Lee.org

Rock and roll! I aced my semester!

A * Human Anatomy
A * Medical Chemistry
A * Conceptual Physics
P * (Pass) Fitness Center

(don’t feel you need to read the rest of this post)

————————————————–
Here is what I took this semester

 CRN, section, day of week, time                      Units,  Location, Professor
--------------------------------------------------
ANAT  25   General Human Anatomy                       4.0
Study of the gross and microscopic structure of the human body. UC/CSU
 30302 002 Lec  T R  09:30-11:00AM                          SCIE  100  Guthrie, M         
 31543 023 Lab    R  12:00-03:00PM                          SCIE  347  Guthrie, M
--------------------------------------------------
CHEM  32   Intro to Medical Chemistry                  4.0
Basic concepts of inorganic and organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physics as they apply
to the chemistry and physics of the human body. CSU
Open to all students. No previous chemistry or physics required. Satisfies the requirements
of nursing and related majors that require one semester of chemistry. Also satisfies the
recommended prerequisite for Physiology 12 and MB 12. Students taking a major that requires
two semesters of chemistry should enroll in CHEM 101A or 103A should enroll in CHEM 40.
 32533 353 L/L   W   11:00-02:00PM             1125 Valencia St.  364  Fong, L            
               M W   09:00-10:30AM             1125 Valencia St.  106  Fong, L
--------------------------------------------------
PE   200C  Fitness Center Super Circuit                2.0
 33367 001 Lab       HOURS ARR                              WELL  201
--------------------------------------------------
PHYC 10    Conceptual Physics                          3.0
A conceptual, almost non-mathematical, introduction to physics with demonstrations. Topics
 from mechanics, properties of matter, heat, sound, electricity, magnetism, light, nuclear
 physics, and relativity. Emphasis on topics that lead to a better understanding of our
technological society and physical environment. UC/CSU
 31746 551 Lec   W   06:30-09:30PM             1125 Valencia St.  106  Tesler, P          
--------------------------------------------------
PHYC 10L   Conceptual Physics (Lab)                    1.0
PREREQ.: Completion/concurrent enrollment in PHYC 10
Laboratory experiments involving basic physics concepts. Emphasis on concept development,
data handling, and laboratory skills. UC/CSU
Required for students enrolled in the curriculum in RADL
 31747 601 Lab  SAT  09:00-12:00PM                          SCIE  158  Yan, H

                                semester total units = 14

————————————————–
Anatomy
Looking at the final grade sheet… 146 students started the class. Of those …
. . . 65% (96) passed (C or better)
. . . 34% (50) didn’t pass (D, F, drop, W)

. . . 21% (31) got an A, like me!

# of students in each category
A: 31 (90%+)
B: 30 (80%+)
C: 35 (67%+ or so)
D: 10 (48%+ or so)
F: 11
Drop or W: 29

September thru December 2011 I beefed up my body a lot working out at CCSF. This semester I didn’t make nearly as much progress. On a lot of fronts I just kept things even. Here are the highlights:

Everything I do is 2 sets of 10 reps. On most machines I stayed even from last semester. Here are the differences:

Chest Press: 75lbs to 110lbs. Excellent… except that I had left off in December at 120lbs. Feh!

Lateral Raise (still trying to build up my shoulder profile) I worked it every time I went to the gym and went from 70 to 85. Importantly, just a few weeks ago I realized I’ve been sitting on the machine such that I’m mostly just using my anterior deltoids instead of the correct posture that would use my anterior AND posterior deltoids. Ugh, it’s waay harder to do the exercise the right way!

Bicep Curl: Still I’m hovering around 95lbs, but I still like how my biceps look and feel compared to before working out.

Yoga ball crunches: I lean back on top of the yoga ball and do a sit-up, it works the abs better than a sit-up, and it burns like someone is stabbing me repeatedly with a knife (joy). The knives used to be unbearable at about 8 reps, 2 sets. Now it’s about 11 reps, 3 sets.

————————————————–

What’s next? I’ve always noted that I don’t have enough cardio. I’ve just been running on the treadmill to warm up for the machines. Well, over the summer I’ll be visiting Megan a lot, she lives in Kensington at the top of the Berkeley Hills, about 800 feet of elevation… I now have a nice bike… Bring it on!

