Another month bites the dust.

Phew! It's been a while since an update. And there have been a lot of things going on. Which is the reason why there hasn't been an update in the first place.

1. School is going very well. I've had two rounds of exams in some of my classes and have done well in them. My Networks exam didn't go well (in my opinion) but the instructor curved the exam (which we didn't deserve) and I had the top score. He said I did deserve the score and I had done well. Clearly we disagree on this matter :)

2. Being a TA is a lot of fun some times. I really enjoy seeing the students coming in and being able to explain concepts to them. With circuits at least, I seem to be pretty quick on my feet and even if it's a concept that is a little new or put in a different way than I've ever seen before, I can usually keep a few steps ahead of the student, enough to make him think I know what I'm doing! Dr Bunting told me that he normally doesn't have a lot of feedback from students but there had been several students who had told him personally how much they appreciated my help. Now that is encouraging!

3. A week ago there was a lecture at OSU which a man from Britain gave about optics and "cloaking" devices. They've managed (at least in theory) to come up with a meta-material which is able to bend microwaves around an object. So to someone on the other side receiving the microwaves, it's almost as if the object doesn't exist because he sees a "normal" pattern of waves. The goal is to be able to do this with light waves. He also talked about the "perfect lens" which, in few words, has a negative angle of refraction and so is able to reproduce the image perfectly on the other side. There would be no limitations as to the wavelength of the light, the only limitation would be the size of the photons I imagine. The N-lings went with me (all of them!) and we went out for milkshakes at Braums afterwards. I enjoyed that evening very much.

4. A week previous to that (or earlier in that week actually) I went with the N's to a concert in Tulsa. Alan paid for my meal that evening, we went to Panera Bread, they had some pretty good sandwiches and I was especially intrigued by the little electronic gizmos they handed out so while you were sitting at your table, they could "buzz" you and let you know your order was ready. The concert was good though in that particular room it sounded a bit muffled. It was 10 times better than the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra, I can tell you that! The place where I was seated was rather inconveniently located behind a row of heads so I couldn't see Frodo except when there was a miraculous parting. Come to think of it, perhaps one of the guys in front of me had shaved his head so I guess there couldn't have been a parting there. Hmm.....

5. This past week was extremely busy in comparison to "normal." I took a CLEP exam for English (which I passed this time, but I'm still annoyed my essays were scored by a computer) and met with a few people, picked up things, did my regular school-work, etc. There was an exam for the Circuits class so Dr Bunting sent out two revisions of the test for us TAs to work on and provide feedback for. Dan Y gave me a new task with MyLaptopGPS.com and that's been taking up a bit more time, so actually I think the last three nights in a row I've been up until 11:30, which is rather late for me. But I don't feel tired (maybe sleeping in until 7:00 this morning helped that!) and it was all well worth it.

6. Probably the best times of the past couple of weeks has been getting to spend a little time with Frodo and just catching up on some things, especially this last Saturday (at the N's) and Thursday on a walk around the lake. The N's have been very generous in inviting me over for supper on many Wednesdays and several Saturdays (I've lost count of them all I think) and in making sure I have something besides burritos (like a heaping bowl of salad?). Speaking of burritos, Sandra K has given me some things of her mothers for my new house (if I get that, D.V.) among them being a Toaster Oven. I am happy to announce that I've already tried two burritos in it and it works marvelously. Toasted Burritos are so good!

She was very generous and I was compiling an inventory for my mother and thought I might as well put it up here, it's quite a list!:
1 sleeper sofa
1 cofee table
1 bedroom bureau
2 Large Pyrex dishes
1 Small cassorole dish
1 Toaster oven
1 8-cup muffin pan
1 12-cup muffin pan
4 bowls
5 small plates
1 electric can opener
2 mixing bowls
2 kitchen knives
7 scraping spatulas
5 small knives
1 butter scoop
1 meat hammer
1 pizza cutter
1 garlic crusher
1 egg white separator
1 small measuring cup
3 large mixing spoons
2 spatulas
1 spaghetti spoon
1 tongs
1 oven stick
10 dinner knives
8 forks
9 large spoons
7 small spoons
3 grapefruit spoons
assorted silverware
2 pizza pans
2 basting brushes
1 cookie sheet
2 bread pans
1 large skillet with lid
2 small pots with lids
2 large pots with lids
7 teacups
10 plates

Quite a blessing! I've finished a couple of small books during TA hours or in between classes but I haven't progressed very far in Joshua and Matthew Henry. It's been extremely good so far though. I really appreciate Henry and highly recommend that everyone at least read through his commentary on Genesis some time.

Well, not much more to say at the moment. I'd like to finish some of the work for Dan Y, get my Linear Algebra homework finished, my Physics homework, and my MatLab homework done today, but I'm not too optimistic about it. Hopefully the next update will be less than another month away :)