peppers!

As Kerry can attest, these are larger now, these pictures were taken just a few days after I got the plants. On the left, the bell pepper, on the right, cayenne. If you look closely in the right one, you can see the front of my car. Enjoy!

Riverwood goings on

Well, this happened earlier than I had expected. The congregation voted today about 90% in favor with one abstination (Melissa Lien I suspect) to give the green light to the session's recommendation that Tim Lien be the next senior pastor once Bryan leaves at the end of June. He had to have 80% since there is no BCO provision for an assistant pastor to become the senior pastor at the same chruch at which he was asssistant. This is allegedly to prevent any sort of assistant coming in and forcing the senior pastor out. Both Tim and Bryan were allegedly cornered at the last meeting of Warrior Presbytery and grilled about it. Now all that's left is for Warrior Presbytery to vote on the congregation's decision (it's just a 3/4ths vote there) then an installation on or around July 2nd.

Now what's left is finding an assistant/associate to serve in the position Tim has held the past two years (youth guy). We're at an odd position now since most seminaries have already graduated and already sent their graduates to their first calls. I think it's something the laypeople in the church are going to suck up for about a year until they can find someone qualified for the job.

That's what's happening. A last pre-Africa post forthcoming on Tuesday.

zing!

Final grades in for the semester...

Industrial Development & Location (GY-532)-->A
Research Methods & Traditions in Geography (GY-500)-->A
Transport Geography (GY-566)-->A

I haven't had a GPA this high since Jr. High (roughly a 3.83 now), and if I continue this, I'll end up with a GPA in the range of 3.93 by the time I graduate! I'm also off the "restriction" that I came in under because of the 900 I got on the GRE. (Had to keep 3.0 for the first 12 attempted hours). Hooray for me!

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout...

Again, the post title is a line from a song, relevant (somewhat) to the subject matter. The song is "Jackson", a duet featuring Johnny Cash and (at the time--they weren't yet married) June Carter, particularly I'm thinking about the version sung live at Folsom Prison in 1968.

Remember what I said a couple of days ago about my pepper plants being droopy? Well, when I put then back in the sun the next day, they had already exploded (particularly in terms of leaf size). They had grown about about an linear inch, then a couple of the leaves at the bottom of each plant (cayanne, and bell both) had about doubled in aeral size. They're still going on the fertilizer that was in the potting soil, and I've watered them probably just once because every couple of days--including about 6:30 this morning--we get a decent rain through and everytime I finger test the soil (stick finger in to see how moist the soil is), it doesn't feel like it needs watering and the plants never look droopy from a lack of moisture. They're even beginning to start sprouting (now if only I can attract some bees)! They should be putting out peppers in mid-July.

Celebration Day

In keeping with my policy of song titles in post titles as they're appropriate to the subject of the post (do you follow?) the title of this post is a Led Zeppelin song from their Led Zeppelin III album full of mainly acoustic and folksy stuff.

But anyway, I'm done with finals. Finito. Sayonara. Well, until comprehensive exams, then finals in December, then...well, you get the picture. Final analysis:

GY-566-->
Nailed it, got an A in the class. I felt confident about everything I answered, except for that one question's calculations. That really verified that I am a transportation geographer. I looked through the notes twice, maybe three times.

GY-532-->
Well, this remains to be seen. Ironically, the one class I struggled with the most was at an undergraduate level. It dealt with planning, but not transportation (though it did dabble into transportation issues...Infrastructure, networks, you get the picture). In stark contrast to GY-566, I read though these notes six or seven times, but didn't feel nearly as confident (again, consistent with how I felt throughout the semester).

