Long Awaited Summary « Push the Envelope

Long Awaited Summary

09Jul08

I haven’t written much autobiographical material this semester besides after the OTM triathlon, mostly because last semester sucked and I didn’t want to sound like a whiny bitch, and I’m sure no one wanted to read it. So I start once more by a brief summary in bullets.

Last semester sucked. It was loads of class and/or work / doing homework / having a broken hand / being in financial ruin. Classes just really sucked.
- German was the best class, because we watched movies and everything was based off of them. However no movie was ever Convenient. One was one DVD, I learned post facto I could copy it. So I went to copy the next one… VHS. I spent three hours copying the one after that. Painfully. I won’t explain how, let’s just say it sucked. Finally I was able to bittorrent the last one (Nirgendwo in Africa, good movie), but it had no subtitles. I was able to download them, but there was no way to display them while watching, so I watched the movie with subtitles in a text editor beside it. Lame.
- Analysis of Linear Systems was the worst class. It was at 8am, and the biggest factor in grades was homework. Which I did not do. Somehow by the grace of God and Dr. Sharer I managed to pull my grade around with a teacher curve and good test grades.
- Microprocessors was great. I completely understood everything that happened in that class. Coding and testing on an AVR processor is a bitch though.
- PLC’s (programmable logic controllers) was definitely the easiest class of them all. Thank God for Dr. Sherlock.
- That’s all I remember of classes, and more than I want to.
Triathlon / Marathon training was probably the only enjoyment I got last semester
- I trained for and ran a marathon in march. It was awesome. My time was 3:46:00. The elevation change was almost 500 feet. It wasn’t like running through mountains, but it was definitely most hilly.
- I was supposed to train for and do a half-ironman marathon but I broke my hand throwing a wrench in my training schedule. I’m now planning on the next convenient one that’s in September.
- I did an olympic distance triathlon at the end of May : http://sjerdmanczyk.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/worst-race-ever-lessons-learned/
- I did a sprint triathlon the weekend after the OTM tri. It went a lot better than OTM. I could tell I hadn’t been training like a should have recent to the race. If I had tapered and trained properly I would have done a lot better. Regardless, it was fun passing people on a mountain bike, and passing much more people on the run. I think that’s just due to the fact that I’m a slow swimmer though…
My friends have started graduating now. I’ve had two good friends move already. Both are off to do awesome things. Most of the rest of my friend are leaving in December. It’s high time I got out of here myself. Cannot wait until next summer when I graduate (knock on wood).
I started going on trips / volunteering with the Venture organization on campus. Good cheap trip and they’re all good people. UNCC has a good with going with this program. Got to go rock climbing on real rocks for the first time in life. It was pretty awesome.
Summer has been a long bore of triathlon training and working at Desktop Support.
I started a new job as a security guard. In the weekends. When nothing happens. I read books and listen to podcasts. I also pass the time by doing static exercises.
I just started summer classes, Analysis of Linear Systems 2. With a different teacher. Looks to be much better this time around.
I’ve been volunteering at the rock wall on campus during student orientation sessions. Offering my services as a belayer. It’s Venture’s way of showcasing itself to the young’uns. Most are cool, some are dumb and sassy. I have fun.
Looking to the future
- July 11th weekend – Camping / backpacking / waterfalls galore awesomeness. Finally a vacation!!!
- August 2nd – Bandits Challenge, a “Hard” (officially classified) triathlon. This time I’ll be much more prepared.
- August 8th – last day of summer classes. Five brutal weeks. argh.
- September 14h – Duke Liver Center Half Ironman – At long last. I’ll try for no broken bones this time.

I think that sums everything up. I hope so, because I’m putting forth no more effort or thought into trying. Thank you poor soul for reading all of this. I aim for my life to be more awesome / interesting in the future.