elfination

Both classes (English Comp and Intro to Java) got reported as A- for the term…. but my GPA doesn’ care about + or -!

I now have a 3.7 GPA! WOO!

AND! I have the last two freshman requirements DONE! It’s all Biology and more Biology from here.

–Emily

Okay… we’re discussing objects, and classes, and behaviours, and the differences among them. My brain, however, is working overtime on innuendo.

“So we have a public class, called ‘Box’.” (fine.)
“We define the size of the public Box, and assign it a behaviour of accepting input.” (….okay. Public Box. Input. Got it.)
“Now, do we automatically expect an output from the public Box if it has accepted input?” (Oh god…)
“We must define the size of the public Box, because you cannot put something very large into a small Box. That is, unless we define the size of the box to be variable.” (of course. It stretches…)
“I will now define another class, called MyBox.” (…please don’t…)

Soooo at the end of this, let’s see. We’ve got an object, called MyBox, which is public, accepts inputs, is of variable size, and is not expected at this time to produce any output despite numerous inputs. At this time, the box can accept anything from very small to very large, but you can only insert one object into the box at a time.

Oh god…. I try so hard to pay attention in this class, but I think I need a break.

–Em

I was assigned a temperature conversion problem. I had some fun with it.

We were supposed to write a program that would convert Fahrenheit to Celsius or Celsius to Fahrenheit, and then for given values, print out various statements about the weather. I assume our instructor would be plugging in various numbers into the code to get different results… but I decided to use a random number generator instead. Technically, we haven’t learned how to use the Math.random function, but I did it anyway.

The statements he wanted us to use seemed to be geared toward Fahrenheit measurements… and jeez, I’m from the US, I know what the weather’s like in Fahrenheit. So I generated a random number and called it “F”, converted it to degrees Celsius, had the program print both results… then had it go through some basic statements one might hear about the weather.

Because we were also required to practice “ternary operation”, which is an If-Then-Else statement, I put in two options for each temperature range. Translated in English, the code says something like this:
a is a number bigger than 90. b is between 80 and 90. c is between 70 and 80 (etc.)…
if a is true (if the random number that got generated is more than 90), then print the statement “I’m MELTING!!” else(meaning, if a is not true, the number is less than 90) print the statement “at least I’m not melting!”.

When strung together just so, it’s almost conversational.

If you know how to run Java code, copy/paste the following and run it. I’m proud.

public class TemperatureConversion {
/**
* @param args
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
// F = (C * 9 / 5) + 32;
// C = (F - 32) * (5 / 9);
float F = (float) Math.random() * 100;
float C = (F-32)*5/9;
boolean a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j;
System.out.println(F + “Degrees Fahrenheit”);
System.out.println(C + “Degrees Celsius”);
a = (F > 90);
b = (F > 80 & F < 90);
c = (F > 70 & F < 80);
d = (F > 60 & F < 70);
e = (F > 50 & F < 60);
f = (F > 40 & F < 50);
g = (F > 30 & F < 40);
h = (F > 20 & F < 30);
i = (F > 10 & F < 20);
j = (F > 0 & F < 10);
System.out.print(a ? “I’m MELTING! ” : “At least I’m not melting! “);
// if it’s hotter than 90ºF, pleh!
System.out.print((d | e | f) ? “I love this weather! ” : “I wish the weather were better. “);
// between 40 and 70 degrees, I’m happiest…
System.out.print((b | c) ? “It’s still too warm…” : ” “);
// between 70 and 90 degrees, it’s still too warm out for me.
System.out.println((j | i | h | g) ? “It’s COLD out!” : “At least I’m not freezing!”);
// under 40 degrees, yuck! too cold!
}
}

Microbiology lab is over, and I got an 81% (B). That B averages into my Microbiology class grade as a portion of 300 points… so it’s 243 points.

Class participation is 100 points, each exam is worth 100 points, the final exam is worth 300 points, each homework is worth 10 points…

I should get full points for participation, I have 188 exam points so far (exam 3 is Wednesday). The final is May 7… And as for homeworks, I have 96 points… So, out of 1100 points possible, I’ve earned 627…. Which is to say, an 89.5% running…. With 400 points left to achieve. Oh! I got five brownie points in there somewhere… that’s 632 points total earned… yeah, that’s a current A. Can’t give up yet tho.

