Catching Up

This week has been one for catching up on many things in many different ways. I'll admit, most of it involves school. I got embarrassingly far behind the first week, while trying to figure out and navigate the distance learning program. I will also admit that I almost dropped out! I am getting no help from my professor at all! First of all, it took me a really long time to figure out how to connect my personal hard drive to Purdue's server so that I could access the files I needed to turn in the very first home work assingment. My professor didn't know anything about how to do that, nor did he offer anything constructive when I emailed him for help on my programming homework. For example, after a few vague and condescending suggestions, his email ended with: "I'm afraid this code needs major revision. Good luck."
I also emailed him to ask if we could exchange emails between the distance learners, since we have no support group like the students on campus. The students at Purdue can form study groups and go to the professor in person for help. We have none of that, so an email exchange seemed like a decent solution. Nope. My professor will not do this because it is a violation of student privacy to release email addresses. While he has a valid point, he could have even done something as simple as send an email to the distance learners and ask anyone if they would be opposed to it.
The final straw happened during the last lecture on Thursday. My saving grace with assignments has been that the distance learners have a couple extra days to turn in homework, since we are listening to the lectures as they fit with our schedules. Well apparently, this has not gone over well with the on-campus students because our professor can't give homework solutions until everyone has turned in the assignment. So now, distance learners have the same deadlines, no student support network and only our professor to turn to for help.
The class I have been referring to is my GPS Satellite Surveying class. I am also taking an engineering stats class, which has fortunately been all lecture and no assignments so far. My GPS class has taken up ALL of my time, aside from simply being able to watch the stats lectures. Wednesday, I had a breakthrough and figured out my Matlab program. I also finished another GPS assignment and watched 2 lectures. The rest of the week, it was like a weight off my shoulders! I had caught up on school so much, and successfully at the same time! (Successfully meaning I didn't just turn in the incorrect code in order to just get it off my plate.)
So naturally, with all this school and work stuff going on, I lost A LOT of sleep last week, as I mentioned in my previous post. Since I was able to get so much done in the middle of last week, I used the weekend to catch up on sleep. I know this is not the doctor reccommended way to get enough sleep, but it definitely helps me!
This week has also been one for catching up with people I haven't seen out here in way too long! Tuesday, I had lunch with my cousin Andrew. I hadn't seen him in probably 6 months and he is recently engaged, so we had lots to catch up on. He works in the Denver Tech Center, pretty close to where I work, so it worked out well for us to meet up for lunch. We had Mediterranean food, which was a new experience for me. It was very good and it was nice to be able to talk with someone who is also working and getting his Master's. Andrew understands what my life is like right now! :)
I was also able to have dinner with my friend Liz on Wednesday night. We met up in downtown Denver and did some major catching up. Liz and I have been friends since we were born. We grew up about five houses from each other, so we walked to school together every day in grade school and jr. high. Every time I go downtown, I am in awe at how beautiful it is. Sorry K.C., but I think Denver has one of the most beautiful downtown skylines I have ever seen, especially at night. Liz and I had chinese at P.F. Changs, so I am had some very culturally diverse meals this week.
And now, after this long blog post, I have caught you all up on what is going on in my life right now. I will really try in the future to steer clear of school stuff. I know it's boring, but I have to rant somewhere! Be sure to leave me a comment and catch me up with the things going on in your lives!