The Zohner Family Blog » School

Stupid Math…

Jeremiah — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:00:50 +0000

As many of you know, I have been working as a beta test coordinator for a company called Centercode, Inc. for the past two years. As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Unfortunately, my job was not immune from this English proverb and I was laid off last week. I take comfort in knowing that I wasn’t the only one who lost their job that day but it’s never fun to leave a job that you love going to everyday.

A few days before I received the official word that the company was making cutbacks, my boss pulled me aside and explained the situation to me. Basically, what it came down to is Centercode makes X amount of money per contract and has Y amount of expenses. Because of the situation that we find our economy in, X was no longer enough to cover Y. As pretty much everyone knows, unless you’re a politician, spending more money than you bring in isn’t a good way of doing business. It’s basic math that, unfortunately, led to my termination.

After hearing the explanation for the cutbacks, I realized that Math has once again sucker punched me. For years in school, Math did everything it could to keep me from progressing towards graduation. After almost a year and a half though, I won, striking Math to the ground with an awesome score on a placement exam. Math has apparently been lying in wait since then, hoping for the perfect moment to exact its revenge. It executed said revenge extremely well. Touche, Math.

Since I’m currently looking for work that will meet our needs, I have some extra free time on my hands. As a result, I’ve added two extra classes to my school schedule in hopes of getting done that much faster. Now my days are literally filled with the reading of textbooks. Thankfully they’re on topics that I find interesting.

I’ve posted my resume on all of the major job sites and have even had some interest. Unfortunately, most of the interest I’m receiving has come from companies that tell me I can be my own boss or that I can make $50,000 a month just by working from home for a few hours a day. All it will take is a small investment on my part to get the income flowing. (I guess it’s like priming a pump…) If I were interested in working from home or being my own boss, I can think of more imaginative ways to make a living than what these people are peddling. For example, give me a dollar. Just kidding. Asking for money isn’t very creative. Give me ten dollars.

If you know of anybody who is looking for a qualified IT professional that has help desk, on-site, and logistics management experience, please be sure to let me know.

It Begins

Jeremiah — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:12:53 +0000

Well, summer has unofficially ended which means that it’s time once again to go back to school. Emma and Alex are both going to the charter school near our home this year which is new for them. Because it’s a charter school, they get to wear uniforms. Surprisingly, this hasn’t really caused any issues. Neither one of them seems to mind looking like everybody else. I expected Emma to make a stink about not being able to wear what she wants but it’s been OK so far. I think the fact that everyone has to wear a uniform makes it a bit easier for her to accept.

When we first received word that Emma had been accepted into the school and would be transferring from Buffalo Point Elementary, Holly and I were excited. Emma, not so much. In fact, she complained every time it was brought up. She was convinced that her new school would be horrible and that she’d have no friends. I’m happy to say that she appears to have changed her tune. She loved her first day and even made some new friends!

Alex starts kindergarten this year. His teacher looks young but I think she’s been teaching for a while. At back to school night both Holly and I were impressed at how she seems to rule her classroom with an iron fist. In fact, the whole school is very discipline oriented which I absolutely love. Alex has been loving going to class; I hope that never changes.

As for me, I started classes yesterday. Before my first class, I ran into some friends from previous semesters. I found out that we had a few classes together but that fact wasn’t good enough for them. They convinced me to change my schedule around and add another class so that we can cause professors stress together. In the space of a few minutes, I went from being a half-time student to a 3/4-time student. I’m glad that I added the extra class because it’ll help me graduate sooner but the extra workload isn’t very welcome.

How many days until Thanksgiving break?

It’s Back To School Time

Jeremiah — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:28:08 +0000

As a kid, I always dreaded this time of year; summer is almost over and that means that it’s time to go back to school. As I grew older, I actually started looking forward to going back to school but I realized that knowledge is power. How could I expect to rule the world if I didn’t have power? Logic would dictate that I must acquire knowledge.

My plans for world domination have since faded and now I’m once again dreading the start of school. Now though it’s not because I want to play baseball and Nintendo all day long with my friends, even though that wold be fun, it’s because I’m just tired of school. I used to joke that I’m on the 10 year plan to get my degree. I’ve been working on it for 9 years now so I guess I switched over to the 20 year plan at some point. If I just had the time to go full-time, I’d be done in a little over a year but with work and family, I have to limit myself. I’ll get there eventually though.

