Today feels like it was such a long day. It was really good, but I'm actually quite astounded at how long it has seemed.
I got up around 7 to get started with the day. After I finished showering Kimmy got up to get ready for her interview. Macy's called her back and wanted to set up another interview. So while she got ready I got some breakfast and worked on homework problems. I did that for the rest of the morning. It was such fun.
Kimmy came back from her interview and she got the job! Yay! Now we can pay the bills. Life is wonderful. She needed to get some new clothes to wear for work, so she went to a couple stores and did her thing.
While she was gone I got some lunch and entered some grades into Blackboard. I also made my dish for our potluck. We had some potatoes, so I just chopped them up and made fries. I need to get some good spice mixes. The ones I have....well... I don't really have many. So usually I just have to hazard a guess and mix some spices together. Usually it turns out well, but I've gotten some weird results.
Anyhow, after Kimmy got back we got ready for the potluck. We made sure we got there at the beginning because I volunteered to cook the chicken. The potluck was at Kathryn and Erica's apartment, so we got over there and I started doing my magic. And by "magic" I mean "putting chicken in a dish and cooking it." I think that someday I'd like to try something really fancy. Something that tastes amazing, looks good, and isn't just a functional dish to satisfy an appetite and be edible. It would be fun, provided that I have the time and resources for it. We'll see. Once I start studying for my next exam.... I really don't want to think about that.
So the potluck was fun. There was this show on TV... I don't even remember what it was called but it was about this family Georgia, like super rural Georgia. And the entire point of the show was to point out how ridiculous, uneducated, and pathetic these peoples' lives are. Their drawl is so heavy that subtitles are often used, and most of the time the "sentences" don't even make sense. At first I was just mesmerized by this show... then I just felt sick. I have no regrets concerning our lack of cable TV. None at all.
Later on Tim and Erin came with one of their friends. Tim and Erin tend to be the conversational center in our outings. Which is really amazing because the rest of us are significantly sub-par at carrying on a conversation. Alyce (the aforementioned friend) is starting a grad program in Actuarial Science in New York, so she had all sorts of questions for us. Actually, since about 5 of us were new faces to her she had many questions to ask everyone. It was entertaining.
After well all left we came home and... did something. Hmm. I'm sure it was super important. But then Kimmy and I watched some more Firefly. I'm sad that there is only one season of it, because I have been enjoying it. Oh well.
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I got nearly all of my homework done, I just need to finish a few more problems. So homework, I give a test tomorrow, I'm working on homework for another class with some classmates, and then grading. I have much, much grading to do. Joy. And there is a resume workshop tomorrow evening, which I will be attending.
Well. Cheers!
9.03.2012
9.02.2012
Day 468
It's not quite bed time, but I feel like writing this now so I don't forget about it.
Well. Let's see here... I got up around 9. I took today as my relaxing day and will be absolutely taking advantage of having a three day weekend. Tomorrow I'll get things done... but today was for relaxing. We didn't go to church today because there was a combined service (I don't remember Pastor Mark saying why) and with the timing of Kimmy's parents having to check out of the hotel we would not have been done with church in time.
Kimmy and her parents and I went to the south side Walmart to pick up our mattress topper. Which.... is still in the dryer. I need to go get that.
Meh. It's not going anywhere.
When we got back Kimmy and I did some cleaning of our extra room to try to sort boxes. We've started a box of Goodwill things, so as we sort we can decide what we need and what someone else (at Goodwill) might want.
So we worked in there for a while, then I did some grading. That took a good chunk of the remainder of the afternoon, as well as playing a game with Jared. Kimmy took a nap. When she woke up she started making a pie for tomorrow, then we got dinner. I think that we're going to have to have someone come fix our oven because it never got hotter than about 350. Which is not good, since we had the oven at 400.
We started watching the Fellowship of the Ring during dinner, but neither of us really had the attention span for a long movie. So we stopped for now. We didn't really do anything productive after dinner, which was nice. I know I won't be able to do this very often, so I'm taking full advantage of having an extra day tomorrow to get more things done.
That's about it from over here in Muncie. Ciao.
Well. Let's see here... I got up around 9. I took today as my relaxing day and will be absolutely taking advantage of having a three day weekend. Tomorrow I'll get things done... but today was for relaxing. We didn't go to church today because there was a combined service (I don't remember Pastor Mark saying why) and with the timing of Kimmy's parents having to check out of the hotel we would not have been done with church in time.
