Scattered Thoughts

Don’t you hate it when you think you are getting something and then you discover you aren’t? That happened to me in school today. Things were going along swell when suddenly one of my brain cells imploded or something (perhaps it short-circuited) and nothing made sense any more. What I thought was one thing suddenly seemed to be something else. Now my job for tonight is to try to figure (or re-figure) things out. ~sigh~

Here’s the problem… there are serial (or simple) circuits. Easy enough. Then their are parallel circuits. A bit more complicated, but manageable. Then their are serial-parallel circuits that are a combination of both serial and parallel circuits. A bit more complicated but I’ve got a handle on them. Unfortunately we don’t like in a perfect world so sometimes things go wrong with these circuits.

So let’s introduce the “shorted” or “open” resistor in a circuit. Now what happens? In my past life (was it really just 2 1/2 weeks ago?) I would have said, “You buy a new one or call someone to fix it.”

In this new life, I now have to perform a gazillion math calculations to answer that question. I have to honor Ohm’s Law as well as Kerchoff’s Law. What about Donna’s Law? You know… the one that says “If it’s broke, get Gerry to fix it?”

Yeah, so tonight I’m going to have to try to sort all this stuff out in my head. I’m not looking forward to it. I’m not worried about figuring it out, I would just rather not spend a Thursday night doing it. Doesn’t my teacher realize that Survivor is on tonight? Yeah… I’ll just have to record it like I do each week.

Okay, enough whining about subject matter at school…

Today was pizza day. I told the class that I’d buy pizza for everyone today. When they started to resist my gracious offer (I really was being gracious about it), I told them they would lose *brownie* points with me if they didn’t eat a slice. One airman still said he didn’t want a slice (but I could tell that he did!), so I told him he had trash duty next week if he didn’t eat pizza with us. ha ha I love having power!!!

The pizza was pretty good, but I really believe, deep in my heart… that if you’re going to eat pizza at 9 o’clock in the morning, it should be cold pizza. But hey, I am in the south… perhaps they just do things differently here.

Because I ate pizza at 9 a.m. I came back to my room to watch *America’s Next Top Model* at lunchtime. I also ate 3 cookies. Oops. Let’s just call them dessert.

After school I went running for 30 minutes… in the rain… it was still pretty warm out and felt good. Now I’m settled into my room for the night and avoiding my textbook for as long as I can. I did plan to call my mother today to check in so I think I’ll still do that after I finish this entry.

Other than that, there isn’t much to report.

How are you doing?

Hugs,

–Donna

You know my morning routine by now so I won’t bore you with repeating how horrid it is to wake up at the half-crack of early. I know you feel my pain.

Today we started Block 2 of this 8 block course. This block is all about “Telecommunication Fundamentals.”

I have to tell you… as I flipped through the pages of this workbook “fun” was not the word that came to mind. “Mentals” was a bit closer, because I think I’ll be blowing a few mental fuses over the next 9 days.

What exactly will be learning in this block? Here’s the rundown:

1) Basic electronics - Understanding Direct Current (DC)
2) Data representation - Signal Formats (huh?)
3) Modulation Techniques - AM/FM frequencies
4) Cable Fault Isolation Using a Multimeter - Techno Toys!!

Today we started on DC current. Thankfully this isn’t as foreign to me as I expected. Because Sean took 2 years of electricity in high school, he showed (and impressed) me with his knowledge of this stuff (did you key in on that technical term “stuff”?). The formulas look intimidating but they are actually as easy as P=IE… yes, that’s actually a formula we use…

P represents Power. I represents Current (why it isn’t C we don’t know). E represents Voltage (also known as Electromotive Force so that makes some sense). So in this formula of P=IE… if we know the current and voltage of a circuit we can calculate the Power of that circuit (in Watts). And if we know the number of Watts and the voltage, we can calculate the current.

Are you impressed? Confused? It’s okay to be one or the other or both. At the moment I’m a bit of both. And this is the simple stuff.

