What? No Homework?

I just sent an email to my math professor asking for some homework problems to do over the weekend. I'm not crazy, I swear. You see, ever since the beginning of the semester (January), he's always assigned homework problems, usually 25 - 35 problems due every Friday. Because during the week I am completely drained from school and work, I usually try to do as much homework as I can over the weekend to lighten the load a bit. It usually takes me about 2 hours to do about 10 problems, so it takes me quite a bit of time to get through all the homework sets due at the end of the week. So, imagine my surprise when I logged onto my blackboard account to find that there was no homework posted! I thought he had forgotten so I emailed him but surprisingly he replied and said no homework was due next Friday. That really worries me. I'm afraid at the last minute he's going to tack on a bazillion problems that I will not be able to finish because of my turtle like pace in figuring out math problems. So, it's weird to not have to worry about math as much this weekend. But then of course, that forces me to have to tend to my other 2 classes, which I am not too excited about.

Finals are in 3 weeks and I am pretty freaked out, but calmly freaked out... I am completely at a loss of how to prepare/study all the material in an organized fashion without psyching myself out by getting overly anxious. My physics final makes up 35% of my final grade which worries me a lot. I've never been good at taking tests, especially cumulative finals. I study for them but for some reason I always perform badly on finals. *sigh*. If anyone has any good study/preparation tips, please feel free to share!

The Art of Balance

When I first started attending class again for the winter intersession at my local community college(CC), I thought little of it. Sure, I was putting in a good 4 hours every Monday-Thursday not to mention study time, but I was unemployed and had the luck of leisurely completing my coursework.

Fast forward to the current full-length spring semester and although I'm only taking one class that meets one night a week, suddenly my world has been turned upside down by the appearance of The Job. Yes, it appears even I am employable(and loving it), working 40 hours a week.

Now that I'm working again, I can truely say that you'd have to be slightly off-center to want to work full-time and go to school full-time. It's a huge challenge and I tip my hat to those of you doing this very thing. Heck, even part-time work is a burden. Add on to that social obligations and relationships and you've got one heck of a schedule.

Everyone has their own way managing their time. Mine used to always consist around putting everything off till the last minute. Now that I'm older and less willing to suffer from sleep deprivation, I've found that taking advantage of even little amounts of free time really speeds up the completion of my tasks. This is also a great way to break up a huge block of homework or start seemingly insurmountable projects.

Ultimately, it comes down to just how much of a workload I'll eventually be able to handle. I want to be optimistic about it, but I truely won't know until I'm in the thick of it. I know I'm throwing my work/life balance towards school for the short term and hopefully I'll reap the rewards for it later on.

Motivation

I've been feeling in the slumps lately (is that grammatically correct?). I guess a semester is just too long for me! I'm used to quarter systems and even though I used to complain that they fly by so fast you hardly have an opportunity to learn anything, this semester pace is crawling by so slow it feels like it'll never end! A gross exaggeration, I know, but I've lost my motivation lately and am just constantly asking myself "What the heck are you doing?". I was afraid that this would happen, my gradual loss of full determination to complete my first semester back in school. I had a plan for it if it were to occur, which is to surround myself with lovely materials about how awesome and exciting engineering is once you get there. It works, sort of.

I met with an advisor at another university before I started this semester, and he warned me about the high turnover rate at the freshman/sophmore level for engineering. The reason according to him is that the first year - year and a half of engineering classes are all not directly related to engineering; they're your calculus(es), physics, chemistry. After 2 months into the semester...I can see why he might be right! But I knew all this before beginning, so it doesn't explain the sudden lack in motivation. I'm mentally attributing it to burnout but I think on a deeper level it's because I'm still constantly battling myself on whether I'm making the right decision. Usually going back to school vs. being on autopilot for a career path I don't particularly enjoy always comes out on top, and it still does, but it's slowly drawing out at an equilibrium which frightens me.

Anyway, there's just been a dark cloud hovering over my head this week which hopefully will clear up soon. I found a nice list for motivation whcih applies well for my situation.

1. Have a cause

2. Have a dream. A big dream.

3. Be hungry

4. Run your own race

This one I think is really good for me to keep in mind. While mindlessly browsing on Facebook or a site equivalent to that, I find myself getting slightly depressed when I see everyone from high school/college moving on to law school, masters and PhD programs. I often feel like I'm going backwards rather than forwards so this is good for me to just focus on myself and not compare with everyone else.

5. Take one more step

6. Let go of the past

This is also important for me to learn. All the memories from the past and negativity is still a great part of me which sometimes feeds into the negative thoughts I generate. This will probably take some time to overcome but I think it can happen.

List from http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2008/10/22/self-motivation-how-to-motivate-yourself/

Nerdy Cartoons

Physics, how I hate thee

I'm taking Physics I right now and having the time of my life...haha not. I actually hate it with a fiery passion. I don't want to hate it, but I'm not doing too well in there so that's why I despise it. I worry because I know this is one of the most 'basic' classes to build upon the engineering foundation and if I don't grasp these concepts then I start invoking the slippery slope thinking that if I don't do extravagantly in physics I will ultimately fail at achieving my goal... but that's another story.

This is actually my first physics class I've ever taken. I was encouraged by adults who shall remain nameless in high school to stay away from the sciences. So I did. Looking back, I should have probably started off with a more general physics class, rather than the required Calculus based Physics class that I am taking right now. That way I could have grasped the concepts more fully and perhaps perform better.

