Writing center hours

Not really relevant for this class, but FYI.

The UA Writing Center (Lloyd 322) announces its Spring semester hours:  Monday-Thursday, 10 am-6 pm; and Friday, 10 am-3 pm.  Walk-in hours are available at Java City/Gorgas Library, Monday-Thursday, 7 pm-9 pm.

The UA Writing Center offers free, friendly writing consultations to all UA students.  Writing Center consultants are prepared to work in numerous subject areas, and at any stage of the writing process.  For complete details, including appointment scheduling, please visit writingcenter.ua.edu.  

Help Desk

The class may seem difficult so far. It should, we are starting off with pretty tough pace. I'm not going to promise that it will slow down or get a little easier, but I think it will. In any case, at this point trying to finish up the first homework set you may be wanting a little extra help, and we've got you covered.

All the intro physics TAs pool their office hours together to staff our physics Help Desk. You can find a schedule of available TAs and which room they will be in here. You can pick any time slot that is staffed and just show up to the relevant room, so you have lots of chances to go and ask questions.

(You can also always stick around after class and ask me questions, or come to my office hours too.)

Exam III is IN 2 HOURS

Seriously, people have forgotten before.

Bring a calculator. And writing implements. You won't need anything else.

Have some coffee. Bring music (with headphones) if you think it will help.

Don't forget that you can ask me questions during the exam, and I am somewhat likely to give helpful advice.

Thursday 9 April 2009

By the way: short quiz on Thursday. It will not present a problem if you have read Ch. 16.

Really, it will be easy. Just a heads-up.

Twitter

So, I am on the twitter (@pleclair). I was thinking lately it might be useful for posting quick updates for class, e.g., HW hints or notifications of new assignments. (Though I joined for other reasons, mainly because all the cool kids were doing it).

Would this be a useful way to disseminate small bits of course-related info?

(N.B. - it is easy to use twitter to update your facebook status and vice versa. Joining is not the time sink I thought it would be.)

Reminder: review session tonight 7:15pm

Tonight, 7:15pm, 203 Gallalee hall. Come armed with questions. I'll come with some additional practice problems to work out, similar to what will be on the exam.

Remember my phone number in case for some reason the building gets locked up early ... I will be checking outside around 7:15 as well.

There will be an episode of FAIL on Sunday.

In case you haven't heard, there will be serious network outages tomorrow involving all campus services ...

All campus networking, Internet access, and central computer services will be unavailable Sunday, Jan. 25 beginning at 8 a.m. This is necessary to replace the central UPS, which is inoperable, and prevent unplanned power outages from damaging equipment and losing University data. Office of Information Technology staff members will begin shutting down machines at 8 a.m. Critical systems, including the network, medical systems, e-mail, Web sites, Banner, myBama, eLearning, and Bama, are expected to be operational by 1 p.m. Other central systems should be up no later than 3 p.m.

Physics Help Desk Hours

The hours for the physics help desk are now posted.

The idea behind the help desk is that you can get assistance from any graduate assistant (GTA) from any 100-level course. They are all qualified to help you, so go to whichever GTA's office hours suit your schedule the best.

This is particularly important since we have no TA of our own ...

HW 1 due 15 Jan CLARIFICATION

student asks:

In problem four of the homework due Jan 15, when you say "find the
magnitude of and angle of a + b," do you mean the angle of a + b
relative to b, like in bullet number two?

Ok, that is not quite clear enough ...

For the last two cases in that problem, I mean the angle with respect to the x axis.

For example, if

\vec{c}=\vec{a}+\vec{b}

then the angle is

\tan^{-1}{\left(c_y/c_x\right)}

Office Hours/contact info

Now that we have homework to do, you will probably have questions. There are number of ways to go about asking me things.

* Office hours will formally be Mon 11-1 in Bevill and Thursday 3-5 in Bevill 228. Other times are more than likely possible, if you send me a quick email/sms/etc (see below) to confirm.

* Most of my day is spent in the Bevill building where I do research, room 228 (office) or 180 (lab). I am really only in my Gallalee office just before and after class, typically. If you would rather meet me in Gallalee, either at the times above or otherwise, this is possible.

* I am on facebook, you can message me there.

* I read email somewhat obsessively.

* You can comment on this blog, I will reply.

* I have an IM account set up for this sort of thing. It is an AOL instant messenger account:
* Give me a call or send a text:

* I am usually up until about 2am. Calling that late is probably bad, though email/IM/etc are fine at all hours.

You can use what ever method of contact you find most convenient, they are all OK by me. Don't hesitate to ask questions outside class if you are having trouble with something ... if I didn't want you to ask questions, I wouldn't bother posting all of this ;-)