Trivial Matters

Wow. I actually got accepted to Pacific University today. I had applied on a whim because I wanted a backup school in case OSU didn’t work out. (I still haven’t heard anything from them on changing my admission status to “degree-seeking.”) Then, today, I got a call from their transfer advisor letting me know that I got accepted.

Problem is, they operate on semesters instead of trimesters (like PCC and OSU) so I’d have to drop the classes that I registered for last week (and bought books for today) and then wait 2 months for their next term to start. I also have to figure out how to pay for it since Pacific U is a private school and 5x as expensive as OSU. Even with my GI Bill, Tuition Assistance, and the $6000.00 scholarship they’re giving me, I’d still have to come up with about $3000 plus living expenses.

Also, having just checked their Spring schedule, only one class I need is available and there are only 3 seats left.

So, I think I will defer my enrollment at Pacific U until the Fall, and wait to see how OSU turns out. I figure that if OSU doesn’t work out, I can do Spring term at PCC and then transfer everything over in the Summer. I’d be a few more math  classes ahead at Pacific U (there’s one more I can take in the Spring), and hopefully have the financial stuff worked out where I can afford it.

It is funny that I’m actually in a better position to attend there than I would have been 10 years ago, straight out of high school. Yet, I still can’t quite seem to make it work. If they had an ROTC program, I’d have another option, but I don’t see anything on their site.

On the plus side, Forest Grove is close enough to here that I can move there anytime and still attend PCC. I think next weekend I’l head over there and look at some apartments.

I’ve decided to change things around… again. OSU still has not received my out of state transcripts, and from the letter I got from Pacific U, neither have they. I still can’t register for OSU until Sunday, and as far as I know, I’d still be limited to 8 credits, assuming I could get into the classes I need without my transcripts. No word from my advisor at OSU either.

So I’ve decided to stay in Portland for a few more months and do another term at PCC. They have two more math classes I can take (Diff Eq and Vector Calculus) and I can finish the Oregon Transfer Degree by taking two other classes.

Of course, this did not stop me from quitting Dotty’s. My last day is Tuesday, followed by a week of active duty at the unit and then two weeks off until the new term starts. I got my check from Frank today, so I should be good for cash until my GI Bill kicks back in in February, but I also inquired about a job on campus helping out in the computer lab.

I was looking forward to getting a new place, but there doesn’t seem to be anything good in Corvallis. At least, not in the 1-bedroom range. I may end up getting a 2-bedroom if I can afford it, and I have time now to save and inquire further.

I still have one more paper to finish and two finals for next week. (Possibly a third final as well. I’m waiting to find out if I met the exemption.) Tomorrow I have to make a trip to Ft. Lewis to get some stuff for drill, so I may not get anything done. We’ll see.

I had my Middle East History class earlier today. In each class we discuss two published research papers that have to be read prior to coming to class. The first half of the 4-hour class starts with a single-question essay quiz on the first paper, and the second paper’s quiz is done after the break.

I had some trouble earlier this week accessing the second paper. It was not in the database that the instructor said it would be, so I posted to the class message board to see if anyone else had it. When I got no responses after a day, I did some digging and found a copy on the journal’s website. Being the nice guy that I am, I posted the link on the message board, hoping to help some people out.

As it turns out, some of them waited until the last minute to read the dammed thing and came up short. (And, of course, that’s when the message board went down.) So when I got to class today, I was immediate asked if I had been able to find the paper, to which I replied that they should not have waited till the last moment to, at the very least, download it.

Anyway… It turns out that the instructor was using the database (JSTOR) from the other college he teaches at, and apparently they have more papers on file (or something, we’re not really sure yet). Still, it was an interesting way to start the class.

When we got to discussing the first paper, which everyone had, even if they, like me, didn’t understand much of it, things started clicking in my head. Once I deciphered all of the 20-dollar words, and made the right connections, I realized that I was correct in my assumption that the author did not prove his thesis, even though it was for the wrong reasons. When I started to press the matter with the instructor, he challenged me to write my own paper to illustrate the theory that I had formed in the process.

