Dan on June 27th, 2008
That’s right my friends, a new post after a year and 3 months of nothing. Recent ideas rekindled my interest in this site. As I’m heading off to the gym in a few minutes I don’t have time for a major update, but here are a few high points that occurred during my off time:
- Graduated from college with an AS in Business Administration in April ‘07.
- Sentenced to probation with community service and restitution for my past crimes in April ‘07
- Landed a web development job in November ‘07.
- Continue to push myself in the gym. Doing my first bodybuilding show later this year in October.
I’ve updated the site’s software to the latest version of WordPress and Gallery2. This broke the old skin. It was time to change it anyway. For now I’ll be sticking with a default skin until I have time to find and customize one that I like.
Dan on December 14th, 2006
Today marked my last day of school in the fall semester. I’m not sure what my grades were for all of my classes but I expect that my overall GPA will be at least 3.8. More importantly I am now on vacation until January 22, 2007. I now have plenty of free time to pursue other interests such as polyphasic sleep, cooking experiments, my new website, and more. Watch for posts in the near future addressing each of these topics.
The spring semester will be my last at Monroe Community College. I’ll be graduating with AS degrees in business administration and computer science. I’ll be applying to “real” colleges soon to pursue a BS with a double major in economics and finance or something else business related. My target school is Columbia, with the University of Rochester as one backup. I believe my other backup will be George Washington University but I’m not 100% on that yet.
I recently had a personal revelation in regards to school. A month or two ago I started thinking about what I want to do when I graduate from MCC. All of a sudden it hit me: school isn’t about getting a degree or a job, it’s about thinking and learning. It had been building in the back of my mind for quite some time but finally broke through all at once. When I first entered college in 2000 at Rochester Institute of Technology all I wanted was the piece of paper that said I had a degree. I didn’t really care about the process, just the end result. I think that was a big part of my failing the first time around. I wasn’t interested in college, I was interested in getting out of college. Unfortunately that’s a very common way of thinking among our colleges and universities today. The original concept has been watered down and lost at may places of higher education. Students don’t realize that it is the process of getting the degree that is important, not the degree itself.
That has completely changed for me. I’ve decided to shoot for the moon and apply to Columbia not just based on its high level of respect but because it is an old institution based on old concepts of what college is all about. I want to experience college, not just pass through the halls of famous old buildings. Had I felt this way the first time around I may not be where I am today.
Dan on January 31st, 2006
…but I miss engineers. Let me explain. I’m back in school, attending a local community college. While the school itself is pretty good, especially for the cost, many of the people there are not. Maybe I’m just used to hanging out with engineers and geeks, but I’ve found a lot of people in my major (business administration) aren’t really the kind of people I like. Too many jocks and people from the high school “popular crowd.” You know the type. The ones who care more about what they look like and what the latest celebrity gossip is than what a standard deviation is. Mindless automatons that try their hardest to follow what everyone else is doing rather than thinking for themselves. Sure, there are a minority of students that aren’t like that, people like me who care what is going on in class and not about getting their hat cocked at the perfect angle.
I guess when there are no admission standards you have to expect some of the high school dregs. If these people go on to graduate and get a decent job then all the more power too them. However, my guess is that the people who drop out at this school are these people. They didn’t belong there in the first place, just like how I didn’t belong at my first school (Rochester Institute of Technology). Society has bombarded them with the idea that college is required. Get it through your thick cranium, college is not for everyone. It wasn’t for me the first time through. Now that I’m back with a whole new outlook I feel much more comfortable.
Please, if you don’t want to go to college don’t go. There are plenty of things you can do to earn decent money without aquiring a higher education. If there are a few subjects that interest you then take those. You don’t have to go to college to get a piece of paper. You can go to learn, which is what college is truely all about.
Dan on January 26th, 2006
Today marked the last day of my first week back in school. So far I’m enjoying it. Most of the topics are interrelated (intro to business, accounting 1, microeconomics) so that makes studying much easier. I think that all of the classes will improve my ability to evaluate stocks and currency which should increase my trading ability.
The one thing I’m not looking forward to is the time expenditure of class and homework. 5 classes creates a significant amount of reading and written work. This weekend I have to read 3 chapters in 3 different books plus 12 pages in another, write an essay and a speech, review a newspaper section, do 11 statistics problems, and about 20 accounting problems. It’s only downhill from here. I think I’m prepared to do the work, it’s just going to take up a lot of time I would be otherwise spending on researching trading. I guess that has to be put on the back burner for now.
School is also wrecking havoc on my sleep patterns. I may have to end polyphasic sleep until May. I’m going to put more thought into that this weekend. Watch for another post about it soon.
Dan on January 24th, 2006
In about 6 hours I will be back in college, earning my business administration A.S. degree. It seems quite strange to me at this point that I am returning to school. I plan on earning my living trading and investing, so why go back to school? Well, there are a number of great reasons.
1. Grant Money! As I mentioned in a previous entry federal and state grants are paying for my eduaction. Not only that, I’m getting quite a bit back for living expenses. I’m planning on depositing that money straight into an investment account, either in a stock/options account or forex.
2. Knowledge. I’m a strong believer in continuous education. Most of what I’ve learned over the past few years has been self taught through books and websites. Sometimes it’s best to learn from someone else. I can’t pass up the opportunity to learn more about business and the economy for free. Actually, if you count the money I’m getting back I’m actually getting paid to do it!
3. A Degree Can’t Hurt. I spent a few years attending college with only student loans to show for it. After transferring my credits from RIT to MCC I only need 9-10 classes to get a degree. That’s only one more year of school! So not only do I get paid to learn what I’m interested in, I get a piece of paper I can hang on my wall saying that I did it. If I decide I want to continue my education I’ll be most of the way there to a B.S.
Thinking about and typing up the previous content has got me even more excited about going back to school. I’m going to miss the lack of obligations but maybe that’s what I need right now. It helps add structure to my life. I bought a planner refill this week and started using it. I put more thought into what I hope to accomplish. I’m feeling very motivated.
The two issues I have with school are sleep and food. As mentioned before I’ll be in class from 8AM to 1PM. I’m going to shift my 6AM nap forward to 6:30AM. That means I’ll be going for 6 hours before I can nap. I’m hoping that a 1.5h nap at 2AM will help offset this. Not only that, but I’m still not sure where I’m going to sleep while I’m on campus. I’m going to play it by ear and hope to find a couch hidden away in a disused hallway. If I can’t make an afternoon nap work I may have to sleep monophasicly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or at the very least have a long (4.5h or 6h) core sleep.
Food is less of an issue. Normally I’d make and eat omelets around 11AM. I’m going to make them before I leave in the morning since they should still be good cold. My afternoon meal at 2:30PM is usually a turkey sandwich. That can also stay the same or switch off with peanut butter.
Have you thought about what you’d like to learn? Maybe there’s an evening class or a class on your day off at the local community college. I strongly urge you to look into it. You won’t regret it!
