Interesting Situation

I went to go check my grades tonight (grades come out 8AM Wednesday) and low and behold, my dumbass professor forgot to add my massive extra credit assignment. In part, I feel that this is somewhat my fault. As dumb as this sounds, stay with me here.

So this 'professor' (if you want to call him that) tell us that we have a choice to submit either this extra credit assignment or our final lab report on Thursday Dec. 7th. We can then submit the other assignment (the one we chose not to submit) on Tuesday Dec. 12th. I had already written the extra credit assignment at the time that he had told us these options because this extra credit assignment was worth a MASSIVE amount of points (200 pts out of a 1400 pt class). Most of my classmates however, decided to do the final lab report first (I knew this). The final lab report was to be submitted physically, and the extra credit was to be submitted by email.

"Hmmmm", I thought to myself, "Is this guy capable of checking both PAPER documents, AS WELL as ELECTRONIC documents?". Probably not, but hey, I already had the extra credit done, and seeing that I had a lot of other shit to do, I decided to email him my extra credit since he said it was our choice. This was my lazy way of doing things, I DID have ample time to complete the final lab report, but I thought "Hey, he SAID it was our choice to turn in either assignment either day." Why waste time doing something that's not needed right?

Wrong. I forgot to take my professors "dumbass threshold" into account as much as I should have. I should definitely pay more attention to my gut feelings next time, seeing as I could have been called a fortune teller in foreseeing this situation.

What really gets me is that fact that policy-wise I did absolutely nothing wrong, but if you were to ask any of my classmates if what I did was a good idea, I'm sure you'd see quite a few grimaces and smirks. I guess I can see this as a lesson. Don't underestimate another's stupidity?

PS: It should be noted that my initial reaction was to (laugh at first, and then right after) get mad at my professor. But what is that really going to help? The preferable reaction would be to understand how this situation could have been avoided. It's just interesting that it wasn't my initial reaction. Just some food for thought.

UPDATE: I just called the professor, and apparently I had an 'A' without the extra 200 pts... See Paul, that's why I take no pride in technology.

Idle Thoughts

Yet another semester coming to an end. It's hard to believe that I am halfway through my junior year right now, only 3 semesters to go. I don't really know how to feel about it. On one hand, I'm having a blast here at school and enjoying the carefree attitude. On the other hand, a temporary arrangement such as this creates an uneasy feeling with me. There is a definite end to this period of my life. It does make me feel somewhat restricted in a way because it sometimes feels like I'm not living my 'real' life, it's just a precursor to what I want to eventually end up doing. I know this 'precursor' feeling to my situation is just an illusion, this time in my life is just as real as any other time. In a way, I feel more free in this situation though. I know that there will be an end to my time here, so it makes me want to experience all I can while my responsibilities are minimal.

I often have this fear of what will happen once I graduate. On the base level of this feeling, it's the fear that I won't rise to my own expectations. I won't get the type of job I want or I won't end up living the way I want to live. When I think about this more though, I think the feeling is more a fear of the unknown. When I graduate, there is no possible way of me knowing what will happen. This feeling of uncertainty is quite unnerving at times.

I am learning how to appreciate this feeling though. If this fear, and the energy derived from it, is focused, it can be quite beneficial. These feelings can be focused to more constructive things, such as working to better myself and my future opportunities. I feel that this fear of the unknown can be used as a sort of motivation. This sense of a strong motivation would not be present without this fear. If thought of in this way, this fear is not a curse, but a blessing. Nothing is as disheartening than having no motivation to achieve an expected goal (academic, in this case).

PS: Check out my new background. :)

Visions

Interesting visual trip sequence.

Bible

As weird as this is coming from me, I really need to get a Bible. I see so many parallels between my spirituality and many of the stories and metaphors that are used in The Bible. To me, it seems that there are many hidden metaphors in which I could relate to my spiritual experiences.

Sometimes I'll be thinking about a topic or experience, and I realize that it has some type of relevance to a passage that I am vaguely familiar with. I really don't have enough confidence right now to bring out some of the parallels that I have discovered thus far, but I feel that becoming more familiar with the stories might help give me more insight. I don't really know of what value I place on the Bible, but I do know that there are some really good passages in it that I could definitely benefit from. No, I'm not born again... yet ;)

Vivek

Yellow Menace

What this guy is doing at Scotty's Brewhouse, I have no idea...

EDIT: Read this essay over "The Pursuit of Happiness" if you have some time to kill. It won't disappoint.

CFL Lighting, and Lightbulb Ideas

I just put in some new compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs as replacements for my incandescent bulbs. The whole feel to the room is completely different. At first I was really disappointed because I expected more light output, but after my eyes adjusted, I realized that I could see just fine, if not better. It give a more sterile/lab type feel to the room, but the other lighting was just too depressing. Maybe I just needed new bulbs in general, who knows. It just kind of got me thinking how important lighting is for the feel of a room.

On another note, I really need to start thinking about what I should do for my senior project. I have some ideas, but most of them are either too hard, or don't really have much value. For instance, I was thinking possibly a subwoofer amplifier, but that would be too ordinary. Everyone and their brother has done that one. I was also thinking along the lines of doing something with a CD turntable type device, but that would be too hard to implement with the knowledge I have now. I know I want to integrate music/sound into my project, but I can't really think of a niche to get into. One thought I had today was a wireless "plug n play" type device that would eliminate cords for headphones. On the receiver side, there would be a headphone amp to amp those ridiculously power-hungry Sennheiser headphones (or something high quality like that :) ).

I need to have a an idea for a proposal next semester, and I'm just feeling kinda lost right now. When I get decent ideas, they're too hard and complicated to implement. When I find feasible ideas, they're too simplistic and cliche.

If you have ANY suggestions of what I might want to look at, or what you think would be a cool idea, I would be GREATLY appreciative.

I Have No Idea...