I do have to rat out my instructor… he’s a bit bitter about this whole electricity and electrical principles thing… Seems like a bunch of dead guys have already laid claim (by using their names) to all the good stuff in this field. For instance, we have Mr. Watts who invented a steam engine that was more powerful than any previous steam engine; and Mr. Ohm, Mr. Ampere, Mr. Volt, and Mr. Kirchoff who insists that the sum of all voltage drops in a series circuit MUST equal the the applied voltage.

Anyway… Mr. Hunter thinks that some of these dead guys should have left something to be called Hunter.

========

After school my original plan was to go to the pool. But at lunchtime the sky started to cloud over. By the time school was out it was pretty gray and I didn’t want to find myself almost a mile and a half from base and having to walk back in the rain. I considered going running, but I really don’t like to run 3 days in a row. So I gave myself the day off.

I have to tell you, it’s been weird having all this extra time this afternoon. Thankfully my internet connection has been working so I’ve been able to catch up on some e-mail and write this blog entry.

While I’ve been writing this and those e-mails I’ve also been doing my laundry. Some household chores you just can’t get away from!

After I finish this entry I’m going to finish reading the Sandra Brown book I borrowed from the base library and then watch the rest of the movie “Bridge to Terebithia.” Then I’ll probably look over my textbook, watch some TV and then be in bed around 9 p.m.

Oh… totally random thought… on Monday I saw my very first cockroach down here. It was at my dorm building but luckily it was on the first floor. One cockroach in two weeks… that’s not too bad. Right?

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the glorious autumn wherever you are!

Hugs,

–Donna

21 October 2008 / Day 9 of School

Yeah! I got to wear my regular ABU uniform today. Never thought I’d be so happy to wear it.

The weirdest thing happened when I got to school this morning. The airmen that march to school had
just gotten there and were all streaming into the building. I fell in beside them and was working my
way to the door when one airman to my left shouted, “Make a hole!”

“What?” I thought. “Is this some new deal I don’t know about?”

When the airman directly in front of me turned to ask the first airmen what he was hollering about, the
first airmen nodded at me and said to the second airmen, “Non-com, airman, make a hole for her.”

Non-com… non-commissioned officer. Tha-at’s me!

Suddenly I felt like a 9-months pregnant woman and people were afraid they’d crowd me and crush me. But no,
I was just a lone NCO amidst a hundred airmen who are afraid of non-commissioned officers.

“As you were, airmen,” I said, in my best military voice. I was pretty proud of myself for that. Must have
been a reflection of the new standards (”Standby” and “Ten-hut”) that were put into practice yesterday.

The airman in front of me still tried to clear a path for me but I refused the gesture and assured him that
I was in no hurry to get to class. At least that got a laugh out of him.

—

Oh, did I mention? Today was our Block 1 test.

We spent the first 90 minutes studying, asking questions, reviewing, chatting, blah, blah, blah.

At 7:30 a.m. we took a break and at 7:45 a.m. we settled in to get ready for the test. These block
tests are a big, fat, hairy deal. The tests themselves are controlled documents meaning they are
numbered and tracked. On our answer sheet (remember those “fill-in-the-circle-completely,” “no-stray-
marks,” “use-a-number-2-pencil” answer sheets? That’s what we used) we had to write down the test
booklet number beside our name.

We had one hour to take the test. We were given a sheet of controlled scratch paper to use. After we
finished the test, we had to bring the answer sheet, test, and scratch paper to the instructor. He
reviewed it to make sure we put at least something for each of the 50 questions. Then we had to go to
the break room til everyone was finished.

Okay, the test starts… now… 8:08 a.m.

Do do do do do do do… (here’s where you hum the Jeopardy tune)

I finished at around 8:40 a.m. I felt confident that I passed but I there were a few questions that I wasn’t
sure about. I handed in my booklet, answer sheet, and scratch paper and headed to the break room.

