A Night in the Life of a Druid

So in my previous post I mentioned something about an obsession with World of Warcraft (WoW). This week I've finally been able to spend some dedicated time on the game.

Playing my Night Elf Druid (Thalasa) is a bit odd for me because of the definite lack of friendly banter that usually surrounds my bubbly self. The friend that invited me to play on this server hasn't logged in to the game in three days (well, as of last night anyway). Our guild, which has a grand total of fifteen members, only has four people who have made an appearance in the last week. Needless to say, guild chat is a bit quiet these days.

Also, usually by now I've made a few friends along the way. The way the game works is that your character goes running around different towns trying to save the world. As you run around, you generally come across other adventurers who are trying to complete the same tasks you are. It's amazing how much easier it is to kill those darn crocolisks when there are two or five of you blasting the same one all at once. But, Thalasa's friend list is a grand total of five people long. And those people aren't online very often. It kind of makes me wonder how she met them in the first place.

So, things that Thalasa has learned while trying to save Azeroth from the various creepy crawlies that roam the land:

1) Dwarves are a bunch of whiny, wimpy brats. Last night, while wandering around Menethil Harbor, she came across a little dwarven woman who lost a bag full of stuff. Apparently, she was exploring around an old tomb, and suddenly these slimy globs attacked her (oh noes!). So, she threw her bag at the slime closest to her and took off running. However, now that she's done panicking, she's realized she needs that bag after all -- or at least its contents. Would Thalasa be kind enough to go find it for her? The slimes are too scary to go get it herself. Sheesh.

2) Humans are a bunch of arrogant, lazy bums. There are too many examples to cite. Leaving Menethil Harbor, a distraught husband assumed Thalasa was the scout that is supposed to go find the excavation team, which his wife was a part of. He can't go look himself? And Marshal Marris in Lakeshire needs to be a little more descriptive in his orders. "Go thin out the orcs that are keeping our citizens penned in the city like cattle, and bring me ten of their axes as proof." What he means is, go slaughter the entire camp, because only about one in five actually utilizes an axe to beat you with. Most just use the brute force of their fists. Next time he can get his own axes.

3) Gnomes have ADHD. Enough said.

Ok, well I suppose that's enough babble for now. Onward and upward!

WoW and Roller Skates

One of my lifetime passions is World of Warcraft (WoW), which I've sadly been unable to play much these last few weeks.

The obsession started when Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) came out with the New Game Enhancements (NGE). The NGE totally screwed up the game play of a really truly fabulous game. SWG was so completely customizable. Every character was unique according to how the player wanted to make the character. This went beyond mere appearances, but also included the skill build as well (there, called professions). There was no such thing as a cookie-cutter character. If you wanted a character that had a little bit of rifle skill, a little bit of hunting skills, and a little bit of bio-engineering skills, you could do that. Heck, you could even add tailoring, cooking, and architecture to that if you wanted. Not sure how good you'd be at any of it.. but you could do it.

BUT, "They" decided that the game needed an upgrade, and came out with the NGE. While it was great for people who'd never played the game before and didn't know what it was like previous to the launch of the NGE, those of us who had experienced life pre-NGE thought it totally sucked. Especially those of us who were pigeon holed into professions we didn't really want.

Ok, that's a whole new set of griefs there. This post is about roller skates. So anyway, I started playing WoW after giving the NGE a small chance (two months). Some friends who played SWG before had been trying to get me to move to WoW for a year at that point, and it seemed like a good time to make the jump. After a small dab at playing an Alliance character (technically, "the good guys"), I was persuaded to play a Horde character.

My first reaction was "I'm a bad guy again?" -- to which I was quickly reminded that good and bad are clearly in the eyes of the beholder. Technically, the humans (Alliance) were encroaching on long-held orc (Horde) territory. The humans are the bad guys, here.

My next reaction was "But they're ugly!" How can I play my usual bubbly self if I have to play an ugly, mean character? The closest I could get to "pretty" is the troll... which, by the way, hate every living thing on the planet. They tolerate other members of their tribe, have a truce with the orcs because the orcs saved their hides once or twice, grudgingly respect the tauren because they're just mean fighters, and clearly, definitely, hate the forsaken (undead humans--they can't be trusted--they were human after all). So, my "pretty" troll shaman immediately allies herself with a group of undead. Makes sense, right?

