Term 2081 Schedule

Time to start year two! And so, as usual, here is my schedule for the fall term:

Class Titles and Credit Values
ChE 0100	Foundations of Chemical Engineering	6 cr.
ChE 0101	Foundations of Chemical Engineering Lab	1 cr.
ChE 1085	Departmental Seminar	0 cr.
CHEM 0310	Organic Chemistry 1	3 cr.
CHEM 0330	Organic Chemistry Lab 1	1 cr.
MATH 0290	Differential Equations	3 cr.
MUSIC 0612	Heinz Chapel Choir	1 cr.
MUSIC 0630	Marching Band	1 cr.
		16 cr.

Classes begin 27 August 2007; final exams are 10-15 December 2007. No classes 03 September for Labor Day, or 21-25 November for Thanksgiving Recess.

The first thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is that my Organic Chemistry (OChem) lab cuts into choir. Oh, well; that's life. I already talked to the choir director and he (very cautiously) said that I'm a fast enough learner that he can spare me for one hour a week. And that leads right into marching band, too.

Last year, the procedure was to leave choir around 17:35 (15 minutes early) to be able to be on the practice field for band by 18:15 (15 minutes late). Since I'll be an hour late to choir on Tuesdays, that doesn't work. So I'll end up getting to band around 18:35 or so on Tuesdays, which isn't great, but at least I can afford it. And it's a doubly good thing that choir doesn't start until Thursday 30 August, so I won't have to use this technique until 04 September.

Moving on to my actual classes. It seems I get off-track like this every time I go over a schedule...

Oh, 08:00 classes. I think Foundations (ChE 0100) will be okay, though; since I managed to get up today and get to the room in under seven minutes, something I could never have done living on upper campus. The elevators in Benedum are, surprisingly enough, not so busy at 07:55 as they are at, say, 09:55 or 10:55.

My professor is fluent in English, which is good, and he has a bit of a sense of humor. After going over some basic examples in class today, he said, "we could go on all day listing more examples, but instead we'll go on all semester... just in more detail." So for an 08:00 class, at least the guy's trying to make it fun. Plus, since it's two hours long, we got a break in the middle. I don't know if that will become standard, but it was nice nonetheless.

I was able to grab a bagel between Foundations and OChem (CHEM 0310). Not that that matters, because I should have eaten breakfast before my first class. Stupid alarm clocks. Anyway, this just shows that I'm slowly adapting to the new meal plan; it's really weird. But that shall be another post.

The OChem professor, George, likes to be referred to by his first name because "that's the name [his] parents gave him." So there you go, my dear friends. With very little fluff, we just jumped right into business, and started the usual "review" of past material which begins a new term. He did, however, mention that he is the slowest in the department when it comes to teaching organic chemistry, and so toward the end of the term, he'll ask us to come in on some Sunday afternoons. At least he admits it upfront, you know?

George had a good analogy up his sleeve for chemical bonding, too. He said that he was a helium atom, and he pointed out another student (again, atomic helium). He waved his right arm around, called it his electron, and had the student do the same. He mentioned that because both arms were extended outwards, there was a mutual attraction between them, so they got closer and closer until they formed a bond (a handshake). But, he added, if he were to get too close to the other atom, the internuclear forces would cause it (or the other student) to become repulsed!

So if I've got to get up for three hours of classes from 08:00 to 11:00 thrice a week, at least these people have senses of humor, right?

My Diff. Eq. (MATH 0290) professor took a similar approach to jumping right in. He's very soft spoken (i.e., hard to hear), and he has a thicker accent, although it is, for the most part, decipherable. He did, however, lose just about everybody in the class in the first step of the second example, where he did the following in one step:


I thought that's what we were taking that class to learn. I'm going to thoroughly read the assigned section to see if that's in there... and if not, I will definitely consider looking at other options as far as Diff. Eq. professors go.

That's about all; this is long enough as it is. Besides, I've got to be up for class at 08:00 again! All in all, it was a good day.

Random tangent: The left window in my room is stuck. Stuck slightly open. Facing Fifth Avenue. Ugh.