Der Blog (mk II)

My full results have finally turned up on the uni intranet. Highlights: 6 modules (70 credits) from level 3 and 4 modules (40 credits) from level 2 at >70%, weighted average 67.7%. Soooo close to a first :(

I think bad time management cost me the grade. I should have done some work towards the project and/or the report for a School of European Languages module over Easter, but was lazy and didn’t. Then a couple of weeks later I had deadlines for both on the same day; I chose to work on the dissertation (which was obviously more important as it’s worth 20 credits vs. half the mark for a 10 credit module), but if I’d picked the report, the mark wouldn’t have been capped at 40% and the weighted average would have been over 68%. Then a couple more percentage points on another module (most likely TPL, Software Lab, or German General Language III) would have got another 10 credits at >70%, which would have got me a first on the preponderance principle (within 2% of a classification boundary, if you have at least 120 credits above the boundary you get the higher classification).

My final year project initial document is due in tomorrow, and I've finally got round to doing it.

...

Okay, I've done some of it. A front page, an abstract, an introduction with a slew of references to papers I haven't read, a skeleton structure and table of contents, and a bibliography. All in the loveliness that is LaTeX which thankfully makes these things effortless.

I might manage to get a draft done tomorrow. Then again, I might not. In either case I'll be asking Dr Berger for advice since I certainly need some help to get things into the right form!

Makes me wish I'd picked a project that I knew something about before my first meeting with my supervisor :) (Though I have some comfort from Sean in that I'm not the only one who doesn't quite understand the obscure, advanced, abstract mathematics my supervisor is spewing at me in meetings.)

As a final note, I'm writing this from the SUCS room at half past midnight because due to the usual bureaucratic incompetence of large businesses, the ISP my live-in landlady has picked didn't send us our ADSL modem until yesterday (which of course nobody was in/awake to collect from the postman, so we had to wait another 24 hours to go and get it, assuming that is really what it is). If an internet connection existed at home now, I would be using it instead. (Because my bed is much more comfortable than the worn out desk chairs here :)

Woke up – relatively late for the hostel on account of being knackered, relatively early for me on account of having gone to bed early due to being knackered. This was a bout 7:30 am. Had breakfast of bread and jab, muesli, and coffee, then a shower, then checked out and proceeded to the bus stop to go to the university, hoping I can find the AAA this time. Fortunately I met a nice Ukrainian girl at the bus stop who was also going to the university. Again, having no clue as to how to pay for the bus journey, I didn’t. (more…)