Time for School!
School has started. It's great so far, but it's going to be a bit of an adjustment. Let me fill you in, although (as usual) this runs a bit long.
Those who read my blog already know this, but I totally fucked up. I was already signed up for a full load of 15 units in addition to continuing to work 10 hours at week at my company because they're short-handed, and to help ease the transition. It's a good deal for me as well because they're still paying me at the same hourly rate I was making while full-time, and I keep all my benefits, like health coverage (which saves us a lot of money, cuz Erika's coverage for a spouse costs extra). And since Erika works at a non-profit, this also means I'm being paid for 10 hours a week almost as much as she makes full-time. Kinda shows you how skewed things are in our economy in valuing people's time, because Erika is just as capable as I am.
Anyway, in case you're curious, the 5 classes I was already signed up for was Economics 101 (Intermediate Macroeconomics), Econ 158 (Privatization and Entrepreneurship), Political Science 130 (Public Policy), Anthropology 191 (Senior Seminar), and Sociology 80 (Social Problems). Erika tried to dissuade me from taking the Soc class because it was lower division and she said it would bore me. But I really wanted to try out Sociology (an area that I think is a real weakness among most economists) and that was the class that interested me the most.
I had entertained the notion that maybe I could also shoot for the Spartan Daily to explore whether this photography obsession was for real, but Erika said that was only open to people who took the class and were journalism majors. Well, the first day of class, I noticed in the paper that the Spartan Daily ran ad asking for photographers, listing a phone number, which meant Erika was wrong about the journalism major requirement. Also, all the photos were by the photo editor and the staff list didn't include any staff photographers. So it seemed like they didn't have anybody.
Instead of calling, I decided to send an e-mail so that I could include a link to my best work (such as it is). It was a few days before I got around to it, and they had stopped running the ad and listed two photographers on their staff, so I figured it might be a long shot to make it in.
Anyway, on Tuesday I got an e-mail reply from the photo editor to come in (the response was delayed cuz he had some e-mail problems). I stopped in, and apparently they were having a meeting that was running over. Seemed like there were six or seven people there. The editor told me to wait a few minutes, so I sat on the side and read the WSJ (required reading for my Poli Sci class). I noticed he was handing out assignments, so I put down the paper and watched to get a feel of how things worked. One of the photographers was nice and talked to me a little bit. She explained a little bit of what was going on. Asked if I was taking any journalism classes, and I said I wasn't, and she suggested Journalism 142, which most of them had just finished. I made a note of it.
Eventually, the editor turned to me and asked if I was available to shoot something on a particular day. I was pretty surprised. I think I was working that day, so I he gave it to one of the staff. Then he said he had to leave, and told me to go follow one of the senior photographers on his assignment. We were to shoot somebody with a laptop to go along with a story about the wireless networking installed on campus. The senior guy asked me if I had any ideas, and I suggested getting a shot of somebody using the laptop outside, which would better suggest wireless use. It was kinda cloudy, so it took a while before we spotted somebody. We then took some shots as he gave me tips and explained what we needed to do, like to make sure we get the names, years, and majors of everybody we shot.
I had the Sociology class (I'm not going to abbreviate it Soc because that reminds me of my cat, Socrates, who passed away a couple of years ago), so we parted without finding anybody else, but I found two more people on the way to that class, including a couple seated in the hallway waiting for the same class I was going to. When I came back after the class to show the photo editor the shots, he was pretty pleased with them, which psyched me. He picked a couple to run, but then found out I had shot in RAW format. It's a more flexible format to use in post-processing, but he didn't have any software installed that could handle it.
He then had to run, and told me to come back at the next meeting that I could make, which was Tuesday for me. I eagerly checked the paper the next day to see if they ran my shots, but they didn't. But they didn't have the story either, so I figured the whole story was probably delayed (I was later told that it was, but I guess that's not exactly what happened). He gave me another assignment at that meeting, and this one did run.
