March 2, 2010

Every day is the first day in the rest of your life, but milestone days seem a little more important.  Today was our written test.

We felt prepared before going to bed early last night.  We both played around with some practice tests and discussed timing, but really felt pretty relaxed and confident.  We were still feeling good this morning.  We arrived early for the test and waited for the testing center personnel to show up.  When they showed up, we were able to get started early. 

Testing is quite different than when we took standardized tests in the past.  Computers have taken out the effort of shading in the circles and worrying about putting the answer on the wrong line.  The computer required a little effort to understand how to skip questions and return to them later, but it had some nice features like a timer and the ability to mark a question for further review later, if you have time.

The first section was on a diverse range of topics.  My ability to answer confidently varied.  On any subject matter, a question can be easy because you happen to know that trivial fact or it can be difficult because you never heard of something.  I marked a lot of questions for further review and my confidence level was not as high as on the practice test.  All of my studying probably only contributed to a few more right answers, but the learning is not wasted.  I do feel I have a better understanding of the world as a result of trying to prepare for this test.

The second section was biographical.  How you can be tested on your own experiences and preferences is a bit of mystery.  Is there a correct answer for personality?  I suspect there is a consistency with application information, and even between answers, that highlights weaknesses or potential exaggeration.  The hard part was filling in examples.  The issue of timing left us struggling to remember important events in our own lives. 

The third section was an English test.  Kris and I both feel that we might have missed a question or two just because we were hurrying.  In other words, we were certain of the answers on almost all of the questions.  We have always tested high on verbal skills.

The final section was an essay.  The challenge is timing.  Our practice served us well.  It is nearly impossible to write an excellent essay on a topic that you might know very little about in only half an hour.  We experienced that in practice so we knew the goal was only to write a good essay, perhaps even a simple essay.  I think we accomplished that.

We celebrated the milestone with lunch at a good Mexican restaurant in Eagle River, around the corner from the testing center.  A margarita helped bring us down from the high speed mental gymnastics of the test.

The garage is much bigger today.  I finally rolled the van back out into the driveway.  It is March so we may be able to start using it a little.  I had to jump it with the trailer battery to get it started, but I let it run for awhile and even took it for a drive to recharge the battery.  I had a couple of tires put on the front.  I stopped at a used tire store and they had a couple of tires with decent tread that they mounted and balanced for only $70 a piece.  I couldn’t bring myself to pay upwards of $170 a piece for new tires, probably more with installation, for a vehicle that I probably won’t own for even half a set of tires.  A friend had posted tire date code information so I was able to verify that they weren’t putting ancient tires on my van.  I also had the nail in the rear tire removed and patched.  Surprisingly the tire did not go flat in the months it has been sitting in the garage.  Of course, leaving the nail in was probably a wise choice, a lesson learned somewhere in my past.

Yesterday’s skiing was a little harsh.  We seem to be back to rain at that bottom and snow at the top, although the rain was over half way up.  This made the snow at the top very heavy.  We skied hard, but the mountain got the better of us.  We quit after only 11,000 vertical feet with tired legs.  It was supposed to be the day of the 2010 North Face Vertical Challenge.  We elected not to compete because of the proximity to the test, but the event was postponed due to the weather.  If it is rescheduled, I might contemplate competing again.  Kris is pretty sure she does not want to risk another back injury.

My objections to Facebook have faded a bit.  While I think it is used in some bizarre ways that could be detrimental to interpersonal social interaction, it does serve a nice purpose for reconnecting across great distances.  And while it requires less effort than other forms of communication, it still requires time.  Reconnecting with just a couple of people can result in a time demand that you hadn’t anticipated.  How do you summarize 23 years?  And how do you digest the summary that they provide?  It is a fantastic tool, perhaps the best tool to date, but staying in touch with people still requires effort.  And the thousands of people that we meet in life add up to more effort than anyone can reasonably provide.  I can see us being relegated to an almost voyeuristic monitoring of people’s updates, but even that is somehow fascinating, educational, and satisfying.  Sometimes it feels like monitoring someone’s telephone conversations.  I need to add so many more friends and relatives, but my pace is pretty slow and my priorities are, at best, random.