Back to School

We've hit the home stretch. As of tomorrow, I've got exactly two weeks until winter break. How sweet it is. And yet it's kind of not. I'm realizing that my undergraduate years are flying by - I'm more than halfway done with college. Well, just over halfway done with undergrad. Tack on the five more years it'll take to get a Ph.D. and I'm nowhere near done.

Crap.

I'm officially done with Genetics. No matter what grade I get on this last homework, I have an A, so I won't be taking the horrific final. I'm still going to the class, but I refuse to take notes. We had fun today writing messages to each other and cracking on the lecture. Good times.

Scheduling was crazy this semester. Now I know how it feels to not get a class I wanted. It's scary. I thought I hadn't gotten Biochem Lab, so I added a couple of classes (somewhat reluctantly) to become a full-time student. Then I found out that no one got into the Lab because the University screwed up and eliminated the class. Not cool. The fact that I had added credits interfered with me getting into the Lab, but I dropped some credits and finally got in. *Sigh of relief* It's gonna be murder - a 6-credit, writing intensive Biochemistry lab. Ugh. But at least I got in when I needed to, right?

Right?

I had a good break at home. Didn't do much - sat around, ate, watched movies, and slept. All in all, a successful break, I'd say. And I'm going to do as much of the same as I can over the ensuing vacation. Except that I'll be working. So I'll be up at 5 AM every morning so I can head off to the sewage plant. Whoop-de-do. But money is money, so it's all good I suppose.

I start teaching next semester. I'm a TA for General Chemistry, so I mediate the problem-solving sessions, give quizzes, and grade homework. It's kind of like one big tutoring session, but I'm getting paid for it. Nice. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also a bit concerned that I'll be ripping my hair out by the end of the semester. And I don't want to be bald.

I guess that's about it. My desktop computer is finally on its last legs - it lags and won't connect to the internet. I thought it was NTC's problem, but now there seems to be something wrong with the computer itself. I'm still having them come out to try to fix it, and I'm just going to play dumb. Maybe they know how to fix the problem. So I'm using the laptop exclusively. Thank God I have it, otherwise I'd be up shit's creek in terms of my classes. No internet = no access to notes and assignments.

God bless the G4. Sweet, sweet OS X.

Now Biochem.

For No Reason

Yea, so i get bored...and it makes me want to update. So here's the latest:

Nothing special going on, I suppose. I'm eager to get back to Blacksburg, but at the same time I'm enjoying lounging around here with nothing to do. I only have one more day at home, seeing as I'll be heading back on Friday for this weekend's football game.

We're seeing the first snowfall of the season here in Manassas. It's quite nice, just enough to cover the grass, not screwing up the roads or anything. It certainly gets me in the holiday mood.

I went back to my old high school today to visit my Spanish teacher and pick up the package that was intended for us Tech kids. She's so sweet, she still sends us poor, starving college students baked goods. Hooray for sneaking into my school :) I didn't really sneak in, I just didn't follow exact procedure for visitor check-in. As in, I didn't. Hooray (also) for knowing all the back ways into school, because God knows that security is tight on the last day of school before a break. The administration is ever vigilant for the smoke bomb that won't go off, ready to bust the kid that won't come running through the hall ways celebrating. It's interesting to see the old place, they've re-painted a lot of stuff and they're changing the classroom format from "open" to "normal." For those not familiar with open classrooms, it was a hippie idea from back in the day when the school was built to encourage communal learning, allowing students, teachers, and resources to flow between "rooms" and promote overall learning.

Present day translation: one class plays bingo while the AP class takes a test. It doesn't work.

So they're walling off the classrooms, requiring all the duct work to be redone, so I was greeted by many "do not enter" and "danger - hard hat area" signs, which I pretty much ignored. I was on a mission to get baked goods. And Lord knows, nothing stops me from oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

I suppose I should've been studying over the last few days, which I have indeed been attempting to do. I usually wind up falling asleep over my Biochem notes. I think I'm sleeping too much, I just never wake up, and thus I fall asleep throughout the day. Who'd 'a thunk it?

Yea, on that note, how crazy is it that two weeks from this very moment, I will be sitting at home again, probably doing this very thing, updating my blog to create a review of the semester.

Eerie. (cue "Twilight Zone" music)

Either that, or I will be passed the hell out from not sleeping during those two weeks. The joys of being a biochemistry major. Envious?

Just Because I Have Nothing Better To Do...

...and a certain someone requested an update.