Saturday I aced my Physics lab final (95+)
I’m really psyched that today I did well (90?) On my Chem exam (update: I got an 84… I totally missed a question on glycophospholipids! But still, that is an A-/B+)
Now I want to take a nap but in the next week I’ve got a Chem final, Chem lab final, Anat test, Anat practical test, and Physics final.

My two girlfriends Kim-istry and aNatily take up an unending amount of time. There’s barely room for my human girlfriend! But we’ll find a way to work it out.

(this happened May 1st)

Today’s fantastic scholastic journey:

I’m trying to finish up my prereqs by taking a Human Physiology class this summer. Maybe at Merritt College, maybe College of Alameda. Both schools are part of the Peralta College System. I need to prove to them that I have passed the prereq for the class, a chemistry course, and talk to a counselor to verify I’m all set.

I spent 70 min on trains and buses getting to Merritt College. The Admissions Department lady immediately told me I had the wrong paperwork and I needed to hand deliver to her a letter from my chemistry professor, on CCSF letterhead, a note saying that I was going to pass his class. Phoey. I tried but wasn’t able to speak to a counselor because they were all booked up til closing (4:30pm) despite me getting there at 2:30pm.

Then I went to College of Alameda. The counselor saw me in 45 minutes. She immediately accepted my mid-term grade printout as proof of prerequisite completion. And she pushed all the magic buttons on the computer that let me attend school there. We chatted about some awesome school-type stuff and I was on my way.

Mission accomplished in just under 8 hours.

Moral of the story:
The Admissions Department’s job is to say “No, you don’t have the right paperwork.”
The Counselor’s job is to say, “Let’s get this done.”

Six weeks ago I was in Florida seeing my folks. Here we are with my aunt having dinner poolside at my aunt’s place!

And sunset just down the street

Three weeks ago there was a parade here in the Mission. Here’s a shot rounding from Mission to east on 24th st :-)

I love da machines!

Two weeks ago Ben Cowden and I went out to the Monk’s Kettle at 16th & Valencia. I was passing the torch of Crucible Kinetics and Electronics Department Head to Ben. Our bartender really knew her beer and poured me this Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge beer.

I had asked for a sour tasting beer and BAM she delivered. My best description for it is “strange adult candy“.
And thanks for the beer Ben!

Last weekend I was at an engagement party at Megan’s place. It was great fun!

I just like this photo of Megan :-)

A few weeks ago in chem class we made cheese. This week we ate some eggs in vitro… eg. we digested eggs with hydrochloric acid and pepsin in test tubes. And we also digested some oil – presumably from the chips. The science of salsa is next week. Here you see some yummy oil digestion!

Lastly and certainly not leastly, the Kinetics and Electronics department set up a great table at the Crucible Fireside Lounge last night!
Rich brought his milk crate bots, Ben was manning Corpse Reviver and had some work in the gallery show. Jon and I brought our winning personalities. Darn it was fun.

Today’s Chem 32 lab was delicious!

We’re extracting casein from aqueous bovine lactiferous nutrient products with glacial acetic acid at elevated temperatures. In other words, We made Queso Fresco!

A couple weeks ago we were doing acids and bases. Tell me that does not look like Science with a capital S!

:-)

You didn’t think I did my taxes early because I’m just a good person did you?

Do taxes, so I can fill out my FAFSA, so I can apply for loans and grants for school. Yipe, the spring application deadline for CalGrants is in 3 days, Friday. But I can’t apply until my FAFSA clears… in 3 days. Talk about cutting it close!

TDAmeritrade took their time getting me my tax info. Then I mostly did my taxes. Then I was waiting for some tax help from CCSF. But that was a bust. I knew more about taxes then they did. So I just did my taxes on my own.

I thought that maybe I could put money into my IRA and pull it out when I needed it for school next year; I thought maybe this would be a good way of getting tax free money for school. But it turns out that while I would not be subject to the 10% penalty (because of a school withdrawl), I would still have to pay taxes on the money taken out of my IRA. So it’d be a lot of paperwork for not much gain.

And now I’m down to the wire on this grant/loan cycle.

AND I have big Chemistry and Physics tests tomorrow and an Anatomy test Thursday.

My spring school schedule is set!