GY-500-->(geeky moment, a la Kelly, forthcoming)
Turned it in 7 1/2 hours before it was due (i.e. at 2:00pm). Department secretary said that she thought I should get extra credit for that (I agree). I was the second person to put it in his box (which is not necessarily to say I was the second to turn it in as we had an e-mail option as well). Basically I rip into post modernism as it applies to the sciences:

1. Post modernism's criticisms of modernism, while superficially valid, do not hold any water. How can a post modernist, the very foundations of which emphasize the lack of absolutes, say that anything that arose out of modernism was bad? (The failure of the nation-state in Africa, for example).
2. If "Nothing exists out of the text" (according to deconstructionist and postmodernist Jacques Derriea) and everything is left up to the individual for interpretation, then who is a post modernist to say that what Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, or Saddam Hussein (among others) were wrong in how they killed thousands and millions? Where not they doing what they interpreted as right in eliminating subversive peoples?
3. Since science (geography specifically) and academia in general seek out universal truths, post modernism is a pox on the sciences--the arts are a different story.
4. Post modernism has led to the disunity in academia that exists today wherein people specialize in singular fields, rather than diversifying their knowledge. No one (generalized statement) knows about Mozart AND molecular biology AND American History anymore, which is bad according to E.O. Wilson and, after having looked at it some, myself.
   

That is the essence of what I said. I go on for five pages about that using notes, texts, handouts, and readings from class. I felt pretty decent about it, but I haven't a clue as to what to expect in a grade. If Dr. Webster is a post modernist, an A, if not, then who knows? (get it? haha!)

Now I get ready for Africa. Two weeks from now, I'll be hurdling across the Atlantic Ocean in a piece of metal at several hundred miles per hour.

My pepper plants are droopy. They were out in the rain and the wind today. Hopefully they'll perk up tomorrow, less I have to get stakes.

Exam Update 1

Had my transport geography final this morning. After having gotten my final project back in the class (9.5/10), I came home after the final and figured I could get something like a 79 on the test and still make something like a 90.01. A C gets me an outright A.

I didn't come close to getting a C (on the positive side, of course).

That was the most confident I've felt about an exam in quite a while (if not ever). I didn't know everything, but the ones I did know I felt like I nailed (we had choices on what to answer, 6 of 8 definitions, 4 of 5 analysis, 1 of 4 essays). I think I botched the calculation on one of the analysis questions (I calculated it three times and got something different each time). Dr. Weber isn't necessarily concerned with exact calculation, but rather conceptual understanding, which in spite of potentially erroneous calculations, I had the questions concept down.

Now I have to finish up the last assignment (presentation critiques) in my Industrial Development and Location class, then start on Dr. Webster's final exam which is due by 9:30pm on Wednesday. That is an optional take home/in class final. We can do it at home with everything in front of us and take as long as we want, or we can be in class with everything in front of us but only have the exam period. Two 4-5 page essays is what it amounts to, nothing too tough, especially considering I have everything in front of me. I hope to have it done by Wednesday afternoon (tomorrow afternoon would be MUCH better, that's what I'm actually aiming for).

So I'd better get back to the books for about two more days, then I'm freeeeeeee (sort of).

Ground Control to Major Tom

It's a song (by David Bowie), but it has nothing to do with this posting other than that I'm listening to it as I type, unlike my last movie reference.

This semester is steadily winding down. I talked with Dr. Weber today about the final project, the final exam, and his portion of the comprehensive exams. I'm supposed to get an outline of my Intro to GIS course (taken as an undergraduate) and my Transport Geography course (taking now) then go over it with him. He said he'll be here in June so he didn't seem to think there was a huge rush (particularly since I don't plan on studying until July) since I'm in the midst of dead week/finals. I have my Intro to GIS notes around somewhere, but I took that in Spring 2003, so I have no clue where they might be. Fortunately, a girl I work with took the class last semester and said she'd give me her notebook (both she and Dr. Weber said that the course didn't change much, and besides, it's likely he'll ask more recent stuff anyway), as well as the comprehensive outline she typed up. I'll do my own, but it's always good to have something else to help guide. She also gave me her GY500 notebook which helped IMMENSELY and probably helped me get an A on the mid-term (she took it last spring). As for Dr. Seth (Appiah-Opoku) and Dr. Richetto, I haven't talked with them yet about details, but I'll get to them by week's end.

So once I get through this paper on an ongoing transport project, I can start studying for finals. They are as follows:

GY-500-->Take-Home due by the end of the scheduled exam period (Wednesday night I believe), and available now --though I haven't yet picked it up. Two essays. One required, one a choice of two.

GY-532-->Wednesday 8:00-10:30

GY-566-->Monday 8:00-10:30.

So I'll be done by Wednesday afternoon at the latest (depending on when I finish my GY-500 exam). Then I can start focusing on Africa. Hooray!