June 26, 2006
School Stuff
Well I am thinking about dropping my Bachlor's degree at University of Maryland. I am just not motivated at all, and I don't think the classroom settings they have are working well for me. I do better in a smaller school I think, or possibly online. I think I am likely to end up withdrawing and trying to find some sort of online program so I can get my degree. Since I am just getting my degree in case I ever need it, not because I need it for a job it isn't extremely important that I get it from a certain school or that I even get it.
It just doesn't seem to be working at Maryland though, I am really unmotivated to go to my classes and do the work and i keep wondering what the point of it is, plus since it is a big University you don't really get to know your teachers and you can tell they mostly care more about their research then the students.
Posted by tabrizia at 09:46 PM
February 21, 2006
Hebrew has been dropped
Well I got to the Dean's office today to drop Hebrew. Actually I first tried to drop it off the online system last week, but you can't drop more then 4 hours at a time and it is a 6 hour class, so no go. So today I went in to see my advisior, talked to him and he told me I had to go to the Dean's office in AV Williams. So after classes I headed over. Got over, filled out some forms and paperwork and talked to the Dean that was there, he was great and dropped me from Hebrew. He even back-dated the drop so it has me dropping it on January 24th before classes started, which means I should get a refund on the drop as well which will be nice. So Hebrew has been officially dropped.
Now to work on studying for my stat test and doing my linear algebra homework, yay homework...
Posted by tabrizia at 05:02 PM
January 24, 2006
Books bought, Final Taken
I meant to post this yesterday and never got around to it. Got to the Uni yesterday morning and decided to buy my books since the semester starts on Wednesday. Went down picked up my 4 books for my 4 classes and got in line to pay. Now the credit card system was down, what joy. So got to wait 15 minutes or so for them to fix it (I figured it was still faster then getting them Wednesday). Got up to the counter and the girl starts rining up my books, my Hebrew book won't scan, so she had to have one of the manager type people take it back and figure it out, so after another 5 minutes or so she finally finished ringing up my books. $430 later I leave with my books.
Let me say right here $430 for books is insane, especially since if i take out the price of the Hebrew book it is $380 on 3 books which is really really pricey. I mean I bought them all, thanks Dad, but I look at the price and keep thinking I could have a nice 4 day vaction in Aruba for that.
Got my books and lunch and then surfed for awhile before heading to my final. Took the final, completely didn't know the answer to one question, but it was only a 6 point question, plus if I was calculating my grade right I needed a 72 on the final to get an A in the class. Finished the final which was fairly easy discounting the problem with that one problem, well that and I remembered afterwards how to do another piece better, but no biggie there either.
So yesterday wasn't too horrible except for the whole pay outrageous ammounts on books and it really is insane how much books are.
Posted by tabrizia at 06:37 PM
January 03, 2006
My new Javascript class
Well I'm in the middle of my new javascript class. It isn't too bad so far. He is going over some extremely simple concepts right now though, so it is a bit boring. I appriciate that he assumes we know nothing, it would be really helpful if I did know nothing. However, he is going over html right now, and I know basic html, I know intermediate html, I'm not willing to go so far as to say I know expert level html. However, I can do CSS and make any basic HTML website with no problem what so ever. Which means this piece of the class is kind of pointless for me.
We should be getting into psuedocode/javascript soon though maybe not till tomorrow and that will at least be semi new (I did do psuedo code back in 2006-2007 at GATech, but at least that was 9+ years ago).
The professor is fairly amusing which is nice, and the class is about 95% math majors, the rest are EE and other types like that majors. No real CS people since it isn't a CS major class.
Well hopefully it will be a fairly easy class overall.
Posted by tabrizia at 03:54 PM
November 09, 2005
Classes Registered for!
Well my imunization forms and stuff block was finally removed from my ability to register this morning so I finally was able to register for classes.
Fortunately it is still fairly early in the registration time period so all the classes I wanted still had space.
