Of randomly filling out bubbles in a final. Someone wins the lottery every time it is played, and the one ADVANTAGE of freakishly few questions worth a freakishly large amount is that the odds of that incredibly small chance of you filling out the random guesses in such a way as to get a decent score goes up...
I got a B in the class.
I should be proud, and I am for most of my degree, but not so much on the final. I think Divine Intervention played a bit of a hand. The fact that others probably complained helped with the curve, but even with a curve breaking its back, I had to have help on that.
We also now have a new car. I'll try to post a pic later.
Now I need to gather paperwork.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Interesting Times
So in case you hadn't heard I bombed my final. The potentially good news is that everyone else might have as well. I knew going in that there was someone who had a 97% average on the quizzes (I had an 82.5) who was considering complaining about this final.
A single question makes a drastic difference in my future fate...to a degree. I got the exact number in three out of ten questions. Probability means I got a 4 out 10. That gives me a mathematical 67, which is a high D. It means I will have to retake the class, though the loans will probably cover it. After talking with the office, the new grade replaces the old in the GPA, and my current GPA is such that I can get an F and still be above 3.0, so theoretically I could retake the class multiple times to keep passing, since it is my last class.
Since it was a tough final, there will almost assuredly be a curve, but this is a tough professor who likes math, so he's going to make that curve (IMHO) as low as he can and get away with it. I'm pulling this number out of thin air, but I'm guessing a 4% curve - ie bumping the actual percentage up 4% points. Which for me makes it a 71%.
After talking with someone in the office, while theoretically I MIGHT be able to get a waiver with a 71% (extreme C-) it is supremely unlikely.
Conversely, a 5 out of 10 on the final gets me a raw 71, which becomes a curve adjusted 75%.....which is a solid C. With a high GPA, and a dubious final, I think my chances of appeal for graduation are excellent.
So basically, my ability to randomly correctly fill in 2 out of 7 bubbles instead of 1 out of 7 bubbles is worth $2700.
This is not what I would call excellence in teaching or design.
In other interesting news: I am getting a new car. This is not voluntary. On my way home from the end of the root canal saga, on Feb 20th, someone rear ended my car, mangling the bumper. I proceeded to spend the next month trying to get said person to talk to his OWN insurance company so I could get it paid for. I had it inspected twice, and was told by their insurance and my insurance that it would cost $1400ish to repair. So I take it in, and the power is down. They give me a big monstrostity of a car, free of charge, because I was patient while I waited. This turns out to be costly freebie, because I scraped the paint in our car port which will cost me the $500 deductable on our own insurance. At any rate, I found out as of Thursday of last week that it is not $1400 to repair my car but $3800, so they're declaring my tiny little 2003 echo with 140000 miles on it a total loss. Fortunately I have gap insurance, but it basically means I have no trade in and no equity towards a new car. Its a good time to buy a car, but a bad time to get credit. We'll see how this goes. I do know I had to go to the garage to clean out my car immediately after bombing the uber important final which was slightly surreal.
I came home and attacked our out of control hedges producing about 400-500 pounds of trimmings. It was quite cathargic. I then proceeded to walk the Dog. Jennifer was very supportive.
Sunday I took Grandma to survey her house. We now have a concrete plan to get her stuff ready to be moved which will be a load off of her mind and Mom and Skip's mind. I had a slightly fitful sleep worrying about phantom (or not phantom) fleas that were in the bed. We're washing all of the sheets just to be sure. I'm mildly floaty right now as a result.
But here are reasons that I have to be thankful, despite all of the drama:
*I have the best wife in the whole world. She is awesome on a stick, beautiful, smart, fully, sexy, and cute all rolled into one. Without her, I would not have even gotten the 3 out of 10.
*I have a loving and supportive family;parents and siblings who care about me.
*I have a strong spiritual relationship with the divine.
*I have a good paying job (First week went well btw)
*I've managed to accomplish, am accomplishing and will accomplish many neat things with my side projects including films, novels, games and who knows what else. I might not published, but I have produced them and I'm proud of most of what I've made.
*I have awesome friends.
*I have a dog, who might be stupid, but is extremely loyal.
*I live in (to me) the best country on earth at, despite all the running problems, one of the best times in history to be alive.
A single question makes a drastic difference in my future fate...to a degree. I got the exact number in three out of ten questions. Probability means I got a 4 out 10. That gives me a mathematical 67, which is a high D. It means I will have to retake the class, though the loans will probably cover it. After talking with the office, the new grade replaces the old in the GPA, and my current GPA is such that I can get an F and still be above 3.0, so theoretically I could retake the class multiple times to keep passing, since it is my last class.
