Nothing too exciting to report today. Got another assignment finished so I only have three more to manage in the next week. Of course, two of them were relatively simple which might explain why I managed to breeze through them. Next week I have to write my final paper for my Mil Psych class, a paper for my Experimental Psych class and finish another Stats assignment.

Wish me luck.

It’s not all about school next week. Obviously I need to make a trip to the vet to get a new rabies tag for Fenris. I need to drop pants off at the tailor’s (Monday am) and I need to do all my exit paperwork at stuff at the old job.

Somewhere in there I’m sure I’ll need to brave the evil appliances in the basement and do laundry. My grand plan to purchase a life long supply of new socks and gitch to avoid laundry doesn’t cover off shirts and pants so laundry does have to be done.

Front loading washers seem more atrractive to me everyday. Maybe when it comes time to replace or washing machine that’ll be the type we’ll get. Down side is I’ll likely be falling into the current top loading one for many years to come before the existing set needs to be replaced! Perhaps I should reconsider Loxley’s suggestion to use a step stool when trying to get clothes out of the washing machine at the end of a cycle.

Ok. Enough procrastination. Must get back to the Stats assignment.

Hope your weekend and upcoming work week is more exciting tham mine.

Woke up to a “plink” sound this morning and after some searching I discovered a much scratched and abused rabies tag on the hardwood floor.

This discovery was immediately followed by a rousing game of “catch the suspicious doggie” so I could determine which of the two of them had worn through the hoop connector on their rabies tag. Turned out to be Fenris.

Their vet’s office isn’t open over the weekend so on Monday I’ll need to give them a call to find out if I can get a replacement tag. She doesn’t need any shots and they should have everything on record there. The only concern I have is that they might not have tags from past years at the office. I’ll know more when I call.

Until then I’ll need to carry around her tag in my pocket so I can prove she’s had her shots. Should only be for a few days.

Pretty decent day off today; lots of errands to run. Or so I like to tell myself. I sent off my Stats assignment. And can officially forget about it until my marks and the instructor feedback are in.

I did forget to take my pants to the tailor’s today so I’ll have to try and get them in tomorrow. And I need to remember to pick up my Gordon Lightfoot tickets. Since Drew won’t be here I’m going to be taking my snow fairy super amazing neighbour L as my date. It’ll be good to go with another fan.

Thanks to J I did manage to get the puppehs in to get their nails clipped. I never would have managed the drive safely without her help playing beastie wrangler in the truck.

They have nibbles too. fortunate little beasties. You’d think we liked them or some such nonsense.

And now for an evening of fun entertainment. Meeting up with Loxley, mypyper and Senor Pablo this evening for karaoke.

Obviously it doesn’t take much to make me think I’m having a good day…

22 hours of solid work later and I’ve finally finished the first of two Stats assignments I need to submit before April 3rd.

For anyone keeping track, this means I’ve finished and submitted two of six assignments or papers due on or before that illustrious date. Two of the remaining ones are short so I should be able to finish them by the end of the weekend.

In celebration of this momentous occassion, I’m taking tomorrow off from school related activities. I have a tonne of errands to run tomorrow. Mostly dog related. They need to go to the groomers and I need to go pick up dog food. And at some point I need to drop my pants off at the tailor’s for shortening.

I’ve already got my “day off” planned for next week. We’re having another Blogger’s breakfast next Thursday and they take up most of the day. As always, I’m really looking forward to spending time with “the girls”.

I’ll likely spend what’s left of that day doing all my exit stuff at work. I have keys and such to return but don’t think I’ll manage to fit it in tomorrow. Far too many errands on the books as it is.

And no, I’m not writing about how I’d rather buy new socks and gitch instead of doing the laundry tonight. Yes, I can hear a song running around in my head ever since I typed the title. “I’m not Jesus” – Apoctalyptica – if you’re wondering.

When I started my Stats class the prof told me I’d only need a basic calculator to complete the class assignments. Turns out my basic calculator is a little too basic and I need a simple scientific one.

Ages ago mcpyper offered to lend me her son’s fancy scmantzy new graphing calculator. He needs it for his math classes in HS but isn’t taking math this semester. I decined the offer since (a) I didn’t want to have to pay for a replacement if the dogs decided it looked yummy, (b) I knew it was far more calculator than I’d need and, (c) I didn’t want to spend hours trying to learn how to use it just so I could finish my homework.

I have a perfectly good calculator on my iPhone that does everything I need for class. There’s only one problem. I can’t bring my iPhone into my exam in a few months. I need to have an actual calculator and leave the iPhone at home.

With that in mind I made a short trip to Staples this afternoon to pick up a basic scientific calculator. They had a tonne of them on sale for under $20 so I knew I wouldn’t have to shell out much to get one that would do what I needed. I looked for the function keys to fit my formulas and happily trotted home with my new purchase to read the manual.

I can’t figure it out.

I’ve spent hours reading the (extremely poorly) written instruction booklet and googling how to use it. Me. Who used to write step-by-step training manuals for software that I had to teach myself how to use first. I’m usually pretty good at following directions (as long as they don’t involve driving).

I can’t seem to grasp anything this little manual has to impart. I keep re-reading it in the hopes that it’ll suddenly make sense. In between lengthy sessions of playing with the calculator. I’ve figured out all but one function through this “play until I get it right” method this evening.

If Drew were home by now I would have flung the calculator into his lap and told him to teach me how to use it when he’d figured it out. After a lot of colourful swearing and stomping of the feet. He reads electrical wiring diagrams on a routine basis. He can likely figure this mess out!

And it doesn’t hurt that Drew’s a wiz at math. He calculates crap in his head or looks at forumas and knows exactly what to do. Me, not so much.

I had classes with some brilliant mathmeticians in school many years ago but in 99% of the cases they couldn’t teach worth crap! Sure, they could spout complex formulas and whip off math problems on a chalkboard but they couldn’t break things down to it’s simplest form so that those of us struggling could figure it out. It constantly amazes me that I got A’s and B’s in high level chemistry and physics all through HS but that barely passed gr. 11 and gr. 12 math. Mostly because those classes had some complex math formulas in them too – and somehow they all made sense at the time.

When thoughts of HS math don’t make me spout smoke from my ears, it saddens me that because I somehow managed to squeak through HS math with passing grades (barely) – I was one of 8 of 32 students who passed my gr. 12 math class – I didn’t have the same opportunity my classmates did. They re-took the class with a different teacher and actually learned – or at least understood to some degree – what they were doing!

But I digress.

I’ve spent over six hours trying to figure out how to use this stupid calculator so I can complete one problem. And I’m feeling very stupid at the moment. Perhaps I should have kept my hair dyed red. Then maybe I’d glean some benefit from the “artificial intelligence” jokes.

And know how to use this calculator by now…