Joseph Natividad

Surviving Through Finals

Finals are over and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. It’s been a stressful week for me — probably one of the most demanding I’ve had so far this schoolyear. I tried so hard to review and prepare myself for each exam and it worked out for me just half the time.

I breezed throught my Music&Film and CAT1B finals but I knew I definitely bombed Calculus when I couldn’t figure out four out of the eight total problems I was staring at on paper. I’ve never failed a class in my life but I think I’ve finally ended that streak. Worst case scenario: I’ll have to retake the class over again next quarter and finish off the last third of the Math10 series over the summer at Cal. That would definitely spoil my plans to apply for seasonal employment after my freshman year is completed in June.

Yesterday, my Economics final didn’t go too well either, though probably not as badly as I did with Calculus. The thought crossed my mind about whether this major isn’t a perfect fit for what I’m capable of. I have doubts and am feeling unsure about my future, but I’m deciding to go through with things for now. I’ll have to wait for my grades after Christmas and then I’ll get a clearer perspective on things. But I’m not feeling completely bothered by this situation. At this rate, I’m still on pace to graduate in four years, which doesn’t sound bad at all.

For now, however, I’m hoping for a miracle that comes in the form of a passing math grade.

Tags: calculus, CAT, Economics, failure, finals, math-10, music-and-film, sixth-college, ucsd

Finals Are Underway for Fall Quarter

I just got out of my Music&Film final less than 10 minutes ago and my self esteem has shot way up as a result of feeling confident that I did pretty well on it. So now the easy part is over and done with and it’s time to come back to earth. I’ve got Calculus and Economics finals within 10 hours of each other starting tomorrow evening and those are keeping me in a mild state of panic.

I’ve been hitting the books, reviewing my notes and slaving through old finals from previous years since last Saturday. I don’t think I’ll ever be completely ready for what lies ahead of me these next few days. My sleeping patterns have been adjusted dramatically but I feel like i have enough energy to last me through the night as long as I end up waking sometime before noon.

Tags: calculus, CAT, Economics, finals, music-and-film, panic, ucsd

A Tradition Worth Clapping For

I’ve completed all my lectures for the Fall 2007 Quarter and have come across a new kind of tradition here at the university: applauding the professors and TA’s for all the work they’ve done.

The effect is startling especially when a giant lecture hall is filled with over 300 students. It’s nothing raucous or spectacular but you feel the sense of respect and gratitude that students have for their professors. The applause generally lasts for almost ten seconds, ceases, and students begin to file out like they usually do.

I don’t have any more regular classes to attend until January but a grueling obstacle lies a few days ahead when I have to take my first batch of finals. The classes that I’m most worried about are Economics and Calculus. I already began reviewing last night and will continue to do so for the rest of the weekend.

Tags: applause, calculus, Economics, finals, lecture, professor

It’s About Time I Get Back Home

I love college life, but I miss the place I really call home. It’s just over a day and a half left before I’m back in the Bay Area and I’m eager for a short change of scenery.

I just came back from my Econ1 lecture this morning and was a little frustrated with myself. I’m starting to get annoyed with all the graphs I’ve been drawing into my notebook and shifting them left/right or up/down. I guess what’s really bugging me is the score I got on my last midterm. I’m simply not used to taking a test and getting below the class average. I looked at myself in the mirror while I was brushing my teeth and a dejected look was still present on my face.

What did I do wrong? The Indifference curves were sloping in the wrong direction? Did I make a stupid miscalculation because I got confused with the difference of reading subsidies instead of taxes on the supply and demand curve?

Ahh noooo!!!!

I know I’ll go back to enjoying my Econ lecture by the time school resumes next Monday so there’s no need to worry about my sanity.

I’ll be home by tomorrow night until Sunday afternoon. I’ll probably try out some practice Calc. exams during the long car ride there and back to keep my mind fresh when the midterm pops up next Wednesday night. I’ve got one more class today to get over with and it’s not one I particularly enjoy: CAT1B. It’s basically my college’s writing requirement in which we discuss or argue about the relations between Culture, Art and Technology. But most of the time it’s a bunch of fluff. The occasional student comes up with a really convincing argument while others state their opinions in broken sentences in which the majority of their reasonings containing the words “like…like…like_____…like.”

