so I went to go find Adam and Tyler. They weren't in their apartment so I just chilled with Tyler's little brother. We watched some classic war movie on TV. When kimmy was out of class she called me and we found each other. Woo! We went to go see our friends in academic support. Deanna was gone, but we were able to talk with Deborah. Then we went to Birch F lobby and made dinner. Well, heated it up. I'd previously made meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It was tasty.
After dinner we went to Kmart. Kimmy wanted an FM transmitter, but they were too expensive. So we looked at movies for a while, but didn't get any. So we came back to her apartment and watched a movie. When it was over we had a great discussion about education and the family structure. It started off with my frustration at the class I'm teaching, which is similar to the frustration she has from doing SI. And then (as our conversations often do) we talked about everything else that's even remotely related. It's very nice to have such stimulating conversation. I don't get that very often.
Then we went to the 586 and got food. Joel was working so I gave him a fantastic over the counter hug. After food and things I went to Zach's apartment and hung out with all those people. They were watching a movie. So i joined. James and i actually ended up talking about some of the same things Kimmy and I were discussing. So that was all sorts of goodness. And then... I stayed up way too late and went to bed!
11.10.2011
Day 173
La la la. It is night time, yes it is.
Today was another full day. We had finance this morning. As usual. We talked more about duration. We started talking about it last week before our exam, but I was so focused on studying for the exam (and my other exams) that I kind of missed what duration is. Or why we care. I'm starting to get a vague idea. Hopefully we get our exams back tomorrow... I'm hoping that I did well. At least an 80 would be preferable. It's been frustrating knowing that there were a couple that I missed...and I've known this for the past few days. But I'm really banking on some partial credit. Gaaahhhh!
During life contingencies we did some more stuff with future loss random variables. We spent a long time looking at the use of the exponential function as a survival model. It apparently has this very interesting feature that it will always have a constant force of mortality, which will be a very handy thing to remember on the actuarial exams. That way we won't have to re-derive the force of mortality every time.
After life con I went to go teach. I had this really great idea to keep a dull subject a little more interesting by using the same example throughout the topics. But it ended up just making it slightly less boring and abstract. I really hate teaching statistics. It's so dry. I feel like this class could be really good if it focused less on computation and more on understanding. Blargh. Maybe I can try to teach it differently next semester. We'll see. And as a bonus, apparently almost none of my students know how to do conditional probability...meaning that they don't know how their books and/or emails work. So you know. Yay.
After class I worked on stats with Timbo. Pretty much from the time class was over until 3:30. So I guess that would be about 3 hours. It took a while to make sure all of my math was correct. It's all pretty frustrating because I did all the work myself, but none of it is original. All of these derivations have been done numerous times... so I don't even feel like there is a need for me to be doing it. Which in reality there isn't. Except for the grade. So...do it I shall! But I believe that I am all finished with it. So that's good.
When I got back I tried to play Borderlands with Nick. But I haven't been able to connect to the server.... which is dumb. I had soup for dinner. I honestly don't like Campbell's chunky soup as much as I like the Aldi's Soup. So yeah. That was dinner. Then I started making meatloaf for dinner tomorrow. I'm taking food with me to Mount Vernon so I don't have to buy food when I get there. I thought that would be a good idea. And cheaper.
After dinner I finished up my stats project. Just re-writing all the things. Then I just kind of relaxed. Played some Team fortress. Tried to let my brain rest after a long day of stats. I cleaned my bathroom. Did some dishes. And now I'm going to pack for the weekend and go to bed! Night!
*EDIT*
I would like to mention that the other day I bought this hand soap with lotion in it and it was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. Cherry blossom, I believe. I highly recommend it. That is all.
Today was another full day. We had finance this morning. As usual. We talked more about duration. We started talking about it last week before our exam, but I was so focused on studying for the exam (and my other exams) that I kind of missed what duration is. Or why we care. I'm starting to get a vague idea. Hopefully we get our exams back tomorrow... I'm hoping that I did well. At least an 80 would be preferable. It's been frustrating knowing that there were a couple that I missed...and I've known this for the past few days. But I'm really banking on some partial credit. Gaaahhhh!
During life contingencies we did some more stuff with future loss random variables. We spent a long time looking at the use of the exponential function as a survival model. It apparently has this very interesting feature that it will always have a constant force of mortality, which will be a very handy thing to remember on the actuarial exams. That way we won't have to re-derive the force of mortality every time.
