big scary due things
So, it’s week 8. Around this point you can count on one hand how many weeks are left till the end of semester (5) and the assignments are starting to loom on the horizon. I thought I’d write them down here so I can get my head around them all.
- Algorithms and Data Structures:
- Prac every other week requiring about 4 hours of work.
- Final Exam on the 16th of June (this is a little ways away, I’m not so concerned about it.)
- Technical Documentation for Engineers:
- Assignment 4 due 15th May.
- Assignment 5 due 29th May.
- Final (Prac) exam 1st of June.
- English, Children’s Literature:
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Test on Friday (1st May).went well.
- Artemis Fowl and The Book Thief left to read.
- 2,000 word Essay due 5th of June.
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- Spanish, Discourse Analysis:
- Tutorial every week requiring reading and proper preparation.
- Oral presentation in the last few weeks.
- Test 21 May.
- Final essay due 5th of June.
On top of this add Girls Brigade, family life + home renovations, and a social life… I’m going to be very busy!
So, Spanish-English-Algorithms-TechDocs-Algorithms-Spanish-English-TechDocs-Algorithms-Spanish-English-TechDocs-English-Spanish-TechDocs-English-Spanish-Algorithms looks like the general “work on this next” pattern.
I had a transport filled day today. I got a lift with my Dad (in my car) to the Railway Station, caught the train, then the bus to uni. Caught the bus to a different train station after uni, caught the train into Zone 1, got off, bought a ticket for Zone 1 (I have a month-long zone 2 ticket), caught the next train, attempted to catch a city loop train at Richmond Station. After the doors closed I realised I should have stayed on that train. Changed platforms and caught the next Flinders Street train. Changed at Flinders Street and caught the train to Melbourne Central. Met up with my family, rode in their car to dinner and home again. Wow!
If you’ve read down this far, my host is changing server set-up, so this is advance notice that I will soon be locking down this site in preparation for the transition. I’ll post again to inform everyone.
COMMENTS
blooding #5
I just got back from giving blood for the fifth time, after a break of over a year (due to travel). It was just about the same as usual, I had to wait a long time in the chair (stuck, elevated and my arm in the blood pressure cuff) while they sorted out my paper work. I didn’t feel faint this time, which is a plus. On to the stats!
- Amount: 470mL
- Blood Pressure: 116/77
- Haemoglobin: 13.9 (down, grr.)
- Time elapsed: 10 minutes 50 seconds.
So why not? Give Blood.
COMMENTS
technology in the midst of busyness
A tech-centered society is what we are supposed to be living in. When I’m on holidays I can see this as I wander the internet, play with different technologies and stay connected with my friends. When I’m at uni, it’s a different sort of interaction I have with technology, possibly because I don’t have the time to dabble, I just have to go with what is useful.
To travel to my university I drive, and then catch a train and a bus. Technology is obviously there, in the ticket validators and the website I use to check what train I need to catch. Sometimes I take my computer along, sometimes not. I take my notes in real paper notebooks, with a big margin for keywords. I have to remind myself to go back over the notes and fill in these keywords regularly. My lectures are recorded, and I can download them after the fact, along with the slides from half my subjects: the IT ones. This is handy for when the computer based scheduling system has given me a clash of a lecture and a tutorial: my computer downloads the missed lectures as a podcast. I put them on my iPod, but it’s handy to have the pdf of the slides to look at as well.
When I’m not in a lecture, I could be in a tutorial or a practical (also known as a lab.) I don’t tend to use my laptop in the tutorials, but it can be handy in the pracs, even though we have access to the lab computers. It’s nice to be able to do work at home- or at uni as the case may be.
My laptop is a fantastic weapon for productivity, but of course it’s a double edged sword. I use email a lot to communicate with my friends, professors and fellow students, and other things I’m involved in. I use the moodle websites for my course, but email is a big way that I stay in touch with what’s going on. Of course, there is also twitter, which I use to update my friends (and adoring public) on what I’m doing while on the run. I text twitter probably as much as I text any of the other people I send text messages to. Facebook and msn/gtalk/chat are purely social tools.
I usually have a quick glance at the news headlines, but don’t spend time getting absorbed in information. I have a (free) newspaper subscription (was included in something else I bought) but I don’t read that front to back either. It’s The Australian, not The Age (other option was Herald Sun, the age wasn’t an option) so that might be partly why.
My hobbies are still my website, photography and hammocks, but I don’t have a huge amount of time to commit to those as I have a pretty heavy work load with pracs and tutorials every week, all of which require prior preparation. (Besides assignments.) I’m not swamped, but I don’t have a lot of time for fun projects, or to get involved in technology.