Apparently today was test day for most, if not all, the classes. One young woman that I’ve gotten friendly
with in the ladies room (no that isn’t as perverted as it sounds! Get your mind out of the gutter, folks!)
looked a bit upset. So I went over to talk with her. She’s in Block 5. She felt like she failed the test. I felt
sad for her. She had already failed out of school for one career field and she wasn’t sure she’d make it
through this one either. She was ready to call it quits and just go home. Her head was hanging pretty low when
she headed back to her classroom. I did see her as she was standing in formation getting ready to go to lunch and
she gave me a thumbs up that she passed. I’m so happy for her!

Oh, for the record… the only time I can really talk with the young women in school is in the ladies room. There
are several reasons for this…

First, prior service (me) and non-prior service (them) are not allowed to fraternize. It’s a professional thing.
Similarly instructors are not allowed to fraternize with students (whether prior service or non-prior).

Second, airmen are intimidated by NCOs (me). They call me Ma’am and offer to let me cut in line in the ladies
room. Sometimes rank does have its priviledges.

Third, we can’t talk in the hallways so if I see these ladies room friends, I can’t stop them to check in on how
they are doing except in the ladies room.

Okay, now that I’ve convinced you I’m not a pervert (I did convince you of that, right?) I’ll continue with
the block test results for my class.

YEAH!!! We all passed! Our class average was 94.4. Our brother class’ average was 93.5. Sweet! I aced the test.
Woot! Apparently I was the only one surprised by this.

The other highlight of the day was getting a flu shot. I’ve never gotten one before and I hope I don’t regret
getting this one. The commander was in line a few people behind me and I offered to let him cut in front of me
but he looked as thrilled to get the shot as I felt. Oh well… I did get a Bugs Bunny Band-Aid out of the deal.
So it wasn’t all bad.

The rest of the day was spent talking and cleaning up the classroom. In the afternoon I had PT (Physical Training).

After I got back to my room and showered I took my Sandra Brown novel outside and sat in the sunshine to read.
It was awesome. No schoolwork tonight. After I post this entry I’m going to watch a movie and snack on popcorn.

What a nice way to celebrate advancing to Block 2.

Hugs,

–Donna

Monday, 20 October 2008 / Day 8 of School

It’s Monday. Do you love Mondays? Probably not. For most of us it means going back to work after too short a weekend. Yeah… it means that to me too. It means something else rotten as well. It means I have to wear my blues.

“Blues”? you ask. What are blues?

Blues are the dressier uniform of the U.S. Air Force. Every Monday we are required to wear blues. They look sharp but they aren’t very comfortable. Just think how uncomfortable you can feel when you have to wear dress pants and a shirt and tie when you typically wear jeans and a t-shirt.

There are also nitpicky details about wearing blues that make them more complicated than just tossing on the regular uniform. First, we have to pin our name tags on. On our usual uniforms the name tapes are sewn on so we don’t have to worry about it.

Here’s a picture of me in my regular ABU (Airmen’s Battledress Uniform). Yes, the hat is too big for me. My hat never came in so this is Gerry’s hat. Thanks, Hon, for letting me use it!

But blues are different. We have to align the name tag in just the right spot and make sure that it’s level. If we wear our ribbon rack to show off our accomplishments, that rack needs to be level and even with the name tag.

Men have it easy. Their blue shirts have pockets. They center their name tag and ribbon rack on top of the pocket. Easy peasy.

Women aren’t so lucky. We don’t have pockets and our shirts have darts. So we have to align our name tag to the “first visible button.” There is some leeway here, but I was told by my uniform specialist (thanks, Erin!) that it looks best to center the name tag with the button. Getting the tag level isn’t as easy as you might think. Yes,
you can lay the shirt on a flat surface and make it level, but then when you put the shirt on… well… breasts have a way of throwing things off a bit. So then you’ve got to adjust the tag so that it looks level on you.

