Day 228

I really need to get out of this thing where I don't write this at night.  There's no way I'll be able to do that once school starts.  Bleh.


Anyhow, yesterday was fairly eventful.  After breakfast I went to go talk with Dr. Whitaker and Dr. Noonan.  Noonan wasn't in his office yet, so Whitaker and I talked for a while.  He was giving me some advice on wedding registries.  I told him how it's really difficult because I don't like to have unnecessary things and he said that that's a great mindset to have anytime except when I'm registering for my wedding.  So he really recommended getting everything new, even if I currently own it.  Which is not how I work at all...We'll see how this goes.  Eventually Dr. Noonan came back and I talked with him as well.  I learned that apparently I'm "Uncle Joel" to his kids.  That was a surprise.


Then I came back and studied for a while.  I got a decent amount done.  Things have been going much slower since I'm reading the text book and the study guide, but we're getting there.  Around 3 Kimmy and I went to go find Jeremy and get our engagement pictures taken.  We got some pretty good ones.  Unfortunately engagement photos aren't really any of our thing, since they're way more posed than we like to do. But they're done and there were a handful that we all liked.


After pictures Kimmy and I got dinner in the caf.  Then she and I did some more work on our Macy's registry.  Around 7:45ish I went to go get ice cream with Lindsey and Courtney, some of my math friends.  It was fun.  When we got back Kimmy and I went to the PSU, talked with Joel Thomas for a bit, then finished up our Macy's registry (I think).  So sometime when Kimmy comes to visit we're going to work on our Wal-mart registry.  Woo-hoo!  And thus concludes yesterday.

Day 227

Yesterday was fun. It was a very long day, but it was fun. It started off like any good morning: a shower then breakfast. I was running late do I drove to breakfast, since the cafeteria stops serving breakfast at 9.  I had an omelet. And the lady used real eggs! It was really good.

After breakfast I went back to my apartment and studied for about an hour or so. Then I went to meet Kimmy at her apartment. When she was ready we left for Easton!

The main reason for our quest was to register at Macy's. We've decided to register at Macy's and Wal-mart. So we got to Macy's and started our adventure. And... Oh goodness. What an adventure. Once we figured out where to go we talked with the lady for probably.... 45 minutes setting up a Macy's account and taking care of all that nonsense. Then we finally got the little gun thing and went to town. Kimmy and I bad at this. In two hours we registered for 13 items. We have some work to do. But they didn't have a lot of the things we'd looked at online. And we were hungry.

So we went back to the car and aye lunch. Kimmy made sandwiches! They were really tasty. After lunch we considered going to a movie but nothing looked good. So we went coat shopping for Kimmy. She was looking for a black coat. And we found one. Then we went to Barnes and Noble. And Starbucks. While at Barnes and Noble, I learned that Snooki wrote a book. All by herself. So I decided to read this fine piece of literature. It was not anything of the sort. It was painful to read. I literally lost intelligence.  We didn't get very far.

Oh, and we ran into Joel Thomas. That was unexpected.

We were meeting Jared and Kanissa in Easton for dinner, so we just wasted time for a while. I took a nap in the car. Moved the car. Walked some more. Then eventually met with friends at Max and Erma! It was a lot of fun. We told them about registering. They enjoyed that. Then we just talked about all the things. As usual. Someday when we all have big people jobs we're all going to live next to each other. Along with Becky and Miles. It's going to be awesome.

After dinner we went to go see Sherlock Holmes. I had a free ticket! I went to go see Thor in Imax last May, but they projector wasn't working. So we got moved to another theater and got ticket vouchers. So yay! The movie was good the second time. Then.. It was late. So we all went home. Then I went to bed!

Day 226

Well, today started off oddly enough. I had a car appointment at 8. But I forgot to set an alarm last night, so mom has to wake me up. She woke me up around 730 (thanks mom!), made me a bagel and got me some milk while I showered, then I left for the dealership. I somehow managed to get there just after 8.