After life con I went to go teach. I had this really great idea to keep a dull subject a little more interesting by using the same example throughout the topics. But it ended up just making it slightly less boring and abstract. I really hate teaching statistics. It's so dry. I feel like this class could be really good if it focused less on computation and more on understanding. Blargh. Maybe I can try to teach it differently next semester. We'll see. And as a bonus, apparently almost none of my students know how to do conditional probability...meaning that they don't know how their books and/or emails work. So you know. Yay.
After class I worked on stats with Timbo. Pretty much from the time class was over until 3:30. So I guess that would be about 3 hours. It took a while to make sure all of my math was correct. It's all pretty frustrating because I did all the work myself, but none of it is original. All of these derivations have been done numerous times... so I don't even feel like there is a need for me to be doing it. Which in reality there isn't. Except for the grade. So...do it I shall! But I believe that I am all finished with it. So that's good.
When I got back I tried to play Borderlands with Nick. But I haven't been able to connect to the server.... which is dumb. I had soup for dinner. I honestly don't like Campbell's chunky soup as much as I like the Aldi's Soup. So yeah. That was dinner. Then I started making meatloaf for dinner tomorrow. I'm taking food with me to Mount Vernon so I don't have to buy food when I get there. I thought that would be a good idea. And cheaper.
After dinner I finished up my stats project. Just re-writing all the things. Then I just kind of relaxed. Played some Team fortress. Tried to let my brain rest after a long day of stats. I cleaned my bathroom. Did some dishes. And now I'm going to pack for the weekend and go to bed! Night!
*EDIT*
I would like to mention that the other day I bought this hand soap with lotion in it and it was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. Cherry blossom, I believe. I highly recommend it. That is all.
11.07.2011
Day 170
There's something about Monday that just makes it seem so incredibly long. Like, after stats today I couldn't convince myself that it was still Monday. I thought it was Tuesday.
Anyhow, this morning. I woke up at 5 this morning to study some more before my finance exam. Kimmy left this morning around 6, so she got to see my morning routine. I'm sure it was incredibly fascinating. Anyhow, after I got breakfast and made my lunch, I studied for a couple hours. A little before 7 I took a nice long shower. It definitely helped me wake up. I left for the exam around 7:15 and got there right around the same time as Timbo. So he and I walked to class and discussed some problems and all that nonsense. I looked over a couple problems that I hadn't quite figured out when Tim got there, and it turns out that I had figured them out properly. Mr. Frye got there a few minutes before 8 and we started the exam.
In talked with people afterwards, I know that I missed a couple. There was one that is bothering me quite a bit. I had to find a geometric sum and set up the entire thing properly (including the non-intuitive discounting)... but I had one number that was incorrect. And it was in my very last calculation. Hopefully her is generous. There were another one that was frustrating because we talked about spot rates and forward rates for maybe one day. I think that's something that just doesn't make sense to me. In my mind, spending more time on something means that it is more important. So spending almost a week on callable bonds (to me) implied that they were 4 times as important as spot rates or forward rates, which we spend a total of 1 day talking about both of them. And there was 1 callable bond problem on the exam and one spot rate/forward rate problem. Bleh.
Alas. The exam is over. Then it was off to life contingencies. We talked more about the portfolio premium price principle. Or something like that. There were a few times in class that I almost burst out laughing. You see, Tim and I do not have a statistics background. At all. And there are many times where a concept will get used that just appears to be common knowledge to everyone...except to two of us. So we usually play along, but have no idea why we can do what just happened. The case is especially true for variance. In some cases you can (apparently) square all the constants all willy nilly. But other times the constant just magically goes away! And we have no idea why either one happens. I'm starting to piece things together, but it apparently was supposed to be common knowledge far before my taking this class. It's really quite funny.
After class Timbo, Dustin and I went to the computer lab to do some stats. A few problems had to be done on a computer program. Woo hoo. I think I did them kind of right. Afterwards I went to Tim's office to finish the homework. And help him start it. He ended up getting most of it done. Then we went over to stats.
We got our exams back. She had written on the front the problems she was going to let us redo. She encouraged us to try again without looking in our book....we'll see. The main reason I did poorly was because I had no idea what was going on. But that hasn't changed.
So I'm going to start stats soon. When I got back I made some dinner and just relaxed the rest of the night. Did some cleaning. Laundry. And now I'm blogging and going to bed!
