Scott A. Roberts

Wow, what a day. So I didn’t actually make it to sleep until 12:45 last night. Again, I’m stupid. But somehow, I jumped out of bed right when my alarm went off at 5:30am. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to study last night. . .the books didn’t even make it out of the backpack. So I decided that surely reading through my notes on the bus would be enough, right?

So I must say that the test was relatively straight-forward. It was definitely an undergraduate material test. I feel pretty good about the first three problems, which were 75% of the points on the test. The last one, however. . . Definitely material that I learned my sophomore year in college. Yet it was material that I didn’t quite make it to while studying this morning, and therefore had no idea what I was doing? I’m estimating that I will get 5-10 points out of the 25 available. But hey, I’m in grad school, right? I don’t care about grades, right? Yeah, it was much easier saying that then actually thinking that. Especially when this is one of the professors that I might want to work for. Maybe he’ll be generous? I thought I knew Thermo. . .

Since the test, I’ve done nothing but sit in the lab and work on fluids. No surprise, though. . .that’s pretty much what I do every day. And I’m really happy . . I spent the last 2 ½ hours working and actually got one problem done!!! Now only 5 more to go. And it’s due Monday.

I think that the most frustrating part of doing this homework is just conceptually understanding why one method works and the other doesn’t. I can think about calculating the same quantity two different ways, and they both make sense to me. However, they give different values, and only one of them are correct (hopefully one is. . .). I can handle the work, but half the time is just sitting trying to conceptually grasp the concepts.

So enough complaining. I’m kind of excited about today. I’m not sure how long I’m going to stay here at Amundson today, but the second presidential debate, which is the town-hall meeting format, is tonight. I know that Dan and John are coming over, and hopefully a few other classmates will show up. We’re getting some Chinese take-out for dinner and probably having a few drinks. . .should be a good time And tomorrow, it’ll be back to Amundson for more work.

By the way, Fridays are really good. They make me happy. They also make me want to get out of this stupid building. And my back has really been huring the last few days, and I think it’s becuase I’ve been hunched over a table for 10 hours a day and haven’t been walking around or outside very much. I need to exercise more.

Speaking of exercising (and eating correctly), my weight was down to 196 lbs today. That’s quite exciting! I’ve lost over 20 pounds since I left Baron Rouge!

Okay, have a great day, and WATCH THE DEBATES TONIGHT!!!!!