Back to school (Off Topic Post)

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I know it has been a while since I've posted anything and I should probably begin with another PC post but that will have to wait for a few days. I'm posting about what inspire's me and what my help inspire you. With that said, here I go.

Happy Sunday Everyone, Today I'm going to share a tidbit about why I am going back to school. I have been a computer tech for 20 years now and I am very good at what I do. But I am also a little (okay a lot) bored. About a year ago my brain began to feel like it was stagnating. I’ve managed to keep the stagnation at bay by getting security certifications, becoming more familiar with Mac OS and Linux, but it’s still really just the same principles over and over. I fix things when they break.

So about 9 months ago my wife and I were talking about vacations and where we wanted to go, when somehow we got onto the subject of there being only 2 shuttle launches left at the time and she had never been to see one. I watched a discovery launch about 20 years ago.

I decided that since she had never been there I would research and find a way to get us to the Atlantis launch. Around this same time she introduced me to TED Talks. http://www.ted.com/talks I began watching one a day for a very long time until I stumbled across the talk by Sal Khan. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

So in the lead up to going to see the Final Shuttle Launch I basically made NASA my home page and realized the Physics and Astronomy community is literally in the midst of a kind of Renaissance. We have learned so much about the Universe and the subatomic world in the last 15 years that textbooks have changed drastically since I was in school and my brain decided it wanted more. Lot’s more.

After watching Sal talk about the Khan Academy I realized an opportunity existed now that wasn’t available when I was in college. I visited the site and began trying some of the various math tutorials. The reason I currently have a psychology degree instead of an engineering degree was MATH, specifically calculus. I tried 3 times to take calculus and just could not understand any of the instructors. When I started watching the Khan Academy videos and realized he covered the entire spectrum of math from basic addition through Calculus and differential equations I realized I had a chance. I tried with study groups and the books when I was in college but it wasn’t enough and I couldn’t afford a tutor. I needed to see more worked examples than the classroom and a full load of courses allowed me. Oddly it wasn’t the actually math that was hard for me it was translating the word problems into the mathematical formulas that was the challenge, and still is today. However today with Khan Academy and the internet I have the additional resources to succeed where as I did not when I was an undergrad.

So no I am enrolled in Astronomy 101, I will be taking 102 and the lab next semester, and possibly start taking calculus this summer or next fall(may get delayed due to the fact my wife and I are expecting our first child in March.) I am LOVING my astronomy class, and eager to learn more. I am making it a point to review and practice my Math skills weekly so I can get ready for calculus, and I plan on getting at least one set of calculus ahead on Khan academy before I take it in the classroom. (Perhaps this is a bit like cheating but I need any edge when it comes to applying to graduate school. I was never good at standardized tests.)

The economy will not be in the dumps forever and there is an entire field of exploration and discovery awaiting me at the end of what will likely be a 6-7 year journey towards a PhD. However, I for one am excited about the opportunity and eagerly looking forward to the challenge. Especially of raising a child will studying for a doctorate. (I wonder what this says about my sanity.) That and being an older student going back to school should be interesting. Then again I believe I finally have the discipline to follow through with my ambitions. So I am putting this out here is a way to have you all help me hold myself accountable to my goals and ambitions. Thanks for listening. (Okay, reading… gosh why do you all have to be so technical!)

:-P

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