Right now is also the time when we have to go back to school shopping for the kids. In years past, we would look for good deals and typically not spend a lot of money. This year though, we’re buying for both Emma and Alex and we have to buy both of them entirely new wardrobes because they get to wear uniforms to school. The good thing about uniforms is that they’re easy to buy. There are very few options though, especially for the boys, but I guess that’s the point. The problem is that the stores know this so the uniforms don’t go on sale. This means that we get to pay “regular” price for all of the kids new clothing. I HATE paying full price for anything so this really bothers me.

You may be wondering why the kids will be wearing uniforms to school this year since they haven’t in the past. Well, I’ll tell you. When we first moved into our home in Syracuse, we noticed that a lot of the kids in the neighborhood went to the nearby charter school. Holly did some research and found out that it was a really good school with an emphasis on the Arts. Since we see the benefit of learning about things like music, and since so many of our public schools focus more on other things, like everything else, Holly immediately began the process of trying to get Emma accepted into the school. Three years, and three applications later, both Emma and Alex were accepted into the school. Everyone but Emma is excited for the change. We’ll have to see if her attitude changes in the coming weeks.

I’m Embracing Average

Jeremiah — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:54:25 +0000

Spring semester at Weber State is finally over bringing me a small step closer to my Bachelor’s degree. Those who know me know that a retarded monkey can probably do math better than I can. It is for this reason that I’m no longer a computer engineering student and have opted for a degree in information systems. (The engineering classes were a lot of fun and I did well in them but I couldn’t pass the math classes to save my life.)

One of the nice things about my current degree path is that the math is minimal. There’s no calculus and no physics. Engineers have to take the advanced classes in those subjects. I knew after my first failed attempt to pass a pre-calculus class that I had no hope of becoming an engineer. The IS&T students only need to take up to college algebra. This was a tough class for me, but after a few attempts, I was finally able to pass. Passing this class made me believe that my math classes were finished. I was wrong. I still have to take math classes, they’re just called by different names.

Statistics is defined as “a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters.” I’m not sure that I even understand that definition but I see “mathematics” in there and I don’t like that.

My degree requires that I take two stats classes. Stats I was difficult but I attributed that to the fact that my professor didn’t speak English. Sitting through his class required a liter of Mountain Dew and a bag of sunflower seeds to keep me awake. It was horrible! I managed to pass with a C which was pretty go0d considering that the majority of the class also passed with a C. I was happy to be average because it meant that I didn’t have to retake the class.

Flash forward three semesters and it was time for me to take Stats II: Attack of the Z-Tables. Apparently it’s a good idea to take these classes back to back because the second class picks up right where the first class left off. I wish that I had thought about that before I forgot everything from Stats I.

My first night in class was like being beaten about the head with sock full of pennies. The professor assumed that everyone received an A in Stats I and decided that teaching concepts wasn’t as important as showing examples. Don’t get me wrong, examples are great but if I don’t know why something is done, seeing it done usually doesn’t do me a lot of good in the long run.

The first test came and I scored a whopping 50%. At this point, I was debating dropping the class but decided against it knowing that if I didn’t do it this semester, I was just postponing the inevitable. Test two was more kind and I scored a 72%. The teacher reminded us that the lowest score could be dropped at the end of the semester so I was pretty excited. I went from a failing student to a passing student in only a few minutes. I did OK on the next test scoring a 68% which had me a bit nervous but I felt that I could still pass the class. I kept missing the multiple choice questions, along with everyone in the class, so I was hoping that I could teach myself the concepts well enough to bluff my way through them on the next test. I was wrong.

Test four had 18 multiple choice questions. I missed 16 of them. I felt really stupid until I saw that everyone else did as badly as I had. My overall score was 50% which raised my confidence in the fact that I’d be taking the class again this summer. I did a few calculations and determined that I would need to score a 76% on the final. Given my previous test scores, I didn’t think that there was any way that I would score that high.

The day for the final came and I had been studying like crazy. I didn’t feel confident that I knew what I was doing well enough to get a 76% but time was up and I needed to face the music. I spent nearly 3 1/2 hours in the testing center racking my brain for answers and feeling extremely grateful that the comprehensive final was open book. By the time I had finished all 12 problems, I was spent. I was exhausted both mentally and physically and just wanted to go to bed. (I never realized how tense I get when taking math tests.)

