Originally I had a separate "studies" section which I'd intended to update once a month or once a quarter to talk about my classes, but I never really got into doing that. I decided to get rid of that section, and I've moved the few entries I had there into the blog section. This entry was from August 2002.

Well as you can tell from the blog pages, I haven't updated this site daily. The first part of August was the end of B term and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with school, having gone since January 2nd with only two one-week breaks between quarters. Still I did like my B term classes better than my A term ones.

I found GER202 more challenging than GER201, in part because we had a different professor, Herr Yuppa. Frau Dr. Dona had given us all the assignments at the beginning of the quarter, but Herr Yuppa had never taught at WSU before and thus assigned homework each day, meaning no working ahead. That was a bit of a challenge the one week that I co-facilitated a DDRR group at Antioch. Also, the fourth hour project for GER202 was a presentation in German. You'd think that since I'm a COM101 TA this would have been a snap, but I was a bit nervous about it.

TH214 was an enjoyable break between my other two classes. I like going to plays, and so it was interesting to learn about the different aspects of putting a production together. We read three plays, A Streetcar Named Desire, Macbeth, and Cyrano de Bergerac, at least some of us in class did. Apparently buying the textbook or reading the plays wasn't actually required to pass the class. We saw scenes from the first two plays on video in class, and we watched an entire stage production of the third play. No homework, only two tests, so if you're looking to fulfill your Fine and Performing Arts General Education Requirement, I can heartily recommend TH214.

My third class, PHL223, Symbolic Logic, was enjoyable as well but definitely work. It's the type of class which isn't terribly difficult, especially if you discover that you're logical, but which builds on what's been taught each day. We had quizzes each day, none of which were especially difficult, but again, that meant that I had to study each night. All the quizzes and the final were open notes, which on the one hand is the professor giving his students enough rope to hang themselves but on the other hand means that if you understand the concepts you don't have to worry about misremembering a detail. Dr. Irvine even gives a one-page cheat sheet of derivation hints, but I made my own two-page cheat sheet (one and two) listing a few more details. COLA students have to take a philosophy class, and I'd recommend this one.

Another plus is that you can have Lunch (or dinner) With A Philosopher. This involves going to lunch or dinner with Dr. Irvine to talk about whatever (no, he doesn't pay for your meal). I went to dinner with him one night, at an inexpensive but good Greek place across from campus. Some might say I have no life, but I enjoyed it.

Last year at this time I was in Europe, my first trip there. It's taken a year, but I've started to organize my photos from that trip and put them online. Since last summer was also my first summer not working in many years, you'll notice in some of the pictures that I decided to go blond. Hey, what can I say? Everyone's entitled to a mid-life crisis.

Went for a walk today in the neighborhood with my mother and took some pics.