I am taking Winter Mini-semester:
CMSC198J Special Topics in Computer Science for Non-Majors; (3 credits) This is a java script class. I need one computer science class to graduate so this seemed like a nice one to take. It is M-F 3pm till 6pm for the month of January.
For Spring I am taking:
HEBR112 Elementary Hebrew II; (6 credits)
Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 9am tiill 10:50am
ECON305 Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory and Policy; (3 credits)
Monday, Wednesday, Fridays from 1pm till 1:50pm
(I am really happy with this class I got into one of the 45 student classes rather then one of the 180 student classes)
STAT410 Introduction to Probability Theory; (3 credits) Probability and its properties. Random variables and distribution functions in one and several dimensions. Moments. Characteristic functions. Limit theorems.
Thuesday and Thursday from 2pm till 3:15pm
MATH405 Linear Algebra; (3 credits) An abstract treatment of finite dimensional vector spaces. Linear transformations and their invariants.
Tuesday and Thursday from 11am till 12:15pm
(This is really advanced Linear Algebra I already took the basic Linear Algebra class)
It is a fairly nice schedule with only two classes each day, though Hebrew is a long class at two hours. I get done at a decent time though so overall I am really happy with my schedule, oh and as a bonus my largest class is econ with 45 students. Both Math classes are capped at 30 and Hebrew is capped at 15 so I won't have to deal with huge lecture hall classes in Spring thank goodness.
Posted by tabrizia at 03:56 PM
November 07, 2005
Got my midterm/early warning grades today
3 No Grade Submitted
1 Satisfactory
Wow that was totally useless especially since it was a 6 week report and I've been in class closer to 9 or 10 weeks now. Go go completely pointless paperwork stuff.
Posted by tabrizia at 08:21 PM
October 17, 2005
Econ Test Lost Again, though different test!
Okay so now my Macro Economics test doesn't have a grade, sigh I swear I am the only person I know who ends up with missing grades on two econ tests from entirely different classes.
Posted by tabrizia at 01:22 PM
October 12, 2005
Lost Econ Test was found
It was lost or won't scantron or something, all I know is my teacher knew there was a problem and just posted the scores of people who were missing their grades, and mine was there. I got a B which is decent, not amazing but I'm still pretty happy with it.
Posted by tabrizia at 03:37 PM
September 22, 2005
Econ, more Econ and a bit more Econ
Ugh so tonight I decided to sit down and do my Econ homework, since it is due tomorrow and all. It was nasty. It isn't hard just tedious. And I hate tedium. There were three units to do with about 15 to 20 questions for each so it was just a ton of work that felt more like busy work then anything else. On the plus side it is done, and now I can study my other Econ class stuff, oh joy.
Posted by tabrizia at 11:28 PM
September 09, 2005
Bored out of my Mind
My brain is slowly being drained from my body and my will to live is decreasing. I am in the middle of the discussion section for Macro Economics and it ranks high as the most boring thing I have ever had to attend. I think I would rather have a tooth pulled without novicane, or maybe a cavity drilled.
Heck I'd probably go for a finger being chopped off. It is mind numblingly boring...
The TAs voice isn't helping any, he has a slight accent which for some reason is really grating on my nerves, which is odd I normally am never annoyed by accents but for some reason he is really grating today and I am losing my will to live. Oh thank god he is done!
Posted by tabrizia at 01:31 PM
September 07, 2005
This is why I hate spending money
Many students have not been able to acquire the Aplia package. Those students with the package should do the assigned work, but all deadlines for turning in assignments have been suspended until the bookstores make the package available to all students. Professor Terrell
Of course this comes up on the website after I spend the $60 on just the program because the bookstore has no more packages.
Posted by tabrizia at 10:00 PM
Money doesn't grow on tree, despite what I wish
So yesterday in History I notice I have the wrong edition of the spine book we are using (spine book the main book which the rest of the books in the class spider off from). So I figure maybe there weren't many changes.
