OT - So, How's your summer going?

LUKE23 · Post #41 » by **LUKE23** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:38 pm

Man, I stained my deck too steger (cue Twilight Zone music).

And yes, weddings = wedding gifts = $$$.

smauss · Post #42 » by **smauss** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:38 pm

DrugBust wrote:I decided that my current goal is befriending the little brunette that lives next door. She will be mine, oh yes, she will be mine.

Better watch out what you say DB, the last little brunette I said that about I've been married to for 24 years (next month.)

jerrod · Post #43 » by **jerrod** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:57 pm

LUKE23 wrote:
Speaking of Madison/summer, has anyone been to the Union this year? I think this is the first year ever I haven't made it at least 4-5 times by the end of July. I haven't gone once. That is depressing.

i've been down there 4 times so far i think. i didn't go last friday and i'm still mad at myself

msiris · Post #44 » by **msiris** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:57 pm

LUKE23 wrote:Man, I stained my deck too steger (cue Twilight Zone music).

And yes, weddings = wedding gifts = $$$.

I got tired of always staining my deck. Ripped the whole top off and replaced it with recycled plastic. Good bye stain.

msiris · Post #45 » by **msiris** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:01 pm

midranger wrote:80 hours a week at St. Joe's.

Fun.

Well keep up the good work. I hope you turn out to be a better Doc than alot of the ones I know.

WEFFPIM · Post #46 » by **WEFFPIM** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:59 am

I've spent my summer trying to balance two jobs and get everything sorted out for my first semester at Northern Illinois this fall. Have most everything ready, but now hoping my loan application is accepted otherwise I will have no way of paying for tuition and rent.

jeremyd236 · Post #47 » by **jeremyd236** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:08 am

Trying to enjoy these last few weeks before I move into Witte. I'm taking Math 222 (2nd semester Calculus) and somehow placed into Spanish 204. Gotta keep my grades up and get into the School of Business after my first year.

bigkurty · Post #48 » by **bigkurty** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:29 am

jeremyd236 wrote:Trying to enjoy these last few weeks before I move into Witte. I'm taking Math 222 (2nd semester Calculus) and somehow placed into Spanish 204. Gotta keep my grades up and get into the School of Business after my first year.

Holy ****. I took the exact same two classes first semester freshman year along with chem 109. I don't know how the hell I passed into spanish 204 either and I actually dropped it. I failed 222 as well. Needless to say it wasn't the best way to start my college career. I hope you are ready to work for both of those classes cause they are both very tough. Chem 109 was a breeze for me though so I really think how well you are prepared by your high school teachers factors into it. I also lived in Sellery by the way. To be honest, you need a really high GPA to get in the school of business. You might want to start out with 221 and 203 if possible. Of course if you are really gifted, you should be able to handle them I suppose but don't get too caught up into the partying. That is what happened to me. Luckily I grew up before I got kicked out and was able to turn my grades around and graduate. Good Luck.

jeremyd236 · Post #49 » by **jeremyd236** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:34 am

bigkurty wrote:
jeremyd236 wrote:Trying to enjoy these last few weeks before I move into Witte. I'm taking Math 222 (2nd semester Calculus) and somehow placed into Spanish 204. Gotta keep my grades up and get into the School of Business after my first year.

Holy ****. I took the exact same two classes first semester freshman year along with chem 109. I don't know how the hell I passed into spanish 204 either and I actually dropped it. I failed 222 as well. Needless to say it wasn't the best way to start my college career. I hope you are ready to work for both of those classes cause they are both very tough. Chem 109 was a breeze for me though so I really think how well you are prepared by your high school teachers factors into it. I also lived in Sellery by the way. To be honest, you need a really high GPA to get in the school of business. You might want to start out with 221 and 203 if possible. Of course if you are really gifted, you should be able to handle them I suppose but don't get too caught up into the partying. That is what happened to me. Luckily I grew up before I got kicked out and was able to turn my grades around and graduate. Good Luck.

See I took 201 in high school though (and got credit for it). Can I even take 201 again? Math 222 is the most failed class at the UW, so I know it's going to be hell. I'm very good at Math but I'm still very worried.

