I'm an Easterman
It's done.
Hello, bloglings. It has been an awful month. I don't really know where to begin, so we'll stick to a pseudo-list format. Let's get awesome. Here we go.
-I broke my hand. Don't laugh, jerks, I swear it happened. It hurt a lot! For a long time!
-I studied for the phd preliminary written exam, a super awesome test that you take after being in the program for 2 years. Not really preliminary, then, is it? It was made even more delightful by the decision to make the test easier for computer engineers and the like than me.
-Spring break was spent in the Winona State University library for its entirety. It was amazing. I would have to rank it as the single best study-friendly facility I have ever been in.
-The Winona State University Warriors lost the NCAA championship in the final seconds of the game. Poor guys. The town was really fired up for them! For some reason my father insisted on dining at the coach's brother's bar (Pronounced "BOOBS") the night of their final four appearance. Wow. I was impressed.
-The Irish icers and men's b-ball lost.
-My father retired and I went to his retirement party, which happened to coincide directly with my youngest brother's 17th birthday. I bought him a huge sack of candy. It was great. 300 people sang "happy birthday" to him. He disowned his father.
-The University of Minnesota is a land grant state school. For much of its history, the legislature has mandated that all state funding for building projects at the U be use for academic and laboratory purposes only. All other funding must come from fundraising through alumni, etc. The University has absolutely no alumni support. As a result, there is pretty much nowhere to study. All the buildings have just classrooms and a door. So I searched for places to study.
-I studied in my apartment.
-I studied in the Roseville Public Library. There I found myself in the middle of a middle-aged-women empowerment group. After I finished vomiting in the bathroom, I came back to campus and
-I studied in the Starbucks. There I listened to 18 year olds talk about fakes for HOURS.
-I studied at Walter Library on the U campus. It made me want to gouge out my eyeballs.
-I studied in the Winona Public Library. Some guy sat next to me and whispered "Oh, jeeze" over and over and over and over for 2 hours.
-I studied at a converted railroad building, one of my favorites near downtown Minneapolis. Their vanilla lattes were pretty much awesome.
-But mostly, I studied at the Dunn Brothers near my house. I, actually, thoroughly enjoy this venue. Unfortunately, so do many others. For the above mentioned reason, many students find this place, which is very near the U, to be great for studying. So, too, do many website designers who use it as a meeting room, journalists who conduct interviews there (in person and on the phone), neighborhood leaders who have full neighborhood meetings in the back, recovering drug addicts who loudly proclaim their many trials and tribulations, remarkably awkward first daters (and datees), and a rough schmorgasborg of all other Minneapolitans. Despite the fact that I wanted to kill every one there nearly every time I left the place, I spent so much time there that I got to know the barista fairly well. So well that I even introduced her to my parents. Creepy.
-I studied a LOT.
-Ted and I used to have a tradition of not shaving or cutting our hair before major tests.
-People keep coming up to me telling me that I look awful and extremely tired. It is true.
-I have pretty much ignored all incoming phone calls and emails for the past month. Some people have actually gotten quite irate and have left angry voice mails. Oops.
-I haven't done my taxes yet.
-I haven't updated in a loooong time.
-I took the prelim exam on Holy Saturday. The day before Easter. The proctor was slamming on the students and talking on his phone during the test about how much he didn't want to be there. Oh, yeah, and he's the dean. AND, it smelled TERRIBLY. I think that the ECE dept should install a shower head at the top of every entrance to the building.
-I nearly locked myself out of my apartment and car yesterday.
-It was 84 degrees 2 weeks ago. Today, it is supposed to snow 4-10 inches.
-My CAR got TOWED. AGAIN. Today, the DAY after I transferred my title. There were no signs, I swear to God. This time they put super sweet scratches all over the bumper, wheel well, and mysteriously, the back bumper.
-I went to an abbreviated Seder celebration. That was interesting!
-My older bro is going to Sudan until January.
-The water here still tastes "Musky, Fishy, and Funky." Which is not good.
-I skipped work today.
-I studied so much that I actually generated a wound where my belt buckle meets my belly from being crouched over. What. The. Crap.
-My advisor asked me to generate an academic paper and presentation in 20 minutes. It takes two weeks, at the very least, to write a paper.
-I just joined the Granite City Mug Club! (Thanks, Emily!!!) I get discounts on some awesome beer and food. I swear, I ate a small pony last night.
That's about it, for now.