Eventually, my shaman makes it to level 60. I'm not really sure how she got there, considering it's such a sllooooww climb. But making friends makes the climb lots easier. So, let's fast forward a bit.

Now, I'm playing on another server, as an Alliance character this time (yay!), because of a friend I met on the first server. This character is a Night Elf Druid. She's cute and bubbly (although, not nearly as cute and bubbly as the gnome mage I made elsewhere). So, anyway, I'm working on leveling my druid today because I actually have time to play for a while. I actually managed to get two and a half levels on her. Now, instead of being level 19, she's well on her way to being level 22! Woohoo!

And, I made a new friend, which brings me to the thought of roller skates. When your character first starts out in WoW, there are two speeds for transportation - walk (incredibly unbelievably slow) and run (just incredibly slow). Get your character to level 40, and you can buy a mount (horse, ram, tiger, mechanical chicken, raptor, wolf, or kodo depending on your race). The mount increases your speed by 40%. But, you have to wait until you're level 40. Which, for me, will be sometime in the year 2007, I believe.

So while dragging my new friend around everywhere (he'd only been playing the game for a few days), I thought of a great new invention for the gnomes to come up with -- roller skates. You get these metal plates about the size of your foot, attach wheels to the bottom, and strap them onto your shoes. You can now travel faster, and with less effort, than if you were running! What a great concept!

Instead of taking two hours to run (the incredibly slow pace) from Stormwind to Menethil Harbor, you could maybe skate there in say.. 90 minutes instead? It would be a slight improvement.

There, Blizzard, a free idea for you. I won't even charge you royalties. Just pleeeaase let me run faster!

Adventures in Bathroom Painting

So for a few days a month I have this incredible streak of "I must do something right now" that hits me. Usually, it's an artistic streak, but sometimes it gets about as artistic as cleaning my house from top to bottom with disinfectant. This month... this year, actually... it was a room-painting streak.

For the last few months, I've been talking about painting our master bedroom. We've had the paint (3 gallons of it) since we moved into the house. We just celebrated three years in July, by the way. We just haven't ever done it because it requires a heck of a lot of effort to paint the bedroom. It'd be a pretty huge undertaking. From taping off the wall boards, to moving the furniture, to figuring out how to reach the peak of the cathedral ceiling and not kill someone, it's quite a large task.

At some point, I decided I would start with the master bathroom instead. It's a much smaller room. There's no furniture to move except for the two mirrors, and the walls are mostly covered by doors, the window, the tub, the shower, the toilet, and the double vanity. However, the thought of remixing three-year-old paint leaves something to be desired in the motivation department.

So, last week, Lars announces that his friend Ben and Ben's girlfriend (Ben has a girlfriend?!) want to come down to visit over Labor Day weekend. So, after the initial ohmygodthat'sonlytendaysaway and wehaven'tcleanedupstairsinayear panic, I decided that it was time to paint the guest bathroom. It has all the advantages of painting the master bathroom, but mixing the paint will take about one minute instead of twenty years, seeing as how the paint had yet to be purchased and all.

So I took down the shower curtain with the intention of buying paint to match the khaki color in the small stripe, as well as purchasing a little of the navy and forest green to do squares in something like a wall-border pattern. After... discussing... with my darling husband which shade of khaki would look best as the base coat, and then continuing the discussion in regards to the blue and green, the DH picks up this paint roller kit, with a five-year-old's triumphant smile on his face, and proudly announces "This is what Dionne did to her walls!" This profound statement immediately ended the color discussion we were having. The blue and green were immediately abandoned, and the two colors of khaki we couldn't agree on suddenly both became perfect.

Thus begins my adventures in painting the guest bathroom. Now, I would just like to point out at this juncture that by the time we returned home from buying paint it was 9:00 pm. Ben and his girlfriend are expected to arrive somewhere around 1:00 pm the next day, and no, we really hadn't started cleaning out the guest room yet (which also doubles as my computer room, since we rarely have guests).

So, I read the instructions on how to do this faux-finish sponge painting thing. It seems simple. Tape the walls and ceiling up to prevent paint splatters. Pour an equal amount of the two colors of paint into the split paint tray. Roll on the paint, using the same stroke pattern throughout the room. Blend with a dry roller. Let dry, and remove the tape. Easy enough. The mirrors get removed, the walls get taped, the ceiling gets taped, and the paint gets dumped on the floor.

