Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Tuesdays = Good

So, Tuesdays are usually good anyways, but today is even better. I wanted to get in early so that I could look and see if there are any labs that I could possibly do instead of current balance in the E&M lab. So, I looked at some handouts on the CD that came with the equipment, and decided that the only one that would definitely cut it isn't so good. So I went to waste some time in the computer lab and see if I could find anything online regarding E&M labs. No luck there, but I did check my email, and saw that class was canceled for today, but the prof would be in the rest of the day (just not during class) if we had any questions. So I went back to my office to spread the good news and work on the homework for that class. I did some work, talked to the prof a couple times, and then was home by 12.30.

Yesterday wasn't nearly as nice. In addition to my usual, I also proctored cos I'm a sucker. After my teaching, I saw Evelyn in the hall and she asked if I could proctor, at 1.40, apparently the prof had only asked her about it 2 hours prior. I agreed, and it turned out to be the easiest proctoring ever. All he needed me there for was the first and last 10 or so minutes, handing out and collecting tests.

I don't think I'm really gonna be doing much today, I've got my Quantum test tomorrow at 9AM, so I don't wanna do any more work today other than studying, but it's an open notebook test, so I don't even want to study.

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Sunday, October 14, 2007

The weekend

So, this weekend was ok, I went up to northern PA to go hunting on a relative's land. It was fairly warm for deer hunting, which was kinda nice, and the main reason I go during muzzle loader season (besides the fact that normal deer season usually falls during finals). Saw 3 deer, but unfortunately they came from a little too far behind me, and so I didn't get anything.
Other than that, I didn't do much else this weekend.

In other news, I hate stupid students. Why do they think that they can get away with copying someone else's work? It's just plain stupid, and I'm not nearly as dumb as I seem.

The only other exciting thing I can think of is that the old chair of the department gave me some new equipment to use in my E&M lab, although I'm still talking to the prof about using some of it. One of the coolest things, however is a huge multimeter. Here are some pics of it, with a 24oz bottle of Mt. Dew as a size reference:


The wheels on either side of the display are to change the range of the meter, so that you can get a better degree of accuracy depending on the strength and type of measurement you are taking. I can't see any practical use for it in E&M lab, but it's cool nonetheless.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Surprises can be nice

So, apparently there was an error made when scheduling the tutors, and I am not going to be tutoring from 3 to 5 on Wed., but from 1 to 3 on Wed. This works out much better, since we can now put Solid State back to the original time of 4.30, which works out a lot better than 5.
I also think I might be picking up some Solid State too, although I am still having problems with the assignments.

Additionally, while talking to the TA who taught E&M lab last year, the old chair asked if I wanted some equipment for the lab that he procured while he was chair. It seems nifty enough, especially the huge multimeter (probably about 2 feet or so tall), although I'm not sure if I'll be able to use it. Regardless of whether or not I can use it, I will have to figure out where to store it, since the room I use for lab is also being used for my Quantum and Stat. Mech. classes, and there is already a lot of junk in the room. With any luck, though, I'll be able to get at least one experiment out of it to replace the old Current Balance lab that is missing equipment.

Quantum worked out fairly well today also, with the prof throwing out a problem that the old prof had assigned, due to the fact that none of us could do it, and it's been weeks. This means that I have now turned in all of the assignments to date. The homework we got back today was nice as well, since the prof couldn't get the correct answer for one of the problems, so he gave us all 100%'s for it, even though he was fairly convinced that none of us did it correctly.


So, all in all, it seems like it's been a fairly good day, and I'll probably spend most of the rest of it playing Jade Empire, which also seems quite good so far.

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Amazing!

So I finally woke up on time today (well, 5 minutes off, but close enough), which makes it the first time in about a month or so. So far ,so good, but we'll have to see how the rest of the day goes, although this will be the first day that I'm tutoring, and from what I've gathered it more or less consists of sitting in the room for 2 hours, since most undergrads don't know about it yet.

This is also the official start of a one week countdown until my first Quantum test, when we see what the new prof is really like.

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Monday, October 8, 2007

I never could get the hang of Mondays...

Mondays suck. I go to Quantum, teach, go to colloquium, and then go to Solid State. Quantum isn't so bad, other than the fact that it's at 9AM. Solid State, however, is another matter completely. I have absolutely no idea what's going on in that class, and being from 4.30 to 6 doesn't help much either, I just want to go home and eat.


Anywho, not only was it a Monday as usual, but I got a nice little surprise in my department mailbox when I checked it this morning. Apparently the MSRC (Math Science Resource Center) isn't sufficient anymore, or students are getting stupider, or something else, because now all the Physics TAs are required to tutor for 2 hours a week in the new Physics tutoring room. It's a fairly small room, and in fact, it used to be the office for 2 TAs, but they had to be moved in order to make room for the tutoring office.
This might not seem like a big deal at first, but I'm already working more than usual because I was given an upper level undergrad courser to teach (E&M lab). Granted, I teach only that and one Gen. Phys. class, but it's still more work than teaching 3 Gen. Phys. labs.

But wait, there's more...


My solid state class all worked out a time that worked well for all of us (or at least the best we could do), so there is no "Official Time" for the class. Of course, then, I am set to tutor from 3 to 5 on Wednesdays, thus pushing our solid state class back half an hour later. So I'll have to sit in the tutoring office on Wednesdays helping students, and then sit in class for an hour and a half, and get back home even later than I already do, and I'm tired enough as it is going into the class.

So yes, today, not so fun, and tutoring promises to not be so much fun either, le sigh.

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Sunday, October 7, 2007

First Post W00t

So, I now have a blag. With any luck, I'll be taking better care of it than I did of my LJ...

Anywho, for some reason traffic was crazy in MD today, I don't understand it. Going to and coming back from Mel's parents was just stupid traffic-wise and then coming back to Philly was kinda crazy until I got outta MD. Other than the area where DelDoT is being idiotic, of course. A few miles before the place where 95, 495, and 295 split from each other, they have signs up saying that the 2 left lanes are closed, and that everyone should merge. They even have a large blinky arrow; what they don't have, however, is the 2 left lanes closed, that happens after the split. they do the same thing about a mile later, except with the 2 right lanes, that also happens after the split (on 295 though). So the whole area is filled with confused drivers who don't know where they should be going, and so seem to just go slowly for no other reason than to piss me off.

That seems enough for now, we'll see what else I deem worthy of writing down (so to speak) in the next few weeks, which will probably determine whether I keep this going or not.

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