Hello, bloglings. It has been an awful month. I don't really know where to begin, so we'll stick to a pseudo-list format. Let's get awesome. Here we go.
-I broke my hand. Don't laugh, jerks, I swear it happened. It hurt a lot! For a long time!
-I studied for the phd preliminary written exam, a super awesome test that you take after being in the program for 2 years. Not really preliminary, then, is it? It was made even more delightful by the decision to make the test easier for computer engineers and the like than me.
-Spring break was spent in the Winona State University library for its entirety. It was amazing. I would have to rank it as the single best study-friendly facility I have ever been in.
-The Winona State University Warriors lost the NCAA championship in the final seconds of the game. Poor guys. The town was really fired up for them! For some reason my father insisted on dining at the coach's brother's bar (Pronounced "BOOBS") the night of their final four appearance. Wow. I was impressed.
-The Irish icers and men's b-ball lost.
-My father retired and I went to his retirement party, which happened to coincide directly with my youngest brother's 17th birthday. I bought him a huge sack of candy. It was great. 300 people sang "happy birthday" to him. He disowned his father.
-The University of Minnesota is a land grant state school. For much of its history, the legislature has mandated that all state funding for building projects at the U be use for academic and laboratory purposes only. All other funding must come from fundraising through alumni, etc. The University has absolutely no alumni support. As a result, there is pretty much nowhere to study. All the buildings have just classrooms and a door. So I searched for places to study.
-I studied in my apartment.
-I studied in the Roseville Public Library. There I found myself in the middle of a middle-aged-women empowerment group. After I finished vomiting in the bathroom, I came back to campus and
-I studied in the Starbucks. There I listened to 18 year olds talk about fakes for HOURS.
-I studied at Walter Library on the U campus. It made me want to gouge out my eyeballs.
-I studied in the Winona Public Library. Some guy sat next to me and whispered "Oh, jeeze" over and over and over and over for 2 hours.
-I studied at a converted railroad building, one of my favorites near downtown Minneapolis. Their vanilla lattes were pretty much awesome.
-But mostly, I studied at the Dunn Brothers near my house. I, actually, thoroughly enjoy this venue. Unfortunately, so do many others. For the above mentioned reason, many students find this place, which is very near the U, to be great for studying. So, too, do many website designers who use it as a meeting room, journalists who conduct interviews there (in person and on the phone), neighborhood leaders who have full neighborhood meetings in the back, recovering drug addicts who loudly proclaim their many trials and tribulations, remarkably awkward first daters (and datees), and a rough schmorgasborg of all other Minneapolitans. Despite the fact that I wanted to kill every one there nearly every time I left the place, I spent so much time there that I got to know the barista fairly well. So well that I even introduced her to my parents. Creepy.
-I studied a LOT.
-Ted and I used to have a tradition of not shaving or cutting our hair before major tests.
-People keep coming up to me telling me that I look awful and extremely tired. It is true.
-I have pretty much ignored all incoming phone calls and emails for the past month. Some people have actually gotten quite irate and have left angry voice mails. Oops.
-I haven't done my taxes yet.
-I haven't updated in a loooong time.
-I took the prelim exam on Holy Saturday. The day before Easter. The proctor was slamming on the students and talking on his phone during the test about how much he didn't want to be there. Oh, yeah, and he's the dean. AND, it smelled TERRIBLY. I think that the ECE dept should install a shower head at the top of every entrance to the building.
-I nearly locked myself out of my apartment and car yesterday.
-It was 84 degrees 2 weeks ago. Today, it is supposed to snow 4-10 inches.
-My CAR got TOWED. AGAIN. Today, the DAY after I transferred my title. There were no signs, I swear to God. This time they put super sweet scratches all over the bumper, wheel well, and mysteriously, the back bumper.
-I went to an abbreviated Seder celebration. That was interesting!
-My older bro is going to Sudan until January.
-The water here still tastes "Musky, Fishy, and Funky." Which is not good.
-I skipped work today.
-I studied so much that I actually generated a wound where my belt buckle meets my belly from being crouched over. What. The. Crap.
-My advisor asked me to generate an academic paper and presentation in 20 minutes. It takes two weeks, at the very least, to write a paper.
-I just joined the Granite City Mug Club! (Thanks, Emily!!!) I get discounts on some awesome beer and food. I swear, I ate a small pony last night.
That's about it, for now.
Post a Comment
