I was watching "Home Improvement" the other day and Wilson, the character of infallible wisdom, taught Tim about our inherent drive to create. "You see, Tim, you can't bear children. So you are left with your drive to create which you satisfy through your projects." I've thought about this drive and realize that we all have it. Dad's flash tools, Mom's house, Dustin's art. This semester, I found my omnipotent niche in programming and it's thanks to Dr. Albrecht's vague and insufficient instruction.
Dr. Albrecht comes into class ready to fire 99mph fastballs at us. He launches into an hour lecture on how "easy" the next project will be. During his lecture, he explains the creation process as if we were gods. Then he'll under-estimate 8 hours of work. I respectfully disagree, Professor. To stay within his time expectancy, research starts building and code flies from my fingers. After doubling his estimation, I admire my completed creation. I love that feeling! When I can see what I have created, feelings of triumph and satisfaction begin to settle in. And I love that!
After every project, all I want to do is create something else. It's addicting! You must understand; I can't bear children.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Professor #3: Dr. Liddle
At 6' 1'', with a skinny build, and soft voice, he doesn't make a huge presence. However, I think many of us respect Dr. Liddle's personal goals to help his students. Dr. Liddle already has his full-time status which professors sometimes take as I-don't-have-to-be-impressive-anymore stamp. Dr. Liddle, however, is always looking for our feedback and strives to fill our needs. He'll always stop for questions and always appears to take each one seriously--don't expect the short answer.
One funny thing about Dr. Liddle is his attitude towards quizzes. The class schedule has a quiz listed almost every class day, but how many quizzes have we taken? About half that many. And how many times has he just given us all 100% on the quiz regardless? About half again. So everyday, after we say a prayer, we'll hear Dr. Liddle happily announce, "Ok. Let's take a quiz!" I'll rip a piece of paper in half for my neighbor to use--not like it matters--and we start taking the "quiz". At the end of the 5 simplistic questions, Dr. Liddle will announce the answers with a 30 second explanation of why it's so. At the end of each explanation, he might say "Now if you got it right, give yourself two points. If you got it wrong, understand why and give yourself two points, also." I love Dr. Liddle's quizzes.
One funny thing about Dr. Liddle is his attitude towards quizzes. The class schedule has a quiz listed almost every class day, but how many quizzes have we taken? About half that many. And how many times has he just given us all 100% on the quiz regardless? About half again. So everyday, after we say a prayer, we'll hear Dr. Liddle happily announce, "Ok. Let's take a quiz!" I'll rip a piece of paper in half for my neighbor to use--not like it matters--and we start taking the "quiz". At the end of the 5 simplistic questions, Dr. Liddle will announce the answers with a 30 second explanation of why it's so. At the end of each explanation, he might say "Now if you got it right, give yourself two points. If you got it wrong, understand why and give yourself two points, also." I love Dr. Liddle's quizzes.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Professor #2: Dr. Romney
Yes, another Romney. We Mackays can't seem to go anywhere without a Romney popping up.
Dr. Romney is a brilliant yet humble man. He's tall and of large stature with white hair combed over the top of his head. He always wears a collared shirt (usually one with the Marriott School logo) and matching pants to class. Once class is started, he usually puts a quiz on our desks. These quizzes are fairly difficult, but Dr. Romney usually comforts the students by reminding the class that we're graded against each other.
After the tedious quiz, Dr. Romney will lean against the chalk board with his hands clasped together in front and announce his teaching methodology: You learn more when you do it then from a teacher or a text book. With that, we role play! We either role play work flow processes as a class or walk through business cycles in our group. That's pretty much all there is to the Dean of the Information Systems Program. Oh, did I forget to mention that little known fact? He's the boss of our other professors.
Dr. Romney is a brilliant yet humble man. He's tall and of large stature with white hair combed over the top of his head. He always wears a collared shirt (usually one with the Marriott School logo) and matching pants to class. Once class is started, he usually puts a quiz on our desks. These quizzes are fairly difficult, but Dr. Romney usually comforts the students by reminding the class that we're graded against each other.
