A Rocky Start
Where do you suppose that phrase began? "He got off to a rocky start..." Honestly, the first thing that pops into my mind is Rocky Balboa. Granted, the phrase most certainly did not originate here, but even in this context it makes sense. In all Rocky movies, he has great obstacles to overcome. The beginning is always rocky for him. At any rate, this blog will have a rocky beginning also, but hopefully it will go on to become rocky in the Rocky Balboa sense as well.
I must apologize if I have lost you already. I could blame it on my lack of sleep. After all, my roommates and I were up until 5:30 this morning studying for our second Vector Calculus midterm. However, I'm sure you will find that, more often than not, my postings will be in a style similar to this. That's not to say I don't have moments of great clarity and brilliance, because I do. But those times are generally wrapped up in moments such as this.
I suppose I should give you a little background information since this is my first posting, which means that you likely know nothing about me. I am 28 years old and will turn 29 on December 4th. I am currently a student at Oregon State University. Yes, I am a Beaver. Make your jokes and laugh. When you are done gut-rolling, you can finish learning about who I am.
I grew up in Lewiston, Idaho. I lived there from birth (well, technically, I was born in Pasco, Washington) until I was two years old. My parents got divorced at that point in time and my sister and I lived with our mother until I was (I believe) 4 years old. During that time, a lot happened in my life--most of it traumatic--which I may detail in the future. I lived in Lewiston until August 2000, when I moved to Boise with my girlfriend. We had been dating since January 1998 and she had been hired at Micron Technology. We got married October 20, 2001 (a mere month after the World Trade Center was destroyed). On April 17, 2002, our daughter, Hailey, was born. Now, I hate to get side-tracked...actually, I live for getting side-tracked...but this is great time to say something. I love commas. Okay, I don't love them in an "I want to marry them" sort of way (I'm no polygamist), but I have an affinity for them. Just look over this post, count the number of commas I have used, and ask yourself, "Is this normal?"
Okay, back to my narration: Around that time, my in-laws had bought a business on the southern Oregon coast and were looking for some help running it. They also wanted to get us out of Idaho and away from Wal-mart (our current employer at that time). By the way, I have nothing but the best of feelings about Wal-mart, but that is a whole blog topic on its own. They wanted to help us expand our horizons and add to our life experience. When Hailey was 2 weeks old, we made the move.
Now, my wife and daughter still live in southern Oregon, and my wife still manages the business for her parents. I manage it on Saturdays still, and will also work there over holidays and summer. As you can see from my blog title, I am a future engineer. I am taking classes at OSU to get my BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I took care of all my general courses at a community college, so I am left with nothing but math, science, and engineering/computer science courses.
This term, I am taking ECE 111, which is an intro to engineering course. It is totally lame. The college is in the process of transforming their College of Engineering, so some classes are being redesigned. ECE 111 is a brand new course, and all we have done for the past 6 weeks is learned what an engineer is, how much money they make, and what they do. Nothing else. Our recitations have included a campus tour, listening to people talk about what they are doing in engineering, as well as an online scavenger hunt for information (basically a test of how fast you can google). Then, last week we are given a PCB (printed circuit board), a chip, and some other components. We are given a layout and need to solder the components onto the PCB. That's easy enough. The we have to hook LEDS up to it and program the chip with a C compiler. Okay...LEDs...not a problem. Programming the chip...problem. We haven't done any programming yet, and with no intro, no basics, they tell us to program this damn chip...right. Then, this week, they tell us we are having a two-week lab. We need to creat a signature lighting display for our Tekbots, which we will obtain and design in future terms. We are told that this assignment includes programming, layout, and design. WTF? There is no knowledge base for us to work from. The class does nothing to prepare us for our recitation (lab), and previous labs were very basic, and now they want us to do things we know nothing about. Everyone I have talked to feels the same way.
I am also taking Vector Calculus (MTH 254). Two of my roommates are in this class with me, hence the long study session last night (Thursday night). My other class is Introductory Biology (Bi 211). It's okay. We spent 6 weeks learning about the plant kingdom, and now we are learning about animals. When we switched over to the animal kingdom, we switched instructors as well. This one told us to forget everything we had learned about plants...we no longer needed this information. He said plants are only good for 3 things: nests for birds, breathing, and salads.
