Sometimes Suckiness Prevails

We had an algebra test last week, and we have an algebra test next week. I really hate algebra. Well, that's perhaps a little strong. I strongly dislike algebra. I fully appreciate that it is a useful skill for many jobs, but in my experience, with 20 years in computers and database development, I have never use algebra. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The most I have used is basic statistics: means, medians, modes, that stuff. So this class is really drudge work.

Fortunately I have my photography (and game development) to have fun with.

The significance of an algebra test has two different things attached to it above and beyond the test itself. (Hmmm.... Algebra: Above and Beyond. It'd probably be as successful as the Space series that the very lame joke is derived from.) First, a couple of sessions before, we have to turn in a 'critical thinking' paper. It's a small number of exercises where you are given a problem with a solution. The solution is incorrect. You have to find the mistake, fix it, and explain what happened. It's basically another 1-2 hour homework exercise which is, of course, in addition to your normal algebra homework. Then after you take the test, you get your test back and you have a week to re-take the B form of the test to improve your grade. But you don't just walk into the test center and retake it, oh no! That would be far too easy!

First you have to go through and write a brief explanation of every question that you got wrong. Fortunately she annotates the ones you miss. Still, it takes a bit of time to rework said questions. Yet still you’re not at the point of taking the test! Now you have to go over it again with a math tutor in the testing center, they then initial your test and you’re now ready to take it. Fortunately you don’t have the less than 90 minute time limit for the re-test as you do on the original, you just have to finish it before the testing center closes.


Actually, there’s a third part of tests. You have to do a self-test and turn it in on the day of the test. It’s about three times the length of the test, you do it based on chapter tests throughout the book and it doubles the length of the last homework assignment before the test. I’m going to have to crank that out Tuesday or Wednesday night as the next test is Thursday.


I freely admit that they have a great algebra program in place at New Mexico State. Their methodology of a printed homework/study guide that you buy in the book store for the class is great. The teacher follows the study guide for in-class work, and since they’re not following the text book in an entirely linear fashion, this is what you need to follow the class. This class is actually the top of the four “math for dummies” remedial courses, I’m just glad I tested into the top one. I’m quite dreading full algebra next semester, but I’ve got to take it and I should do it now while it’s still vaguely fresh.


So Wednesday night I go to the observatory mainly for Russet to help me go over the test and explain this crap. I get better explanations from her than from the math tutors in the testing center, then again, my wife is a PhD, she also uses this stuff at a high level on a regular basis. We review the test from last week. We also go over the critical thinking exercise. AND I revise six programs for work that I need to upload and run, but I can’t do that from the observatory as they block virtual private networks for some reason. Since I had to do a studio photo shoot at school that day and process the film, I didn’t get up to the observatory until around 9pm.

I left at 3am.

Got connected to work and started running my programs at about 3:45, and the server that I ran them against started barfing. The programs that I run extract data, summarize it in interesting ways (interesting to people who like analyzing data for trends), then formats it into what the Feds want. And since the program takes 25 minutes to run, it’s sometimes hard to know if the server is just taking a little while to run, or if it’s having problems.

I finally gave up about 6am Thursday morning and went to bed. I normally get up on Tuesday and Thursday at 10am for class at 1pm. I slept in an extra hour. While breakfasting I connected to work and got the 25 minute program running, it completed just fine. So I ran its two companion programs, which take about 15 minutes and 3 minutes respectively, they all completed fine. I started the DTS package to extract the data into the uploadable file format then got in the shower, the DTS job takes 5-10 minutes to run. Before I left to head down the mountain to school, I started the 25 minute program of the second set. The programs run from my work PC in Phoenix against a database server in the Phoenix office, I use a remote control program to direct everything, so my laptop or desktop in New Mexico don’t have to have a continuous connection to Phoenix to keep the program running and get the results.

All in all I was about 20 minutes late to my algebra class. After class I fired up my laptop and confirmed that the 25 minute program completed without errors. (I had tested all six programs against the copy of the database on my laptop, but I’m dealing with a limited data set: 100,000 records on my laptop vs 2.5 million on the production server). Then off to algebra lab/study hall. Got a bite to eat then back to the science center with it’s wireless connection to confirm everything else went well. Eventually all the ducks were lined up in a row and the six files were ready to upload to the Feds and my boss was notified that he could perform the aforementioned task.

Then it was off to re-take my algebra test!

I left the testing center at 6:45pm, my photography class started at 7pm.


Now, normally the algebra lab ends at about 3:30, so I have 3 ½ hours to do things in. But this included eating, doing lots of employer work, reviewing and then re-taking the test. This is the first time that I have not left the campus during a school day.


Photography was also frustrating. Too much of the film that I’d shot Wednesday was not in good enough focus to use. I was doing a fairly difficult thing in the studio: self-portraits. The assignment was to take several photos in different light conditions, all of which you can duplicate in the studio. My teacher and I found one frame that was suitably sharp and well-exposed, I got one good print done. I have to turn in four, I have one of the three remaining selected from a previous shoot, and I have to figure out two more.

So I get home around 10:30pm, dead tired. Fortunately an episode of South Park was starting (Gingers!) so I kicked back for an hour. I had decided on doing three things: check in at work and download fresh copies of programs that I needed to modify, play some City of Heroes, and do some reading before crashing. South Park ends, Daily Show begins, so I power up laptop and go to connect to work.

No dice.

They were having network problems earlier Thursday and apparently they have either entirely shut off their VPN access or they’re having some trouble that blocks it. VERY inconvenient! But I can live with it. I have copies that I can work on that’ll keep me busy over the weekend and earning money.

Daily Show ends, Colbert Report begins. Colbert is good, I really liked him on the Daily Show, but I’m just not entirely sold on his own show. Plus, I was tired. So I powered up my desktop, confirmed that it was my employer’s problem that I couldn’t connect and not a configuration issue in my laptop, and fired up City of Heroes.

The updater started.

I cringed. Whenever they make substantial program changes to CoH, they have to apply patches to everyone who plays the game. So they download code to your computer then run a patch application program that modifies the programs on your computer so that the change is correctly applied. The patch itself downloaded pretty quickly, but then it started updating. It took so long that finally I went to bed.


So now it’s Friday. Veteran’s Day. And other big stuff happening, but that’ll wait for another post. Right now I’ve got a Rodeo to clean out.