How are the foreign language classes at UW? I see my class is only 26 people which is not what I expected. I do not want to have to speak Spanish in front of 30 people nearly 4 days a week.

bigkurty · Post #50 » by **bigkurty** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 am

jeremyd236 wrote:See I took 201 in high school though (and got credit for it). Can I even take 201 again? Math 222 is the most failed class at the UW, so I know it's going to be hell. I'm very good at Math but I'm still very worried.

How are the foreign language classes at UW? I see my class is only 26 people which is not what I expected. I do not want to have to speak Spanish in front of 30 people nearly 4 days a week.

Yeah I was in the same position with the calculus. I was always very good at it and received credit for 201 from AP classes so I never thought I would have a problem but wow 222 was the toughest class I ever took. I took it right away again cause I needed it for my major and thought no way I could fail it twice, well I got a D the second time and then said I will never take math again. I just think 201 is probably so much harder than the calc I learned in high school is my guess so you go into it way over your head. On top of that 222 will be filled with foreigners who have been taking calculus since they were like 14 years old or something so its very easy for them and they ruin the curves. The curves I went through were basically if you get a 30% you pass. I would always end up with a 26% or something like that. Now granted I partied a lot and rarely went to class and thought I could learn it all from the book. That works for some classes but not this one. Go to every class and take good notes. Hopefully they have teachers teaching the class now who can actually speak a recognizable version of the english language. That was the other problem I had. The teachers were all foreign and barely spoke a lick on english. Its hard to learn like that.

When I took 204, I think we had about 16 people or so in there. I was always average at Spanish in high school but got grades since I did my homework. It never really came easy to me though like it did for some people so I guess it depends on your level of comfort. The hard thing is they give you so much reading to do out of like novels and crap and it takes so much time when your spanish is just not that good yet. And when I was in that class, I just felt like everyone was light years ahead of me with their spanish speaking skills like they probably passed me ahead into one spanish class to far. I could have pass that class I am sure but a C would have been about the best I could do and I didn't really need it for my major so I just dropped it and spent the extra time trying to learn calculus. I seriously never studied for chem 109 thats how easy that class was for me and I got an AB I believe.

My best advice though is figure it out quick what you can handle cause if you have to drop something to get the high GPA you will need to get in the business school, then thats what you should do otherwise you will never get into the business school. And they often have like after hours sessions with the TA's for calculus so if you are having problems, go to those. They really do help IMO.

skones · Post #51 » by **skones** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:07 am

Landscaping this summer. Hard work, not my thing. Doing it with Dandy Lawn Care out of New Berlin. Do stuff as far east as Tosa and as far west as Oconomowoc.

My farmer tan and I have set a new record as far as mini-flings with women go during a summer in Oconomowoc. My mark is up to 4 and I'm gunning for another one. Bitches just seem to grow on trees in Oconomowoc, so I'm pretty pleased with that.

Do the lake from time to time. Made it out to a couple ball games. I saw CC hit a home run.....LIVE.....that was stellar.

Summer's low last night was a drinking ticket, which I received because a friend of mine got freaked out by the cops and told the truth. Go figure.

My little brother graduated high school so all of his friends have been having their parties. Those have kept me pretty busy on the weekend. I enjoy making them take one drink too many, and in a few cases, them doing the very same to me.

Im ready to get back to Madison.

InsideOut · Post #52 » by **InsideOut** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:50 am

A fun read. I took Spanish in Madison back in the mid 80s when it was first required. Not a fun time because high school could care less if you took it. I showed up the first day having never spoken a word of it and everyone else in the class had it in high school yet didn't test out of it because they all wanted the easy 4 credit A. At least that's how I remember it 24 years later. Now my 4yr old is taking Spanish classes. Best part of the summer is the same 4yr old just learned to ride a bike. Crazy thing is if you don't put a helmet on him and cover him in bubble wrap other parents look at you like you're crazy.

midranger · Post #53 » by **midranger** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:59 am

Ah yes, the horror of Math 222. Take your AP credit and run man, that's what I did. That class eats freshmen alive. I didn't take it, but several I knew did. Not worth it. If you do take it, you better hope your high school calc class was EXTREMELY comprehensive because day 1 is intense.