A week later, it was time to pick up the final from the professor’s office to see how I did. I was terrified that I’d be retaking the class and had a knot in my stomach as I sorted through the papers looking for the one with my name on it. I found it and immediately flipped to the last page where I saw a 77 in bright red ink. I couldn’t believe it; I passed! I needed 76% and managed to squeak out a 77%. I was so happy that I could barely contain myself.

This experience has taught me that I don’t have to excel at everything that I do. I’ve known that for years with respect to athletics but I’ve always been smart. The thought of being average has never sat well with me when it comes to my education. I’ve come to realize though that average will sometimes have to suffice – especially when math is involved. I’m just glad that I passed.

Year-End Wrap Up

Jeremiah — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:16:29 +0000

I was talking with a friend at church the other day and he likened the Christmas season to a car accident. Despite how much preparation goes into getting ready for everything, it still manages to sneak up and leave everyone wondering what it was that just hit. Given how the past month has gone, I felt that this was a very appropriate analogy. Now that things have started to settle down, I decided that I finally better sit down and try and recap our activities over the past few weeks.

Christmas sort of snuck up on me this year. Because I did so much Black Friday shopping, I figured that I was ready since there were only a few more gifts to pick up. Then Holly graduated from nursing school which seemed to be a week-long event. (After two years of hard work and lots of sacrifice, Holly is finally a registered nurse. Well, she still has to pass the licensing exam but, given how well she did in school, that shouldn’t pose a problem.) Once we finished with graduation festivities, there was the unexpected trip to Idaho. I’ve already covered this so I won’t do it again here. Needless to say though, between the graduation and the funeral, we lost nearly two weeks of December that would have been spent getting ready for Christmas.

While we were in Idaho, I checked my work email account and discovered that I would enjoy the week of Christmas off. This gave me some much needed time to finish up shopping, wrapping gifts, and buying groceries. We even managed to make it to Temple Square to check out the lights. This is usually something that I dread because I don’t like large crowds and Temple Square in December is generally unpleasant, similar to WalMart at 5:00 am on Black Friday only colder but there was a surprising lack of people there. We all had a lot of fun and it started to help us all get mentally geared up for the holiday.

On Christmas Eve, we visited with Holly’s family at her parents’ house and then prepared for our traditional Christmas Eve festivities. My mom was in town from Denver to have some oral surgery performed and she was able to come over that evening. We did our traditional reading from Luke 2 and Emma was able to show her awesome piano skills as she played Christmas carols. I am amazed at how quickly she has picked up the piano and how she has no fear of playing in front of people.

Christmas morning came and we all enjoyed exchanging gifts. Nick and Chelsea had spent the night so they were able to take part in the fun. Ryan, Terry, and my mom all came over once the initial wave of gifts had been opened which started wave two of presents. Eventually, everyone settled into the basement where we all took turns playing the new Wii. We quickly learned that Emma is a good bowler and that too much Wii leads to sore arms the next day.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing. We all played a lot of games and just took it easy. This is the first year that I can remember that we haven’t gone anywhere on Christmas day. In fact, I didn’t leave the house, except to shovel snow, for three days. I have to admit that I loved it. While we did have visitors throughout the weekend, not having to go anywhere was awesome. I’m hoping for a repeat of this every year but I doubt that I’m so lucky.

Well, there you have it: the last few weeks of the Zohner family in a nutshell. For those who would like a visual representation of these events, I have added pictures to the gallery for your enjoyment.

On a side note, I wanted to thank everyone that has visited our little blog over the past year. Thanks also to those who contribute through comments, both on the blog and in real life. While I maintain this for myself, it’s nice to know that a few people actually care that it’s updated regularly. May you all have a safe and prosperous new year.

An Update On The Family

Jeremiah — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:06:33 +0000

As I have been going through some of our old posts, I realized that we haven’t given a really good update on the family lately. I have some time to kill while some software installs so here’s something keep you entertained.