After the tedious quiz, Dr. Romney will lean against the chalk board with his hands clasped together in front and announce his teaching methodology: You learn more when you do it then from a teacher or a text book. With that, we role play! We either role play work flow processes as a class or walk through business cycles in our group. That's pretty much all there is to the Dean of the Information Systems Program. Oh, did I forget to mention that little known fact? He's the boss of our other professors.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Professor #1: Dr. Hansen
I'm really enjoying my schooling right now. When you have four great professors, it really helps. It especially helps when those four great professors have four distinct personalities (that must be a prerequisite). I think I'll write about each one so you can get an idea of what these guys are like.
When Dr. Hansen first walked into our classroom, he had a sour look on his face. He scanned the classroom up and down as if he was looking for someone in particular. At first he's not much to look at. His head is full of gray hair and his body is small. Now this body being small exaggerates another feature of his body: his belly. His belly sticks out considerably almost to where he could use it as a table.
It seemed his purpose upon entering the room was to "torture" our minds. And in a sense I was right. He started off by drilling us on our reading we were assigned. "What's a set?" he would ask.
"A group of items," came the feeble attempt. Dr. Hansen didn't even entertain the answer.
"No. *cough* Be specific." (He always coughs when he talks)
"I think its a..."
"You think? *cough* I want you to know! Tell me with confidence!" he answered as he grinned a clever grin that I would soon come to learn was his trademark. The round of answers kept on going for a minute or so when he explained his methods. "Look. My purpose here, and you'll hear me say this again and again, *cough* is to get you to think. (Ugh! It is torture!) I don't care what you learn necessarily in my class because you'll just forget it in a year. I care that you learn how to think." he stated as he pounded the podium. "Now, what is a set?"
I'll have a hard time forgetting this lesson, especially since he did in fact repeat it every week. Dr. Hansen is my favorite professor because of his challenging demeanor. I go to his classes hoping to beat him at his game. Never likely, but I try harder in order to see if I can outsmart the questionnaire.
When Dr. Hansen first walked into our classroom, he had a sour look on his face. He scanned the classroom up and down as if he was looking for someone in particular. At first he's not much to look at. His head is full of gray hair and his body is small. Now this body being small exaggerates another feature of his body: his belly. His belly sticks out considerably almost to where he could use it as a table.
It seemed his purpose upon entering the room was to "torture" our minds. And in a sense I was right. He started off by drilling us on our reading we were assigned. "What's a set?" he would ask.
"A group of items," came the feeble attempt. Dr. Hansen didn't even entertain the answer.
"No. *cough* Be specific." (He always coughs when he talks)
"I think its a..."
"You think? *cough* I want you to know! Tell me with confidence!" he answered as he grinned a clever grin that I would soon come to learn was his trademark. The round of answers kept on going for a minute or so when he explained his methods. "Look. My purpose here, and you'll hear me say this again and again, *cough* is to get you to think. (Ugh! It is torture!) I don't care what you learn necessarily in my class because you'll just forget it in a year. I care that you learn how to think." he stated as he pounded the podium. "Now, what is a set?"
I'll have a hard time forgetting this lesson, especially since he did in fact repeat it every week. Dr. Hansen is my favorite professor because of his challenging demeanor. I go to his classes hoping to beat him at his game. Never likely, but I try harder in order to see if I can outsmart the questionnaire.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Dating a Friend
There is a girl in my ward who I have liked but never liked enough to go after. In fact, I'm sad to say the one time I did go after her was out of envy, even dis-loyalty (sorry). However, as the months have past by, I've been able to discover her character's hidden gems. And if it's greed that I'm feeling, than so be it. I decided to go for it.