Organic Chem Lab is finished, also. I have basically the highest B on can have without actually getting an A. le sighs. (1786.2 points out of 2000… 1800 points is the A threshold.) HOWEVER, I did work my ass off in lab, it required huge reports almost weekly, and I’m DONE WITH IT!!! hoooorraaayyyy!!! Organic Chem Lab is actually one credit hour stand-alone, so the B doesn’t average into the class portion. (This allows students to do OK in the lab and suck in the class and just retake the class without too much use of lab space)…

Organic Chem CLASS is not done yet. At last count, I have 259 points. Each exam is worth 100 points (four exams), and the final is worth 200 points…. And he provides bonus points for class participation (in the form of answering “clicker questions”). He provides 100 additional points throughout the duration of the course (I’ve earned 53, he only counts CORRECT clicker answers… sigh)… and the final grade is out of 600.

259/600 seems awful, but his grading curve is as follows: 500-600 points (83.3%) = A; 400-499 (66.7%) = B; 300-399 (50%) = C; 200-299 (33.3%) = D. Which is to say, I could keel over now with a D. I don’t intend to. There are three more opportunities for points: There’s an exam tomorrow (110 possible points, he’s making up for some clicker questions). There’s a make-up-test day, where you can re-take an exam from one portion of the class… So, I could re-take, for instance, exam 1 (I got a 66) for a higher grade. And Exam 1 makes SO much more sense now that the rest of this crap is done with. (I could retake exam 3, on which I got a 57, but I think I might do WORSE… so I won’t.)

If I continue to perform at the level I’ve performed on my past exams (retake notwithstanding), I could receive another 70 points for the exam tomorrow. The final exam is the Organic Chemistry ACS exam, which is a nationally standardized test. My grade will be my percentile ranking in the nation, not my percentage of correct answers… So God Only Knows how I’ll do. I’m hoping for 100 points (50th percentile)…. but… like I said… who the hell knows. I COULD get an A, if I get a 70 on exam 4, a 100 on exam 1 (retake) and a 70th percentile on the final… but… who the hell knows. Seriously. But I could get a C if I got a 50 on exam 4 and skipped the final…. and most likely scenario is I get a B. That’s not a bad thing at all.

Regarding Speciation and Evolution, I’m pretty sure I’m getting an A, but it’s so hard to tell. We’ve missed so many assignments, and I haven’t written my term paper yet…. *sigh* 7-8 pages on some evolutionary topic… like THAT would be so hard to accomplish… and yet, I just haven’t done it yet. I got a B+ on my first paper, an A on my second, a 90% on my first exam, he hasn’t handed back exam #2 yet (I expect at least a 90%)…. I have just the term paper and the final exam left. (The final *is* take-home. Huzzah!) Class participation counts… and I’ve only EVER missed one class… and I do tend to say smart things. (well, usually.)

As for my two-credit-hour weightlifting class… I’ve missed six classes total, which puts me on track for a B (no matter how well I do on the final exam). I’ll keep the B, no big worries.

Most likely scenario: I’m aiming to get 7 credit hours of A (microbiology for 4 and Speciation & Evolution for 3) and 6 credit hours of B (Organic for 3, Organic Lab for 1, and Weightlifting for 2) Not bad.

–Em

The exam is on Thursday, and that means I’d better get my ass in gear studying. Because it takes about 20 hours in the week preceding the exam for me to get enough of this crap stuffed into my head…. I really ought to learn to stop scheduling work hours on weekends prior to Orgo exams. Of course, that would involve FORETHOUGHT, and we all know I’m not the greatest at that.

To give you an idea of the kind of stuff I will be called upon to answer:

2-Chloro-1,3-butadiene (chloroprene) is the monomer from which the elastomer neoprene is prepared. 2-Chloro-1,3-butadiene is the thermodynamically controlled product formed by the addition of hydrogen chloride to vinylacetylene (CH2=CH-C≡CH).  The principal product under conditions of kinetic control is the allenic chloride 4-Chloro-1,2-butadiene.  Suggest a mechanism to account for the formation of each product.  (10 points.)