They were helpful and got it all fixed.  There was a guy there that was... Neat. He was a die-hard 'Merican. He comes in, and tells the people behind the counter that his has all the bumper stickers on it, one which reads "if you're going to burn our flag, make sure you wrap yourself in it first." Awesome. So he goes on talking while the rest of us ignore him. As I left the lady wished me well at college. The guy looks at me and says "you know what they say about college: it's all football and beer." So I replied "Well, when I was working on my bachelor's I spent most of my time studying. And now that I'm in grad school things haven't changed." He seemed all shocked and asked what I'm studying. Keep in mind that I'm walking to the door this entire time and the Kia staff is trying hard not to laugh. So i explained what I'm studying and he tried to pretend like he was familiar with it. Eventually I just said 'yeah, like that' to one of his comments and left. I had a dentist to visit.

So off I went to the dentist. It was standard. I think I fell asleep in the chair... Whoops!

When I got home I had some lunch, then did some packing. And studying. I was waiting to see if master book would come, but it didn't. So i just came to Mount Vernon!

When I got here I said hello to Adam and Tyler, then went off to see Kimmy! We ran some errands, then got food! When we got back we did registry stuff. We're going to go do our registering tomorrow. Our list seemed pretty short... Oh well!

Then I went back to hang out with Adam and Tyler. We read through the Bob Jones and Pennsicola student handbooks. It was entertaining. Then we just sat around and talked. It was good.

But I'm going to bed now. So good night!

Day 225

225 = 15 * 15.  Now that I have that little math fact out of the way, let us continue.


This morning I woke up, ate, showered, and started studying.  But apparently I was really tired because I then took a nap in dad's chair for about an hour.  I like naps.  Sometime while I was sleeping Kimmy came and sat in the other chair.  When I woke up I read a little bit more of chapter 2, then we got lunch.  I was a champ and ate some more of the manwich.


After lunch Kimmy and I did some work on our wedding registry.  It's pretty difficult because I already have many of the "starting out" type of things since I'm currently living on my own.  But I don't want to ask for kitchen things or household items if we don't have space or use for it at the moment.  And my brain doesn't work like this whole "get things for some time in the future."  My thinking is "I have everything I need right now.  And if I need a new something later... I'll get it then!"  So I'm trying hard to think of things that are functional now and will also be functional in the future.


Mom and Kimmy and I went to go visit the grandparents. We just sat around and talked for a while.  I was glad to see them again before going back to school.  When we got home Kimmy and I did some more registry things to finalize all the nonsense.  We're going to start our registry while I'm in Mount Vernon, I believe.


After dinner she and I started looking at honeymoon places.  Basically they're just expensive.  We're considering a cruise because it includes a place to stay, food, and entertainment.  And for some of them the cruise would be cheaper than just finding a place to stay, not including food and entertainment.  But we're still looking.  Feel free to share suggestions!


Then Kimmy had to leave.  I was sad.  Then I had to go study some more.  I really don't like studying.  The second book of my study guide is definitely going slower, which is frustrating.  It's a lot more reading, a lot less problem solving. Bleh.  But I'm getting there.  I didn't get as much done today as I had hoped... but oh well.  That's how it goes.


I'm going to bed now so that I can go get my car fixed in the morning.  So good night!

Day 224

Break seems incredibly short.  Which is odd, because it's not so different from Christmas break at Mount Vernon: only a few days shorter.  But I just feel like I've hardly had any time off at all.  Oh well.


This morning I woke up and did my standard morning routine.  My blog took especially long to write, so that was a bit unexpected.  Around 11:30 Kimmy and I left to go meet Miles and Becky up in Bowling Green for lunch at Myle's Dairy Queen.  I had a hamburger and fries, both of which were very tasty.  After lunch we went to go watch the new Sherlock Holmes movie.  I need to do some math, but the $3 matinee is a tempting deal.  The only disadvantage is that it's a one hour round trip.  So it becomes a matter of analyzing the cost of gas and whether the additional cost in gas makes up for the extra $4.25 for a ticket in Findlay.  After a quick analysis, it is in fact cheaper to go to Bowling green if there are at least 2 people traveling in each car (as you end up spending about $5.90 in gas).  Anyhow, the movie was really good.


