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One more to go!
Mar. 30th, 2006 11:07 amI did the lab final last night. I thought I'd figured it all out and had the right files on my USB thumb drive but I'd missed one point and had to find the answer. Silly me, I didn't realize we could use notes and the book, so I didn't have any of that with me.
Oh, I almost forgot! Last week in class, my instructor mentioned there were opportunities for students who were unemployed or underemployed to earn some money on campus. Things have been really tight the last few months, so yesterday I checked with my internship coordinator about whether it would be OK for me to work at Foothill or not. She said if I'm enrolled in work-study, the limit is 25 hours per week and my internship takes 20 hours of that. That leaves me with 5 hours I could work at my college per week. That would work!
I emailed Mike, my instructor, that I was interested in working 5 hours per week and that I planned to be in lab taking my final that night and asked him if he'd let whoever was going to be in charge know about my need for quiet. When I got there, he checked in and told me he got my email and was looking into things. :)
I'd set up my hardware and was struggling with getting the advanced stuff to work when a guy from my class came over to ask me a question. I had to tell him I was struggling with that part myself. He found the lab in his binder and showed me the code we had to type before. That helped us both! He left without finishing the final, so I guess he'll be back today.
I had industrial strength earplugs, but that didn't block the Slavic woman who seems to have one volume to her voice: LOUD. Carol, the student tech who was officially covering the lab was working with her most of the time and when they had their heads together, Carol managed to keep her quiet. After the second hour of her loud outbursts to people, she fell into a conversation with another guy who tends to be loud and he upped his volume to match hers even though they were standing about three feet (1 meter) from each other. I finally had enough and asked very politely if they could please speak more softly because I was trying to take my final. She bellowed, "You can't take your final. There are no instructors here." I replied that I thought our classroom teacher was still around but in any case, I needed to get it going and save my files in case I had to come back and show it to someone. "You will have to come back tomorrow night," she told me. I told her I have another final that night, but I still needed to work in any case so could she please speak more quietly? "I am leaving anyway," she bellowed. She did not lower her volume for the next five minutes she was still there. I just leaned back and waited.
Carol gave my a wry smile. Yeah, Mike had talked to her. Naturally, every loud student came in to talk to other students in the lab. Between my adderall and my earplugs, I managed to focus pretty well when the really loud talking wasn't happening.
My settings were right, my cables were right, everything seemed to be active and working, but I couldn't get the final tests of the network to function. At 9:45pm - after four hours of struggling fruitlessly I finally pulled out my earplugs and asked for a second pair of eyes. Carol and Bob looked over everything. They agreed that I had it set correctly. All the communications lights were green and happy. I decided to unplug the cable and plug it in in the other spot it was supposed to work. Then it worked. I moved it back. It still worked. WTF? I spent about two hours of that time fighting with a hidden hardware problem.
Carol signed off on my final. YAY!
Today I fill in all the little bubbles for the Windows XP Troubleshooting final and we'll go over the answers in class after handing in our scantron sheets.
Then I'm DONE WITH FINALS!!!!
Now I can deal with the fact that I can't read freeway signs with my new glasses until I'm six car-lengths away and the fact that my front tooth crown is loose AGAIN.
Oh, I almost forgot! Last week in class, my instructor mentioned there were opportunities for students who were unemployed or underemployed to earn some money on campus. Things have been really tight the last few months, so yesterday I checked with my internship coordinator about whether it would be OK for me to work at Foothill or not. She said if I'm enrolled in work-study, the limit is 25 hours per week and my internship takes 20 hours of that. That leaves me with 5 hours I could work at my college per week. That would work!
I emailed Mike, my instructor, that I was interested in working 5 hours per week and that I planned to be in lab taking my final that night and asked him if he'd let whoever was going to be in charge know about my need for quiet. When I got there, he checked in and told me he got my email and was looking into things. :)
I'd set up my hardware and was struggling with getting the advanced stuff to work when a guy from my class came over to ask me a question. I had to tell him I was struggling with that part myself. He found the lab in his binder and showed me the code we had to type before. That helped us both! He left without finishing the final, so I guess he'll be back today.
I had industrial strength earplugs, but that didn't block the Slavic woman who seems to have one volume to her voice: LOUD. Carol, the student tech who was officially covering the lab was working with her most of the time and when they had their heads together, Carol managed to keep her quiet. After the second hour of her loud outbursts to people, she fell into a conversation with another guy who tends to be loud and he upped his volume to match hers even though they were standing about three feet (1 meter) from each other. I finally had enough and asked very politely if they could please speak more softly because I was trying to take my final. She bellowed, "You can't take your final. There are no instructors here." I replied that I thought our classroom teacher was still around but in any case, I needed to get it going and save my files in case I had to come back and show it to someone. "You will have to come back tomorrow night," she told me. I told her I have another final that night, but I still needed to work in any case so could she please speak more quietly? "I am leaving anyway," she bellowed. She did not lower her volume for the next five minutes she was still there. I just leaned back and waited.
Carol gave my a wry smile. Yeah, Mike had talked to her. Naturally, every loud student came in to talk to other students in the lab. Between my adderall and my earplugs, I managed to focus pretty well when the really loud talking wasn't happening.
My settings were right, my cables were right, everything seemed to be active and working, but I couldn't get the final tests of the network to function. At 9:45pm - after four hours of struggling fruitlessly I finally pulled out my earplugs and asked for a second pair of eyes. Carol and Bob looked over everything. They agreed that I had it set correctly. All the communications lights were green and happy. I decided to unplug the cable and plug it in in the other spot it was supposed to work. Then it worked. I moved it back. It still worked. WTF? I spent about two hours of that time fighting with a hidden hardware problem.
Carol signed off on my final. YAY!
Today I fill in all the little bubbles for the Windows XP Troubleshooting final and we'll go over the answers in class after handing in our scantron sheets.
Then I'm DONE WITH FINALS!!!!
Now I can deal with the fact that I can't read freeway signs with my new glasses until I'm six car-lengths away and the fact that my front tooth crown is loose AGAIN.
