TechBook

Wow - its the middle of February and I haven't posted yet. Being at home was crazy, and just when I got back to Tech, more crazy!

So - I've got a whole new set of classes that are keeping things interesting. First up - Computer Organization I - the closest thing to hardware I'm required to take. This goes from logic gates all the way up through high-level languages like C. If anyone even thinks the word "Python" once I start programming in assembly, I will find one and let it squeeze them dry . So far, I really like this class though - I'd pry say its my favorite class this semester. Prof. McQuain is pretty cool and it turns out that not only does he do CS, he does woodworking in his spare time. Pretty cool. Next up is my Chemistry Lab. Now most people take chem lab and chem lecture at the same time, but due to my accidentally being enrolled in a chem major's only section last semester and therefore getting kicked out - here I am taking it now. So far, its not horrible. But I'd also say its pry my least favorite class. I hate chem anyway, and now I have to fake... I mean produce... I mean record... results. Then write a report saying that the results are close enough that its not just random chance. Yuck. Next class - "Engineering Exploration of the Digital Future" - this is an Engineering Education class - and ENGE is pretty universally dumb unless you didn't go to high school. This particular incarnation isn't as bad since its focused on CS/ECE students, but you still have to go through the "this is a resistor" stuff. Not much else to say there. Physics! Also known as the holy grail of NOT-chemistry! So far nothing excited or otherwise outside of high school physics, but how would I know since Mr. Rose basically taught us AP Physics... Anyway - Newtonian motion, 2D particle kinematics, circular motion, projectile motion, etc. Physics comes with a separate but weirdly included lab - so far the lab is more of a "well duh these things work in real life" but its not hard, so I won't complain. My Physics Professor - Roger Chang - is pretty cool too - teaching things from the bottom up and making sure things have somewhat reasonable applications. Problem Solving in Computer Science - wtf? You would think that problem solving skills would be a pre-requisite for college, let alone for CS, let alone needing a dedicated sophomore level class in CS. But required it is, so twice a week I open up my laptop and do other things while I half listen. The other half of my listening is my brain filling in the blanks with "In soviet russia..." jokes. Why yes - my professor is from one of the slavic nations - no I don't know which one - my bet is russia though. Finally - Applied Combinatorics. The professor is an old guy who I'm pretty sure is just having fun with the class. So far all we've done is graph theory - which is pretty interesting in its own right. Round about spring break we'll switch over into the actual combinatorics. He says those two should be mini-courses, but got stuck together for no real reason. Its a pretty fun course so far, though I haven't yet found out what the tests will be like.

In other news - SNOW. Its actually not been super crazy when you realize I live in the mountains. We got a couple of days off, but I didn't miss any of the classes I would have liked to. We also didn't have anywhere near the craziness of back home. The winds are killer - gusts up to 50mph directly on the drill field. The main impact of the snow is that with the elementary schools closed, I haven't been able to go out with CS^2 to help with the computer clubs. In other, other news - I was invited to a CS luncheon for people with high GPAs or research, industry reps, and faculty. That was pretty good, though I had to leave after an hour to get to my chem lab.

In visitation news - my parents came down for my 19th birthday. They took me to this great restaurant in Radford called The River Company - steak. And other things, but most importantly steak. In fact and entire section of the menu was dedicated to "Wood-fired Beef". Expensive, but tasty. Plus rolls with cinnamon apple-butter. Tasty. For valentines day - Mari came down. Continuing the "tasty" - we went to Olive Garden for lunch - and their mixed grill (steak, chicken, veggies, potato) was really good. Then for dinner we went to Kabuki, a Japanese Steakhouse. Unusually for me - I didn't have the shrimp, or the shrimp and scallops. I had the "Bonzi" - shrimp, scallops, and lobster. Soooo tasty. Finally on valentines day itself - I continued my family's tradition of getting hot dogs for dinner - though without vienna inn available - I had to settle for Owens.

In woodworking news - I found an attachment, and some bits for my dremel that will make it a good router - I'll pry buy those once I get time to do some woodworking and get back home to my tools.

In the where-will-I-live-next-year news - I've been out hunting. After my dad directed me to a neighborhood - I went out to drive around and scout out properties. The neighborhood looks promising with lots of townhouses for sale. Its right behind Christiansburg High School, and only 15 minutes from Tech. My parents and I will be looking more closely here in a few weeks.

In the uncatagorized news - Avatar was AWESOME. Also - thank you to every one for the Birthday Presents! Cookware will come in very handy once I have my own kitchen.

Whew - I think I'm mostly caught up now. Emails are always welcome .