Ok, not dumped, but it certainly tried to be there. I managed to get it in the trays -- without mixing the colors too badly. I dipped the sponge rollers, and then I had the brilliant idea of starting on the wall over the tub. If I made a mess, it would be much easier to clean off the tub, and if I hated the result, it's the smallest section of wall to repair.

I was right, it made a mess. But it looked fabulous. Ok, so four and a half hours later... the floor was nearly the same color as the walls (thank god for linoleum and a rug that covers most of the floor space). The ceiling has a beautiful white stripe next to the walls. The walls look like someone threw mud at them (actually, the whole room sort of looks that way). And my lovely white and cream double vanity now has lovely putty-colored speckles everywhere.

But the bathroom looks fabulous, and I had a great time doing it!!!

Random Fun Fact of the Day

In an attempt to inspire my co-workers, I randomly post fun-facts and words of the day on our little dry-erase board next to our lockers (which are almost never locked). In fact, the only ones that are locked are the ones that aren't in use. Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Anywho, this week's random fun fact was that there are currently more plastic pink flamingos in the United States than real flamingos. In fact, over twenty million have been produced since they were first introduced to the American populace in 1957. (You, too, can read this great fun fact and other random useless information from Harry Bright and Harlan Briscoe's book So, Now You Know... A Compendium of Completely Useless Information)

Think about that for a moment. Some poor family has a flock of fake flamingos in their front yard. Not just one family, but several families in fact.

I actually had one co-worker tell me that when she was in college, she and some friends had thought about playing off the wandering gnome theme and "borrowing" flamingos from neighboring yards. The idea was to gather fifty of them and put them in her mother's yard to celebrate the mom's upcoming 50th birthday. They never went through with it though, much to the chagrin of all those pink flamingos, I'm sure.

Speaking of flamingos, did you know that the birds' natural pigment is actually white? They get their glorious pink color from the keratine in all the shrimp they eat (also from the Compendium).

So, I'm sure you're wondering how this is supposed to inspire my co-workers. I'm not sure it is really. But it's nice to have a different little quirky tidbit posted up there now and then. I'm trying to keep to a tropical theme, seeing as how we work at Tommy Bahama.

So there. Enjoy your random fun fact of the day. Or week. Or month. Or year. Who knows how often I'll update this page. :)

Whine and Cheez and Roller Coasters

Ok, it's been a while since I've posted. Only a few dozen major catastrophic events have occurred since the last time I took the time to take time.

Ok, maybe they weren't that catastrophic. But it sure feels like it this week.

In general, people regard me as a super nice person. I'm not really sure how I managed to fool them, but they do. Maybe I smile too often? :) I don't know. Maybe it's because I really hate confrontation and tend to avoid it whenever possible. Huge character flaw, I know. But I'm almost 29 years old. I'm not sure I'll grow out of that one. It's on my to-do list.

Anywho, back to this week. I thought it was going pretty well, actually. I redesigned our corporate website (http://www.jdrweb.com), and to go with it, I asked a few of our clients if they would submit testimonials for our testimonials page! What I received was way more generous than I ever expected, and I actually had to get my tissues out on one of them. I was taken aback by how appreciative some of them truly were. Warm Fuzzies Abounded!

Then, I made the mistake of inviting a bunch of people to a meeting that I thought they might be interested in. The Director of this organization (whom I had also invited, thinking it was showing her how our group was stepping outside the box) replied to everyone I sent the email to that it was a horrible idea, went against the principles of the organization, and she couldn't believe we were hosting such an event.

Oops.

Two dozen emails later, I finally found out she had reacted that way because apparently after I sent out the invitation, she got blasted with emails and phone calls wondering why she was hosting something that went against the main focus of this organization. Unfortunately, she reacted in such an unprofessional manner, that I doubt the people I sent that to will ever be interested in joining her organization. Ever. Which is really too bad because it's a great organization to help you grow your business. Oh well. For the record, I apologized to all the people I was hoping would be interested in joining the organization for being included in the public reprimand I received. I late apologized to all the people I sent it to who were in other chapters of our group for thinking they might be interested and to clarify that the Director was not the one sponsoring the meeting. I took full responsibility for the mistake I made.

The upside to this is that in those two dozen emails, several of them were warm fuzzies supporting me, even if it was a bad decision on my part. It's good to know I have friends. Up goes the roller coaster...

