Dimmer, Smarter

Monday, 03 December 2012

Today an electrician came by our house. We had invited him, of course. He came over because we needed help with the light switches in our bathroom.

Okay, I know it’s really lame to hire an electrician for something as simple as a light switch, but I really couldn’t figure this out. There were two dimmer switches in the bathroom, and they slowly been disintergrating since we moved in. The switches have even been crackling as we’ve adjusted the dimmers.

So, a few weeks ago, I bought two new dimmer switches. I then took out the old ones, only to find a whole heap of wires. So  many, I couldn’t figure out what went where. And I couldn’t just copy how they were wired to the old switches, because that wasn’t working. Finally, I touched the wires to each other verrry carefully, and labeled them appropriately. Then I hooked up the switches again. Nothing happened. So we’ve been using a lantern in there lately.

Today, the electrician informed me my two new switches were inoperative. I found this hard to believe, as they were brand new, but he was pretty confident. He hooked up some plain ol’ on/off switches. I’m gonna return the dimmer switches to the store later this week and see if I can swap them out.

Tuesday, 04 December 2012

Nothing ceases to amaze me like my fellow students.

Today, a draft of our final paper was due. This paper is to be 8-10 pages in length with an additional works cited page with at least four sources. This is a major assignment, worth more percentage points that all the other assignments combined.

So, there’s 15 students in my class, and two didn’t even show up today. So, their draft is late. Of the remaining 13 students, only five – five! – had drafts to turn in. A couple of the students didn’t seem to know a draft was due today, even though it’s been staring us in the face on the syllabus for about three months now, and the professor mentioned it last week. A couple of others said they had electronic drafts they wanted to gussy up a bit and email to the professor this evening. She didn’t seem to like this, but she relented.

Of the five papers turned in, one of them was only one page long. So, even though he did have a draft ready for submission, it couldn’t have been much beyond an outline what he plans to write about.

All in all, though, the events of today’s class made me feel rather comfortable about my chances for a good grade on this most important assignment.