Technically Ready

Today's Indicator is 13.  That's how many hours long the next 10 Tuesdays of my life are going to be. More on this later.

Technically speaking, I am ready to go back to school.  I have the correct books and supplies, I am registered for classes, I’ve received financial aid, etc.   The classes I’ll be taking are:

- ECE 372 – Embedded Systems:  The continuation of my favorite course from last term, microprocessor design. 

- MTH 265 – Differential Equations:  Another calculus class.  I am taking it from a professor who got far better reviews than my excuse for a teacher last term.

- ECE 321 – Microelectronics:  I am most concerned about this class, considering it is the continuation of my circuit analysis class last term in which I did less than stellar.

What I am not ready for, is this insane schedule I ended up with:

Which brings me back the the indicator... Yes, on Tuesday, I have Embedded Systems, a brief break, and then in quick succession Diff EQ, Microelectronics, and then Microelectronics lab for a roughly 13 hour day including bus rides.  Joy. Barring Tuesday, though its not so bad.

My workout routine over Christmas break

But I’m not stopping there, because evidently I am a glutton for punishment.  I’m going to start working out again.  I haven’t been to the gym in… well, a really long time.  A couple months ago, my friend Nathanael told me that there are drop-in PE courses at the PSU student rec center that are free for students, for all kinds of activities like cycling, yoga, weight training, boot camp, etc.  I wanted to go sooner, but my schedule last term didn’t permit.  Anyway, seeing as I am technically already paying for this service, its time to start using it. 

Also, inspired by Beth’s new goal of running a 10k race this spring, I am going to start running again as well.  I really enjoyed the Couch to 5K (C25K) program when I tried it a couple years ago, so I’m going to do it again.  For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, it’s a neat program designed to take you from a couch potato to running 5K (~3 miles) in 30 minutes, and it is 10 weeks long so it corresponds perfectly with school.   The great thing about it is that everything is already planned out for you in advance.  When it first came out, there were podcasts that played music and told you when to start or stop running, so you could just focus and not worry about distance or time.  Now, there are smartphone apps that do all of that and also track your performance, location, and pace, and allow you to listen to whatever music you want.  Not bad for $1.60.

All together, with the classes at the rec center and the C25K program, I will be getting exercise 5-6 times per week, up from zero.  So I’m excited about that now.  Ask me again in 5 weeks.