And then we go back down. I play on a game called Star Wars Galaxies. I had a conversation with a friend on a public chat channel. We talked about a million things, the game, life, our families, our careers, everything. At some point in the conversation, I made a comment she apparently took offense to: "So how do you get any work done if you're playing here all the time? :P" We change topics three or four times, she goes afk, five minutes later comes back and blasts me over the chat channel that it was the second time I had made reference to her playing too often, that it was none of my business, and that she was very successful in her career, found the game enjoyable, and I needed to "stop making assumptions without knowing all the facts." Huh? Let's back up here...

I was a little shocked.

Ok, maybe more than a little.

This, after the snowball of emails I had received in real life. I needed that, thanks.

I felt bad. I didn't want to correct her publicly, so I switched to private tells. I didn't say, but wanted to, that she made an assumption without knowing all the facts. I think it's great that she can work and play at the same time. I think it's great that she has six different characters and can keep them all straight. Lord knows I'm not organized enough to do that. Anyone who can manage that is tops in my book because it means (to me anyway) they probably have their life really together, something I doubt I'll ever achieve. I did tell her I adore her, and I did tell her that whatever I said that upset her was definitely not intended the way she took it because whatever it was, I certainly didn't mean for it to upset her.

A few hours later I found out that I wasn't the only one who had mentioned she plays too often. I just happened to be the icing on the cake and got the brunt of her attack.

Thanks, I needed that this week.

So, reaching the valley of this roller coaster ride, we start the ascent again.

My character's in-game boyfriend proposed to her that night!

This in itself presents a quandary.

I'm married in real life to someone else, whom I adore very very very much. Nobody will ever be as perfect as Lars is, and nobody will ever change that. We've been together five years, and I still think he's as wonderful as he was the day we met. There is only one thing I don't like about him, and he doesn't even do that hardly anymore: he tends to grate his teeth on his fork when he eats. (Ow my ears!) Something to be really upset over right? Heh. All the things in the world he could do wrong, and he picks that flaw. Darn my luck. Just to make things even, I subconsciously click my fingernails. Drives him up the wall. Darn his luck.

So anywho, to accept or not to accept? That is the question. What to do? The real-life-wife in me says decline, out of faithfulness to your real-life-husband, and because you've told your friend six dozen times this character will never marry. However, it is just a game. My friend knows I'm married, and very much in love, and my friend and I will always be only friends. In fact, up to now, the casual flirting has been relatively PG rated. (We've hugged!) Sooo.. knowing that, I accept. Side note, today I mentioned to him that I was concerned our relationship was getting "too real" for him, and he assured me it wasn't, and he was absolutely aware of where I was coming from. Whew! That's good news.

But wait! This ride isn't over yet! One more last push uphill... I get a phone call from one of the people I sent that email invitation to, part of the group I later apologized to for being so presumptuous as to assume they'd be interested in the meeting. (Remember that?) Not only is he interested, so is his chapter president, whom he shared the invitation with. They both want to come. Are we still having it? Woohoo! I wasn't a complete and total failure with that, at least. I thanked him profusely. I really needed to hear that from someone who wasn't in my immediate circle.

Ok, so, let's go back down before we level out this ride and abandon it. (Have I ever mentioned I really really hate roller coasters?) I get a phone call from my boss. Yeah, I think I'll leave that one alone for this post.

It kind of worked itself out the next morning. My boss's boss wants to be more involved. He hasn't taken enough interest in our division, and now he wants to. This is a good thing. I think. I'm pretty sure it is. I think it means I'm no longer the forgotten stepchild.

So, let's see how the rest of this week goes. I'm not sure I can take anymore unexpected results. My heart just isn't that strong. By the way, this all started last Thursday. I'm on Day Six. Can I get off the roller coaster now? Please?

More cheese?

This is Why I am Not a Teacher

Ok, so my last post mentioned I might know a thing or three. This class I'm currently in has certainly helped boost that part of my ego just a bit. But there's just something wrong with the fact that I am the ONLY PERSON in the class to understand a fundamental concept.

Usually, I'm the last one to get it. I stumble over the basic building blocks like there's no tomorrow. I was horrible at proofs in Geometry in high school. At some point, you have to use your intuition or some other magic to get the first part of the answer before you can get the second part. For example, if 2+2 were fundamental to my knowing the answer to x + y = z, (say, x = 2+2, and that's needed to be able to compute the equation), it would take me hours (days, weeks, forever) to get the answer because I would stumble over finding x and never see the rest of the equation.