I don't have finance tomorrow because Mr. Fry has to proctor an MLC exam. But I forgot my lunch box earlier in stats, so I need to go to Dr. Begum's office to retrieve it. And I need to plan my lesson. So still an early morning for me. Oh well.
Oh! I have an interview a week from tomorrow with the Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. So...we'll see how that goes! But for now it's bed time. Night!
Anyhow, this morning. I woke up at 5 this morning to study some more before my finance exam. Kimmy left this morning around 6, so she got to see my morning routine. I'm sure it was incredibly fascinating. Anyhow, after I got breakfast and made my lunch, I studied for a couple hours. A little before 7 I took a nice long shower. It definitely helped me wake up. I left for the exam around 7:15 and got there right around the same time as Timbo. So he and I walked to class and discussed some problems and all that nonsense. I looked over a couple problems that I hadn't quite figured out when Tim got there, and it turns out that I had figured them out properly. Mr. Frye got there a few minutes before 8 and we started the exam.
In talked with people afterwards, I know that I missed a couple. There was one that is bothering me quite a bit. I had to find a geometric sum and set up the entire thing properly (including the non-intuitive discounting)... but I had one number that was incorrect. And it was in my very last calculation. Hopefully her is generous. There were another one that was frustrating because we talked about spot rates and forward rates for maybe one day. I think that's something that just doesn't make sense to me. In my mind, spending more time on something means that it is more important. So spending almost a week on callable bonds (to me) implied that they were 4 times as important as spot rates or forward rates, which we spend a total of 1 day talking about both of them. And there was 1 callable bond problem on the exam and one spot rate/forward rate problem. Bleh.
Alas. The exam is over. Then it was off to life contingencies. We talked more about the portfolio premium price principle. Or something like that. There were a few times in class that I almost burst out laughing. You see, Tim and I do not have a statistics background. At all. And there are many times where a concept will get used that just appears to be common knowledge to everyone...except to two of us. So we usually play along, but have no idea why we can do what just happened. The case is especially true for variance. In some cases you can (apparently) square all the constants all willy nilly. But other times the constant just magically goes away! And we have no idea why either one happens. I'm starting to piece things together, but it apparently was supposed to be common knowledge far before my taking this class. It's really quite funny.
After class Timbo, Dustin and I went to the computer lab to do some stats. A few problems had to be done on a computer program. Woo hoo. I think I did them kind of right. Afterwards I went to Tim's office to finish the homework. And help him start it. He ended up getting most of it done. Then we went over to stats.
We got our exams back. She had written on the front the problems she was going to let us redo. She encouraged us to try again without looking in our book....we'll see. The main reason I did poorly was because I had no idea what was going on. But that hasn't changed.
So I'm going to start stats soon. When I got back I made some dinner and just relaxed the rest of the night. Did some cleaning. Laundry. And now I'm blogging and going to bed!
I don't have finance tomorrow because Mr. Fry has to proctor an MLC exam. But I forgot my lunch box earlier in stats, so I need to go to Dr. Begum's office to retrieve it. And I need to plan my lesson. So still an early morning for me. Oh well.
Oh! I have an interview a week from tomorrow with the Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. So...we'll see how that goes! But for now it's bed time. Night!
11.04.2011
Day 167
Today didn't feel like Friday at all. I'm glad it was, but it felt like a Saturday all day. But we had class, so I guess it was, in fact, a weekday. We had some review in finance this morning. We talked a little bit about duration. I'm still not completely sure what that means, but it's not on the exam on Monday... so I have some time to figure it out.
In between classes I had a meeting with the other G.A. instructors. We discussed some of the similarities and differences between our classes. One thing that Dr. Fischer mentioned that I really need to start doing is to get away from always using the same structure for the lectures. He recommended to not always explain a concept then give an example in that order. He instead suggested to sometimes go through an example, trying to make sense of it first. So, using the example as a way of "creating" the concept. I do something similar, usually using some sort of fundamental example to introduce a concept. But I think I could do better. So we'll see.
