Devauld.ca

So classes are underway, and I've had a sampling of all of my lectures this fall. My TA work is still on hold for the time being, as the professors want to ensure that enough knowledge has been injected into the students before they try to find out how much is left. I can say, without a doubt, that working in strictly a computer science aspect for almost the last decade has eroded my mathematical skills.

While in a class on Monday, the professor was dutifully going over the 'Things you should already know to take this course', and was laying out a framework for the rest of the year. At just past the half way mark, he scribed this to the chalk board:

Durrrrr.......

Making matters worse, is that it didn't really look like that on the chalk board. Integrands turned into esses, exes and tees became hard to tell apart, superscript and subscripts swapped places and the whole thing turned into a white on black calcite orgy.

Even after I looked the equality up, and could clearly read it in tex glory, I still had no idea what was going on. I can recognize all the symbols, but the ideas I can't currently put together.  Making matters more difficult is that a good chunk of these developments have been made recently (in mathematical terms), and wouldn't have been around when I was schooling.  Not that it matters, the area in which I am now studying is not the same as my focus during my undergraduate schooling

Although, by the end of this year I will be able to explain what is going on with the Lévy–Khintchine representation of a Stochastic process, else I won't have the grades to be here and worry about it.

So, in preparing for my university adventure, I've encountered a couple of instances where the economics of purchases didn't work out in my favour.

The first was at the University of Calgary.  I went to the parking office, looking for a deal on parking for the semester.  I was told that I could get a spot in the parkade for a mere $448 per semester plus a small 5% cut for the government; a grand total of $470.40.  As I stood at the head of the massive line, I wondered if I misheard the lady, and infact she was quoting for the entire year.  No, she was enunciating her message correctly, that was the fee for a semester.  Now, between September 13 and December 10 there is 65 weekdays.  Take away the couple of holidays and add in the days I need to head in for an examination, and 65 days is a pretty good estimate for how many days I'll need to park.  That works out to $7.23 per day to park at the University; this number would increase with every day I decide to take the bus, or ride either of my two wheeled conveyances.  The reason this number is so odd to me, is that there is a 'public use' parking lot that is closer to the math sciences building that only costs $5 per entry.

Needless to say, I did not purchase the pass.

The second incident of bazaar pricing comes from the world of printing.  My CLP-300, started printing lighter, and eventually reached a point where barely anything could be read on the left hand side of the page.  I did some digging online, and apparently the developer blades were dirty, and the imaging unit would have to be replaced.  I looked online, and could purchase the imaging unit (sans toner, or power, or cables, or well anything) for over $200.  Or, you know, buy the updated model for much less. I get an actual printer enclosure, some toner, cables I don't need at $80 less.

Needless to day, I did not purchase the imaging unit.