See Ya Next Year!

I'm on my way to First Night SLC with Nancy. We're going with James and Kolette, who are responsible for the two of us meeting on July 4th. Seems appropriate. Should be a great time.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Long Day's Journey

When our paychecks were handed out on the 20th, they came with a memo about holiday closures. The last two weekends have both been closed, and while the evening shifts have all been open, several daytime shifts during the last two weeks have been closed.

One of the day shifts that was to have been closed was today's shift. Having seen this memo, our day shift manager scheduled a trip to Colorado around the weekend to see her son, who just got back from Iraq. Then our all-knowing project managers decided on Tuesday that we needed to have a day shift today after all. So she was pretty much stuck.

That's where I came in. Being
a) a generally helpful guy, and
b) appreciative of a little extra cash,
I agreed to cover her shift.

So I've been here since 7:30 this morning. It's been pretty interesting. In the three-plus years I've worked here, I've never actually worked a day shift. Sure, I've worked Saturday mornings aplenty, but that's not the same. Day shift jobs involve calling people at work, so there's a different dynamic in place. The people who work the day shift are a little different than our night-shifters—they tend to be older, more mature, and more self-motivated. They also tend to assume that not all of the rules apply to them, but that's a different issue.

All in all, it's been a pretty good day. It's been busy, so the time has gone by quickly. I've been here for 10.82 hours and counting. I should be out of here in another hour or so. I have to run the End of Pay Period report in addition to all the normal reports at the end of tonight's shift, but it doesn't take too long. And I've already done some preemptive record-keeping for 2006. That'll make some of my fellow supervisors happy. As I said, a pretty good day.

One hour of work left for the year. Fun stuff.

Best. Girlfriend. Ever!

Nancy got me Firefly for Christmas.

I'll write more about today's doings later, I reckon.

Hallelujah!

Professors here at the U aren't required to post final grades until next Wednesday, December 28th. But I got an e-mail from my quantum mechanics professor saying that the grades were up and congratulating everyone on a successful class. So I bit the bullet, logged on to the system, and brought up my grades.

I got a B-.

I passed quantum mechanics.

I'm going to graduate!

And there was great rejoicing in the land.

That's Not Right

Last night at work, I took a call from one of our employees who with a rather serious problem. Her paycheck had bounced. Based on checks she had already written, she was now facing more than $85 in overdraft and finance charges. Unfortunately, this situation is common enough that I knew exactly how to deal with it. She's in the same boat with about 8 other employees from the last pay period.

Our copier has no toner. It's had no toner for almost a month now. Ever since November 22nd, we've been unable to run copies of our training manuals in-house or to take photocopies of new employees' identification. We've printed rather than duplicated any paperwork we needed, and we've used the fax machine when we absolutely had to make a copy of something. The main office keeps saying, "We'll get one to you soon." That's been the story for the last three weeks. No word yet on what "soon" actually means—other than "not now".

On Monday, the owner of our company is hosting a holiday party for all the managers, supervisors, and main office staff. We're having some sort of barbeque lunch, followed by a gift exchange. Then, as a sort of year-end bonus, he's taking the lot of us to see King Kong.

Can I trade my tickets for a reliable paycheck and a toner cartridge, please?

Not So Fast...

I just finished my Quantum Mechanics final.

It was bad. Really bad.

Almost a third of the exam was on stuff we covered in the last two days of class—one of which I missed with all the health stuff I've been dealing with.

In preparing for the final, I paid special attention to the topics I'd struggled with on the two midterm exams. None of that was covered on the final. The final was entirely new material. It's as if the professor said, "I could only put half of the material from the first seven weeks on the first exam, so I've put the other half on the final."

In short, my heart sank as I opened the exam and started reading. I knew was in trouble. So I did what I could do. I hope it was enough. I'm afraid it might not have been.

I tend to be pessimistic with things like this. If I'd ever received a pony when I was young, I probably would have freaked out about how I was going to find the money to feed it, or how I'd ever shovel away all the manure. So I may just be overreacting. My parents think I might be. I hope so.

But if not, then I'm not really done with school after all. I still haven't finished what I've spent much of the last two decades trying to do.

I've had to borrow a lot of money from my family to pay for these past two semesters. And they just bought a new house; there's no way I can ask them for another semester's tuition. I have no idea how I'll pay to retake this class again.

I desperately hope I'm wrong. I've never hoped to be wrong so much in my life.

--
My mother said I ought to find something pleasant, or at least distracting, to do, so as not to stew in this all day. A little Gauntlet on the PlayStation sounds like just the thing. That'll do, until I have to go to work, where I'll undoubtedly face a battery of, "So, how'd your test go?" I'm not excited.

Limping to the Finish

When I was in high school, I ran Cross Country for three seasons. No, you can't really tell to look at me now, but I did. In the fall I'd run three to five miles (or more) in practice pretty much every day and competitive 5K races twice a week. True story.

