The road goes forever on (and on, and on, and on ...)

 Well, 12 years has passed. I don't suppose anyone has read this blog in those 12 years - I know I haven't.

So what have I been up to? I finally got my degree in 2013. It didn't help with my work - but it wasn't supposed to, because I had done this all for personal pleasure, and a personal challenge. My wife died in 2015 - our two boys were still teenagers so I devoted all my time to making sure they were OK. One of them is now married, the other lives with his girlfriend. They have done well.

I took early retirement as soon as I was able. I had become disillusioned with my work, and I figured that time was of more value to me than money. On their deathbed how many people wish for more money, and how many wish for more time? Time wins!

So now I walk and hike as much as I can - several thousand miles a year. I broke my ankle two years ago when I fell off a stile! It was fine until I hit the ground, so really it wasn't the fall that broke my ankle, it was the landing! I limp a bit now - trouble with the ligaments. The bone mended with the help of a plate and some screws. And I paint, and photograph - old interests that have resurfaced now that there is time.

And I have a new partner. Life is good again.

I hope that all the people that I 'met' during my OU studies have been able to enjoy life - it's what it's all about.

M362 TMA02

Too busy to update my blog very often - and it's only when something like a TMA result comes in that my mind goes into 'blog-mode'. So you have probably guessed now that I have a TMA result - and you would be correct.

I suppose the first thing to say is that I have not been able to devote the time to M362 that I would wish - there is a major non-OU worry that I have (and that's all I will say) but it is diverting my attention and concentration away from my studying (as it has to, and as it should). So I submitted my TMA with a couple of sub-questions left incomplete. I know that I could have answered them but my mind just could not concentrate and I figured that it would be better to just submit the damn thing as it was, rather than write a load of coblers and have my tutor wondering what I was on about.

I'm waffling. It's a habit.

So, knowing that I had submitted a less than satisfactory TMA I braced myself for a low score. I figured that 70% would be about right (I hadn't calculated that - it just 'felt' that's what it should be). So I was a bit surprised to find that I had scored 85%. Then I kicked myself - if only I had written that load of coblers then I might have managed another point or two (or perhaps not ... if it really was coblers). But hang on a minute ... 85% is great - where has my sense of perspective gone? I'm happy with 85. In fact I'm very happy with 85.

And as for the course - I'm enjoying it. The first block was pretty much all Concurrency and was very interesting but a bit dry and academic [Ed: This is a University you know - it's supposed to be academic], but the second block is full on multi-tier application development. And I have to say that I am finding it very interesting - even my rusty Java has been dusted off and put to good use.

Got to start on TMA 03 now - and I am already two weeks behind.

OU - An Update

Well, no updates from me since January - but I'm not slacking - I'm just very busy! I'm just over halfway through S197 (which is a really interesting course, and has got me interested in taking this particle physics and cosmology stuff further ... one day), and I have also just reached the TMA01 stage on M362. In fact I submitted the TMA a couple of weeks ago and decided this morning to bring this blog up-to-date - and then found that my marked TMA had been returned this morning.

M362 has been interesting so far. Some of the ground that we have covered has been quite familiar to me, some of it less so, and the level of detail has been worthwhile (mainly because I like to really get to grips with stuff). The coding exercises have been fairly easy - although I'm expecting them to become more challenging as the course progresses, so that will be good. One or two of the TMA questions were a little wishy-washy - you know the thing - you read the question and then realise that it can be interpretted in a number of different ways, so half the problem is not figuring out how to answer the question but trying to figure out what the questioner was after. I guess that's level 3 for you.

Anyway, I read through the marked transcript this morning and found that I made a couple of stupid mistakes (careless oversight - seems to be a habit of mine), a part of one question that I managed to miss out (not the first time thats happened either!). But I still managed a very respectable 86% and I'm more than happy with that.

Biggest problem at present it trying to find the time to fit all the studying in. Work has become very busy over the last month and looks to be continuing that way (which is good), I'm helping my son revise for his Maths, Physics, and Chemistry GCSE's that are coming up, and we might be moving house this summer too. So, busy time.

I'll try and get another post in before the year ends!

S197 Has entered the building

Two days ago the course book for S197 arrived - so now I have two very interesting courses sitting waiting for my attention. The topics on this one include:
Redshift calculations, Hubble constant, CMB, EMR, Quantum electrodynamics, Quarks and Feynman diagrams, Quantum chromodynamics, bosons, Curved Space, Gravitational radiation, the quark-lepton era, hadrons, nucleosynthesis, geometry of space, and many other interesting areas. I can't wait to get cracking on this pot of ideas.
But - it will have to wait - I have to make reasonable headway on M362 first.

M362 A familiar start

I started reading through Unit 1 of M362 the other day and felt immediately at home (and Unit 2 to boot). All those years as a Systems Programmer on IBM boxes and reading through much of the assembly source code of the Operating System (VM/SP, VM/ESA) means that I am on home ground when it comes to processes, context switching, interrupt handlers, various process states, user mode and supervisor mode, the fetch-execute cycle, and loads more. I know the course is going to move away from these topics eventually, but right now it feels good.

I am registered

Yesterday I still didn't know if I had successfully registered for M362 in time or not. Today I received a package containing all the course books and software.

I guess that means that I have my place on the course!

Major Tom to Ground Control

S194 is just about finished - a month ahead of schedule. The ECA was completed last night after a few hours trying to figure how the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation supports the Big Bang theory.

And today I registered for S197 "How the Universe Works" which is more cosmology and physics. I am expecting this to me a more challenging course that S194 - not because of the maths - but because of some of the concepts such as string theory, and 11-dimensional space. And then having to write a few thousands words that explains it in a coherent and intelligible manner. I have trouble explaining what I had for breakfast in a coherent and intelligible manner sometimes (not that I'm often asked - but since you did - it was porridge today).

So that's S197 and M362 starting in February. A jolly combination.

And now panic!

I thought that registering and sorting out the payment last night meant that I had a place on M362. And then I checked my StudentHome page this morning - they are waiting for the return of the registration documents before I have a place on the course. Except that obviously I haven't received the registration documents, and even if I had, there is no way that I could get them returned by the end of today.

Panic.

I phoned the Regional Office for guidance. They gave me the phone number of the OU Registration Services. I telephoned and explained my predicament. It looks like I am going to be OK because I have at least registered before the cut-off date (today), but my application is not yet complete. I am not going to know for sure until after Christmas.

I have to wonder why that is not made clear when registering online. Even the email that the OU sent out November simply states that the closing date for enrolment is 22nd December for all students and nothing about allowing several days after registering for the application to complete. If we assume (dangerous!) that it takes one week for the letter to come out, get signed, and then returned, then the OU should close the online registration on 15th December at the latest and not the 22nd.

Oh well, fingers crossed.