Fear the Crab

It seems the more I work, the less time I have for journal entries. Of course, playing Animal Crossing and Legend of Zelda doesn’t help. Anyway, I got my first project for The Office, and it’s a simple thing every new student programmer gets. It’s supposed to let me apply what I’ve read towards “real world” applications. Right now I’m creating a simple program that will let a user input a first name and age, then store that information in a separate file. When storing, it should save it in alphabetical order, and upon a command be able to display all the names that are saved. I need to also enable the program to be able to delete names. I haven’t done that part yet, but I believe I got the first two (input and save) down. There are three parts to this project, and I’m still on the first, but this part isn’t due until April 9, so I’ve got some time. Plus, I’m in the office for a good 8 hours, which gives me an opportunity to fully concentrate on it.

I’m a bit worried about how the summer session will go. I’m taking that class I dropped this semester, ICS 212, which is C and C++ programming. It’ll be the only class I’m taking, so perhaps I’ll fare better this time around, but the class starts at 1730 and ends at 1930, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’ll have time to make it with my current work schedule, but what I’m mainly worried about is the amount of time I’ll have to do the homework. Hopefully I’ll be disciplined enough to ignore the GameCube.

So far my Perl learning is progressing. I’m still at that “simple program” level, making Perl able to say “hello world” and other such things of that sort. At least I have some of the basic concepts down, and I can always refer back to the book for when I ultimately get a programming project from The Office boss.

I’ve just received word that I’ve been accepted as an undergraduate classified student for Fall 2003. This is good news, because it means I’ll pay less tuition and be able to register earlier. Of course, I’m also considered a “new” student, so for Fall I’ll still have to register late, but once that’s done, I’ll have seniority. It seems UH@M has classified me as a “second degree” student, which I think is a bit higher, if not equal, to senior status. So I’ll really register early, and possibly have an opportunity to get a parking pass.

Driving for The Lab is starting to become second nature now. I’ll be expected to do slight office work, mostly logging in whatever I bring back from the dentists’ offices. And if they don’t have anything for me, I can go home without worrying about making my 20 hours a week; they’ll take care of the medical regardless. That’s good news, in a way, because it means I won’t have to worry and count hours all the time. It also means I won’t get paid as much on the slow days, but I’m fine with that, because I’m mainly interested in maintaining my medical, not getting money.

I mean, I could always use the money, but at this point in my life, school is the more important issue, so I want to concentrate on that.

It’s been a hectic week. I started training as a driver at The Lab. Most of it is pretty straightforward, so the real trial is just figuring out which dentist needs something delivered by what time, and what time does their office open. It seems there are some dentists that open at 0800 and expect their deliveries at 0800. Just yesterday, in fact, two dentists opened at 0800 and had cases due at 0800, and they were on opposite sides of downtown.

I managed to work out an arrangement for The Office position. I enrolled at Leeward for three one-month courses, all dealing with e-commerce. I’m not sure what will be involved with those classes, but they’re online, and I have a feeling they involve spamming people with advertisements and constructing mailing lists. I have to take three courses because they’re all 1 credit each, and I need 3 credits to become eligible to work. UH Student Employment doesn’t seem to care that the classes are only one month, as they are more interested in whether I have a total of 6 credits. At least, that’s the impression I got when I showed my tuition receipt to the SECE office. They cleared my hold, so now my application for that student programming job is underway and looking okay. I’m still pending approval, but according to everyone I’ve spoken to, I should be in the clear.

Well, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that yesterday I changed the oil in my truck, all by myself (thank you very much). Since I’m not that mechanically inclined, that was a real feat for me. I also gave my truck a bath, and later that night I went out to D&B’s with a bunch of friends for a little get-together. Maile, James, Mary, Irene, Tolkien, George, Rei, Min, and Maile’s brother Keoni all joined me there. I ate the Jack Daniel’s ribeye steak, and it was very nice. Rei bought me this drink, I think it was called a crowntini, which is like a martini except they use Crown Royal. At least, that’s what I thought I heard above the noise and my inebriated two-beer state. And I don’t know if it was just the way D&B’s made it, but it tasted really strong, like I was drinking a shot of some kind of flavored whisky.

