-Though we didn't get the storm that was briefly predicted, we did mange to get the above zero temperatures that were predicted. This means that much of the snow that has fallen in the past several days has now turned to slush. The particularly nice part about the arrangement is that as the temperature is now dropping quickly we are a great position to get all kinds of ice. Notably, the cement area outside my window may be a particularly good area for sliding in a few hours.
Just moments ago I learned that apparently the threat of ice was enough to close schools in Halifax this afternoon. As it is now after school closing time and the ice hasn't formed it seems that his may have been a slight over-reaction.
-Yesterday, while at school, I was told about a pile of crap that one of the offices was giving/throwing away. Almost as soon as I heard about this opportunity I made my way down to inspect the goods. Almost immediately it was clear that most of the things that were in the pile were on the obsolete and useless side of things. Fortunately I stuck to my inspection was thus able to nab myself a Dictaphone (complete with foot controller, headset, and tapes). The only problem with the find is that it didn't come with an appropriate AC adapter. Hopefully once I find an adapter I will have the Dictaphone up and running. I imagine that this should improve my efficiency by a fair margin.
-As celery is on sale this week at one of the local grocery store I picked up a bunch made myself a celery, carrot, onion salad for dinner. As I was making the salad I realized that I forgot to buy radishes, oh well, I guess if I head back to the store tomorrow I might pick some up.
-Today I learned that, if I am so inclined, I can buy a set of photocopies for one of my classes for $120. You may not be surprised to learn that I have decided to just go to the library instead. I can't see how I can justify paying $120 for things that I can borrow from the library for free (and now I can justify blowing $120 that I saved on school expenses).
-To save on textbook expenses in another class I decided to borrow the required books from other university libraries in Nova Scotia (which should work quite nicely as my loans are good until the end of May). I should give credit for this plan to Cheryl, who tried something similar last year (though there were a few glitches in the execution if I remember correctly).
Showing posts with label textbooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label textbooks. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Thursday, January 11, 2007
A Few Quick Notes 49
-Today has been on the cool side but with temperatures rising all day. It seems that we should peek tomorrow and then drop again. The daily temperature change is quite impressive.
-Tomorrow is another work day for me. I am not really sure what to expect as Thomson House will be hosting the beginning of term party. Apparently this party last year was a dud, but the equivalent party last term was packed. I guess it is some about which I will just have to wait and see. If it is well attended I hope that I won’t have to stay too late as I don’t want my sleep schedule to be too far out of whack.
-Today I did something that I have not done in a while. I set my alarm incorrectly, off by 12 hours, causing my to sleep in and wake up after class had started. Fortunately because of my proximity to McGill I was able to miss less than 25 minutes of class. On the whole it was a less than pleasant experience, one that I hope not to repeat in the future.
-So just a minute ago I was digging around Blogger and I found out that Neil has started his own blog, a competitor to this masterpiece of creativity. We will see to which blog Neil manages to post more. So as not to lose readers I don’t think that it would be appropriate to pass along the URL at this time.
-I still have not been able to get a hold of the books that I need for my courses. I replied to several messages were sent by senior students indicating that they had books for sale but have still heard nothing. None of them seem to be on reserve and the bookstore does not have two of them and a third that they do have is not quite correct.
Contrary to a decision I made yesterday, I ended up purchasing the course pack for one of my courses. While I could get most of the contents on my own it is not all that much more expensive and I believe my time to be worth something. I think that it is also likely that I will read more if it is in a bound format in my room that somewhere on the web waiting to be downloaded.
-Tomorrow is another work day for me. I am not really sure what to expect as Thomson House will be hosting the beginning of term party. Apparently this party last year was a dud, but the equivalent party last term was packed. I guess it is some about which I will just have to wait and see. If it is well attended I hope that I won’t have to stay too late as I don’t want my sleep schedule to be too far out of whack.
-Today I did something that I have not done in a while. I set my alarm incorrectly, off by 12 hours, causing my to sleep in and wake up after class had started. Fortunately because of my proximity to McGill I was able to miss less than 25 minutes of class. On the whole it was a less than pleasant experience, one that I hope not to repeat in the future.
-So just a minute ago I was digging around Blogger and I found out that Neil has started his own blog, a competitor to this masterpiece of creativity. We will see to which blog Neil manages to post more. So as not to lose readers I don’t think that it would be appropriate to pass along the URL at this time.
