I have a tendency towards "gadgets", particularly when they do more than one useful/interesting/CYA thing.  My favorite fairly recent (@1 year +/-) is a SureFire "E2D" flashlight.

It's been handy.  It's REALLY bright (60 lumens), and it's really pretty small.  Hard anodized aerospace-grade aluminum body, Pyrex light-window, weather- and water-proof, and brighter than a "club" D-cell MagLight.

Recently, I got an email from SureFire® advertising a knife that really trips my trigger:  the SureFire Delta folding knife.  It's definitely a "multi" tool for public service/military type work.  It's got a window-punch and protected strap/cord cutter, both of which scream out to EMS/rescue work.  It's got a bunch of little added features like an integral wire-cutter, wrench slot, etc...  Plus, it's got a titanium frame/handle.  Anything that comes in titanium automatically gets style/cool points, in my book.  Here's the picture:

I need to make more money, because my taste in toys is WAY out of line with my income.  Dammit.  :)

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Well, tonight I went looking to check for my grades from the Spring semister, which finished up a month or so back.  When I logged into the school website to check, I found that I got a B in both classes!  I knew that I had Biology sewn up with a solid B, but I wasn't sure about my Music class... I knew it was either B or C, but it was too close for me to call.

Yay!

Next up: Biology lab (one credit, three week summer term)

Coming this Fall:  "Fundamentals of Communication" and "Intro to Cultural Anthropology", each three credits, normal Fall/Winter term.  Rumor has it that the Anthropology teacher is a real "piece of work" so it'll be an interesting exercise.

At least I don't have to worry about work getting in the way of school this Fall!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Alright!  Finals are over for this term, and I'll have my grades back in the next week or two.  That means that I've got one term down, and several more to go.  My records indicate that I've acquired about 18 credit hours.  That puts me pretty close to "sophomore" ranking, I think. 

I've determined that I can squeeze in two classes per term at this point.  Chem and Calculus might make things a little tighter, when the time comes, but I'll worry about that when it happens, which won't be terribly soon.  Next up: Biology lab, in the summer interim session, followed by Introduction to Cultural Anthropology and English 103 in the Fall.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Ok, so I took the "Information Systems & Computer Applications" CLEP test last week, and apparently I did rather well at it.  The lady who is the testing center administrator was rather shocked when my score printed out.  The maximum score is 80 (scaled between 20 and 80, whatever that means) and my score came out as a 73. 

So, I'm another 3 credits closer to my goal. :D

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

As of today, it's 7 days to my "priority registration" date (10 May), which is determined by the number of credits that I have acquired.  At this point, I'm in the "day 3" category, with 17 credits.  Only 7 credits to go to get to the next "level" at 24+ but less than 48 credits. 

The purpose of this method of registration is to allow the people who have the most credits to have first crack at the open classes, so that they can get the ones that they "need" first.  I guess it makes sense, but it bites, especially for someone like me, a "non-traditional student" who has to weave school around career and family.  Sigh.

Anyway, I've got a bunch of selections picked out, covering almost a dozen different courses.  I hope that I can get classes that are in sequential time-slots, so that I can spend the least amount of time on campus as necessary.  I work nights, so my "day-light time" is at a premium.  I definitely want to sleep every day, and I would like to see my family, too.  (I know, crazy. Whatever)

If I'm really lucky, I'll be able to grab 4:30 - 8:40 in the afternoon/evening on Monday and Wednesday.  Then again, there's a Composition class that "will focus on literature of the paranormal and the supernatural" which sounds like it'd be a lot of fun.  Either that or the section that "will use argumentation as the basis for writing assignments" which Kristen thinks I should take. :)  I could take either of those and fill out the semester with any (or all) of 5 additional CLEP tests...  

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

With apologies to Robert Frost, I've got a "decision point" kicking around in my head today.

I'm working towards medical school, that's no surprise.  I've got prerequisites that I'm scheduling, and I've got to plan for a baccalaureate degree, as well.  That's not the question, either.

The question is (and my love is going to strangle me in my sleep for "worrying" about this so early in the process"), am I more interested in heading down the allopathic (MD) route, or the osteopathic (DO) route?  The education is basically the same, and residency is basically identical.  The difference between a MD and a DO is that a DO takes all of the "normal" medical stuff and adds "osteopathic manipulative medicine" to the mix. OMM seems to be similar to chiropractic adjustment and a more holistic and preventative approach to health.

