i figured you would probably want to know how the kids are doing.... it's been a while since i wrote about them, and not just as the subject of my pictures.
erica is loving 4th grade. her teacher is fantastic and is so willing to help her. she stayed after school one day to help erica with math, and it was just erica. i had a nice little chat with her teacher at the parent-teacher night and was assured that erica is doing fine in everything.... just maybe a little shy at saying 'i don't understand'. we're working on that. she has the cutie-pie teacher for her language arts/reading time. he just loves having erica in his class, she is one of only a few girls. he has told me that every once in a while he has to get her to stay on task... she likes to day dream, nothing wrong with that. but, he too said that she is doing great. friday she had a plant project due. the class has been studying the different parts of the plants and were to make a picture of a plant and label all it's parts. i told her that i had just studied this in my biology class last semester and that this would be fun. we love art projects for school. we enlisted the help of grandma for the supplies (have you seen her insane craft room?!)... fabric from my bridesmade dresses, feathers, raffia, beads.... lots of stuff. it took two days to complete, we did the pollen thingy (shush, i just can't recall the exact term) in glue and glitter and needed to give it time to dry. it turned out great! unfortunately, i did not get a picture of it before she turned it in.
aidan is just a super star in his class.... but i'm so biased. his PALS test scores do prove that he is doing fan-friggin-tastic. the benchmark score for the fall is 39... he got a 68! he's a fantastic reader, great speller, and can even tell you what an exoskeleton is. aidan hasn't had any special projects yet, but they will come soon. just like his sister, he comes home having stayed on 'green' all week for behavior, which is a very good thing. his teacher wrote on his progress report that he follows directions well and is always willing to help anyone who needs it. got to admit... he's had a great example in his sister!
sofia wishes she could go to school with her brother and sister, but i think she likes having the tv to herself (unless grandpa is home) and being able to have all the attention. she spends monday, wednesday, and part of friday at my mom's while i'm in school. there, she gets a big yard to play in and a variety of tv shows to watch when the weather isn't as agreeable. she hasn't been big on the nap thing all summer, but so far this year she gets one almost every day. most are not that long, but just enough to take the edge off.
yesterday was a BIG day for them. i took them up to their other grandparents for the weekend, which you're probably thinking 'so what'. well this trip was special because uncle sam was home from deployment and visiting with his wife laura, great grandma waliser was out for a visit (whom they have never met before), aunt amy came up with her kids (uncle nick is still out on his deployment), and aunt robyn (grandpa's sister, another relative they hadn't met) was out visiting with her husband steve. whew! that's a lot of people! so many that the family dinner was held at the chapel. i hadn't met robyn before either, so i was not going to let my kids miss this opportunity. my kids weren't too receptive to great grandma, but they at least acknowledged her.... except sofia, she really didn't want anything to do with her. i think it's all those old ladies at walmart that mean well, but scare the crap out of my child. well, the kids spent most of the time with their cousins playing in the gym while i visited with all of jeff's family, jeff had to work. i also got the rest of my pictures taken while i was there (i was going for the theme 'reflection in/of time'). i left the kids around 9 last night and had a very quiet saturday.
as a bonus to my day.... my pretty pretty sparkly necklace came today. i had sent a friend, who is in the custom jewelry business, my old wedding bands and my grandma's engagement ring. i asked if he could make something happy out of them. after a few chats with him and his designer, i was sent the computer mock-up. BEAUTIFUL!!!!! i was really excited to get my necklace. due to circumstances beyond my control, and my friend's as well, it took longer than anticipated to make. no matter in the end, because i got it and i love it! it's so light that i have to remind myself that i am wearing it. it sparkles and is just so beautiful. i even got a little teary eyed as i put it on. i showed it to my family, they think it's beautiful as well. so, now i have my diamond and my grandma's always with me.... creating happy thoughts! (pictures to come soon)
Saturday, September 29, 2012
busy busy busy!
this week was insanely busy. i was all over the burg resulting in buying more gas (before my weekly tank refill curtsey of my grandparents). but, the ending has been wonderful, so let me fill you in.
physics.... how i kind of get you! thank heavens for the book and good notes. actually, my professor tells us all sorts of info, we write the notes, then he says "well, you don't really need to worry about this..." well shoot! one day, the guy next to me forgot his notebook. i took pity and gave him some paper; he wrote one line of notes and the rest of the class was just us staring at the white board. friday was an impromptu biology lesson... he was trying to get us to understand how our senses work because we need to give our robots sensors when we get around to building them. anywho, we had homework due friday and i got mine done by wednesday!!! the few problems i had left were explained to me by the other students who 'got them', well, all but one. i wound up going to the homework help session wednesday night and finished my work with a little help from the professor. now for the next set.