Kimmy and her parents and I went to the south side Walmart to pick up our mattress topper. Which.... is still in the dryer. I need to go get that.
Meh. It's not going anywhere.
When we got back Kimmy and I did some cleaning of our extra room to try to sort boxes. We've started a box of Goodwill things, so as we sort we can decide what we need and what someone else (at Goodwill) might want.
So we worked in there for a while, then I did some grading. That took a good chunk of the remainder of the afternoon, as well as playing a game with Jared. Kimmy took a nap. When she woke up she started making a pie for tomorrow, then we got dinner. I think that we're going to have to have someone come fix our oven because it never got hotter than about 350. Which is not good, since we had the oven at 400.
We started watching the Fellowship of the Ring during dinner, but neither of us really had the attention span for a long movie. So we stopped for now. We didn't really do anything productive after dinner, which was nice. I know I won't be able to do this very often, so I'm taking full advantage of having an extra day tomorrow to get more things done.
That's about it from over here in Muncie. Ciao.
9.01.2012
Day 467
I successfully had a Saturday!
I slept in... a lot. Like, until 9! It was wonderful. After I got up I showered and things. Then Kimmy and I had breakfast. After breakfast we did our grocery shopping for the week. The only thing we got from the farmer's market this week was a pepper. It seems that the only fruit at the market is watermelon. Speaking of watermelon, ours started to ferment in the fridge, so we threw it out.
After lunch I got to work on writing the exam for my students on Tuesday. And... that was the rest of my afternoon. Yep! I think I have it pretty well finished though.
We went to dinner with Kimmy's parents at Chili's. It was nice. Then we came back and talked for a while. I had to go get some more work on grading and test-making done. Kimmy and her parents made a trip to Wal-mart after a bit and I finished up my work for the evening.
After I finished working (and applying to another job) I played a quick game with AJ and his cousins, then had some ice cream with Kimmy.
And now it's bed time. Good night, friends!
I slept in... a lot. Like, until 9! It was wonderful. After I got up I showered and things. Then Kimmy and I had breakfast. After breakfast we did our grocery shopping for the week. The only thing we got from the farmer's market this week was a pepper. It seems that the only fruit at the market is watermelon. Speaking of watermelon, ours started to ferment in the fridge, so we threw it out.
After lunch I got to work on writing the exam for my students on Tuesday. And... that was the rest of my afternoon. Yep! I think I have it pretty well finished though.
We went to dinner with Kimmy's parents at Chili's. It was nice. Then we came back and talked for a while. I had to go get some more work on grading and test-making done. Kimmy and her parents made a trip to Wal-mart after a bit and I finished up my work for the evening.
After I finished working (and applying to another job) I played a quick game with AJ and his cousins, then had some ice cream with Kimmy.
And now it's bed time. Good night, friends!
Day 466
It appears that I slept in today. And it felt amazing.
But I didn't sleep in yesterday. Yesterday morning I got up early, paid some bills, applied for a couple jobs, then did some studying. Apparently when I applied for the jobs on Thursday I didn't realize that they all had questionnaires, so I did all that nonsense.
After studying I had lunch and went to class. We just had our quiz, no real class worth mentioning. And since the quizzes are just questions off of the homework (this is his way of making sure we do the homework, instead of turning in the entire assignment), I was done in a couple of minutes. During our other class we continued out discussion on "The Binomial Pricing Model for European Puts and American Option for 3 or more periods." It was pretty intense. But it was really just an extension of our discussion on the Two-Period Binomial pricing model for European calls from Wednesday. After class I stuck around and talked with Mr. Owens about teaching. He and I are both teaching the same math class, so we talked about different methods we use. I told him that I avoid using Powerpoint slides because I tend to go to fast, but if I write things on the board I maintain the same pace as the students.
When I got back I talked with Kimmy a little bit, then we went on a date to Pizza hut! We decided to be adventurous and get a stuffed crust pizza.... it was really good. I imagine that will be happening again sometime. When we got back we played some Left4Dead, then a game on Kinect. Kinect is basically a web-cam that you attach to an Xbox. It tracks your body movement and there are certain games you can play with Kinect. The one we were playing involved some jumping.... and apparently our ceiling is really low. I hit my head on the ceiling. It didn't feel good. But surprisingly I didn't get a headache or anything. So after that I didn't really feel like playing anymore. So we watched an episode of Firefly, then went to bed!