Well, it is late, I am tired, my hand is cramping from being at my laptop for too long, and I have to work in the morning so I will wrap up this post. Hopefully you have some interest in reading more of what I have to say. If you want, feel free to leave comments or email me.
I must apologize if I have lost you already. I could blame it on my lack of sleep. After all, my roommates and I were up until 5:30 this morning studying for our second Vector Calculus midterm. However, I'm sure you will find that, more often than not, my postings will be in a style similar to this. That's not to say I don't have moments of great clarity and brilliance, because I do. But those times are generally wrapped up in moments such as this.
I suppose I should give you a little background information since this is my first posting, which means that you likely know nothing about me. I am 28 years old and will turn 29 on December 4th. I am currently a student at Oregon State University. Yes, I am a Beaver. Make your jokes and laugh. When you are done gut-rolling, you can finish learning about who I am.
I grew up in Lewiston, Idaho. I lived there from birth (well, technically, I was born in Pasco, Washington) until I was two years old. My parents got divorced at that point in time and my sister and I lived with our mother until I was (I believe) 4 years old. During that time, a lot happened in my life--most of it traumatic--which I may detail in the future. I lived in Lewiston until August 2000, when I moved to Boise with my girlfriend. We had been dating since January 1998 and she had been hired at Micron Technology. We got married October 20, 2001 (a mere month after the World Trade Center was destroyed). On April 17, 2002, our daughter, Hailey, was born. Now, I hate to get side-tracked...actually, I live for getting side-tracked...but this is great time to say something. I love commas. Okay, I don't love them in an "I want to marry them" sort of way (I'm no polygamist), but I have an affinity for them. Just look over this post, count the number of commas I have used, and ask yourself, "Is this normal?"
Okay, back to my narration: Around that time, my in-laws had bought a business on the southern Oregon coast and were looking for some help running it. They also wanted to get us out of Idaho and away from Wal-mart (our current employer at that time). By the way, I have nothing but the best of feelings about Wal-mart, but that is a whole blog topic on its own. They wanted to help us expand our horizons and add to our life experience. When Hailey was 2 weeks old, we made the move.
Now, my wife and daughter still live in southern Oregon, and my wife still manages the business for her parents. I manage it on Saturdays still, and will also work there over holidays and summer. As you can see from my blog title, I am a future engineer. I am taking classes at OSU to get my BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I took care of all my general courses at a community college, so I am left with nothing but math, science, and engineering/computer science courses.
This term, I am taking ECE 111, which is an intro to engineering course. It is totally lame. The college is in the process of transforming their College of Engineering, so some classes are being redesigned. ECE 111 is a brand new course, and all we have done for the past 6 weeks is learned what an engineer is, how much money they make, and what they do. Nothing else. Our recitations have included a campus tour, listening to people talk about what they are doing in engineering, as well as an online scavenger hunt for information (basically a test of how fast you can google). Then, last week we are given a PCB (printed circuit board), a chip, and some other components. We are given a layout and need to solder the components onto the PCB. That's easy enough. The we have to hook LEDS up to it and program the chip with a C compiler. Okay...LEDs...not a problem. Programming the chip...problem. We haven't done any programming yet, and with no intro, no basics, they tell us to program this damn chip...right. Then, this week, they tell us we are having a two-week lab. We need to creat a signature lighting display for our Tekbots, which we will obtain and design in future terms. We are told that this assignment includes programming, layout, and design. WTF? There is no knowledge base for us to work from. The class does nothing to prepare us for our recitation (lab), and previous labs were very basic, and now they want us to do things we know nothing about. Everyone I have talked to feels the same way.
I am also taking Vector Calculus (MTH 254). Two of my roommates are in this class with me, hence the long study session last night (Thursday night). My other class is Introductory Biology (Bi 211). It's okay. We spent 6 weeks learning about the plant kingdom, and now we are learning about animals. When we switched over to the animal kingdom, we switched instructors as well. This one told us to forget everything we had learned about plants...we no longer needed this information. He said plants are only good for 3 things: nests for birds, breathing, and salads.
Well, it is late, I am tired, my hand is cramping from being at my laptop for too long, and I have to work in the morning so I will wrap up this post. Hopefully you have some interest in reading more of what I have to say. If you want, feel free to leave comments or email me.
posted by Travis James at 23:44
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