4 weeks to go

I know "they" say the older you get the faster the time goes. I am amazed how quickly the last few months have gone. I am curious what my classmates thoughts are about taking an online class. I have learned a lot over these past weeks and the convenience of not having to be at class is a big help. Of course there are some aspects that we miss out on, like not having the benefit of Kenya in a classroom environment being able to speak in person. Email is a great tool however and Kenya always answered mine in a timely manner. I know that for myself the biggest issue was staying organized. The first couple weeks of class were a little confusing to me and I missed a few assingnments because I wasn't prepared. Overall I think online classes are very useful.

Spring Break

It felt more like Christmas break than Spring Break. What is going on with this weather? I was studying on the fourth floor of the library and a big snowstorm blew through as I watched two giraffes in the zoo walk by,pretty crazy! The week consisted of watching the snow fall,mailing a bunch of packages,taking my shoes to the "shoeguy"and studying chemistry.
My friend Alan and myself did however manage to flyfish the South Fork of the Boise river. It was a pretty nice day in Boise but the South Fork is north of Mountain Home and it's elevation is almost 5000ft. It was 35 degrees when we got there and the wind was howling. We try to tell ourselves it's great to be outside and not in class but it didn't quite feel the same. We did manage to catch 4 to 5 each but the cold weather and wind made us cut the trip short to drink coffee and smoke cigars. Overall not a bad week of having some time off.

A&P

I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has commented on my blog. It makes class go a little easier when you know other people have went through the same thing. One of the problems for me is when you have a class like anatomy and physiology with 180 people in it, it's very difficult to have any type of discourse within the class. In other words if you have a question, forget about asking it in class, there is no time. I know a class like this is a weeding process but I feel strongly that there is a fine line between knowing the information and taking a test. I studied pretty hard for the exam I had taken last Friday and got an 80. I have this feeling after every exam when I get a B especially a low B that I really know more than the grade I received. For me then it becomes how the test is structured. Does it really mean I don't know the information as well as the person who got an A if he/she is better at taking tests than I am? One question had so many opposing statements I wasn't even sure how to answer it!
I will study harder for the next one though.

Chemistry

I'm taking chemistry 105 which is an accelerated class it combines chem 101 and 102 into one semester. The class meets twice a week for two hours and we cover a chapter a day. The first exam covered five chapters which were not that difficult if you studied. The exam itself is one hundred questions worth a point a piece and we have two hours to take it at the testing center. I got a 93 which I was happy with. We also have a twenty five point quiz every week which I miss one or two at the most. So the second exam which I had taken last Friday I got a 65 (the class average was a 65). I'm not one of these people that gets upset about screwing up an exam but I studied my butt off for this thing and was not happy with a D. It brought my total grade down to a B but we also can drop one exam and this will be it for me. This was also the hardes test for the class so it's nice to have it out of the way and hopefully I can pull my grade up.

Time to quit the job and lab time.

I thought when I started school that I would be able to work on the weekends however the problem with that is my wife works in the evenings Saturday and Sunday whereas I worked during the day. We knew we would be busy, passing each other at the door but after a semester and a half of competing for study time I'm calling it quits.
I really do not understand how BSU comes up with the class crediting. I'm taking chemistry 105 which is 5 credits and Anatonomy Physiology which is 4 credits both which have a lab that is three hours long. The chem lab is worth 2 credits you do the lab, take an easy pre quiz and you're done. The Physiology lab is worth 1 credit and and is a class in itself. The amount of work required does not compare to the chemistry lab whatsoever.
This makes a difference if you are trying to balance your schedule because these labs start to add up and essentially are another class themselves. In my opinion somebody needs to evaluate the credit system for classes with a lab based on workload.

Playing Catch Up!

I mentioned last week that the three of us were sick so that put us all behind with our studies and now I feel like I'm really behind. I took an exam in Anatomy and Physiology last week, the class average was 73 and I scored a 74. It was probably the hardest exam I have ever taken and that includes airline training.
I'm also taking an accelerated chemistry class. We cover a chapter a day two days a week and it is also really picking up. It is hard to remember why we do this, going back to school for the second time that is but as I have stated in previous posts it is a great time to be in school.
Ofcourse as life goes by too quickly, school will be over someday, my kids will be in college and maybe I will walk my daughter down the aisle someday.
In the meantime I will study harder get less sleep, probably quit my part time job and enjoy the time as it comes to me.

Everyone is sick

All three of us became sick this week. I don't know if we ran ourselves to the end of our rope or if the sickness gods decided it was our turn, It's one thing when you get sick but when your little daughter gets sick for the first time it tough because she doesn't realize why she is having a hard time breathing or coughing up junk. I've read that the common cold (although this felt much worse than the common cold) runs it's course in seven days and true enough this is the seventh day and we are all starting to feel normal.
I'm not sure if I believe in this idea of Dayquil and Nightquil because the Dayquill makes my head spin just like the night stuff does. Has anyone else had this experience?
When you operate on such a tight schedule getting sick is not part of the program. It's not easy to study when your head feels like a balloon or have to think about chemistry. So now that we are all starting to feel better it's time to catch up on the homework we have put off for a week!