Term 2074 Schedule

Ah, the first day of classes! And you know what that means: Schedule Posting Time! You've probably grown used to it by now. Anyway, here it is:

Class Titles and Credit Values
CHEM 0770	Honors General Chemistry for Engineers 2	4 cr.
ENGR 0082	Freshman Engineering Seminar 2	0 cr.
ENGR 0715	Engineering Applications for Society	3 cr.
MATH 0240	Analytic Geometry & Calculus 3	4 cr.
PHYS 0175	Basic Physics for Science & Engineering 2	3 cr.
PS 0200	American Political Process	3 cr.
		18 cr.
Additional Participation
MUSIC 0612	Heinz Chapel Choir	(1 cr.)
MUSIC 0631	Concert Band	(1 cr.)

Classes begin 03 January 2007; final exams are 23-28 April 2007. No classes 15 January for Martin Luther King's Birthday Observance, or 04-11 March for Spring Recess.

And yes, that's right, I made the concert band! For my friends and family who would like to come out to a concert, I'll find out when those dates are and will post them here. As you can see, I'm also still in the Heinz Chapel Choir like last term. You may have noticed, though, that I am registered for neither ensemble. My scholarship covers 18 credits; any more than that, and I'd have to pay. And I'm sorry, but it's not worth $473/credit ($946 in this case, since it's two) just for some easy A's to show up on my transcript when I can have all the fun for free!

As for my actual academic classes, you'll see CHEM 0770 in the exact same spot as CHEM 0760 was last term. Same guy, same book, same time, same place. To steal a slogan from Staples, "That was easy." Not so easy is the four-hour CHEM lab on Monday afternoon. It was either that or Friday, and why would I put myself through such misery on a Friday? Actually, the professor just said today that the Friday lab session was cancelled due to low enrollment. So I made the right choice.

By the way, did you notice how awesome my Fridays will be? Of course, I'll be doing errands and laundry most of those Friday afternoons, but going into Spring Recess, for example, I could easily be back home in time for dinner.

PS 0200 looks like it'll be fun. And I thought there was a chance Emily had been slightly exaggerating the guy's coughing habits. Nope. I'll get used to it, though; I'll just think of it as an accent that's really easy to decipher.

As you can see, I had a PHYS 0175 recitation today before having had a single lecture. We did a little activity that tested our knowledge from PHYS 0174 for a participation grade. The TA seems nice and is relatively easy to understand, which in the Physics Department is quite an achievement. My professor for lectures subbed for my PHYS 0174 professor once, and she is quite knowledgeable. Chattering students in the lecture hall that day were quickly told to be quiet and were even reminded that she had been teaching here for many years and was, in fact, competent enough to present the material. Anyway, the course is Electricity and Magnetism, so we'll see how that goes.

If you didn't notice, MATH 0240 is a night class. I don't think the time of day will be as much of an issue as the frequency of the meetings. Last term, MATH 0235 met in some form or another five days a week (lecture Mon., Wed., Fri.; computing Tues.; recitation Thurs.). But all this Calculus 3 material will be dumped into my head on only two nights a week. Not exactly the best way to learn calculus, according to both my MATH 0235 professor and my prior experience with calculus in high school.

I obviously can't say anything about ENGR 0715 yet, and ENGR 0082 isn't worth mentioning since it's a seminar that only lasts until we declare our majors on 28 February. That's scary. I've been telling everybody who has asked that it would be in March, which felt a little further away. But even being the last day of February makes it seem so much closer. I will, of course, post any important news as it arises, and as my schedule permits.

And that's a look at what I've got ahead of me. I set the bar with last term, and my goal is to aim higher. It doesn't matter how much higher, nor does it matter if I even reach the goal. The point is, I aim higher. And if I do that, I will be satisfied.

Random tangent: Last I checked, Craig still hadn't picked up his "cookery book" from the gâteau escapade, which I will write about on this blog sometime soon, I hope. The problem is, I'm down here in Pittsburgh, along with the last piece of the gâteau, which I have decided will be my birthday cake. My guess is a couple phone calls on my part combined with a little proactivity on Craig's part (i.e., not sleeping in until 16:00) will do the trick.