Hannah: She’s doing really well… except for the fact that she has a bad cough and a runny nose for the last week. She’s getting better though. She constantly has a dirty face and I can’t figure out why. I wash it multiple times a day but there’s always something there… She’s also pretty much potty trained which is nice because I’m done with diapers forever. Or at least until I have to wear them.

Alex: He’s also doing really well… except that Hannah gave him the illness that she’s been fighting. He’ll get better though. He’s only been sick for a couple of days. He is also doing well in school. At least I think he is. Nobody has told me he’s not so I’m assuming the best. His speech is getting much better too which is nice since I can usually understand what he is talking about now.

Emma: She’s such a good kid. She is enjoying piano lessons but not the practicing part. That’s pretty typical though. She is a great student and a huge help to Holly and I around the house. I think that sometimes she forgets that we’re the parents and she’s not. She really looks out for her brother and sister and wants to make sure that they do what’s right which is good. Another set of eyes is always helpful.

Holly: Holly is super busy. School pretty much monopolizes her time. She gets up very early and goes to school then comes home and studies until bedtime. It’s very stressful and consequently, very hard on her but she is doing amazing. I’m so proud of her. She’ll make a great nurse.

Jeremiah: I’m busy too but not as busy as Holly. My job is going very well. When I get home from work, Hannah is usually so excited to see me that she runs into my arms. It’s nice to come home to that. School is going well for me and I’m very excited to finally have a legitimate degree after this semester. I had an encounter with a crazy lady this morning that I’ll have to save for another post. Actually there’s not much to post about her other than she was crazy. I guess I won’t save it for another post since I just shared. Also, I saw a barn owl on my way home from work last night. It was cool!

Chelsea: Since she lives with us, and rarely updates her own blog, I guess I better mention her. Chelsea has a new boyfriend so between work, school, and her newfound social situation, we rarely see her. She’ll show up when she’s hungry but other than that… Actually, I think that she’s doing well. I know that she feels like a refugee with having to live in the middle of a construction zone and that hard hat can’t be comfortable to sleep in but she’s holding up relatively well. We’re happy to have her around.

Oscar: He’s a dog. He likes to sleep. The other day, his stomach was making a lot of noises. I think he had gas. His farts stink really bad. Lucky for us he was holding them in.

Well, that’s it. As you can see, things are going well. Chaos has overtaken our lives but we try to keep that chaos somewhat organized. Fortunately it hasn’t consumed us like Rosie O’Donnell consumes Ding Dongs.

So Many Thoughts…

Jeremiah — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:51:49 +0000

I have a lot of things running through my mind right now that I’d like to share. Since school started last night, I’ll start with that.

This semester will be my last before I can graduate with an Associates degree. After that, I’ll only have a handful of classes left before I get a Bachelors degree. It’s nice to see the end of the very, very long tunnel that I’ve been cruising through. The ten year plan is getting old. It’ll be nice to finally finish.
Now for some of my thoughts about stories that have been in the headlines over the last few days…

The Golden Globes award show has been canceled due to the writers strike. While I’m very upset about not being able to watch 24 or new episodes of The Office, I have to say thank you to the writers for this one. I get so tired of celebrities and their own sense of self-importance. They have award shows to congratulate themselves on achievements that nobody but their own care about. Unless there’s a hobbit or a wookiee getting awards, I really don’t care.

On a related note, Britney Spears is mental. I don’t understand our society’s fascination with celebrities – especially the Spears clan. I wish that they’d just go away.

Hillary Clinton was in a town hall meeting and actually started crying when talking about why she is running for president. I never thought that “because I’m a power hungry socialist who feels like it is my birthright to be leader of the free world” would bring tears to her eyes but it did. There is a lot of discussion regarding the fact that she actually showed emotion and if it helped or hurt her chances of becoming president. It’s not like she never shows emotion so I don’t understand what all of the fuss is about. “Ice witch” is an emotion isn’t it?

Does anybody actually believe that this was real? The Clinton political machine doesn’t do anything that is not scripted and that includes Hillary showing that she is human and not some cyborg sent from the future to destroy mankind through irresponsible policies. I feel like I should throw in a quote from The Terminator here but I’ll fight the urge.

