Four Steps for College Zen.

Many times I find myself being in the presence of those college students who seem stressed out of their minds and can simply not handle their workload successfully, or with a good amount of sleep. My Professor mentioned in class today if we had any tips on this subject, I had only one, but I thought about it and I thought up a few, so enjoy these Steps, well more like guidelines :).

Step One: Don't overload on classes. Let's face it, everybody is impressed when somebody goes and says they are taking something like 22 credits in a semester. In the college I attend, the average student takes 4 classes, for a total of 16 credits. Sure those kids who take umpteen credits are admired by their peers as well as their parents who will brag about them. In reality, these kids are the ones who stress over classes, drink too much caffeine, and do not get enough sleep.

Solution: Take a less demanding work load, don't worry, you'll finish in 4 years this way. Not to mention still have a life. Also, don't feel as if you must take so many classes to succeed, getting all As in 4 classes is a lot more rewarding than 7 or so Cs.



Step Two: Work hard....but not too hard! Often times I hear kids I know going crazy and stressing to the point where they practically rewrite their chem book! One's brain can only take so much studying, actually that is a fact. I just tried to dig up the research's website, but I know that if you study for over 2 hours without a break, your brain actually shuts out any attempt to learn new material. This goes along with cramming.... It doesn't work, it actually just stresses your brain and makes you learn less!

Solution: During intense study sessions, 15 minute breaks can do wonders. Snacking during this 15 minute period can recharge your brain and make it easier to focus. Think how hard it is to do anything when you are hungry! Also, periodic studying works SO much better than cramming, I have learned that from experience.



Step 3: Don't take a class you know you will not pass. Sometimes we're just not good at things. Its true! As I am writing this I thought of Mathematics. I can do math, but I dislike it and really have to work at it to get it. If you must do it for your intended major, however, and do have to take it, do not try to "get by" without any effort. That does not work. Period.

Solution: Teacher's have Office Hours and practically beg students to come by and chat about homework or class material. It is a tremendous help and can make or break your success in that class.



Step 4: Relax, Zen Style. Okay, maybe not meditate for 3 hours straight or anything (though that would be impressive!). I guess this solution is in the step! After a long day of classes and lots of studying, relax and do something calming. Though watching TV is relaxing, I discourage that since it stimulates your brain with all the plots, flashing images and crazy programs. Instead, listen to calming music, lay in bed with your eyes closed and think, drink tea or my personal favorite, read for pleasure. I recently got into reading and cannot think of a better stress reliever. Finding a good book is not easy, but when you find one, boy is it rewarding. If it isn't the dead of winter I suggest taking a nice walk. If it is a nice calm day and there's that right amount of snow on the ground, then by all means take a walk! It is quite rewarding and relaxing as well.



I guess I only really thought of four, but hey, its good advice if I do say so myself :)

An Algorithm for an Algorithm

Step 1. Figure out how to say the word "Algorithm"

Step 2. Learn how to spell the word "Algorithm"

Step 3. Guess what the word "Algorithm" means :).

Pic of the Day! I've been slacking.

From Astronomy Picture of the day. I thought it looked quite cool and decided to show ya'll.

"Name: Starry Night Castle

Explanation: The tantalizing Pleiades star cluster seems to lie just beyond the trees above a dark castle tower in this dramatic view of The World at Night. Recorded earlier this month, the starry sky also features bright star Aldebaran below the Pleiades and a small, faint, fuzzy cloud otherwise known as Comet Holmes near picture center at the top of the field. Starry Night Castle might be an appropriate name for the medieval castle ruin in the foreground. But its traditional name is Mörby Castle, found north of Stockholm, near lake Skedviken in Norrtälje, Sweden.

Nothing like a Cat Haiku

Thanks to Gizmodo haha





Stay in the yard, Cat.
But stay away from the pool.
My kids would be sad.

Back at College, Summary of my classes!

As I am sitting here drinking my delicious IBC Root Beer, I decided to post my classes, and give a brief summary of each. I'll start with the ones I had Yesterday and list them for you:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday:

11:00-11:50 Intro To Computer Science

1:30-2:20 Zen Buddhism and Japanese Culture

2:30-3:20 Astronomy



So okay, the first being Intro to Comp Sci. Taught by a fresh out of Grad School teacher who is a really nice Chinese lady (well, I guess lady is the right term there). She's very enthusiastic about what she does, which is good, but I didn't really learn anything groundbreaking on the first day. The class is bigger than I thought and surprisingly I'm one of a few nerds in there. Most people are there for their lab requirement I believe. The book we had to buy (a cool one hundred dollars) is called "java software solutions FIFTH EDITION." I am being a diligent student and actually read chapter one last night, well, up to 1.2. I noticed in college that textbooks fit more into chapters by calling them 1.2, 2.4. 1.3, etc. I guess its so students can break up their work better. Its a pretty straightforward book, but I'm more looking to learn about coding and such, rather than computer terms I know, such as what a modem and a BUS are. Gotta start slow I suppose.