SOoooo.... for part of this class, we have to use a chart of numbers to find the area under a curve (where was this chart when I was computing limits to find the area under a curve in Calculus a few years ago???). The book does a HORRIBLE job of explaining how to use the chart.

But, since I like to look for relationships in problems like this, I figured it out pretty quickly. I made a hypothesis, found some practice problems, and figured out my hypothesis was correct. In fact, I got the right answer for our homework problem. And I was the only one. So I explained how I read the chart.

First person says, Ok, I see your logic, but how did you know to read the chart that way? So, I pointed out excerpts in the book that led me to my hypothesis, and then pointed out the examples I used to test it. She got it then.

But one person still didn't get it. So I explained again. And he still didn't get it. So I explained again, and the instructor chimed in with an explanation of his own. The other student still didn't get it. So I explained again, and called him on the phone, leaving a message for him to call me so I could step him through the process.

How many different ways can you explain that x + y = z? There's z - y = x. And z - x = y. And .. hmm. That's about it. I'm back to x + y = z. I give up. This is why I don't teach.

An Epiphany

I had a revelation today.

I may actually know something.

It's really a very strange feeling. Usually, I am not confident about any of the random data stored in my head. Well, let me qualify that. I can be absolutely sure that the sky is blue, but the moment you challenge me on it, "Are you sure?", I'm suddenly very much not sure.

I can't stand being challenged. I'm terrified of it. So, usually, I'm not very confident about what I know, despite the reassurances I get from my darling husband sixteen times a day.

So today, I logged into my class newsgroup to see if anyone had posted anything new. This being a statistics class, and five out of five people are overwhelmed with the amount of vocabulary being thrown at us, there wasn't a whole lot of discussion between 10:00 last night and 9:00 this morning. However, one person did respond that he could not answer the discussion question that was due last night until someone clarified the question for him as he had asked on Sunday evening. Seeing nobody had responded to him yet, two days after he'd posted the initial clarification request, I took it upon myself to try and respond.

Really, all he needed to do was read the unit in the book that the instructor had assigned for the week. "The Coefficient of Variation divides the Standard Deviation by the mean." That was the sentence he wanted clarified. Really, it was just a vocabulary lesson. So, I summarized the first 55 pages of our 142 page unit into two pages of a post, defining the main vocabulary words in the statement under question and giving examples. I was really quite proud of myself. And explaining it to someone else certainly helped me to understand the concepts better.

I've always been a numbers person, so plugging numbers into an equation and doing the math isn't a problem for me. In fact, I thrive on it. However, all this vocabulary that names the equations is a bit overwhelming. I'll never remember that the Coefficient of Variation is (the square root of [the sum of {the square of (the mean of a group of numbers subtracted from each of those group of numbers)} divided by the number of numbers in the group]) divided by the mean. Well, maybe now I will because I've written it sixteen times today, but I won't remember what Chebychev's Theorem really is. (What IS Chebychev's Theorem, anyway?)

Anywho, so that was the start of my day. After that, I fixed some problems with code that had moved around too much and needed to be rewritten, and then I had a status meeting with my boss about a project we're working on to meet SAS-70 requirements. I asked a question, and I was told it couldn't be done because it was a security risk, and that the current process was better, but needed to be more secure. I didn't see the difference between the way I said it should be done (which eliminated several steps in the process) and the current process, as far as security goes. But the end result was, I was told my way was insecure.

Two hours later, my network administrator, who is working on this project with me, comes over to ask me how to write a program that does exactly what I had described to my boss earlier. When I told him that I was told my way was insecure, he told me that there was no difference between the security of the two processes, and that my way should be better because it actually eliminated a step that was insecure.

*score 1 for the ego boost*

Add to the fact that in casually looking at jobs online last night, I found I actually earn about half of what I should be making...

I think it's time to update my resume.

I might actually know a thing or three. Yay me!

I Have a New Toy!

So this weekend was a fabulously beautiful weekend. The weather was warm, the skies were relatively clear, AND it was a three-day weekend. I love holidays. :)

Now, in Indiana, it's illegal to sell cars on Sundays. But did you know that it's perfectly ok to sell them on holidays like the 4th of July?

Lars and I have been talking about replacing the Buhaul for a while, but we thought we'd wait until next year or maybe even after I graduate from UoP.. which reminds me that I should do my homework tonight. Anywho, so I said on Monday that I should start test driving cars now, and then test drive them again in the winter since that's when I decide I really don't like the car I'm driving. (I really hate snow.) So I said, "Do you suppose any of the dealers are open today?" And he said, "Probably. We should go to CarMax because they'll have the widest selection of cars."