for the lab, i think my partner and i are gonna be the 'teacher's pets'. NOT because we are super smart when it comes to physics, we're just not afraid to say "we don't get it" and we actually follow the diagram directions, so our arduino (mini robot) works. we got all our LEDs to light up, blink, and then fade. we were gonna be the ambitious one's and get a LED with three lights in one.... no time though. lab is only an hour and our professor talks for most of it. my partner and i did attempt to help two other groups with their circuit set up, but like i said, not much time to do anything.
photography has been a blast this week. last weeks assignment to print was 'edges'. i took most of the pictures at my parent's house, a few didn't come out (not enough light). monday was the day to have the professor pick our the prints to make, she picked her two and then i picked two more, the one's i like the best. i cut it really really close, but i got all four printed within the hour and a half i had left of class. the assignment for this week is 'reflection'. as always, the topic is open to interpretation. i decided to do a roll of 'traditional' reflection and the other, not -so-traditional. i got about 10 pictures done and then took another15 wednesday afternoon right before class started. BUT, class was cancelled (no idea why), so i had plenty of time to get more pictures done. i asked my brother, who works at lowes, if i would get in trouble if i took pictures there (remember walmart). he checked with the powers-that-be and said it wasn't a problem. on my way there i decided to get him a 'thank you ' gift at walmart. as i was leaving i noticed my mother in the parking lot looking rather pissed. i drove over to ask why, before i got the whole question out i realized that she locked her keys in the car... the car that i didn't have the spare to in my own car. i stayed with her and waited for my brother to come over to see if he could get the car open, he couldn't. so it was decided that since photography was cancelled, and my next class didn't start for another hour or so, i would take mom home to get the spare and bring her back (this is where the more gas came in). after i helped mom, i went to lowes and took my pictures. finished roll one and started on roll two. i got some great pictures of my daughter reading a magazine, and you can clearly see the magazine reflected in her sunglasses. i also got one of her holding a picture of a younger version of me. but my favorite pictures that i took were of my son looking at a painting of his great-great grandfather in his military best. i was so happy when i developed the film that those pictures came out! so today was spent at the lab developing the film, making contact sheets, and then my filter 'test'. the filters just aid in making the picture have distinct black and white and every shade of gray you can get. i had some fun with this! now i'm completely caught up with this class.
still with me....? cause i still need to tell you about my criticism class. remember when i said that i cut my photo printing close? it was so close that i had to run to my car to get my books for the next class then run to make it to class on time. i was late enough that i got the dreaded seat behind the pillar. i was sweaty, out of breath, and developed a headache. well, it was a good class, good discussions, and the lights were eventually turned off (much to my headache's happiness) for a demonstration in aesthetic scanning, not as hard as it sounds. OH! one of my reading response papers was given back with only one point. when i saw why, the professor changed a word i had intentionally used to another. i wrote him an email explaining why i used the word i did and he responded back with "you have your full 2 points", well, not those exact words, but the exact meaning. wednesday i had my first gallery review due, i sure hope i did it right, and another reading response. it was a light class and we had more good discussions, but i was happy to be done with it for another week.
another week done and i do believe 7 more until thanksgiving break. i think the next post i'll put up some pictures that i'm proud of.... stay tuned!
physics.... how i kind of get you! thank heavens for the book and good notes. actually, my professor tells us all sorts of info, we write the notes, then he says "well, you don't really need to worry about this..." well shoot! one day, the guy next to me forgot his notebook. i took pity and gave him some paper; he wrote one line of notes and the rest of the class was just us staring at the white board. friday was an impromptu biology lesson... he was trying to get us to understand how our senses work because we need to give our robots sensors when we get around to building them. anywho, we had homework due friday and i got mine done by wednesday!!! the few problems i had left were explained to me by the other students who 'got them', well, all but one. i wound up going to the homework help session wednesday night and finished my work with a little help from the professor. now for the next set.
for the lab, i think my partner and i are gonna be the 'teacher's pets'. NOT because we are super smart when it comes to physics, we're just not afraid to say "we don't get it" and we actually follow the diagram directions, so our arduino (mini robot) works. we got all our LEDs to light up, blink, and then fade. we were gonna be the ambitious one's and get a LED with three lights in one.... no time though. lab is only an hour and our professor talks for most of it. my partner and i did attempt to help two other groups with their circuit set up, but like i said, not much time to do anything.
