Almost Through

Sorry for the prolonged silence on the blog! I've got just one week left before the end of this Summer Session. We're down to the last 7 quizzes in my PLANTS class and the last Discussion in my MONEY class. Then each has an online Final Exam which I will take on Sunday and Monday, respectively. Should be interesting!

The PLANTS class has been by far the harder of the two, but I've learned a great deal in both of them. Two great books in the MONEY class deal with the present economy and why the average middle-class American family is struggling financially. Major changes in how financial institutions do business has occurred in the past 20-30 years that make today's economy a very dangerous place for the average family. There are no longer any limits on loans like there used to be. A bank has the legal right to loan anyone any amount of money for any interest rate without repercussions. Bankruptcies have skyrocketed and foreclosures are commonplace.

In the first book, Two Income Trap, the authors (a mother-daughter combination) contend that the main reason families are struggling in today's economy isn't due to over-consumption or frivilous spending. In fact, they say that families have lost their "safety net" by having both parents in the workforce! The true value of a stay-at-home mom (or dad) is that when a crisis happens or the breadwinner is laid off, the non-working parent can take a temporary job to get the family through the crisis. With both parents working and the family relying on BOTH incomes to make ends meet, when crisis comes there's no fall back position. Their research is comprehensive and very well presented. Astonishing in today's climate to see someone -- anyone -- advocate for a stay-at-home parent! Yay!

Their second book All Your Worth, by the same authors, details a very sensible method to get your spending into balance between "Must-Haves" (the bills you have to pay each month), "Wants" (fun money), and Savings (to build a better tomorrow). No matter what your income, they recommend a 50/30/20 ratio with no more than 50% of your income to pay your bills, and a minimum of 20% of your take-home pay into Savings. The rest is fun money!

It is very heart-warming to read the positive feedback during the class "Discussions" from these twenty-something kids just starting out in life. This kind of wake-up call so early in their financial life is so essential. Being in college is great, but if they don't know how to manage their money after they graduate, what's the point? And it's positively amusing to see the young females visibly squirm with the concept of staying home to raise their kids! In actuality, the authors don't say one parent MUST stay home, they mostly recommend not relying on both incomes to pay the bills. Families who have both parents in the workforce are better off using mom's salary for FUN stuff like vacations and home remodels! Because if something happens to one income, or grandma needs year-round care, or divorce intrudes, there is some breathing room in the finances.

Well worth the read if you need to combat the summer brain drain!

Just me and Jessica

After bragging about my 100% score last week, I took a nose dive with the next two quizzes and only got 60% on each of them! Decided my study method wasn't working and revamped my whole system. Juan gave me some good advice on that. Meanwhile, I decided to find out a bit more about my 30 "classmates" in this Plants and Our World class. I thought it was a Tier One course geared towards incoming freshmen. Seems a little difficult for freshmen, so I looked up the the classlist in the UA online phonebook and, guess what? Fifty percent of them are SENIORS!

There are also quite a few juniors, several sophomores and one guy who doesn't show up anywhere. Freshmen? Just me and Jessica!

On the course grading page you can see a graph of how the rest of the class is doing (by percent, not by name, of course) on each quiz. The quizzes I struggled with were difficult for everyone else, too, although that's only minor comfort. I'll be graded on my own merit, not in relation to the other students. But I am curious about their experience. One of the seniors is a Plant Sciences major so she's probably the one getting most of the higher scores. But why the heck is she taking a freshman class in her senior year?

So my new study method has me back to 80%, 100% and 100% on quizzes 6, 7 and 8, so I'll stick with it. I'm even finishing with 1 or 2 minutes left on the 7-minute quiz clock. That gives me time to go back and reread a couple of answers I'm not sure about.

I'm learning new vocabulary about what's deep inside leaves, stems and roots. A lot on cell activity and plant structure and how it transports water from the soil to the topmost leaves, and how leaves photosynthesize sunlight into sugars and starches. Really fascinating stuff. Makes you appreciate how creative God is!

100 Percent!

Okay, it was just a 10-question quiz, and it was just one of 29 I'll eventually take in this class (Plants and Our World), and it only counts for maybe one-onehundredth of my grade but, hey, I'm allowed to celebrate a little!

Scored 90% on the first quiz and dropped to 70% on the second, so to achieve 100% on the third felt pretty good last night. It meant maybe I am starting to "get it" learning how to take good notes. It meant I can really do this if I focus.

I'm thankful it is a web-delivered class where I don't yet have to rely entirely on my memory. They fully expect you to have your notes and your book in front of you, even for the Final. But the quizzes are timed (and the Final will be, too), and you get ZERO PERCENT if you exceed the 7 minute allotment! Seven minutes go by FAST! It's barely enough time to read and digest the question, the four multiple choice answers, remember where to look in my notes (control F helps!), and select and save my answer. That's just 42 seconds per question. The prof said she found that formula somewhere on the web -- that 42 seconds per question is the right amount of time to test someone's knowledge of something.

I can't remember any of the questions I answered correctly, but here are the ones from Quiz 2 that I missed:

Which of the following best describes the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure?
O Cytoplasmic bridges move materials through microscopic hole in cell walls
O None of these
O Double layer of proteins with scattered phospholipids within the layer
O Double layer of phospholipids with scattered proteins embedded in or on the surface.
(Hint: "None of these" is the wrong answer!)

Small metabolites, such as sugar and ions, pass between plant cells via...
O plasmodesmata
O organelles
O middle lamella
O vacuoles
(I could have sworn "middle lamella" was accurate.)

Which of the following is generally absent from animal cells?
O organelles
O plasma membrane
O cytosol
O plastids
(I'll know which of the last three are correct by the end of today! Gotta keep up so my notes for the Final are in order.)

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Being the organized person I (pretend I) am, I put all the assignments from both classes onto a spreadsheet/calendar so I could work out a plan to get everything done ahead of deadline. Adjusting for a one-week gap toward the end of July when I'll be away from internet access makes it a pretty agressive agenda.

In fact, I also worked out four different week-at-a-glance type calendars for the four stages of my life between now and December. From now to August 8th I will have work time and study time. Pretty simple stuff. From August 20 to October 20 I'll have work, two 3-hour classroom classes, and a minimum 12 hours of homework each week.

October 22 I will add in a six-hour Math class and 12 additional hours of homework! I'm gonna call the Arizona State Retirement System real soon to get an EXACT date in October when I can retire! Otherwise, it will be a very intense two weeks.

The fourth calendar is my favorite! The accelerated Math class will be doable because I won't be spending 40 hours a week at work! That calendar is the light at the end of my tunnel.

I think I can, I think I can...!

New Technology

RefWorks

Q. What is RefWorks?
A. RefWorks is web-based bibliographic software package that enables you to:
- Organize your research
- Include citations while you write your paper
- Build a bibliography in a variety of formats
- Import references from many data sources
- Create bibliographies in different document formats (Word, RTF, HTML, etc.)

While doing research, apparently I collect the reference data on each book into this online database that is free for students from the UA Main Library. Then, as long as I'm writing a paper in something like Microsoft Word and am connected to the internet at the same time, I can just "drop" my references by number right onto my paper without typing them all again! It will also create my bibliography from the works I've cited.

This technology age is amazing!