Done for now

Well now, that wasn't so bad. There was a ton of reading and writing for my online climatology class but none of it was particularly difficult. I feel like I learned a lot in this class, so that's good. I ended up with an A, even though I didn't turn in my final book-related assignment. I thought it was due a week later than it really was. I'm not sure how that happened. But I think I did well enough and showed a lot of understanding of what we were doing and the professor took that into consideration. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

I had an almost surreal experience because of what I learned in this class. I think it was the last Friday or Saturday of the term. I was up really late and went outside. There was a lightning storm approaching from the east. I could see exactly what was going on with the clouds and why they were doing what they were doing. I know it doesn't really sound like much, but it was a moment of clarity for me that is hard to describe. Weather is cool and I don't actually know all that much about it, but I'm certain I know more than your average Joe. Yay!

My macroeconomics class went a lot smoother than I expected. It was intense, but was over relatively quickly. I did at least slightly better than the class average overall and ended up with a B. I'm happy with that as this class was fairly difficult. The professor doesn't seem to do any grade inflation and his exams are kind of hard. I like that. I'd rather get a B that I had to really work for than an A that was easy. And as expected, I now have a greater understanding of how the macroeconomy works. Its pretty fascinating and important but I don't really see myself doing much in this field in the future. You never know, but it seems unlikely.

I spent the last week doing basically nothing. But I did spend about 4 hours yesterday driving to various Goodwill outlets around town. I ended up with a pair of jeans, two shirts, a nice towel, and a fitted sheet for my bed (super ugly color, but it will be better than using a flat sheet like I have been) for less than $30. I didn't find everything I wanted, so I'll probably go back to a couple of them again. Plus I was getting tired of shopping. It's not really my favorite thing to do.

I have 4 weeks left to do some stuff. I need to do stuff. Cool stuff preferably. But until then, here's more school stuff about fall term. Stuff.

I'm still planning on working on getting a minor in GIS. I might forgo the actual minor by one class so I can graduate next June, but that's still up in the air and depends a lot on how the next couple of terms go and class availability.

As of right now, I'm signed up for the following classes during the fall term:

• GEOG380U Maps & Geographic Information. This is one of the four required classes for the GIS minor. It is a 5-credit class and has a lab component. This is going to be my earliest class yet and runs from 8am to 9:50am on Monday and Wednesday. The lab is on Tuesday from 3:55pm to 5:25pm. Maps! Yay!!!
• GEOG230 Environment and Society. This is another required 4-credit class for the GIS minor. I will have a break of about 1-1/2 hours between my first class and this one, which runs from 11:30 to 12:35 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I haven't taken a 200-level class for quite a while. This should be relatively easy. I wish I didn't have to take this. I don't feel like I'm going to learn all that much that's new to me. I hope I'm surprised.
• EC417U Women in the Economy. I was going to take this class earlier, but it didn't work out. I've heard good things about the professor and the class. And I certainly need to have a better prospective of this subject. Women now make up over half of our country's workforce and are still getting the short end of the stick. I think this class will probably make this much more clear, but I'm not really sure what to expect. After this class I will only need one more required economics class (it will probably be EC460 History of Economic Thought, but I'm not totally sure) for my major. Everything else I need to fulfill my credit requirements can be pretty much anything I want. And I'm using them to get the GIS minor. Oh, I still have to do a senior capstone too. Anyways, this class is on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12:45 to 1:50.

So this is a relatively full week, I go every weekday but Thursday. Monday and Wednesday will be relatively long (from 8am to 2pm). Tuesday is easy. One lab class from 3:55 to 5:25. And a late start on Friday, from 11:30 to 1:50. More commuting, but not nearly as long of days as my fall term last year. But it will probably be different. There will be no more Free Rail Zone anywhere, except for the downtown area streetcar, which I have no use for. Budget cuts. I can get a discounted Trimet pass for $205 for the term. Or I can pay $220-250 for parking. Or $85 for a motorcycle. That's kind of intriguing but I don't relish the thought of being wet during school. My wet weather riding gear is no longer complete. I'll probably end up buying the pass (or maybe a book of individual passes - which might end up being less) and not using my car at all to get to school. I will have to get up a little earlier still and will have a longer commute, but I'm willing to try it and see how it goes.

Like usual, I have already purchased the textbooks I'm going to need for these classes. Two of them I got used and one I rented, which I haven't done before, but it was still cheaper than buying a used one. I spent a little under $100 for the three of them (the rental was about $45). For some reason, here is a picture of them.

As I was writing this I figured out that I got the wrong edition of the book on the left. The Amazon listing is kind of deceptive. I thought I was getting a 6th edition, but got a 1st. No wonder it was so cheap (about $13). I'll probably look at renting the right one. Another $41 for that. Bah. Stupid Amazon. Or stupid me. I think I'm going to check the on-campus used book store and see what they have.

Summer term almost over

The last month has just flown by. Only one lecture and one exam left in my macro class. I'm doing a little better than the class average as of now. Unless I bomb the final exam on Thursday I'm pretty sure I'll end up with a B in this class. I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I like the 4 week compressed summer class. About 80-100 pages of reading every week, lots of note-taking with graphs, an exam every week. And it's nearly over! I think the same professor (Hiro Ito from Japan) has been teaching this compressed class for quite a few summers and he seems to have it all down pretty well. Today was really the first time I was a little confused during his lecture and I didn't seem to be the only one. The subject, the difference between nominal and real interest rates over time and the meaning of their slopes on a graph, is kind of weird and hard to conceptualize. I started to understand it and I think I have at least retained the point he was making about it. I've felt pretty good about my level of comprehension during this class. Although we generally do it a little bit every lecture, I wish we had more time to talk about current events. That's about my only complaint.

My other summer class, Climatology, has been super interesting. Even though I learned a LOT about the subject, I barely scratched the surface. This class has had a considerable amount of reading (all online - no textbook!) and a lot of writing assignments. I still have my final paper on the climate-related book I read and the 750 word minimum writing part of the final assignment (I already finished the other part). This class was pretty much of a last minute addition and I'm really glad I decided on this one. I felt that I was missing some very important basic knowledge about out climate and now I have it. I still have one week to turn in the final assignment and two weeks for the book critique. I've done really well in this class and the professor seemed pretty impressed with the writing assignments I submitted. I tried making them a little less dry and boring and it seemed to work. I think I'm getting better at writing, but it still takes me a long time to produce a decent paper. There is almost no way that I'll get anything other than an A in this class. Unless I just don't even turn in anything else. I'd probably still pass though.

Next up...five weeks off until fall term starts! Woo hoo! I think I should try to go camping. And maybe ride my motorcycle.