So we went, and they were open. I had looked at their website the night before and saw a few cars that I was interested in. I only had a few minor requests. 1) It needs to be a stick. I'm tired of driving an automatic. 2) No automatic seatbelts. 3) Must have two cupholders. 3) I'd really like a CD player, but no biggie. 4) Must be under $12k. 5) Must handle snow well. 6) Must be newer and smaller than the Buhaul.

So I really didn't expect to find anything. Especially since at CarMax, they push the customer service line a little too far. Generally, you get accosted the moment you walk in the door. Then the over-friendly sales person takes you to a computer, puts in your requests/limitations (so you really have to have a good idea of what kind of car you want), and then takes you to the specific car you like. No wandering around the parking lot just idly gazing around to see if something piques your interest.

To our surprise, all their sales representatives were busy with other customers when we got there. Did we just want to have a look around outside? They would send someone out when they were caught up on the waiting list. Yay!

So somewhere in the middle of the huge lot they have, which seemed really empty compared to how we'd seen it before, we found a car that met ALL of my guidelines. So test drive, I fall in love. It really shifts well, almost easier than the Honda Insight I'd had before.

Soooo.. the budget is squeezed a bit tighter, but I am now the proud owner of a 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS. Lovely. :) 1) 5 speed. 2) No Deathomatic seatbelts. 3) Two cupholders that are well-hidden. 3) CD player (a bit sticky, but that's fixable under the 30-day warranty). 4) $10599 (but I added a 1 year warranty, so it sneaked up over $12k). 5) All Wheel Drive. 6) 2000, not a 1996, and 2 doors, not 4, so a little smaller than the Buick. Yay me.:)

So if you know anyone looking for a bigger, serviceable car, I have a 1996 Buick Regal with 120k miles on it for sale. Cheapy cheap. :) Probably needs new brakes in the front, but other than that, it's a good little car. Erm, big car.

I Hate Beer

But I love the commercials. Bud Light has done some amazing radio spots. One article I read said the "Real Men of Genius" spots have been out for about four years now, but I've only recently started noticing them. The one that really grabbed my attention and inspired me to write was the newest one. For the 4th of July, it celebrates summer by saluting the backyard bug zapper inventor. I especially like the sounds of summer.. "crickets chirping, birds singing, the blood curdling scream of a moth having 700 volts of electricity shoot through its body.." followed shortly by a choir of women chanting "Die, Bugs, Die!"

So a good site to check these out for the lyrics is http://budlight.whipnet.com. (Unfortunately, Anhauser-Busch got upset about all the free marketing. Apparently, people were confused and thought the websites were related?? So, no more audio, but the lyrics are still there.)

I think they need to salute the REAL Man of Genius.. Mr. Bud Light Radio Commercial Creator. If you find one like that, let me know! :)

Disclaimer: As I said, I hate beer, and most alcohol in general, but if you must drink, please drink responsibly. And I definitely do not support underage drinking. And this website is in no way associated with any alcholic beverage company whatsoever. Or any beverage company, for that matter.

New Class, New Hope

So I started class number four at the University of Phoenix yesterday. This time it is MGT 350: Critical Thinking. In this class, I get a crash course in how to examine all the possibilities before making a decision. I'm going to be educated on how to make educated decisions. Yippee!

I do have some excitement for this class. Barbara (our instructor) seems to be a lot like Charlotte, who taught the class on Management Theory two classes ago, except she has a lot more excitable enthusiasm. I say "excitable" enthusiasm because Charlotte did have a lot of enthusiasm for the course she was teaching. She obviously believed very strongly in the principles she was teaching, and she made a very good effort to make sure we were as involved in participating in the class as she was involved in teaching it. Barbara on the other hand has a lot more visible emotion. She is much more animated and just as enthusiastic about the course topic.

I really think I'm going to struggle with the coursework in this class. I've never been one to think critically. I make a lot of decisions based on what I think I've heard or seen rather than actually researching the information. I use a lot of fallacies in my arguments, and despite the book saying that using emotions to think critically is acceptable, I feel that I am way too emotional with most decisions.

So anyway, I'm excited, and I think I'll enjoy the class, even if I struggle with the classwork.