finals
Two Things I Hate That Begin With “F”
Regular classes concluded on Thursday, which means that it’s time for finals. I have four finals and a project to finish up the semester.
And if that wasn’t enough, I picked up the flu. I’m running a temp around 102.4° F, body aches, can’t sleep. Yea, it pretty much sucks.
I’ve been taking acetaminophen and that seems to reduce the fever down to a manageable 99° F.
I just hope this blows over soon.
0“Blah” is What I’m Looking Forward To
Charles Dickens’ begins A Tale of Two Cities with, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
I think that line adequately reflects my current mood.
After today, I’ll have three more days of class (which is actually just one real day since I have no class tomorrow and Thursday I only have rock climbing). There is no new material to learn, which is great because my brain was full about five weeks ago. This is the final push to get through these last few days and then three days of finals next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
But I want to be done now.
It’s basically been sixteen weeks of “go, go, go” and it’s worn me out mentally and, to a degree, physically. I’m looking very forward to May 7th after my last final when I can just go home, sit in my chair, and just be “blah”.
0Final Grades
Grades for this semester are in. Drum roll please:
Fluid Mechanics: B
Digital Logic: A
Advanced Engineering Math: B
Information Systems: D
Engineering Circuit Analysis: B
GPA for this semester: 2.875
Cumulative GPA: 2.615
This brings me to 94.5 earned hours which officially makes me a senior. Three more semester left.
0Sad Times
I’ve been pretty busy this past week, mentally, physically, and emotionally. When I get this busy, my regular habits (for better or for worse) start to drop off. I hold off on checking/responding to email, I let me feeds go unread for days at a time and I pretty much just generally unplug from the world while I deal with what’s at hand (in this case: finals). To give you an idea of how far behind I am, I have 250 emails in my inbox and 828 unread feeds I currently have.
Unfortunately, life goes on; and with life’s continuance, death also continues.
That’s what this post is about. Two great people passed away this week: Marc Orchant and Anita Rowland.
While I had never met Marc in person, I have read his posts online and I know people who have meet him. All indications I have say that he was a kind and caring gentleman who really knew what was going on. Marc suffered massive heart attack about a week and a half ago. While he never regained consciousness, he was reportedly getting better. Around 3pm on Sunday, Marc suddenly passed away.
In contrast, Anita had been battling cancer since 2003. However, her death was also as unexpected as Marc’s. I’m glad I am able to say that I did have the pleasure of meeting Anita several times over the years at the few Blogger Meetups I was able to attend. I remember that Anita was always very kind to me and created a very welcoming environment.
While I will miss them both, I think I find it hardest to watch the people still alive who had a greater connection to Marc and Anita then I did. To see the depth of their sorrow and know that there is nothing I can do to ease it.
TDavid has a nice recounting of his interaction with Marc and Anita.
Chris Pirillo also has a very touching video on YouTube.
However, I think Warner Crocker summed it up best:
From wickedstageact2.typepad.com:
“Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!” (Hamlet Act V, scene ii)
Death is a bitch.
0Sick and Finals
I’m come down with a rather nasty cold (or something, crossing my fingers for cold though). It’s been really bad today and yesterday, so I’m hoping that I’m reaching the peak of this thing and will be back in full force for next week.
Next week also happens to be the last week of school before finals. Four days of school, Friday off, and then finals on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday.
I think the good news about finals is that two of my classes are going to be 100% take home finals (Digital Logic and Engineering Circuit Analysis). Advanced Engineering Math is also going to have a take home section.
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