The bad news. I just discovered that because I’m only taking one class this semester (I had dropped ICS 212, if you recall from a previous post), I am not eligible for that student programmer job I was offered. This sucks, because I had already filled out the I-9 and W-4 forms and quit DFS so I could get this one. Now they tell me I can’t have it. I replied to their email notice and explained my situation, what led me to dropping the class, and how I am now unemployed, and asked if there was anything I could do to save this opportunity. One of The Office guys suggested I talk to one of the community colleges and explain my situation, and ask if they can recommend a 3-credit course that I could take, if there is one with open enrollment. It’s already halfway through the semester, though, and I’m worried that even if I can get that extra course, if I’ll be expected to catch up on the workload for that course. People are already taking midterms, so I’d be hard-pressed to make up that much work in a short amount of time. Not to mention the possibility that I may have to attend the class; that would severely cut into the hours I’d have for jobs. Maile is going to try and ask today if there are any courses, and I’m going to call later on my own, so hopefully a clearer path will open up before me once the end of the day draws near.

I went and dropped my 212 class. I actually haven’t officially dropped it yet, as I haven’t submitted the form to the Office of Admissions and Records. The reason for that is because in order to drop the class, I needed the instructor’s signature. But the instructor was sick, so he allowed the departmental advisor to sign in his absence. But the departmental advisor wasn’t in her office, forcing me to leave the form in her in-box with a note attached. I hung around at the ICS club until 1615, and decided to check back at the office. She was finally in, and she had just signed the form and was about to call me. I took the form over to the Office of Records, only to discover they close at 1600! That bit.

So I will have to try and run in tomorrow, before I go to work. It shouldn’t be too much of a chore since I start work at 1545 and the campus parking lot frees up at around 1300. That gives me roughly two hours to get things done.

Of course, I’m not out of the woods yet. I still have 241 work to do, and out of the two sections due tomorrow, I’ve only done one. I think I’m screwed.

I went to that job interview for the ITS department. I’d like to think it went well, but it’s hard to discern if the interviewer’s were sincerely interested in me, or were just fake-nodding in all the right places. I answered their questions lucidly and straight from the heart, so hopefully it went well. I also took a 45 minute quiz on my knowledge of code and the UNIX system. One question I didn’t answer because I didn’t know anything about it. Another question was answered purely on guesswork. The coding aspect gave me a little bit more confidence, but I don’t know if the code is actually what they were looking for. They said they’ll contact me early next week. I don’t know if I can wait that long.

Now comes more decision making. If I do get this ITS job, it’ll mean I will quit duty free. Then I would have to decide if I will ask Henry for a position at his dental lab. However, while I do know I can schedule my hours for ITS, I don’t know if I’ll have that same freedom at the dental lab. And if the next semester changes my schedule, I don’t know if Henry is willing to accommodate it.

Then again, if I don’t get the ITS job, I have to decide if I will stick with duty free or just go for part-time with Henry. I’m sure Henry would be more than willing to offer me a position, especially if I can work much of the week, but my class schedule will come into play again. And, I will also be taking a drastic cut in pay, since I’ll have part-time hours. I don’t know what wages Henry will offer, and that’s just one more thing I have to consider for the whole shebang.

Just when I thought some of the stress was behind me, there’s more waiting around the corner..

I have to make some serious decisions. First is whether or not to drop my programming class. The work is do-able, but with my current job situation and the load from my math class, it’s getting kinda overwhelming. Perhaps if it were my sole class, I could tackle it with more enthusiasm, but the way it is now, I’m have difficulties. If I do drop 212, I’ll still have 241 to concentrate on, and since that class is online (and I know a few people I can study with), it shouldn’t be too bad.

The cons: It pushes back the completion of the ICS department considerably; It still means I have to take the class again; I won’t get my tuition money back; I’m a failure in the field I want to succeed in.

The pros: I’ll have more time to concentrate on 241; I can always take it next semester, and likely I’ll have more time to concentrate on it then; I might get better instruction (not to say the current instructor is bad); I won’t stress out so much.

The other problem is whether or not to quit DFS and try to get that student job in ITS that was offered to me. It’s a student job, meaning max 20 hours a week and no benefits, but it’s in the field I want to be in, so I figure that’ll be good for the experience. And as a backup, Maile asked Henry if he would be interested in offering me a part-time job at his dental lab. I’d be a courier for them, and possibly do some office/lab work, but the hours are more flexible than duty free, and I’ll be working part-time. I’ll also get medical and I think I can arrange a 401k with them.

