Day 280: Seven miles and then some

Quick update.

Ran seven miles on Sunday.

Labs today were fine. Meh. Stimulated a frog's gastrocnemius muscle (it's thigh). That was pretty sweet. Totally f-ed up my Organic lab. Yeah, don't worry about it. I worked it out.

Exams galore (Round 2) next week -- Physiology quiz, Physiology lab quiz, Physics exam and Organic exam.

Then ... New York City after that, thank heavens!

I Heart NY

Day 255: Lots of things to say.

To make this easier on the eyes, I'm going to bullet the things I've been meaning to tell all five of you :)

• I have had a full week of labs this week and they are going to be hard work! I'm glad to be done with labs by Tuesday but man, a full day of labs on Tuesday? That is a looong day.
  
  
• I am just about done applying to internships (yay!). I'll find out in March so, yeah.
  
  
• I helped some old SIP kids/friends with Physics I homework Tuesday night. I felt tres smart and I actually helped them, which was the biggest surprise. I managed to answer all their questions and help them answer all their homework problems.
  
  
• I have started my SIP sessions for Chemistry I. I'm really glad to be SIPing for this class because I didn't learn it very well over the summer so this will be a great refresher.

You know, I thought I had more, but I guess that's all I can remember right now.

Day 061: Feeling caught up...for now

I'm sensing a pattern of blogging when class is over for the week (Thursday) and then again before the week starts (Sunday). Huh.

Anyway, I'm finally feeling caught up. I'm all studied out for our test on acids and bases tomorrow. I've done all the suggested and practice problems. As well as reading the book chapters and my notes. I'll probably read my notes again tonight before bed but at this point, I need to look ahead to Thursdays test on electrochemistry. We did a lab relating to it on Thursday which was kind of fun -- we used baby-baby spark plugs (essentially) and measured voltage of different metals and it sounds scintillating I'm sure. haha, well, considering our lab on Tuesday and Wednesday was more annoying than the song that never ends, well, it was quite refreshing really.

Luckily, the lab reports for those two weren't so bad. I'm really impressed with myself. I usually feel like I'm trying to catch up to what's going on half the time (because of this weird 8am class, I have a theory I will elaborate on in a second), and I finally feel caught up. Right now, I'm reading what he taught us on Thursday (the beginning of electrochemistry, focusing on oxidation-reduction reactions)

OIL (Oxidation, electron is lost) RIG (Reduction, electron is gained)

and hoping to actually read ahead? (Knock on wood) We'll see.

As I mentioned earlier, I think our professor teaches our 8am class like a 5pm class. He presents information as if we should have read about it beforehand so I feel he doesn't always delve as much into things as he could. Then the rest of the day (after lab) is dedicated to teaching what he should have taught me? Does that make sense? He's really clear and if you're 100%-focused, then you should be able to follow along. It helps to read just in case you weren't 100%-focused and it just helps to clarify concepts that he may not have covered well/thoroughly. So instead of being ahead as he seems to think we are, we're all really trying to catch up, every single day. This isn't a bad thing really. I'm just grateful he's so on top of things and helpful and organized (I really can't stress how important organization and structure is) and as long as I learn the stuff (a third through him, a third through the Fantastic Four (Five-ish; we have a "new" kid who studies with us sometimes) and a third just by myself), that's all that matters.

Until Thursday and then one more week! Time sure does fly. I'm sure you'll all depressed summer is coming to an end soon. Summer's almost here (for me), haha.

Day 058: The second test results and lab info

We got our tests back today and I did fine. An A for those of you that are wondering so, again, fine. I missed this question that was obvious but my brain was malfunctioning and switched the concepts/ideas (bonds forming = exothermic, bonds breaking = endothermic) and got the problem wrong. However, that was the only problem I got wrong so there's not much to complain about.

I really am terribly sorry I don't blog as much. I've realized that lecture and its accompanied homework/practice problems are not what's keeping me busy. It's lab. Let me fill you in on the 411...

Lab is worth one credit. Class/lecture is worth three credits. However, I swear to you, I am spending more than 50% of my time every single day working on lab. The lab reports are waayyyy more involved than they should be and they take forever and a half because reports are the only grades you can get and it's just ridiculous!

Par example, we have a (formal) proposal due in Monday for lab. A proposal! We don't even know what we're doing half the time (because lab rarely correlates with lecture and we're doing stuff because they tell us to -- nothing conceptual and nothing really gets taught) so you somehow expect us to create a proposal? And of course they're freaking scientists so they don't tell you length or any of that crap. Here's how you source, look here, go! ...UGH.

Basically, lab is consuming my life and it sucks.

On another note, I really like my professors/instructors this session. I like how methodical my lecture professor is and he's really helpful and succinct and organized and methodical and basically all things one wants in a professor.

The wand is just for effect. It's all in the chemistry.

He's so cute, he makes these dorky chem jokes and then he laughs at them and my friends make fun of his laugh because its a little bit like a bark and a little bit like Butthead's laugh (or is it Beavis? I never watched the show, thank goodness) from "Beavis and Butthead". An awful show and an awful reference but its the truest one there is. My only true critique would be that he has a very monotone voice so its easy to not pay attention and realize you missed a chunk of something. My lab instructor is so much more organized and actually teaches in pre-lab so we're not going in blind (like we did most days in Summer Session I). She's really friendly and she knows my friends and I 'cause we work and study hard and ask her for help on lab reports so she knows what's up.

I know this is long but I thought I should get everything in while I have time and it's still fresh on the mind. I'm serious guys, all I eat, live and breathe is chemistry right now.

Day 051: Tests, labs, and such

Hey everyone,

I know it's been awhile but this new schedule is pretty intense. I'm up at 6:15-6:30 every morning. I have class from 8am to roughly 1pm (depending how long lab runs). Then I study until ... oh, evening time ... 6? 7? 8? Then I come home, work out, watch some TV to destress and then sleep. And then I do that again. And again.

We got our test results back on Tuesday. I did fine...an A so I'm happy. It's been good to take his tests (which are quite fair) and also see how he grades (also fair -- when he takes off points, he tells you why). We have another test on Monday (happy birthday Mom! Happy Bastille Day!) which is going to be calculation-heavy -- enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs Free Energy, in case you were wondering -- and then more learning. Coming up, we have two tests the week after that and then the last week of class. Whew! This has been quite a sprint!

The labs are fine. They're a bit cumbersome at times (both the procedure/performing the lab and also the lab reports) but I like that this time around, everyone seems much more organized. Which is always, always welcome.

Anyway, I should probably get back to studying/doing my labs. Thought I'd (finally) drop a line!