I did sign up for Journalism 142 (Beginning Photojournalism), as it didn't conflict with any of my classes, and planned to drop Sociology (I enjoyed the class, but it was the best prospect to drop). Unfortunately, I fucked up and didn't notice the drop deadline until after it had already passed and after I had already added the Journalism class. Yeah, as I said on the blog, "I guess as an engineer at a startup, I got used to ignoring deadlines as being ridiculously unrealistic. So I get a rude real-world lesson after leaving the real world to go back to school. Go figure." So I'm stuck with 18 units along with my part-time job -- plus the Spartan Daily.
Oh yes, I'm part of the staff. I was never officially told that I was on it, but I started seeing my name listed in the credits in the paper, so I guess that was that. I'm absolutely thrilled!
So things are cool but busy. I like all of my professors and I think I'm doing well in all of them so far (especially Econ 101, which has weekly quizzes that I'm absolutely nailing). But the workload for last week hit me like a freight-train. Last night, when I got home at 6, was the first free moment I'd had in a whole week (meaning that I missed Flickr's 2-year birthday -- which Eris Stassi attended -- and the one monthly Blogger meetup that I could make). And I haven't even gotten any homework from my Poli Sci or Sociology classes yet. So I'm a little nervous about my chances of getting all A's this semester, which I'm really hoping to do to help my chances at getting into a killer grad school. But I was able to switch the Anthro class to Credit/No Credit. I didn't want to switch the Econ or Poli Sci or Journalism classes because those three were strong contenders for my choice of field, and the system wouldn't let me switch the Sociology class because it was a GE requirement (even though I already had a degree, sheesh).
I seem to fit right in as a college student, pretty much looking the part, but I just don't have room for a social life, which makes me really glad I'm married. I didn't have much room for one at Berkeley either, since I had my mind set on getting out in four years (unusual for EECS majors), but it's just a tad bit different when you have somebody to come home to. Erika has been so supportive and such a help, even though she's going through drama at work as well. Well, I guess it just works well for both of us, since we both have the other to vent to.
So I think I'll be able to handle it (helps that none of my classes will have any 10-page papers), and on the whole, I'm enjoying myself. Plus, it's kinda fun to be able to flirt with nubile young co-eds without everybody getting all creeped out. :)
Those who read my blog already know this, but I totally fucked up. I was already signed up for a full load of 15 units in addition to continuing to work 10 hours at week at my company because they're short-handed, and to help ease the transition. It's a good deal for me as well because they're still paying me at the same hourly rate I was making while full-time, and I keep all my benefits, like health coverage (which saves us a lot of money, cuz Erika's coverage for a spouse costs extra). And since Erika works at a non-profit, this also means I'm being paid for 10 hours a week almost as much as she makes full-time. Kinda shows you how skewed things are in our economy in valuing people's time, because Erika is just as capable as I am.
Anyway, in case you're curious, the 5 classes I was already signed up for was Economics 101 (Intermediate Macroeconomics), Econ 158 (Privatization and Entrepreneurship), Political Science 130 (Public Policy), Anthropology 191 (Senior Seminar), and Sociology 80 (Social Problems). Erika tried to dissuade me from taking the Soc class because it was lower division and she said it would bore me. But I really wanted to try out Sociology (an area that I think is a real weakness among most economists) and that was the class that interested me the most.
I had entertained the notion that maybe I could also shoot for the Spartan Daily to explore whether this photography obsession was for real, but Erika said that was only open to people who took the class and were journalism majors. Well, the first day of class, I noticed in the paper that the Spartan Daily ran ad asking for photographers, listing a phone number, which meant Erika was wrong about the journalism major requirement. Also, all the photos were by the photo editor and the staff list didn't include any staff photographers. So it seemed like they didn't have anybody.
Instead of calling, I decided to send an e-mail so that I could include a link to my best work (such as it is). It was a few days before I got around to it, and they had stopped running the ad and listed two photographers on their staff, so I figured it might be a long shot to make it in.
