School is hard

I've been having a hard time readjusting to school. I've had some attitude problems lately that my good friend, Erik, pointed out to me. My right shoulder has been giving me a lot of problems lately. The last few days I've been in pain almost constantly. The long days at school (and the commute) are getting a little easier, but it makes my last class kind of a drag and I still find it hard to concentrate on much during the long break (my shoulder doesn't help much with this either). Yeah, I'm cranky.

I procrastinated on writing my midterm paper for environmental ethics and it definitely suffered because of it. I haven't gotten it back yet, but don't expect much. A low "B" maybe if I'm lucky. We split into large groups today and will meet after class on Thursday to further split into pairs. Each pair will give a short presentation on their chosen subject (ours is Land & Water) followed by a Q&A. I can't wait (that's sarcasm). I do find a lot of value in this class, but don't care much for some of the required activities. Can't have it all.

I'm pretty happy with my Public Utilities Econ class. We had our mid-term exam last week and I think I was one of three (maybe more. Not everyone was there) who got an "A" on the test. The instructor apparently grades on a curve, because that "A" was earned with a score of 39 out of 55 possible points. It was a hard test. Normally that would only be 71%. But this guy has been doing this a long time and probably has a reason. This is good news for my final grade because you have the choice of combining exam grade for an average or just taking whatever you get on the final. It's not actually even a choice. He does whatever will help your grade the most. But the final grade consists ONLY of these two test scores, so you need to do pretty well on them. A lot of people are rarely there and I think their grades probably will suffer. And he even told us that the tests are from his lectures only. The info in the text is supplementary and repeats some of the same stuff he lectures on, but definitely not all of it. We have already covered a majority of the the most important information, so the rest of the term may be a little easier. Maybe. We have 4 guest lecturers coming in over the next month. Attendance is mandatory (ha ha slackers!) for the guest lectures and they might take most of the class period each time.

Microeconomics. This class makes me a little sad. I want a lot more time to cover the material. We spend very little time on any one thing and don't even cover everything in the PowerPoint presentations. I haven't done all that well on the homework, in-class exercises, and midterm exam. I'd be lucky if I'm averaging 80% right now. This class is one of the most important ones I've taken yet. I have a lot of complaints about a lot of things with this class. Sure its hard. Sure I could be studying even MORE. And the fact that I haven't had an economic class in almost two years doesn't really help. I'm having to relearn a lot of old stuff along with all the new stuff. I think a lot of other people are struggling with this class too. I don't know if that makes it any better or not.

I have to pick classes for my next term in two weeks. I started stressing about that last night. Jeez. I have a feeling that I will have almost the same schedule that I do now, only about 40 minutes shorter. At least there is that. Right now I'm leaning towards GEOG345U (Resource Management), EC332 (Economics of Environmental Issues), and EC410 (Energy Economics - with the same old-school professor who teaches my Public Utilities class!). Those are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 6pm.

Energy Economics is only taught one term per year. I really want to take it now this coming term. The instructor, Mike Katz, seems healthy enough, but is about 85 years old, so you never know. I really like to listen to his lectures and he has had a LOT of experience. He is quite a character as is very self-aware of who he is and his biases, but presents the issues of public utility regulation in a very neutral way. It's also very obvious that he is still passionate about public electric utilities. I need to make some time to talk to him during his office hours (early morning only. Figures).

An alternate version that I'm not really all that seriously considering is this - EC410 (gotta have Energy Economics), another EC410 (this one is Behavioral Economics and is only an hour long twice a week), and EC444 (Economics of Green Power - another one hour class, but three times a week and another that is only offered during winter term). Class on all five weekdays. Monday and Wednesday from 9am to 11:20, Tuesday and Thursday from 10am to noon, and Friday from 10:15 to 11:20. After typing this out, this doesn't seem all that bad, until you add an hour or more commuting each day. Even then it seems like it might be less stressful to stretch out my classes but have much shorter days and less time (no time actually) wasted on campus. Plus my days will be more structured, I'll be home for lunch everyday, and it might keep me on track better than I'm doing right now. Only two days between classes instead of four so I'm less apt to screw off as much. I think I'm trying to talk myself into this option now. These are all 400 level classes, so they may not be as easy as the short class time might indicate. And I would have to get up an hour earlier twice a week. Oh, the horror!!!

I can take EC312 (Macroeconomic Theory) any term. I'm in no rush on that one. EC401 would be an easy one credit class. I already attend the seminars and could be getting a grade for writing a short paper on each lecture, but it's only one credit and I don't really need the added stress of 4 more papers during the term. I think I'll just keep going to them for free. Plus it won't matter if I miss one. EC314U (Private and Public Investment) would probably be a good idea, but that's another one that I can take any time. If I have the time. There are a lot of other classes I'd rather take. And they started offering it as a web-only class. Do I like that or not? I'm not sure. I'll keep my options open.