Now, whether that’s ACTUALLY a question on the exam is another question entirely.  Basically, to answer this question, one must first be able to sort out what the actual question is.  I’ll help.

CH2=CH-C≡CH  + H-Cl  (at -80°C) —–> ??  (kinetically controlled product)

CH2=CH-C≡CH +  H-Cl (with heat) —-> ??  (thermodynamically controlled product)

Of course, you need to know that adding heat gives you a thermodynamically controlled product, and doing the reaction under cold conditions gives you a kinetically controlled product.

Got that?

So now… when he says “Suggest a mechanism”…. what he means is, “write out the reaction, step-by-step, with curved-arrow formalism, to show how each one happens.”

One must also know a few secret codes:

1… seeing the abbreviation “B” does not mean “Boron”, it means “Base”.  Usually water.  B = Water.  Unless you’re talking about Hydroboration, in which B=Boron.  You should know which is which.

2… Ac ≠ Actinium.  Ac = Acetate.

3… Ph = Benzene = cyclohexatriene.  Ph ≠ pH.  Ph should never be confused with Py, (pyridine) which is an aromatic six-membered ring with five Carbons and one Nitrogen, instead of six carbons… which has nothing to do with pyrite.  (Pyridine is C5H5N, Pyrite is FeS2).

4… M= Metal.  Pretty much ANY metal.  Just… metal.

5… X = halogen, unless X = something else.

6… R = some attached hydrocarbon chain…. thus RX represents some variable C-and-H chain stuck onto a halogen (Cl, Br, I, etc.)…. RX ≠ Rx.

7… Me = Methyl.  Et = Ethyl.   (Me ≠ “me”, ≠ ME; Et ≠ E.T.)

8… “Carbocation” is not a vacation one takes to eat nothing but sugar-laded foods.  It’s pronounced “CAR-boh-CAT-eye-on”, and refers to a + charge on a carbon atom (indicating that the carbon has one-too-few bonds attached to it.)

9… A carbon with one-too-few bonds (that is: three bonds) attached to it carries a + sign.  An Oxygen with one-too-few bonds (one bond only) carries a - sign.  An Oxygen with one-too-many bonds (three bonds) carries a + sign.  Nitrogens prefer to just have three bonds, so they don’t carry a charge when they have three bonds.

10… NaOH = Sodium Hydroxide.   KOH = Potassium Hydroxide.  LiOH = Lithium Hydroxide.   EtOH = Ethanol.  No, don’t EVER call that Ethyl Hydroxide, that’s JUST PLAIN WRONG.   Of course, HOH = Water, which could arguably be called Hydrogen Hydroxide.

11… “anti-addition” is not the same thing as SUBTRACTION.  “Anti-addition” is still “addition”, but it involves the two substituents being stuck onto opposite sides of the π-bonding scheme from each other, rather than the same side.  No, we can’t call this “Trans-addition”, because “Trans” means there’s a π-bond THERE, and after anti-addition, the π-bonding scheme might be gone.  So we call it “anti-addition”.  Just remember that.

12… SN1 reactions take two steps (involving a carbocation).  SN2 reactions take one step.  SNi reactions take lots of steps.  Remember that i ≠ √-1.  SNi reactions are not imaginary.  And SNi reactions NEVER happen if pyridine is used.  SN1 reactions never happen in bases, only acidic conditions.

13… It’s always good to know which reactant is a HOMO  (Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital, of course)…. because… well, that’s just good to know, because HOMOs attack the backside in SN2 reactions, causing the molecule to swing the other way (reverse chirality).  Just deal with it.

There is NO REASON that people can’t pass Organic Chemistry.  NO REASON AT ALL.  It’s not one bit confusing.  (It’s a lot of bits confusing…)

–Em

I’m going to go on my own vacation, for a couple of days. I’ll leave Sunday evening after work, and I’ll be back Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

I think I’ll drive down to the meteoric impact crater in wherever-the-fuck-it-is, Alabama, maybe look for some fossils, and then come back.