After the movie we went to Grounds for Thought (the local coffee shop).  Miles wanted to play chess, so he and I played a game even though neither one of us have really played in quite some time.  It was a pretty close game.  We both made some mistakes.  I ended up winning, but it was quite a battle.  I think that my only saving qualities were that a- I threw him off by making a few strategic random moves, b- I was able to hold on to my queen for longer, c-he protected his rooks a bit too much.  His aggressive king maneuver definitely did him well, however.  Overall it was a fun and good game.  I'm sure that Becky and Kimmy were just thrilled to watch us play.... They're good sports.


Then we came home.  Mom, dad, Kimmy and I all went out to Logan's for dinner.  It was tasty.  Mom and I both got fish and chips.  We talked about general education courses and why I don't like the art/music requirements (similar to how other students don't like the math requirements).  Apparently MVNU is redoing their curriculum, so those classes are no longer in existence.  Oh well!


When we got back Kimmy and I went to Wal-mart to do a little shopping.  We both got styptic pens (because they're awesome).  I used to have one, but I lost it.  And I think I'll probably end up cutting myself a little bit more with my new safety razor, so I decided to get something to fix it.  When we returned from shopping I studied for a while, since I hadn't done any yet today.  The second book I received has been a little bit frustrating.  The first book (on interest theory) summarized the three main text books on the topic of interest theory, so additionally reading wasn't especially necessary.  For the second book (on derivatives markets), there is only one references text book.  So this second study guide acts as a series of lecture notes and very closely sticks to the text...and it doesn't make a lot of sense without first reading the text book.  I think that my new course of action is to read a chapter from the derivatives markets text book, then the corresponding chapter in the study guide.  That will probably prove to yield the best result.  Either way, I'm hoping to have all of the main reading done either this week or early next week, then just start taking lots of practice exams.  What.  Fun. But for now it is bed time.  Night!

Day 223

Ok then.  Yesterday was new years.  Woo hoo.  I woke up fairly early after falling asleep on a couch at AJ's apartment around 12:30.  So I actually ended up getting around 7 or so hours of sleep.  AJ made us all breakfast burritos, then Miles and I cleaned up and headed back to Findlay.  It was pretty uneventful, except for the part where it was really windy.  Miles and I talked about all sorts of things on the way back.  For part of the time we talked about how a lot of people see new years as a time to reflect and restart, even though there isn't anything magical that happens.  I think that for most people it's a logical time to have closure, which I believe is important for many people.  Even if people don't explicitly think in terms of numbers and patterns, it integrates into their lives and unconsciously respond to cycles.


So to follow the trend and recap the important moments (that I remember) of my past year:

• Last January I learned what it means to truly have too much time on your hands.  I hope to never be that bored again.  But I did learn how to play Axis and Allies and made some friends doing so.
• For the last time I saw how dead Mount Vernon becomes when the power goes out.
• I learned that many authority figures are just trying to follow the rules so that they don't get in trouble with their boss.  In trying to get my independent study cleared during very unlikely circumstances, I had 4 or 5 different people explain to me how to get it past the next person.  Even though I was a month late on my paperwork, was asking to take a directed study for a course which I could have taken in a normal classroom, and really didn't have a valid reason for having an independent study, I was able to convince all the right people why I should be allowed to do so.
• This past spring I had the most difficult and time consuming classes of my undergraduate career: real analysis and senior colloquium.  Real analysis is a math class that deals with proving the fundamental laws of numbers, sets of numbers, and calculus.  In my senior colloquium I did a research paper concerning the moral obligation MVNU has to the people in the Beliezean education system regarding the recent installation of computers by MVNU faculty and students, including myself.  It turned into a 15 page paper with which I was very pleased.  I think it was one of my crowning moments of my time at Mount Vernon.
• I got pretty close with Adam, since he and I volunteered at the homeless shelter together and worked out together.  And played a lot of video games together.
• I have a new appreciation for Monday Night Raw.  Say what you will about how fake it is.  But I think that it has a very deep sociological message that often gets forgotten.  On the show, the fights are 85% staged.  There is also a mysterious General Manager that will make new rules or change things going on just to cause drama.  Someone might have won the match, but the General Manager can send a message saying "Nope.  He actually lost.  Surprise!"  All of this is done to make people upset and cause drama.  And this has the immediate effect of bringing people back week after week.  People are addicted to drama, especially when it doesn't involve them.  This made me think about media in general.  Think of a standard news source.  We often hear about the negative side of everything.  Terrorist attacks, hurricanes, death, disease, addiction, lies, and so on.  All of these things are negative.  But, much like in Monday Night Raw, it makes people keeping going back day after day.  People love watching celebrity drama for the same reason.  All of this results in higher viewer counts and higher profits for the network.  So the overall message that I learned is this: negative media means higher profits.
• I got closer to people with whom I worked in Academic Support, like Maradith, Ricky, and Deborah.  I like them.
• Kimmy and I went to Florida for a spring break mission trip.  It was really good.  I became pretty good friends with a guy who lived near me my freshman year and some other people I had never seen before.
• Kimmy and I hung out!
• My Senior Colloquium class was very enlightening.  Every Wednesday Joe Noonen had breakfast together and talked about different topics and ethically evaluated them.  Such as the implications of corporate-run prisons.  We would take some scenario and break it down into the most fundamental parts of what was going on, looking at everything in terms of personal relationships and interactions.  It was very good for considering just how complicated every single situation is so complicated.  It made me realize that since simple scenarios can actually be very complicated, we shouldn't take really complicated topics and automatically have a canned opinion of them.  It is of utmost importance to always have an open mind.
• I graduated!
• Over the summer I went to Montana with the family.  And driving out there is not fun.
• I took an economics class.  It was ok.
• I helped mama and poppy move to their new place.
• I started blogging, which acts as an open journal.  Keeping a journal has been one of the best decisions I've made in my recent years.
• I had a fantastic summer of hanging out with Becky and Miles.
• This fall was a very big learning experience for me.  I finally learned what an actuary is, I made some new friends, went to a job fair, learned how to make a resume, and I'm learning how to interview.
• I've taken three of the hardest class I've ever had and used bits and pieces of a lot of my mathematical background.  Even the things I didn't think I would ever use.
• I learned what it means to study.  Like actually study.
• I'm learning how to live on my own and do big kid things.  Like cook and pay bills and budget.
• Kimmy and I got engaged!
• I taught a freshman level math class this past fall.  It was fun, but I am very glad that I decided not to teach for the rest of my life.  It just isn't for me.
• I learned many more lessons of frustration, disappointment, sadness, and confusion.
• Overall the fall semester was a success.  I think that many of you have read about it as I have blogged.
• There have been many many more things, but I don't have the time to discuss them all.  I hope that everyone else has also had an exciting year.  I'd love to hear about your year in the comments.  Even if you're one of those people that never comments or "likes," you should say something about your year, be it good or bad.

When I got home I very promptly took a shower.  I didn't smell very good and I felt disgusting.  After my shower I did some studying, napped, and then more studying.  Then Kimmy got here for dinner!  And after dinner we all just hung out for a while.  Eventually Kimmy and I went to Becky's to celebrate Marci's birthday!  We had cake and played Dominion.  And then we came home because Kimmy and I were tired.  The end!

Day 222

Well, happy new years, everyone.


Today was pretty good.  Apparently my body decided to wake up around 5am and just stay awake.  So that was pretty neat.  I wasn't feeling especially fantastic, but I couldn't sleep. I got up, ate some breakfast, took a shower, then went to lay down for a little bit.  Miles was coming over around 9:30, so I had to be ready.  He and I came down to Cincinnati for new year's at AJ's apartment.  So Miles and I left around 9:30, stopped at Wal-mart to get snacks, and then headed off to Cincinnati.


The trip was long.  It was a good trip, but very long.  We got here a little bit before Mark and John, so we went to the store to get Hawaiian rolls.  By the time we got back, Mark and John were almost there.  When they arrived, we played some games.  Then we went to Skyline for dinner.  I wasn't really impressed.  Oh well.


Umm... then we played video games for a while.  Like, the rest of the night.  I've come to realize that new years has lost a lot of significance.  Around 12:15 someone looked at their phone and said "oh... I guess it's the new year."  And that was it.  But I didn't mind too much.


Sorry for the short post, but I'm pretty tired, so I might try to sleep or something.  Night