Darn it was stressful today. About 30 of us stood in the hall listening to people’s names being read, being accepted into Anatomy 25. With my heart racing, fingers tingling and shaking, I used what JTF taught me about my stress response to keep me standing. John, I wish I could slap you on the back and laugh about it. You see, I’ve got this plan. In this plan, I’ll be applying to the DMI (Diagnostic Medical Imaging) program at CCSF in August. But to make that happen, I need to get into all the right classes.

Turns out, Prof Guthrie let 56 people on the wait list into his class and I was. . . . #56. Phew! There were students that didn’t get in because of clerical mistakes. One hadn’t made sure to put herself on the attendance roster at a previous class. Another hadn’t shown up at another impromptu acceptance ceremony held last week and lost her spot. That kind of stuff is particularly crushing because I made my own mistake and missed the previous acceptance ceremony, but fate had it that my name wasn’t read then.

Last week, I was also the last person let into the Chemistry 32 class! So I have to give a shout out to the universe for those two bits.

My classes this semester:
Anatomy 25 General Human Anatomy and Lab
Chemistry 32 Intro to Medical Chemistry and Lab
Physics 10 Conceptual Physics and Lab
PE 200C Fitness Center Super Circuit
Volunteering at CPMC

Hurray!

Now I just need to pick up a Physiology class this summer (no one knows if it will be offered yet!), and I’m track for getting a shot at getting into the CCSF DMI program in January.

Oh yeah, and I’ve got to ace everything this semester.

3 days of Exclamations: My personal journal from Sunday January 8, to Wednesday January 11.

Sunday January 8th, 2012:
See Delaney! +

Monday:
8am: Welcome to Foothill College, Los Altos, CA! +
8:01am: I locked my keys in the car! –
8:30am: Ack, classes are starting today?! –
8:45am: Quarters instead of semesters? What does that mean?!
9am: With quarters I can squeeze in Bio prereq, Anat & Phys 1, Anat & Phys 2 by July! + +
10am: Bio 14 class is fun and easy! +
12am: Bio 14 lab is fun and easy! +
3pm: Foothill campus is really pretty! +
4pm: Argh, I need Bio, Anat & Phys 1, 2, and 3, which would stretch into the fall!- – –
5pm: The college police can’t slim-jim my car! –
6pm: I’m #4 on the Chemistry waitlist! +
7pm: The Chemistry teacher is really bad! –
8pm: I won’t get into Chemistry anyway! –
8pm: The AAA guy opens my car in 30 seconds flat! +
9pm: Drinking at Lucky 13 with David M! +
1:15am: Getting harassed by the bartender to leave and drive drunk home! – – –
2:30am: Home! Not driving drunk! Still angry at the Lucky 13 bartender! + + –

Tuesday:
3pm: Welcome to the College of San Mateo! +
4pm: Drop in counseling says “You don’t need us, everything is online”! – +
5pm: Looking online, Contra Costa Community College’s no-prereq Anatomy class has 1 seat open and no waitlist! + +
5:01pm: I apply to CCCC!
5:30pm: I am accepted to CCCC! +
6:30pm I’ve figured out their website! +
6:35pm: Their registration computer says they have no open seats in Anatomy and their waitlist is full! – – –
Frustration sets in, I want to get off this crazy roller coaster! – –
8pm: Dinner with Delaney! +
10:30pm I’m home to pack for an 8:30am flight!
midnight: As always, I get pre-flight “stage fright”, packing and procrastinating until 3:30am! –

Wednesday:
Cat-nap til 6:30am!
I leave 3 minutes late and miss my train! –
There is another train in 15 minutes! +
Continental is now United?!
The TSA random bomb sniffing lady finds a 3′ whip in my bag and the supervisor calls it a weapon! – –
(I have visions of “We’re taking this plane to Cuba! [crack!]” with my signal whip) + +
They tell me to mail it or check it and send me packing! –
I repack and try to get it through a second time!
It occurs to me I might have, I don’t know, just committed a felony! –
They send me packing again! – (+)
I missed my flight! –
Checking my bag will cost $25 each way, but if I mail it I won’t have it! –
I repack and go through another line entirely… and go right through! + +
Egg and cheese croissants in the airport are $10! – –
A real breakfast is going to cost me $20???? – – –
Boudin Bakery clam chowder in a bread bowl is $7! +
I am the VERY last standby passenger allowed on the plane! +
Nap time! + + +