OUT OF THE BLUE

Archive for the ‘College’ Category

Me being a full time college student does not change the rotation of the Earth on its axis. People go to college all the time, and there are a lot of non-traditional students in the academic world. There are many veterans going to school, too– even before the Post-9/11 GI Bill, there were a lot of veterans at MATC Truax. I’ve been occasionally blogging, once in a while tweeting, and often updating on Facebook that I’ve been doing school related things for four semesters now. You’re used to hearing that I’m doing homework and taking classes.

If you pass me in one of the hallways at MATC, or on the street, you’re probably doing the same thing I’m doing– listening to music through those permanently attached iPod earbuds, thinking about what you need to get done next, and trying not to collide with anyone else.

You may not see the smile I wear when I have calc 3 homework to do. Or the sense of reserved awe that results from taking calc based physics; that Newton guy invented calculus to invent physics, and here I am looking at the world through the same lens. (They even talk about Newton on Nova sometimes!) Those of you who have good memories will remember that I failed calc 1, twice.

You may not see me pausing and looking at the sign outside the UW Computer Sciences building before I go inside to work. It’s only a sign, right?

You never see me sitting in the empty seats at Kohl Center or Camp Randall just before doors open for a game, enjoying the peace and quiet while I’m putting my paperwork in order. Oh, and looking up at the championship banners. Especially the hockey banners.

Honestly, if you pass me on the street, in the hallway on the way to class, you probably are not concerned in the least. A person wearing iPod earbuds and carrying a backpack in Madison isn’t at all unusual. Working at UW isn’t at all unusual either. Lots of people do that.

So, sometimes, I wonder if I’m being too romantic– putting too much thought into being here, into living the student life. Worrying more about the journey, than the destination.

Is there romance in cutting your grocery bill, buying stuff only when it’s on sale, looking up and down the aisle for the best unit price? Looking for student discounts? Not stopping for that bottle of soda from the convenience store on the way to work? Stocking up on loose leaf paper during back to school sales? Being able to buy lunch for $2.00 at BK?

Is there romance in sitting at home late at night doing math?

Is there romance in walking through an empty (except for other workers) football stadium, or sports arena late at night, when the fans are all gone?

Is there romance in being a veteran of a war that happened nearly twenty years ago? Keeping that experience with you, every day?

Mail Call!

I received an envelope from the VA hospital recently; it contained a questionnaire that they send out three months after a person has completed a PTSD treatment program. The answers you give now are compared to the answers you gave in the past, so they can see how effective the treatment is over time.

You answer these questions, and you evaluate on your own how you feel because you have to think about how you feel to answer them.

So, I’ve answered the questions, and I can say that, be it romantic or not, I wake up in the morning and look forward to the day ahead. I like being in the quiet study area of the library all morning, knocking out physics problems. I like being tired after working at a Badger football game, and studying math during a Badger hockey game.

Romance? Glory? Fame? Probably not. But I’m happy with my math homework and my big, cheap bag of generic cheerios.

Summer, friends, is over.

All right, not technically– the leaves are not changing colors, baseball is still in season, and football is not in season, at least not quite yet. My summer, however, is over because classes start on Monday morning. This semester will be different. I have left my full time job, and changed my occupation to full time student. I still plan to work at Badger home football, basketball and hockey games. I am starting a part time IT help desk position at UW. So while I will be busy, I will be able to focus most of my energy on school, where it belongs and will do the most good.

I ended up with two days this week without work, partly to give me time to get books and such ready for classes, and partly to give me some time to make the shift from a full time day job to student life. Don’t get me wrong– I do not intend, at all, to pretend that I am 20 again– but having one’s primary focus be academics is a different frame of mind than meeting data entry production goals every day. In between shopping for books, highlighters, graph paper, and those four-color Bic pens (that are damn near impossible to find), I have made it a point to relax a little. Page through the calculus book, and notes from the past two semesters. Bookmark textbook websites. Play some Quake II. And above all, make sure the batteries in my calculator are fresh. (Calc III and Calc based physics this semester = I’ll be attached to my TI-89.)

The path to get here has been a long one. I have had a lot to overcome, have had to learn different ways to do things, and always seem to have more adjustments to make. I’m good with that.

Monday morning is going to be interesting. I have never had the full daytime MATC Truax experience, since I have had all night and online classes thus far. I might feel a little old. I might feel a little stressed, anxious, or hurried. Probably all of the above.

I will also be the person sitting up in the front of the class, notebook open, reading glasses on (reference feeling old in last paragraph), pen and highlighter in hand, ready to rock and roll.

So yes, my summer is over.

Bring on the math. Bring on the phone calls. Bring on the football, basketball, and especially the hockey.

Yeah, just bring it.

Holy crap. It’s almost the end of July. That means that I have about a month until fall semester starts. 30ish days. Holy crap. I’m short. (Can you really be a short timer as a civilian? I’ll claim yes, and more on that in a future post.)

