Education

I got to go snowboarding for the first time in years yesterday. I didn’t fall too much, which is always a good sign, and I got most of my confidence back after only a few runs. They didn’t have any jumps or rails on the whole mountain except in a little terrain park at the bottom, so I didn’t have as many opportunities to crash spectacularly as usual. Bear Mountain back in CA is built to cater to snowboarders a lot more than Winterplace, apparently. There were far more people skiing than snowboarding there yesterday, anyway. It was an awesome day though; they had a ton of fresh snow, but it was sunny the whole time we were there. Sweet.

But that’s not what this post is about. I’m here today to finish recollecting the last three classes from my first semester at Fullerton College.  A couple posts ago, I got through English 100, but that was it. And now…

Reading 142

Based on the weekly class schedule, this was the very first class I actually attended at Fullerton. This was taught by Bill Glassman, an older balding guy, kind of soft-spoken with an interesting speech pattern, very punctuated. He always enunciated very clearly though. Half the class was vocabulary and etymology, and the other half was about language as a tool. Connotation, pejoratives, non-verbal communication, all kinds of stuff that was really interesting. Probably one of the most memorable moments of the whole class was when he busted out a random “F*&@$ YOU!” in the middle of the class to illustrate just exactly what it means in certain contexts–in that case, an old soft-spoken guy teaching a college class to a bunch of sleepy post-lunchtime students. It woke everyone up, that’s for sure. There are a few words that I use occasionally that I remember as having learned in Glassman’s class, and smile inside at the thought.

Math 142

This was a trigonometry class taught by John Roche. The placement test put me into it, so that’s where I started. John Roche was a generally nice guy with a gruff voice. He effectively taught the subject matter, and avoided making it boring, which is important for a math class. Of everything that he taught, I remember exactly two things clearly: “SOACAHTOA“, and that there is a white arrow on FedEx trucks. You should try to find it sometime, if you haven’t already. The white arrow thing was a lesson in paying attention to details that others often miss. Of course, I learned more than that, but those are the things I really remember.

Political Science 100

Taught by Naji Dahi, this Political Science class was one of the most interesting classes I ever took. The teacher was incredibly blunt about his views and whether he disagreed with you. He would regularly have discussions with students in his class–always related to the current topic–and had no qualms about shooting down any particular viewpoint or even laughing at your expense. He was kind of arrogant, but very informed and articulate, always ready to defend whatever he said. I didn’t always agree with him, but everything he said always made me think. He was an emigrant from Lebanon, and had a unique perspective on government and, in particular, war. Since I took the class about 9 months after the Shock and Awe campaign in Afghanistan started, Naji had a lot to say that made me reconsider buying the whole “rah-rah WMDs axis of evil Al-Qaeda” Republican line at the time.

He had an interesting habit of locking the door five minutes after class started to encourage people to come on time. A lot of people missed the class because of it, but very, very few people knocked on the door after it was locked. Apparently they understood his system at least.  He also literally dictated every note he wanted you to take, and he spoke slowly enough that he made sure anyone putting in any kind of effort could keep up.

So, that’s a short summary of the remainder of my first semester. I got all A’s, which was a very encouraging start to my higher education. I made probably a dozen friends, all of whom I remember, but none of whom I keep up with. It gave me a feel for how college works, and eliminated that sense of “the unknown” that I had associated with college.

Next up: Fall 2004. Or maybe some totally unrelated post.

I haven’t read up on a least one of the topics I’d hoped to before being able write a proper monologue about health care, so that will have to wait for now.  And yes, I suppose I could just do the research now, but honestly I feel more like writing about college, so I’m going to do that instead for now.  I even have my Cal Poly t-shirt on and everything.  So, political discussion is being pushed back for at least another few days.  And now, on to the nostalgia.  Yes, I am only 24 years old, and yes, I realize it’s kind of ridiculous to say that about something that happened only 6 years ago. Whatever.

A lot of people probably don’t know this, but I held off for a semester starting at Fullerton College. (Also for those of you who didn’t know, I started at Fullerton College, and transferred to Cal Poly in 2007.) I held off because I had just started a very promising job at Corporate Computer Services right before graduating from high school in mid-2003. I’m still working there, and I still think that was a good move.

Anyway, my first semester started in January of 2004. I was actually the first of all three kids to start college, even though I’m in the middle in terms of birth order. I say that only because it brings to light the fact that I had no immediate family to turn to for advice on how to “start college.” Of course Mom and Dad helped all they could, and that was certainly invaluable. I have no idea how things would have gone without them. But their experience was based off of decades-old information, and while some of it was applicable, a lot of things were new. Fortunately, since I started at a well-established community college that was nearby and very inexpensive, the process ended up being pretty painless. It’s really easy to get into a community college.

I performed decently in the placement tests, and got recommended for the standard run of first-semester general ed classes. Not having any reason to do something different at the time, I signed up for English 100, Reading 142, Math 142, and Political Science 100.