I think that Barack Obama will be the next president. I don’t like it, but I think it’s going to happen. Hillary Clinton is too divisive and the media loves Obama. NBC reporters have even admitted that they have trouble staying objective reporting on him. The Republicans don’t have a candidate that makes people really excited and that’s Obama’s strength. Nobody knows what his policies are but, dang it, he’s a great speaker. Oh, and Hillary’s claim that she can initiate change is pretty weak since nobody actually believes that another Clinton White House will be any different from the first. (Plus, having Madeline Albright stand behind you while making that claim shows that it’s a load of crap.) Although I would like to see if Bill has to pick out the White House china if Hillary gets elected.

Moving on… Emma starts piano lessons tonight. She’s pretty excited about learning how to play. For now, she’ll learn on the keyboard that my sister learned on but we hope that we can buy a piano once Holly finishes school next winter.

Finally, Mountain-Con is in trouble. Despite the huge turnout for Mountain-Con III, it was not exactly what one would call financially successful. In order for Mountain-Con IV to become a reality, they need some donations to be able to make up the shortfall from last year’s convention. Please go here for more information.

A Letter To Santa

Jeremiah — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:42:42 +0000

Emma recently wrote a letter to Santa in school. Actually, it’s not to Santa, it’s to Kristkindl. According to Emma, he’s Germany’s version of Santa.

Today Holly found the letter in the front window. I think that this German Santa enters houses through windows instead of chimneys. The most likely reason that he doesn’t do that here is because it’s called breaking and entering. I guess that it’s OK in Germany though. It’s definitely a lot easer to go through the window than down a narrow chimney. Especially if you’re a fat guy. I know that I wouldn’t want to go down a chimney when a window is readily available.

The letter was so amazing that I thought that I’d post it here for all to see.

Dear Kristkirol I was good all year. I would like a dog a toy tiger. If you see a little boy in the house, he was bad. I want a draw book. From Emma Zohner

Santa, if you happen to see this, I’m not the boy that Emma is talking about.

Holly’s update

Holly — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:40:28 +0000

Well, it has been a great semester. I am glad that it is almost over. I have two more finals next week and then I have two weeks off for Christmas and then I am back to school on January 2nd. I have really enjoyed my clinicals at the hospital. I am amazed at how much I have learned in such a short amount of time. I never thought that I would be comfortable and confident giving people shots but now I can say that I am. Next semester I will be learning how to do IVs. Yikes. Talk about scary. It is awesome to know that by this time next year, I will be an R.N. The kids are doing great and are looking forward to Christmas. I hope all of you have a great Christmas and I will keep you posted.

Stress Reduction Time

Jeremiah — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:48:29 +0000

With Holly in nursing school, there is a lot of stress in our home. As you might imagine, with three children, two dogs, a job, and school, plus a husband that works full-time and also goes to school, Holly was feeling a bit stressed.

Holly’s stress has been magnified with the start of clinicals last week. The fact that she’s doing clinicals isn’t what’s stressful, it’s the homework that associated with them that causes problems. She finishes her clinicals on Friday afternoon and then has approximately 48 hours to complete 40 hours worth of homework. That’s in addition to all of the other studying/homework that she has to do during the rest of the week. The cycle then starts over again on the following Thursday.

Another source of stress has been the dog. Savannah has been causing all sorts of problems ever since we moved. I’m not sure if it’s because we got another dog or if it’s because we moved to a yard without a fence. No fence means that she has to be tied up when she goes out. Either way, she’s developed a very anti-social attitude and prefers to sulk in the basement by herself, only coming upstairs to steal food from the kids or to pee on the carpet. Holly has had enough of this behavior so she got rid of her on Sunday. It came as a surprise to us. I have mixed feelings about Savannah being gone. On one hand, I miss her because, for the most part, she was a sweet dog. On the other hand though, it’s a huge relief to know that I don’t need to worry about her running off or stealing food from Hannah’s plate. One source of stress is now gone.

On Saturday, Holly quit her job. We determined that it was what was best for our family. Holly is so stressed about no having enough time to get homework done that something had to give. We’ve committed ourselves to getting her through school so quitting that wasn’t an option. Obviously, sending her to live by herself for a year until she graduates wasn’t an option either. That left work that could be cut out. Quitting makes two sources of stress gone.

Despite everything, Holly is getting A’s in all of her classes. She’s been working very hard and usually has some of the highest test scores in her classes. It’s only going to get harder but she’s going to be fine. We’re all very proud of her.