While there are a lot of topics I would like to write on, I am trying to keep my head above water at the moment. Here is a list of things I have done in the past week:
- Discussed a job offer from the financial services company I have interned at the past three summers
- Worked on a website for a nearby community trying to rebuild after a tornado followed in the next year by flooding
- Spent time looking into helping another similar community overhaul its website, but as of today it looks like they only want minor HTML skills; so, I will likely skip on the task for something requiring a little more technical know-how
- Began talks about doing some consultant work for another web company
- Created a Windows XP on a virtual machine for some testing purposes
- Created an Ubuntu virtual machine for experimental development purposes
- Played tennis at least every other day
- Gone on two bike rides
- Attended my job for Information Technology Services – Network Services (ITS-NS) as a student programmer
- Gone to my two classes
- Sat in on a class in which I am not officially enrolled
- Met with my computer science undergraduate research advisor
- Done some preliminary research for my research project
- Bought tickets to the UNI vs Iowa football game coming up this Saturday
- Got my car’s ventilation fan motor replaced by my girlfriend’s father
- Other miscellaneous social activities including things such as watching movies, going out to eat, and bonfires
- Laundry…
Remember how I talked about having an easy semester due to a light class load? That was a funny idea! For starters, everyone else has yet to get heavy loads of homework. This seems to be true for everyone except for my girlfriend which is mildly disappointing. Thus, friends are always asking about going and doing things since they know I am the one with very little classwork to tie me down. However, when all of their activities are staggered, it can quickly fill up a day. I am almost getting worn out. I have always found classes to be rather relaxing. All I have to do is sit there, listen, and take notes. That requires very little energy on my part. Especially when it is compared to things like tennis and bike rides. Another habit is to monitor my water consumption by ensuring I drink so much water during each class. The result is I am getting tired and pushing myself to stay properly hydrated.
I would go into more details on all of the various activities, but that would take too long if I touched on each one of them. It is also getting to be 12:30 AM, and I have a busy day ahead of me. Already on the schedule is going into work a bit late so I can scan a Non-Disclosure Agreement as well as make a business call about my job offer. Then it is work and class. I have the afternoon open to work on the community website before meeting with a couple of their representatives to discuss some things. I will return here later at night to do some laundry and get to work on one of the projects on the list. I should probably also slide in another business phone call in the afternoon. My video editing projects have been put on temporary hold as I stay caught up on web development projects. I am beginning to feel like I am already working full-time. In some ways, it is kind of nice even if it means things are a bit busy.
If I had the time and the university would not complain, I would sit in on a lot of classes. Currently, I am sitting in on Software Engineering thanks to Dr. Wallingford being nice and the fact I have already taken the class. However, a person can learn an unbelievable amount by simply becoming one with the inner sponge. By listening to people more knowledgeable than one’s self, a person gets introduced to new ideas. Unfortunately, it is not enough to simply sit on these new ideas. They have to be put to practice. I do not know where this quote comes from anymore, but it has been a favorite of mine for a long time:
It works in theory, but fails utterly in application.
It is easy to think I understand something only to try to implement and find out I have no clue what I am doing. Other times, I find the original idea is only applicable to specific situations. Sometimes, it is just a bad idea from the start. Pondering an idea is often a good start, but the approach which often has the most success, and is also the most fun for me, is to put the idea to practice. This website is one such example. I get to play with web development ideas as I learn about them. Some of them work. Some of them suck. Sometimes I write about them and people laugh at me. Sometimes I write things, and people agree to the point they talk about it in their classes. The end result is more feedback from which to learn.
Learning is not passive. Many times people are told to be quiet and just listen to lectures. Maybe they are supposed to read some assigned readings. This is what I referred to earlier as becoming one with the inner sponge. It is a good place to start. It is not the finish line. The most knowledgeable experts in any area tend to live, eat, and breathe their interest. Ask a professional tennis player how long they are on a court, hitting a tennis ball, doing physical training, debating nutrition, dealing with media, et cetera. They did not become good simply be sitting on their butts listening to someone tell them how to hit a serve. They got out on the courts and did it.
Eventually those engaged in a field will become the new experts. Then they will share what they have learned with the next generation. It may simply be by communicating with an old friend who happens to be a university professor. It may be at a conference with their peers. It may be via a blog. Regardless, they share the information in some ways. This is how knowledge has been passed down for millennia. The key is to get in on the scoop rather than being left by the wayside.