chaz720.net - journal

February 28, 2005

Got on board a westbound seven forty-seven, didn't think before deciding what to do. Ooh, that talk of opportunities, TV breaks and movies, rang true, sure rang true. Seems it never rains in southern California, seems I've often heard that kind of talk before. It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn ya? It pours, man, it pours. I'm out of work, I'm out of my head. Out of self respect, I'm out of bread. I'm underloved, I'm underfed, I wanna go home. It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn ya? It pours, man, it pours. Will you tell the folks back home I nearly made it? Had offers but didn't know which one to take. Please don't tell 'em how you found me, don't tell 'em how you found me. Gimme a break, give me a break. Seems it never rains in southern California, seems I've often heard that kind of talk before. It never rains in California, but girl, don't they warn ya? It pours, man, it pours.

I will attest, in the winter, it does in fact rain in southern California, and it does so as though it were thoroughly pissed off that it didn't get to rain for the other 8 months out of the year.

Not a whole lot of news regarding classes, as I still haven't taken midterms yet. Both of them are next Wednesday which will make for an interesting couple of days, but on the bright side I get the following week off from classes so I can... work... more.

From what I'm told Chugg's tests (error correction: the good class) are pretty difficult. He's allowing books, notes, and calculators which is a somewhat new to me. Illinois wasn't real big on the format, opting instead for crib sheet tests, where you had to leave your notes and book at home, but you could make up one sheet of equations/properties/etc any way you pleased and bring it with you. I actually preferred that because condensing everything you've learned onto a page turns out to be a really effective way of studying. Plus that way when you're done, you get a handy quick reference sheet you can use for other classes or at work. (I think if I combined all my crib sheets from every engineering test I've taken it would probably be subject to export control laws.) Anyway, I think I'm going to make up a page of notes for that class even though I don't have to.

Zhang (random processes: the bad class) has got an interesting test in store for me. It follows the one page of notes plus calculator format I'm used to but he's got kind of a twist. He's going to make the test have a total of 45 possible points, purposely make it too long to finish, and only grade it out of 30. The idea being, I suppose, that you shouldn't be penalized for brain-locking on a particular question. I assume there is going to be some kind of partial credit involved here, but what I need to find out is if I can attempt every problem, do each one 2/3rds of the way correctly and ace the test. If that's the case I should be able to clean up.

I'm really enjoying the new team of people I work with. We all have a lot of work to do, but people don't get too stressed out about it, and no one minds answering questions. (including myself, it feels good to be "the person to ask" regarding certain things) I know it sounds cheesy, but there's just a real positive atmosphere. Plus it's kinda funny how "politically correct" the team happens to be, composed of a woman, a black guy, a white guy (me), an Asian guy, and a Hawaiian guy.

As the current song might suggest, it has been a little slow on the skydiving front. The weekends have been hit or miss weather-wise. I'm told "gee, I don't think it's ever rained this much before for as long as I can remember." and I applaud the welcoming effort of the clouds, they've done a fantastic job making me feel right at home, but let's get back to what this state is supposed to be good at, shall we?

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