The component vectors of a coughing object (me) are Ay= .25m, 30 degrees and Ax= .5m, 45 degrees*. What is the total motion vector for that object?...Do you have the answer yet? Let me save you the trouble. The correct answer is "0". How can that be you ask (I am sure any physicist that stumbles across this posting will be driven nuts by this nonsensical physics problem. Hehehe), well it is simple really, I haven't moved from my bed in about 4 days.
An annoying cough appeared on Saturday and by Sunday night I was down for the count. Wishful me figured it was a 24 hour thing. Ha! I went to school on Monday and just about died. Called into work for Monday...then Tuesday...then Thursday (I don't work Wednesdays). I had a physics exam yesterday night and emailed my professor that morning explaining to him I might need to periodically leave the testing room (it is a closed exam- i.e. no one goes in or out after it has started) to have a coughing fit. The image of my hacking, feverish, mucus filled self must have terrified him because he requested to administer an alternative exam to me at a later date. Thank the lord for small miracles.
Today was the first day I have been out of bed and functional and being the industrious student that I am I headed straight for the books (you know, after watching the latest Iron Man movie or course...a girl has to have her priorities). And what should I find when I begin to get into studious student mode? Why, I am so glad you asked because I found nearly 50 flashcards that I created on my ipad to be incomplete. Somehow the changes were not saved and so I am now recreating the cards (on the online site then downloading them to the ipad so I can have them backed up so this can never happen again).
On top of all that loveliness, now it seems that my congestion is vacating my chest and moving up to my head...yay for not being able to see, smell, breath, or taste.
* And for all you freaks and geeks out there, I created these values from the guessimate of the decrease in height from bending my knees at a 30 degree angle and the motion of moving forward when coughing.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Then There Are The Days That Suck...
Some days just seem to swallow you whole and the only thing you can do is keep pushing through it knowing that tomorrow will (hopefully) be a new start. Yesterday started with child abuse and ended with a physics exam.
A little boy, who is barely over 2, is getting punched in the face at home. There I said it. I am sure there is more than one child going through this, but this little guy I know personally. What a world to live in where we must hear this, betray none of our internal horror, and then hand the child back over to the parents at the end of the day? Sure, mandated reporting has placed him on the radar of state authorities, but since he goes to this facility that is specifically designed to serve children who are at risk and their families, he was probably already on their radar to begin with.
How can I tell him he is safe at school, help him feel secure, when I still must send him home at the end of the day? How to I address seeing a child just under the age of two bind his hands so tightly together that they turn purple before throwing himself backward (a very violent action against his own body, and something that he should not be familiar with at his young age)? One of our most basic biological instincts, protecting our young, is now useless in a society so large and anonymous that the people who witness and know what is going on in the home (teachers) are not the same ones to address the issues (case workers, other state employees). How is this considered functional?
A little boy, who is barely over 2, is getting punched in the face at home. There I said it. I am sure there is more than one child going through this, but this little guy I know personally. What a world to live in where we must hear this, betray none of our internal horror, and then hand the child back over to the parents at the end of the day? Sure, mandated reporting has placed him on the radar of state authorities, but since he goes to this facility that is specifically designed to serve children who are at risk and their families, he was probably already on their radar to begin with.
How can I tell him he is safe at school, help him feel secure, when I still must send him home at the end of the day? How to I address seeing a child just under the age of two bind his hands so tightly together that they turn purple before throwing himself backward (a very violent action against his own body, and something that he should not be familiar with at his young age)? One of our most basic biological instincts, protecting our young, is now useless in a society so large and anonymous that the people who witness and know what is going on in the home (teachers) are not the same ones to address the issues (case workers, other state employees). How is this considered functional?
Monday, October 3, 2011
Hey You, Exaggerated Respons Guy. Yeah you. Read This.
We've all been there, we're in some public place (in my case, a chemistry lecture hall of nearly 200) and something entertaining/mildly exciting/etc. happens. Most people simply acknowledge it, process the niftiness of it all in their mind and then go about their day. But there is always someone who must shout some over exaggerated, "WOOOOOOOOOOOO!" from the back of the room. To all of you over exaggerated responders, this rant is for you...
Listen up. We get it, you have limited self esteem and therefore must define yourself by drawing attention to yourself. But might I offer a suggestion, do so discreetly. Shouting, "WOOOOOOOOOOO!" from the back of the room (where you have been sitting talking to your friends for the entire lecture. Seriously, just stay home so the rest of us can hear the professor) does not make us turn to you and think, "Wow, he must be a totally awesome dude because he really knows how to emphasis the exclamation point at the end of his utterance." Instead we think, "Seriously, this guy is that impressed by a floating soda can? Just wait until we get to make foaming volcanoes for the science fair...oh wait, we did that in the second grade. Maybe he should go back a few grades."
I admit, science lectures a fun. Balloons explode, cathode ray tube electrons bend with the application of a metal, and diet soda cans float while their regular counterparts sink. This is truly exciting stuff (no, really, have you ever sat in on a psychology lecture? Comparatively speaking, science lectures are WAY better) but each demonstration does not require an over exaggerated (and forced, might I add) response from you. Learn to internalize this tendency to shout every minute reaction that you feel. Trust me, your classmates will thank you for it.
Listen up. We get it, you have limited self esteem and therefore must define yourself by drawing attention to yourself. But might I offer a suggestion, do so discreetly. Shouting, "WOOOOOOOOOOO!" from the back of the room (where you have been sitting talking to your friends for the entire lecture. Seriously, just stay home so the rest of us can hear the professor) does not make us turn to you and think, "Wow, he must be a totally awesome dude because he really knows how to emphasis the exclamation point at the end of his utterance." Instead we think, "Seriously, this guy is that impressed by a floating soda can? Just wait until we get to make foaming volcanoes for the science fair...oh wait, we did that in the second grade. Maybe he should go back a few grades."
I admit, science lectures a fun. Balloons explode, cathode ray tube electrons bend with the application of a metal, and diet soda cans float while their regular counterparts sink. This is truly exciting stuff (no, really, have you ever sat in on a psychology lecture? Comparatively speaking, science lectures are WAY better) but each demonstration does not require an over exaggerated (and forced, might I add) response from you. Learn to internalize this tendency to shout every minute reaction that you feel. Trust me, your classmates will thank you for it.
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