Different Kinds of Smarts

 I begin with a triumphant note, received on a glorious day. The day was last Friday, April 30. The note was an A.
Last semester I had a certain professor for my Thermo/Static Mech physics course (P313), and he was tough but fair. Thermal Physics & Stat Mech involves generally simple math, but an enormous range of concepts.

I was fortunate enough to have this very same professor this semester for Electricity & Magnetism I (P324 - electro/magnetostatics, not dynamics). With a 53% on my first exam and a C at the midterm, I was determined to struggle my way up to a B by semester's end. With enough work and dedication, I averaged 3/4 on all subsequent problem sets (4/4 on two of the last three psets), a 97% on the second exam, and topped off with an 85% on the final. I landed an overall A course grade. Combined with several other magnificent and deserved outcomes that very day, I went to bed damn proud.


I finish with a somewhat embarrassing sequence of events, caused by confusion, with a humbling outcome. 
I start an internship in downtown Cleveland in the next week or two, so I, being the responsible "give myself plenty of time, cover my tracks, just in case, redundant fail-safes, etc." kind of guy, decided to "practice" my commute. I've had little experience with Cleveland's public transportation (just the Red Line rail, aka. "the Rapid," a few times freshman year, plus a few poorly-planned bus trips with generally bad outcomes), so I spent an hour the night before looking at possible routes to get from A (my apartment*) to B (Galleria @ East 12th & St. Clair Ave. NE).

I was incredibly confused. The University RTS Loop is large and, at first glance, terribly confusing; mostly because that whole intersection (including Cedar, MLK, Carnegie, Stokes, Stearn, Euclid, River Styx Blvd., etc.). Maybe take the Red Line to Tower City, but it's a decent walk from there, unless I go a block southeast and take #246, or cross Superior to take #1 . . . or just the HealthLine down Euclid to Public Square, then a 4- or 5-block walk from there. I could even hop the 32 down to the RTS loop if I were really lazy! But instead, why not take the most convenient route, #9, that stops right at my destination!

Turns out the 9 only runs downtown a few times in the morning and not all in the evening (wtf?)! I only found this out by hopping on the 9 and the nice lady saying "You know I'm not going downtown, right?", "Wait, what?", "I said I'm not going downtown." "Oh, sorry. . ." -slowly turn and step back off the bus.- So my morning consisted of two hours of walking around local streets to sit and watch buses drive by to figure out what stops where and when. Somehow I handled the D.C. metro without any problems for a week, but I suppose buses are inherently more complicated due to their structure.


The Upshot. My grades include Thermals Physics & Statistic Mechanics: B, Electro-magnetostatics: A, Public Transportation: F. Cheers.


*Yes, it is somewhat unwise to publicize that my apartment is around here, but I'm moving within a month anyway.