My next class of the day was Zen Buddhism, with Professor Olson. Now, I had him for Buddhism 160, he's a good teacher, but he just teaches from his ONE book. Though he makes you buy SIX books and you only have to write two papers. Which is an amazing thing, his direct quote is "I don't give quizzes because, hell I'm not going to lie to you, I don't want to waste my time grading them!" What a guy! Most of the kids have no interest in the class, mainly seniors just picking up credits that don't matter. Which is sad because the religious studies classes are great in my opinion. Oh well, I'll be in that position as well.

Okay, third class, Astronomy. This class I am looking forward to (so far anyway). There's a variety of people in this class, from pretty much every class. Also, my good friend Katrina is in it! So that's always good haha. The professor is your typical Physics nerd, which is a GOOD THING. He talks very quickly and still hasn't gotten over public speaking it seems, but then again that is not an easy thing to do. The class will be very basic, but informative and from the looks of it, full of internet busy work. I also have a lab at like four every other Thursday, which is mostly on computers, so that'll be cool I think. I say that now but it'll be a pain haha.

My last class is my freshman seminar, which is entitled "Software Everywhere." It seems quite cool, the Professor is this really nice guy who loves what he does, you can just tell because he is bursting with enthusiasm. He has a slight German accent which is really really hardly noticeable, but it sounds quite cool. I find it funny, however, that he is the Assistant Computer Science professor and he does not have a computer at home!

But I'm ending this abruptly. more later! Possibly.

I'm starting to doubt Apple's greatness.

Okay, so you all are wondering why (maybe?) that I have not posted in a while. Now, here's the thing. My MacBook randomly decided to crack down the right, well to the right of my trackpad, where the [high quality] crappy plastic meets the solid part. Now, its not a big deal, it just looks like absolute garbage, tainting the Zen-like image of my Apple product. Now, before you think "Pat what happened!? You used to be all about Apple!!"

That is not the case. I do enjoy Apple's products, as they work (I'm starting to doubt this) as well as or actually better than PCs. The main reason I am a big fan of Apple is because of its operating system, OS X. The OS is amazing, much better than anything Microsoft puts out, I'm saying this purely from experience, the lack of games is disappointing, but I could go out and buy a Wii or an XBOX360 (as PS3s still suck and are overpriced). Here's the catch: Apple should improve (and has improved) its hardware. I've had numerous hardware with problems, both with my iPod Touch (which I had to send back and get a new one due to a HARDWARE sound issue) and I've had to send my MacBook in (not counting this time, when I got it back) twice, for ONE PROBLEM. My Hard Drive randomly died in my Mac and I was quite pissed about it since I lost everything and the mexican lady on the phone was of ZERO help (sorry, I have nothing against Mexicans other than I can't understand high pitched ones on the phone.....and ones who try to be funny like George Lopez). So I sent it back and bear in mind, I had the 160 Gig hard drive, which is the biggest MacBooks used to come with. They sent it back with a 60, not a 160, A 60 GIG HARD DRIVE. Someone at the warehouse REALLY fucked up. SO AGAIN I had to send it back. Then I finally got a decent Hard Drive in my laptop and have had no problems with it.


BACK TO THE OTHER STORY:

Okay, so I gave the package to DHL and as soon as he pulled away I realized "Oh crap I forgot to rip the EZ-Label off" and instead of looking at it like a good DHL shipping peon, he doesn't do anything and today I get it back in the mail. I'm not happy. I figure I have a three year warrantee on it, so I can send it back sometime in the summer when I don't need to write mass amount of papers or anything.


So that's why I have failed to post for a few days, now that I am back online, I will be updating you on my classes and life back at college.

Bye!

Man goes to brothel, sees his wife there! Ah irony at its finest.

"WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees.

Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.

"I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper on Wednesday.

The couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing, the newspaper reported."

hahah oh man, what a shocker they must have had, though they both had NOTHING to say to each other haha.


"What are you doing here?"