English 100

Taught by Bruce Henderson, this English class had a very strong focus on media (and a slightly weaker focus on conspiracies). I didn’t know beforehand, but there were a lot of different options for English 100, not all of which had this same focus. I had a killer grammar and composition class in high school with a teacher named Sharon Bridwell (hi Dr. Bridwell!), so I wasn’t really worried about not learning what I needed to know to pass an introductory English class; therefore, I got to sit back and enjoy the “alternative” subject matter for the duration of the semester.

Dr. Henderson was kind of a strange fellow though. He had a mullet, old-style rimmed glasses, and some kind of outfit that always made me wonder if he came to campus from a Renaissance fair. Plus, he always showed up on this little bicycle with a flag on the back, like the kind they put on little shopping carts for kids. He talked about interesting stuff though, and I usually looked forward to that class. I first learned about Harvey Milk, COINTELPRO, Jonestown, and quite a few other strange bits of history in his class. I am also still signed up to quite a few email newsletters as a result of some research–mostly environmental groups or political groups, which I don’t generally agree with but find it interesting to learn about through their newsletters every now and then.

We had a few different assignments, but it really wasn’t that difficult. The 1,500-word research paper was probably the hardest, but the most fun was definitely the magazine advertisement. It wasn’t for an actual magazine, but just an exercise to create some kind of presentational media. Out of the different options, I chose the magazine ad. And here, for your enjoyment (or otherwise), are my prototype and final product:

I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I got the idea from Wired magazine, and pretty much completely copied the layout and visual styles from them. The people in the picture are friends from the ice skating rink that Greg and I frequented at the time. They were kind enough to pose for me. (Note: they weren’t, and aren’t, “together.”) I got a pretty good grade on that assignment.

Reading 142, Math 142, Political Science 100, and wow this is taking longer than I thought

So, I didn’t really think I would have a lot to say about any one class, but it seems that I was wrong. I’ll try to finish the rest of the classes in a post or two mid-week. Try to remain precariously balanced on the edges of your collective seats in the mean time.

Yesterday, I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. It's been quite a long journey for me, and I've learned a ton of stuff along the way. It really feels like I earned this degree, and that the knowledge I gained will apply directly to the work I want to do, as well as give me a good basis for continuing eduation, if I want to do that.

The actual graduation experience yesterday afternoon went by very quickly, with some processions, a few speeches, lots of smiling, and a ton of photos. We celebrated afterwards at Bob's Big Boy nearby, which was a favorite childhood restaurant that serves some pretty tasty hamburgers. Then we came home, and I got to watch Cyrano de Bergerac with my fiancee for fun, and that was the end of the day. I slept like a rock.

Today, we had a party at my parents' house with all of my available close family, and a few friends. I have to say it was probably the best party I remember having for me specifically. I'm not a big party person, and most of my birthdays are pretty low-key. My 21st birthday was a little bigger, but that's about it. The only other party I remember that was on par with this one was for my high school graduation back in 2003, which also made some great memories. But I have to say that I think this one topped it. I got a brief window into what other people think of me, and it was honestly very touching. To give details would be weird, I think, so I won't. But I've never had that kind of an experience before; it is not something I'll forget anytime soon. I even hugged my younger brother, which pretty much never happens–nothing against Greg or anything, but we aren't the huggy type. Tonight was different. I felt incredibly special on a very large scale. I'm not sure how else to put it.

It's been about eight months since my last post, and I've made it through three more quarters of Cal Poly education and a whole bunch of wedding plans. The wedding is six weeks from yesterday, and I'm getting very excited. Not nervous, honestly, but definitely excited. Nobody (including me) is sure why I'm not nervous, or whether it will hit me eventually. I'm in love, realistic, communicative, and not afraid of what might happen. I don't expect perfection or a complete lack of problems, but I don't fear dealing with them whenever they come up. I feel prepared for the challenges that we will inevitably face, which I think is the best position you can hope to be in before marriage.

Anyway, I decided that I want to try to make a post about each semester (or quarter, at Cal Poly) that I had in my college career so far, to briefly chronicle all of the classes and teachers I had, and summarize what I learned. Those will come soon, and should give me an excuse to write more in the very near future. For now, I'm off once again.

As of about an hour ago, I have now made it through midterms for all of my classes for this quarter. Amazing, isn't it? I seems like I just started these classes. Well, I did, sort of. Quarters go by a lot faster than semesters. Also, due to the cancellation of one of my classes today, I now have about six and a half hours before my next one. Therefore, I'm sitting in the Bronco Student Center in a big poofy chair, writing a blog entry and waiting for my registration appointment for the next quarter (which is at 3pm PST today).

CS 210, Computer Logic: the midterm was just a set of logic design problems. Due the availability of two practice tests, I felt pretty good about this one.

CS 241, Data Structures in Java: that was this morning. We did a bunch of operations on heaps and b-trees, which I must admit is better than actually writing code by hand on paper, which is what I had to do last quarter. I'm sure this one went well.

CS 375, Computers and Society: the group that I'm part of did a presentation on Tor, an anonymizing network. The presentation seemed to go smoothly, so I'm not really worried about this one either.

PSY 325, Multicultural Psychology (yes, I am really taking this class; it's required): 30 or so multiple choice questions, which I felt sort of confident on, and then about a dozen short answer/essay questions, which I felt confident on about a quarter of. I definitely had to be creative on the rest of the answers. I've found that teachers give you a lot more credit if you try, even if you're wrong.

