Old-ish news, but Robert Jordan was diagnosed with amyloidosis. For those who don’t know who he is, he’s the author of one of my favorite book series, The Wheel of Time. So far there are 11 books in the series and Jordan has said there will only be one more. I hope he finishes it! That sounds really insensitive… I do wish him the best and all, but I’ll flip out if the series goes unfinished 
It’s old news, yes, but I thought I might link to it anyway. Specifically, if you read Digg then you probably already know that Berkeley offers free downloadable webcasts of some of their lectures. More recently, iTunes now has all of the audio podcasts of the lectures for free download. But I prefer the video because a lot of the lectures include visuals like slides.
Isn’t it amazing how available information is these days?
So I’ve been silent for the past… how long has it been… month? About there. A lot has happened!
I’m not sure if I blogged about it, but I was really sick for about a week and a half about a month back (I think it was a month… ;-)), and that’s when the ball started to roll. I blogged earlier about the classes I took this semester and how they were pretty darn hard (foreshadowing! Note the tense!). After missing a week and a half (technically 2 and a half weeks, since I had my March break in there, too), I was pretty much screwed. Math courses generally build knowledge up a step at a time, so if you don’t understand concept A then you’ll have extreme difficulty with concept B. Let’s just say, due to my absence, my understanding of concept A was absolutely horrid 
So I made a decision: I would drop these classes and come back next year. And that’s what I did 
Why? Because I definitely didn’t want my last grades to be in the 50% range, that wouldn’t look to good on any application.
After about a week, I ended up talking to the principal of my school about everything. He told me, rather then going back into classes I probably didn’t really like (which is true) or need (which is also true), how about I take co-op? Wonderful idea! The co-op program basically means I get credits to work. They call it getting real-world experience. So it’s learning, but in a very real kind of way. No books, no class time. I just have to do a couple of things, like write about what I’m learning in the work place etc. My co-op job is… well, what I’m already doing (web dev)! I was certainly ready to return to classes for another year, but wow — what an opportunity, no way could I refuse.
I feel the need to explain the way things work. Because I know my situation even 10 years back would be unheard of (at least, around here). It might be unheard of elsewhere in the world, too, I’m not sure. Dropping 4 classes back in the day was like dropping out. Nowadays, the system has improved so much. Students have so many more options, hence why my decision to return for another year was acceptable. If I didn’t want to return for another year, I could have even got 4 credits through online courses, or even night school. All of these are common practices, I know people who have done both. School isn’t like a ritual any more, it’s… “open” is the word that comes to mind.
So anyway, that’s what is going on. I’m out of school right now (and no co-op until Sept.). I’m looking for work (and already found some). I’m working on getting Outershift open and ready for business, and enjoying the increasingly beautiful weather