~sigh~

And yes, the same manipulations have to occur when you wear your ribbon rack. So today I didn’t bother. Several airmen commented on it though so I may have to break down and deal with it next Monday. You know how it is… trying to set a good example.

The only other things I’ll say about the blue uniform are “wedgy,” “stupid hat,” and “sweaty feet.” Luckily Monday only comes once a week.

When we got to school we found out that our commander has decided the students in this school have become a bit too complacent in their military bearing. New rules (actually they are old rules that were rarely followed) have been implemented.

Here are a couple of examples:

1) When the instructor enters the room someone (whoever sees him first) must call out “Standby!” This lets the class know that we need to stop talking and turn our attention to the front of the room. For the past two weeks we haven’t had to do this. We also need to be mindful that the commander or a commissioned officer might enter our classroom at any time in which case we need to call the room to attention.

For you non-military types out there, “Attention” means standing up, straight and tall, arms at your sides, looking straight ahead.

2) Disciplinary actions for lapse academic or poor classroom behavior (i.e. sleeping, talking too much, etc.) were also pretty lax. The instructor would write a Letter of Counseling and submit it to the Instructor Supervisor. Now all LOCs will be formal counseling sessions scheduled with the Instructor Supervisor. The councelee will have
to be dressed in their dress blue uniform (including blazer/coat). As my instructor, Mr. Hunter said, “It’s like getting dressed up to receive an award. Only not.”

Our commander, apparently, is new to this unit and he wants to help those airmen who are having trouble “adapting” to military life find their way back to civilian life.

——–

I must say that I am truly blessed to be class leader of the young men and woman that I am. After Mr. Hunter laid down the new rules they didn’t grumble and complain. They didn’t whine and moan about life not being fair. Instead they said, “It’s about time.”

How cool is that??

Today we covered the rest of the new material for this course block. We took another assessment (I barely passed it… really! I got 16 out of 23) and we played Jeopardy to review all the block material. My team smoked the other team!

At one point when we were doing silent review of the material, Mr. Hunter decided to go shopping online for a new computer hard drive. We have a SmartBoard in class so that what he sees on the computer he’s using is also visible to the class. So while he was shopping, we were watching him scroll through the options. Then a student asked what he was looking for in a hard drive. Then we started asking what the different listed specifications meant. It was actually pretty interesting to apply some of what we’d learned over these past 2 weeks to a real situation.

When school was over I had to hustle back to my room and change into my PT (Physical training) uniform. On Monday and Tuesday we are supposed to meet behind the school building and do group PT. This was my first Monday to participate. It was a pretty sad excuse for exercise. We stretched a bit then ran three times around our school building and the next one. Then stretched some more.

Once we were released, I ran for another few miles until I felt like I’d done something.

Now it’s time to start studying… I guess I can’t avoid it any longer.

Hugs,

–Donna

Several people have asked me why they can’t post comments to my entries. The answer is that I disabled the comments feature for this blog because they create a ton of *spam.*

But I’ve decided to give it another try. So you can now leave a comment if you’d like.

There are (or should be if I set things up correctly) a couple of conditions that need to be met before your comment will be posted.

1) You need to be registered/subscribed to my blog. You can do this by filling in your e-mail address in the space provided in the upper right corner of the site. You will also need to follow the instructions to confirm your subscription.

2) All comments will be moderated/approved by me. This means there could be a delay of several days (depending on my internet connection) before your comment actually goes live (for viewing by others). This is another way to minimize the spam that gets posted to the site.

So we’ll see how this works for the next week or so and I’ll decide if it’s worth the extra work or not. Of course if no one makes a comment, there won’t be any extra work and all my worries are for nothing.

So please… leave a comment or two…

Hugs,

–Donna

The Shed

Let me start this weekend update on Friday afternoon. In another entry I wrote that I hadn’t heard from my new friend Travis about going to the renowned BBQ hotspot called “The Shed.” Neither Travis nor I have vehicles
here so we would depend on someone to give us a ride. He, of course, would get first dibs on an empty seat and I was hoping there would be one for me, too.