It’s not that bad. I’m actually looking forward to classes starting again. All of my classes will be new material, so it will likely be challenging and interesting. (To put it mildly.) I might put some time in with the Calc book just before the semester starts; last two semesters I think I could have gotten off to a better start. This time I want, and need, to have those math brain cells awake the first week.

But enough about school. It’s still July.

I’ve been out on the new Trek a lot this month, logging 120+ miles this month. This weekend, the Trek gets to be a mountain bike, and gets dirty. I’m going camping, and taking the bike along to do some mountain biking in the Nicolet National Forest. Last summer, I was on the old bike from Target, which shifted on its own and didn’t shift when I told it to shift. The Trek doesn’t suffer from those issues, so this time will likely be more fun. I’ve also been going on training rides with the Madison (WI) Area Outdoor Meetup Group on Monday nights, which accounts for a lot of the miles I’ve pedaled this month.

I also have two other camping trips on the schedule this summer, one to Minnesota and one to Michigan, and the bike’s going along on both trips. There will also be kayaking and hiking involved on those trips.

I’ve been learning Java, slowly. I don’t expect that I’ll do a lot with it this semester, but I’m taking an online course through ACM just to reactivate those portions of my brain that are there to write code. It’s been a while, but a loop still does and a variable still is. I’m going to take the A+ exam before school starts again, too. My I Love Me wall needs updating.

I’m working on my UW-Madison transfer application. I’m putting things down on paper now, so it should be submitted soon. That’s a major step. Actually getting in will be an even bigger step, but this is the second step– the first was getting far enough at MATC to make transferring possible.

Okay, so I wasn’t done talking about school. I am trying to make the most of summer, because once the semester starts, life is all about homework and tests. I do believe that thinking about classes now and then over the summer is a good thing, because I’m happy about college. I enjoy school, even the math. (Maybe, especially the math.)

But it is still summer, it’s 73 degrees and sunny, and I’m getting out on the bike to log some more pedaling miles.

I’m still catching up from the last month of spring semester– I really put a lot of effort, coffee, and lack of sleep together and the results were good. If there’s such a thing as “in the zone”, I was in it those last few weeks of the semester. But it’s taken a few weeks to readjust to things like, say, being able to go to bed at 10:00pm without having a speech to write or a boatload of calculus problems to get done. I keep thinking I have homework due tomorrow.

So I’m not quite used to summer, but I’m adapting.

I spent a good portion of this past weekend shopping for camping supplies, and picked up a tent that was on sale at REI (among other things– tarpage, tent stakes, etc.) So I’ll be
doing some camping in the near future. I looked at kayaks, too, and have resigned myself to waiting until next year to buy one. This year’s major purchase was the Trek 820, which I needed before I need a boat. My bike rides to and from work are a lot more fun now. I’ve already been on one 20 mile ride with the ‘820– planning to get it onto a trail and get it dirty soon, too.

This summer isn’t all vacation time though. I still have things to get accomplished. I’m taking an online non-credit Java programming course, and an A+ certification exam course this summer. (It’s surprising how much I remember from my object oriented programming, and programming languages classes that I took, oh, a few years ago. Maybe I didn’t kill all those brain cells after all.) Sometime in August, I’ll pull out the calculus book again and put myself through a self-imposed refresher course before the semester starts.

And, I only have one semester left at MATC. So I’m working on applying for that other school (whose initials are UW). Just filling out the application is a big step, which is the result of having taken a lot of very small steps. There’s some anxiety here. I have an academic past to answer for– which I’m working on doing, but there’s a lot riding on how well I explain how different I am from the kid who dropped out of LSU-Shreveport a few years ago.

In any case, I’m going to be a full time student at MATC Truax in fall. Most of my classes have been at the downtown campus, and the one I have had at Truax was at night– so I’m going to be, shall we say, immersed. There is a big difference between being a working adult taking classes and being a full time adult student who also works. (At least, it seems that way as I’m writing this.) It’s not really that “I’m gonna die” scary, but it will feel different for a while. And then, by the end of the first day of classes this fall, I’ll have enough homework to do that it won’t matter. Hopefully.

Spring semester 2009 is history. I can sleep now. Speech, and Calculus 2 can be mounted and hung on the wall.

It’s been an, um, busy semester. In addition to my eight hours of classes (so, yeah, half-time+) at MATC I worked at just about all of the UW men’s hoops games, all of the Badger men’s hockey games, the WIAA state wrestling tournament and state boy’s basketball tournament. Oh yeah– I had a regular 40 hour a week job, too.

And oh yeah again– I also completed a 12-week post traumatic stress disorder treatment program at the Madison VA hospital. In the middle of the semester.

This semester my long days had two basic variations:

• Work job 1 0610-1545, study ’till 1900, then class till 2130, then to the gym till 2230 and sometimes foraging for groceries after that
• Work job 1 0610-1545, study ’till hoops/hockey, work 1630-2230 (and study during hoops/hockey)

Most days during the week at around the time I hit twelve hours I was either soon headed to class or making sure my meat was cooked because the Kohl Center’s doors were just opening for the game. A “long day” was about sixteen hours, and a good night’s sleep was about 4-5 hours.