-I still have not been able to get a hold of the books that I need for my courses. I replied to several messages were sent by senior students indicating that they had books for sale but have still heard nothing. None of them seem to be on reserve and the bookstore does not have two of them and a third that they do have is not quite correct.
Contrary to a decision I made yesterday, I ended up purchasing the course pack for one of my courses. While I could get most of the contents on my own it is not all that much more expensive and I believe my time to be worth something. I think that it is also likely that I will read more if it is in a bound format in my room that somewhere on the web waiting to be downloaded.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
A Few Quick Notes 48
-The temperature is now down to about -12, which is quite chilly. Though it is cold we still don’t have any snow or frozen water to talk about. It seems that it might be generally colder in the next few days than it has been over the past few weeks.
-Today before class I went to the bookstore to purchase a book for the class that I had yesterday. Though the book available was not the one that was originally ordered I decided that I would splash out for it. After the purchase I went over to school and started to read a few of the first pages.
What initially struck me about the book was that it was absolutely nothings special, just another textbook dealing with social science research methods. To me the greater than $80 price tag did seem special.
After class I decided to head back to the bookstore to pick up the course pack (collection of reading for the class) for the course that I had just had. While in the store I ran into three of my classmates. The discussion quickly turned to books that had been recommended. It quickly became clear that I didn’t really need to purchase the book that I had already purchased and likely didn’t need to purchase the course pack that I had gone to buy.
My plan is to use the library copies of the books and then get a copy of the table of content from the course pack and get each week’s articles.
This decision meant that I would have to return the already purchased book. So I went up stairs and attempted to do this. At first the process seemingly went smoothly. The book was handed over to the clerk and an amount of money refunded to my bank card.
Just before the process was over the clerk realized that he had refunded me too much money. This kind of threw him a little off kilter, he didn’t seem to know quite how to deal with it. Eventually he was able to figure out a way to get me to pay pack the money, though he insisted that I used my bank card.
As I have a limited number of free transactions a month I wasn’t really interested in paying for this $3 on my bank card. I suggested that I might be able to pay in cash, which at the end of the day would leave their till balanced.
This suggestion wasn’t all that welcome. The clerk eventually went to find an answer. Though it took a few minutes and didn’t seem to be a big deal to his supervisor, I was able to pay back the $3 in cash.
-Unfortunately none of the books that I would like to read for my courses is available from the library. It seems that they have all been checked out and recalled, though they might not be back for more than a week. This doesn’t really seem acceptable.
-My classes have been pretty good so far, though some of them could be a little spicier. Tomorrow’s class will finally give me a final view of my term.
-The free book box is back again this term. So far I have been able to pick up three free books. Score.
-Today before class I went to the bookstore to purchase a book for the class that I had yesterday. Though the book available was not the one that was originally ordered I decided that I would splash out for it. After the purchase I went over to school and started to read a few of the first pages.
What initially struck me about the book was that it was absolutely nothings special, just another textbook dealing with social science research methods. To me the greater than $80 price tag did seem special.
After class I decided to head back to the bookstore to pick up the course pack (collection of reading for the class) for the course that I had just had. While in the store I ran into three of my classmates. The discussion quickly turned to books that had been recommended. It quickly became clear that I didn’t really need to purchase the book that I had already purchased and likely didn’t need to purchase the course pack that I had gone to buy.
My plan is to use the library copies of the books and then get a copy of the table of content from the course pack and get each week’s articles.
This decision meant that I would have to return the already purchased book. So I went up stairs and attempted to do this. At first the process seemingly went smoothly. The book was handed over to the clerk and an amount of money refunded to my bank card.
Just before the process was over the clerk realized that he had refunded me too much money. This kind of threw him a little off kilter, he didn’t seem to know quite how to deal with it. Eventually he was able to figure out a way to get me to pay pack the money, though he insisted that I used my bank card.
As I have a limited number of free transactions a month I wasn’t really interested in paying for this $3 on my bank card. I suggested that I might be able to pay in cash, which at the end of the day would leave their till balanced.
This suggestion wasn’t all that welcome. The clerk eventually went to find an answer. Though it took a few minutes and didn’t seem to be a big deal to his supervisor, I was able to pay back the $3 in cash.
-Unfortunately none of the books that I would like to read for my courses is available from the library. It seems that they have all been checked out and recalled, though they might not be back for more than a week. This doesn’t really seem acceptable.
-My classes have been pretty good so far, though some of them could be a little spicier. Tomorrow’s class will finally give me a final view of my term.
-The free book box is back again this term. So far I have been able to pick up three free books. Score.
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