I think I started in 3rd semester spanish. That's well worth the little bit of extra work because the retroactive credits make the rest of your college life that much easier. I imagine 4th semester is similar.

My advise to all freshmen with retroactive/AP credits, take 12 credits your first semester. Your extra credits make this possible. College life and classes have a steep learning curve. Some people handle it better than others. If you can swing it, you may as well give yourself the best chance to succeed early on, rather than drowning right away.

bango_the_buck · Post #54 » by **bango_the_buck** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:33 am

adamcz wrote:bango, what field are you in?

Biochemistry. But my specific research area is pretty interdisciplinary - our lab does everything from genetics and molecular/microbiology to organic chemistry and biophysics.

bango_the_buck · Post #55 » by **bango_the_buck** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:39 am

bigkurty wrote:What is with everyone having their significant others break up with them? How many people did the breaking up? Is there anyone? I will admit I actually opened myself up to really liking a girl for once this summer and she was totally into me and then out of nowhere she pulled the rug out from under me too. Luckily I wasn't too invested in it yet so it only took me a couple weeks of sulking to get over it but man, I feel like going out with some girl and breaking up with her just to reverse the trend here.

That's good. It would have been our 8th anniversary this September... Oh well, c'est la vie.

75totheMACCfund · Post #56 » by **75totheMACCfund** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:57 am

summer has been alright...biggest thing for me was buying a new road bike...got a 2007 Trek Madone 5.0 used off of craigslist...had about 700 miles on it from a guy who didn't realize how big of a commitment biking was and sold me a $3,000 bike plus $400 dollar indoor winter trainer for $1,700...pretty much robbed him, but that's all he wanted...great bike though...about 17.5 pounds, climbs hills really well, and is fast...it's no BMW, but not all of us are in the energy sector...kidding fam.

LUKE23 · Post #57 » by **LUKE23** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:16 am

They keep track of mileage on bikes? Huh, learn something new everyday.

jeremyd236 · Post #58 » by **jeremyd236** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:27 am

midranger wrote:Ah yes, the horror of Math 222. Take your AP credit and run man, that's what I did. That class eats freshmen alive. I didn't take it, but several I knew did. Not worth it. If you do take it, you better hope your high school calc class was EXTREMELY comprehensive because day 1 is intense.

I think I started in 3rd semester spanish. That's well worth the little bit of extra work because the retroactive credits make the rest of your college life that much easier. I imagine 4th semester is similar.

My advise to all freshmen with retroactive/AP credits, take 12 credits your first semester. Your extra credits make this possible. College life and classes have a steep learning curve. Some people handle it better than others. If you can swing it, you may as well give yourself the best chance to succeed early on, rather than drowning right away.

Thanks for the advice. bigkurty, thank you too.

You two make me want to not take the class. But the thing is, Math 222 is required for a lot of the Business majors and at SOAR they told me to start working on those business classes. My high school Calculus teacher is notorious for working us endlessly, and about 80% of her students get a 5 on the AP test (including me). Problem is, that was my junior year of high school. I haven't had calculus in over a year and I'm going into this my first class of college....

bigkurty · Post #59 » by **bigkurty** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:27 am

Do you have the spandex outfits and stuff too 75tothemaccfund?

bango_the_buck · Post #60 » by **bango_the_buck** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:43 am

The biggest thing with calculus (or any math class for that matter) is trying to translate the material into 'english'. The underlying concepts are really not that difficult, but they're always presented in the most confusing way possible. For that reason, many people think it's too difficult or that they aren't smart enough to understand it, but the truth is mathematicians just suck at explaining things clearly. So the key is to not be intimidated if you don't understand something right away and ask yourself, 'what the heck does this actually mean'. If you still can't decipher the gibberish that is a math textbook, don't be afraid to get help (e.g. office hours, classmates, etc). If you do all that, you should be fine.

But then again, I'm a nerd, so what do I know...