Spring Break

Today marks the beginning of spring break at the University of Utah. So, I'm off to warmer climes, to spend the week in unfettered revelry. Well, okay, maybe not. I still have to go to work this week. Additionally, I have an exam in Thermodynamics next Wednesday, not to mention the senior comprehensives on the 25th and 26th. So for the most part, this week is going to be a lot like any other week - work and studying. But there are some subtle differences. Take today, for example.

I got home from church yesterday to discover that at some point over the weekend, some idiot(s) decided to redecorate the Dreadnought with raw eggs. &#$%!! vandals.¹ It's not that I'm worried about the car's finish - it's a 15-year-old Suburban with the original paint, after all. But it's a pain in the neck to clean up.² So I drove down to the car wash this morning and gave it a good power scrub. That took most of the egg off. When it gets a little warmer, I'll tackle the rest of it the old fashioned way: with elbow grease and exotic chemicals!

From there, I drove to the post office to pick up tax forms. I normally try to get this done as early in the tax season as possible, but I've delayed doing it this year because I figured I was going to owe money. You see, the HR department for my company is not great about withholding the appropriate amount when one's hours for a pay period drop below a certain threshold. So when I changed my withholding status (from married to single) last year, I chose zero exemptions. Then, on the line below that, I indicated that I wanted an additional $10 each paycheck to be withheld. The HR lady apparently got confused and interpreted all of that the mean that I was claiming ten exemptions. And I, like an idiot, never paid enough attention to my pay stubs to catch the mistake. Long story short, my company didn't withhold squat. It's not as bad as I'd feared, though. I owe the state of Utah $24, but with the federal EIC, I'm getting just over $90 back from the IRS. And that's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick any way you look at it.

Then came the studying in earnest. I'm taking two comprehensive departmental exams (the 'senior comps') at the end of next week: one involving organic chemistry, and the other having to do with analytical chemistry. To hep refresh my (fond?) memories of O-chem, I dug up a helpful little trade book called Organic Chemistry Made Ridiculously Simple. It lays out the basics of the discipline in sufficient detail to learn them, but not so much that it becomes confusing. It also organizes the different reactions in a way that I find very helpful. I found this book on the discount rack at the Book$tore. Quite possibly the best $8 I ever spent, academically speaking.

As for the analytical exam, I'm reviewing the textbook and notes from the lab class I just finished. And in case it ever comes up in conversation, analytical chemistry is probably my least favorite variety. It's annoyingly tedious and unnecessarily detailed. The first four letters of the term 'analytical chemistry' are not coincidental. It was just such a class at BYU that convinced me that I didn't want to be a chemical engineer.

And then there's the usual complement of classwork: biochem, calculus, and thermo. We just started multiple integrals in calculus, so that should prove challenging. Thermo is always challenging, which is why it's a senior level class, I suppose. And if you've been reading for a while, you already know how I feel about biochem.

So, that's my day, with more of the same the rest of the week. And I really ought to get some spring cleaning done along the way....

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¹ No disrespect intended toward the Vandals, a group of butt-kicking barbarians who toured Europe centuries ago and are probably among my ancestors.

² I heard at church yesterday that three people in my neighborhood had their windows broken and stuff stolen from their cars, so I suppose I should be grateful. Of course, the perps may have decided there probably wasn't anything worth stealing from my car.