Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Fall Semester.....done

So today at work I am working on calibrating an SPME fiber which I don't expect anyone to know what it is, but because of it I have a lot of time on my hands waiting for the GC to take its measurements. I figured I would give an update of my past week to all who are reading. I think I mentioned in my last post that last week was my finals week and boy was it a tough one. I had five total finals with two Monday and then one Wednesday through Friday with me flying to San Antonio on Friday for a wedding. I am very upset with one of the finals I took in my numerical analysis class. Three of the four problems were from our last section of material and I blazed through with no problem but with over forty-five minutes left I came to the final question and it was a question that we had one problem on six weeks ago and how to solve it was mentioned in class once. I was upset over that question that was very obscure and not even something he told us would be one the final. Needless to say I did not do as well as hoped but luckily it did not effect my overall grade too much. This wasn't nearly as bad as what happened to Amanda. For her advanced wellness programming class she had taken a couple tests and they were multiple choice which took her about 15 minutes to complete. So she shows up to the final and the teacher had decided to change the format and have it be short answer and it took her over an hour to complete. I have decided that I really dislike all the tricky things a professor will do just to make you screw up on a test.

Now for the better part of the week. After my last final Amanda and I headed to San Antonio for her brother's wedding on Saturday. Here are a few things I learned/observed about that city:

1) They are all bitter they do not have an NFL team and have to share the Cowboys and Texans (Honestly do they really want the Texans representing their city??)

2) Every Mexican food place has terrible service (i.e., food on the menu not available, slow) but the food is good.

3)The roads are very confusing

4)It is winter there but the trees are for the most part still green

5)Sea World is closed in December

6)After eating the food for a weekend I see why Texas is one of the most obese states. (It is very good, so good you don't want to stop eating)

7)Do not eat pastries outside of Starbucks on the Riverwalk, pigeons might spill someone's coffee on you.

8)Beware of pigeons they may eat your food

9)In reference to 7 & 8, I know where the idea of The Birds came from

10)The IMAX movie about the Alamo, don't see it, it is a waste of 9 dollars, it should be shown for free at a room in the Alamo, see Harry Potter instead.

11)Definently see the Alamo it is worth the time and effort to see where history was made.

12)The Alamodome has weird architecture (That is for you Mike)

13)For a city so large the airport is so small

14)The Riverwalk is very cool with lots of lights for the holidays, and lots of good restaurants. (I suggest The County Line BBQ)

15)Nice hotels with King sized feathertop beds are awesome!!

All in all I would say I had a very good weekend down in Texas. I did have a bad run in with a pigeon as I am sure you could tell but other than that it was good getting to know Amanda's family a little better and I got to see a part of the country I had yet to see. I would recommend seeing the Alamo if you are ever in the area. With the riverwalk and some other attractions in San Antonio it could make for a good little vacation.

Well that is all for now I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

A long time coming

So it has been almost a month since my last post and I am sorry for it, life just gets busy and with no internet at the house I have to post from school where I am usually in a hurry to check e-mail and get to class. I know I have tried a few times to post but I always have to leave when I am half way done so it never gets posted. Enough with the rambling. Like I said life has been busy for me, as you guessed it has been with school. I did mention though that I went to see The Phantom of the Opera when it was here. I have always enjoyed going to the theather and seeing a show. I would have to say this is one of my favorite Broadway plays so it was a real treat to see it. I wish I could have afforded better seats but it was still a great night. After the show Amanda and I went to The Cheesecake Factory on the 16th street mall. As usual the food was very good, but I would have to rate the service as poor. We were there about 10:30 PM and a good number of the tables were dirty and even some of the dishes we were given were not very clean. The server took a while to even talk to us and after we had finished our food it took him close to 10 minutes to even bring us the bill, and my water glass was never refilled. It is my opinion that someone who is trying to be a good server will at least refill the water. It was still a great night and overall I would encourage everyone to spend a night on the town and see a good play.

I had a great Thanksgiving break. Because of how all my classes were arranged I did not have to pick up a book for a class for the entire week. It was a much needed break, it has just been hard to pick the books back up for the last 2 weeks of class. Thanksgiving day was spent at the parents house and watching the Broncos beat the Cowboys.

The after Thanksgiving I had the priviledge of going skiing. It was a beautiful day and the snow was good for early season. It is still better than anything on the east coast or midwest. The only thing was is that there was a lot of bumps so my legs were killing me by the end of the day. I am looking forward to going up soon with the almost 4 feet of fresh snow!!

That is about it for now, take care and I'll let everyone know how I'm doing after finals.