Day Three, Seems like Day Twenty

It is unusual for me to be awake for as much of day as I am, and especially to be awake and having things to do. I am presently at my job in the GIS Lab of the Geography Department (it is my first day, but since the labs for the classes haven't started yet, there is nothing to do and no one here). All I have to do is work through the first lab by two weeks from now to make sure if any of the students need help and if the lab instructor is not here, I can at least help them and show them how to do things. It is a fairly simple job, but pertinent to my major, and I get a couple of three hour time blocks in which to sit and work otherwise uninterupted. I plan on looking to it as a useful way of getting reading out of the way. I've found when employed in separate 1-hour time blocks versus a single multiple-hour time block, I am much less productive. Also, here at the GIS Lab, I get to listen to MPR without distraction.

My first couple of days have been long! I just finagled with my French Dept. boss, Theresa that in exchange for working the 8:30AM slot I can pick out the other hour I work there at my choosing. I also work there Monday from 2:20 to 3:20 and the same on Friday. Following work, I have Disciplines and Methods of Geography at 9:40. Then I have a three hour break for lunch - I'm considering getting the commuter meal plan, which will allow me a certain number of meals on campus so that I won't need to go home and cook for myself. However, it also allows me the flexibility to choose which meals I eat (bfast, lunch, dinner). I think I'll pick the 3:30 to 4:30 slot to work, just to round out my day. Following that, I have class again at 7PM with Professor Samatar. There are only seven people in the class, including myself, and I am one of two juniors (the other is my friend Soukeyna from Senegal). It is the sort of class that I like very much, because the professor is both engaging and well organized. He lectures in a way that lends itself very easily to taking notes. We are reading five books, three of which I've already gotten from the library, and the other two I plan to purchase off of Amazon. Ain't no way I'm going back to buying the godawfully expensive books at the Macalester Bookstore. What a ripoff! My Monday night class ends at 10PM, at which point I go home, relax, do what work needs to be done for Tuesday, and go to sleep.

On Tuesday, I wake up screaming in a cold sweat. Wait, no I don't. Scratch that. I am at the moment reading the November National Geographic, and I just read a snippet about how the Cavendish variety of the banana, the most ubiquitous variety of the popular fruit is being ravaged by a Malaysian fungus that threatens to wholly wipe out the plant. There is no cure to the fungus, which causes the leaves to wilt and die and subjects the rest of the plant to a lethal dose of sunlight. Since all Cavendish banana plants are genetically identical, there is nothing to stop the fungus, except through the efforts of scientific cross-breeding. So, eat your bananas before they're all gone! Okay, I have to finish this post before I leave, so here goes.

Tuesday, I have Urban GIS, which is a class of about 15 people. We don't have any texts for the class, and it is entirely practical. We are acting as a research firm for the Folwell Neighborhood of North Minneapolis and the Federal Reserve Bank to essentially study and put together in map- and related-data form whatever they want us to look at. Past classes have studied spatial mismatch (i.e. the distance between where someone works versus where someone lives), the foreclosure rate of homes in the Twin Cities, and even the density of Mac Alums in the immediate area around the college (it is shockingly high). It should be a neat class. Following that, I have nothing to do for the day until Trads at 10PM. We have three new members, two freshmen (Chaz and Rob) and a senior (Matt), and whilst I was away, the group received rave reviews. Yeah! After that, I fall asleep. Because I have such a wide gap in my day on Tuesday between class and my next obligation, I might be getting a radio show, like what I had last year, again with Carl and possibly with Ian Noble. Depends on what Ian says. No idea about themes yet. I am open to suggestions.

My Wednesday is still in progress, but I suspect it will be when I spend the most time on campus, as I have class from 9:40 to 10:40, then work at 2:30 til 5:30, and then class from 7:00 to 10:00. I think it might be best to eat dinner here on campus for Wednesdays. Thursday and Friday remain to be seen, and likewise the weekend. Other than that, nothing much new. Toodles.