Monthly Archive for September, 2003

Those wacky scientists! First it was string theory, but now apparently Brane Theory is all the rage. Read it, learn it, love it, at least until the next cool explanation comes along!

As someone who chose to go to a “Tier 2″ college when I had an offer from a “Tier 1″, I’m very interested in the prestige question, which apparently is much more pronounced with law schools. Oh boy. Unless I really ace the LSATs, I doubt I’m going to give Harvard and Georgetown the privilege of rejecting me, so I guess this will be a question I will get to continue to deal with. Well, I don’t mind it. I think I can stand on my own without a silly school name behind me.

But on a completely seperate note, Yay for Jessica starting at UCLA on Monday (or Tuesday?)!

The Chronicle tells us:

Today’s federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour, although some states require employers to pay slightly more. Researchers say that diners generally understand that food servers are working for the tips, not the paycheck — which could total just $85.20 for a 40-hour workweek, before taxes.

But do not fear! Our cadre of scientists are on the case!

McCall looked at whether diners would tip differently based on the appearance of the tip tray, that plastic rectangle some restaurants use to present the bill. Patrons tipped more when the tray was embossed with a credit card logo than when it was blank.

Uh…huh. Average tip is going up from 15% to 20%. Great. Why is it that restaurants can’t pay people a decent wage like the rest of industry? I can understand how small restaurants must fight to survive, but large chains with fixed menus, Sysco-packaged ingredients, and cook-by-numbers charts in the kitchen couldn’t have it too hard.

AMST 114b – American Individualism

This course looks really great. Prof. Whitfield in a seminar environment looks to be a lot more exciting then Prof. Whitfield in a big lecture class about general American history, which was somewhat boring (and involved lots of dates and such, which I hate).

COSI 21a – Data Structures and Fundamentals of Computing

21 and the accompanying lab 22 is a rite of passage for CS students, of which I am not one, but I do really want to know more about the fundamentals and basics of real programming, so I’m giving it a shot. I hear it’s hard, but that also relates to the professor who teaches it, and this year’s professor seems to be a lot more interested (and competent) in his subject matter then the guy last year.

GER 10a – Beginning German

Prof. Brown is very caring and kind, and is a good native German speaker, but she also goes tremendously quickly. Last year I thought I was doing badly by virtue of not reading enough of the book or doing enough homework, and while that is partially true, now, coming back to the class again, I can see other problems. The class is easier for people who already know other languages, of whom there are several. But the class is problematic because Prof. Brown keeps introducing new words and phrases and such without explaining their meaning or context, and she just expects people to pick them up. While that may work at the summer immersion program she teaches, it is less useful here. Also, the amount of memorization she expects borders on astounding…I need to memorize about 200 words this week. Fun. Well, what choice do I have? I suck at languages, but it is a graduation requirement.

THA 11a – Movement For the Performer

I was really excited about 4a, which was looking to be a superb class about acting and understanding one’s voice and body, but that class was full and I was kicked into 11a instead. Well, this class counts both as a creative arts and a PE, is low stress, and takes me back to my days in the Fullerton College summer program, with the various stretches and such. While some of the stuff we do is gonna be a little weird (wearing masks?), I think this course will probably be a positive experience and a nice change.

THA 41a – Theater Practicum

The loved and dreaded practicum. Theater majors and minors need to do a lot of this class, which is in one respect learning and in another forced labor for the theater department. I’m only staying in if I get into the electrics or scene shops. If that happens, it’ll probably be fun. I’ll need to put in 50 hours in the semester, or about 5 hours a week, but hopefully I’ll get to learn a bit about building and/or electrics, and, again, it’ll be a nice change from the all-reading all-the-time courses I’ve been taking previously.

In summary, I think that this semester is a nice and interesting change from my previous college experiences. I’m only taking one traditional social sciences class, so I won’t have 5000 pages of reading and 5 pages all due at the same time, as in previous semesters. Instead I’m taking two classes (COSI and GER) that require a lot of sustained work, that I can’t get behind on, and two courses (THA) that let me do something physical and different. In general I’m really looking forward to this semester, except for my trepidations about German and, to a lesser extend, about Computer Science (although I have a lot of friends to help me through it). Well, we shall see how it goes.