I Survived Week Two ...

... and all I have to show for it is loose stool. Honestly, have I signed up for 7 years of GI trauma? Guess so. It does, however, beat the corporate world. Tonight, I spoke with someone who had ordered a granite countertop from my former company. She was a little less than thrilled with the ordeal. I could've told her that she would be. A year ago, I had worked for a few months on a relatively simple project to reengineer the countertop ordering process. One year and thousands of dollars later, it is still pending completion. It's sort of like hiring a team of 50 people to document and improve the way you might make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and having this project take over a year to complete. It really isn't rocket science, for the love of Pete. Anywho, when I think about that insanity, I know I'm in the right place.

This stuff excluded, I've survived week two of classes. I made a 95 out of 97 on the last exam. This one was 20% of my final grade. So, if I quit now, I'd have at least a 19.5 as my final grade. Admittedly, it's a little lower than I want. I suppose I'll stick with it for another week.

Quantum Theory Sucks Photons
By "photons," I really mean penis ... or something equally offensive. Holy crap. Last night, I spent at least four hours on a few problems about atomic spectra. Here's what I learned:

After 16 years without flexing your math muscle,
you invent your own algebra.

My algebra, although sound by my own rationale, has absolutely no relation to mathematics as is known today. My mathematical approach was sort of like somebody picking a team to win because the uniforms were cool or their team name was more menacing. Whatever it was, it damned sure wasn't approved mathematics. Luckily, I met with the department head and she made it very clear. Seriously, calculators are SO smart. With a simple push of a button, you can avoid 90 minutes of expletives. Who knew? For those of you with scientific calculators, look for the 1/#$$%@#@ button.

Kudos to You, TG
Once again, TG ("That Guy") has amazed me.

Thursdays, many of us from the program go out for a beer or five. We were out having some tasty beverages, blowing off the steam from the week. Trust me, we needed a few. We're in this fantastic place in Decatur, The Brickstore Pub, tossing a few back. Everyone's pretty laid back, talking and getting to know each other outside of the context of errant electrons and other chemistry crap. It's pretty fun and pleasant. So, one young lady orders a beer. Our waiter finally returns with a tall, slender glass of beer. Just as she's leaning in to sip it, TG says "Could that glass be any more phallic?" No kidding, my jaw dropped. I actually made eye contact with a few of my classmates who were equally as shocked. I think I mentioned something about TG being on the Duke Lacrosse team. Anywho, my point is: TG is a jackass ... in a bad way. I predict that, in another week or two, he'll be touching inappropriately. Bring on the "Month of Touching!" Can't wait to be on the sidelines for this one. What a jackass.