At around 5 p.m. on Friday, I finally connected to the Internet and started downloading a patch for the game I play online. A few minutes later my phone rang. It was Travis. He asked if I still wanted to go to The Shed.

“Heck yes,” was my reply.

“Can you be ready in 20 minutes?”

“Uh… sure thing.”

Typically I wouldn’t leave with my laptop connected to the Internet, but I so wanted that game patch that I decided to just let it go. I didn’t think I’d have much luck with getting the thing, because my connection keeps kicking out. But it was worth a shot.

I was changing into jeans when my phone rang again. It was Travis. They decided to leave earlier than planned. Could I be at his room in 5 minutes.

“Uh… sure thing.”

Now correct me if I’m wrong… but going from 20 minutes notice to about 5 minutes notice is a bit much don’t you think? I mean, really, what’s 15 minutes in the grand scheme of things?

It’s just a good thing that I’m not your typical female… okay… that’s harsh… I know many women that are ready to go at the drop of a bucket, but there are plenty that need time to apply or repair makeup, fix the hair or choose the perfect outfit to wear.

After all… what *does* one wear to a redneck-trailer-park-style BBQ shack? I certainly didn’t know. In my mind jeans work for any occasion and since I didn’t have time to change if I wanted to, I figured jeans were better than naked. But then again, after arriving at The Shed, naked probably would have been okay too.

Anyway… let me introduce you to The Shed.

The Shed… rustic, dirt-based (picnic tables on a gravel parking lot), and crowded. Strings of Christmas lights reached from buildings to trees to the stage area.

The pictures can’t do the place justice.

The food was awesome! I am not very adventurous when it comes to food, so I was a bit nervous about what to expect and what my options were. Travis and I split a sampler that had two meats (serious sausage and pulled pork) and two sides (macaroni salad and potato salad). It was all so good.

And oh… I almost forgot… Travis bought us all banana pudding for dessert. It has been years since I’ve had ‘nana pudding and I promise you it won’t be years before I have it again. Yum yum yum!

By the way… there ended up being four of us that went to The Shed… Tracy (the driver) and her friend Mary, Travis and me. All very nice people.

Here are a few things I heard about or witnessed first hand.

People bring their dogs with them and yes, we all know what dogs do. So be careful where you walk and don’t wear fancy (or open-toed) shoes.

The urinals in the men’s room (this was one of the things I just heard about) are large utility room type sinks placed at an accommodating height. (Travis, we really didn’t need to hear about that while we were eating!)

Spitting is acceptable and not uncommon. Now because all the meats are hand pulled (whatever that means), customers are warned that bones might be present in the food, so be careful. So I’m hoping that people were just
spitting out bones… but like I wrote above… don’t wear open-toed shoes.

The method used to deliver your food is pretty uncommon, too. You place your order inside The Shed and give your name (both first and last). Then you go find a place to sit either inside or out. When your food is ready a person starts wandering around the lot yelling your first name. When you hear it you stand up, wave your arms,
or do whatever to let the person know where you are. Apparently you have to supply the delivery person with your last name before they’ll relinquish the food. It’s pretty funny to watch.

On the weekends The Shed offers live entertainment. “Live” was about the only thing entertaining about this group. Before they started playing, one of the men, an older, bearded man, walked around like he was drunk. Travis overheard that the man just has hip problems and can’t move well. It was more entertaining to think he was drunk.

We listened to a “medley of their greatest hit” (yes, singular) and maybe withstood the pain of listening to them for another song or two, then we headed back to base.

All in all it was a worthwhile adventure. I’d definitely go back again, but I don’t know that I’d recommend someone going their alone their first time. It’s kind of a maze that needs an experienced “Shedder” to safely get you through it.