I’m in need of a break.

Tags: bay-area, CAT, Economics, sixth-college, ucsd

Economists Win Nobel Prize for Work in Mechanism-Design

This news may almost be a week old but I can?t just let it go unmentioned on my blog. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (or the Nobel Prize for Economics for short) was awarded last Monday to the economists Eric Maskin, Roger Myerson and Leonid Hurwicz for their groundbreaking work in mechanism-design theory.

What does this robotic-sounding name mean and why is it important to us? It turns out that mechanism-design deals with how economies would be able to receive something they all want even when everyone acts in a self-interested manner. It is often seen as a branch of economics that observes the way institutions work in markets that are dysfunctional.

The three economists will split the prize of $1.5 million or 10 million Swedish krona among themselves.

Just a side-note (since we?re on the subject of Economics): I did pretty well on my midterm last Thursday. woohoo!

Tags: Eric-Maskin, Leonid-Hurwicz, mechanism-design, Midterm, nobel-prize, Roger-Myerson

Thursdays are a Nightmare

My schedule is pretty spread out during the week, but I just get screwed over on Thursdays: four lectures, two lasting an hour and a half each, one lasting 50 minutes and one lasting three hours from 6-9PM. That long Music and Film class to finish out my day ends too late that I end up eating alone at the cafeteria nearby, with a copy of the New York Times and USA Today keeping me company during my meal.

Out of all the long and nightmarish Thursdays I?ve had since school started, yesterday has been the worst so far.

My first midterm for Econ1 kept me busy reviewing all my notes and homework during the entire night before. It just so happens that I had to type up a two-page commentary for my college?s writing class by the following morning too. Already lacking sleep, how inconvenient was it for the school to arrange for a fire drill at 7 in the morning?

I think I did well enough on my midterm. I seem to be doing just fine in all my classes so far, including Calculus, which is a bit surprising. I did better than I expected on last week?s quiz and I am absolutely certain I aced the one I just had this afternoon.

It?s Friday and I?m glad this week is over. I don?t have any Economics homework until Tuesday but I still have a ton of reading to catch up on for my writing class.

It never stops coming does it?

Tags: Antonovics, calculus, CAT1, econ1, Midterm, music-and-film, sixth-college, ucsd

I’m Back!!!

It?s been quite a while since I?ve regularly updated this thing. I apologize and want to let you know that I am determined not to alienate you or leave you reading that entry about doing my own laundry over and over again.

What have I been doing these past few weeks instead of blogging my brains out? Adjusting to college life, of course. I?ve got a bunch of midterms coming up next week so I would consider this the calm before the storm. I had a few quizzes and essays to get over with last week and I?ve been exploring campus, meeting new people and relying on cafeteria food to keep me from starving. When I?m not doing homework, you might find me out of my dorm eating a turkey burger or a BBQ chicken pizza.

College is definitely a new experience to me and I?m loving every moment of it so far. Not a day goes by when I don?t randomly meet someone new. Whenever someone asks me where I?m from, I just tell them I?m from Berkeley because I doubt they?ll know too many other cities in the East Bay.

I?m enjoying most of the classes I?m taking this quarter, with Calculus being the only one I constantly struggle with. My Economics class is pretty straightforward so I?m not having too much trouble grasping concepts about marginal costs and benefits, the production possibility frontier, and stuff of that nature.

If I don?t keep up with the goal I set for myself to say whatever was ?on my mind?, then shame on me.

What?s on my mind right now? Catching up on lost sleep and eating a slice of that BBQ chicken pizza for lunch tomorrow.

Tags: bbq-chicken-pizza, calculus, econ1, foodworx, la-jolla, music-and-film, OVT, sixth-college, ucsd

Grocery Shopping on a Limited Budget

My roommates and I finally pitched in for a communal refrigerator in our dorm. Aside from water bottles and random fruits we?ve been stashing from all the free meals on campus during UCSD’s Welcome Week, it was pretty much empty for the first few days.