I head to the bookstore since I need to check on the Econ book because I really don't want to spend 60$ on the computer program only when the whole package is only $100. Of course they don't have the package, so no package for me it looks like I'll have to spend that $60. I also check out the history book and learn that yes in the past 9 years it has been majorly updated and I do need to get the newer version.
So I pick up the book for $40. Which was not high on my list to spend, on the plus side the last edition of the book which I did buy was only $4.50 so I didn't really lose money, I just spent money I didn't want to.
So in otherwords I get to spend an extra $100 on books for my classes that wasn't in my originial plan. Which sucks, but in the end since my Dad more or less pays for my books I can't really complain too much.
On the plus side I am getting money back from refunds, though mail in refunds are a pain because you spend the money and then get back the refund 8 to 10 weeks later.
Posted by tabrizia at 02:39 PM
September 02, 2005
Classes, Books and the First few days of Uni
Well I've made it through my first three days of classes go me. So far my classes all seem fairly interesting. My Math class' professor is a bit odd, but what can you expect from a math professor.
Both my Micro and Macro Econ teachers appear to be interesting enough. Of course the fact those classes have over 400 people in them does not help at all. They are both in the same lecture hall and the discussion class is held in the same hall and not broken into smaller groups. I'm not really sure why they call it a discussion when there are over 400 people there, since 400 people do not discuss anything all together.
Ancient History looks interesting. I like the professor he seems like a nice guy. He spent the first class showing us the difference between his dog princess and humans. Well 5 minutes of the class but it was still entertaining. That class has 140ish in it but at least those discussion sections are broken down into groups of 20 which can actually hold discussions on things.
So so far I'm pretty happy with my profs, though it is odd to have all male professors, don't think it has ever happened to me before.
I had to drive myself to class this week since Dan was home waiting for the contractors and such. The parking lot I have is one of the closest there is for student parking. It takes 25 to 30 minutes for me to walk from my parking lot to the student union. Thank goodness for the north campus bus even if it does run every 30 minutes. The campus is huge I haven't gotten lost yet and feel pretty confident about finding my way around to my 4 classes this semester.
I am glad to report my laptop works in all 4 of my classrooms, no need to ask me how I know this :).
Oh so my MicroEconomics class requires use of a computer program, not a big deal. Except it is packaged with the new books, well the bookstore had run out of new books so I bought used, and the software costs 60$ alone. Ouch ick blegh. Plus it is only useable for the one semester, so it is $60 one semester use fee. Which sucks, so I'm going to check the other bookstore and see if they have any new copies of my economics book so I can return the used copy I bought.
Posted by tabrizia at 05:45 PM
August 30, 2005
New Laptop
Well I got my new laptop for school today, yay! It is really pretty, it is a powerbook 15 inch. I got 1 gig of Ram in it. It is really pretty and I'm thinking of naming it Dante.
I have installed a couple of programs on it and it is really easy to use which is nice. Everything installed easily and it was a painless process to get it to work. Overall it is a great machine and I'm enjoying playing with it a lot. It should be really useful for school.
I also got 2 of my last 3 books for school today. So only one left to go yay!
Now I'm getting ready for school tomorrow. laundry is done, bags are packed and I just need to make lunch. Hopefully tomorrow will go well and my classes will be interesting.
Posted by tabrizia at 11:14 PM
August 22, 2005
My first textbook arrived
Well I have to say I'm fairly impressed so far with Amazon's marketplace. On Friday I ordered books I need for the upcoming semester. Today the first one arrived. It was my most important book. My math book, and it is in great condition. Now I just need to wait on the other 8 books I have ordered. It was definately a nice experience though to get it so fast.
I went through and read the first section and it is basic logic so fairly interesting. I plan to finish reading through the first chapter before classes start so I'm ready to go next Wednesday.
Posted by tabrizia at 10:58 PM