This decision was a tough one for a few reasons. First, she's a good friend. This makes me hold my breath because if it doesn't work out then I may lose a friend or at least part of the friendship. Second, her plans include serving a mission. Yeah, I could stop that from happening if things turn out, but that's if they turn out. Considering these and other details, I had to choose between folding before the hand was dealt and going all in. I chose to give it my best effort, and I hope it works out. Oh, I hope it works out.
This decision was a tough one for a few reasons. First, she's a good friend. This makes me hold my breath because if it doesn't work out then I may lose a friend or at least part of the friendship. Second, her plans include serving a mission. Yeah, I could stop that from happening if things turn out, but that's if they turn out. Considering these and other details, I had to choose between folding before the hand was dealt and going all in. I chose to give it my best effort, and I hope it works out. Oh, I hope it works out.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Oh the Lessons You Learn
This past week I've been working on project after project, and that has caused me to work long days. But I've learned three things:
1. It's never good to work 10+ hour consecutive days
2. If you want something done right, do it yourself
3. Have a written plan before doing anything
I'm almost done with project 2 of 3 and my mind is already making trivial mistakes. However, this wear and tear does have its benefits. My mind is tired and beat, but just like any other muscle, it rebuilds itself and is stronger than before. I've been craving this strength for a while. When I first got home from my mission (the most exhausting mental event) I was very quick and witty. I'm not sure if it was the mental stress, being among New Yorkers, or a combination that gave me the strength, but it was awesome. After a year or so that quickness started to go away, and I'm finally getting it back.
So mentally I'm stronger, and I can also say that my patience has increased. One group member kept on handing in sub-par material and my roommate and I would look at each other and know that we would have to redo it. Well, as most big projects go, something sprung up last minute and it had to be done. Without saying anything, I stood up and took care of it. Ah, that was easy.
Finally, planning helps sort everything out. We had to write narratives for 20+ diagrams and they were becoming tedious and yet still challenging all at the same time. So I took out a pen and paper and wrote three relevant points to each diagram, sat at my computer, and fired away. Thirty minutes later I had a handful of good drafts. Now, who wants to edit them?
1. It's never good to work 10+ hour consecutive days
2. If you want something done right, do it yourself
3. Have a written plan before doing anything
I'm almost done with project 2 of 3 and my mind is already making trivial mistakes. However, this wear and tear does have its benefits. My mind is tired and beat, but just like any other muscle, it rebuilds itself and is stronger than before. I've been craving this strength for a while. When I first got home from my mission (the most exhausting mental event) I was very quick and witty. I'm not sure if it was the mental stress, being among New Yorkers, or a combination that gave me the strength, but it was awesome. After a year or so that quickness started to go away, and I'm finally getting it back.
So mentally I'm stronger, and I can also say that my patience has increased. One group member kept on handing in sub-par material and my roommate and I would look at each other and know that we would have to redo it. Well, as most big projects go, something sprung up last minute and it had to be done. Without saying anything, I stood up and took care of it. Ah, that was easy.
Finally, planning helps sort everything out. We had to write narratives for 20+ diagrams and they were becoming tedious and yet still challenging all at the same time. So I took out a pen and paper and wrote three relevant points to each diagram, sat at my computer, and fired away. Thirty minutes later I had a handful of good drafts. Now, who wants to edit them?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Facing Your Fear...Literally
Tonight I had to face someone I didn't care much to see. I was going to avoid it completely by hanging out at a friend's apartment, and my roommate was ready to talk to the person for me, but I got a phone call from an all too familiar number from the feared "old friend". At that moment, however, my mind went at ease and thoughts of words to say came into my mind. Suddenly the situation didn't make me want to hide, but rather face it and be done with it. I talked to the person and went to my apartment. I waited and about 10 minutes passed before the door knocked. Three people came in carrying the air mattress that was the cause of our meeting, and I smiled and didn't even flinch. I was myself! 100% me! The air mattress will help with me not have any rough nights of sleep, but my mind, my emotions, will finally be at rest. And in the words of my wise father, I "dodged a bullet."
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