Is it really Spring 06?

Well, the first week of classes for my last semester as an undergrad is behind me. Some finality is starting to set in about this being my last undergrad semester, and the prospect of graduating in May is very real, indeed. I met with Dean Cawley yesterday to go over my graduation requirements - mostly as a CYA to make sure I am not doing anything to break the system with my aggressive BS-MS scheduling. It turns out I will have exactly the number of credit hours needed to graduate after subtracting off my four grad-level courses that won't count towards my BS graduation requirements (but do count towards my undergrad GPA!). Anyway, I basically have the green light to walk in May, which is pretty nifty. And, better yet, I will only need to register for two more grad courses next year to fufill my MS graduation requirements (not including my thesis, of course). I may not graduate any earlier by doing BS-MS, depending on how the research goes, but it will definitely be cheaper than paying for all those credit hours!

I have tentatively decided to sit in on JAPN 302 this semester. I took a one-year Japanese hiatus after taking JAPN 301 in Fall '04 due to a scheduling conflict in Spring '05, so I'm a little bit rusty. I'm really torn about this decision because I realize that I will need to invest a lot of energy to bring my Japanese level back up to speed to participate in class. The problem is exacerbated because there are only 4 people registered for the class (and I am the 5th), so I will need to participate actively in class on a daily basis - it's not like sitting in on an engineering lecture. So, even though I'm not registered for it, it is still a large time commitment, and I don't know how well it's going to mesh with my other responsibilities. Anyway, I am going to try it for now, and see how it goes. It would be really sad to pass up this opportunity, but it may be unrealistic. We'll see.

In more chipper news, I'm going to the Senior class party at the new Johnny Malloy's in Conventry (in the remodeled Centrum Theater) tonight. Their grand opening is next month so it will be neat to check it out. It sounds like it will be fun, and it will definitely be a nice end to this first week of class.

Over break, I went to visit Kara at her parent's house in St. Louis for a few days. I got to tour the Anheuser Busch brewery (earning the title of Honorary Beermaster in a taste testing event), go to the top of the Gateway Arch at sunset, fix Kara's cable TV distribution, and generally have a good, relaxing time. Below is a picture of me at the base of the arch.



Mmkay, that's it for now. Toodles.