I’m on a short business trip today. But I have all sorts of exciting things to share.

Firstly, I went to a dermatologist yesterday. They did a biopsy on one of my funky birth marks. How did it go down? Pretty nasty. First a nurse injected me with some sort of local numbing agent. Then the doctor went in. I couldn’t feel a thing so all I got from the goings on was the conversations between the doctor and his helpers.

Doctor: “we’ll need some towels. he’s bleeding a bit”
Nurse: “I’ll grab some.”
mike d thinks: towels?
Doctor: “go grab Janet to do the stitches”
mike d thinks: stitches?
Janet: “well, I’ve seen worse.”
mike d thinks: awesome?

Actually, it all came out pretty good. I have to go back in ten days for stitch removal and biopsy results. But the whole thing was really very fast, and the dermatologist seemed to know what he was doing. I was in and out in an hour with a full review and minor surgery. For anyone looking for a dermatologist in the New Haven area, I recommend Savin.

The other exciting news is that last night I had my very last class for my mechanical engineering degree. Class… meaning… class. I still have an independent project that I must complete, but no more classroom time! Yes!! This is a huge life savor. From this day forth I will loose one less night a week to academia. Rock!

On the topic of environmental regulations.

Professor:
One particular interesting story is about a barge that was sent out of New York. It had hazardous waste in it and they wanted to dump it out at sea. This was before the laws completely prohibited the practice. So the barge goes out and New York says it can’t dump it within their waters. So the barge goes south. And as they go they keep meeting resistance. No one will let them dump the garbage. I mean, if it was solid waste? If it was solid waste they could have put it in a landfill. But obviously this was something atypical. They got all the way down to Costa Rica. And still… nothing. So what happened? Where did they have to go?

Classmate:
New Jersey?

The response from my professor was hilarious:

“Hot Stuff Mike.”

(more…)

“In Economics they say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But sometimes you may not realize you have a lunch. or you’re throwing your lunch away. When you can reclaim that lunch… it looks and feels a lot like a free lunch.”

Jim Stodder

Professor: So why would demand increase?
Me: International business?
Professor: yes. good. what’s your name again?
Me: mike.
Professor: Mike D?
Me: that’s right.

Last night I had a midterm in my Heat Convection class.

It went… okay. Hardly flawless, but not nearly as bad as I had originally expected. This tough exam comes alongside two great pieces of news.

1. it looks like I’ll be able to get credit for two of my MBA classes as ‘elective’ courses for the M.S.

This is awesome because I thought i could only get one. A bonus class would be SWEET. If that goes through we will have the following school completion levels.

2. Pete and I may be able to do a project for the engineering degree. That means I could be done as early as MARCH. MARCH!

that would be bliss. I can’t wait.

Studying is brutal when you don’t have a deep sense of passion for the content.

I’m really not digging my Heat Convection class. It’s too theoretical and doesn’t apply (at this level) to anything I do at work. I’m taking it to fulfill an elective requirement for the master’s in science and I’m just not happy with the subject. The only thing that amazes me about Heat Convection is that someone had the enthusiasm to figure all this stuff out in the first place.

This makes studying for this week’s midterm particularly trying. Especially with the everest of guitars quietly calling out to me from within its plush hard case.

Today I took a vacation day from work so that I can finish up that paper.

whoop-de-freakin-doo.