Physics

Warning! Cussing ahead!

So I had a test in my machine dynamics class. It's supposed to be an intense class, though it doesn't nearly cover as much material as, say, PHYS 321. The focus of the class is on graphical and analytical methods of moving components as part of a multi-body system. But even I'm a little disappointed in the class. We had a test this past Thursday, and in order to compensate for the last test (which was not that hard, but the class average was like 58%) this one was easy. Fucking easy. I don't pay tuition to pass fucking easy tests. I pay tuition to earn a valuable degree from a notable research university, and if all you want to test us on is shit we learned back in high school Physics, then count me out.

These are the exact formulas we used:
F = ma
T = I*alpha

That's it! Granted, I doubt I got 100% on the test. I'm sure I messed up somewhere, but I am genuinely let down by this class. I had heard nasty things about it. And this is all they can muster? Damn. I should have been a Physics major. I am going to the Phun night, so that might rekindle my spirits. Now I do know people who are genuinely struggling with that class, didn't do so well on the first two, but I would certainly hope that this test was straightforward enough.

Fortunately, some classes are more demanding of their students. I may or may not be doing well in my Heat Transfer class. Hopefully I'm somewhere on the borderline between an A and a B. Likewise for my AME 400 class. I will know my final grade for that class on December 2, the same day as my AME 412A Presentation. It is at 3:50 (scheduled) in A ME S212. All are welcome to attend. The class starts at 3:30. I had a three-hour meeting with my team today, and I think we had some useful discussion. I am working on the bulk of our final presentation slides while the others are focusing on the project as a whole. I'm fine with that. I wish I could be a more practical Mechanical Engineer and be like, "Oh yeah, I can build a blahbity blah with a whatchamacallit and doohickey hinge. No problem." We were talking about the possibility of making a part from scratch. They could see the fear in my eyes. I had to get babied through machine shop enough as it was.

It looks like I have three finals (one take-home), 3 projects, a quiz, 3 presentations, and a massive report due in upcoming weeks. So I will take this last test as a silver lining for the days when things used to make sense.

I don't think I'm applying to any grad schools on time.

Time

Man, this semester has been hectic. A lot of group projects which are valuable but always find a way of draining more time.

Semester update!

Machine shop- DONE. I have my A in there already. I only did the bare minimum, but I think if I had more time I would have been more involved in the class.

Senior lab- Got 91% on last lab. Need an 88% to scrape by with an A for the class, which is hard to do, say most people.

Machine dynamics- I got a 93% on a test where the average was 58%. He said to give everyone an additional 10% of their score, so then I got a 102.3% in that case. Think I'll get an A in there if I don't screw up this test on Thursday or the final.

School asides... wait, there is nothing besides school right now! Wah. I have applications due on December 1st. I have 6 projects/presentations I can think of that I have to do before the semester lets up. At least I'll only have 2 finals, I think.

I bought two WiiWare games a couple weeks ago. SBCG4AP Episode 1 and Mega Man 9. They were both pretty fun, except MM9 has a lot more replay value. They put in a list of challenges for people to try and accomplish, and I'm shooting to finish 80% as a personal goal. I'm now at 78%. The remaining ones are:

-Never miss a shot with the Mega Buster
-Never get hit
-Never die
-Never fall down a hole
-Kill no robots except the ones you have to (bosses and mini-bosses)
-Use no weapon energy except when you have to (there are a few select places)
-Never pick up any health energy pellets
-Win the game five times in one day
-Win the game 10 times
-Win the game 30 times
-Defeat all 8 robot masters (either in their stages or *SPOILER* in Wily's castle) with only one bar of health left.

Wow, I remembered them all from memory. That's kinda sad. I know I'm close to winning 10 times. I have to be, so that will put me at the targeted 80%, but you know some of them seem possible. 30 wins. never die. no falling. maybe the first one?

I had a phone interview with Teach For America this morning. It was a phone interview, and the quietest place I could think of on campus was the benches between Chavez and CESL. So I talked for almost an hour with one guy. I did get excited when I talked about starting new programs at my potential school (MATHCOUNTS!???!?!?!?!) but we'll see how that goes. If I get to go to the last round of interviews, they'll take place sometime around finals. Eep.

So, yes, I am alive. And I want tamales for Thanksgiving.

Time

Dang. When was the last time I went a whole month without updating on Blogger? Things have just been so hectic as of late. Plus I was just gone for a few days sans computer at Berkeley. Again.

First, a semester update.

Classes are going sorta alright. It's 15 units of senior level work, so of course its hard. A rundown:

AME 400- Think I'm scraping by with an A in that class. As long as I don't blow the last one, it should stay an A.

AME 412A- I wish I knew how they were going to grade everything at the end. I'm working hard on it, but the group scores tend to drag me down.

AME 413A- I'm almost done with the class. I might be done by Wednesday. That would be cool. I'd have an A in the book already, granted I don't screw up this hammer head.

AME 432- Not been doing too well in quizzes as of late. Maybe a B.

AME 352- If I didn't mess up the last midterm I should be set for an A.

AME 446- same as 352. Plus the homework grade is almost a freebie 30%.

Now, Berkeley redux:

I went to the Berkeley Edge conference. Brent had applied too but never heard back from them. They had a lot of issues. Basically, as I heard it, the person who used to do this quit abruptly and another lady had to quickly take the reins. I met the new lady there, and she is nice, but you could tell the planning had stressed her out. But for those of us that were there, she pulled it out alright.

Basically it was a "Hey, you're in the Sciences, and from an underrepresented minority. This is why you should apply to Berkeley because they outlawed affirmative action in California." So I got to meet some graduate students, talk with a few professors, and get some insight on how to be liked in the application process. Some stuff was basic, get good GRE subject scores, get good course grades, etc. but I didn't realize they put so much emphasis on the essays. So now you know.

I got to talk with people from both the Math and the Stats departments (I was the only person who had indicated an inclination to stats, so they were happy to meet with me). The Math people I was more turned off by. So if I had to choose, I'd apply to Berkeley in stats.

We didn't get to do a whole lot of exploring around on such a short schedule. Our days were packed from 8AM to 9PM, with everything planned out hour by hour. On Saturday night we all got to go to Metro 99, a completely Japanese mall filled with awesome stuff. Then we got bussed to San Francisco and played pool. That was fun, and except for the fact that I didn't have enough money to afford a drink I had a good time.

I got paired up with the best guy. His name is Manuel Segura. He goes to CSU in L.A. and is also a math major, as well as a CS guy. Hmm. Sounds like some people I know. But I think we got along great. We were both the kinda quiet types, and I thinked that fared out well. Some people were a lot rowdier than others, going off to Halloween parties on Friday night and such, but I think it the coordinator lady had good sense to put us together. I hope to keep in touch with him. He told me that he doesn't have MySpace or Facebook, which I can understand, but at least I got his cell.

So now it's back to school for a few more weeks. We're over the hill, but the pictures won't be clear until we near finals. I think I only have 2 finals during actual finals time. One class has a "midterm" on the last day of regular lecture, but we all know. I feel a bit invigorated after my Berkeley retreat, and it feels good. I could tell by last week I was ready to short out.

Back to life.