So, as I usually do when things are not going as planned, I try my best to analyze what 'went wrong' or what could have helped the situation. Excluding my (low) intelligence quotient in this evaluation (which may have a considerable impact on this outcome), here are some things that may be beneficial in the future:

1. Choose a good teacher.

In my personal opinion, I believe a student's success is strongly tied to the teacher's performance, especially in a subject as conceptual and abstract as Physics, students probably will need a professor that can adequately explain to alleviate rather than create confusion. In my university's case, I've noticed that they do not publish the names of the physics professors scheduled to teach in upcoming semesters which is a hindrance for prospective students (but I attribute that to the department admitting a well known fact that they physics faculty is sub-par). I always go to http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ to just get a general idea of the professor's teaching methods, and the general perception that students have of the teacher and the class.

2. Own a good textbook

In addition to having a teacher who actually teaches, I believe using a textbook that is easy to follow and explains concepts and problems as simply as possible is integral. In this situation, I believe my textbook is horrendous for introducing basic physics concepts. There are very few diagrams, and the notation that the authors adapt are different than the mainstream.

3. Own several good textbooks/Supplemental books

During my first run at college for my business degree, I never had to cross reference materials/facts/information/concepts just to make sure I'm understanding the information correctly. However, for this class alone I have...3 books I use for reference: my husband's physics textbook (which is a lot better than they one I'm using), a Barron's AP Physics study guide, and a Physics Made Easy study guide from B&N. I use my husband's former physics textbook for learning concepts better, and I use the other two for practicing problems.

4. Utilize Online Materials

If you thought that the 3 supplemental study guides would satiate my high confusion level, you're wrong. I often turn to the internet for help and they have some pretty awesome sites up, especially in Physics!

- http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/index.cfm - Created for K-12 but discusses physics concepts at the simplest level possible. Always great to check your basic understanding before moving on to the more 'complex' materials.

- http://www.dctech.com/physics/ - A great site for practicing problems.

- http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/honors/P173HP/p173_probsets.htm - More physics problems to work out

- http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_11/159000/159798/4/print/301.pdf -

Study guide for Physics

You (don't) suck at math.

Just mentioning the fact that I'm enrolled in a math class usually immediately elicits a gag reflex in other people, followed by personal math horror stories and always one of the following phrases:

1. "I haaaaaaate math."
2. "I suck at math."

I understand, my friends. I used to say the same things. It's not like I started loving math all of sudden when I decided to be an engineering major. It's more that math is par for the course, so I decided to be a woman and suck it up.

Then the most surprising thing happened. When I actually started paying full attention in class and trying to learn math, I started actually liking it. Weird, I know. And what's even more sick and twisted than that, I started to get interested and excited about math.

The most marked difference in my understanding of math concepts wasn't due to a brain transplant from a recently deceased genius. Nay, I started understanding and liking math because I took an interest in it. In other words, I have a passion for math now.

If you think about something you like doing, a hobby like say playing video games for instance, chances are you do it because you have an interest in it. Personally, I don't really like video games because I suck at them. Why do I suck? Well, aside from my parents never buying me an NES when I was younger, most adult video games are hard to master and hence, I give up because I don't have the passion to commit hours to learning all the kick and punch combos of the new Street Fighter 4.

See how I said I suck at video games? I admittedly suck because I don't want to practice. For most of us, hobbies or subjects like math, science, Japanese, yes, even video games require practice to become skilled at. *Most* of us don't just start playing complex video games from 4 years old nor do we start busting out mad calculus equations without the proper training.

So what I'm I trying to say? I'm saying that if you have a true interest in something, you can do it. Excluding outside factors, many times, the biggest inhibitor of your success is your own damn self esteem and lack of determination to reach your goal. Don't be afraid to push yourself and make your brain ache a bit, whether that's for a college major, career choice, or just in your extracurricular hobbies. Many times the extra effort pays off in the end.

Nanogenerators and self learning robots!

I like browsing technology sites and came across these two articles today which seem pretty fascinating. I'm currently interested in robotics, biomedical and green technology which these fit into. Hope you enjoy them too!

From Scientific American: "Can Robots be Programmed to Learn from their Own Experiences?"

Excerpt:
""A truly useful personal robot [must have] the ability to learn on its own from interactions with the physical and social environment," says Stoytchev, whose field of developmental robotics combines developmental psychology and neuroscience with artificial intelligence and robotic engineering. "It should not rely on a human programmer once it is purchased. It must be trainable."Stoytchev and a team of grad students are developing software to teach robots to learn about as well as a two-year-old child. Their platform is a humanoid robot that sprouts two 60-pound (27-kilogram) Whole Arm Manipulators (WAM) made by Cambridge, Mass.,–based Barrett Technology, Inc., each tipped with a 2.6-pound (1.2-kilogram) three-fingered BarrettHand."

Link to rest of Article: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=robot-learning&SID=mail&sc=emailfriend

Also from Scientific American: "Nanogenerators"

Excerpt: "Just as a machine won't run without a source of power, a device built at the nano-scale is of little use if it doesn't have the energy to work as a sensor or drug delivery particle. Since there isn't a battery in existence yet that's small enough to couple with a nanodevice, researchers have sought to power their microscopic creations with energy drawn from their surroundings. This energy so far has come primarily from chemical reactions (such as the oxidation of hydrogen peroxide), but that may change. A new study published today in Science describes the creation of a nanogenerator that transforms kinetic energy into a continuous flow of direct-current (DC) electrical energy."

Link to rest of article: http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=nanogenerator-2009-03-26