So there you have it. I don't actually have the grades from any of these yet, so the verdict is still out on my success for the first half of the quarter. I think it will be okay though.

I also wanted to share a couple of things that made me laugh a few minutes ago, courtesy of Woot.com…those guys write some funny stuff sometimes. For your enjoyment:

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)—Some coral reefs may be protected from global warming by a natural thermostat that regulates sea-surface temperatures in the open ocean, researchers said Wednesday.

Oceanographers found that the Clownfish monitors this thermostat, checking it twice a day and shouting “Do you think I’m made of money?” while setting it back ten degrees.

WASHINGTON (AP)—Americans worried about losing their television signals when analog goes dead next year now have a new concern: the government-issued coupons for the converter boxes have a short shelf life.

Through a spokesperson, the Federal Government said that now, since it has trashed the economy, screwed up a war, offended most other nations, and even figured out a way to screw up television, it will begin to confiscate puppies and work to make balloons illegal.

Heh.

Well, hello everyone.

It's time for me to have an actual website–something that I do something with on a regular basis. It's been on my to-do list, in a manner of speaking, for over a decade. I've made various attempts to do it throughout the years, some of which were more successful than others at accomplishing the goal. Ironically, the most successful one was the first page I had, served from my first ever Linux box (running Red Hat 5.2) on our home DSL connection. The only reason it had any significant number of visitors was that it the key feature of the site was a complete set of Zelda ROM files during a time when they were notoriously difficult to find.

Anyway, I have the normal assortment of profiles on popular social networking sites, two of which happen to be blogs. So I thought, “Why not make a personal website out of the stuff you would have written on those sites?” And so, here we are. I figure I'll probably cut and paste a lot of the content onto those other sites as well, just so nobody feels left out. But this is going to be the main source from now on. Of course, I also have a history of starting these kinds of things and then not keeping them updated, which spells disaster for keeping anyone's interest…we'll see if I can avoid that.

Today seems like a good day to start something like this, for a few reasons. Most of all, I happen to have time right now. This is tremendously important. Second, I just transferred to a new university (Cal Poly Pomona, after graduating with a two-year Mathematics degree from Fullerton College), and as my first official day was yesterday, I have something to write about. Third, I also just went to a Muse concert last night, which provides another source for something that could possibly be remotely interesting to you all. Or rather, you both. I have a feeling my readership at this point is either close to or exactly nonexistent.

As far as college goes, the first day was about what I expected. I transferred to Cal Poly after seven (!) semesters at Fullerton, so I was already familiar with the whole experience. I'd found all of my classrooms on campus at the BroncoFusion event they put on two days earlier, so I knew exactly how to get where I needed to be, and I arrived early enough to make parking a non-issue. I did still manage to get lost on the way though, due to a misguided sense of adventure. Although I knew how to get to my classes, I decided to try a shortcut though construction-zone-infested areas, and I somehow managed to find myself opening a door onto the fourth floor of the library. I am totally serious. There's a reason for that, but I'm not going into it, because it's kind of dumb.

Both classes I had that day–Java and statistics–went by quickly, as both were only hour-long sessions and both had a lot of administrative stuff to get through. I ended up with a small amount of homework which only took about 45 minutes to do this afternoon. That's probably the lightest homework load I'll have on any weekend for about the next 10 weeks. I got to go home after that second class, because that's all I have on Fridays. Mondays and Wednesdays add a third meeting later in the afternoon, but those won't start until next week. I took a few pictures throughout the day while I was on campus, and as soon as I get a photo gallery setup on this thing, I'll post the pictures.

Later in the evening, I got to go with my younger brother Greg to a Muse concert at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, CA. The place ended up being absolutely packed, but we got there early enough to be pretty near the front of the line, and then Greg's friend ended up having even better spots about 50 people up, so we all grouped together. I don't know about the ethics of that plan, but I think it's generally acceptable. Anyway, I really like Muse as a band; their style takes a bit of getting used to, but they are musically brilliant and astonishingly talented. I'd never seen them in concert before, but Greg had, and by his recommendation we all got pit tickets, despite the investment required to do so. It was worth it. We ended up being at the VERY FRONT of the pit, hands on the rail, about 10 feet from the bassist and in good view of everyone else. It was incredible. Here's a video from last night, from the camera that I was holding (unfortunately the battery died 10 seconds before the song ended, but you get the idea):

Amazing.

Except for the random people smoking pot somewhere behind us (that stuff smells awful!), it would be hard to find a way to improve a performance like that. Those guys sure know how to put on a show.

Even with VIP parking, it still took a good 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot, but only about another 20 to get home after that. Del Taco decided to close their 24-hour drive-thru when we tried to get some food, or else it would have taken even longer to make it home. It wasn't too late–only about 12:30am–but the day and especially the concert was pretty draining, so Greg and I both went straight to bed.

So…yeah. I consider myself blogged now. Hopefully I'll have time to regularly post some more random stuff for random internet people, and not-so-random friends who might be kind or indulgent enough to read this.

Farewell for the moment.