Not that I was any good at it, mind you. I have the inglorious distinction of having finished dead last in our league's junior varsity championship race for three consecutive years—twice due to gastric difficulties and once on account of my trademark ankle problems. In all three cases, I had lots of onlookers telling me to drop out. But I'd done that once, at a race in Cheyenne my sophomore year. I hated the way it felt, and I promised myself I'd never drop out of a race again.^* So I endured the pain, and I finished. It took me a lot longer than anyone else to hit the finish line, but I finished.

That's pretty much how I feel right at this moment. Realistically, I can measure the remaining length of my college career in hours now. I've taken three final exams in the past seven days. I have one left tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning.

The last two weeks have been terrible. Sure, I usually get a cold or three each winter, but I don't recall ever having the kind of difficulties I've had over the past two weeks. I took my final on Tuesday morning with basically no prep time. It's not that I usually do a lot of cramming before a final; if I don't know it after sixteen weeks of lectures and homework, I don't figure I'm going to learn it in a few hours before the exam. But I do like to spend some time reviewing the material and reminding myself of some of the details, and that didn't happen. After my Tuesday final, I sought out my professor for the next day's exam and got a quick refresher in the finer points of group theory. But beyond that, I got basically no studying done for that test either. And I could feel it. In both cases, I found myself struggling to answer some questions or do some problems that I knew I could do—and had in fact done, in some cases. But I was still able to leave feeling generally confident in the results. I would have liked to do better, but I think I probably did well enough.

And now I face my last final exam with my situation almost infinitely improved. I'm feeling much better, as attested by the fact that I've been essentially vertical for most of the last two days. No, I'm still not at 100%. I have a small cough and a slight sniffle, my equilibrium—which is not great even under ideal conditions—is still a bit off, and some food still doesn't taste quite right. But I'm feeling well-rested. I actually slept all the way through the night last night, the first time in a while that's happened. My mind is a lot clearer, and I've been able to get some things done today. And now I can turn my thoughts to quantum mechanics and focus on getting ready for my one remaining final exam.

One final to go.

I can do this.

--
^* And I never did.

The Beginning of the End

Last week I took my Inorganic Chem Lab final. One down, three to go.

It's been madness. A week ago Friday (December 2nd), I awoke with the kind of headache that'd make you want to drop a hammer on your foot just so that you'd have something else to think about. I made it through class that day and on to work. By that time, the headache had been joined by fatigue, hot and cold spells, and a general aching all over my body. At work, I took a break and went in to lie down on my boss's couch. Then the power went out. So we sent everyone home after half an hour, and I got to go home early.

It didn't help. I couldn't sleep for more than about 45 minutes at a stretch on Friday night / Saturday morning. And at about midnight, the nausea hit. I'll spare you the gory details.

Saturday morning I called my home teacher and got a blessing. I also made arrangements for someone else to take care of my Sunday school lesson for the next day and for my paperboy duties. Then I spent the rest of the day in bed or on the living room couches. And Nancy come over to help take care of me. She is absolutely wonderful. When it comes right down to it, I'm a complete sissy when I get sick. She took good care of me, though. She brought me soup and orange juice and crackers and popsicles and fried rice, and she helped me make it through the day. Yeah, she's a keeper.

By the time I went to bed that night, I was feeling almost human. I awoke Sunday morning feeling good enough to go to church after all. The guy who taught my Sunday school lesson did a great job. The lesson was on "Being Good Citizens", and he's currently studying for the bar exam, so he had a lot of good perspectives.

I called Nancy that afternoon and found out that she'd had an allergic reaction to something (probably the Chinese food) from the previous night. so I got to go to her house and take care of her on Sunday afternoon. It was the least I could do, I figured.

Monday morning I awoke feeling drained, like I'd overdone it on Sunday—which I probably had. Lesson: miraculous aid does not preclude the use of common sense. I spent most of the day resting, thankful that the headaches and other nasty symptoms hadn't come back.

Tuesday I went to classes and to work, both of which turned out better than on Friday. I met with my lab group to discuss the reports we still had to write. We were supposed to have met on Monday, but I was sick and Jason had contracted food poisoning. Karol waited for us for a bit, then went home. She was grateful for the break; she's just moved into a new house and was able to get some things done there.

I had the normal round of classes on Wednesday. Then the lab group met in an all-out writing frenzy. Over the course of four hours or so, we were able to take various contributions and make them into four pretty good lab reports. If I never have to deal with the electrolytic production of potassium peroxydisulfate again, I'll be okay with that.

Thursday morning we turned in out lab reports and our lab books and took the final. It was rather unusual in that all the questions were short answer or essay questions. I've never had a chemistry exam before that didn't involve any math, I don't think. That was fine with me. I'm a pretty decent writer, and I feel there needs to be more writing involved with the sciences. The biggest problem with math and science, in my humble opinion, is that people who are good at math and science can't communicate what they know to those who aren't. When I get my own classroom, I'm going to make sure my students don't get out without doing a little writing.

