Brian’s Weblog

Well, didn’t want to talk about this before it happened and jinx it, but I started a new job last week. Driving a truck and doing a little AutoCAD work on the side. It’s for a company that I have been rented to in the past and I have worked with many many times before. SO I started working for them on Monday and worked everyday since. Work canceled for me on Saturday but I will still able to get a few hours of overtime. Anyway things look good, Truck is great and people seem cool, I hope the hours keep up.

Anyway, on a side note, my German teacher left me a few months ago. So I decided to not let that stop me from learning German. I have wanted to learn that language for a long time and even though, I had some “difficult” feelings, I decided to carry on. I met a wonderful girl named Nelli a few weeks ago and she is a very sweet German/Russian girl that has the patience of a saint. I tried reading the BBC website in German but the words were just to hard, so I read Hansel and Gretel to her in German, while she corrected my pronunciation. I picked up most of the pronunciation fairly quickly with some exceptions. Like “ei, ie”, those bastards are killing me. So I want to thank her very very much, she has not only put up with bad slow reading, but also helped motivate me by being happy (or at least acting like she is) that I said something correctly. SO, Nelli, thank you very much, and I am sorry to torture you with the bad, slow German with an American accent. You have amazing patience and haven’t lost your temper once even though I make the same mistake time and time again. Again, thank you . So world, here my patient German teacher and good friend, Nelli.

Well, things are going okay at school, I am figuring out my German class layout. Its part text, part workbook and the key, is the audio files online. Before I knew about the online audio, I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I guess I will only be able to do homework in front of a computer. That shouldn’t be a problem. Fixture and Design is heavy AutoCAD and parametric modeling, I am already AutoCAD certified and have both programs at home, so I am currently blowing that homework out of the water. Other students take 30 minutes to do a drawing it takes me about 5. English a paper is due tomorrow. Just a page, shouldn’t be too bad. Physics is going great, great teacher, night and day difference to the other teacher.

Well first day is over, and it was a long day. I will comment class by class:

1. German I – Maybe 20 students. Older, nice teacher that laughs and smiles a lot. Sigfried Bottjer is his name. It went okay, we started learning common sayings like Guten Tag Herr Bottjer, which is Good Day Mr. Bottjer. Anyway, the class was moving fast and my head was very confused, I bought the book, which was an amazing 160 dollars. So I am sure I will be able to follow easier. Not happy that the book costs that much, but it should do for German II as well. Probably will do German Rosetta Stone in spare time to help out.
2. Detailing Assembly and Fixture Design – 6 students, well, this one didn’t go so well. I guess last Friday the teacher quit, so Saturday the AutoCAD teacher agreed to fill in. Mr. Raschka is a good teacher, but I don’t know if he will keep teaching it or not. Technically, he teaches too many classes already (6). I am sure I will do fine in this no matter who teaches it.
3. English Composition II – 25 Students. Well this one is reading short stories, poems and sonnets and writing a paper on it. Everyone that knows me, already knows my problem with this. Enough said, I am not looking forward to this.
4. Technical Physics II – 8 Students. I like physics and this time I have a really good teacher. Much more relaxed and easier to understand. Completely different teaching style then the other teacher. This one stresses more, that he wants us to understand what we are doing more then memorizing equations. I am happy that I followed Lloyd’s suggestion and took this instructor.

Mon and Wed, I am there 8am to 8pm. Friday 8 to early afternoon. Thats it, lets see how it goes.
Took a picture: The school at classtime

Well, school starts tomorrow and I just learned that I have a class dropped by the school for not enough people enrolled. Apparently they made this decision on Friday and did not tell me, I looked at my  schedule to find out that it was dropped. Nice huh. BUT, they haven’t credited me my money back yet, I guess they make sure that they cover there ass at our expense. I am not thrilled with the standards at DCCC, I will go elsewhere soon. Thats it. Well my classes are:
German I
Detailing Assembly and Fixture Design
English Composition II
Technical Physics II

Well, I talked to Drexel and they will accept everything I do at DCCC, like they said in the beginning. SO I am taking 5 classes starting again this January 14 at DCCC. I only have a few more classes after that to get my Associates degree. Anyway, at least I am moving in the right direct direction.

Drexel is going to honor my agreement with them. I can continue to keep taking classes at DCCC at 1/3rd of the price of Drexel and they will take all credits that they tell me to take (english, math, science, tech classes, If I take basket weaving, they will not take it). I will add more later, but it was a good day.

Nothing much is going on lately. Things are not great, school has pretty much gone to shit. I am hoping all my credits will transfer to Drexel University okay, but I can’t get anyone who knows anything to give me some answers. I haven’t taken the Olds out for a ride in a month, I hope a decent day comes up soon, I need to get the tires rolling before it forgets its a good running machine. Seems old things forget that. Speaking of that, I am another year older. I am 33 now, not exactly where I wanted to be in life, but not as bad as it could be. I have always wanted to learn the German language so I got the Rosetta Stone for German and I started this week. I can now count to ten in German, and thats about it. I can also say “the girl is sitting on the yellow airplane”, I don’t really see a need for that one, but anyway, life will go on. Hopefully

Well, apparently there is some bad news about school and it looks like I might have to discontinue going to school at DCCC. I recieved a letter yesterday from the college and it stated:

“After continual assessment of the dual enrollment model, it has become apparent that students’ educational experiences have not been as smooth as both institutions anticipated. Consequently, both Drexel University and Delaware Country Community College have mutually agreed to terminate the dual enrollment agreement as it was originally designed. Please be assured, however, that both schools are committed to helping you reach your academic goals in Applied Engineering Technology and have dedicated counselors to assist you in this regard.”

What a load of shit. I talked to my counselor less than a week ago with none of this being brought up. At worst, this may mean that I have wasted a lot of time and money.

Did well in my Statics and Strengths of materials test today. I am pretty sure I got an A. I did study for 3 hours last night though. So I should have been prepared. ANYWAY, for the next week or two it might be a little difficult to get a hold of me. If anyone needs me, its probably best to send email to me. I can check that now and again. Everything is fine, I just had to pay the priority. Take care.

Well, I made it to school. Everything went pretty well, except my memory of Trigonometry. I was good at it once, I am just having trouble seeing it visually. I am sure it will come back soon, I just might have to do some extra research to refresh my memory of it. The class is cool though, I am really going to like it, it covers structural loads. Loads on beams and columns, deflection, and compression. I like it, just need to bone up on the math of it. I don’t see it being much of a problem. Anyway, this is the class I am talking about TME 216 – Statics and Strength of Materials.