9/24/2003
Test back in organic chem today...made a 95. It's really funny, too; every freshman I've talked to in that class has made a 90 or above, but all the other-classmen that I've seen (not many) have made less than 80, which happens to be the class average.
I also got back my first rough draft in English today. We had to teach the class how to do something that we know how to do but most of them don't, so I decided to teach them how to build a computer (yes, I realize that I suck at it compared to all of you who read this site, but you have to look at it from a worldly perspective). In writing the paper, I changed the topic to "what hardware goes into a computer" because it was getting really long. Anyway, I got the paper back, and it of course had very few grammatical problems with it, but she had lots of notes out in the margins. "What do these stand for?" in reference to PCI and AGP (ok, I understand her need for clarification on that one); "What is the benefit?" in reference to the CPU fan; and "briefly describe differences and purpose of a scroll wheel" in reference to keyboards and mouses (I had to force myself to use "mice" on the paper because, deep down, I know it's correct...but it shouldn't be). On the back of the paper: "Chris- This is a very clean, easy to read first draft. Most of my sugestions are in the margins - clarifications and requests for further info. These will help to fill out the paper more specifically for the lay person." I can't tell if she actually understands it and just wants to help the "lay people" or if she really doesn't know the purpose of a scroll wheel...
I'm in the process of finishing up a postlab right now. We were given a mixture of three different solid organic chemicals, then had to put the mixture in ether and extract each different compound. The last of the compounds, 2-naphthol (w00t! Writing out chemicals means I'll get more google hits!), is supposed to melt around 120 degrees C. I had mine in the melting point apparatus until it reached 350 degrees C and I decided that I had developed some kind of super organic compound during the course of the lab because the crystals were still solid and sitting happily piled on top of one another in their tiny capillary tube. I also had a 150% recovery of the compounds when recrystallizing them. Why am I cursed with such bad lab skills?
I also got back my first rough draft in English today. We had to teach the class how to do something that we know how to do but most of them don't, so I decided to teach them how to build a computer (yes, I realize that I suck at it compared to all of you who read this site, but you have to look at it from a worldly perspective). In writing the paper, I changed the topic to "what hardware goes into a computer" because it was getting really long. Anyway, I got the paper back, and it of course had very few grammatical problems with it, but she had lots of notes out in the margins. "What do these stand for?" in reference to PCI and AGP (ok, I understand her need for clarification on that one); "What is the benefit?" in reference to the CPU fan; and "briefly describe differences and purpose of a scroll wheel" in reference to keyboards and mouses (I had to force myself to use "mice" on the paper because, deep down, I know it's correct...but it shouldn't be). On the back of the paper: "Chris- This is a very clean, easy to read first draft. Most of my sugestions are in the margins - clarifications and requests for further info. These will help to fill out the paper more specifically for the lay person." I can't tell if she actually understands it and just wants to help the "lay people" or if she really doesn't know the purpose of a scroll wheel...
I'm in the process of finishing up a postlab right now. We were given a mixture of three different solid organic chemicals, then had to put the mixture in ether and extract each different compound. The last of the compounds, 2-naphthol (w00t! Writing out chemicals means I'll get more google hits!), is supposed to melt around 120 degrees C. I had mine in the melting point apparatus until it reached 350 degrees C and I decided that I had developed some kind of super organic compound during the course of the lab because the crystals were still solid and sitting happily piled on top of one another in their tiny capillary tube. I also had a 150% recovery of the compounds when recrystallizing them. Why am I cursed with such bad lab skills?
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