Friday was a reading day, followed by work. We managed to keep the power on for the whole night, and we were able to get quite a bit done. I spent part of the evening prepping for the next day's training class, as well as taking care of my other managerial duties. Fun stuff.

Saturday was a busy day. Training was on the menu early. Four of the scheduled six contestants showed up, all of whom did fine. I got out of there about 3:30, at which time I joined Nancy for an evening together. We went out to dinner, then went to the Conference Center for a Christmas concert presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. It was amazing. There were a couple of guest performers, a soprano soloist and a narrator. The spirit of the season was very strong.

Unfortunately, I was starting to feel sick by the end of the concert. I could feel my voice going out during training, and by the end of the concert I had begun to cough. All the excitement, plus the cold temperatures, were conspiring to bring me down.

Sunday morning I went to Sacrament meeting, then came home and lay down. And that's pretty much what I've been doing for the last 36 hours or so. I can feel that I'm turning the corner, though. Good thing, since I have finals on Tuesday and Wednesday, with work on Tuesday night. Nancy and I are going to another Christmas concert on Wednesday night. Then, my very last final is on Friday.

Assuming I can make it through the next four days, I'm going to sleep for a week.

Two For Flinching!

Part I: Friday's Feast
Friday's Feast, 9 December 2005.

Appetizer Name something you'll miss about 2005.
My daily treks to campus, especially when the weather is nasty.
Yeah, right. ;)

Soup What is one thought that went through your mind today?
I hope Aaron's present gets here today so I can send the lot off to Colorado in time for Christmas.

Salad On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how compassionate would you say you are?
I don't know, 7? 8? 6? I'm told I'm pretty gentle and understanding, but I also know I can do better.

Main Course If you could invent something, what would it be?
A practical automobile that burns junk mail as fuel.

Dessert Do you prefer salty snacks or sweet treats?
Definitely sweet treats. Stupid dental work!

--

Part II: Top Five on Friday
Top Five on Friday from The Music Memoirs:

In honor of the first major snow storm of the year...
Top Five "Winter" Songs

» Joy to the World by Bruce Mitchell
  I always play this song at the first snowfall of the year.

» Boat Drinks by Jimmy Buffett
  "Twenty degrees and the hockey game's on / Nobody cares they are way too far gone / Screamin' boat drinks, something to keep 'em all warm."

» High County Snows by Dan Fogelberg
  Soothing, like a quiet snowfall.

» A Hazy Shade Of Winter by Simon & Garfunkel
  No explanation necessary, I trust.

» The Suicide Song by Bobbi Joy
  This is not a real song, at least not that I know of. It's taken from the short story "The Law of Conservation of Pain", published in Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. Read it, you'll understand.

Alternately, I could just recommend Lana Lane's Winter Sessions CD. All the songs on it mention winter in some fashion.

--
[ I'm awarding a No-Prize to the first one to name the movie from which I've taken today's title. -M ]

Two Late

Part I: Friday's Feast
Friday's Feast, 2 December 2005.

Appetizer When was the last time you did something you would consider courteous, what was it, and who was it for?
Last week, I bought photocopies for my lab partners. They tried to object, and I said, "This thing (i.e., my student ID/cash card) is useless to me in a couple of weeks." Eleven days, now...but who's counting?

Soup If you were to have a painting done of you alone, what would you want the background to be?
A bunch of people at a college graduation ceremony.

Salad Describe your voice.
I'm a baritone, with an above-average singing voice (if I do say so myself). I generally speak quietly, but I can turn up the volume when necessary. I have kind of a goofy laugh.

Main Course What is something you would like to do, but you're afraid of the risk(s)?
I did a ropes course a few years ago. I had a great time, but it scared me to death. I'd like to try it again.

Dessert What was the last television show you watched?
Monday Night Football: Seahawks 28, Eagles 0. No, I'm not about to turn in my geek card. I like football.

--

Part II: Top Five on Friday
Top Five on Friday from The Music Memoirs:

Top 5 Beautiful Voices
(Yes, all of mine are going to be women.)

» Sarah McLachlan - Her voice is smooth and ethereal without being shrill or insubstantial.

» Kiri Te Kanawa - Her rendition of "O Divine Redeemer" is just stunning. If you've heard it, you know what I'm talking about.

» Anne Murray - She was my first celebrity crush. Shut up.

» Elaine Paige - The Queen of British Musical Theatre, and rightly so. Her rendition of "Memory" (Cats, '81 London Cast) makes it impossible for me to listen to other versions.

» Enya - I can always count on her to calm me down when I'm feeling stressed. I consider that beautiful.