I'm not anywhere near needing to make this decision at this point, by  any stretch.  But, it's something that I need to keep simmering in the back of my head, for when it's time.

In other news, I found out that taking the week off in December in order to go on vacation will not (in and of itself, there are other factors) preclude me completing the paramedic program that I am looking at. Yay!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

So many times, PowerPoint presentations are done extremely poorly.  Too much "flash and bang" with different effects for page-change, audio, riot of colors, text effects;  All of these make for a poor presentation.  Ugh.

Unfortunately for me, one of the assignments for my biology class this term was to create and deliver a PowerPoint presentation in class.  We've been subjected presented with several of these already in class, so I got to see some of what the other students were doing, and how they did it.  Suffice to say that most of them were... Let's just call them  "interesting", in order to be polite.

I opted to present mine this past Thursday, which was the first week after spring break.  I figured that I'd be able to spend some time during break to get it put together, since I already had a good idea of what I would do: Pandemic Flu
(the other end of that link has a PDF of the presentation, originally created on a Mac and exported to PDF... Cool!)

 So, I got up and gave my presentation. The teacher (Ph.D in biology) asked several tough and pointed questions about my presentation, which he hadn't done for the others that I've seen so far.  Yes, I had the answers, and for one I indicated that I'd go over that point later in the presentation.  One of my classmates (another one headed for medical school) commented that she though it was cool that I didn't just read off my slides, but rather talked about them and referred to the points on them.

The presentation is worth 50 points on the grade.  As instructor and I exchanged places, I saw that he'd noted "50" on the top of the first page of the printed copy that was required.  Not bad, if I say so myself.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Good news:  I finally have info in hand about a pair of paramedic license classes that I have available to me, to choose from.  Both start in September and both are a total of about 950 hours.  One is scheduled for about 9 months, the other is scheduled to go about 19 months.  There are pluses and minuses to each one, and I'm pretty torn about which one would be better.

Not so great news:  That means that I have to come up with $2000 in less than six months.  Normally, not too bad, but we're saving a butt-load of money for a BIG VACATION in December.  The trick is going to be squirreling away money for class and not impinging on the vacation savings.

Not co great news #2 :  I don't know if I'll be able to get  time out of paramedic class to go on the honeymoon/vacation in December.  If not, I guess that I'll be waiting another year.  Confound it.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Note to self, for next term.

Scheduling classes for the first slot of the day (7:40 start time) is not a good idea.  Work tends to spew over, and getting the youngsters ready for their school day gets in the way, too.  However, the 9:25 start time is great.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Yesterday, I got a tattoo. Yes, syncopal ol' me got inked. It's nothing ginormous, but it's not exactly what I would call "small" either. It's about 2 square inches, maybe a little more, on the inner aspect of my left forearm, just distal to the elbow joint.

It's a simple, black "classical" labyrinth. I've been kicking around getting a tattoo for the better part of 15 years, seriously for the last 10 or so. In that time, I've gone through several iterations of what I thought I would want, but nothing was ever important or signifigant enough to me that I was willing to permanently emblazon it on my body. However, the labyrinth design is emblematical of a journey, often spiritual in nature, and almost always turning "inward" to examine one's own soul or spirit. Being that I've been in that sort of mode (being inward, spiritual journey or examination) for most of my life, I decided that it was suitable.

The artist, Ryein (sp?) came recommended by one of my wife's coworkers, who has several pieces by him and has known him "since way back when". The work that she just had done by him was nice, which was a big selling point.
We went in to the shop the other day, and Kristen spoke with Ryein briefly to get a feel for if she was really going to get one, after talking about it for more than a dozen years. (Me getting ink was actually an after-thought, not exactly a main focus of the trip in)

Yes, it's real. Yes, it hurt. No, it doesn't come off.

(update: 16 MAR 2007) I've discovered, though, that it's not only decorative, but practical for me, as an "always available" meditation aid.  I work with a couple of people who, frankly, test my ability to be civil, particularly when they're having one of those days.  This little bit of art is a handy grounding point as I visually "walk" the labyrinth.

I've also discovered that tattoos are like potato chips.  Once you have one, you want more.  I guess that it's better than booze or drugs, at least.  Not in that tattoos are less expensive, but the safety and social ramifications are much less  potentially damaging. :)

Read and post comments | Send to a friend