Since it was a tough final, there will almost assuredly be a curve, but this is a tough professor who likes math, so he's going to make that curve (IMHO) as low as he can and get away with it. I'm pulling this number out of thin air, but I'm guessing a 4% curve - ie bumping the actual percentage up 4% points. Which for me makes it a 71%.
After talking with someone in the office, while theoretically I MIGHT be able to get a waiver with a 71% (extreme C-) it is supremely unlikely.
Conversely, a 5 out of 10 on the final gets me a raw 71, which becomes a curve adjusted 75%.....which is a solid C. With a high GPA, and a dubious final, I think my chances of appeal for graduation are excellent.
So basically, my ability to randomly correctly fill in 2 out of 7 bubbles instead of 1 out of 7 bubbles is worth $2700.
This is not what I would call excellence in teaching or design.
In other interesting news: I am getting a new car. This is not voluntary. On my way home from the end of the root canal saga, on Feb 20th, someone rear ended my car, mangling the bumper. I proceeded to spend the next month trying to get said person to talk to his OWN insurance company so I could get it paid for. I had it inspected twice, and was told by their insurance and my insurance that it would cost $1400ish to repair. So I take it in, and the power is down. They give me a big monstrostity of a car, free of charge, because I was patient while I waited. This turns out to be costly freebie, because I scraped the paint in our car port which will cost me the $500 deductable on our own insurance. At any rate, I found out as of Thursday of last week that it is not $1400 to repair my car but $3800, so they're declaring my tiny little 2003 echo with 140000 miles on it a total loss. Fortunately I have gap insurance, but it basically means I have no trade in and no equity towards a new car. Its a good time to buy a car, but a bad time to get credit. We'll see how this goes. I do know I had to go to the garage to clean out my car immediately after bombing the uber important final which was slightly surreal.
I came home and attacked our out of control hedges producing about 400-500 pounds of trimmings. It was quite cathargic. I then proceeded to walk the Dog. Jennifer was very supportive.
Sunday I took Grandma to survey her house. We now have a concrete plan to get her stuff ready to be moved which will be a load off of her mind and Mom and Skip's mind. I had a slightly fitful sleep worrying about phantom (or not phantom) fleas that were in the bed. We're washing all of the sheets just to be sure. I'm mildly floaty right now as a result.
But here are reasons that I have to be thankful, despite all of the drama:
*I have the best wife in the whole world. She is awesome on a stick, beautiful, smart, fully, sexy, and cute all rolled into one. Without her, I would not have even gotten the 3 out of 10.
*I have a loving and supportive family;parents and siblings who care about me.
*I have a strong spiritual relationship with the divine.
*I have a good paying job (First week went well btw)
*I've managed to accomplish, am accomplishing and will accomplish many neat things with my side projects including films, novels, games and who knows what else. I might not published, but I have produced them and I'm proud of most of what I've made.
*I have awesome friends.
*I have a dog, who might be stupid, but is extremely loyal.
*I live in (to me) the best country on earth at, despite all the running problems, one of the best times in history to be alive.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Short Post
Final of Doom on Sat. Must study.
Date night on Sat was awesome at Drive in. Observe and Report is not even remotely a family movie but amusing. It is so R that it trills. I Love You Man is interesting but I wouldn't even netflix it probably. Free as a B movie was nice. It was enjoyable enough.
First day of work good but slow. A lot to learn in a short period of time. Its a contract but my boss seems cool. We'll see how things progress. Its a job, which is significantly better than no job.
Took a mock final yesterday. Did not go well AT ALL, but I am taking Jennifer's suggestion and focusing on the positive instead of saying how doomed I am, except for calling the Final of Doom the Final of Doom because it is light hearted, if not ominous humor.
Attended wedding of a friend on Sat. We were late. It was very embarrassing. I thought it was 30 minutes later than it was. It was over by the time we got there, but the reception was nice.
Date night on Sat was awesome at Drive in. Observe and Report is not even remotely a family movie but amusing. It is so R that it trills. I Love You Man is interesting but I wouldn't even netflix it probably. Free as a B movie was nice. It was enjoyable enough.
First day of work good but slow. A lot to learn in a short period of time. Its a contract but my boss seems cool. We'll see how things progress. Its a job, which is significantly better than no job.
Took a mock final yesterday. Did not go well AT ALL, but I am taking Jennifer's suggestion and focusing on the positive instead of saying how doomed I am, except for calling the Final of Doom the Final of Doom because it is light hearted, if not ominous humor.
Attended wedding of a friend on Sat. We were late. It was very embarrassing. I thought it was 30 minutes later than it was. It was over by the time we got there, but the reception was nice.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
This week in Life
This final is going to be hard.
