The Miami Druekes have returned home from their trip to visit we Druekes of Georgia and Virginia, and we are sad to see them leave. They flew in to Richmond on July 4th and stayed for a long weekend. It was a brief visit, but we managed to see the sights.

Abigail has been snapping pictures with her new phone and took this one of Elizabeth. I showed dad how to send the photos via bluetooth to the computer, so now we have a copy of Abby's picture.

The family left on Monday, July 7th for the mountains and eventually Atlanta. They took a leisurely five day drive to Atlanta and looked at mountain towns in which they may soon wish to retire. After a nice long weekend in Atlanta, they returned to Richmond for their flight home. We were able to join them on Tuesday to take in some sights in Richmond. First we visited Bottoms Up Pizza where Lisa and Jeremiah both served duty.

We were surprised to find no dish named for Jeremiah or Lisa, but there did seem to be some homage to Uncle Steve and Aunt Jo-Jo. I'm not sure on their connection to the Restaurant, but we were happy to see them honored.

In 2004, Hurricane Gaston made its way through Shockoe Bottom and flooded many of the businesses. We took these photos of Dad (since he's the tallest) in front of the flood line painted inside Bottoms Up.

After lunch, we headed over to the VCU Engineering School so they could see where I should be going pretty soon. Sonya was also interested in the decor since she's in charge of the committee for the interiors at the new Mason School of Business at William & Mary.

Sonya was happy to see the equations painted on the walls and knows I'll be quite happy there. I can't wait to transfer!!

Summer, Fall, Spring, Summer

I finished up my second summer semester at TNCC, so that means I've officially been there a year. I'm a community college veteran. I'm finally free of classes that involve knuckleheads, and everybody that has made it this far is in it for the long haul. That's not to say the classes are getting any easier, or that everyone gets an A or even passes, but everybody needs the classes they take. I have been a little surprised that students still don't seem confident enough to contribute. Professors are like performers, and they appreciate a response. They also seem to reward students for actively participating in the class discussions. That must be how I got my B in Linear Algebra. A B is a weird grade to receive because it implies that I worked hard enough to get an A, but I simply never got the material well enough to receive an A. Linear Algebra is the first class I've ever taken where I can do every exercise in the book but not get an A on a test. This is a very important lesson. I can understand pretty complicated stuff when it's phrased in a way in which I'm comfortable, but this professor made the tests straight from his own notes which didn't really relate to the text. Luckily, a high theoretical mathematical ability isn't really necessary in order to be quite capable of applying the techniques. I've already gone back to my Statics text to use the techniques I learned in Linear Algebra, and my new skills are paying off in spades.


Also, I got an A in Microeconomics, but who cares.

There's a sucker born every minute.

I've been getting phone calls everyday from some recorded voice telling me Macy's has some "important personal business" to discuss. Since I'm not retarded, I hang up. I sent Macy's an email stating that if they do not cease from using this tactic that I would personally start boycotting their store and encourage everyone I know to do so as well. They are just dying to get me to use their useless credit card. Sonya and I use our Master Cards exclusively to purchase everything and pay our bills because they give us money. I don't need airline miles, points towards a purchase, or any other hair brained scheme. I got an email from them this morning telling me I can call the number on the message and ask them to stop calling. Wouldn't it be nicer if they asked me the last time I was at Macy's if it would be okay if they called me for promotions. I could simply chuckle and say, "of course not," and that would be the end of it! I wouldn't be getting solicitations on my dang cell phone, and I wouldn't be ranting like Andy Rooney! The whole thing made me think of the new American Express commercials with Tina Fey and Martin Scorsese. Scorsese entices Fey into the first class lounge with an "important opportunity." She gets excited thinking it's a script or something, but he's just trying to pawn off a time share. The commercial cracks me up because I picture Amex hearing the ad pitch and not even realizing the irony that their credit card offer is just as lame as a time share. Hmmm, Amex charges a fee, and Master Card gives back cash. I'll take the Amex and a punch in the balls, please

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One Down...

I finished Microeconomics today, and I'm happy to say I got another A! That leaves me nothing to think about other than Linear Algebra until tomorrow night. The 94 I got on the last test took a lot of the pressure off, so now I at least don't have to worry about getting anything less than a C. Linear Transformations, Linear Combinations, Eigen Vectors, Eigen Values, and Eigen Spaces are all I'll have to concern myself with for 24 more hours! Wish me luck!

Holy Crap! I got a 94!!!!!

I thought Physics took work; it did. This is like taking Physics over the abbreviated summer semester. Tonight, I think I might actually get a good night's sleep. I've got a solid nine days until the final, so I should be able to sufficiently prepare. My Miami family will be here this weekend, so that will cut down on the study time a little. I'm sure I'll still squeeze in some studying in the mornings. Its amazing what this good grade did for my confidence. I felt right on top of the material we covered today. I always contribute in the classroom, but this time my stupid embarrassing blurted wrong answers were replaced by astute observations.
In other news, Coldplay released a new CD. They keep releasing the same CD with different song names, but it's cool because I like that CD.