today i had my advisement for spring semester, which basically consists of going to your assigned advisor, being told what classes you ought to take, and then they key in the computer that you’ve seen them and can register for classes when your appointment time comes.

i got there a little late, though – my meeting was set for 11:45, and because parking spaces are incredibly hard to find, and the only ones i could get were on the complete opposite side of campus, i parked the car at 11:45, ran across campus, passed by a guy i was meeting with for a meeting on a project we’re presenting in our management class tomorrow (he asked where i was going because we were going to meet at noon to work on our presentation – i told him that i’d be there shortly), and got to my advisor’s room at 11:55. he was with the guy who was scheduled at noon because i was a bit late getting there, but i told him that i figured that that would happen.

stupid umbc, building classrooms on top of parking lots. 😛

anyway, he suggested that out of IFSM 300 (introduction to management science), IFSM 300 (software and hardware concepts), CMSC 104 (introduction to computer programming), and MATH 151 (calculus and analytic geometry I) i pick 3 of those to take (because with IFSM 202 – which i’m currently taking – IFSM 300, and IFSM 310, they’re considered the “gateway” courses for the IFSM major and so have to be passed with a “B” or better, so he didn’t want me spreading myself too thin) and also choose some sort of social science or physical science course.

i figure i’ll take IFSM 300, IFSM 310, CMSC 104, and PHYS 101 (introduction to physics). the physics course is being taught by the same professor i had for my “spies to satellites” class, and he’s incredibly cool and i really like him, so i want to take another course taught by him. ^_^ it’s only 12 credits, though, but then again i don’t want to stretch myself with these important classes i’ll be taking and working as well. plus, i’ve figured out a schedule that has me only have classes on tuesday-wednesday-thursday. ^-^ now i just hope that the particular classes won’t sell out by the time my payment is processed (hopefully today – tuesday – because at 7:30 pm i’ll be eligible to register if my account is all paid up, which it is now that i’ve paid online the other day).

so then i met with my group for my management class project, got our powerpoint slides finished, and then we dispersed. i talked with cliff in the computer department of the bookstore about how my computer was dying and asked if they had any styluses (stylii?) for handspring pdas as i lost mine the other day (they didn’t)… i had it with me when dad was taking me to the airport, but i can’t find it in my bag and haven’t seen it in the car. hmph. they did have one of these combination pen / stylus things… you twist the pen one way, and it works as a pen. you twist it the other way, and it works as a pda stylus. very neat, so i got one of those instead. after that, since i didn’t have anything to do until my economics class at 3:30, i organized people and events on my pda and then took a nap for two hours.

in math class we just went over what we’re going to have for the exam on wednesday, and then we did the instructor evaluation sheets.

in the fraternity meeting today we had some guy from one of the judicial departments at school talk to us about the process and what kind of stuff the university gets involved with (did you know that the school can get involved if you’re caught doing something off-campus? all because the university doesn’t want to look bad) – he was a really funny guy always talking about hypothetical situations, hehe. some weren’t hypothetical, though…

speaker: “yeah, the university had to get involved with two girls who were stealing hosiery from a local mall…”

guy: “wtf? that stuff is like $2 each!”

speaker: “yeah, but they had about 200 packages of it…”

everyone: “WTF?!”

speaker: “…and when the mall guard (who also works here at the university, occasionally) confronted them, the first ID they gave was their umbc ID”

everyone: “MORONS!”

we also started p.i. week today in the fraternity – that means we have to follow the four “s”: solemn, serious, sober, and sexless (as one guy put it, “that means no ‘me’-time, either!”). one of the guys has taken upon himself to try for a 5th “s” and is trying to go smokeless during the week as well, and said we’re free to get on his case if we catch him with cigarettes. he took one cigarette out of the package, and gave the package to another guy in the frat to keep hold of. we also have to dress up in shirt and tie during the week (except for wednesday, when we meet for movie night), and have to wear our pins, too.

last night i sent an email out to the japan airlines people about their travel package, and said that i wanted to leave on the 15th and for my three choices of hotels i put the three cheapest (who wouldn’t?). well, they say that i can fly out on that day if i wanted to, but i’d have to stay in the expensive hotel room. and i’d have to pay an extra $240 for having a single room. i added up that and the taxes and that would be over $1000, so i figure no way will i be doing that now. i could go for the next date (jan 22), but then i’d miss a day of school or two, which i don’t want to do. so, i poked on travelocity again for just airfare to japan, and i was able to get just the airfare for $645 round trip including taxes. so looks like i will be crashing at kittenchan‘s place. ^^ the advantage of this is i can stay a bit longer than the structured trip package allowed, so i can explore more places if i want to. ^_^

dammit, i just remembered that my library books were due today. guess i’ll be paying the fee and renewing them today before going off to work after school… ^_^;;

now to quickly type up notes on what i’m going to say for my part of the presentation in class tomorrow, and get some sleep.