Petitioning the Academic Council

I have a dilemma.

My biology professor has offered to get me an internship at the University of California next summer in a biology lab. I'd be doing my own research project, and it pays! It's pretty much perfect.

Problem!
In order to be eligible for this internship, I need to get my next 2 biology courses done. One this fall, one in the spring.
The biology I need to take this fall has a co-requisite of a certain chemistry class, which would normally be no big deal. The problem is, the chemistry class has a prerequisite of either Chem2 or high school chemistry.

Problem with taking Chem2: I don't have time! If I take chem2, I won't finish my requirements in time for the internship.

Problem with high school chemistry: I didn't take it! I joined the army instead!!

So I have to petition the college Academic Council this coming Tuesday and convince them to, as my adviser put it, "ignore their own policies and make an exception just for you."

Basically, if I fail, the internship goes to someone else and I lose the opportunity of a lifetime. I do have a 4.0 on my side - but that only gets you so far. My adviser advised me to get a letter from my professor in support of this plan - unfortunately, he's speaking at a big biology conference at the Burgess Shale right now and I have no way to get a hold of him.

Blah!!

Any great ideas as to how to make myself look as smart and dedicated as possible?

-Dylan

every beginning is another beginning's end

It's finals week. I just finished my biology lecture exam and the lab practical. Only 3 more finals to go this week and I'm done with the semester!!

At least... I get one week off, the I start summer semester. I do believe it will be like this for the next several years.

So, sorry I haven't been posting anything exciting - it's cause I haven't done anything exciting. Study study study.

Jameson is growing at a steady pound a week - I think he may get a bit bigger than we thought...

-Dylan

Pictures of the kids :) and some dear...

grr

Apparently the blog cut all my pictures in half. I will have to fix that later - I have to go to school now. Check back this weekend for the other half! :P

-Dylan

Beach Pictures

Stairs to the beach are closed this time of year so the seals and have their pups



Baby seals





The Cove



















I'm never more at home than when I'm up in a tree :)

Update

Well it's been far too long since I've written. Life gets busy.
While Christiana was in Germany for 5 weeks I spent the majority of my time studying. I've gotten excellent grades on all of my tests and midterms, and feel confident I'll get a 4.0 this semester. I'm especially enjoying my biology class - definitely the right major for me.
While in Germany Christiana got to go see some sights, but what I'm most jealous about is that she got to go sledding on a famous ski run in the Austrian Alps. She had so much fun, I wish I could have been there with her. But, there's always next time, and I'm glad she had some fun to keep her occupied while she was away :)
A couple days after she got back, we flew up to Seattle to visit our families. My father was having his 60th birthday party. He rented a large dance hall and about 100 people showed up. He's very much into the Seattle waltz scene and there were some incredible dancers there! Christiana and I got out and did some dancing as well, it was fun. She's quite elegant :)
We got to see the rest of the family, too - all the kids are getting so big! It's crazy. It was nice to see everybody.
Now we're back home and enjoying the quiet. We went to the beach the other day and that was nice. Yesterday we went house hunting - it's amazing how expensive this area is. $250k just doesn't get you what it should! We'll see how that goes...
In any case. Hope you're all doing well! I'll get some pictures together to post soon.

-Dylan James

Lucky I'm in love with my best friend

Lucky - Jason Mraz Feat. Colbie Caillat