His challenge was not rhetorical, either. It is not like he was trying to shut me up, or put me down. He actually thought I had a valid case that just needs to be fleshed out. I decided to take him up on the offer to help, but not until after the term is over. My guess is that I’m going to be taking a bunch of math and science classes when I get to OSU and continuing this branch of study would be a welcomed distraction.

Plus, it would be nice to have something I’ve written published in print, with my name on it (if it ever gets that far).

Because of the holiday I didn’t have my Technical Communication class last week. So I glossed over the assignments due this week as I focused on the classes that were coming up. I knew I had to do a resume and cover letter, but had forgotten about the annotated bibliography for the paper due at the end of the term. (Who asks for a bibliography four weeks in advance anyway?)

Then I see that there’s also a write-up due on an article from HowStuffWorks.com and some other prep that has to be done for the in-class work that night. All told, 80 of the 385 points in the class are all due Tuesday. I hope nobody decides to skip the next class.

In other school news, I applied to Pacific University last week. I had visited the campus over a month ago and never heard back from their transfer advisor (who was out that day). Then, all of a sudden, I get a packet in the mail (filled with the same stuff I got at her office), an email telling me they’ll waive the application fee, and two phone calls.

I wouldn’t mind going there instead of Oregon State. It’s closer to home. I can finish two degrees in three years (I think). And it’ll give me a month break in January to do my 3 weeks with the Army. The only downside is that it is a private university and costs about 4 times what OSU does. They have some scholarships, but even with that, my GI Bill, and Tuition Assisstance, I’m still about a $1000 in the hole before I even think about books and living expenses. And that’s just the first semester.

Oregon State is cheap enough that I can pay for school and books and have enough left over to live on. Not much, mind you, but I wouldn’t have to worry about working 40 hours a week on top of class. Plus, I’ve already been accepted to OSU as a non-degree seeking student. Which was an accident, by the way. I filled out the online application back when I thought I was deploying, so I could take some classes online while I was there. When the deployment got cancelled, I sent in the application, not realizing that it was for non-degree status. So now I’m waiting until I can get enough money for the additional application fee to send in the degree-seeking application.

Worst case scenario is that I can only take 8 credits (2 math clases) next term, which would put me in part-time status so I wouldn’t get as much from my GI Bill and would have to get a part-time job in Corvallis. (Which wouldn’t be so bad given that I’d only have two classes, three days a week.)

Decisions, decisions…

My Calculus homework over the weekend was not very hard, so I decided to take it a bit further. We’re studying how to use power series to solve differential equations, and the instructor assigned us two problems. He said that for both we needed only to show the expanded form for y(x), and not try to find the pattern inherent to make it a power series again.

Not content with stopping there, I tried to analyze the patterns in each problem to find an appropriate power series representation. I spent all of my shift yesterday with my engineering pad, staring at the pattern 1, 4, 7, 10, …, trying to find a factorial representation for multiplying each term successively.

I tried to google the pattern, but all I could find was the obvious 3n – 2 notation, but no factorial. Then I found the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. I have a feeling that I’m going to be needing this site quite a bit as I progress in my program.

When I entered the products 1, 4, 28, 280, I found that the above notation was close, but needed a “triple factorial” to make it work. So the answer I was looking for is (3n – 2)!!! (that’s not emphasis, the notation requires three exclamation points). Our instructor had never mentioned the triple (or the double, for that matter) factorial, so I did a bit more research before using it. Also, I found that MAPLE only recognizes the double factorial, so I wasn’t able to verify my first answer.

Once I had that bit of information, the rest of the patterns fell into place. So I’ll probably be the only one in class tonight who has a power series representation for both answers. It would be nice if he’d just give me the A for the class (not that I won’t get one anyway), but at least I’d have one less thing to worry about.

Ok, gloating over now. You can return to your normal duties.