Life Update

I do not have anything too deep to post about today, so I will give you a rundown of some of the random things that have been happening:

• Had my Facebook profile disabled for some yet-unstated reason.  I am still trying to get some kind of response from Facebook other than the initial auto-response message.
• Kept up on all my homework and most of my reading.  (Business Law is an interesting course but REALLY dry reading.)
• Watched some Hulu on my 22″ LCD monitor (Christmas gift from my wife) on my Ubuntu box using Boxee.  Now I just need Netflix to get their act together and support Linux.
• Got a new general manager at work.  I think he will work out better than if the interim general manager had stayed.
• Nursed my wife through her bout of flu.  Now I just hope I do not get sick.
• I think we are cancelling a trip to New Jersey because my wife missed two days of work this week.  It is kind of a bummer, but I get another Dungeons & Dragons game in this way.
• I have not been able to have lunch with my friend Chris, but due to the pending trip cancellation, I might be able to this week.

Excited For Class

I usually do not look forward to going to class, but my finance 301 course has me excited.  The way the professor described it, this will be  what I call a “path-finding” class.

“Path-finding” is something I discovered with stoicheometry in chemistry class.  It also appears in geometry and symbolic logic.  Basically, it consists of being given a starting point and a destination.  It is your job to find the path between the two.

In stoicheometry, you are given chemicals to combine.  Then you have to figure out what and how much product the reaction will produce.  In geometry and symbolic logic, your job is to use theorems and corrolaries to prove something.  The path is what theorems to use and what order to use them.

It appears in this finance class, I will be given a situation and have to figure out what equations to use and what information to input into them.

I love path-finding.

Getting On Top Of Finances

One of my resolutions this year was to be more active in the finances.  Right now my wife pays all the bills and keeps an eye on the accounts.  All I really do is contribute money from my paycheck.  So, I have begun accounting for us in a nifty little program:  KMyMoney2.  Even though I run GNOME, I like KMyMoney2 better than HomeBank and GNUCash.  So, I am running a KDE application on GNOME.  It is another of the features I like about Linux and Ubuntu.

This will also fit in nicely with the accounting class I am taking this semester.

There Are Some Things You Do Not Expect To See On A College Campus

Today’s thing would be an AARP booth.  I mean, I guess eventually I will be retiring, but not while I am in college or soon afterwards…

My First Day

At George Mason.  It went well.

Of course, it started the night before, really.  I double-checked which courses I had, when they were, and what building they were going to be in.  I went to bed at 9:30 because I needed to be up at 5:30 in order to get to school early.  I slept great…  Until I woke up at 1:30.  From then on, I could not get to sleep.  I read.  I watched TV.  I bopped around the Internet.  Nothing helped.

I ended up leaving for school even earlier than I had planned because I got bored sitting around the house.  The drive there was easy, even though I went a slightly different way than I have ever gone.  There were plenty of parking spaces free, not every surprising for 6:45 in the morning.

On my way to the building my first class is in, I realized I had not looked up what rooms my classes were in!  So, I headed over to the library, found out that it was not open yet.  I did not have to hunt very long to find a new computer, and the crisis was averted.

I killed some time reading the paper and wandering around campus scoping out the buildings I had classes in that day.  Finally it was time for class.  I will not review my professors or classes yet.  (Which you should all be thankful for, because this post would be WAY to long.)  However, I do not think I will have troubles with any of the teachers, judgment on the actual classes will have to wait until I start getting assignments.

One thing I am proud of myself for is spending the four hour layover I had between classes to update my Google calendar and my Remember The Milk account with all the info from my syllabi.  Hopefully I will continue to be so organized.

The second day was less eventful and much slower.

I Am Now Properly Oriented

Today I had my orientation for George Mason University.  It was not too bad.  Things were well organized, and everything was pretty informational.  I am glad I went to the career services break-out session rather than the transfer section.  It had a lot of good info on internships and the career services center.

I am actually a bit psyched to be going to school again.  It sounds like GMU has a pretty good business school, so hopefully my diploma will carry a little clout.

Classes start August 25th!