photography has been a blast this week. last weeks assignment to print was 'edges'. i took most of the pictures at my parent's house, a few didn't come out (not enough light). monday was the day to have the professor pick our the prints to make, she picked her two and then i picked two more, the one's i like the best. i cut it really really close, but i got all four printed within the hour and a half i had left of class. the assignment for this week is 'reflection'. as always, the topic is open to interpretation. i decided to do a roll of 'traditional' reflection and the other, not -so-traditional. i got about 10 pictures done and then took another15 wednesday afternoon right before class started. BUT, class was cancelled (no idea why), so i had plenty of time to get more pictures done. i asked my brother, who works at lowes, if i would get in trouble if i took pictures there (remember walmart). he checked with the powers-that-be and said it wasn't a problem. on my way there i decided to get him a 'thank you ' gift at walmart. as i was leaving i noticed my mother in the parking lot looking rather pissed. i drove over to ask why, before i got the whole question out i realized that she locked her keys in the car... the car that i didn't have the spare to in my own car. i stayed with her and waited for my brother to come over to see if he could get the car open, he couldn't. so it was decided that since photography was cancelled, and my next class didn't start for another hour or so, i would take mom home to get the spare and bring her back (this is where the more gas came in). after i helped mom, i went to lowes and took my pictures. finished roll one and started on roll two. i got some great pictures of my daughter reading a magazine, and you can clearly see the magazine reflected in her sunglasses. i also got one of her holding a picture of a younger version of me. but my favorite pictures that i took were of my son looking at a painting of his great-great grandfather in his military best. i was so happy when i developed the film that those pictures came out! so today was spent at the lab developing the film, making contact sheets, and then my filter 'test'. the filters just aid in making the picture have distinct black and white and every shade of gray you can get. i had some fun with this! now i'm completely caught up with this class.
still with me....? cause i still need to tell you about my criticism class. remember when i said that i cut my photo printing close? it was so close that i had to run to my car to get my books for the next class then run to make it to class on time. i was late enough that i got the dreaded seat behind the pillar. i was sweaty, out of breath, and developed a headache. well, it was a good class, good discussions, and the lights were eventually turned off (much to my headache's happiness) for a demonstration in aesthetic scanning, not as hard as it sounds. OH! one of my reading response papers was given back with only one point. when i saw why, the professor changed a word i had intentionally used to another. i wrote him an email explaining why i used the word i did and he responded back with "you have your full 2 points", well, not those exact words, but the exact meaning. wednesday i had my first gallery review due, i sure hope i did it right, and another reading response. it was a light class and we had more good discussions, but i was happy to be done with it for another week.
another week done and i do believe 7 more until thanksgiving break. i think the next post i'll put up some pictures that i'm proud of.... stay tuned!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
the madness continues
so my physics class is gonna send me to the loony bin. i still have only four problems left of my first homework assignment, but i also started on the next homework assignment. force and friction are gonna be the death of me. you would think that those topics would be easy.... according to my lack of being able to answer the problems right.... NOPE! i have 99 tries for each problem, for two of them i'm at try 6. at least the lab part is going better. we have the proper programs and drivers on the computers, so now the computer can talk to the arduino (little robot). have i mentioned the my professor looks like jerry garcia.... i mentioned it once to a friend, and now i keep wanting to call him professor garcia instead of giovanetti.
oh photography... how do i love thee?! let me count the ways.... $23 here, $86 there, another $45 here... yes, this is one expensive class. it wouldn't be so bad if my tuition refund would come so i can buy in bulk at a cheaper discount site than from the 'cheap' store in the 'burg. but i am having fun. so much that i skipped my last class on monday to finish printing my pictures (we had a sub that day and i had turned my assignment in early). so monday we learned how to enlarge, print, our pictures. a lot of paper can be wasted if the light isn't right or if the print needs to be 'dodged or burned' (lighten or darken). my waste was in the test strips to get my prints right. the first batch of prints i didn't do anything to them. but when i was in the lab today, i burned my photo a little so the white area wasn't so white. i only printed one picture, i have to have my professor check my contact sheets to see what others would be worth printing.
my baby! this camera was my dad's. i remember it always around his neck when we were on a family outing. now it's mine, and i love it. i got the camera bag at walmart as an early birthday present to me... it is so much better than what my dad was using.
turning the film into negatives is a short, but smelly, process. it takes me about half an hour, including going into a pitch black room to roll the film onto reels and then put in the development tanks. once in the negative sheets, i make a contact sheet (on the right), a nice way to "print" my pictures so i don't waste paper on a bad shot.
here are 5 of the six prints i made. i have one picture of each of my babies. i swear the class will be sick of seeing my kids in every assignment. the one of aidan (top right) was what i printed today. i had one of each of the girls, so i needed one of my boy.
