Year two, day one

I don’t know if I walked a full block after stepping out the door this morning before I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. I’m learning for myself that, in reality, any climate that drops below 0 degrees—like, say, this morning’s -5 degrees—should be deemed uninhabitable.

My 7:30 am class requires me to be out by 6:40 to catch the bus to the transit center. If I miss that bus, it’s another 15 minutes walking time to the transit center, and in this weather that’s almost certain death. From the transit center, I catch a bus to campus.

Dr. Benjamin Blau, my corporate finance professor, is a great person to have around at 7:30 am if you want to be awake. He is enthusiastic, energetic, and animated. He jokes about life; talks about making “boatloads” of money; and, like all good professors, doesn’t care which edition of the textbook you use so long as you follow along with his lectures and get the ideas down.

My 10:30 am class with Dr. Robert Heal will likely be my biggest challenge this semester. It’s analysis, and in math terms that means theorems and proofs. In Dr. Heal’s words, it’s our transition from the math we’ve been doing all our lives to the world of advanced math. The course didn’t always exist, and so the bridge wasn’t always there, but he’s confident it’s important. Frankly, it seems like my kind of thing, very interesting stuff, but I do worry about being able to do math in a way with which I am unfamiliar. When I talked to McKay briefly tonight, he offered his helped. He said, “Ah, that’s my world. Well, maybe linear algebra is my world, but I’ve taken about six classes in analysis, so I can help you if you need it.” Dr. Heal seems like a wonderful man and professor so far.

When I walked into my last class at 1:00 pm—algebraic structures with Dr. Jim Cangelosi—I immediately found a name plate ready for me (a big index card folded in half long-ways) and saw that all seated students already had theirs out in front of them. His way of getting to know us quickly?

Jim might be best described after the first day as a dry eccentric, and he’d likely agree with me on that. He’s witty, fun, and easily likable. The sign above the door when we walked in today read something like: “CAUTION: You are now entering a LITERAL communications zone.” For most of the class, he explained how we need to speak literally in this class because we deal with mathematics. As an example, he said, “What if I said, ‘Rachel is one of my best friends’? What’s wrong with that statement?” There was a pause until one of the girls at the front said, “She can’t be one of your best friends because best implies there’s only one.” And that’s the kind of literal he’s talking about.

I was the last person out the door when class ended. I turned around to ask one more question.

ME: Jim! So there's no textbook?

JIM: No. Well there's a textbook, but there isn't a textbook for this class.

He smiled.

I did my very best this semester

Well, my first semester at Utah State is over. I knew it was going to happen when I woke up at 5:30, but it was a long road to get there. I took the eight o’clock bus to campus and studied until 10:20, and then went to the Fine Arts Visual building to take my calculus final.

It was a pretty relaxed one. I was prepared for most of the things I saw and surprised by a few, but I knew I only needed a C+ on the final to keep my A in the course. My final hasn't yet been graded, but I’m certain it’s good enough to keep my A. In fact, I’m willing to bet I got an A- on the final alone.

Statistics was not as fun. Alek (my stats buddy) and I met up a little more than a half hour before the exam to go over some last minute details in our notes. But once we got in, the test went by in what felt like 15 minutes. In all, we had an hour and 50 minutes, but it was not enough. Alek told me before going in that he was probably going to skip to the free response section to knock that out first. After two multiple choice problems at the start of the test, I knew I should move on and take care of the big stuff because there were more points at stake. As it turned out, I had about 10 minutes at the end to go through the multiple choice and true/false questions, so I guessed on a lot of them.

11 things the entire world now knows about me

I wasn't tagged, per se, but my mom did this on her blog and it gave me a reason to write, which is something I love to do. Part of the game is that you have to create your own questions for others to use, so I posted mine at the bottom. Here are the questions from my mom:

1.  What do you wish you had known earlier in your life?

How self-righteous I appeared to some people. I've always tried to do what I thought was the right thing, sometimes at the sacrifice of good friendship.

2.  What is the hardest thing you have ever done?

The scariest thing? A back dive off the high dive. The hardest school assignment? A project for my biology class, 2008. The hardest thing ever? Wow, I don't know. Um...maybe dealing with the ex-boyfriend of the girl I was dating. (That girl is now my wife.) Hard to say, though.

3.  What is one health tip you try to live?

Keep a good eye on my weight. When I've had too much food in a given time period, I know exactly where my weight is so that I can take immediate action instead of letting it get ahead of me.

4.  What are you currently reading?

The journals I kept as a missionary. First time ever revisiting that.

5.  What do you generally have for breakfast each morning?

Half a bowl of cereal. Usually the off-brand of Honey Nut Chex or the off-brand of Frosted Mini-Wheats. The off-brand versions are almost always better for those two, and they are my favorites.

6.  What is one thing you have learned from your dad?

Forgive and move on. Give people a second chance.

7.  What was the happiest age of your life so far?

Two years stand out—ages 23 and 25. I got married and had a little boy, and I never knew I could be this happy. Seriously.

8.  Name a favorite song now on the radio in 2012.

I don't listen to the radio, so I'll go with what I've heard most recently that I most like: anything from Birdy's new album, especially the songs "People Help the People", "White Winter Hymnal", "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight", "I'll Never Forget You", and "Farewell and Goodnight".

9.  Three words that describe your mom.

Uncompromising (in her morals and beliefs). Compassionate. Personable.

10. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My love for other people. I want a greater capacity to love others so that I don't misjudge them.

11. What project are you currently working on?

I'm typing out every verse of the Book of Mormon into a flashcard application called iFlash. Every day I type a few more verses and then test myself on all previous verses as the application shuffles the cards. So far I have completed Mormon, Ether, and almost all of 1 Nephi. When I'm done I'll upload them to the iFlash server so that others can download them and use them.

If you wish to participate, consider yourself tagged. Here are the questions I've created for you:

1. You know that book you have always wanted to write but can never get around to? What is it about?
2. Name a favorite song most people would be surprised to know you like.
3. What is one thing you really would rather not have to do for the rest of your life?
4. You just found $10 in a pair of pants you haven't worn in a long time. What do you do with the money?
5. Imagine you have a time machine that you can only use for one round-trip journey and that can only visit a period of your own life. Where do you choose to go and what do you do when you get there?
6. What is the greatest compliment you have ever received?
7. How do you measure a successful day?
8. If you had the floor in a legislative assembly and wanted to filibuster, what would you read from?
9. Of all the things you have taught or will teach your children, what do you most want them to remember?
10. What is one store you want to live closer to?
11. Name your favorite home-cooked meal.