University of Iowa - Day 1

Day one of my time at the University of Iowa is finally over. I have attended my three classes, gone to work, and I am preparing for an upcoming meeting. I'll post here a recap of all the interesting, exciting things I've got down today.

The day began with an easy class, or perhaps more of a headache. I realized right away that Computer Science I would be well below my comprehension level - it's going to be too easy, if there is such a thing. I'm trying to work on skipping the class or replacing it with honors designation, but at the moment that seems difficult. Why did my registration advisor not give me these options in advance? I'm rather dissapointed in them.

Next came a flying leap into Japanese. All I can think is, wow, they really want to scare away people from that class. First of all, the instructor was friendly enough but he needs another course or two in pronouncing English words. Just learning "th" would be more than a big help. Overall, though, I already knew what they taught today. We learned how to meet someone else, how to say good morning, good evening, and good afternoon, and how to say goodbye, all on our first day. I can only imagine the terrible time the few unlucky souls who don't already know this might be having.

Last was the class I dreaded: Calculus II. Things turned out well, though, because it looks like our instructor is actually kind enough to review the material from Calc I before leaping off the cliff. I took Calculus I more than two years ago, and my memory of it is fading. I did exceptionally well, however, and I'm certain with enough work I can snap into the techniques of Calculus II. Excellent work by Diego Moreira, our Calculus II professor.

Top 7 Reasons I'm So Busy

Here's a tip on how to make yourself a lot less busy than you think you are: figure out what's important, and put it first. The list looks a lot shorter at that point.

I've been looking closely at my to do list, and I've noticed that several of the items on there are smaller and relatively unimportant. But stacked up next to the larger items, my schedule seems kind of full. Then I decided I needed to make a list of what would keep me busiest, compared to what might be less of a priority. It started to make things look much easier in the end.

• Registration Program - I'm volunteering my time to build a registration program in Ruby on Rails for a local not-for-profit. It's going to be very unique with lots of features, and should take a lot of time to do right.


• Associated Residence halls - I'm working as the Assocations Director for ARH, which will keep me rather busy also.


• Scholarship Administration - I'm working with the not-for-profit mentioned about to create a scholarship. This will consume a bit of time, making letters, mailing things, and eventually judging entries.
  
• School - I'm usually a natural in school, but I face unique challenges this year. I'll be learning Japanese and taking Calculus II, which might keep my time filled with homework.


• Work - I have a 20 hour per week job, which also takes time.


• Two Other Projects - I've also got two other, secret projects that will keep me busy.

In the end, that's only six items! Much better than my 50 item to do list. Use this strategy to help you prioritize what can be done now versus some other random time.

Investment In A Laser Printer

So I've just made an investment. Not the kind that involves tons of money and stocks and a panoply of boring financial things like that, but the type that offers tons of monetary benefits anyway. I purchased a Laser Printer. In fact, I purchased the HP LaserJet P1006, which prints 16ppm, but that's not even it's strong suit.

The best benefit of buying a new LaserJet is the cash savings: typical laser jets have the ability to print black and white between 2 and 3 cents per page. LaserJets are so much cheaper than InkJets that I could save thousands in the end. My initial investment is a mere $150, with free shipping, which will buy me fewer trips to refill my ink cartridges, several thousands of extra pages, higher print quality, and much more.

Looking closer at the LJP1006, and after reading several sapient reviews from Amazon, I found that I had probably struck a bargain. Although the particular model I have will cost roughly 3-4 cents per page, in the end it would have taken several thousand pages to offset the cost of purchasing an even more expensive version. I'm already getting the speed, the higher print quality, and fewer trips to buy ink, so why would I care much about a fraction of a cent per page when I'm already saving so much cash.

Update:
I even found myself getting a better bargain than I first thought. The day after I purchased my printer, plus an extra toner cartridge, the combined price dropped from $149.99 to $139.99 at Amazon. After a quick email they took the extra $10 off the price of my order, without any hassle.