But I didn't sleep in yesterday. Yesterday morning I got up early, paid some bills, applied for a couple jobs, then did some studying. Apparently when I applied for the jobs on Thursday I didn't realize that they all had questionnaires, so I did all that nonsense.
After studying I had lunch and went to class. We just had our quiz, no real class worth mentioning. And since the quizzes are just questions off of the homework (this is his way of making sure we do the homework, instead of turning in the entire assignment), I was done in a couple of minutes. During our other class we continued out discussion on "The Binomial Pricing Model for European Puts and American Option for 3 or more periods." It was pretty intense. But it was really just an extension of our discussion on the Two-Period Binomial pricing model for European calls from Wednesday. After class I stuck around and talked with Mr. Owens about teaching. He and I are both teaching the same math class, so we talked about different methods we use. I told him that I avoid using Powerpoint slides because I tend to go to fast, but if I write things on the board I maintain the same pace as the students.
When I got back I talked with Kimmy a little bit, then we went on a date to Pizza hut! We decided to be adventurous and get a stuffed crust pizza.... it was really good. I imagine that will be happening again sometime. When we got back we played some Left4Dead, then a game on Kinect. Kinect is basically a web-cam that you attach to an Xbox. It tracks your body movement and there are certain games you can play with Kinect. The one we were playing involved some jumping.... and apparently our ceiling is really low. I hit my head on the ceiling. It didn't feel good. But surprisingly I didn't get a headache or anything. So after that I didn't really feel like playing anymore. So we watched an episode of Firefly, then went to bed!
8.30.2012
Day 465
Today was somewhat strange.
I got up to do some last minute preparation for class. But then I realized that I was already pretty well prepared, so I applied for a few more jobs. Three of them were "data mining" jobs, and one of them was actuarial.
Today's class was just review for the exam on Tuesday. It's really more of a quiz, but oh well. I'm only covering one chapter on it. So we reviewed. Everyone *seems* to understand it pretty well, so we'll see how the test goes!
After class I did some homework in my office for a while. Then one of my students came up to my office to ask some questions. So we worked through some problems and I tried to explain some things better. I think it helped. She was doing a lot better at the problems by the time she left. We ended up leaving my office to go to the computer lab so that I could use the dry-erase board up there.
Then I had class. We started to actually get into the material and discussing how linear regression models are made. We have our first homework assignment next week, so we'll see how it goes. I had this really weird experience during class. About ten minutes in I got really disoriented? And I couldn't figure out what day it was, what I'd done that day, why I was in class, or (if it was Thursday) what I'd done all week. It was really odd.
When I got back home Kimmy and I programmed our new garage door openers! So now we don't have to get out of the car, unlock the side door, open the garage, then get back in the car and park. It was pretty annoying. Then we made shepherd's pie for dinner. It took longer than I had anticipated, but mostly because I just had a really hard time trying to figure out how to do everything. But we got it done, then watched Firefly during dinner. After we finished eating I did some more studying. At some point I want to start adding things to my food blog...we'll see how that goes.
And now we're going to bed. Good night!
I got up to do some last minute preparation for class. But then I realized that I was already pretty well prepared, so I applied for a few more jobs. Three of them were "data mining" jobs, and one of them was actuarial.
Today's class was just review for the exam on Tuesday. It's really more of a quiz, but oh well. I'm only covering one chapter on it. So we reviewed. Everyone *seems* to understand it pretty well, so we'll see how the test goes!
After class I did some homework in my office for a while. Then one of my students came up to my office to ask some questions. So we worked through some problems and I tried to explain some things better. I think it helped. She was doing a lot better at the problems by the time she left. We ended up leaving my office to go to the computer lab so that I could use the dry-erase board up there.
Then I had class. We started to actually get into the material and discussing how linear regression models are made. We have our first homework assignment next week, so we'll see how it goes. I had this really weird experience during class. About ten minutes in I got really disoriented? And I couldn't figure out what day it was, what I'd done that day, why I was in class, or (if it was Thursday) what I'd done all week. It was really odd.