now, this is a picture of the picture i printed.... i didn't really feel like turning the scanner on and waiting for it to warm up. this was taken tuesday of this week, the day of the massive rain, right before we went to the bus stop.
i did have a 'close up' of the picture of sofia.... but it wasn't working right. so if ya want to see it, you'll have to wait for another post.
my criticism class is the one i skipped on monday. like i siad, a sub and my assignment was turned in early. i just got my grade for it, only one point (out of two). ANY corrections the professor makes and it's an automatic 'no points' for that section. he changed one word (critic to artist) and took my point away. i don't think he realized that i meant to say critic. oh well, nothing to fuss over. my professor was out of town this week, so there was no class wednesday. i decided to take some pictures at my parents' house since i had to go there to pick up sofia.
so it was a good week. not too much stress, not too much work. next week looks to be about the same. though i do plan on taking advantage of the homework help my physics professor is offering on wednesday.
oh photography... how do i love thee?! let me count the ways.... $23 here, $86 there, another $45 here... yes, this is one expensive class. it wouldn't be so bad if my tuition refund would come so i can buy in bulk at a cheaper discount site than from the 'cheap' store in the 'burg. but i am having fun. so much that i skipped my last class on monday to finish printing my pictures (we had a sub that day and i had turned my assignment in early). so monday we learned how to enlarge, print, our pictures. a lot of paper can be wasted if the light isn't right or if the print needs to be 'dodged or burned' (lighten or darken). my waste was in the test strips to get my prints right. the first batch of prints i didn't do anything to them. but when i was in the lab today, i burned my photo a little so the white area wasn't so white. i only printed one picture, i have to have my professor check my contact sheets to see what others would be worth printing.
my baby! this camera was my dad's. i remember it always around his neck when we were on a family outing. now it's mine, and i love it. i got the camera bag at walmart as an early birthday present to me... it is so much better than what my dad was using.
i did have a 'close up' of the picture of sofia.... but it wasn't working right. so if ya want to see it, you'll have to wait for another post.
my criticism class is the one i skipped on monday. like i siad, a sub and my assignment was turned in early. i just got my grade for it, only one point (out of two). ANY corrections the professor makes and it's an automatic 'no points' for that section. he changed one word (critic to artist) and took my point away. i don't think he realized that i meant to say critic. oh well, nothing to fuss over. my professor was out of town this week, so there was no class wednesday. i decided to take some pictures at my parents' house since i had to go there to pick up sofia.
so it was a good week. not too much stress, not too much work. next week looks to be about the same. though i do plan on taking advantage of the homework help my physics professor is offering on wednesday.
Monday, September 17, 2012
i learned...
a lot this past week. and i also got in a little trouble with the wally-world, but that story is actually a little funny. so, here we go with week three sum-up:
physics: I GOT IT! well, most of it. thank heavens, the only time the professor called on me for an answer, i knew it. turns out, the tutor site i went to on monday is exactly what we talked about on wednesday. i felt so smart, but then i leaned over to the guy sitting next to me and fessed up to my smartness. he got a good chuckle out of it. and he and i both laugh at our professor's attempts to draw. the lab would have been great, but the proper programs weren't loaded onto the computer, so our arduinos didn't work. my partner and i were the only ones that said anything, makes me wonder why. anyways, i ordered a book to help me out with the homework and any concepts that just blow right over my head. thank goodness i did. i used it to help with some of my homework a few nights ago, three more problems done and 4 more to go. i have until the end of the month to finish.
photography: monday was the day to learn how to take our film and turn them into negatives. i had no idea that the very first step (removal from case to the reels to the developer tank) had to be done in the pitch black! we practiced with dummy rolls and i felt that i could do it. so did a few others. the professor drew my name out of a tank to be the guinea pig (YES!). she was impressed with how fast i did the rolls and that i did a text-book job. yea me! she walked me through the development process and it seems pretty easy. i did it all by my lonesome this past saturday with my two new rolls. wednesday we learned how to turn our pages of negatives into a contact sheet. just about a 'no-brainer'. so my first two rolls of film were done by wednesday afternoon. i had to do everything for my next two rolls saturday to be ready for class today. let me tell you, creepy being in the lab by yourself. toooooo quiet! it's a very secure building, so i was safe... but still felt a bit creepy. i found a radio and blasted a rock station, that helped. in about an hour and a half, two more rolls of film turned into negatives and contact sheets.
