20110118

I've survived two weeks of a full schedule!  Good job, me.  Some people are taking 5 classes now, and they deserve to be punished with lots of work, but don't worry because that's what's happening to them.  I still feel like it's happening to me too, though.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays I set aside almost the whole day to read for humanities since I only have one or two classes on those days.  It's strange how fast a day goes by.  Usually I wake up at 8:40 for my classes on Tu and Th and take a nap after class and breakfast, then go to Strides and eat again, so I don't start working until about 20:00.  Then there are all kinds of distractions that serve the purpose of making reading slow and difficult, so I get to bed around 1 or 2 (thus the need for naps every day).  Despite how lazy my days sound I've actually been working really hard on time management (which is why I haven't posted in a while).  I save loads of time by eating by myself or with whoever happens to be at the cafeteria at the time.  I've found that studying with friends can be both good and bad.  Sometimes they keep the pressure on to keep reading, and other times they are just a distraction.  I think the biggest thing I still need to do is get back on a regular sleeping schedule.

My math textbook never arrived so I've been borrowing peoples' book.  I emailed Amazon and looks like USPS lost my package so I will be refunded and will re-order with overnight shipping for only $4 with Amazon Prime, which is free for people with a .edu email address.  Math has luckily been pretty easy so far and I've been able to get away with doing all the homework on the day before it's due no problem.  My first math midterm is this Friday so I'm excited to get my book tomorrow.

My CS class is pretty fun.  We're learning how to count!  How many ways can you put 10 distinct jellybeans into 3 cups?  What if the jellybeans are not distinct?  I correctly solved the first extra credit question which was "What is the probability of a random 8-digit number containing 3 or more of the same digit?"  I solved the question in two ways: one with a program that calculated it by counting every number between 00000000 and 99999999 that had 3 of the same digit, and the other using counting techniques learned in class.  The question is simple, but the answer is difficult to calculate!  Oh, turns out Professor Ron Graham is actually kind of famous and really good at discrete math.  He has a fan page! http://math.ucsd.edu/~fan/ron/

Physics is such a snooze!  The first two weeks have been an entire waste, being nothing but review from high school physics.  I leave class early about half the time.

Humanities.  I'm waiting for the book that will open my eyes.  The book that I don't want to set down because the words inside interest me.  The book that I will read and not regret reading.  Turns out this book isn't the bible.  I've confirmed that it is in fact a collection of fairy tales.

Today during my run I stepped too far past the edge of the curb and now my Achilles tendon hurts.  I've had pain in this tendon enough times now that I knew better than to run through it, so I took the shuttle back from where I was.  I suppose I'll be hobbling up and down the stairs for a few days, but I'll have more time to read if I can't run.  I don't know how quickly it'll heal but I can't run tomorrow anyway since I have class.