Hugs,

–Donna

P.S. When I got back to my room, the download for my game was still running. It took all night and much babysitting, but the patch was finished and I hope I’ll eventually get to play.

Are you wondering what I’m studying here in Mississippi? Here’s the official scoop:

My official title is Network Integration Specialist… unofficial names are tech or systems controller.

We are known as the “Water Walkers” and Snoopy (with permission) is on our badge. Pretty cool, huh? The instructor supervisor that told us about Snoopy said he doesn’t know why Snoopy is our mascot, but in this day of high fee licensing deals, we are fortunate that Charles M. Schultz allowed us to use it from way back in the day.

Here’s a job description from my training book:

“Systems Control can be summarized as a specialty that monitors and controls performance of networks. Systems controllers coordinate installations, configurations, operation, restoration, and service improvements. They also analyze performance capabilities, identify problems, take corrective actions and direct operational adjustments to Network Integration equipment.”

Is that clear enough for you? No? Me either. I’ll let you know when I figure out what I’ll be doing.

Here’s what I do understand… my job will be to “prevent or correct conditions adversely affection communications.” When a circuit goes down I’ll have to figure out why and what to do about it. It’s a pretty technical career field which makes it both exciting and intimidating to me.

Obviously the civilian world needs people who do this too, because my internet access is still not the best. Some people still don’t have any access, so I’ll count my blessings for what I do have.

One point of confusion that people have about this career field is that they think we are working with computers. We are not. We are working with computer systems… networks, routers, and stuff like that.

We make sure that information flows computer to computer, but don’t deal with the actual computers themselves. That would be Beth and Gerry’s job!

I hope this is now as clear as mud for you!

Some of you have asked me what a typical day is for me here in Mississippi. It goes like this…

4:45 a.m. Wake up (you know how I feel about this by now, right?)
4:50 - 5:40 a.m. Morning grooming and breakfast in my room. (Notice the 5 minute gap? Yeah… another indication of how much I love my wake up time!)
5:40 - 5:50 a.m. Walk to school.
5:50 - 6:00 a.m. Get ready for school to start. Greet sleepy airmen, etc.
6:00 - 2:50 p.m. School. In a separate entry I’ll update you on the stuff that I’m currently learning. Don’t let the technical term “stuff” intimidate you. It really isn’t that bad.

** We take a lot of breaks during the school day. We take 4 breaks plus 1 1/4 hours for lunch.**

2:50 - 3:00 p.m. Walk back to my dorm.
3:00 - 3:30 p.m. (approximately) Call home and talk with Gerry and Sean. If Beth is around I get to hear her wonderful voice too. If not, we try to connect later in the day.
3:30 - 5:00-ish p.m. Exercise (either running or swimming) and shower.
5:00 - 9:00 p.m. Eat dinner, connect/disconnect/reconnect with the Internet, and study.
9:00 p.m. Bedtime.

That is what a typical school day is for me. I don’t watch much TV but I never watched that much at home either. I have started recording a few favorite shows (Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy, Boston Legal, America’s Next Top Model and Private Practice) to watch over the weekend. Unfortunately I was more successful at it last week. This week I kept forgetting that I am now in the Central Time Zone, so shows start one hour earlier. Oops.

If my internet connection was better I could try to watch the missed shows online, but I don’t think that’s going to offer much success.

As for a typical weekend day… I’ve been waking up early (6 - 6:30 a.m.-ish) because my back starts to hurt. Oh to have my Bob-Oepidic (Tempurpedic knock-off) mattress here. The pillows are great though! I lugged my pillow all the way from Maine and discovered that their’s are better.

I eat breakfast in my room and then go running or walking around base. I’ve watched the Lord of the Rings movies with a man I met from Washington state. Last weekend we talked about going to a bbq place with a woman from his class (she has a car), but he hasn’t said any more about it so I don’t know if that will happen. Since I’d be catching a ride with the guy catching a ride, I don’t think I should push my luck by asking about it. ha ha

This weekend I’ll definitely do some studying. My first block test is on Tuesday.