criticism: already i turned in an assignment late. we have to do abstracts of our reading assignments, have them ready by the next class, then turn them in before midnight the day it's due. well, we didn't talk about the last one and i forgot. i was up early wednesday morning, doing my morning ritual.... DAH!! i turned in my assignment with a note of apology and stated that i was prepared to take my 'no points', but please tell me what i would have gotten. turns out, i wasn't the only one who forgot. he wound up giving my my points (all two of them) and said "never again" to doing that. i'll take it. wednesday we went to a fellow classmates art show. beautiful work!!! i was happy to find out that she had prints of her work and said "i want you to have them, take as many as you want." i did! we are actually using this show for our first review write up. i'm a bit nervous, but i have always done pretty well with my writings. i can't just write my opinion of the show, i actually have to include some research.... suck! oh well, gotta learn it, so i'm gonna do it.
now on to my next photography assignment, edges, and work on that review.... maybe some physics homework too.
physics: I GOT IT! well, most of it. thank heavens, the only time the professor called on me for an answer, i knew it. turns out, the tutor site i went to on monday is exactly what we talked about on wednesday. i felt so smart, but then i leaned over to the guy sitting next to me and fessed up to my smartness. he got a good chuckle out of it. and he and i both laugh at our professor's attempts to draw. the lab would have been great, but the proper programs weren't loaded onto the computer, so our arduinos didn't work. my partner and i were the only ones that said anything, makes me wonder why. anyways, i ordered a book to help me out with the homework and any concepts that just blow right over my head. thank goodness i did. i used it to help with some of my homework a few nights ago, three more problems done and 4 more to go. i have until the end of the month to finish.
photography: monday was the day to learn how to take our film and turn them into negatives. i had no idea that the very first step (removal from case to the reels to the developer tank) had to be done in the pitch black! we practiced with dummy rolls and i felt that i could do it. so did a few others. the professor drew my name out of a tank to be the guinea pig (YES!). she was impressed with how fast i did the rolls and that i did a text-book job. yea me! she walked me through the development process and it seems pretty easy. i did it all by my lonesome this past saturday with my two new rolls. wednesday we learned how to turn our pages of negatives into a contact sheet. just about a 'no-brainer'. so my first two rolls of film were done by wednesday afternoon. i had to do everything for my next two rolls saturday to be ready for class today. let me tell you, creepy being in the lab by yourself. toooooo quiet! it's a very secure building, so i was safe... but still felt a bit creepy. i found a radio and blasted a rock station, that helped. in about an hour and a half, two more rolls of film turned into negatives and contact sheets.
criticism: already i turned in an assignment late. we have to do abstracts of our reading assignments, have them ready by the next class, then turn them in before midnight the day it's due. well, we didn't talk about the last one and i forgot. i was up early wednesday morning, doing my morning ritual.... DAH!! i turned in my assignment with a note of apology and stated that i was prepared to take my 'no points', but please tell me what i would have gotten. turns out, i wasn't the only one who forgot. he wound up giving my my points (all two of them) and said "never again" to doing that. i'll take it. wednesday we went to a fellow classmates art show. beautiful work!!! i was happy to find out that she had prints of her work and said "i want you to have them, take as many as you want." i did! we are actually using this show for our first review write up. i'm a bit nervous, but i have always done pretty well with my writings. i can't just write my opinion of the show, i actually have to include some research.... suck! oh well, gotta learn it, so i'm gonna do it.
now on to my next photography assignment, edges, and work on that review.... maybe some physics homework too.
Monday, September 10, 2012
my day... in pictures
are you shocked!? two posts in one day... and one with pictures too. i decided to give you an idea of where i go and what i see while i'm at school. i didn't take too many pictures, i didn't want to look too dorky. so, here we go:
this is that commuter lot that my friend said fills up fast. so far i have been able to get a space every time. if not, then i would have to park across the busy street at walmart and hike over. NOT an option. i'm usually about the 8th row back.
the building the the foreground is the actual physics building, which is where i have my lab. the building furthest away is the isat building, which is where my actual class is. the three buildings are actually connected, so no walking outside if i don't have too. and yes, there really are few students walking around at this hour of the morning.
that's the set of steps i hike up three days a week. doesn't seem so bad, but that first week i was wheezing by the time i got to the top. third week, not so much wheezing, but really needing water once i get in the building.
ok, this isn't normally part of my school day. but today i didn't realize how empty my gas tank was until i was half way to class. no problems, i'll just get gas in between classes and be done with it. can't do that unless you have money! which i didn't because i left my wallet at home!!!! i called my dad and asked if he could bring me some gas so i wouldn't get stranded on my way home. this is the note i left him. my daddy loves me!! and yes, i will make those cookies for him, double batch.
this is one view of the new baseball/softball fields. pretty huh? i get to gaze on this on the walk from my car to my photography class. maybe one day i'll get to actually see a game here.