And I’m taking my cat with me.

–Em

To anyone who doesn’t think I’m continuing to be punished:

Please feel free to call me and crow about your Spring Break plans that include trips out of the country, and then ask me why I don’t “just go do something fun?”

Feel free to inquire why I didn’t “do something fun” over Christmas. Or better, ask why I didn’t go WITH my husband to visit family. Maybe even suggest that I take a few days and get a hotel room with my husband, as though he wants to even speak to me.

Also feel free to insult my ACTUAL plans: catching up on schoolwork, doing extra credit assignments. Remind me how “not fun!” that sounds. (It actually sounds reasonably useful to me, so stuff it.)

Then get offended that I sound a little grumpy.

–Em

I’m lonely. I crave companionship.

At the moment, I want to sit somewhere comfortable, listening to someone talk about … something. I want to listen to a talk about chemical engineering, or a thesis presentation about artificially-mutated nematodes, or maybe just go to a lecture for a class I’m not taking and listen to the professor. I want to be comfortable, and I want to be allowed to build molecular models while I do it, or draw a picture, or work on some beads, or… do something similarly creative with my hands. I want there to be a stream of potentially useful information (and let’s face it, I’m a packrat, just about anything is potentially useful in my book) around me, while I process my own thoughts - picking out useful pieces from the stream to file away, maybe asking questions if it’s VERY novel. I find that working with my hands while learning enables me to process information in ways that surprise even me.

In short… I want someone to read to me while I play with my toys.

Is it so wrong to have this desire, as an adult? Is it so unusual? I don’t want a TV to blast randomness at me, I want there to be some sort of more personal interaction… but the “interaction” needn’t be complex. I just want to be in the presence of someone who has information to give me.

I would be happy to listen to a discussion of lichens from New Zealand that are used to produce a blue wool dye. Or maybe the nuances of plasma physics. Or the evolution of CAULIFLOWER… I don’t care. Just… SOMETHING.

But it’s not polite to take up space in a classroom where you’re not supposed to be. It’s not polite to draw pictures while your professor talks. It’s rude to build models in a thesis discussion. YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO PAY ATTENTION! Oh, but I am… really… I am…

And so, I’m alone with my computer, which is something that I can interact with. Something that requires fine manual movements (typing)… but also something that requires 100% of my attention, something that won’t play FOR me… something that will only play WITH me. It has music, I’ve heard the songs before. It takes so much time to find something to listen to, that just the process of settling down and getting to that point is enough to knock me out of the mood…. and it’s not a PERSON, it’s a THING. Yes, it’s a source of constant novelty, but it only does that with direct input from me… and it has zero appreciation for whatever my manual dexterity might create during our interaction.

I don’t want to sit around watching someone else watch TV. I don’t want my head to be filled with dramatic garbage… I just want a story, from someone who cares whether I exist or not.

I miss Patton, my botany professor from Tulsa. He was often good for this, and he understood my need to create something with my hands while listening to him.

I’m lonely, and I see no real way out of it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100216/ap_on_re_us/us_ala_university_shooting

“A survivor of an Alabama university shooting said the professor charged in the attack that claimed three lives methodically shot the victims in the head until her gun apparently jammed and she was pushed out of the room….”

oh my god.

But, after hearing many people weigh in on “Fitting Punishment for Dr. Amy Bishop”, I discussed this with my friend Shyla (a classmate from TCC and NSU in Oklahoma).

OUR $.02:

Exhaustive studies on her brain chemistry. Probes, PET scans, fMRI scans, everything. Dr. Bishop, you harmed biologists who were studying these things; congratulations, you’re the new test subject. We won’t hurt you, we just want you to look at these pictures while we measure your neurotransmitter levels. Thanks. Again, please. And we’ll consult her for her opinions…

That brain won’t go to complete waste as most people seem to think. We’ll learn from her. We’ll explore. We’ll patent something based on our results and use the proceeds to fund college for her four children. (And to support the families of those who were killed and injured by her attacks.)

Maybe we could keep her in the vivarium.

–Em