So basically, weekends are a “whatever” type day. I may take a nap in a little while. We’ll see.

Day 7 of School

Ugh… it’s so dark in the morning when I wake up and walk to school. I even wear a nifty reflective belt so I don’t get hit by cars. Today I spent the first few minutes of class with it on before one of the students said, “Uh… SSgt Doyon, you can take off the reflective belt when you’re inside.” D’oh! I’m just grateful the airman said something. Otherwise I would have walked around in it all day.

We took the appraisal and progress check on exponential math and scientific/metric notation. I aced both of them. Woot! I did like I wanted… took my time and double checked everything.

After lunch we started on the final section of new information for this block. It’s covering the various parts of a computer system. We’ll finish this information on Monday and take the block test on Tuesday.

At one point in the day I asked my instructor, Mr. Hunter, how the class was doing as a whole. I knew the one female airman had some problems with the math, but she didn’t want to take me up on my offer to help her. But I wasn’t sure about everyone else. I was happy to hear that everyone is doing well. In fact, he said our appraisal results and progress scores have been above average. That’s always good. Anyway… the reason I asked about everyone else is because as class leader one of my responsibilities is to help the others if they want/need it. But since no one needs it… I’m clear for the weekend.

The airmen in my class are a good bunch of kids. We are starting to relax around each other and I don’t feel quite like the old mother of the group. Today they were talking about a parade ceremony that was happening at 6 p.m. tonight.

A parade ceremony is a formal, precision, marching event to recognize someone or something. Today it was to recognize a man from Keesler who received the Purple Heart. The student airmen are all lined up according to squadron and standing at attention (straight and tall, arms at their sides) or at parade rest (legs parted, hands clasped behind their backs). The student band plays the National Anthem and other songs. It ends with the squadrons of airmen marching in front of the viewing stands to recognize the honored guest. It’s pretty cool.

So anyway… the students asked me if I planned to attend. I laughed and told them, “Sure I would.” I really didn’t plan to attend, but things really aren’t that exciting around here so I did go. It was very cool to watch. I didn’t see any of the airmen from my class, but I’ll be able to report in on Monday that I was there.

Now I’m just catching up on my blog and writing e-mails. Fun stuff, huh?

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008 Day 6 of School

Today we took our first progress check on the different numbering systems (binary, hexadecimal, and decimal). A progress check is a formal test that actually matters in the grand scheme of things.

The other day I think I wrote about the three different types of tests:
1) Appraisal… if you fail this (passing is a 70 or 75 %), you have extra homework
2) Progress check… if you fail this you have to retake the test. If you fail a second time, you get “washed back” and have to start the entire block over.
3) Block test… if you fail this you automatically have to retake the entire block.

So we took a progress check today. I aced it. Woot!

After school I walked to the pool that the women from church told me about. It was wonderful to swim again. A couple of times I felt like my arms were going to fall off because I just didn’t want to stop. When you realize that your arms are not even clearing the water as you take the next stroke you know it’s time to rest. I swam for about 45 minutes before calling it a day.

I ate dinner in my room and hunkered down to the study. The material we’d covered in class was simple, but hard. Simple to understand, hard to apply. We were working on exponential math (powers of ten). Why is this important to learn? Beats the heck out of me, but since someone decided I needed to know it, I figured I should
learn it.

Rather than bore you (as I was bored), I’ll just say that when we did the homework assignment in class, I felt pretty confident. When we reviewed the homework, I got 2 or 3 questions wrong in several of the sections. Huh? What happened?

When I reworked the problems, I discovered that I was careless with a decimal point or forgot to “carry” a number when doing multiplication. So my confidence, as I prepare for tomorrow’s test is on the low side.

Tomorrow I just need to remind myself to take it slow and steady, and to double check all my work. I’d hate to fail because I made a stupid mistake.