THIS is where my photography class is held. i promise we have a window, but only one, and the blinds are usually closed. kind of sad huh? at least the professor lets us play music to make the environment not so stiff. and we probably won't be in the classroom too much since we will need to take pictures.
the studio, or just 'studio'. this is where i go for my criticism class. i think the window on the far left is my classroom... don't hold me to that though. it's very industrial inside and has old creaky floors, i like it!
this is the busy street i get to cross twice. i park by the photo building and just walk over for the criticism class, literally across the street from each other. because of a few fatalities of people crossing when they weren't supposed to, i cross when the little man tells me too.
so there ya have it. a better idea of what my day looks like. should have done this last year, the buildings on the main campus are just beautiful. and there are lots of old trees to give lots of shade and nice places to sit while you wait for your next class.
this is the busy street i get to cross twice. i park by the photo building and just walk over for the criticism class, literally across the street from each other. because of a few fatalities of people crossing when they weren't supposed to, i cross when the little man tells me too.
so there ya have it. a better idea of what my day looks like. should have done this last year, the buildings on the main campus are just beautiful. and there are lots of old trees to give lots of shade and nice places to sit while you wait for your next class.
it's a new week
so last week was kind of awesome.... i got a lot of work done and was able to have a stress free weekend.
physics: the class itself is hard. keep in mind that the last time i was in physics was 15 years ago. so far, nothing has 'come back' to me. but i decided to look at the homework (online) and see if i could do any. i was able to do three problems, only took one attempt to get the first two right. the third was a four-part problem. the first two i took two attempts, the rest... ONE! i am awesome!!!
lab: lab this week was really great. my partner and i are both lacking in the confidence department, but were all for the trying anyways. come on people, we do need that passing grade. this time we were supposed to get our 'protoboards' and set up a simple circuit to get an LED light to light up. we followed the diagram/directions... and low and behold.... our light was shining. we kind of made a commotion about it, turns out we were the first to get ours working. we heard a lot of "how did you do that?".... umm, did what the professor said and followed the diagram. we decided to be ambitious and to a parallel circuit to add more lights. no work! when we asked the professor why things didn't work, in a nutshell he said we were making it more complicated than it needed to be. of course! that actually is my biggest problem.... making things too complicated. oh well, we got ours working right the first time and were satisfied.
photography: this week was just working on our first assignment. we had to take pictures with varying depths-of-filed, light meter readings, and such. we were to have two rolls done by monday (today). well, i took sofia around town with my tuesday to take some pictures. on the way home.... SNAKE! a smallish black/yellow snake crossed our path home. i saw it in time to grab sofia and let the snake continue on his course. freaky. wednesday, the professor said that since the lab wasn't ready, that we could go out and take our pictures. i went around with a partner and found a nice water area to photograph. right by the edge of the grass was a small gravel area that had that black burlap-type stuff sticking through. i took a step by it and saw that some of the burlap stuff moved. you got it... SNAKE! same smallish black/yellow type snake. this time i got a picture of it. but really!!! two days in a row!!! needless to say, i got all my pictures done and headed into town to buy the last of my photo supplies. such an expensive class.
criticism: we talked about a new (to me) program that JMU offers called MDID, Madison Digital Image Database. basically, a lot of pictures of art pieces and information in one place. very handy-dandy for the art history people and those going into art education. one day was spent learning about it and the other day was spent using it. i didn't have any issues with it, but i do need to go back and pick new items.... the professor wants artist from 2007 to 2012, oops. at least i know what i'm doing now.
now on to doing homework and readings.... intense week ahead of me.
physics: the class itself is hard. keep in mind that the last time i was in physics was 15 years ago. so far, nothing has 'come back' to me. but i decided to look at the homework (online) and see if i could do any. i was able to do three problems, only took one attempt to get the first two right. the third was a four-part problem. the first two i took two attempts, the rest... ONE! i am awesome!!!
lab: lab this week was really great. my partner and i are both lacking in the confidence department, but were all for the trying anyways. come on people, we do need that passing grade. this time we were supposed to get our 'protoboards' and set up a simple circuit to get an LED light to light up. we followed the diagram/directions... and low and behold.... our light was shining. we kind of made a commotion about it, turns out we were the first to get ours working. we heard a lot of "how did you do that?".... umm, did what the professor said and followed the diagram. we decided to be ambitious and to a parallel circuit to add more lights. no work! when we asked the professor why things didn't work, in a nutshell he said we were making it more complicated than it needed to be. of course! that actually is my biggest problem.... making things too complicated. oh well, we got ours working right the first time and were satisfied.