Anyway, on Tuesday I got an e-mail reply from the photo editor to come in (the response was delayed cuz he had some e-mail problems). I stopped in, and apparently they were having a meeting that was running over. Seemed like there were six or seven people there. The editor told me to wait a few minutes, so I sat on the side and read the WSJ (required reading for my Poli Sci class). I noticed he was handing out assignments, so I put down the paper and watched to get a feel of how things worked. One of the photographers was nice and talked to me a little bit. She explained a little bit of what was going on. Asked if I was taking any journalism classes, and I said I wasn't, and she suggested Journalism 142, which most of them had just finished. I made a note of it.
Eventually, the editor turned to me and asked if I was available to shoot something on a particular day. I was pretty surprised. I think I was working that day, so I he gave it to one of the staff. Then he said he had to leave, and told me to go follow one of the senior photographers on his assignment. We were to shoot somebody with a laptop to go along with a story about the wireless networking installed on campus. The senior guy asked me if I had any ideas, and I suggested getting a shot of somebody using the laptop outside, which would better suggest wireless use. It was kinda cloudy, so it took a while before we spotted somebody. We then took some shots as he gave me tips and explained what we needed to do, like to make sure we get the names, years, and majors of everybody we shot.
I had the Sociology class (I'm not going to abbreviate it Soc because that reminds me of my cat, Socrates, who passed away a couple of years ago), so we parted without finding anybody else, but I found two more people on the way to that class, including a couple seated in the hallway waiting for the same class I was going to. When I came back after the class to show the photo editor the shots, he was pretty pleased with them, which psyched me. He picked a couple to run, but then found out I had shot in RAW format. It's a more flexible format to use in post-processing, but he didn't have any software installed that could handle it.
He then had to run, and told me to come back at the next meeting that I could make, which was Tuesday for me. I eagerly checked the paper the next day to see if they ran my shots, but they didn't. But they didn't have the story either, so I figured the whole story was probably delayed (I was later told that it was, but I guess that's not exactly what happened). He gave me another assignment at that meeting, and this one did run.
I did sign up for Journalism 142 (Beginning Photojournalism), as it didn't conflict with any of my classes, and planned to drop Sociology (I enjoyed the class, but it was the best prospect to drop). Unfortunately, I fucked up and didn't notice the drop deadline until after it had already passed and after I had already added the Journalism class. Yeah, as I said on the blog, "I guess as an engineer at a startup, I got used to ignoring deadlines as being ridiculously unrealistic. So I get a rude real-world lesson after leaving the real world to go back to school. Go figure." So I'm stuck with 18 units along with my part-time job -- plus the Spartan Daily.
Oh yes, I'm part of the staff. I was never officially told that I was on it, but I started seeing my name listed in the credits in the paper, so I guess that was that. I'm absolutely thrilled!
So things are cool but busy. I like all of my professors and I think I'm doing well in all of them so far (especially Econ 101, which has weekly quizzes that I'm absolutely nailing). But the workload for last week hit me like a freight-train. Last night, when I got home at 6, was the first free moment I'd had in a whole week (meaning that I missed Flickr's 2-year birthday -- which Eris Stassi attended -- and the one monthly Blogger meetup that I could make). And I haven't even gotten any homework from my Poli Sci or Sociology classes yet. So I'm a little nervous about my chances of getting all A's this semester, which I'm really hoping to do to help my chances at getting into a killer grad school. But I was able to switch the Anthro class to Credit/No Credit. I didn't want to switch the Econ or Poli Sci or Journalism classes because those three were strong contenders for my choice of field, and the system wouldn't let me switch the Sociology class because it was a GE requirement (even though I already had a degree, sheesh).
I seem to fit right in as a college student, pretty much looking the part, but I just don't have room for a social life, which makes me really glad I'm married. I didn't have much room for one at Berkeley either, since I had my mind set on getting out in four years (unusual for EECS majors), but it's just a tad bit different when you have somebody to come home to. Erika has been so supportive and such a help, even though she's going through drama at work as well. Well, I guess it just works well for both of us, since we both have the other to vent to.
So I think I'll be able to handle it (helps that none of my classes will have any 10-page papers), and on the whole, I'm enjoying myself. Plus, it's kinda fun to be able to flirt with nubile young co-eds without everybody getting all creeped out. :)