Yes. I keep saying that, but I keep meaning it. I got a 70 on the last quiz, but the stats show I am behind the eightball on the class curve. Currently, if I get 6 out of 10 questions right, I get a C, which gives me a slight POSSIBILITY, however slim, of getting my degree. If I get 7 out of 10, I get a solid C+, which means I will almost certainly gain a waiver, and 8 out of 10 means I get a B- in the class and pass with no approvals needed whatsoever.
So, to clarify, the hardest test of the hardest class I've ever actually bothered to finish (as compared to the Upper Level Graduate Class on Chromosomes of Absolute brainmeltiness) is 10 questions. 2 Years. $36000. 12 Classes. Dozens of papers, postings, quizzes, finals and tests, all pretty much come down to a difference of exactly two questions about barely maybe potentially passing and just passing with no questions asked.
And that's assuming I can even get a score that high.
Jennifer is optimistic about my chances. I'm trying very very hard to be.
The new job looks sweet. I start next Monday and I've got a 7 minute commute one way. I'll miss working from home one day a week though.
We saw "Monsters Vs. Aliens" over the weekend. It was very well done and we liked it. A very fun family movie. Worth seeing in three D, and probably best Net Flixed. I'd save the see it in the theaterness for Pixar's "Up" coming next month.
Yes. I keep saying that, but I keep meaning it. I got a 70 on the last quiz, but the stats show I am behind the eightball on the class curve. Currently, if I get 6 out of 10 questions right, I get a C, which gives me a slight POSSIBILITY, however slim, of getting my degree. If I get 7 out of 10, I get a solid C+, which means I will almost certainly gain a waiver, and 8 out of 10 means I get a B- in the class and pass with no approvals needed whatsoever.
So, to clarify, the hardest test of the hardest class I've ever actually bothered to finish (as compared to the Upper Level Graduate Class on Chromosomes of Absolute brainmeltiness) is 10 questions. 2 Years. $36000. 12 Classes. Dozens of papers, postings, quizzes, finals and tests, all pretty much come down to a difference of exactly two questions about barely maybe potentially passing and just passing with no questions asked.
And that's assuming I can even get a score that high.
Jennifer is optimistic about my chances. I'm trying very very hard to be.
The new job looks sweet. I start next Monday and I've got a 7 minute commute one way. I'll miss working from home one day a week though.
We saw "Monsters Vs. Aliens" over the weekend. It was very well done and we liked it. A very fun family movie. Worth seeing in three D, and probably best Net Flixed. I'd save the see it in the theaterness for Pixar's "Up" coming next month.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Ascent From Madness - No Good News Will Go Unpunished
I have a job.
I do not officially have it in writing, but the interview today went well and I officially have a phone call saying "You have the job." I expect paperwork etc will begin tomorrow and I will (I presume) start any time between tomorrow (unlikely) and one to two weeks from now. It is a long term contract (November).
And it is very very welcome news indeed. The flip side is that I got a 70 on my last quiz. I'd already mentioned that this class was tough, indeed probably the toughest class I've ever had in Grad School and probably the third toughest I've ever had after the upper level graduate genetics class (I dare anyone who is not a science major to sit through one class of that and not get brain melt), biochemistry (which I somehow passed) and the dreamweaver component of my web class in Grad School.
This isn't a problem by itself, no the real problem is that the final, which is 40% of the grade, is only 10 questions. Multiple choice. And it looks like, based on the quizzes, that they'll be comprehensive which means multistep processes involving math from more than one section of the course.
Not impossible but VERY VERY difficult and very very very important that the next two weeks of my life (just got a call I start on the 20th) that I live, eat and drink Financial Management Mathematics.
I do not officially have it in writing, but the interview today went well and I officially have a phone call saying "You have the job." I expect paperwork etc will begin tomorrow and I will (I presume) start any time between tomorrow (unlikely) and one to two weeks from now. It is a long term contract (November).
And it is very very welcome news indeed. The flip side is that I got a 70 on my last quiz. I'd already mentioned that this class was tough, indeed probably the toughest class I've ever had in Grad School and probably the third toughest I've ever had after the upper level graduate genetics class (I dare anyone who is not a science major to sit through one class of that and not get brain melt), biochemistry (which I somehow passed) and the dreamweaver component of my web class in Grad School.
This isn't a problem by itself, no the real problem is that the final, which is 40% of the grade, is only 10 questions. Multiple choice. And it looks like, based on the quizzes, that they'll be comprehensive which means multistep processes involving math from more than one section of the course.
Not impossible but VERY VERY difficult and very very very important that the next two weeks of my life (just got a call I start on the 20th) that I live, eat and drink Financial Management Mathematics.
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