photography: this week was just working on our first assignment. we had to take pictures with varying depths-of-filed, light meter readings, and such. we were to have two rolls done by monday (today). well, i took sofia around town with my tuesday to take some pictures. on the way home.... SNAKE! a smallish black/yellow snake crossed our path home. i saw it in time to grab sofia and let the snake continue on his course. freaky. wednesday, the professor said that since the lab wasn't ready, that we could go out and take our pictures. i went around with a partner and found a nice water area to photograph. right by the edge of the grass was a small gravel area that had that black burlap-type stuff sticking through. i took a step by it and saw that some of the burlap stuff moved. you got it... SNAKE! same smallish black/yellow type snake. this time i got a picture of it. but really!!! two days in a row!!! needless to say, i got all my pictures done and headed into town to buy the last of my photo supplies. such an expensive class.
criticism: we talked about a new (to me) program that JMU offers called MDID, Madison Digital Image Database. basically, a lot of pictures of art pieces and information in one place. very handy-dandy for the art history people and those going into art education. one day was spent learning about it and the other day was spent using it. i didn't have any issues with it, but i do need to go back and pick new items.... the professor wants artist from 2007 to 2012, oops. at least i know what i'm doing now.
now on to doing homework and readings.... intense week ahead of me.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
jmu, i've missed you!
my first week of school is over! and what a week it was. i was mildly panicked at the thought of having to be super early to east campus (the newer section) in order to get a parking space. a friend of mine said that the commuter lots fill up by 8:15, which would be the time i would leave my house. ACK! and UGH! terrified i was! well my mom helped out by being early to pick up sofia, so i took off about 8:05 and used my lead foot to help. turns out i didn't need it. i got to the commuter lot and saw LOTS of parking spaces left. my friend was wrong! but i was sure to keep in mind that the first day, even week, could be a fluke.
my first class is GSCI 101... general science, but the theme is robotics. not sure how this will turn out, but i'm willing to try. found my class with enough time left to read a little. the class is kind of big, but i take that as a good sign that i wouldn't be called on to answer anything. please remember, my last science class that was remotely close to this one was back in '96. well, the first class went well and i actually understood some of what was talked about. the second class (on wednesday) was good too..... once i got to the right room. YES! i did it AGAIN! went to the wrong class. to be fair, it was the right classroom, i just missed the email that stated that my class was to meet somewhere new. i caught on when a different professor showed up. after a minute or two i looked to the person behind me and asked "is this g-sci 101?" NOPE! i grabbed my bag, gave the class and professor a good chuckle and found out where my class was meeting. don't get me wrong, i was embarrassed and i know my face was red.... but really, i'm too old to let that bother me too much. i wound up only missing the first five minutes of my class. friday's class was a shock to me, i actually understood it. we talked about velocity and position and magnitude... but i understood! well, after someone else gave and answer and then the professor explained what the answer was right or wrong. still, though... a break through for me to understand when i'm not that science minded.
friday was the day for my science lab. that was more scarey to me than anything else because we are going to be building robots! i don't know if i can do that. well, i made a friend in the lecture class and we both decided to brave the lab together, we are lab partners. our first task was just to test the voltage of our power supply (that's all we had time for after the explanations of things). we got our supplies, hooked everything up, and tested. we needed 5 volts and we got 5 volts. success! now, if the rest of the labs will be this easy i'll be good.
i'm taking photography this semester, which is my next class. it's a 2.5 hour class and i'm intimidated. i took a photography class before, but it was independent study.... not a way to learn how to use a camera. the professor assures us that by midterm everything will be second nature and we won't have to think about anything. i sure hope so. we haven't gotten our first assignment, but when we do it will be at least two rolls worth of pictures. did i mention it's a traditional film photography class? yeah, film! and expensive... i spent $23 on four rolls of film yesterday. yikes! and i know it will only get more expensive. i have the 'materials needed' list and saw that i will be easily spending a few hundred dollars. oh well, i have a refund due to me (gotta love grants).
my fourth class is an art criticism class. it's more of learning how to critique the art and how to do that in a classroom setting (most of the students are getting their teaching license in art). i chose this class because i did a paper on art critics last semester and i was intrigued. well, so far the class has not disappointed. it's a fun class and my professor is big on class discussions. i will have readings and have to write responses to them as well as to gallery viewings that we will be going to. here's the kicker: the abstract has to be 50 words exactly, the response has to be 50 words exactly, and the other section can be as long as i want. it's harder than i thought... but it's a challenge i will embrace.