And one final oh yeah– I got BC’s in both classes. They’re not A’s– but considering the circumstances this semester, I’m quite happy with ‘em.

This is a bit late, but it’s become tradition that a) I run Crazylegs and b) I post something about it afterwards.

Last year, it was windy and a little chilly.
This year, it was rainy and way more than a little chilly.

I didn’t run the 8K, but I did walk the 2K. I considered running, even with the rain, but didn’t for two reasons. First, it doesn’t do me any good to catch a cold that kicks my ass for two weeks right before final exams. Second, I wasn’t as in shape this year– two jobs plus half time school takes its toll on a person’s workout schedule.

So my results for this year weren’t in the paper the next day. Oh well. I did get my tshirt, my beer, and got to see the crew from work. Definitely worth two clicks in the rain. Just wait ’till next year.

Random stuff– I’m taking a break from studying for a calculus 2 exam tomorrow night–

• I said last summer, that if I was sitting at home in the middle of winter thinking about kayaking and mountain biking, that I’d invest more in being able to do both. Well, I am, and so I am going to do so– not sure if I can pull off purchasing a new/upgraded bike and a kayak in one year though.
• I need to get out with my friends more. School and work are just really taking all of my time lately.
• I’ve added a few entries to my blogroll. Feel the love.
• I’m amazed that so many people I know from high school are using Facebook.
• I do not get nearly enough sleep these days. My bloodstream is now 23% coffee.
• I’m not, not, NOT running for any office at the VFW post this year.
• I’m in a PTSD treatment program at the VA.
• I’m kinda ticked that US Cavalry won’t sell me an ABU boonie hat, and save me a trip to the army/navy store in Milwaukee to look for one. Then again, if I go there, I can also go to the Safehouse. So maybe it’s not so bad.
• I now own my own car. This is the first car I’ve ever paid for entirely on my own. There are three stickers on the back window– a U. S. Air Force decal, a VFW decal, and my MATC student parking sticker. Still waiting for military plates to arrive.
• I’m going to order a Big Tobacco tshirt– not because he’s giving part of the proceeds to charity (although he is), but because of this post that proves I’m not the only one in the world that thinks like that sometimes.
• I’m trying to get back into being in the gym more. Full schedule plus it’s cold outside makes it difficult.

Okay, back to work…

Okay, I promised I’d try to write more, so I’ll take a break between conjugating verbs in Spanish, and learning about inverses of circular functions in Trig.

I’m experimenting with ways to push, pull, or drag my VFW Post into the 21st century; VFW does have a presence on Myspace and Facebook, and I’ve started posting meeting notices as events on Facebook. It’s a scream in the wilderness– at nearly 40, I’m one of the younger active members of my post and probably one of the most socially networked. If you find a meeting notice posted online, come to a meeting and tell me where you saw the posting and I’ll buy you a beer/soda.

This past Saturday, the Black Knights Color Guard (of which I am a member) got together to practice marching. Yes, marching. I swore when I graduated Ground Rat school I’d never march in a parade again if I could help it, but here I am holding up a flag and trying to stay in step. I noticed two things on Saturday– one, you never forget how to march once you’ve learned. Two, it’s actually fun now. I’ll try to get some pictures from the first time I actually march for real, which will be in May.

Back to homework…

I have done some serious rearranging of old entries, which included deleting more than a few– so if Google sent you here and you can’t find what you want, my apologies. Google probably has a cached copy of whatever you were looking for. You can also try looking under “uncategorized”, as I’ve dropped a couple of categories as well.

I’m going to try to post things that are a little more meaningful than just “whatever popped into my head that day”, we’ll see how that goes. School and work are still taking up most of my time.

Two weeks (holy crap!) into fall semester, I suppose I should post something about being back in college.

Maybe I’ve been a college student too long, but the process of getting an application in, transcripts sent, add slips signed, overrides filled out (and signed), ID card made (“Smile!”), parking sticker attached to the right part of the car, maxing the credit card for books… this process was new a couple of colleges ago. So my blog isn’t going to turn into the story of the vet who went back to school and shared the whole story with you. While that would be an interesting and inspirational theme to work with, vets going back to school is nothing new and it’s really just the next chapter in a longer story for me. I’ve been through a lot to get here. Uphill through the snow both ways, you might say. Or not. Let’s just say I’ve worked hard to get to this point, I’m happy to be here, and quite frankly I have enough interesting homework to do that I don’t have time to sit around thinking about the past for very long.

So there you have the “I’ve gone back to college, again” blog entry. Now, since a) I have nothing due until Tuesday, and b) I’m quickly approaching stressed, tired and hungry, I’m going to the Y, followed by foraging for groceries. If I’m still feeling ambitious after that, I’m going to play with my new TI calculator… which looks like it has enough built in functions to fly an F-16.