After the meeting I had life contingencies. We had another warm up problem. I got this one today. I was a little worried that I didn't use all of the information on the board, but I still got the right answer after I figured out what I was doing. He said that he'll probably do another review warm up question next Thursday or Friday. It's been helpful. After that we talked more about pricing policies. Specifically we talked about what to do with policy books. It's all quite fascinating. I realized how far my sense of humor has slipped into a weird morbid/math hybrid. I'll try to explain. In our classes, we use the symbol Tx to represent how much longer a person is going to live. So today in class we were discussing how each year an insurance company only pays the sum insured to the beneficiaries of the policy if Tx is between a certain time interval. He wrote on the board that Tx has to be greater than 0, but I asked if we had to be concerned about Tx being equal to 0 or whether that is an arbitrary example (because the probability of an event happening at one specific instance in time is 0). So he looks at me and goes "So.... you're suggesting that the policyholder dies at the very instant that he buys the policy? I don't really think we need to worry about that." For some reason we all that thought was really funny. Like, David and I almost started crying. Yeah. I'm going to keep going now.
After class I went to go work out. But I just really wasn't feeling it today. So I worked out for a little bit, but then left early. I just was not in the mood to work out. So instead I left after about half my workout was done and went to get Burger King. It was kind of like working out... So Kimmy and I had Burger King lunch and it was tasty.
When lunch was over Timbo came over and we studied finance for a while. We made some good progress but definitely still have more things to do. He left after a couple hours, then I just let my brain relax for a while by playing Team Fortress with Miles. Then around 6 Kimmy and I made chicken and yellow rice for dinner. It was yummy. We started watching Casino Royale over dinner. But they talked really quietly so neither of us really know what the story line was. Around 8:30 Kathryn suggested that the three of us all go get ice cream and Berry Winkle. Kimmy had yet to go there (and it was ice cream) so clearly we decided to go. And it was amazing. I had white chocolate and pumpkin ice creams with butterfinger topping. It was fantastic. So we had ice cream and talked about stuff. I'm sure it was super important. But we had fun. I think we did anyways. I had fun, so clearly Kimmy and Kathryn did as well. Obviously.
Then we came back, finished the movie and now I'm going to go to bed! Good night, all you lovely and wonderful people.
In between classes I had a meeting with the other G.A. instructors. We discussed some of the similarities and differences between our classes. One thing that Dr. Fischer mentioned that I really need to start doing is to get away from always using the same structure for the lectures. He recommended to not always explain a concept then give an example in that order. He instead suggested to sometimes go through an example, trying to make sense of it first. So, using the example as a way of "creating" the concept. I do something similar, usually using some sort of fundamental example to introduce a concept. But I think I could do better. So we'll see.
After the meeting I had life contingencies. We had another warm up problem. I got this one today. I was a little worried that I didn't use all of the information on the board, but I still got the right answer after I figured out what I was doing. He said that he'll probably do another review warm up question next Thursday or Friday. It's been helpful. After that we talked more about pricing policies. Specifically we talked about what to do with policy books. It's all quite fascinating. I realized how far my sense of humor has slipped into a weird morbid/math hybrid. I'll try to explain. In our classes, we use the symbol Tx to represent how much longer a person is going to live. So today in class we were discussing how each year an insurance company only pays the sum insured to the beneficiaries of the policy if Tx is between a certain time interval. He wrote on the board that Tx has to be greater than 0, but I asked if we had to be concerned about Tx being equal to 0 or whether that is an arbitrary example (because the probability of an event happening at one specific instance in time is 0). So he looks at me and goes "So.... you're suggesting that the policyholder dies at the very instant that he buys the policy? I don't really think we need to worry about that." For some reason we all that thought was really funny. Like, David and I almost started crying. Yeah. I'm going to keep going now.
After class I went to go work out. But I just really wasn't feeling it today. So I worked out for a little bit, but then left early. I just was not in the mood to work out. So instead I left after about half my workout was done and went to get Burger King. It was kind of like working out... So Kimmy and I had Burger King lunch and it was tasty.
When lunch was over Timbo came over and we studied finance for a while. We made some good progress but definitely still have more things to do. He left after a couple hours, then I just let my brain relax for a while by playing Team Fortress with Miles. Then around 6 Kimmy and I made chicken and yellow rice for dinner. It was yummy. We started watching Casino Royale over dinner. But they talked really quietly so neither of us really know what the story line was. Around 8:30 Kathryn suggested that the three of us all go get ice cream and Berry Winkle. Kimmy had yet to go there (and it was ice cream) so clearly we decided to go. And it was amazing. I had white chocolate and pumpkin ice creams with butterfinger topping. It was fantastic. So we had ice cream and talked about stuff. I'm sure it was super important. But we had fun. I think we did anyways. I had fun, so clearly Kimmy and Kathryn did as well. Obviously.
Then we came back, finished the movie and now I'm going to go to bed! Good night, all you lovely and wonderful people.
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