So, I'm back at home for Thanksgiving Break. How sweet it is. I just got through the most hellacious week at school. Three exams within 18 hours - Biochem, Genetics, and Analytical Chem. The hardest was (surprisingly) AChem. I had Biochem pegged as the worst, but it turns out I studied just the right stuff enough to do well (I think). I slacked on AChem and totally ignored Genetics until the night before. Oh well, Genetics is my easiest class, and test prep consists mainly of memorizing the previous year's koofer. (90% of the questions are the same, guaranteed)

Which brings me to my biggest beef of late. My Genetics professor is officially an asshole. I never liked the guy much, he's a lousy professor (probably the worst I've had here at VT), and he's a bit stuck up. I always gave him the benefit of the doubt, but now...not so much. Long story short - I walk into Genetics to find a friend of mine having a seizure. After it was over, I managed to get a professor in the building to call for help because Dr. Dipshit wasn't there (late as usual). As a note, I knew full well that you can always call 911 in an emergency, but I wasn't sure if there might've been a direct line to the VT Rescue Squad, which may have been quicker. Turns out there's not, but we called 911 and the rescue squad was there within about 2 minutes. So as they're wheeling this poor girl out, our professorial leader strolls in, sipping his coffee. Another friend of mine had advised him in the hallway that a student was being removed from our class due to a medical emergency, to which his reply was reportedly, "Whatever."

I spoke with him as I handed in our test. Our conversation was this:

Me: "Did anyone give you the name of the student who was taken out of here?"
Dipshit: "No" (very shortly)
Me: "Would you like to know who she is?"
Dipshit: "That's fine" (again, shortly)
Me: (I give her name)
Dipshit: (shrugs me off)

And I walked out. I was pissed. I'm glad I got an A on that test so I won't have to take his final. Bastard. I probably won't even go back to class so I never have to see his face again, because I'll want to punch him the whole time. I hope he spills coffee all over himself so he can be embarrassed in front of everyone...

OK, I've gotten that out of my system.

So what else is new? Hmmm... The Hokies crushed UVA today, 52-14! As if I had expected anything different. The great news came tonight as I watched the GA Tech/Miami game. GT actually upset Miami! That means, as long as we beat UNC, we will head to the ACC Championship game against FSU, where we will undoubtedly become ACC Champs for the second year in a row! GO HOKIES!!!

I really don't have any other plans for the week...I guess I'll start studying for finals, seeing as how they will start a week and a half after I get back to Blacksburg. That's gonna suck. Everyone's going to hate me again, I never seem to have as many finals as everyone else. This year I only have two. Bad news, they're back-to-back. AChem and Biochem. Sometimes I think they people that come up with exam schedules are truly sadistic. Why do I say that? Because for Biochem majors, the suggested schedule tells us to take those two classes at the same time. Therefore, pretty much everyone in Biochem is taking AChem, and we all have the two worst exams on the same day. The end of the AChem exam is 20 minutes before the start of the Biochem exam. I can only hope that I'm not too spent to make it through the Biochem exam. At least they're both in the afternoon/evening...that way I can make sure I'm rested up before taking them.

And then it's time for a month at home, with no homework or studying to be done...except I'll be working and probably studying for the GRE's so I can take them in the summer. Argh.

I miss my Blacksburg crew, but I'll see everyone soon enough...

Kansas is Stupid

So in light of the decisions made on Election Day, I felt compelled to respond. I'm not going to talk about gubernatorial races, oh no. I'm going to talk about the School Board in Kansas.

I mean - how stupid can you be? They passed a resolution by a vote of 6-4 to include intelligent design as part of their high school science curriculum. They are also including a prepared statement saying that parts of Darwin's theory of evolution are wrong, and that basically the theory is worthless.

Hold on, I think I need to take a breath before I continue.

First off, this is introduction of religion into schools. Some say intelligent design can be exclusive of religion. Wrong. Intelligent design is founded upon the principle that nature is too complex to have occurred by chance, and that some "higher being" is responsible for everything. I defy you to prove to me how that doesn't imply God.

Second, intelligent design has no solid factual basis. It is based on the gaps in current scientific data. So what if we haven't got the whole puzzle figured out yet? Basing your entire argument on what your opponent cannot prove is not a solid argument. Period. Science is about facts, not the lack of facts. Presenting intelligent design as science of any sort is wrong.

Thanks to dictionary.com, the definition of "faith" is "belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence." Definitely not science, and faith is the heart of religion, which I fully believe to be equated with intelligent design.

Science is not perfect. I will never claim that it is. But it is at least based on some facts, observed natural phenomena from the molecular to macroscopic levels.

Let me also state that I am not atheist. I am actually quite religious. I believe in God. I believe there are things that science cannot explain, and may never. That is the limit of human intelligence. My issue is with a flawed system that believes that indoctrination constitutes science, which it does not. These school board members are also dismissing a viable theory wholesale because they don't agree with it. I fear that students from Kansas can only regress into a scientific Dark Age, as they will be shielded from cutting edge ideas by their parents' closed-mindedness.

Let me remind everyone that for a thousand years or more, it was an absolute fact that the Earth was flat and located at the center of our galaxy because God made it that way. I guess sticking with what the Church says is right in all cases. Glad we got that one cleared up.

I'll stick with science. The real kind, mind you.