Ideally the situation would be: Mon/Fri/Sat work at the lab from 0600 to 1200, Tue/Wed/Thu work on campus at that student job (don’t know what the hours will be yet, or even if I will get it). Those hours would give me lots of time to focus on my studies. Ideally.

I guess I can make a better decision after tomorrow. I have an interview with the student-job people.

I managed to get a lot of work done today. Went to school at around 1400 and sat in the lab for hours programming. Then I went to see the TA for help on using Visual Studio. It was cool. It reaffirmed my belief that the professor and TAs are there to be consulted, especially when you don’t understand the material. Too many people (especially the young ‘uns) don’t utilize those resources, I’ve found.

So now I just have a few more things to do, but I think I’ll do them tomorrow. I’m going to relax for the rest of the day, and hopefully this headache of mine will leave.

I just realized that I wanted to wash my truck tomorrow. I wonder if I’ll be able to fit the two in?

I’ve been busy with my homework. I’m slowly getting into the groove of school, yet it’s already the third week. I think the more hours I got from work is making me feel like there’s less time to get my studies done. Well, technically it IS less time, but the amount of free time I had before now seems shortened by a dramatic difference. Perhaps I will never be able to explain it properly, but hopefully the sporadic entries in my journal can give people the gist of what I’m trying to say.

There is a bit of good news, though. I actually managed to finish one part of my programming assignment. At least, I got it to work, but I don’t really know if it’s supposed to work in the way I made it. Hopefully my trip to school tomorrow will shed some light.

I still have a bunch of math to do, and there’s the other parts of my programming that need work, too.

My trip to school on Tuesday was.. eventful. First I dropped off that lab account application, and they told me it’d be ready in 5 or 10 minutes. So I think, “Cool” and head to the lab to check up on it. Lo and behold, there’s a class using the lab, and according to the schedule sheet, the lab wouldn’t be open until 1800! Being that it was only 1330, I wasn’t going to stick around and wait. I went to the Academic office to make an appointment, and found out that they only take same-day appointments (which is very strange, considering that they’re appointments). I guess that’s like a first-come, wait-to-be-served kind of deal. They gave me a phone number to call, and maybe I’ll call tomorrow. Since I couldn’t get an appointment, I went to the other computer lab to meet up with a classmate, and we hashed out some of the math homework. I don’t think we really learned anything, though.

Then I spent an hour in traffic. I hate traffic.

Tomorrow will be the second day of class for me, which feels funny because it’s already been two weeks of school. I’ll have to turn in my homework assignments, and I hope I’ve done them correctly, printed them in an acceptable format, and answered all pertinent questions. I guess I’ll find out.

In AC news, I paid off my final house. I hear if you keep depositing money in the post office, you’ll get a nifty prize. I also tried some of those trading codes, and they seemed to work, sorta. One item was said to be for another person, so I’m wondering if Maile mistyped my name or town by accident. It didn’t matter, though, as it was for an item I later got on my own. Tomorrow will be the day I try to send things to people other than Maile. George wants a whole bunch of Modern furniture, which will help him towards his series collection, and also a couple of old-school NES games. That’ll be a lot of codes for him to type out.

I finally updated my finances. I didn’t realize it until then, but I hadn’t entered anything in my register since mid December. Not good at all.

Tomorrow is a big school day, even though I have no classes scheduled. Rather I will be there to run some errands and meet a classmate so we can bitch and moan about our math homework. I have to drop off a lab account application, which oddly is for the same lab I had last semester. It seems that despite having had an account, I still need to reapply. I guess they don’t keep lab accounts forever, which in some weird way I can actually understand.

Time permitting, I will also stop by the Office of Academic Services and try and convince the advisers to give me more credits from my Puget Sound days. Since I’ll be considered an undergraduate next Fall, UH has loaded me with all these Focus Requirements (ie classes to make me well-rounded in the liberal arts), and these seem very similar to some of the classes I took way back in the day. So I’m going to go there with my old course-listing and try to needle out a few more credits.

I also have to stop by the bank and deposit some checks that’ve been sitting on my desk the past month. Ugh. I think all this Animal Crossing is starting to negatively affect my lifestyle.