I decided to change all that by doing a little grocery shopping at Ralph?s, the closest store of its kind off campus. There is no Albertson?s or Safeway around here for some odd reason, but there is a Whole Foods and Trader Joe?s. Whole Foods is way too pricey for a college student on a limited budget and I find Trader Joe?s to be too specialized for my everyday needs.

I was on a mission to get some milk, cereal and more fruits. As I walked into the store, it was as if a switch was turned on in my head to pay attention to any discounts I could get with my Ralph?s card and from the coupon machines along the aisles.

I?m beginning to learn that the “next best thing” isn’t that bad at all. I know it sounds corny or trite but I really do feel that way. Instead of settling on two boxes of Special K with Red Berries, I got two boxes of Oatmeal Crisp (which actually turned out to be almost as good). Instead of a gallon of whole milk, I got two half gallons of the same thing and at a cheaper price.

Looking at my receipt when I got back to my room later on, I had saved a total of $6.98. Believe it or not, you may be a witness to a smart shopper in the making.

Tags: albertsons, coupon_machines, grocery_shopping, safeway, smart_shopper, special_k, trader_joes, ucsd, water_bottles, whole_foods

A Day in the Life of a College Student

I was finally back at school after over four relaxing months of summer break. It wasn?t a return to high school life but the beginning of my college career. It was both an intimidating and exciting day for me. I?ve never been in constant contact with so many people at once and finally being responsible for everything I had to do.

I?ve never been in a classroom or lecture hall filled with more than 40 students so being in the same room with 300 students was definitely something new. At first I didn?t realize that there were so many people filling the lecture hall where my Econ class was being held because I like to sit toward the front. (I have declared myself ?blind? and can?t see anything clearly more than ten feet away from me.) But as soon as I turned my head to look around, my jaw basically dropped to the floor. The place was filled to capacity and students that couldn?t find a seat were standing outside.

One interesting feature from the classes here at UCSD is the capability for teachers to create podcasts out of their lectures. As soon as their microphones turn on, everything they say is being recorded and will be available to students at http://podcast.ucsd.edu.

It?s amazing how much value the university places on being connected through the Internet and using computers to do the majority of our work. If I went to college ten years ago where wi-fi wasn?t commonplace and laptops were just starting to enter the mass market, this form of education probably wouldn?t be possible.

I am grateful for living such a privileged lifestyle as a freshman at one of the best universities in America. The awe I feel from my first day didn?t wear off when I woke up this morning. I couldn?t even wait to call my parents last night after a three hour long music and film class. The only thing I?m hoping for is to manage my time responsibly between my social life and what I need to do to in order to succeed in the classroom.

Tags: econ1, freshman, laptop, lecture, music-and-film, podcast, ucsd, wi-fi

New York Times to Stop Charging on its Website

This is good news to hear: the New York Times has announced that it will stop charging readers for all services on its site beginning tonight at midnight.

The decision came about as their management began to realize that ad revenue from web traffic on a free site would be more significant than the value gained from its online subscribers.

Their TimesSelect feature, which provides extra access to the paper’s archive and its columnists, was previously available for $49.95 a year or $7.95 a month. Like most non-subscribers, I was turned off by the fact that I could not access certain articles unless I paid almost $5 for it. Beginning tomorrow, the paper’s archive from 1851 to the present will be available to everyone at no additional cost.

When I was in high school, I convinced the librarian to set aside the school copy of the New York Times for me everyday. St. Mary’s gave out free copies of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune but I always found the Times’ expansive coverage to be more entertaining to read.

But with the beginning of summer break came the end of my access to the school library. I found myself relying solely on the Times’ website for my daily fix on their content. According to Nielsen ratings, the Times generates over 13 million unique visitors per day, making it the most popular media-news source on the web.

The print version of the New York Times is available at newsstands for $1, which is at least twice the cost of any major Bay Area newspaper on weekdays. Like I told Inman News when they profiled me last week, most of the news is available online already, and it’s free. The word ‘free’ is a big, attractive deal — especially for teenagers like myself.