When I got back home Kimmy and I programmed our new garage door openers! So now we don't have to get out of the car, unlock the side door, open the garage, then get back in the car and park. It was pretty annoying. Then we made shepherd's pie for dinner. It took longer than I had anticipated, but mostly because I just had a really hard time trying to figure out how to do everything. But we got it done, then watched Firefly during dinner. After we finished eating I did some more studying. At some point I want to start adding things to my food blog...we'll see how that goes.
And now we're going to bed. Good night!
8.29.2012
Day 464
I started the day off by being an adult! After my shower and everything I bought some auto and renter's insurance. All by myself! And then I payed some utility bills.
After my little stint of adulthood I did some grading and other prep for class tomorrow. Then I got some lunch and went to class.
While I was at class Kimmy drove to Anderson to apply for a job at a candy store. She's been applying at a lot of places in the past couple of weeks, so hopefully she can get some interviews soon. Muncie doesn't have a lot of open positions... unless you're a truck driver.
Anyhow, class was fine. I felt like I was really able to follow along well in my MFE class, which is nice. Sometimes I feel like we go really fast and I can't really keep up. But today I was able to contribute and things. It was nice. One of the guys in our class is an executive in the Actuarial Club, so he gave a plug-in for the meeting tonight. He made a comment about how grad students don't really get involved with it and he wasn't so sure why, so Tim gave him a response. Generally the club is very adamant about how helpful it is to be in the club because you get to have presentations from different companies and put your resume in their resume book that gets handed out to some (probably ten to twenty) companies. So Tim asked this guy if he had any data to show how many people had gotten jobs from this resume book. This was met with silence. Our professor (Mr. Owens) was able to defend the guy from the club a little bit by saying that the resume book will get looked at specifically by actuaries who want to hire... not just someone in HR. But Mr. Owens was also curious as to whether anyone has actually gotten hired through use of the resume book.
When I got back Kimmy and I had an early dinner. This evening I went to the Actuarial Club meeting, so I had to eat early and leave. I gave a presentation there! It was the first meeting of the year, so the first half was mainly just the club executives introducing themselves and explaining why we should all be in the club. Then a few of us who've been meeting together discussed why the students (specifically freshmen) should be going to the career fair and getting internships. My part was about how to prepare for the career fair and be professional. So another guy and I talked about how to dress, how to control "intangibles" (like handshakes, smiling, eye contact), and things of that nature. I thought it went well. Mr. Owens went and he had a lot of good advice to add. After it was over I talked with some of the other students about our internships and we compared notes a little bit. It was interesting to hear their experiences and to swap stories.
After I got home I attempted to do some work, but my brain was fried. After making no progress I stopped trying. I did a lot of work today and my brain was quite ready to be done. Yup!
So now I'm off to bed. Good night!
After my little stint of adulthood I did some grading and other prep for class tomorrow. Then I got some lunch and went to class.
While I was at class Kimmy drove to Anderson to apply for a job at a candy store. She's been applying at a lot of places in the past couple of weeks, so hopefully she can get some interviews soon. Muncie doesn't have a lot of open positions... unless you're a truck driver.
Anyhow, class was fine. I felt like I was really able to follow along well in my MFE class, which is nice. Sometimes I feel like we go really fast and I can't really keep up. But today I was able to contribute and things. It was nice. One of the guys in our class is an executive in the Actuarial Club, so he gave a plug-in for the meeting tonight. He made a comment about how grad students don't really get involved with it and he wasn't so sure why, so Tim gave him a response. Generally the club is very adamant about how helpful it is to be in the club because you get to have presentations from different companies and put your resume in their resume book that gets handed out to some (probably ten to twenty) companies. So Tim asked this guy if he had any data to show how many people had gotten jobs from this resume book. This was met with silence. Our professor (Mr. Owens) was able to defend the guy from the club a little bit by saying that the resume book will get looked at specifically by actuaries who want to hire... not just someone in HR. But Mr. Owens was also curious as to whether anyone has actually gotten hired through use of the resume book.