one week down and 14 to go
my first class is GSCI 101... general science, but the theme is robotics. not sure how this will turn out, but i'm willing to try. found my class with enough time left to read a little. the class is kind of big, but i take that as a good sign that i wouldn't be called on to answer anything. please remember, my last science class that was remotely close to this one was back in '96. well, the first class went well and i actually understood some of what was talked about. the second class (on wednesday) was good too..... once i got to the right room. YES! i did it AGAIN! went to the wrong class. to be fair, it was the right classroom, i just missed the email that stated that my class was to meet somewhere new. i caught on when a different professor showed up. after a minute or two i looked to the person behind me and asked "is this g-sci 101?" NOPE! i grabbed my bag, gave the class and professor a good chuckle and found out where my class was meeting. don't get me wrong, i was embarrassed and i know my face was red.... but really, i'm too old to let that bother me too much. i wound up only missing the first five minutes of my class. friday's class was a shock to me, i actually understood it. we talked about velocity and position and magnitude... but i understood! well, after someone else gave and answer and then the professor explained what the answer was right or wrong. still, though... a break through for me to understand when i'm not that science minded.
friday was the day for my science lab. that was more scarey to me than anything else because we are going to be building robots! i don't know if i can do that. well, i made a friend in the lecture class and we both decided to brave the lab together, we are lab partners. our first task was just to test the voltage of our power supply (that's all we had time for after the explanations of things). we got our supplies, hooked everything up, and tested. we needed 5 volts and we got 5 volts. success! now, if the rest of the labs will be this easy i'll be good.
i'm taking photography this semester, which is my next class. it's a 2.5 hour class and i'm intimidated. i took a photography class before, but it was independent study.... not a way to learn how to use a camera. the professor assures us that by midterm everything will be second nature and we won't have to think about anything. i sure hope so. we haven't gotten our first assignment, but when we do it will be at least two rolls worth of pictures. did i mention it's a traditional film photography class? yeah, film! and expensive... i spent $23 on four rolls of film yesterday. yikes! and i know it will only get more expensive. i have the 'materials needed' list and saw that i will be easily spending a few hundred dollars. oh well, i have a refund due to me (gotta love grants).
my fourth class is an art criticism class. it's more of learning how to critique the art and how to do that in a classroom setting (most of the students are getting their teaching license in art). i chose this class because i did a paper on art critics last semester and i was intrigued. well, so far the class has not disappointed. it's a fun class and my professor is big on class discussions. i will have readings and have to write responses to them as well as to gallery viewings that we will be going to. here's the kicker: the abstract has to be 50 words exactly, the response has to be 50 words exactly, and the other section can be as long as i want. it's harder than i thought... but it's a challenge i will embrace.
one week down and 14 to go
back to school!!!
so my kids first day of school was wednesday of last week (a lot of parents are scratching their heads on that). i was very excited to get them out of the house, get back to a routine, have a lot of quiet time, and be able to get things done without playing referee every 10 minutes. i did my traditional 'prior to pounce' pictures, erica woke up as i was taking it so i wasn't able to scare her awake. this year i decided to take one of sofia too. she can't start school until next year, but she was so picturable.
the kids woke up fairly easy, i had been getting them in bed earlier for two weeks so we wouldn't have any issues this day. erica was her usual lack of breakfast self while her siblings wanted their cereal. since we took all their supplies to the school a few days before their backpacks were light. i asked the kids if they remembered where to go and what their teacher's name was. memory was in tact! i was really hoping for erica to get the hottie-tot teacher, not just because he's a bit of eye candy, but because he teaches in a way that would benefit erica. well, she didn't, but i was really impressed with who she got. aidan has a new teacher to the school this year.
soooooooo, with getting up on time and getting ready right away, we had some time to kill before walking up to the bus stop. so i took more pictures.
this year is a special year.... my brother and his family moved in to the neighborhood, 11 houses up to be exact. and this year their kids are in school, one in kindergarten and the other in pre-k. so we walked up to aunt katy's house to let them know it was time to go catch the bus. my nephew came bounding out of the house, super excited.
all set and ready to go! and there are a lot of kids this year. i prided myself on knowing each kid at the stop and could call them by name. not this year, though i just might not try. i'll be spending my time talking with the other adults at the stop this year.
this past week was their first full week, and it was fantastic. of course there hasn't been any homework, that does help a lot. but this was also my first week of school (another post), so anything to make it easier for everyone was nice. here's to hoping that the next week will go just as smooth.... and the rest of the year!
soooooooo, with getting up on time and getting ready right away, we had some time to kill before walking up to the bus stop. so i took more pictures.
this past week was their first full week, and it was fantastic. of course there hasn't been any homework, that does help a lot. but this was also my first week of school (another post), so anything to make it easier for everyone was nice. here's to hoping that the next week will go just as smooth.... and the rest of the year!
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