First Chronicles chapter sixteen verse seven.

1Ch 16:7 Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the LORD by Asaph and his brothers.

I thought that was fitting given tonight's occasion and its proximity to a certain holiday :)

Now let me see..... When I got up this morning I did my usual routine. I must admit I am a man of habit, I like my rut and I'm staying in it as long as I can! When I got to class I was surprised to see the parking lot empty. Even at 7:00 in the morning there is usually one or two cars there. So I parked and walked to class, breathing in the wondrously brisk air. NNNNNFFFF! AAHHHH! The classroom was empty when I got there but that wasn't surprising since I'm usually the first to arrive, but after about 15 minutes went by and only two other people showed up, it began to sink in that undoubtedly many other students had decided to take their vacation early. I guess they look at the glass as half empty and I look at it as half full. They think that it's a crime that we should have any school at all this week, let alone the DAY before Thanksgiving, and I think that wow! I get Friday off too!

The teacher came in and the students started moaning about how they had to come to class today and it wasn't fair and a couple of the students actually dropped their homework off and skedaddled, one claiming that he was going to go eat breakfast. Now that is really a poor excuse, many are the times when I have foregone not only breakfast, but also lunch as well, not eating until well after 3:00 in the afternoon. I suppose my desire is to feed my mind while his main desire is to feed his stomach. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing considering that even ol' Mother Hubbard doesn't have anything over me right now.

One of the girls said that in the daily newspaper it said that this University was the only one in Oklahoma that had classes on this Wednesday. Then she put the paper down and protested to the teacher how unfair that was and look at how everybody else gets it off? Well first of all, that is hardly an argument and then I piped up "Well, we paid for our tuition so we're actually getting more of our money's worth than they are!" Nobody even nodded their head or laughed, they all looked at me as though I'd lost my head. Well, such is life. One student even said "well, I don't pay for it, my parents do." As though that makes a difference! In fact it should push you to strive harder and put that money to good use! Too many people disdain what they receive for free and that is very sad. I honestly think that most students here at OSU would rather pay the tuition (or their parents) and then never come a single day to class. What a waste of money! Isn't the purpose to learn? Or is it just to "get by?"

The Chemistry class lost about half of the students and the professor did a review of past material, which was helpful to me and I appreciated it. My Economics class was cancelled because the Teacher wanted to (or perhaps it was a necessity) but when she told us that last week she said she was giving us our break a little early (which was greeted with cheers). I walked back to my car and drove home for time in between, until my Chemistry Lab started.

Lab was bare, almost no one showed up. Before class one of the guys came over and said
"Hey! I had some friends who were taking the class and when I found out they had already done this lab I was like, hey! let me see man!"
So he said he just copied everything down and they hadn't got too bad of a score so that was fine with him. He would just turn it in at the beginning of class and leave. Because of schedules, the TAs will allow students to make up a lab during a different period if they must. Another of the "students" (I use the term loosely) wanted to copy it down too, so he could go early. And they did.

The TA arrived and I was pulling my stuff out and getting it ready and the first student walks up to the TA and says he already did his paper and handed it in. The TA wasn't buying it. She asked if he had done this in another lab section and he said "yeah, I did it in the Monday one." What a horrible liar! That made me really upset, after hearing him speak of copying it down from a couple of "friends" and then telling the TA that he had done the experiment in another lab section! What am I supposed to do though? I realize that we must all give an account for our actions some day and that is a sobering thought. I suppose the only sensible thing to do is pray.

My partner and I went through the whole experiment (which was an earlier one we had skipped) and it had to do with calculating the molecular weight and determining what a gas was by its mass in a fixed volume. I actually enjoyed it this week. We had an unknown gas which after doing some measurements and calculations, I deduced was helium. We had it in a plastic syringe. My lab partner wanted to test that out apparently because I turned around after I had finished my calculations and he was "injecting" it into his mouth to see if it would make his voice change! I said that I certainly hoped I had made the correct calculation, because that was rather dangerous, putting an unknown gas into yourself! Perhaps he trusted me, I don't know.

And then I came home where I've answered a few e-mails and such and chatted with a friend for a few minutes. I am ready to go home I think, after the gathering tonight of course and a few hours sleep. I found a plastic bottle that someone had thrown on the sidewalk so I took that to the Chemistry lab and weighed it and then added water until I had 85 grams (which I calculated was just about 3 ounces). Since I don't have anything accurate to weigh three ounces back at home, I decided to do this so I had some estimate of what exactly three ounces felt like. Of course once I create my projectile I'll be able to compare and then correct as needed. I have a feeling that I'm going to have an issue with too much mass, so I'll have to cut back.

Along the same lines (working on my projectile project) I went to the Hobby Lobby today to look for a parachute such as might be used in a model rocket. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Hobby Lobby, STAY AWAY! It's kind of like a glorified "boo-teek" shop with thousands of crafty/sewey/beady things. I had hoped I would never go into a Hobby Lobby again but today was it. I remember when my mother used to take us kids into the fabric store with her and now I have something of a Fabriphobia. As soon as I was old enough I said that I would much rather sit in the hot car and bake than die of pure boredom in the fabric store. And it smells funny too. Well, the Hobby Lobby reminds me of that only ten times worse. It's an embarrassment to my masculinity to visit that place. I got out as quickly as I could.

Well, that's about it for tonight, I may or may not give an update during the next couple of days but if not, then have a great thanksgiving and be sure to remember what you are most thankful for and Who to thank.