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2:09 p.m. - 2006-07-24
Today's Horoscope & Quote Plus an Actual Entry
Libra
September 22 - October 22
You are feeling very introverted today, dear Libra, as you seek answers to some existential questions. Indeed, you are asking yourself whether your life is turning out the way you had in mind. Are your friends the way you would like them to be? Or are you always disappointed? All positive change starts with questions such as these. Give yourself lots of space for creative contemplation.

"Diversity raises the intelligence of groups."

Nancy Kline

[So if diversity raises the intelligence of groups, why are people in this "melting pot" called America such abysmal imbeciles?]

Today was the first day of Summer semester #3. It was also the first time I have taken a class at the Wayne campus of the University of Akron out in Orrville, Ohio. I am taking Humanities in the Western Tradition part one for the second time. For anyone attending the University of Akron who has not yet taken this course, I already recommend taking it at Wayne if at all possible. More on that later. Despite the pain in my feet from Saturday's foam weapon fighting, I managed to get ready in a decent amount of time. Following that difficulty there arose another setback. Most of the roads between here and the campus that Mapquest� directed me to use, were not only under construction, but they were completely closed as well. Upon arrival in the parking lot, my cup of Coke fell over. So I had to clean up that mess. Even with all these setbacks, I still managed to get to class about 15 minutes prior to the 830am class time.

As smoothly as the day started off, it could not continue this way could it?

After class I went to the campus library to see if they had a copy of the textbook. Someone seems to have walked off with it. Oh well, they should have a copy of it for my use next week.

Next week is the first exam. It is a take home exam. We will be given the exam Monday, and we will have until Thurday's class to complete it. The exam consists of multiple choice, true/false, matching, and short answer questions. No essays. The version of the class I failed at the Main campus had exams that were about 10% matching, 30% short essays, and a 60% essay. We were not even allowed to use notes.

The second exam for this Wayne campus class will be open note. Not quite as good as taking an exam home, but still great.

The third exam, however, will not have either of these luxuries, but I don't think that will be a problem. This class, as compared to the Main campus one, also allows for up to 20 points (that is quite the difference) of extra credit.

We also have a project due the same day as the final exam. It counts as much as an exam, but it is a picture project. Take pictures / find images of ten different architectural elements and write three sentences about each. I think I can find a lot of these in the stones that keep springing up in my yard. The rest I'll either find locally or via the internet.

I attempted to record today's lecture. This is something I haven't done before, but I figured I'd give it a try. Considering the class lasts three hours a day, three days a week, I figured I might have a lapse in attention somewhere along the line. When I went to play back the lecture, I found that the quality of the recording is less than adequate. My choices now are to cease recording lectures, or to give up my isolated seat that has a counter four chairs wide for me to set my notes. The classroom is an auditorium with those permanent folding chairs with scarcely enough desk space for a toddler. These chairs are more padded (as in they actually have padding) than those in Leigh Hall's auditorium on Main campus. The floors are even flat instead of sloping down to send all wayward pens and pencils down to the instructor. However, the floor to tiny desk surface ratio is so small that I cannot have the desk level if my leg is under it.

The instructor goes fast. He doesn't go so fast that I cannot keep up, but he does go at a speed that is just a bit to quick to write down the key terms and/or dates. The lecture teacher from Main campus had an outline to follow along with (that had to be purchased for $10 or so), but she would skip around on it constantly. We'll see how my decision turns out.

Leaving campus, my driver side front tire that has been running low lately probably due to some nail I was unable to locate at a glance finally blew out. So I coasted down to the nearest parking lot and changed the tire. As I lowered my car onto the spare, it came to my attention that my spare was in complete need of air. So I crept down the road on it to find a service station of some sort with an air compressor. Several miles and minutes later, crawling along at five miles per hour with the hazards flashing, I pulled into the Canal Fulton's fire department. They let me use their compressor. All is well for now.

Time for me to wrap up some business with my Dynamics of Personality class.

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