My love affair with Cocoa is still on-going. I’ve come to realize I have a lot to learn to get myself where I want to be using Cocoa. Most of that is doing a lot more reading and also doing some more up-front design work on the app I’ve got cooking. Cocoa itself isn’t too hard, there are just a lot of concepts you have to get under your belt up front, such as the design patterns used throughout. I’ll keep posting more as I get deeper into it. I went to the Frisco,TX meeting of NSCoder Night and had a good time meeting with those guys ( mostly a group of former co-workers trying to learn Cocoa much like myself ).

Back on the work front, I’m getting a bit of a special break in a week: I’m going to Microsoft TechEd. Yes, the irony of talking about Cocoa and TechEd in the same post is not lost on me. Needless to say, at work we are a Microsoft shop and it will be a good opportunity to learn more about some of the MS tech that is interesting and hopefully my co-worker who’s going and I can make some useful contacts at Mircosoft so we can ask them questions when we run into problems at work. Bill Gates is scheduled to give the keynote, and not quite a Stevenote, it’s will still be cool to hear him speak. Did I mention this is in Orlando and there’s a night at Universal Studios? Oh yeah, those are the serious highlights.

Our house selling efforts have been very slow. We’ve had lots of showings, but no offers. We’re not quite ready to give up, but we’re slowly coming to the conclusion that we probably won’t renew our listing and will just wait till market conditions improve. While we’d love to move closer to my office, the stress of keeping a house spotless for showings while also having a 2 year old is driving Maggie and I a little crazy.

Oh yeah, Brenden turned 2 years old in April. I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up. This weekend we switched him to a toddler bed. Last night was a little rough, but tonight has gone much better. Tonight’s ease might have a lot to do with a relatively big day we had with a visit to the Dallas World Aquarium with some friends and their 12 month old. Brenden has been worn out ever since. I’m hoping to have a post with photos of that up tomorrow.

Lastly, Maggie and I got a date night Friday night and saw the new Indiana Jones movie. We both enjoyed it and had a good time. That makes three movies we’ve been able to see since the end of busy season: Vantage Point ( worth seeing ), Iron Man ( you must see this ), and Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ( another must see ). Those last two really should be enjoyed on the big screen. The next big movie I think we’re going to find a way to go to is The Dark Knight. The sequel to Batman Begins and Heath Ledger’s penultimate film.

I’m taking the summer off due to some scheduling conflicts, but I’ll be back at it in the Fall.

One of the reasons I haven’t officially changed majors at school is due to my less than stellar GPA. I’ve only taken 7 classes at the university I’m attending. Due to some unfortunate circumstances one semester (I forgot the last day to drop), I have two F’s on my transcript. Those really hurt, especially when all you have is 7 classes.

Well, this semester, I’m retaking one of those classes. Making an A means a .6 increase in my GPA. Not to mention it’s a Computer Science class that covers a subject I do professionally. It has been embarrassing to have an F in that class. So I’ve been very focused on making sure I get the A this time.

Quick tangent: Back before I stopped going to college full time, my first semester as a Freshman, I had a 4.0 GPA taking 15 hours. The following semester, I had a 3.8, I got one B amongst my A’s, again taking 15 hours. So this very low GPA I have now is frustrating because I know I’m a much better student than that reflects. Final note, since returning to school, I’ve taken 2 classes and received A’s in both of them. End tangent.

So, I’ve been obsessing over my assignments and tests and what’s been most frustrating is having to keep going back to the TA and tell them they graded my assignments wrong. The professor creates assignments and gives the TA a “key”. The problem is, in this class, there is more than one way to do most everything. I’ve been very picky about having even a single point deducted on a homework, as I want to ensure I get the A. ( Oh, did I mention my school uses the +/- system as well. So 4.0 isn’t 90-100, it’s actually more like 95-100 ). Maggie has been laughing at me fighting for my points. But so far, I’ve saved at least a point, maybe two, on my final grade.

I have to keep taking time out of my work/life schedule to correct the TA. So far, I’ve had to get points back on 5 out of 8 assignments and also on the first exam (the second exam was made easier to grade because the professor made it multiple choice). Finally at last night’s class, other students brought this up to the professor, since they also have had poor grading of their assignments. He mentioned that our TA is under a heavy load this semester being the TA for 3 classes. My basic response to that is “tough”. Here’s someone who has control over what my grade in a class will be, and if I didn’t fight for my points, it could cost me a letter, or at least a minus. It almost seems like they haven’t even had this course, although I believe they are a PhD student and certainly must have.

It’s just frustrating and I wanted to vent. Thanks for reading.

On a positive note, I have calculated that I can still recover my GPA and graduate with honors. That’s more like what I’m used to as a student.