When I got back Kimmy and I had an early dinner. This evening I went to the Actuarial Club meeting, so I had to eat early and leave. I gave a presentation there! It was the first meeting of the year, so the first half was mainly just the club executives introducing themselves and explaining why we should all be in the club. Then a few of us who've been meeting together discussed why the students (specifically freshmen) should be going to the career fair and getting internships. My part was about how to prepare for the career fair and be professional. So another guy and I talked about how to dress, how to control "intangibles" (like handshakes, smiling, eye contact), and things of that nature. I thought it went well. Mr. Owens went and he had a lot of good advice to add. After it was over I talked with some of the other students about our internships and we compared notes a little bit. It was interesting to hear their experiences and to swap stories.
After I got home I attempted to do some work, but my brain was fried. After making no progress I stopped trying. I did a lot of work today and my brain was quite ready to be done. Yup!
So now I'm off to bed. Good night!
8.28.2012
Day 463
Today began with class. I taught the last section of the chapter before I start reviewing for the exam next week. We got through the material really quickly, so I was able to go over some questions on the project and go over the study guide for the exam. I think they'll do well.
After class I went to my office to work on the take home quiz for Foley's class. It wasn't too bad. Then I had lunch with Timbo and Paul. I took a sandwich instead of a salad because I didn't have a lot of lettuce left. It's hard to take a salad when I only pack a lunch twice a week because when I'm at home, it's just easier to eat left overs or something. Oh well. Hopefully at some point I can get back to eating salads.
After class I came home whereupon Kimmy and I cleaned up a little bit. Timbo and Paul came over for dinner! Paul wants to get better at cooking, so I showed him how I make chicken and rice. It's a nice easy meal that is quite tasty. So they helped me cook dinner. During dinner we talked about getting jobs and I kind of explained my perspective on how wages work. In a corporate office, you are often paid for a number of things. It could be expertise needed for the job (whether it's formal education or specific training), it could be how much other people like or dislike doing that job, or it could be how much of your life this job consumes. If you have a job that requires you to only put in your 8 hours then go home and only requires an associate's degree, you won't be paid as much (generally) as someone who had to have a PhD in some area and is required to travel every other weekend. In the case of executives, they get paid 6 or 7 figure salaries because they are getting paid to not have a life outside of work. They could be putting in 14 or so hour days 6 days a week... and probably even doing some work on the seventh day. Not many people have that expertise, that desire to devote their entire life into work, or the will to give up their entire personal life for work. Some people really want to do that. Personally, I'd prefer to get a decent job and enjoy my life.... not just watch my bank account grow but never use it.
Anyhow. After they went home I did some studying for a while. Then.... I was done. Kimmy and I ate some cheesecake and watched a TED talk. I applied for a couple of jobs! Hopefully I hear back from them... sometime!
I'm going to bed now. Good night!
After class I went to my office to work on the take home quiz for Foley's class. It wasn't too bad. Then I had lunch with Timbo and Paul. I took a sandwich instead of a salad because I didn't have a lot of lettuce left. It's hard to take a salad when I only pack a lunch twice a week because when I'm at home, it's just easier to eat left overs or something. Oh well. Hopefully at some point I can get back to eating salads.
After class I came home whereupon Kimmy and I cleaned up a little bit. Timbo and Paul came over for dinner! Paul wants to get better at cooking, so I showed him how I make chicken and rice. It's a nice easy meal that is quite tasty. So they helped me cook dinner. During dinner we talked about getting jobs and I kind of explained my perspective on how wages work. In a corporate office, you are often paid for a number of things. It could be expertise needed for the job (whether it's formal education or specific training), it could be how much other people like or dislike doing that job, or it could be how much of your life this job consumes. If you have a job that requires you to only put in your 8 hours then go home and only requires an associate's degree, you won't be paid as much (generally) as someone who had to have a PhD in some area and is required to travel every other weekend. In the case of executives, they get paid 6 or 7 figure salaries because they are getting paid to not have a life outside of work. They could be putting in 14 or so hour days 6 days a week... and probably even doing some work on the seventh day. Not many people have that expertise, that desire to devote their entire life into work, or the will to give up their entire personal life for work. Some people really want to do that. Personally, I'd prefer to get a decent job and enjoy my life.... not just watch my bank account grow but never use it.
Anyhow. After they went home I did some studying for a while. Then.... I was done. Kimmy and I ate some cheesecake and watched a TED talk. I applied for a couple of jobs! Hopefully I hear back from them... sometime!
I'm going to bed now. Good night!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)